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I would like to take the time to say thank you to everyone that follows me, and to everyone that has fallen in love with some of the stories I have written. I apologize for never finishing my longer stories, I think that I am only meant to write short stories. To anyone wanting them you can message me for any of the longer stories.

In one month I will be taking down the stories no one has messaged/commented on the piece for me to finish.

Amnesia's Gift

Her head was pounding, she was sore, she couldn't remember where she was, or… as her eyes came open, who she was. A man was pulling at her clothing, his long tangled silver hair was shielding his face from her view making her even more nervous. She screamed and shoved him away, jumping up and running through the trees away from the male.

'He had dog ears on his head!' Her mind screamed as her as she tried to move from the area. The man was chasing her screaming for her to stop. 'No this doesn't feel right, I need to get away!' she reasoned as she kept moving. Coming into a break in the trees she found a man in armor and white silk looking at her. He had the same hair only smooth running down his back in a curtain.

"Miko." He nodded to her.

Sesshomaru noted the blood trickling down her neck and temple from the gash on her head, and her disheveled appearance. Something was off with the girl as she stared at him with large doe eyes. Had he the intention she would be dead in seconds but, he could not bring himself to cause harm when she looked so lost and frightened.

"Do I know you?" She whispered to him. The hanyou was closing in on their location and he glanced over her shoulder causing her to jerk away from the man as he crashed into the opening. She hit the forest floor back pedaling away from him coated in the scent of fear. "Please…" She pleaded.

Sesshomaru moved between them, drawling the hanyou from the girl and to him.

"Get out of the way Sesshomaru!" He yelled.

"The miko does not seem to be with her memory. A gash it would appear… how does she come by it?"

"None of your damn business!" InuYasha growled.

"I would hope, dear brother that you would not be foolish enough to try and pup the girl for the clay mate you took." Sesshomaru watched the ears atop InuYasha's head flatten. "She will remain in my care, return to your miko."

"You don't even like her!" InuYasha moved to circle his elder half brother only to be blocked still from the girl. Fear hung in the air and he stepped away from the pair. "Feh! Fine you keep the stupid bitch, your problem now." He turned and disappeared into the woods from where he came.

Sesshomaru turned to the female, offering a hand to get her off the ground. She was shaking, trying to hold her shirt together from the claws that tore it open. He nodded to her and began to return to his camp, aware she was following closely and nervously watching for the hanyou to return.

"You know not who I am?" He glanced at her as she came to walk at his side.

"No… I can't remember anyone, I see figures but not names or details about them."

"Lord Sesshomaru of the western domain." He stated. "You are the miko of the Shikon no Tama. Without your memory I will return you to the village—"

"No!" She yelped. "That man, he lives there I remember that, I don't know why he was trying to hurt me but I know that he will try again." She felt tears prick at her eyes. "I don't have anyone there to protect me… I don't know how to protect myself."

"Ignorant of your power as well. Hn." The clearing came around them, the girl stared at the dragon sleeping in the center as a little girl chased a toad around the field.

"Will you allow me to remain with you, until I remember who I am?"

"For a price." He watched her think the statement over.

"I assume you mean to collect this price once I remember who I am?" He gave a faint nod to her. "I can agree to that, and even if I don't like it." They shook and headed for the camp.

"Kagome-Okaa!" The girl squealed running through the field at her. She wrapped her arms around her legs and squeezed turning her face up in a grin.

"Ohayo." She rubbed her hair and turned to look at the man.

"Milord!" She giggled turning to hug his right leg the same way, receiving a similar pat before she released and turned to lead them toward the dragon. Sesshomaru moved to the saddle, removing a small square of paper and writing a quick message.

"Jaken, take this message to Kichiro1 and remain with him in aide." The kappa nodded accepting the letter, making his goodbyes to the women he headed toward the west. "Rin, take Kagome and eat we will leave early in the morning."

"Hai milord." She smiled. Kagome followed the girl into the forest where they collected fruits. Full on the juicy fruits they returned to the camp where they curled up and fell asleep under the guard of their lord.

"Kichiro!" Jaken knocked at the door to the small hut just across the border of the western lands. A tall muscled inu came to the door, looking down at the small kappa with a raised brow. From the small clawed hand of the toad he removed a sealed massage from his lord.

Kichiro;

Return to the palace of the great dog general; call back the staff and guard. Clean up the rooms and kitchen, I am to return in two weeks in the company of two ningen. Any who hold distain will be released from service upon our arrival.

Your Lord

"Alright then." He turned and retrieved his armor, kissed his mate and returned to the kappa outside. She would be along with their pups within the week to join them at the palace and return to her duties as cook.

"I am to aide you." Jaken said walking alongside the inu general. They made the palace at dawn the next morning, opening the gates of the overgrown courtyard. Writing up the letters Jaken entered the first demon village to retain a messenger. From this village a physician and seamstress were hired along with three maids.

Sesshomaru watched the girls cook their breakfast, the miko had woken to a rumbling stomach and bruised ribs. After they had eaten they mounted the dragon and began their march west for the palace. The young miko seemed happy enough without her memories as she chatted with Rin and once in a while spoke up to him.

"The village is just up the road, we will stop to retrieve your kit and inform your friends of the situation."

"Alright." She began to pull at the seams of her haori, working a strand out before Sesshomaru caught her fingers. "Sorry."

The village was alive with activity men were returning from the woods with sullen faces and women stood around waiting for them to return. A man glanced up at the arriving group, his eyes lighting up and he began to yell to others near by sending the village into uproar. The aged priestess hobbled out to greet them.

"Kagome! Thank the Kami Lord Sesshomaru found you!" She sobbed as the girl climbed down from the dragon. "What happened to you?"

"I… I don't know who you are, I'm sorry." She sighed. Her frustration rose in herself, she could remember the woman was a friend, she was always helping her… but with what she could not recall. "I lost my memory somehow. Lord Sesshomaru is taking me with him so I have time to remember who I am."

"But being in your hut will remind you faster than being in unfamiliar territory." The woman pleaded. "You'll be safe here, who would hurt you here, everyone loves you."

"InuYasha." Sesshomaru stated. "He has mated the clay one, and was attempting to pup this one for them."

"That fool!" The woman yelled, her face becoming red. "I told him to give up that false Kikyo and commit to you Kagome. Then when I went to check on you yesterday you were gone and I could sense that he had come to get you. I figured he took you to the hot spring to talk."

"It's okay, I'll be back once I remember who I am. Don't tell him where I went, I want to get away from him." She shuttered.

"As you wish Kagome, I hope you return soon." She hugged the miko, gave her and Rin blankets and food then waved as they disappeared over the hills toward the southwest.

Kichiro gathered the new staff together in the main hall for the first meeting, soldiers, maids, and the lot of others stood patiently as he spoke to a messenger. Clearing his throat he stepped up onto the stage in front of the throne.

"Welcome back to the Palace of the West, our lord will be returning within the next week in the company of his ward, miss Rin, and the Shikon Miko, Kagome. This palace is to be cleaned and the rooms turned down. Anyone with distain will be given their release from service and replaced before his return."

"A miko and a human ward, I thought our lord hated the human lot." A soldier grumbled.

"The miko is the one who destroyed Naraku, it is an achievement that deserves respect. Rin is under the guard of Lord Sesshomaru and none will question him!" Kichiro's voice echoed off the walls and into the ears of each canine standing before him. "Get to work or get the hell out, meeting over." He waved them out.

"General Kichiro." A young fox hanyou approached. "I was wondering, isn't this miko the one who travelled with milord's half human brother?"

"She is."

"Might I be assigned to her service, she will be the only one here that will even like me." The girl's large green eyes focused on the floor. "I know many demons care not for my kind."

"She will need a maid and a servant to help dress in the mornings." Kichiro smiled, he pulled a piece of paper from his haori and held it out to the hanyou. "These are the measurements for both Kagome and Rin, they will need full closets." He produced a note with the signature of the lord on it. "Show this to the seamstress in the villages and they will give you anything you require, take Natsuki2 with you she will be caring for their garments once they are here."

Kagome glanced up at the walls of the small village in the forest, a young girl inside the gate yelled at her and began to run for her. The miko scooped her into her arms and smiled at the young child. A pregnant woman emerged from a home with a smile she waved them in and turned to speak to someone inside the house.

"Kagome, Lord Sesshomaru, Rin… Ohayo. What are you doing all the way out here?"

"The miko has lost her memory." Sesshomaru stated watching Kohaku and Miroku approach from the house with the other daughter and son in tow.

"Ohayo." Miroku chimed. "Been a long time since we've seen you three."

"We stopped to see if Shippou was here." Rin smiled at Kohaku with a blush on her cheeks. The boy glanced away as his cheeks tinted. "We are heading to the palace and we figured that Shippou being with us might help Kagome-Okaa remember faster."

"He stopped in a few weeks ago, he's about due for another visit. When he comes in I'll send him your way if you like." Sango watched the inu nod. "Kagome if you want the girls can take you around, see if that might jog your memory."

"That would be nice thank you." Kohaku lead the miko and his nieces from the circle of others.

"What happened?" Miroku turned once Kagome was out of ear shot.

"The hanyou tried to pup her for the clay mate he took. She was struck on the side of the head somehow and lost her memory."

"And you happened upon them to save her?" Sango raised a brow.

"She ran from him when she came to, and happened to cross my path. I still have a debt to her from the battle and have used that to aid her in gaining her memory and protecting her from the hanyou."

"I can't believe him!" Sango ground out. "If I see him I will cut his balls off and feed them to him. How stupid can he be!"

"Calm down dear, all this isn't good for the baby or you." Miroku chided. "Thank you for helping her Sesshomaru."

"Hn." He nodded. After a quick lunch they set out once more heading north toward their destination.

Kichiro stood on the wall of the palace looking at the new banners and stone, in the two weeks since his arrival back at the palace of the west it had taken a drastic turn. Doors had been crafted to replace rotted ones, screens replaced on all the rooms and balconies, the kitchen rebuilt and restocked. Everything had been cleaned of dust and animal droppings and beds had been brought in for the master and his guests.

Jaken stood by the entrance to the palace watching the life blossom in the home of the west once more. Young inu played in the courtyard while their parents worked around them. He could hear the sound of soldiers training in the dojo and maids laughing as they set the table. Lord Sesshomaru would be arriving within the next hour to a full palace of thankful canines.

"I see them!" A guard called pointing out to the distance. "Our lord is home!"

Sesshomaru strode into the courtyard with the miko and his ward walking behind him. Jaken scampered to lead Ah-Un to the stables behind the procession. The maids, children, and soldiers bowed to the lord as he passed. Kagome smiled to some of the children as they entered the palace.

It smelled freshly cleaned as they seated themselves in the dining hall.

"Lord Sesshomaru." Kagome glanced up to him at the head of the table. "Thank you for bringing me to your home."

"It was the home of this one's father, not mine." He stated as their plates were served. Rin and Kagome sat silently as Sesshomaru took his first bite and set his chopsticks down. They chuckled and talked through the meal before being taken to their rooms.

Sesshomaru entered the study, surrounded by the scrolls and books from his father's collection. Many had survived the long absence of care and still sat on the shelves silently waiting to be read. He sat at the low desk and ran a hand across the grain where his father had once kept his mate's symbol.

Kagome stood on the balcony of her room looking out at the small canine children playing in the field just inside the walls. They turned to watch her at first nervous about a miko no doubt, but returned to their games as she smiled to them. The door to her room opened and a young orange haired hanyou entered with a bow.

"Milady, I have been assigned to the service of you and Miss Rin."

"Oh, um, call me Kagome." She smiled. "You don't have to bow, I'm not some noble or whatever." The girl glanced up and when she seen the honesty in the miko's eyes she straightened on the floor. "What's your name?"

"Yasu3, my mother named me Yasu."

"Are you a hanyou?" The girl's kitsune ears twitched at the word and her eyes lowered.

"Yes." Her eyes watered slightly. "I requested to be your servant because I figured that since you were friends to the prince you wouldn't mind me."

"Oh I didn't ask to be mean, I'm sorry!" Kagome hugged the girl. "I just… I don't remember anything from before two weeks ago… I lost my memory. So I didn't know if you were a hanyou or a full demon with canine ears."

"My mother was a human just like the prince, only my parents were mated to one another. After my mother died when I was still young my father took off to mourn and I was taken in as a servant here working for the Lady. She didn't mind me because I was quiet and obedient and I was born from an honest mating. When the palace closed I was sent to work in a steam house in a village to the north."

"That's horrible, why did the palace close?"

"Lord Sesshomaru abandoned the palace when his father died and the hime refused his help."

"That's horrible." Kagome sighed. "And when did it open again?"

"Two weeks ago Kichiro came back and announced the lord was returning. Many of the original staff returned, those still alive anyways." Yasu smiled then and hugged the miko. "I believe it was because of you he came home, and I hope you are staying."

"I'm sure he wanted somewhere to raise Rin."

"Miss Rin was to be left in the care of a miko in the village of Edo to learn the skills and eventually become a member of their village."

"Really?"

"Yes, Miss Rin told me herself." Yasu nodded. She waved her hand then as she moved away. "Anyway, is there anything I can get for you before you retire for the night?"

"I was hoping to bathe, I feel gritty." Yasu stood and retrieved a kimono before leading the miko down the hall to the bathing suite.

InuYasha fed the young miko chained in the small hut in the forest named after him. She was sore and he had felt bad for treating her so. His mate entered with wood for the fire, Kikyo joined him by the young woman. She looked just like his mate and Kagome, only young and weak.

She was clothed in a yakata with her ankle locked in a shackle and chained to the wall by the door. Even were she to slip free of the metal a barrier surrounded the clearing they lived in.

"Please, just let me go." She sobbed. "I will never breathe a word of any of this."

"Once you have given us the pups we want you will be free." Kikyo wiped the dirt from her face. "InuYasha try again." She stood and left the hut as her mate pulled the yakata open and shed his haori and hamaka. The girl screamed and wailed as he took her on the mats, his seed filling her with nowhere else to go.

"So why was he trying to 'pup' me?" Kagome sat curled in a chair in the study watching the lord work at the desk.

"The mate he took is clay, she cannot reproduce herself, they need a living miko to channel her essence into to create a pup." He chuckled then glancing up at the woman sitting with him in the silence of the night. "But InuYasha does not know that even with that trick it will be nearly impossible to reproduce, being that he has been stunted from the arrow she locked him to the tree with."

"What?"

"I forget you remember nothing of the hanyou or his bitch." He sighed diving into the story of the hanyou and miko from the past. Kagome mulls over this information. "He would have to mate several times to get a pup the first time."

"So he would have taken me and used me until he got a pup?"

"Indeed." The miko shuddered and pinched her eyes.

"I feel so weak, and he seemed so strong." She rubbed her upper arms to chase away the shakes. "I can never trust him, even if I remember he is a great friend like Sango and Miroku said he was."

"He will never get the chance as long as you are within these walls."

"You are doing so much for me… I will never be able to thank you enough." Kagome moved across the room and lightly pressed her lips to his chin in a thank you. Sesshomaru caught her arm, pulling her into his lap where he bent his mouth to her throat. His fangs grazed the ivory shaft as she let out a moan.

"I think it wise that you return to your room." Sesshomaru ground out as he released his hold on her waist. "I know now why my brother has desired you now, your heat cycle is aligned with this moon."

"My heat cycle?"

"The month you are most fertile." His eyes were closed as she stood from his lap and moved toward the door. "It is much like the months inuyoukai hunt to reproduce, only ningen suffer several and inu only go into heat once a month."

"Oh." She watched him curl his lip and lick them. "Good night Sesshomaru." And she left.

Sesshomaru strode from the bathing room toward the infirmary where the youkai in his employ was waiting. She hobbled across the room from the small desk to the cabinet as he entered. From her wrinkled hand she supplied him with a vile.

"Have her drink this and she will regain her memory when she wakes. But it must be given to her at the peak of emotion. It is tied deeply with the making of a strong memory, like having a pup or mating. Grief might also trigger it." She shrugged. "But what fun is grief with the other options." She winked.

"Satomi4." Sesshomaru growled. "The miko will not be mating while in this palace, none are strong enough for her."

"Ah there is one." She wagged a finger at the lord. "He is just too stubborn to open his golden eyes."

"Don't speak of things—"

"Boy I brought you into this world with little help from that dam of yours. I raised you when she would not lift a delicate hand to do so herself. I mended bones and healed sicknesses all your life. You can lie to yourself and everyone around you but you can never keep it from me. Now I got the things in this here cabinet that will make you accept your heart or you can do it yourself. But by the Kami above you will help that girl and yourself."

Sesshomaru balked at the healer, she was fiery just like when he was a pup.

"It would be no better than rape without her memory first." He blurted. Satomi laughed watching the icy lord fidget like he was a youth once more.

"She has instincts, why do you think she ran from the hanyou? Why do you think she trusted you?" Satomi lowered her old body onto the cushion at her desk. "Court her if it helps that mind of yours but she will not remember without that vile."

"Kagome, come in here my dear." Satomi motioned through the door as the miko was wondering the halls. She sat with the healer at the low table for a cup of herbal tea. "I wanted to ask you a favor."

"Anything I can do to help you Satomi-sensei."

"I would like you to apply this to Sesshomaru's ears and palms." She passed the salve to the girl, it was cloudy and smelled of candle wax.

"What's it for?"

"To help him relieve stress, but he cannot touch it with his nails and nor the others in the palace. You are the only one not afraid to touch him that can handle the stuff." She patted the girl. "It won't affect you, meant only for demons is the problem. I didn't want Rin touching it, I don't know if it will harm her being how young she is."

"Of course, I will go do it right now."

"No do it when he is working, it will work faster if he is stressed more." Satomi watched the miko nod and leave to find Sesshomaru, her lips curled into a vicious smile.

"Might be stalling pup but this will wake you up soon enough." She cackled as she moved to mix more medicines.

"Sesshomaru?"

"Hn?" He did not glance up from the papers on his desk. Kagome smiled stepping closer with the salve in her hand.

"Can I touch your ears?"

"Why?"

"Because, they are strange to me… maybe it will help me with my memory." He gave a slight nod and began to write on a second piece of paper as Kagome circled the desk. She got salve on the pads of her fingers and began to rub it onto the backs of his ears. He quill stopped moving, hovering over the ink well as she massaged the salve into his skin.

He turned on the cushion to stare into her eyes as his dilated. She lifted his large hand up and massaged some salve into his palm then moved to the next one. Sesshomaru reached up and touched her cheek, then moved his long fingers around the back of her head to pull her closer. His other hand grabbed her hip and pulled her onto his lap where he began to assault her throat with wet kisses and licks.

"Sesshomaru…" She panted. "What are you…"

"You taste just as good as you did when I first touched you." He whimpered. She readjusted in his lap with her legs on either side of his hips. "When I first tasted you those months ago upon your return I wanted to never let another male touch you."

"I don't remember…"

"You refused me for the village, you wanted to be with your friends before you left them again." He tugged the fabric of her kimono open and ran his tongue over her collarbone then moved to the right one where he nipped and suckled. "That was four moons ago. When I seen you in the woods hurt and scared I wanted to tear the hanyou to pieces for touching you."

He pressed his erection up into her through their clothes with a primal growl. Kagome arched into him with a moan wrapping her arms around his neck. Her mind was foggy, she could picture him holding her in a clearing beside a well but she returned from the memory to her current situation.

"Hmm, Sesshomaru." He reached between them to part her kimono at the waist, bundling it around their legs as he rubbed a knuckle along her womanhood. His eyes were tinged as she closed her to enjoy to feeling. It felt good, and she felt it, right to be in his arms experiencing this. He pulled his hand out and licked the juices off his skin. She pulled the obi off him and moved his hamaka down to release his erection.

He grunted with her soft hot hands wrapped around him. The head rubbed along her folds and he bucked his hips up into her breaching her with his tip. She moaned losing her grip on his shaft as he barely entered her. Sesshomaru shoved the papers to the floor around them, laying her on the top and never pulling his head from her sheath.

Her doe eyes locked with his and she pulled him in for a kiss as he gently rocked into her then out with his head. She wrapped her legs around his hips and pulled trying to get more of his length into her starved body. He growling reaching behind him to unlock her ankles, he rested her feet on the floor and pulled away with a wet pop. She whimpered with sad eyes at him watching as he lowered to lap at her folds with his silk tongue.

She arched off the desk with each caress of his muscle. The muscles in her belly tightened as he ran a knuckle across her with his mouth suckling her bud. Sesshomaru pressed his knuckle into her passage and tweeked the bud with his teeth sending the little miko into raptures. He pulled her ass to the edge of the desk where he knelt and massaged her with his tip, coating himself in her juice to ease the entrance.

She moaned and thrashed as he began to enter her, begging and panting for him to keep going. Kagome felt his head rub her core and she bared her throat to his mouth. His long hair pooled on both sides of their sweaty bodies as he plunged into her for completion. She tensed, her walls quaking and squeezing at his cock as she called his name through the sleeping palace.

He grazed her throat with his fangs drawling blood and ingesting some he felt her powers coarse through his system. He leaned away drawing the vile from the mess on the floor he rammed into her rubbing at her nerve bud to bring her to peak once more. As his abdomen tensed and his seed began to fill her and his head swelled to lock him against her womb he tipped the contents into his mouth and leaned down to kiss her.

She swallowed the metallic liquid and her body shook with the force of his completion. He rested his forehead on her shoulder as he waited to come free. She ran her fingers through his hair, messaging his scalp as his cock still twitched and leaked inside her. His haori and hair covered them except for their legs and his ass. She heard the door open and watched him glance up with red eyes, she bent her neck and watched Jaken yelp and slam the door.

"I must have been a little too loud."

"You are the lady here now, you may be as loud as you please." He grunted. "Wrap your arms around my neck." She obliged him. He locked an arm around her waist and her legs locked around his hips as he lifted her off the desk and carried her down the hall into the master bedroom. He sat her at the edge of the bed and helped her remove the kimono while still locked together. He moved them to the back of the bed where he leaned against the wall with her in his lap.

"How long will you be, erm…" He chuckled brushing the hair from her face.

"I will be locked with you until I have emptied my seed."

"And that might be?"

"I have not mated since reaching adulthood, so this might be our position for near an hour."

"Wow." She whispered.

"My father and mother were locked together for near a day when they mated." He sighed rubbing at her spine as she leaned into his chest. "InuYasha's mother was stuck with him for almost three hours."

"Every time an inu mates it seems to take a while."

"Iie. After I was born my mother could no longer have pups, they mated nearly every day trying for more. They were never locked for more than ten minutes."

They sat talking for nearly three hours still locked together when the miko finally succumbed to sleep against her mate's chest. He could sense the changes to her aura as her powers mixed with his own in their blood, the mating had taken for their souls.

InuYasha massaged the young miko's back as she lay sleeping on her side, her stomach still flat. He had been mating her for weeks, locking with her for hours each time and after the first week she had given up screaming, much to his relief. Kikyo sat sleeping against the wall she had become weak transferring her aura to the girl's womb.

They had bonded, being so close for so much of the past month and a half in the small hut. Often when not mating they would sit on the grass outside the hut and talk about things, from family to adventures that he had. He would tell her of the different people he had met, his enemies and how they fell to him and his love of the spring season.

"She is going to kill me when you finally get what you want." The girl whispered.

"No, Kikyo promised you that she would take you back to your village." InuYasha stated.

"She said that she can't get me to take to your seed with her aura. She gave me herbs two weeks ago, because I was pupped to you and it didn't have her aura." The girl cried. "She killed a pup because it was ours and not hers and yours." InuYasha growled turning to wake Kikyo with a swift kick to the thigh.

"InuYasha, why are you angry?" She stood and went to touch his cheek.

"Did you kill a pup?" He demanded with red tinged eyes.

"It wasn't of us." She reached for him and he struck her down.

"A pup is a gift, it is rare and you have killed it!" He wrapped a hand around her throat. "You are not the Kikyo I loved, you are a monster." He ripped the clay head from her clay body souls poured out and she gasped as she began to crumble.

"Are you going to kill me now?" The young miko sobbed curled in a corner.

"I have mated with you since that pup was destroyed… you might be pupped yet again. I would never physically harm you. I'm so sorry." He unlocked her shackle. "I can take you back to your village and if you are with pup I swear I will take care of both of you."

"I can't go back… you've had me, no one will want me there now." She rubbed her sore ankle and glanced at the body of the clay miko. "I don't really blame you, she tricked you and used you. I feel sorry for you loving something that was so hollow."

"I loved another miko as well, Kagome. But I'll never be able to forgive myself for almost killing her."

"If you take me back they will kill me, and the possible pup I have inside me."

"We can't stay here, the barrier is going down and the demons will be drawn in to your scent." He lifted her into his arms and they left the hut. "I know a few friends who might help us." They moved through the forest for the small village in the forest, where a monk was holding his newborn son.

Rin pranced around the gardens with the other children, they had warmed up to her in the month they had been living in the palace. All the servants loved her spirit and after hearing of her short life they each took her in as one of their own. Through the gates a tall teenage fox entered, he held a satchel over his shoulder, his long orange hair tied with a ribbon on the crown of his head and his long hair swaying lightly behind his strong legs.

"Are you here to see the lord young fox?" A guard asked next to the door.

"No, my friends told me that my mother was here. The miko Kagome, is she in?"

"Oh the lady is asleep with the lord still, they have been busy the past week."

"Shippou?" Rin jogged up and hugged the kitsune tight. "It has been so long since I have seen you!" She chimed. "Come on I'll show you around and you can meet all my friends while you wait for Kagome-Okaa to wake up. She has her memory again, got it back after her and Sesshomaru-Otou mated last week."

"What?"

"They mated, I think they are trying to have a baby, they don't talk about it but I can tell by the way Otou is acting he wants her to rest all the time."

"I'll be sure to pay attention when I see them later. How have you been?" They moved through the garden to her friends and sat on the low porch to have tea.

"I'm good. Kohaku visited yesterday and gave me some flowers and a kiss."

"Are you two courting?"

"Not yet, but I think he is going to ask Sesshomaru when he has calmed down."

"Calmed down?"

"Yeah, with Kagome. They hardly separate, I went to go read the other day and they were sitting in the study panting and sweaty and told me to leave."

"Haha." Shippou grabbed his stomach and rolled back onto the wood in tears.

"I was confused until I mentioned it to Kohaku. He blushed really hard and told me that one day I would figure it out, then he left before Sesshomaru and Kagome came to lunch."

"I hope you and Kohaku have a chance at courting, he is a good man and he would take great care of you."

"I just don't know if I am interested in Kohaku like that, I feel like I ate butterflies when he kissed me."

"That's a good sign." Shippou smiled patting her hand. Rin pulled away as he watched her blush.

"I just got them when you touched me…" She whispered. Shippou leaned away.

"Hey now, I'm like your brother or something now that my Okaa is with your Otou." He laughed when she blanched. "It was a joke Rin-chan."

"Right…" She glanced away hurriedly.

"Okaa can I talk to you?" Shippou smiled when Kagome nodded and moved away from Sesshomaru with a small glare when he went to speak. They stepped outside and stood looking at the soldiers practicing. "I want to be a member of the palace guard."

"Shippou you're my son you don't—"

"I don't want to live off what you can give me my whole life. I love you and I don't want to leave you, so I want to join the guard and be of some use."

"I guess if it makes you happy I won't object."

"You'll have a pup to spoil again soon with what Rin has been saying." She smacked his arm. "What, she just said that you two have been acting strange and that you are normally locked away in the study or bedroom."

"Something has changed in Sesshomaru, he is tender and loving, and he wants to have as many pups as he can with me. I talked to him the other night about letting Kohaku and Rin court, she likes him and he is head over heels for her."

"Hn, there are a lot of cute kitsune girls here too… never know being a guard would give me a station. I could find a mate myself." Shippou smiled.

"I would love having grandbabies." She grinned hugging her tall son. "But let me have a few first." He laughed embracing her as well.

InuYasha helped Masumi5 up from the futon and they packed their bags. Sango had her children all ready and their cart loaded when they stepped from the houses. The village was dead, and the soil no longer held the ability to produce food. She kissed the stone at her parents graves and they headed out of the village for the last time.

They marched west stopping for a brief lunch before high noon and moving along the road toward the western palace. Kohaku had relayed their dilemma to Kagome and she had requested them at the palace should they give up on the barren village. InuYasha fidgeted, he was going to see the miko he had hurt and nearly killed by dusk. The miko that had mated his brother and was probably carrying his heir.

Masumi squeezed his hand and rested it on her growing belly. The hanyou's ears twitched and he smiled at the girl who had fallen in love with him, she was soft and kind and she reminded him of Kagome more every day with her big heart and pure soul. He hoped that one day Kagome would forgive him for what he had done.

The palace came into view and Kohaku ran ahead with Kirara to greet Rin who stood with the lord and lady waiting. Kagome hugged Sango and offered to hold the baby boy while they walked to the dining hall. She glanced over the hanyou and miko with a small smile as they sat around the table to eat.

"So I hear that your palace is very diverse Lord Sesshomaru." Miroku commented over his soup.

"Indeed." He glanced at his mate.

"That's why I asked if you could all live here. There are houses built just on the inside of the walls for your family Sango, and one for when Rin marries and wants a family of her own." She patted Sesshomaru's thigh. "And one for you InuYasha, and your wife."

"Kagome…"

"I forgive you, I don't think you know what you were doing… and I'm happy that you finally got free of Kikyo. It's nice to see you happy with a living person who obviously loves you." She smiled to Masumi. "I hope that we can be friends some day."

"Me too." Masumi nodded.

Kagome had the guards so Sango and her family to their home, where their belongings had been carried inside during dinner. She watched Sesshomaru pull Kohaku aside and then Kohaku and Rin embrace in the garden after he was done. InuYasha stood talking to a few hanyou guards as Masumi settled into her new home.

The palace grounds had expanded the walls moved further out to allow for the growth of their little world. A small shop sat by the gates across from a hunters home covered in the skins and tools he had for sale. Sango's children stood practicing with the guards as Sango sharpened her boomerang.

Masumi chased her pup around the courtyard laughing and heavily pregnant with their second. Kiyoshi6 looked just like InuYasha down to the small one fanged smile he used on the other children of the palace. Sesshomaru and Kagome sat on their private porch watching their twins play on the soft spring grass. Daiki7, the older looked just like his father, with long silver hair in a braid down his back with two magenta stripes on each cheek and a blue moon resting in the center of his forehead. His twin, Hiroko8, looked like their mother. She was small for her age with thick raven hair in two braids down her back, she had golden eyes like her sire and a pink moon on her forehead lacking his stripes.

Kohaku and Rin married, moving into the home she had next to Sango and the palace. They had decided to wait for a family until they were in their twenties so that they could help their families with children. Shippou had joined the guard advancing to officer ranks within the year, he had caught his eye on a young kitsune female that had come to the palace for shelter from her abusive sire.

Kagome felt blessed, having her mate and family around her. She was blessed by her amnesia that brought her into the palace of the lord and into his bed. It had given her a life partner, children, her friends, and it gave the people depending on them a safe place to grow and raise their mixed families.

The End.

1 Kichiro: Lucky Son

2 Natsuki: Summer Hope

3 Yasu: Peace

4 Satomi: Beautiful and Wise

5 Masumi: True Clarity

6 Kiyoshi: Purity

7 Daiki: Great Glory/ Great Nobility

8 Hiroko: Generous Child