Kagome's True Self by Sasha
Chapter 1: Finding Pups
Chapter 1: Finding Pups
They had finally done it were Kagome’s thoughts as she stared at her friends all in various states of injury. After such a long time they had finally defeated Naraku and the Jewel was completed once again. She hadn’t been home in the last three months because they couldn’t lose Naraku’s trail is what she had told her friends, but the true reason was that the well was now sealed. It had been since the instant that her instincts had kicked in and she had done something that no one would believe Kagome would do. Luckily he couldn’t remember what happened though since she wasn’t sure how he would react to it.
If Sesshomaru hadn’t joined them though they probably wouldn’t have been able to defeat Naraku without a death or without Kagome having to reveal what she really was. He had joined them after Kagura and Naraku had almost killed Inuyasha they had needed a full demon to help them, and Koga wasn’t an option. She had finally convinced him that she would never be his woman and she didn’t want to ask him for help when he might see it as her changing her mind about him.
Besides although no one else had noticed most of their battles with Sesshomaru since he took Rin in were him testing Inuyasha and trying to give him lessons in the sword by making him have to think on his feet. Inuyasha’s yokai had been rising steadily since Sesshomaru started to battle him so much, and she was certain that the brothers would finally start to mend the rift between them. So even though Inuyasha swore that he still hated him they had asked Sesshomaru to join them and he had agreed surprisingly quickly.
At that time although no one knew it Kagome hadn’t really wanted Sesshomaru to join them, but not for the reasons everyone would believe. She had known that unlike Shippo and Inuyasha it was highly likely that Sesshomaru would notice that her scent was a created one and not natural. With the other two they just didn’t notice or they had put it off as her having come from the future, but Sesshomaru was old enough to recognize the scent of a spell if he was around long enough to realize it. It scared her to think that her friends and pack would find out that she wasn’t who they had thought she was since the beginning. At one time that was the only reason that kept her from leaving them in the past because how could she blame them for comparing her to Kikyo when they truly thought she was Kikyo’s reincarnation.
It had also been risky because Kagome had known that she was falling for Sesshomaru since before he joined them, but she had tried to hide her feelings for him by pretending to still be infatuated with Inuyasha. She had realized a long time ago that Inuyasha was like a brother to her, a pack brother to be more precise not a potential mate. Being around Inuyasha since he was a half Inu was bad enough, but being around Sesshomaru for so long made it hard for her to reign in her instincts. After all in the future there were no demons, or at least they had hidden very well, so she never had to worry about suppressing her Inu instincts because they had rarely came into effect.
They had decided at the start of Sesshomaru’s journey with them that they would wait a while before they decided what wish they would make. Inuyasha had realized that trying to wish to become a full demon wouldn’t be a very good idea since he wouldn’t be able to control the beast that would suddenly rise in his conscience. It had also been decided that it was best to let those who had died stay in their rest because they could go insane being suddenly dragged back to this world after months or years of being dead.
Looking at Sesshomaru she wasn’t really surprised to find that he had no marks on him. Even if Naraku had hit him his superior healing would have fixed it by now. “He is very strong,” Kaga growled in her mind as she discreetly looked over Sesshomaru’s body. It was a shock for Kagome considering that they had been travelling with Sesshomaru for two months now and Kaga hadn’t said anything about him then. Maybe she had risen to the surface since they had just defeated the vilest half demon in history, since she had rarely ever spoken to Kagome. Her inner beast had been the only true demon quality other than her instincts that Kagome had kept after they were sealed so she could live peacefully in the human world.
“Yet he is very arrogant Kaga. I will not consider mating an Inu who can only see mating to be with their own species. I wish for a mate who will accept me for me, not for what they want me to be, I’ve seen that enough with Inuyasha,” she growled her answer back. Considering that her beast had spoken about a male she knew that she was considering him as a potential mate. She knew however that if he could not see past looks then he would be a poor mate indeed. Yet it was obvious that mates looked for those with power who would compliment them, but they also looked within.
“We both know that we had never even considered Inuyasha as mate material, he was just a pack brother to us, but with our lack of male relationships especially with demon males we made it out to be more then it truly was,” was the growled reply. “Just consider him if he will change and accept us before he knows the truth, then he would be the perfect mate for us.”
Kagome knew that Kaga had a point, she had thought the same thing after all. Looking around at their group she wondered how everything had changed so much. How is it that those who had once been their enemies ended up being some of their most powerful allies?
A howl suddenly rendered through the air that tore Kagome’s heart into pieces although no one noticed. A howl like that was a cry for help, a cry for an Inu demon or pack to save them, a howl to protect a pup. Her instincts kicked in as Kagome began to run towards the direction of the howl ignoring the exhaustion she had been feeling moments before not even looking behind her to make sure her pack was following her. She knew that she couldn’t let a pup be harmed. Her pack seemed to understand though because they were running beside her racing towards the anguished cry.
Glancing up at Inuyasha and Sesshomaru she knew they had realized what was going on, and they both looked pained. Pained enough and worried enough that they weren’t even registering that Kagome was running alongside them with demon speed well the rest of their pack rode on Kilala, or in Rin and Shippo’s case Ah Un. Soon enough they arrived at a battle scene a group of Naraku’s minions were attacking an Inu demon who was standing protectively over a pup and a female Inu. They obviously didn’t realize that Naraku was dead.
They seemed to have gotten there just in time because the moment they arrived in the clearing the male fell from a fang across his chest. Kagome was unsure if he was alive or not all of her senses were trained on the young pup and the female that the demons were attacking. She could feel her eyes slowly bleeding red for only the second time in her life as she watched a male tiger demon about to slash down the pup. Growling slightly she charged at him grabbing a sword from a fallen demon glad that she had gained some experience with weapons from Sango.
“You will not touch the pup!” She hissed out from her teeth her sword crashing against his just before it would have cut down the pup.
Sesshomaru’s POV:
Sesshomaru could feel his beast rising to the surface as he watched the male Inu fall, and the tiger demon heading to attack the pup. Before he could react though and use his poison whip to slice the tiger demon into pieces a whirlwind of black hair shot past him, briefly stopping to pick up a sword before she charged at the tiger demon. “You will not touch the pup!” Her voice sounded strained as she went at the tiger demon acting just like a female demoness would if she saw a pup in danger.
He had never seen a ningen fight the way she did to protect the pup. Her moves were sharp and sure nothing like the trembling girl he had first met three years ago, when she pulled Tessaiga from its resting place. He had always known she had an inner strength to her, and it was purely for that reason that he had decided to join Inuyasha’s pack. His younger brother may have not been the one for her, but perhaps he could be. Since meeting Rin he had realized that not all humans were bad and watching the miko fight to protect a pup made him wish she was the mother of his pups.
“Yes she would make a fine mate,” Maru added as he watched the battle. It seemed too fast for a ningen when she had quickly finished off the remaining demons that the male Inu had left behind. The ground was littered with corpses, but his eyes were only on Kagome as he looked into her eyes. For a moment they seemed red almost like a beast was in control, but when he blinked her eyes were back to normal so he played it off as a trick of the light.
Kagome’s POV:
After the last demon was killed Kagome felt herself regaining control as Kaga calmed down. Looking around to make sure all danger was gone she turned towards the pup and its protectors, and by their scent she realized that the male and female Inu were the pup’s older siblings and not its parents as she originally thought. Cautiously approaching the three Inu’s she let a small amount of her yokai flare, an amount that only the three in front of her would feel so they knew she wasn’t a threat. When she felt no answering yokai she went closer. Wanting to make sure they were alright and that the male hadn’t died.
“Kagome don’t!” Inuyasha yelled from behind her sounding worried, but she ignored him as she went up to the male Inu first. Even though her instincts told her to go to the pup she knew from its cries that it was only distressed and not hurt, so she chose to look upon its brother’s wounds first. Watching them slowly heal in front of her eyes she knew he would be fine, so she finally turned towards the pup and the shaking female Inu.
“Shh sweetheart it’s ok I won’t hurt you,” she said softly approaching her. Realizing that the demoness was barely more than a pup herself she went slower and let a bit more yokai seep out trying to calm her down with her aura. “I just want to help you.”
“Who are you?” the demoness asked her voice shaky, but she no longer seemed afraid of Kagome. If anything she seemed to be calming down in her presence reacting to the yokai she had been pushing towards them.
“My name is Kagome, and my pack and I heard your howl and came to help,” she replied to the young demoness reaching a hand out to pick up the crying pup. At first the girl reached out to stop her, but when the pup immediately stopped crying when it settled against her the girl moved her hand away. Gently rocking Kagome smiled as the pup snuggled closer to her warmth and fell into a deep sleep.
Feeling another flare of yokai Kagome was calm at the familiar warmth, but the demoness yelped and huddled closer to Kagome. Her eyes went wide with fear as she glanced around looking for more danger, but Kagome just soothed her with soft growls and let her adjust to the fact that the yokai was friendly and not going to harm her.
“It’s ok little one he is the Alpha of my pack, and he is an Inu demon just like you,” Kagome crooned softly. “He just wants to come a little closer and pick up your brother so we can leave here. You can come with us, and we will protect you alright?”
The demoness glanced up to reply and her eyes went wide again, but this time it wasn’t from fear. “Lord Sesshomaru,” she exclaimed looking at him and settling down instantly. If she had been in her true form Kagome was sure that her tail would be wagging in excitement.
“You know this one pup?” he asked arching an eyebrow.
“We were sent to meet you when our village was attacked. We were headed to the house of the West when these demons attacked us.” She replied sounding calmer and more confident now that she was certain that they would be safe.
“What is your name pup?”
“It is Kiaya Lord Sesshomaru,” she said softly. There was no longer a sense of fear to the child and Kagome stopped her soft growls knowing that she felt safe now. The smaller pup was growling softly in its sleep, the way most pups do around its parents, and Kagome knew that the pup had been a new born since it was marking Kagome as its mother. It probably hadn’t had the time to do it with its own mother before her death since no mother would let such a young pup travel without her.
“Kiaya the pup is only two nights old is it not?” Kagome asked staring down at the tiny pup who she knew she would claim as her own. “Yes our pup,” Kaga growled softly in agreement.
“Yes our parents were killed, and we were worried that we would be unable to protect the young one,” she answered as Sesshomaru looked at Kagome in confusion. Just as the pup’s yokai rose in its sleep and it surrounded Kagome and Sesshomaru with it claiming them as its new parents. Too young for Kagome’s mask to affect it the pup had marked the closets adults of its species as its parents.
Smiling brightly at the pup Kagome made sure to reassure her, “you will now be a part of our pack, and we will protect the three of you. After all you are still many years away from mating age little one. Besides I think your little brother has claimed us as pack already.”
“Thank you Kagome, Lord Sesshomaru,” Kiaya said bowing down low with tears flowing from her eyes.
Kaga growled, “our pup should not treat us as such. If her baby brother is our pup then that makes her and her older brother our pups as well.” Kagome gathered the pup in her arms careful of the smaller pup. She knew the rest of her pack was watching them, but she couldn’t stop her instincts that demanded her to stop her pup’s tears. Maybe it was her condition that made her more likely to give in to the instincts she had been denying for years.
“You do not bow to me pup. I have claimed you as pack and your brother has claimed me as his mother. That makes you my pup as well, just like Shippo is my kit,” she growled lowly to make her point clearer. She had only added the part about Shippo at the end because she still did not want the others to know what she truly is. However to reassure her pup she knew that Kiaya needed to understand that she saw her as a pup, and as such no harm would come to her.
Besides Inu’s were a dying breed Sesshomaru wouldn’t deny her even if she hadn’t asked him first to accept them into their pack. Even if Inuyasha thought that he was Alpha she had been Alpha since she could subdue him and with Sesshomaru being more powerful than her he was her Alpha. Yet she remained Alpha female of their pack and as such she had the right to make her own decisions as long as they wouldn’t bring harm down upon their pack.
With that Kagome turned away from the pup and continued on the path they had been on. She knew if she had said any more to the pup at this moment that she would be dangerously close to truly marking the pup as hers. For now though she had to do with her beast and her words laying a claim on the pups. The rest of her pack surrounded her with Sesshomaru gently carrying the oldest pup in his arms. Somehow the arm that he had lost had ended up regrowing the first night that he had stayed with them, yet no one not even the great lord knew how it had happened.
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The next morning Kagome was woken by a male voice screaming, “Kiaya, Kiaya where are you,” the agony in his voice made her certain that it was her oldest pup crying out like this. The weather had been stormy lately, and not wanting to risk the pups getting sick the pack had set up two separate tents for the males and females, although Sesshomaru slept outside their tent to keep them safe. There were still too many of Naraku’s minions out there for them to truly feel safe yet even with him gone. Plus they now didn’t have to worry about being near Miroku as he slept since his wind tunnel left as soon as Naraku took his final breath.
Side stepping Kiaya who was still asleep Kagome slowly sat up with the young pup who had fallen asleep in her arms. Considering how much energy she had used yesterday to save the pups as well as fight Naraku Kagome had fallen asleep the night before right after camp was set up, so the pup still needed to be named. As she careful opened the tent she found Sesshomaru crouched right outside the flap growling softly as his yokai flared around the eldest pup trying to calm him. However his eyes were bright red and he seemed to be fighting against the oppression of the yokai to head to where she was sure he could smell his sister’s scent. The moment she had stepped out though both males attention was on her with Sesshomaru’s golden eyes warning her to stay back, but the eldest pup seemed to calm as he looked into her arms.
“It’s alright young one you are safe with us,” Kagome said soothingly taking a step forward and immediately being stopped by Sesshomaru. She had no clue what happened, but the eldest pup seemed to completely lose all of his aggression at watching Sesshomaru protect her and their adopted pup.
“Stay back Kagome,” Sesshomaru growled at her lightly, but instead of being frightening it soothed her and Kaga. Both of their basic instincts were telling them that he was protecting them and not wanting to harm them. His attitude really had changed from the cold heartless demon she had first met and it was all thanks to Rin.
Instead of listening to him she approached the now silent pup making sure the young pup in her arms was always in his line of sight. She knew that many pups were soothed seeing an adult female with a pup because the mothering instincts they gave off made all pups feel loved. It was obvious to her though that because to the rest of her pack she appeared human they had probably begun to think she had gone insane yesterday when she ignored the Inu demons about staying away from the pups. Then again they were used to her adopting strays by now, and the fact that children of any species were automatically drawn to her and soothed by her presence.
“My name is Kagome pup, what is yours?” she asked him as she kneeled down to his height. By the sharp intact of breathe behind her she knew addressing him as a pup was a mistake since by his height alone he seemed to be around her supposed age. Truthfully if she herself hadn’t finished her aging as a human she would still be a pup, but even though she was young in years her mind was that of a demoness.
“It is Mitsuo Lady Kagome,” he replied as he looked between her and Sesshomaru. Blushing lightly she wondered if he had sensed something yesterday from her yokai.
Turning towards Sesshomaru hoping he would say something to Mitsuo she blushed deeper as she saw his deer in the headlights expression. In his eyes though there was something else that called to the basic parts of her nature, but she thought she had imagined it when his expression turned to one of amusement. Instead of helping her out of the predicament he raised an elegant eyebrow in his regal fashion as if telling her that she could explain everything on her own.
Huffing slightly in exasperation she turned her attention to Mitsuo hoping there was a valid reason that he was calling her Lady Kagome. After all jumping to conclusions usually brought people into messes, and he could be similar to Miroku and only calling her that because he had good manners. “Why do you call me Lady, Mitsuo?”
“I thought it was obvious,” he responded with an eye raised, when he was met with blank stares though he elaborated, “even if you and Lord Sesshomaru are not a mated couple, my younger brother has chosen you both as his new parents. That in a way has made you a lady in the eyes of demon society.”
Sighing slightly in relief Kagome knew his answer made sense, and the way he worded it made her realize that Mitsuo hadn’t realized last night that she was a demoness. Otherwise he would have said in the eyes of our society instead of demon society. Looking up at Sesshomaru and realizing that she was being called a lady because of her ties to him she wished that it was because they were a mated couple for a brief moment.
“Yes I would like it as well,” a voice stated in her head making her jump because it wasn’t Kaga instead it was a husky male voice. However when she tried to send thoughts to it they just bounced around empty. Instead of dwelling on it though, she returned her attention to the males who were both looking at her in concern.
“I’m fine,” she said in answer to their gazes. “Kiaya is in the tent behind us asleep if you would like to go see her Mitsuo,” she added in a tone that she knew mothers used with their pups when they needed to speak with another adult in private. With a bright smile he bounded into the tent and out of sight.
With him out of the way Kagome turned her full attention to Sesshomaru. Although she knew he wanted to speak with her about the pups just as much as she did he instead turned and started to walk further into the woods. Knowing that their conversation was better left unheard by the others Kagome followed him without protest. She knew she would have to act ignorant about many things in the Inu customs because the time wasn’t right yet to reveal he true self. At the same time though she worried that he might have realized that her scent was fake last night, or worse he might not think her fit to raise the young pup.
“Calm down Kagome,” his voice growled huskily in her ear as his arms wrapped around her. Blinking up at him because he had torn her out of her thoughts she gasped at the sight before them. Having been so preoccupied she hadn’t heard the water rushing as they approached and the sheer beauty of the natural clearing and waterfall in front of her made her worries feel like they were washing away. “You do not want to upset the pup.”
“Hiroaki,” she said out of thin air knowing instantly that it was the best name for their pup.
Instead of asking her what she was on about he smiled knowing instantly what she had meant by a seemingly random thought. The pup with his golden hair just seemed to fit the name Hiroaki meaning widespread brightness. She couldn’t wait to see what color his eyes would turn out to be when they changed.
“A fitting name for him, but how do you know you have the right to name the pup?” he asked her with a smirk. Again she knew she had made a mistake, but she also knew she could easily bluff herself out of it.
Turning to him with a smirk of her own she raised her eyebrow, “you don’t think an educated woman like myself wouldn’t do her best to learn a little bit about demon culture, do you? Especially when I am around so many demons on a daily basis,” she asked as if it was the silliest thing in the world.
The look in his eyes told her he knew she wasn’t telling him the whole truth, but at the same time he seemed resigned that it would be all she would tell him. He seemed to instead be considering what he should respond to her with, and being the usual masked demon she wondered why he seemed so unravelled in her presence. To anyone else, except maybe Rin and his own mother, it wouldn’t be obvious yet the way he was acting seemed to have no other explanation. Even though he was unravelled he still seemed to be in control of the situation, but out of control at the same time.
A sudden mischievous look brightened his eyes and he took a step towards her making her realize for the first time that after his initial contact he had moved away from her. Now though he was moving closer to her like a demon stalking his prey, but not the kind that he was considering as food. Instead his expression made her completely freeze in her tracks, and a brief flashback entered her mind that she had to fight back so that it wouldn’t affect her. She knew because of demon curses it was unlikely that he would remember that, and she didn’t want it to change her scent.
“You know Kagome,” he said purring out her name, “the pup has claimed us as his parents, and I wonder if you taste as good as you look,” he added with a husky quality to his voice.
She was so mesmerized by him that she wanted to tell him that he’d just have to taste her to find out, but Hiroaki woke up crying ruining the moment. Blushing brightly Kagome ran back towards camp with the pup hoping that at least one of the tents was empty for her to hide in to feed the pup. Times like this made her wish that she knew more about newborn pups because she wasn’t sure how she would explain to them that she was able to feed the pup on her own. If there hadn’t been a situation like this before she could claim that it was part of the pups magic when it had claimed her and Sesshomaru as his parents, but she wasn’t sure if that would work.