Jiyuu じゆう。(Freedom)

Chapter One- In Hiding (Prologue)

Summary: The year is 2030, and Japan is at war with the United Prefectures of Russia and Korea, the UPRK. Action is taken, and blood stains hands. Ripped apart by war, tormented physically and mentally, can two spouses reunite, and live the life they once lived?

"Hiroichi, shut those blinds!" The young raven haired woman hissed lowly, grabbing her son by the shoulder and steering him toward the stairs. "What has your father told you about coming upstairs?!"

The ten-year-old pouted and huffed, blowing his bangs from his eyes. "He says to stay in the basement. But mother, I'm tired of staying in the basement. I want to go out and play like I used to with Ryu and Toshio."

Kagome urged the child down the stairs, closing the door behind them. "You'll be able to go out soon enough. Don't worry, love." There was hope in her voice, despite the weariness present on her face. "Sesshomaru, he was…" She began softly, her breath catching when he grabbed the young boy roughly by the arm. "Don't."

The youkai's golden eyes cut to her, then lowered to his son, melting. Releasing the pup, he stroked his head carefully, "Hiroichi," he began in a low, reprimanding voice.

"I don't like it down here, father." He quickly interrupted, adding a sniffle to keep from being punished. "It hurts my nose." The little nose he spoke of wiggled as emphasis.

"If you kept your mother's spell in place-"

"That makes me feel human."

Sesshomaru licked his lips, as though preparing to say something, then sighed, closing his eyes. "You are too much like your mother, boy, with your excuses. You will stay down here until I say otherwise. Understood, pup?"

Though his lower lip quivered, the boy nodded and sat down, slumping in the corner. Head leaning against the wall, he watched his mother as she played with his younger sister. 'Rinny doesn't even understand what's happening, does she?'

As peaceful as anyone could be in a time of war, the five year old sang her syllables to her mother, "A, I, u, e, o! Ka, ki, ku, ke, ko! Sa, shi, su, se, so!"

Trembling slightly as the little tike grew louder, Kagome whispered, "H-hey, Rinny. Let's play a game, k?"

"A game?" Rin asked ecstatically, leaning forward on her knees and staring at her mother through wide, glassy eyes.

"Let see who can sing the lowest, okay? Ta, chi, tsu, te to." She began lowly.

"Na, ni, nu, ne, no. Ha, hi, fu, he ho…" Rin spun around, singing softly as her mother had. Soon, her singing died off, and she stumbled in a clumsy circle, falling over in her brother's arms. "Oh, hello, Roichi."

A small smile twitched onto his face. "Hello, Rinny-love." He smirked when his sister huffed at the much hated nickname. "What is wrong, Rinny-love?"

Her tiny face scrunched up in annoyance. "Rin. Not Rinny-love."

"And why not?"

"Rinny-love was my baby name. Rin's a big girl now. Rin speak like father." Her little mouth spread wide in a yawn.

"You'll always be my Rinny-love." He pet her head and nuzzled his nose to hers, yawning in turn to her sleepy exhale. He covered his stomach when it grumbled and sighed as his sister drifted off against him. 'How long will we have to stay here?' His lashes fluttered against his cheek as he too slipped into a light slumber, the sounds of his sister and his snoring filling the eerily quiet basement.

Noting the tiredness in his wife's posture, Sesshomaru rose from the chair he sat in, and knelt beside her on the ground. "This will not last long, Kagome."

The miko pursed her lips in disbelief, her hand rising to rest on the hand he had placed on her shoulder. "But just how long will it, Sesshomaru? We can't keep them locked in here for much longer. They're children. Even if Hiroichi understands why we must, he's getting antsy. Rin's starting to realize that this isn't another game. She senses our feelings."

"They won't be here longer. I have been writing to my father."

"Your father? How did you manage to get a letter from here to Wonsan, Korea, Sesshomaru?" She pondered for a moment to herself, then gasped, terror in her eyes. "You haven't. Sesshomaru, you promised!"

"Shh." Sesshomaru covered her mouth gently with his hand. "I promised nothing."

Her eyes filled with tears as she pushed him away. "How could you? You could have been killed, and I never would have known. Sneaking out in the middle of the night, Sesshomaru! Really, are you a teenager?" She could practically feel another worry line crease her forehead. "Who…who is your medium?"

"Gatenmaru. He can be trusted. Now, as I was saying, my father has agreed to take the pups. He will wait on the Kanazawa beach with a small ship, and he will take the children away from here."

"My pups," her body shook. Her fingers wound themselves in his shirt. "D-don't do this to me, Sesshomaru. I can't be separated from them. I can't live not knowing where they are, if they made it."

Her husband cursed softly as she began to get hysterical. Holding her closer, he soothed, "You know father will not allow any harm to come to them."

"He is only one man."

"A demon."

Kagome bowed her head, shoulders tense. "One demon. One demon cannot protect two children. Should the ship go down, what will he do? How will he swim with Rin and Hiroichi? The war has been going on for four years, Sesshomaru. We haven't had the time to teach either of them to swim."

"Should that happen, father would convert to his true form, place them upon his back, and continue. If you would like to go along…"

"W-what do you mean? You aren't coming?"

"I must protect our home. I must see to it that Shippo, Inuyasha, and many others make it out alive. My initial plan was to send you and the pups off with my father. However, I had also planned to tell you the morning that we left, so that you would not have time to object."

"Don't make me leave your side."

Sesshomaru strung his fingers through her dark hair, rubbing out the stress induced knots in her back. "You cannot be with me and the pups."

"You can't be left here alone. At-at least the pups will have each other and Inutaisho. I want to stay with you."

A sigh escaped his throat, but he had to admit that a part of him was happy that his mate would not be leaving his side any time soon. "Inuyasha and the others shall join us in two days by midnight. At dawn, we shall grab the children and make our way out. With only the abandoned subways as transportation, it shall take quite some time to reach Kanazawa from Toyama. However, once we reach the small town of Okiba, we shall be safe to continue at youkai speed."

Kagome nodded, twiddling a piece of her mate's hair in between her fingers. "And what will we do once the children are safe in Korea?"

"We shall find a way to take our home back. Once we have succeeded, we shall retrieve our children and continue our lives as though this had never happened."

"Oh, okay…you know what you did was dangerous, right? They could have captured you while you were venturing out to send notes to your father. Captured you, killed you, dragged you into the war. They're drafting now, you know. They're running out of eager young soldiers."

"You worry far too much. Any troubles that I ran into, I quickly dealt with."

"I'm your wife. And I'm a mother. I'm good for nothing but worrying."

Sesshomaru smirked devilishly, a thought flashing in his head that was quite inappropriate for the moment. "When this has all passed, remind This Sesshomaru to remind you of the many other things you are good for."

Flushing brilliantly, she swatted his chest playfully. "Not the moment."

"Yes. I know that. I-" His eyes opened wide as the ground shook. Whistles sounded through the air, followed by the terrifying sounds of bombs crashing, people screaming, and the dying moaning their last breath. Darting forward, and pulling Kagome with him, he laid her atop the children, and then shielded her body with his. "Keep your head down!" he growled at her when she raised her head.

Startled awake, Rin began to whimper, then wail, thrashing to get free from beneath her brother. Hiroichi blinked his sleepy eyes, trying to hold her down. "Rinny, it's fine. I'm here, Rinny." Helplessly, Kagome wrapped her arms around her children, keeping tucked under Sesshomaru. Knowing that nothing she could do would calm the child at the moment, she held them both tighter and began to sob silently. 'I'm so sorry, Rin, that I can't comfort you.'

At the feeling of her mate's strong hands stroking her head, she calmed slightly. His lips pressed to her forehead, then his neck to her face as he leaned down to growl soothingly to his pups. Nuzzling her mate's neck, Kagome kissed his pulse tenderly, gratefully while he finished calming their smaller pup. Her head leaning against her mate, she prayed for her children's safety, then her mate's, then her family's and friends', and last but not least, her own. The bombing had begun at 7:00 pm, and when it ended, at 7:32, Kagome was fast asleep along with her children, and Sesshomaru, though exhausted from sleepless weeks, kept watch over his family.

Sesshomaru waited patiently from Kagome to return from the upper rooms with the pups' clothing. She had been told not to go, that he would handle it himself, but stubborn as a mule, she'd objected. So here he was, worrying about her, whether something was going on that, for some reason or another, he couldn't hear. Merely seconds from going after her, his right leg twitched anxiously. He breathed out an unknowingly held breath of relief when she opened the door to the basement, closed it gently, and trekked down.

"Oi, wench, took you long enough to-" A sharp glare from the male of the house quickly shut up the half demon.

"Oh, Inuyasha, ever the hotheaded one, hm?" Sesshomaru nearly smiled at the lightness of her voice. It almost reminded him of how she had sounded before the war, before the death and pain. He accepted the bags she had packed and moved to place them in the corner.

The hanyou, now known as Inuyasha, blushed, bowing his head. "You know me, Kagome."

Shaking her head, she sat a warm cup of ramen into his hands. "Multitasking, I managed to make you that. Koga, I got you a bag of potato chips, Ayame, I've got rice balls for you. Shippo, I managed to find a sucker for you to have."

Shippo, a high spirited, red headed teen, averted his eyes but took the candy none the less. "I'm not a kid anymore." He protested even as he suckled the candy.

"I forget sometimes." She replied softly, ruffling his hair. Kneeling before her children, she set down two cups of juice and two bowls of oden.

"Thank you, mother." They beamed at her before digging in.

Sesshomaru arched a brow, leading her to sit in his chair. "Is that what took you so long, woman? Cooking?"

"No. I warmed all of that up, really quick, actually. I just wanted to get some valuables…" She trailed off before clearing her throat. "I wish we hadn't had to wake them so early." She said, referring to her children.

"They may rest as we walk. They should eat now. We will not have time to stop and allow them to eat many times." He paused, turning to survey the room. "Have you all got your things in hand?"

"Course, fluff-butt. We're ready. Are you, the pups, and Kagome?"

Sesshomaru inclined his head in a slight nod, looking to Kagome. "Are you prepared to leave this home?"

Biting her lip, she looked around the dank basement. 'I won't miss this house.' What had once been filled with memories of anniversaries, birthdays, pup conception, and births…was now filled with heart wrenching horror tales. She didn't want to miss this place. She refused to, but she knew that she would. "It is time to leave the past in the past."

"We are only leaving the past for now. We will return."

Her head tipped as she once again observed the room, a melancholy smile in place. "I hope so, Sesshou."

Sesshomaru stroked her cheek. She didn't deserve what the cruel world was doing to her. No one did, but his mate, his Kagome, she was too pure for such stress. But there was no time to ponder that. They needed to run over the check list one last time. "Shippo."

"I'm on it."

-

KNOCK KNOCK

Life halted in the basement at the loud knocks, which sounded more like banging. It couldn't be anyone they knew, for they had all arrived, and knew not to knock on the door, especially not so early. So it could only be the soldiers. Kagome stiffened as she saw Sesshomaru start toward the stairs. "Are you insane?" She whispered harshly, running to him and grabbing his shoulder. "They're looking for men, aren't they? Inuyasha just said that he saw them drag off three men, one of them Gatenmaru, on his way here. I'll go."

"I will not allow that."

"They won't do anything. I'm only a woman. Trust me, Sesshomaru."

The youkai froze at the louder knocks that followed her words. His eyes searched hers, and he stepped back. "I will follow you if you do not return in five seconds."

"Alright. I have three minutes." She corrected him, tiptoeing up the stairs. Straightening her spine as she reached the door, she forced her fear down, and opened the door, bowing. "Good evening."

The four soldiers quirked grins at each other, the one closest to her folding his arms. "My, and who are you, little one?"

Swallowing, she folded her arms over her chest in an attempt to hide her body from their greedy eyes. "Higurashi Kagome…Third sector." She recalled the sector they had given her according to her birth certificate.

"Are you here alone?"

"I have my two children, sir." She needed to speed this up. Sesshomaru's aura was skyrocketing with worry and anger. "Ahem, was there a reason you came here, sir, if I may ask?"

"We need to search your house," The second stepped forward, leaning toward her.

Taking an unconscious step back, Kagome breathed, "Why? I-if I may ask?"

He leaned closer to her, their bodies almost touching, their breath mingling. She could scent the alcohol on him. "You may not ask."

"Don't you need papers or something? I need proof."

"Why? You got something to hide?"

"No." Her eyes narrowed in her upset, and she lost what manners she had left. "And evidently, you don't have any proof of permission, so you can get off my property." She snapped, shoving the male away.

Snarling, he ordered, "Grab the wench."

When she turned to run, the third male grabbed her by the arm, forcing it behind her back and holding her tight. "Call him."

"Who is him?"

"You know who the fuck he is." He pulled her arm further, chuckling when she gasped. "Call whatever male you have down there."

"L-let me go- augh." She felt a sudden flare of pain in her arm as it was jerked further.

Placing his mouth next to her ear, the male demanded, "Call. Him…or them."

Kagome clenched her eyes shut, her body tense. "No." She inhaled deeply as another swift jerk of her arm nearly snatched it out of its socket. And though she tried to hold it in, she screamed, "Sesshomaru!!!" Hot tears coursed down her face. 'Damnit, why couldn't I stay silent?!'

Immediately, he came through the door, his eyes as red as blood, his chest rising and falling heavily with each breath. Behind him were Inuyasha, carrying Hiroichi, then Shippo, carrying Rin, and finally Koga and Ayame.

"Got a whole busload of 'em, eh, little one?" The one holding her nuzzled her neck.

Sesshomaru fumed, preparing to step forward. Kagome whimpered. "I'm sorry, Sesshomaru. I-I didn't mean to call you."

"Release her." Rage pulsed through his veins. He could barely register that Kagome was still in the vicinity. The only thing on his mind was having them release her…if that even made sense.

The fourth soldier stood before him, sighing almost tiredly. "You're being drafted. You may come willingly, or I will force you personally."

"If I come, you will release my mate?"

"…Of course."

The crimson receding from his eyes, Sesshomaru looked to the soldier that held Kagome and growled warningly, and he nodded when she rushed to his side.

"Well, little one, we're taking your husband and the other males you have here. State your names. Nagasaki, write 'em down.'"

"Sesshomaru Yamada."

"Inuyasha Yamada."

"Shippo Sune."

"Koga Oka."

The fourth soldier, Nagasaki, arched a brow. "And him?" He nodded toward Hiroichi.

Kagome clenched her fists. She drew the line there. "You are not taking my son! He's 10 years old!" She took her child from Inuyasha, holding him tightly.

"Only have to be seven now. Seven and mentally able to hold a gun. Sorry, little one." The third cooed, smirking.

"Sorry, my ass!"

"Kagome, be silent." Sesshomaru snapped, berating her. She was liable to get herself killed speaking that way. "My son will remain with his mother."

The 1st soldier chuckled slightly. "No matter how many times you say it. It don't make it true." He turned to face the troops marching down the street. "And as strong as you may be, Yamada-dono, I highly doubt you can take on the 30 strongest men of Japan and Seceded Territories of China. What do you think?"

"Mate, take our pup inside."

"Make a move, wench, and we will rip the child from your arms."

"Take. Our. Pup. Inside."

"You've been warned."

Kagome held Hiroichi closer to her, her eyes darting back and forth between Sesshomaru and the soldier. After no more than five seconds, she sprinted toward her home, howling when she felt a hand wrap in her hair and force her to the ground. She heard her name being called, but disregarded it as she clung to her child, whom she could feel being pried from her eyes. 'Stop it! You can't take him!" Sesshomaru's loud roar let her know that he had been seized, and Inuyasha's, Shippo's, and Koga's growls told of their fate.

Ayame struggled against the soldier whom held her to help her friend. "Kagome!"

"Shut up!" A shoulder slammed the back of his gun against her skull, effectively knocking her out.

"Ayame!" Koga jerked roughly against the soldiers which held him back, and cursed just before he was suddenly rendered unconscious.

Kagome felt her son's claws scratch her face as he was snatched completely from her arms. "Hiroichi! Y-you give me back my son!" She swung her fist, and found herself thrown against the wall.

"Take the men away, quickly! This wench is a fighter!"

"Sesshomaru!"

'Be calm, Kagome. I will watch over him.'

'My baby.' She sobbed, slumping in the soldier's arms. 'They ripped him from my arms.'

'Shh.' He tried to sooth, but it wasn't the same for her. He wasn't there kissing her, stroking her, growling gently, calmly. No, instead he was being carted off with their friends and ten-year-old son.

'Sesshomaru! Come back, please! I need you!'

As much as it pained him to ignore her cries, Sesshomaru turned his attention to the pup in his arms, his face stained with tears and dirt, his hair ruffled. Straightening the boy, he let him down, keeping a tight hold on his hand. "Stay close."

"Yes, father." The boy's hoarse whisper.

"Don't worry, pup." Nagasaki's voice whispered from beside Sesshomaru. "They're orders, as far as I know, are to leave women at home. Your mother ought to be there when the war is over."

"Hm." He felt his father's hand tighten around his and sighed. Would he really see his mother again? And if so, how long would it take?

Sesshomaru felt his heart lift. Kagome would be there when he returned. He would bring their son back, safe and whole, and life would continue. He didn't want to believe anything else. Not yet, not at the moment.

End statement: Yo! Erm, I wanted to try something different with this, so I hope you like it! I noticed, reading my other stories, that I tend to speed a little faster than I initially mean too. Forgive me for that. I'm going to take this slower, or at least try to. Here's a Summary of my next story.

Keimusho Ori けいむしょ おり (Prison Cage)

Sesshomaru has been in prison since the 1800s on charges of mass murder, moving from prison to prison. After leaving the Feudal Era, Kagome became a warden in a demon prison called Akiraka Jigoku, Unmistakable Hell. When Sesshomaru is transferred there, things between them aren't exactly friendly. Can enemies become acquaintances, and acquaintances, friends, and friends, (strictly sexual) lovers, and lovers, head over heels in love fools?