I don't own Inuyasha, nor will I profit from it.
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They had stopped for the night in an abandoned house, a mansion really. It appears that the people that had once lived there had packed up and moved north in an attempt to escape the local conflict that had been brewing in the region. A few choice words exchanged by Sesshomaru to the two seperate groups had settled the issues before they had exploded into all-out war, although it would take time for the word to travel and the people to return home.
"You did a good job today. I'm proud of you, and the way you've changed. Used to, your way of settling an issue would have resulted in both armies covering the ground in blood," remarked Kagome as she settled into the bed, smiling up at him.
They had been mated for nearly one hundred years now, and she still looked every bit as beautiful as the day that he had taken her as mate, a little bit older though perhaps. If anyone was to make an educated guess at her age right now, they might be tempted to say twenty or twenty one. She was not demon nor hanyou, but thans to her miko powers and the mating bond they shared, her age had been extended to match his, and her aging progress as well.
"Hmph. I couldn't let you settle the issue. We can't have the two armies exchanging love notes and flowers with each other. If they grew soft then the small fry demons of this region would find them easy prey," replied Sesshomaru with a slight grin tugging at his lips.
Kagome's cheeks flushed with embarrasement, before her eyes narrowed. He knew that he was in trouble then, but felt no trepidation, only excitement and anticipation. Her hand shot out to grab ahold of his hair. As he was yanked into the bed, a full feral grin spread across his lips.
* * *
Jaken scurried outside as the sounds of the two mates making love invaded his ears. Although he had come to respect and espically fear Kagome as much as he did Sesshomaru, he was decidely...uncomfortable around the two of them when they were intimate. To put it in another manner, he couldn't stand it at all.
Eyes closed and nose still wrinkling from the smells those two produced, he didn't notice the demon standing behind him until he heard a twig snap.
Turning around, he gawked in suprise at the sight of the demon girl. A similar creature to one of Naraku's incarnations, she was definitly a void girl, but appeared to be in her eighteenth or twentieth year, instead of the girl half the age that Naraku employed. Like Naraku's minion, this one also had a mirror held out in front of her.
"Jaken," the voice said, startling him again. The voice was also very similar to the little girl.
"Who...who are you? What do you want?" asked Jaken with sweat dripping down his slimey face.
"I am Kanna, reborn from the void from whence I came, from where I once was incarnated, and from whence I had returned to when I ceased to exist in this world the first time," spoke the void girl as if in trance.
Although it made sense, it was still so much information that Jaken found his head spinning.
"As to your other question. I have much work still left do in this world, and that begins with you," she said, her voice totally void of emotions. Her mirror raised, and Jaken felt strange as a blue aura began to leak out of him.
"Sto...I will...hugh..," muttered the toad demon as he feebly tried to raise his staff in defense. It was of no use though, and it only took less than a minute for his soul to be absorbed into the mirror.
As soon as the blue aura faded, a red glow enveloped Jaken's body. Rather than falling to the ground, it remained standing upright as a strange demonic aura enveloped it. Kanna shielded her eyes just before a explosion shook the ground beneath her feet, the little toad demon vanishing in a ball of brilliant white light.
* * *
The two of them had just finished when Sesshomaru sensed the strong demonic aura outside. Searching with his senses, he could not find his faithful retainer anywhere nearby. It's as if the little toad demon had simply vanished. Kagome lay sleeping beneath him, so he got up and threw on his basic layer of clothing, grabbing his swords as he headed outside.
He was just out of the door when the explosion blinded him for a moment. As the light faded, he lowered his eyes, and they went almost round when his sight returned. Having been awakened when the explosion occured, Kagome, now standing next to him, gasped.
* * *
He felt...like him again.
Jaken opened his eyes, and the first thing upon doing so was to raise his hand and look at it. His original clawed hand, with the wings attached underneath. He now looked taller, felt taller, and felt normal.
Felt so for the first time in ages.
It had happened.
The curse had been broken. He was finally free.
His gaze moved from himself first over to Sesshomaru and Kagome, and then to Kanna. He mouth two words which conveyed everything that he was thinking right now.
"Thank you," came his now beautiful voice.
* * *
The bird demon standing before her was restored to his original form, and the unjust deed had now been reversed.
"Naraku had wronged many when he lived on the earth. Transforming you into a toad demon, cursing you to walk the fields of Musashi as as captive within the body and soul of a toad demon, was one wrong of many. Absorbing your mate into himself, and re-creating her to serve as my sister as his minion was also wrong. But, I cannot bring her back," explained Kanna.
His head lowered for a moment, thinking of his lost mate. It came up again though, and now he was smiling. At her.
"I am void, I have no emotion," said Kanna, already knowing what he was thinking.
"Naraku cursed me and my mate. If he took you as a minion, then it's probable that he cursed you as well," replied the bird demon, coming to stand mere inches from Kanna.
Raising his hands, he placed one on both of her cheeks.
He saw a brief flash of embarrasement rise in her cheeks, before it was gone.
"As I thought...," he whispered to himself.
He flooded her body with his demonic aura, quickly finding what the problem was. He glanced to his side, and found the eyes of his former master.
"Sesshomaru, the Tensiega...," he called....
* * *
At the same time that the bird demon spoke, so too did Tensiega call to him from it's sheath. Needing no more prompting, he withdrew the sword and dashed at Kanna. The sword telling him what needed to be done, he slashed through the void girl, the sword glowing blue as it did so.
* * *
For some untold reason, Kanna felt dread when the sword was swinging torwards her.
But she was void, she did not feel emotions.
The sword sliced through her.
It felt as if a great weight had been lifted off of her shoulders.
She felt...free....
* * *
Jaken smiled as a blue glow enveloped her body, with the blue aura beginning to seep and gather above her.
Finally, the spirit demon left her body, and dissolved into the afterworld, returned from whence it had came by Sesshomaru's sword.
He looked deep into her eyes, which appeared lost.
"Kanna, you are free," he whispered into her ear.
* * *
"Free...," she whispered back. Her lips trembled as she was flooded with emotions. Love, hate, sadness, grief, happiness, hope. But, one feeling came into her mind more than any other at the moment.
Leaning forward, she planted her lips onto Jaken's, a searing kiss ensuing.
* * *
Kagome had been speechless during the whole time this was happening, but her brain caught up to her right by the time the two of them started kissing.
Blanket wrapped around her naked form, she stalked forward just far enough to grab Sesshomaru and pull him back into the hut.
* * *
He loved the kiss, loved every moment of it. The first kiss since he had been cursed.
This woman had given everything back to him, and more. A hope, at last, for his future.
"Kanna...will you be my mate?" he asked, rubbing her nose with his own.
* * *
She didn't know what to think, no less gawking at actually being able to think about what all had happened.
But, it was all thanks to him that she could finally live and be free.
"Yes, I will, Jaken," replied Kanna.
The moon shone radiant high in the sky, as the two of them kissed again.
The End