InuYasha Fan Fiction ❯ A Tale of Kagsha ❯ Rushed Progress ( Chapter 7 )

"Sango. Sango... Wake up!" Miroku shook Sango's shoulder, calling her name.

Sango slowly awoke, tired from what she'd seen from Kagome. She turned to Miroku with unshed tears glittering in her eyes. He backed away slightly, afraid that he'd hurt her somehow. He definitely didn't expect her to suddenly hug him and say, "Oh, Miroku. I talked to Kagome."

"Sango. You know Kagome is dead." While he still had a hard time accepting it, he knew that facing the truth would make them begin the journey to acceptance and recovery.

"I know. But she contacted me. And showed me what happened the day she left for good. Kagsha is Inuyasha's daughter, but he was full demon when they mated and she never gave him a chance to figure out what happened between them." Sango let go of the monk and smiled sadly. "Why'd you wake me?"

"Kagsha can hear and see the shards, and after putting two and two together, I figured her looks are a byproduct of Inuyasha. Shippo put it together by scent and Kaede just knew. Only Inuyasha doesn't know." Miroku watched the demon slayer for her reaction.

"Inuyasha never sees anything that's in front of his face. What's going to happen to us, Miroku? Hope that Kagome would return was the only thing that kept us together. Will we drift apart now?" Sango drew her knees up to her chest in an expression of hopelessness. Miroku just reached over and hugged her, wondering what the future held.

Outside, Inuyasha lay sprawled out on his favorite branch high in the Goshinboku. Shippo lay on his stomach, purring contentedly in his sleep. Inuyasha took a deep breath and smiled in the certainty that his pack was safe. Sango, Miroku, and Kaede were in the hut. Shippo was with him, Kagsha slept a few feet below him, sprawled out on her own favorite branch, and the mangy wolf Kouga had gone as soon as Kaede had patched him up. Apparently, he'd been running around the village looking for Kagome when his shards had first assaulted Kagsha's ears. Inuyasha had to wonder about her. Kagsha seemed so familiar that he couldn't help but wonder if he'd seen her before. Shippo suddenly gave a little whine and Inuyasha comforted the kit before falling into the first good night's sleep since the time Kagome had been there.

The next morning, Inuyasha awoke to find Shippo gone and Kagsha's branch empty. He leapt off his branch in shock to look for his pack, only to find them in Kaede's hut, eating stew and discussing the Shikon shards. Kagsha looked to Inuyasha and asked him, "So when do we leave? We have to find the rest of the shards, right?"

Inuyasha looked at the rest of his pack, remembered the days when Kagome was there, then answered, "We leave in an hour." before turning away from the hut and smiling at the prospect of another shard hunt.

Inuyasha returned to Kaede's hut in precisely one hour, only to find the rest of his pack waiting for him. He smiled slightly and turned to Kagsha expectantly. She grinned before concentrating on the surrounding countryside. After a few minutes, she turned to the east and said, "There's a shard over there. Maybe thirty miles away."

The group looked at her in awe and Shippo leaped from Miroku's shoulder to Kagsha's before asking, "How do you know?"

"Isn't it obvious, runt? She can hear it." Inuyasha said before turning east and leaping away. "Let's see you keep up!" He directed the parting shot at Kagsha who smiled and told Shippo to hold on before running away at top speed, barely slower than Inuyasha. Miroku began to run before Sango pulled up alongside astride Kilala and told him to get on.

"Kagsha?" Shippo asked in a small voice.

"Hmm?" Kagsha reached over her shoulder and cradled the fox kit in her arms.

"If Kagome was my mom, what does that make you?" He asked in a little voice.

"I guess that makes you my brother, Shippo. My older brother." Kagsha answered before smiling at the worried kit. She'd been able to sense his anxiety and questioning attitude for some time now and was glad to have been able to talk about it.

Shippo snuggled into her arms and said, "Good." before nodding off to sleep. Kagsha grinned and tucked him into the fold of her haori over her t-shirt and continued to run. She was level with Inuyasha now. The day continued much the same. Besides some breaks for lunch and slight rest, the pack covered an extraordinary amount of land that day. If it hadn't been for the fact that it was almost nightfall, they would have continued in to fight the demon who had the shard. As it was, they were only a few miles from him now.

The next morning, Inuyasha and Miroku woke to an empty camp. Before they even had the chance to get flustered, they noticed a scratched message on a nearby tree where Kagsha had slept the night before. "We're fine. Bathing. Don't look for us. Be back soon." Inuyasha 'feh'ed and jumped back to his tree. Before Miroku had taken one step, Inuyasha's calm voice cut through him. "One more step and your Wind Tunnel will be the least of your problems, monk." He hastily retreated and began to meditate wondering if Inuyasha was being protective of Kagsha because he'd figured out she was his daughter.

When Kagsha had woken up, she had been hot and bothered. She felt dirty and needed a bath. Sango woke a few minutes later and when Kagsha asked, was delighted to accompany her to the hot spring. Shippo, who'd slept curled up on Kagsha's stomach begged to be taken along. In the hot spring, Sango began to question Kagsha about her mother. Truthfully, Kagsha could only tell her a few things because Kagome hadn't changed since she'd been in this time period last. All she had to add were stray facts about her mother's career as an author and a few tidbits about her family: Souta was studying journalism in college, her grandmother was still alive and well and her great-grandfather had passed away four years ago. Sango filled Kagsha in with details of the packs journeys to find the Shikon shards, encounters with Naraku, and other stories about Kagome. By the time they were ready to return to the guys, Kagsha was close to Sango and vice versa.

"Little Sister?" Shippo hugged Kagsha's neck as they walked towards Inuyasha and Miroku. "When are you going to tell Inuyasha that he's your father?"

Sango raised an eyebrow at Shippo for his pet name for Kagsha before snickering at the thought of Inuyasha finding out he had a daughter. Kagsha just shrugged and answered Shippo with an honest, "I don't know, Big Brother. I just don't know."

Just before they entered camp, Kagsha stiffened momentarily then began to run screaming out Inuyasha's name. Kagsha, Sango, and Shippo almost collided with Inuyasha and Miroku as they raced into camp. Kagsha grabbed her stakes from the base of the tree where she'd carved the message before saying, "Whatever's got the shards is coming fast. He has a lot of power, Inuyasha." As they all turned their attention to the onrushing enemy, Kagsha whispered out, "I'm scared."