Eye of the Strom by KutieKookie07

What happened next.

It was almost over. Naraku had been defeated 2 years ago, but he had used his last few seconds alive to hide his part of the jewel. Unfortunately, when Kagome and Inuyasha had combined the Windscar with Kagome's sacred arrow to destroy him, Naraku had possessed almost all of the jewel. After that, the search had begun all over again. On the positive side, after 2 years, the jewel was nearly completed. There were only a few shards left to be found.

Over the past 5 years, the group had changed a lot. Sango, now 23, had aged beautifully. She had a slender, fit athlete's body that practically radiated feminism. She was now a master in almost every weapon and fighting technique known in Japan and some in the foreign country of Europe. Kilala had never once strayed from her side, but she was older now, and although a demon, not as strong as she used to be. She was still strong and it would be many years before she died, but the years had weakened the faithful cat demon, and they all knew it. Miroku, now 25, was still a lecherous monk, but at the urgings of Kagome and Inuyasha, he had long since professed his love for Sango. The only difference was that now, he groped Sango even more frequently to make up for all of the women he was missing out on. After his wind tunnel had disappeared, Miroku had felt strangely vulnerable and had commited himself to building up his holy power and learning fighting techniques from Sango and wandering monks. Shippo was still an innocent young fox demon, but fighting demons all of the time had aged him somewhat on the inside and he was much more mature. Although, he was still little enough to play tricks on Inuyasha with his fox demon magic. It wasn't likely that any of them would ever grow tired of that. Inuyasha was still a bit of a jerk, but it was in his nature and no one blamed him for it. Everyone had to admit that he kept things interesting. His temper had cooled somewhat, but not comepletely. Nobody minded though. Afterall, how scary was a calm Inuyasha. *shudder*

Kagome, however, had changed the most. She was now 20 years old and years of battle and training had changed her from an innocent young girl to a well-formed young woman. Even Inuyasha sometimes had to fight to keep his hands off of her. Of this, however, Kagome was blissfully unaware. She knew that her training had kept her fit and in shape, but she was completely oblivious of the lustful glances that men gave her. Usually knowledge is power, but in this case, ignorance was definitely bliss for Kagome. Her form had filled out nicely with curves and muscles in all the right places. She had the hourglass figure that so many women (and men) would have killed for. Her hair had darkened to a deep onyx color, that turned a dark red in certain lights, and now reached her midback. Her eyes had sharpened, betraying an intelligence that most humans did not possess, and caused most of her opponents to think twice before going up against her. Kagome had finished high school a long time ago, but decided not to go to college, instead choosing to stay in the feudal era with her friends. It was a hard decision to make, and she would certainly miss living at home with her family, but she knew that the fuedal era was her home now. Plus it wasn't like she couldn't just go through the well to get home, when Inuyasha let her that is. Years of experience had taught her that dog demons could be extremely possessive. Her school uniform had been discarded and she usually sported jeans and a t-shirt now. Tonight, however, was an unusually warm summer night, and she was wearing red capri pajamas with a red short sleeved top.

She sat cross-legged on the ground while Kyoko, an abandoned leopard demon whom she'd rescued from Naraku, rested his head in her lap. She'd found him while searching Naraku's left over castle for any booby traps or remains. The helpless leopard demon had been found cowering in the castle dungeons, and Kagome had immediately taken to him. Inuyasha, being his usual self, had been completely against it, saying that they didn't need an extra group member. He had been easily taken care of with a few well-placed sits. Shippo had been a bit harder to placated. It had taken a few days for the fox demon to be convinced that he wasn't being replaced. The group still wasn't sure whether he was Naraku's incarnation or not, but Kagome trusted him and they trusted her. For this, Kyoko would be forever grateful.

At the moment, Inuyasha was leaning against the base of a tree instead of taking his usual place on top of one. Miroku sat against another tree while he held Sango cuddled sleepily in his lap, her face against his chest and her hands curled into tight little fists. Shippo was snoring lightly on top of Kirara, who kept her eyes wide and unblinking on the night-time sky, as though waiting for something. The group sat around the campfire in silence, while the flames crackled and flared as though in warning. They rose unusually high a moment before the great lord of the west appeared in the middle of the clearing.

As was to be expected, Inuyasha lept immediately to his feet and pulled out Tesseiga. Miroku tensed and got ready to wield his staff, while Sango sat up straight and reached for her Hiraikotsu. Kirara let out a low growl, careful not to wake Shippo. Kagome and Kyoko were the only ones who remained calm. Kagome knew from experience that the lord of the west wouldn't kill without reason, and they had done nothing to anger him lately. Kyoko sensed that Kagome felt no fear or nervousness, just a faint sense of curiosity, so he saw no reason to panic.

"What the hell do you want Sesshoumaru? Come to take Tessaiga again?" Inuyasha challenged.

"Be silent, half-breed. It is not you that I have come to converse with."

With those words, Sesshoumaru turned his head until his incredible golden eyes landed on Kagome. Naturally, everyone in the group tensed nad inched closer, fully prepared to protect her. At this, Sesshoumaru felt the urge to roll his eyes and chuckle. As if these pathetic beings could stop the great Lord Sesshoumaru.

"Miko."

Kagome tilted her head to show that she was listening.

"I am leaving soon, to take care of some business. You will care for my charge in my absense."

Kagome met the steady gaze of the lord of the wests' unblinkingly, and then, to everyone's amazement including Lord Sesshoumaru's, she beamed at him, giving the lord her brightest smile.

"Rin! Oh really! Oh, I'd love to! She's so adorable! How long are you gonna be gone? Do I get to keep her for a while? Does she remember me? Oh, what kind of games does she like? Does she..."

If Sesshoumaru knew how to laugh, he most certainly would have.

"Apparently, the years have not done much to cease your irritating nonsense, Miko." He commented dryly.

Kagome stopped talking and raised a delicate eyebrow. "Apparently."

Sesshouamru smirked.

"I will return in the morning with Rin, but I warn you Miko, do not allow any harm to come to my charge." , he said menacingly.

The smile disappeared from Kagome's face and a serious look took its place.

" No harm will come to Rin. I swear to you Lord Sesshoumaru. I will guard her with my life."

Sesshoumaru stared at her, as if assessing the truth of her words. Then, he nodded sharply and turning quickly, disappearing into the trees as suddenly as he'd appeared.

The group sat quietly for a few moments before Inuyasha exploded.

"What the hell was that wench!"

Kagome sighed and replaced the faint smile that had appeared on her face when Sesshoumaru left with a look of fierce determination. Rin was the most adorable child she'd ever met, and she'd be damned if Inuyasha's aversion to Sesshoumaru was going to keep her away from the little cutie.

"Inuyasha.", she growled theateningly.

Over the years, Inuyasha had finally started to mature and had figured out when to yell and when to shut up. He figured this was one of those shut up times. After giving Kagome a look of deep disgust, he placed tessaiga back in its sheath before turning around to sit back against the tree again with a deep huff of indignation.

The rest of the group was staring at Kagome with looks of obvious curiosity plain on their faces. Kagome simply lifted an eyebrow, gently pushed Kyoko off of her lap, and climbed into her sleeping back to sleep. Kyoko blinked and tilted his head before curling up against her back and going to sleep.

Thr group shared one unanimous blink before turning to look at eachother. They silently came to an agreement to ignore this for now and get some sleep. They would question Kagome in the morning.

While Kagome and her friends slept peacefully, a few miles away, the great Lord Sesshoumaru was in turmoil.

'Damn her! Damn that filthy human! How dare she reduce the great Lord Sesshoumaru to lying'

'It wasn't a lie. You do have some business to take care of and you are leaving Rin in her care.'

'Be silent. I have neither the patience nor the time for your foolishness.'

'You don't have time for yourself?'

'Damn inner voice, never shuts up.'

'I told you not to call me that. I am your inner youki. Calling me your inner voice is just so...demeaning.'

'Hmph. Get used to it. I'll address you by your so called title when you shut up long enough to deserve it.'

'...'

'Long enough for you?'

'Aghhh!'

'We seem to have gotten off topic.'

'What topic?'

'The one concerning your infactuation with the miko.'

'...excuse me?'

'It won't do you any good to deny it. We both know you're letting the miko take care of Rin simply to have an excuse to see her. We also both know that your "business" will only take a few days and you're planning on leaving Rin with the miko for much longer. Do you deny it?'

'...'

'That's what I thought.'

'...'

'Hey, are you listening?'

'...'

'Sesshoumaru!'

'...'

'Arghhh!'