Disclaimer: Inuyasha and all of it's characters are property of the brilliant Takahashi-sama and I claim no ownership of them.
AN: Welcome to the third and final book for the Alpha Pack Mates series, We are Mates. Unlike with They are Pack, We are Mates picks up right where the last story left off. I will post a recap below in case any of you readers haven't read the other two in a while and want to go over things again.
I will warn you all now, this story is going to be incredibly long, probably surpassing I am Alpha's 90k words. I know, I'm crazy but as I was writing the outline, so many things came to mind that I wanted to add to this story. Though the chapters themselves will be much shorter. I know some of my readers prefer the longer chapters, but the shorter they are, the less time everyone has to wait for an update.
Recap for I am Alpha...
After Kagome’s father escaped from jail and killed her okaa-san and jii-chan, she brought Souta back to the past with Inuyasha’s rosary. Inuyasha announced he would be taking Kikyou as his mate soon. The group, along with Sesshoumaru and Kouga, destroyed Naraku by Kagome re-shattering the jewel. After the battle, she let Kagura and Kanna go since Kagura had let her pass with Rin during the battle. As they are traveling to recollect the jewel, they learn Sesshoumaru has been cursed to become human and ended up joining the group to protect Rin.
They meet a sorceress named Aki that can turn him back into a demon and start to gather the items he needs. Kouga shows up, still trying to get Kagome to be his mate and Ayame gets tired of waiting around for him and heads back to her den. Miroku officially proposes to Sango, who now has Kohaku back minus the memories of everything he did. Sesshoumaru and Kagome kiss at the hot springs but she stops it since she doesn't think it was right while he was human.
The group has a lot of problems with Kikyou trying to take charge and getting rid of Kagome but she finally starts trying to be a part of the group and Kagome ends up giving her the shards to hold onto. After gathering all the ingredients Sesshoumaru needs, he heads off to Aki to turn back into a demon and ends up being told of a problem needing him in the West. As he leaves the group, Sesshoumaru says 'an inu always returns to his pack'.
Recap for They are Pack...
Six months after the end of Alpha, Sesshoumaru returns and the others learn of his son Daichi, who had been running from him, sure he was going to kill him. Though Daichi seems to get along with the boys alright, he refuses to have anything to do with Sesshoumaru and even refuses to play with Rin. Kagome tells him to give Daichi sometime to come to terms with the fact that Sesshoumaru killed his mother in self defense.
After they completed the jewel, they decide to hold onto since none of them can come up with a selfless wish and end up building a small village for themselves around the well. While trying to figure out what to do the jewel, Sango and Miroku end up getting married. And after Kagome gives Kikyou a potion that makes her truly alive again with a full soul, Kikyou and Inuyasha end up mating.
Sesshoumaru asks Kagome if she meant what she said back in the hot springs and after she tells him yes, he ends up kissing her. After a few confusing conversations with the other group members and Sesshoumaru, Kagome finally understands where their relationship is going and explains to him that he will have to explain things to her in the future because she isn't going to understand them if he doesn't.
After making sure to get everything from the future they may want, and saying goodbye to her aunt, Kagome hands the complete jewel over to Kikyou to make the wish after she said she had the perfect one. To soft for the humans to hear it, Kikyou says '“I wish that Kagome is able to find the happiness she has helped others to find.”'.
Prologue
Though she had been unable to hear her wish, Kagome knew the moment she made it. The feeling of the jewel returning to her body after so many years of being absent, while indescribable, it was unmistakable to her. She felt no fear as the power from the jewel began to fill her body making Kagome feel...truthfully there is no real emotion to describe what she was feeling. She simply felt pink. How one feels pink, she hadn't the foggiest, but that is the only way she could explain the feeling. Just pink.
But the feeling didn't last long and soon enough the power had reclaimed its position with in her body, leaving her to feel nauseous. Deciding to not worry the others simply because her body was slightly overworked at the moment, Kagome stood and turned to begin making her way inside, an excuse of being tired on her tongue. But before Kagome had the chance to utter a sound, the world began to spin around her and she felt herself becoming dizzy at the sensation.
The others watched as Kagome began to fall to the ground and Sesshoumaru, being the first to his feet, rushed over to catch her only to growl in pain as the contact with her skin burned his hands. Gasps from the group went unnoticed by him as his eyes began to bleed red and his face began to elongate. Feeling the all too familiar transformation beginning to take over, Sesshoumaru shook his head as he tried to regain control of himself. Gritting his teeth and taking a deep breath, he could feel the beast within him settle and moved to reach for the fallen Kagome once again.
“Do not touch her!” Kikyou shouted as she jumped to her feet and raced over to where Kagome's prone body lay on the ground. “She's radiating holy power. You'll only be burned,” Kikyou warned him as she glanced over her shoulder at him before turning her attention back to the unconscious girl at her feet. “Oh no,” she whispered to herself as her eyes grew wide at the realization of what was going on. “Sesshoumaru, Inuyasha, take everyone with demon blood and get away now. Get as far away as you can,” she instructed them as she turned back toward the group with worried eyes.
“Do not waste time on humans, we will be fine,” she continued as she saw Sesshoumaru reaching for Rin. “Leave now, before it is too late.” she pleaded seeing that all of the demons were standing around Sesshoumaru. Still unsure of what was happening, Sesshoumaru summoned his orb around them and flew off into the surrounding woods. Kikyou watched until they were out of sight before breathing a sigh of relief.
“What is going on, Lady Kikyou?” Miroku questioned as he made his way over to where she was kneeling over Kagome.
“It's a holy nova,” Kikyou explained as she turned toward him with worry filled eyes. Miroku's eyes widen at her words as he turned his attention back to the girl at their feet, leaving the others, that remained, confused at her words.
Not having a clear destination in mind, Sesshoumaru traveled at speeds that were impossible for human eyes to follow, though with the extra passengers it was noticeably slower than his orb usually traveled. He weaved in between the dense forestry, worried that changing his coarse to bring them above the tree tops would simply waste valuable time they could not spare. And he was not sure he could keep control of the orb with the extra burden placed upon his powers.
Feeling his power beginning to wane, Sesshoumaru lowered the orb to the ground and allowed it to dissipate. It was only a split second after they had been discarded on the ground, that the group turned back toward the direction they had come in unison, a growl rising up from deep within them. They could all feel the power shifting within the air causing the hair on the back of their necks to stand up.
A moment later, a large blast of pink light filled the night sky, the wave of power emanating from it rolling over them, tingling against their skin, causing the instinctual beasts within them to try and rise to the surface. When the second blast hit, their eyes began to bleed red, illuminating the forest around them in a maroon hue.
The third blast triggered their heavy panting as they fought to keep control over themselves and their powers. The surrounding forest was silent and still save for their breathing and had anyone been around to see it, stories of ghastly apparitions would have spread like wild fire through the nearby villages.
The forth blast had them howling in protest against the holy powers that continued to flow over them, their own powers crackling against it as they rose to the surface to fight off the intrusion. And by the time the fifth and final blast had hit the sky, Sesshoumaru's face began to elongate once again as the war between the two powers caused the transformation to begin.
His human half barely in existence at the moment, Inuyasha used what little control he had left to grab onto the hilt of his sword with all of his strength. The metal creaked in protest to the added strain, but he continued to hold onto it so tightly that his claws dug deep gouges into his palm. As the pain registered in his mind, the fog began to give way, allowing him to regain a small amount of control.
Hearing the only sound to ever haunt his dreams, Inuyasha glanced to the side to find his half-brother in midst of transforming. Already he could see the pure white fur begin to cover his body as he began to grow in size. Knowing of nothing else to do to stop the process, Inuyasha grabbed a hold of his brother's arm, while keeping the other still on his sword. Squeezing with everything that he had, Inuyasha dug his claws deep into his flesh, causing deep red blood to stain the sleeve around it.
Sesshoumaru turned toward him with an ear piercing growl, a clear warning to let go, but Inuyasha chose to ignore it. “Fight it, Sesshoumaru. If you lose control, nothing will be able to stop you from destroying anything in your path, including our pack,” Inuyasha warned him in a dark, husky voice, a good indication that he was not entirely in control of himself.
Hearing the word 'pack' Sesshoumaru glanced back and forth between Inuyasha and the direction the power was coming from. Half of his mind screamed to destroy the threat while the other half screamed to protect his pack. Unsure of which instinct to follow, Sesshoumaru let off a low whine, the sound of his own voice startling him and helping him to regain the slightest amount of control over himself.
“Do not release your hold,” Sesshoumaru warned in a rasping snarl as he felt Inuyasha's hold begin to weaken. “The pain is what is keeping me grounded,” Sesshoumaru explained in between pants, afraid if he let go, there would be nothing keeping him here and stopping him from slaughtering what was causing the holy power in the air.
“Just hurry up and regain control, I am barely keeping myself grounded, let alone you. At least their instincts tell them not to attack something so powerful,” Inuyasha commented in a hoarse bay, his voice switching from that of his normal pitch to that of his full-demon form. Sesshoumaru followed his gaze the best he could and found the pups nearby, growling at the power, but making no move to go near it. As young as they are, their instincts would tell them that they could not fight it and to stay in the protection of those that could.
The only one seeming to have little problem controlling himself was Jaken. Since he was not a predator demon, his instincts simply told him to run and hide. As it was he managed to keep himself between the pups and the direction the power came from, but was able to do little else. Even still, Sesshoumaru found himself impressed with the toad demon's courage. Hearing a deep breath being drawn in beside him, Sesshoumaru glanced down at his half-brother to find the red was already beginning to recede from his eyes.
Understanding dawn on him when he felt the holy power in the air was weakening and he felt his own control returning. Once again in control of himself, Shippo moved to rush back toward the others, only to be stopped by Inuyasha. “It is not safe yet. The holy power that still hangs in the air will kill you if you get too close to the point of origin.
“Do not worry for Kagome, Shippo, her holy powers will not hurt her or the other humans. Kikyou wouldn't have allowed them to stay if they were in any danger. Just be patient,” Inuyasha instructed, finding it hard to follow his own advice and judging by the way Sesshoumaru's fingers twitch, he guessed he was having a difficult time as well.
As I felt consciousness returning to me, I mentally cursed the pounding headache that was making itself known to me. Unsure of what was going on, as I did not remember going to sleep, I fought against the strain on my body to try and awaken myself completely. Feeling something wet being laid across my forehead, knowing it meant someone was next to me, I found myself even more confused than I had already been. “What's going on?” I managed to grumbled with a husky voice that sounded worn and tired to my own ears.
“You're awake,” a voice commented and it took me a moment to recognize the voice of Kikyou. Fighting the fog that had settled in my mind, I felt myself yawn and could hear Kikyou laugh next to me. Though I still had no idea what was going on, judging by the soft bedding I was laying on, I figured I was on my futon in my room and the wet sensation on my forehead was probably a wet towel. How or why I was there, I could not figure out and decided it was time to get some answers.
Opening my eyes I moved to sit up only to have Kikyou stop me. “You need more rest. Just lay back and take it easy for a while,” she told me as she laid me back down and replaced the cloth on my head. “You had an over load of power due to the jewel returning to you. You are fine, as if everyone else, but your body took a heavy strain and you need to get your strength back before you try to do anything. Though they can not stay long, you have visitors who have been wondering how you were doing,” Kikyou explained as she stood and gestured toward the doorway.
I glanced over just in time to watch as a swarm of children came rushing toward me, each one asking me a dozen questions that I did not know the answers to. Kikyou smiled before making her way out of the room, leaving me to try and answer the children all at once. “One question at a time,” I finally told them as they all gathered around me on my small futon.
“Are you okay?” Souta inquired and the others nodded, apparently having decided it was the best question to start with. Nodding, I gave them a smile of reassurance. As I listened to the next question, I glanced up to find Sesshoumaru standing in the doorway. Smiling to let him know I was fine, I turned my attention back to the children, answering the best I could.
As Kikyou exited the hut, she could feel over a dozen eyes following her every move and with a sigh, resigned herself for what she knew was about to come. Making her way over to the campfire, where the others were waiting, she took her usual seat next to Inuyasha. The moment she was seated, the bombardment of questions began. “Is Kagome-chan okay?” Sango inquired, being the first to get a question off.
“She's not giving off holy power anymore is she?” Inuyasha questioned, not bothering to give Kikyou enough time to answer Sango's question.
“Will there be any lasting damage?” Jaken was next to voice his worries only to be spoken over by Miroku as he wondered whether or not it was safe for the demon blooded children to be near her for a long period of time.
“Kagome is fine. Her powers are back to normal and as holy powers can not hurt a miko, there will be no lasting damage. She will merely be worn out for a few days. Since she is no longer giving off powers as she was earlier, the demon children are in no danger. What happened will not be happening again,” Kikyou assured them as she glanced up to find Sesshoumaru joining them. Figuring he couldn't get close to Kagome with all of the children around her, Kikyou gave him a slight understanding smile before her attention was drawn back by Inuyasha speaking.
“What exactly did happen? My knowledge of holy powers may be limited, but even I know something like that wasn't supposed to happen,” Inuyasha insisted and Sango nodded her head in agreement.
“During the years that the jewel was in her body, Kagome's powers were constantly seeping into it to keep it pure, draining a good portion of her powers. When the jewel was ripped from her body, the power remained inside and every time she purified another shard, more of her power was added. Then when the wish was made all of that power returned to her at once and caused her body to overload, so to speak.”
“Why did you not warn of this before hand? We were lucky no one was seriously hurt,” Sango pointed out as she gestured to the already healing wounds on Inuyasha's hand and Sesshoumaru's arm.
“I had no way of knowing something like this could even happen. I only understood what is was after the Holy Nova. And as it is, I have only heard of one other person who has ever experienced one and that was Midoriko,” Kikyou explained hoping they understood that she wouldn't have kept it to herself if she had known this would happen before hand.
“Then how are you sure this is the real reason it happened, Lady Kikyou? If something else was the cause, there is no way to know if and when it might happen again,” Miroku pointed out, worried not only for Kagome's safety but for the demons in the group as well.
“I am sure. I felt my own powers return to me after I made the wish. It was her powers returning that caused it. You can rest assured that this will not be happening again as the jewel can no longer be removed from her,” Kikyou assured them with a smile.