Chapter 1

Murderer

It was a beautiful night. The sky was clear and every star was visible in the heavens above. A warm breeze danced through the air, gently playing across the faces of the young couple laying in a clearing. The girl was Kagome Higurashi, and she pointed her slender hand up at the stars, trying to get her companion, the dog-eared silver haired hanyou, Inuyasha, to pay attention.

He, however, was staring, not at the stars, but at the human girl. Her face was the most enchanting-the most beautiful-thing he had ever seen his life. For two years, they had been traveling together, collecting the shards of the Shikon Jewel…and for nearly as long, he had been in love with her. He had never told her this, and he wondered if maybe now was the right time…Naraku was dead, and they no longer had to live in fear of him. Only three shards of the jewel remained, and all three would remain uncollected. If ever he was going to tell her how he felt, now was the time. But, he couldn’t do it.

“…And over there is the big dipper, and Orion-that’s his belt, see look, Inuyasha!” Kagome said as she traced her finger across the constellations.

“….Inuyasha…?” God, how he loved the sound of her voice. It was like music as it fell upon his ears. Especially, oh…especially, when she spoke his name…

“Inuyasha?”

She was perfect…absolutely perfect. To him, even her flaws were perfect, and that didn’t make any sense. A lot of things didn’t make sense about his lovely Kagome. That she was from the future and could travel from her present time, to his, five hundred years in her past, was only the beginning of her many mysteries. The other thing about her that didn’t make sense was her devotion to him. Many times, much more than he would care to count, he had hurt her. Never physically. Never that. But emotionally…well, that was a whole different story. Yet, she never left, she stayed by his side…always. She was always there for him, unwavering in her kindness and compassion. In many ways, she was stronger than he was.

“INUYASHA!” she yelled, and gave him a sharp flick on the ear.

He was immediately broken from his reverie. “What?!” he shot at her, rubbing his ear. “Damn, Kagome, that hurt!” it hadn’t really, not much. But Inuyasha was arrogant and sarcastic by habit. He only rarely showed his softer side, for it made him much to vulnerable. Too exposed. “There are nicer ways to get somebody’s attention, ya know!”

“Well, sorry!” Kagome said. “Inuyasha, why were you staring at me?”

“Why do you think?” he asked, twirling a finger through his long silver hair.

“Why don’t you tell me?” She asked.

“Because stars are boring, Kagome!” he said.

She frowned at him, and then said in a serious voice, “Inuyasha…why don’t you tell me the truth?”

Inuyasha stared determinedly at the ground, and felt his face grow hot. What he was thinking? There was no way he could tell her what he was thinking…He was thinking that the way the moonlight fell upon her face was dazzling…he was wondering what her skin would feel like if he had the courage to caress it. He was thinking that her scent was absolutely luscious. He wanted to know how her lips would feel against his own…how they’d taste. He was curious about how fast her heart would beat if pulled her into an embrace. He was thinking that he was going to tell her that he loved her. That he needed her. That he wanted her in his life more than anything else in this world…”…beautiful,” he said, quite accidentally.

“What did you just say?” she asked.

“I said,” said the hanyou, realizing what he had let slip and hoping that she had not caught it. “That that was the truth! Stars really are fuckin’ boring!”

“No you didn’t,” Kagome said.

“That’s what I said,” Inuyasha told her. “If you heard something else, you should unblock your ears.”

“Inuyasha…” said Kagome, leaning in closer to him, “you said ‘beautiful.’”

“No, I didn’t” said Inuyasha. “I already told you what I said-”

In a single, quick movement, she pressed her lips to his. For a moment, he was simply shocked. She had only kissed him once before, and since he been transforming into a demon at the time, so he didn’t really count it. Once his shock ended, her returned her kiss shyly. She did taste good…delicious…intoxicating. Kagome, pulled his fire-rat robe off his shoulders, not once breaking the kiss, and ran her fingers through his hair, playing with his ears…Inuyasha’s shyness disappeared. He shook the robe the rest of the way off, and kissed her with a fiery passion. Wrapping one arm around her back, he laid her down, and began kissed her eyelids, lightly nibbled on her earlobes. She moaned in pleasure and fumbled with his shirt, attempting to pull it over his head.

He stopped momentarily to allow her to accomplish this, and returned to hissing her, while one of his clawed hands caressed her sides, slowly working it’s way up her body. He licked her neck softly, and then blew on the spot. He felt a shiver pass through her body. His fingers were inches from her breast-

She pushed him off, and sat up quickly.

Once he got over the shock of suddenly being on the ground, he did the same. Inuyasha was staring at the ground again, not wanting her to see the hurt on his face, and feeling extremely embarrassed.

“Inuyasha….” she said, “I’m sorry.”

He forced himself to meet her eyes, to smile. “No big deal,” he said.

“I wanted too…” Kagome said. “I really did, I just…want to take things slow, okay?”

He nearly laughed with relief. He had thought that she didn’t want him. At all. He had thought that she didn’t love him…didn’t want to be with him. That she was maybe even disgusted. “Slow is fine,” he said, and gave her a genuine smile.

She smiled back. “Inuyasha…I”

It was now or never, he thought. “I love you,” he said, very, very quickly.

She shook her head, confused, “…what?”

“I love you, Kagome,” he said, much slower this time. “I…I’ve felt this way for a long time, now. I never knew how to tell you…if you…felt the same way.”

“I…” she said, “I do. I feel the same way. I love you, too.”

“Well,” he said, and let out a sigh of relief at finally saying those words and hearing them back. “That’s a relief to hear. Kagome…are you…now that Naraku is gone…going to leave?” he asked.

She shook her lovely head. “No. I don’t ever intend to leave you,” she said, and smiled brightly.

“Really?” he took her hand, trying to fight back tears of joy.

“Yes, really.” She threw her arms around his neck and hugged him. He could smell the scent of her tears, knowing that she was crying the same tears that he was refusing to let fall.

She pulled away, smiling and wiping her eyes.

“Kagome,” said Inuyasha. “I-”

He stood. Whatever he had been about to say had been erased from his mind by the sound of footsteps. Many footsteps…and they were close.

“Inuyasha?” asked Kagome, who’s hearing wasn’t nearly as good.

“I hear someone coming,” the hanyou whispered. “A lot of footsteps. You stay here, don’t move. Scream if you get in trouble. I’m gonna go investigate…”

And with that he silently ran into the surrounding trees. He leapt into the branches, jumping from branch to branch, as quietly as he could, following the sound. Soon, he found the source of the noise. Gazing down on the scene from above, he saw that there were twelve men. Human, by the smell of them. Inuyasha stayed, hoping to hear something of their conversation.

Finally, a man spoke “So…let me get this straight,” he said to the man beside him. “We’re searching the country for some woman? A regular woman?”

“She has the Shikon Jewel,” answered the second man. “And she’s no ordinary woman. She claims to be a miko, yet she travels with demons.”

“A miko? Traveling with demons?” asked the first man.

“Aye,” said the second. “Word is that she and some others, including two demons, defeated that demon Naraku.”

“I heard that one of the demons with her is actually a disgusting hanyou!” said a third man.

“Why are we searching for her, then? If they defeated that evil bastard, they can’t be bad,” said the first man,

The second man spoke again, “He thinks that the only reason they defeated him was to get the jewel to gain it’s power.”

Who is ‘he’? Inuyasha thought.

The third man once again piped in, “he says that he reckons that the girl and her demons just wanted the jewels power so they can reign supreme. She seems to be very fond of demons, too, from what I’ve heard. Rumors about her helping them, being nice to them…I’ve even heard that she’s with, if you get my drift, one of the ones she travels with.”

“So,” said the first man, “what does he intend to do with her once he’s got her?”

“Don’t know,” said the second, “but he doesn’t care what we do with her as long we bring her to him alive.”

Inuyasha had heard enough, and he was angry. He knew that they were talking about Kagome. Talking about him, and Shippou…Miroku and Sango. He needed to get back to the girl, he had to get her out of here. After he did that, he’d come back and find the men again. He wanted to know who this man was who had sent them after her. He intended to interrogate them over the matter. But later. Kagome was his first priority, and he needed to be sure she was safe. He turned to go, preparing to leap to the next tree and get back to Kagome as quickly as possible.

He blacked out.

When he came to, he heard the sound of maniacal laughter. It was echoing all around the forest, sending chills down his spine, making his hair stand up. Than, he realized that the frightening sound was coming from him. Quickly, Inuyasha shut his mouth, and the sound was silenced. He was scared. He looked around, nauseated by the smell of blood, and saw several bodies…exactly twelve of them. They were ripped apart, brutally. Many of the bodies were missing limbs that had been ripped off and tossed to the side. One mans gut was sipped wide open…his intestines spilling out… It was only then that Inuyasha noticed that he was covered in blood. It stained his chest, his back, his pants…It was matted in his hair, and flesh was stuck beneath his blood-stained claws. His throat went dry, and he licked his lips, tasting blood that was not his own. The hanyou trembled. What happened? What have I done…I don’t remember doing this…

He attempted to take a step forward, to get out of the forest and back to Kagome. He had only taken one step when suddenly, out of nowhere, he threw up, falling to his knees in the blood soaked earth. Twice more he felt his stomach spasm, bring up more vomit. When it stopped, his stomach clenched again, but nothing came up. He forced himself to stand. He felt dirty, vile, disgusting...and guilty. He had murdered these men, the evidence was all over him…the blood everywhere. Except, he couldn’t remember doing it. He couldn’t remember anything after the conversation he had heard from the trees. Before he had ended these men’s lives…

He stepped away, and started to run. He fell, and found that he could not bring himself to get up. He was trembling all over, utterly terrified and sickened by what he done. The hanyou buried his head in his hands and cried.

Chapter 2

Lost

When Inuyasha didn't come back after three hours, Kagome has set out to look for him herself. She knew that he would be angry with her for coming after him alone, but she didn't care. He could be seriously injured…maybe dead. After all, he set out after some footsteps, and if a fight had resulted- she didn't want to think about it. The hanyou had never kept her waiting like this before. Well, she thought, except for Kikyo. When she turned up, he often disappeared for hours. But Kikyo was dead…

She searched for a long time, until the sun was up, and the light cast beautiful shadows on the ground of the trees above. She bit back the urge to call out Inuyasha's name, not wanting to draw attention to herself. She wasn't usually afraid, but she did not have her bow and without it she was vulnerable. Her spiritual powers weren't always reliable.

It wasn't long before she found him, sprawled on the earth and covered, absolutely saturated with blood. It was all over his face, his body, his arms. It was in his hair and, she could see, under his claws and on his hands… She gasped and ran to him.

"Inuyasha!" she yelled, shaking his shoulder. "Please, wake up!"

Slowly, his eyes opened and he sat up.

"Kagome…?" he said, a look of utmost confusion on his face. "Where are we…? I had the worst dream-""

"What happened to you? Are you okay?" she asked, her voice was panicky. "You're covered in blood!"

Inuyasha looked at himself, and his eyes grew wide. Kagome was sure it was a look of terror.

"…not a dream…" he said, staring down at his claws.

Kagome looked took a closer look at him, and her jaw dropped. Though he was covered in blood, there was not a scratch on him. The blood was not his.

"Inuyasha…" said Kagome, her voice weak, "whose blood is that…?"

But he seemed to have forgotten she was there. Over and over again, he said "not a dream." He was staring at his claws…the look of terror still in his eyes.

"Inuyasha?"

No response.

He was trembling, still saying the same three words repeatedly like a chant. Kagome had never seen him like this. Never. And she was terrified. Anything that could frighten Inuyasha couldn't be good.

The only thing that had frightened Inuyasha, however, was himself. He had hoped that he had dreamed the whole terrible thing. But he had not. The blood was proof. He couldn't bring himself to think of anything else, could barely hear Kagome's voice as she tried to calm him. So much blood…so much…

He could smell water. A stream. And close. He stood up suddenly. "I gotta go," he managed to say, to say before running as fast as he could toward the water. In less than a minute he was there, and he did not pause before diving in. He came up for air, only to dive back down. Several times he did this, but the stench would not come off. He clawed at his body, trying desperately to erase that awful smell, though the actual blood was gone. He scratched at himself until he bled, but even the smell of his own blood did not over-ride the stench of murder. Though gone, he could still feel the flesh under his claws…

Kagome ran to catch up with him, and it took her nearly five minutes. When she found him, he was in the stream, clawing at his skin. She didn't know what to do, he hadn't noticed she was there, and she didn't know how to stop him. Than, he did something that almost made her sick. He began to rip out his claws.

He thought that if he ripped them out, the stench would go away. It hurt, but he didn't care. He ripped out one, then another, a third- Kagome had his hands.

She was standing in the stream, fully clothed, holding his hands apart, with tears in her eyes.

"Inuyasha, stop!" she yelled.

"Let go!" he growled.

She didn't listen. "Please, stop this…"

"I can't get it off…." he said,

"Get what off?" she asked, her voice full of genuine worry. The last time he gotten like this, though not nearly as badly, had been after he had killed some bandits in his demon form. But that couldn't have happened again, thought Kagome. He had his Tetsusiaga.

She could see that he was calming down, she relaxed her grip on his hands slightly. "Inuyasha, what happened?" she asked.

He couldn't tell her…not yet. "Not now," he hadn't meant to say that out loud.

"Why not now?" She asked, an edge to her voice. "I want to know what's going on with you!"

"…Nothing…" he said, and returned to shore.

He sat down on the edge of the stream, staring at his reflection in the water. He slapped it away, still seeing himself covered with blood. What happened to me? He thought. The answer did not come. Than, another horrible thought struck him. What if it happens again? He couldn't bear to think about that…what if next time it was one of his friends…? What if it was Kagome?

There was only one thing to do, only one thing he could do. He had to get Kagome to leave…to go back to her own time and stay there until he understood what was wrong with him. He couldn't put her in danger…he loved her too much for that. And since at the moment, he was the dangerous one, she was in even greater risk.

Kagome knelt beside him and put an arm around his shoulders. Gently she stroked his hair and his ears, and Inuyasha had to fight himself not to fall into her arms and cry.

He stood, and Kagome seemed to waiting for him to offer her his hand. He couldn't do it. His hands were too filthy, too stained with blood. "Let's go," he said.

She rose and fell into step beside him. Neither of them spoke for a while. There was nothing Inuyasha could say to her to make her feel better. He knew he couldn't tell her the truth, because if he did, he would not be able to get her to go home. He knew in his heart that even if he showed her the mutilated bodies and told her what he'd done, she'd stay with him. In her mind, she'd think she could protect him…or save him. Maybe both. The point was, she wouldn't leave him, and in this case, she had to. He had to protect her from himself.

He led her back across the field that he had brought her to the night before. It seemed to be something from another lifetime. Something that happened long ago…much longer than yesterday.

"Inuyasha," said Kagome, "are we going back to the village?"

"Yes," he said.

"Won't you tell me what happened to you?"

"It was…just a fight. Nothing big."

"You don't react like you did over something not big!" Kagome yelled.

"I just overreacted to it, that's all," he lied. The truth was he felt he had under reacted. If it had gone his way, he'd still be in the stream scratching off that sickening stench, and he would have ripped out all ten claws instead of three.

"You can talk to me, you know," said Kagome.

Inuyasha forced himself to smile, and to meet her eyes. "I know," he said.

"You really should just tell me the truth…" she went on. "I could be thinking something worse."

"Inuyasha! Please talk to me!" she pleaded.

"I already told you, okay? Don't worry about it anymore."

Kagome grabbed his wrist and pulled him around to face her. "Don't worry about it?" she asked. "You were gone all night! I found you in the woods covered in blood!" she was yelling at him. "You tried to rip your nails out for gods sake! How can you expect me not to worry it?!"

"They're claws," said Inuyasha lightly.

"What?"

"They're claws, not nails," he said, speaking louder in his attempt to lighten her mood.

"I don't give a damn!" yelled Kagome, who wasn't going to let him make light of this. "What if it was me?" her voice softened some. "What if it was me, Inuyasha? Would take 'don't worry about it' for an answer, then?"

He sighed and met her eyes. "No," he told her. "I wouldn't take that. I'd pin you to the ground to make you talk to me if I had too. But this is different. You're not me."

"How is this any different?" Kagome asked.

"It just is, okay!" he yelled.

"It's not! Tell me what happened to you!"

"Forget about it!"

Inuyasha turned and started to walk away from her. He felt something push his back, and caught off guard, he fell to the ground. Before he could stand back up, Kagome was on top of him. She grabbed his shoulder and forcefully turned him over, sitting on his chest with his arms pinned by her knees. Inuyasha was too stunned to try and throw her off of him.

"What the fuck was that for?" he asked.

"I'll hold you here all day if I have to, Inuyasha!" she said. "So you'd better talk to me!"

"Get off of me!" he yelled.

"Talk!"

"Get off!!"

"Not unless you tell me what happened!"

"Get the fuck off of me!"

"No!"

"GET OFF!"

Inuyasha threw her. Not as hard as he could, but harder than he had intended. Kagome flew backward and landed, hard, on her right arm.

Chapter 3

Good-Bye

Inuyasha was at Kagome’s side in a heartbeat. She sat up slowly, looking at him with anger etched onto her face and holding her injured wrist.

“I…I…I’m sorry…” Inuyasha stammered. It was the truth. He had not meant to throw her as hard as he had, and he felt terrible about it.

“It’s fine,” she said, but her tone indicted very clearly that it wasn’t.

“Can you move it?” he asked her. “Let me see…”

The hanyou reached out and took hold of her wrist, but she jerked it out his hand.

“It’s fine,” she said shortly, wiggling her fingers. “It hurts a bit, but I think it’s just sprained.”

Well, though Inuyasha, at least it isn’t broken… But that fact didn’t make him feel any better about it. He had hurt her…something he had never intended to do. That her wrist was only sprained didn’t change that he had caused the injury in the first place.

He stood and offered her a hand to help her up. “I’m sorry….” he said once she was on her feet.

“Don’t worry about it. It was an accident,” as she said it, Inuyasha could hear the anger in her voice.

“How can you tell me not to worry about it?” Inuyasha asked.

Kagome shot him a smile, but it was cold and cynical. “The same way you can say it to me,” she said.

“This is different!” Inuyasha yelled.

“I don’t think so,” Kagome said. “But forget it, Inuyasha. Let’s just go.”

In the moment it took for Inuyasha to realize that she was coldly blowing him off, Kagome has already started walking.

* * *

When the reached the village, Kagome made straight for Lady Kaede’s hut, but Inuyasha grabbed her arm. She rolled her eyes at him.

“What?” she asked.

“I need to talk to you,” said Inuyasha. He nodded in the direction of the well. “This way…”

She sighed in annoyance, still clearly angry at him. “Fine,” she said.

This is it, Inuyasha thought, I need to get her out of here. As he led Kagome to the well, he was overcome with a storm of emotions unlike anything he had ever felt. His head was spinning, and his thoughts contradicted each other. He wanted to get her out of here…away from him. He wanted her by his side. He wanted to protect her at all times, but he couldn’t trust himself anymore…He wanted her to go home, but what if she could never come back? What if something happened to the well? If she stayed, what if he blacked out again? What if he killed her? There were too many ‘what ifs’.

Whatever conundrum his head was in, his heart, he knew he was doing the right thing. The best thing…for her. He didn’t like it, but that didn’t matter.

He had been so lost in thought that he hadn’t noticed they had arrived at the well until Kagome spoke.

“We’re here,” she said. “So, what do you want to talk to me about?”

Inuyasha turned to look at her, and he saw that she no longer looked angry. The anger on her face had been replaced with a look of concern.

“I don’t want to talk about it yet,” he said.

“What…?” said Kagome, confused. “You brought me all the way to the well to talk to me, only to change your mind about it?”

“No…no I still intend to talk to you….” He said. The truth was, he had meant to talk to her as soon as he arrived at the well. But, since he intended this to be their last day together for a while…for as long as it took for him to find out what had happened to him, he wanted it to be more memorable than this quick, cold good-bye.

“I want to go back to your time,” he said.

“Why?” she asked

“Because,” he didn’t know how to explain without telling her the plan. “Because, I want to spend the day together there. Just us.”

She smiled so brightly that it seemed impossible that she had ever been mad at him. “Like a date?” she asked, unable to keep the excitement out of her voice.

“….date…?” Inuyasha had no idea what a ‘date’ was.

“Umm…. “ said Kagome, blushing. “A date is when couples spend the day doing fun things and…get to know each other,” she explained.

“But, we already know each other,” said Inuyasha.

“I know! But we can still do fun things! Maybe see a movie, or eat out….?”

Inuyasha half-smiled and shrugged his shoulders. “I guess…” he said. He had no idea what she meant by ‘see a movie’. He had simply wanted to spend time with her, away from Sango and Miroku…before he did what he was meaning to do. Before he left her.

“Let’s go then,” he said, and jumped into the well.

* * *

It was dark now, and Kagome and Inuyasha were sitting on the steps to of the well house, not speaking. For Kagome, it was a comfortable silence as she sat on gazing at the well, one arm around the hanyou’s waist. For Inuyasha, it was a heartbreaking silence. The moment was coming when he would have to say good-bye…the day had not lasted long enough.

For the most part, she had dragged him around Tokyo, showing him things that he had never bothered to notice in his many visits to her time. They ate at a place called WacDonalds, which served delicious, but odd food. Inuyasha had downed four hamburgers, a large fry, a milkshake, and two sodas, only to discover that he was still hungry enough to try an apple pie. Kagome had been laughing her head off, and he couldn’t help but join in. Afterwards, Kagome took him to a movie theater to see a scary movie. The surround sound had confused Inuyasha at first, and he found himself constantly turning his head in every direction. He hadn’t paid much attention to the action on the screen…he was too lost in thought. It was amazing how Kagome barely flinched when confronting the demons and the battles of the Feudal Era, but had to squeeze her eyes shut at certain gory scenes in the movie.

It was amazing, but somehow he had nearly forgotten what he intended to do. He had forgotten that only the night before he had slaughtered twelve men, forgotten that only that morning he had been so distraught that he had scratched at his skin and ripped out three claws… Being with Kagome had banished it all from his mind.

But now, with the day over, it all came flooding back to him. The horror of it, the violence…the reason why he had brought her back to this time in the fist place…

He stood up, and knelt in front of her. “Kagome,” he said. “If I asked you to do something important…something very important, would you do it for me?”

Without thinking about it, Kagome said “of course.”

He took both her hands in his. When he met her eyes, she could see a tear running down the side of his face, and it didn’t appear to be from happiness.

“Do you promise?” he asked her. “Can you promise me that you’ll it?”

“Yes, I promise,” Kagome said. “But, what am I promising to do?”

“I need to go back to the my time,” he said. “And you can’t come with me. Ever.”

“Inuyasha…why?” Kagome asked, feeling hurt and afraid.

“I can’t let you get hurt…something bad happened to me last night,” he explained.

“What?” she asked. “What happened? Why were you covered in all that blood?”

“It’s better if you don’t know,” he said.

“Inuyasha…”

“Kagome, you promised me. You’ll keep it, right?”

“…yes.”

“I’ll come get you when I figure this out. I swear I will…We‘ll spend the rest of our lives together, I promise,” he said, and wrapped his arms around her. “I love you, Kagome.”

“I love you, too…” she said.

He kissed her, and leapt into the well.

Neither of them knew that three years would pass before they would see each other again.

Chapter 4

Answers

Inuyasha landed softly in the bottom of the well. A quick sniff of the air was enough to tell him that he was back in his own time. The change in the air made it obvious: in Kagomes time, it wasn’t as clean, back in the feudal era, fresh air was exactly that….fresh. Despite the air, he was half tempted to return to Kagome and tell her to come back.

Though he had good reasons for leaving her, it was the hardest thing he had ever done. He had hurt her, yes. But he had also hurt himself. In Kagome he had found a friend, a partner…solace and comfort. He had given it all up to keep her safe. Without her, he was alone and incomplete, though he doubted that he would ever come right out an admit that.

He bit down on his lower lip hard, trying to fight back the tears that were forming behind his eyes. It didn’t work. He punched the side of the well out of aggravation before climbing out into the night.

He had intended to set out the second he returned, but he couldn’t bring himself to do it. He was too upset, too tired to move. He leaned against the well, deciding to begin his journey early in the morning, and let sleep overcome his exhausted mind.

When he woke, it was almost noon. He was angry with himself for sleeping so late, but there was nothing he could do about it. Immediately, he set out for the site of the slaughter, dreading every footstep he took, but determined to at least get some sort of lead.

Inuyasha had already decided that he would not involve Miroku and Sango in his quest for answers. The were his friends, and he wasn’t about to risk their lives just so he could have a bit of companionship…just as he hadn’t been willing to risk Kagome’s. Unfortunately, the monk and the slayer belonged in this time, too. There was no well to send them through to some place safer. The best thing he could do for them, then, was to disappear without warning.

He was close the site now, he could smell it. The stench of rotting flesh was strong, and he knew it would be even stronger up close. After a day of sitting in the sun, the bodies had taken on the smell of decaying meat. It was disgusting, and he only got worse with every step he took. When he was finally up close to the bodies, he had to fight back the urge to wretch. The smell was overpowering, driving all else from his mind. For a moment, he forgot why he had returned to this place…able to think of nothing else but the stench and throwing up.

When his thoughts returned to him, the hanyou took a look around. He was searching for something, anything, that could point him in the right direction.

He remembered overhearing that conversation from these men. He had decided that there was a chance that the mysterious ‘he’ they had spoken of, the man who sent them after Kagome, might have some answers. Even if it turned out that he didn’t, Inuyasha had no better lead. He wanted to know what had happened to him…why they were there after Kagome in the first place… and this mystery man would at least be able to answer one of those questions.

Inuyasha saw something at last. One of the men had a scroll in the pocket of his robe. Inuyasha, though he knew that that the scroll might be important, didn’t want to go anywhere near that body. Out of the whole disgusting slaughter, his body was the worst. His intestines were spilling from a whole in his gut, and his limbs had been ripped completely off. His eyes were open, and his tongue lolled out of his mouth, purple and swollen against the his bluish-grey skin. There was a dried puddle of blood beneath him that bore the footprints of birds that had come to peck at his body, and the hanyou noticed that in several spots his flesh had succumbed to their beaks. It was sick…

Inuyasha could no longer stop himself from vomiting and he doubled up, feeling the bile rise in this throat. It was the best he could do to hold his hair out the way. He puked for what felt like hours, though it wasn’t. Finally, it reached the point where there was nothing left for him to throw up but his own stomach. He was overcome with painful dry heaves that brought him to his knees and forced his eyes to water. It was agony…complete and total agony… and Inuyasha felt that he deserved every second of it.

At long last, it stopped. The hanyou was on all fours gasping for air, trying his best not to look at the corpse…not wanting to bring on another violent stomach spasm. When it seemed to be completely over and he could breath normally again, he approached the body, looking only at the scroll that was poking out the robe…not daring to glance anywhere else. It took hold of it and backed away from the body quickly.

He unrolled it, and read:

You and your men have been

Commissioned to find the woman

who is rumored to possess the

Shikon No Tama. Her last known

Whereabouts are the village of

The priestess Lady Kaede. It

Should be known that she is

Said to travel in the company

of demons. You have two months

to find her, and should you succeed,

You will be royally compensated.

~Lord Heru Opuna

So, Inuyasha thought, this Lord Heru Opuna is the one who sent these men after Kagome. The scroll had not said why, but Inuyasha figured that a Lord should not be too hard to track down. He stuffed the scroll into his robe. After a bit of thought, he decided to bury the men he had killed. It took him about three hours to lay the twelve men rest. Though his stomach was threatening to unload again, there was nothing left it in to part with. After he finished burying the dead, he set out once more, following the path the men had come from when he had first seen them.

* * *

Five days later, the hanyou found himself in a small village. He had followed the scent at a remarkably fast pace, and he was sure that in only five days, he had traveled a distance that had taken the men at least two weeks. The village was situated at the base of some mountains that cast the place in darkness long before the sun was completely set. It would have been quite lovely if it weren’t for the air of foreboding that Inuyasha could sense.

The Lords shiro was slightly raised above the rest of the village, situated atop a small hill. It wasn’t big as far as castles go, but it did have the elegance and structure that made it easy to define. Inuyasha knew better than to approach through the front entrance and encounter the guards, so he climbed over the side wall. Carefully, so as to avoid making too much noise, he snuck in through the side door.

He was lucky that there was no one about, or his reckless entrance could have landed him in a world of trouble. As it was, he was able to wander through the place looking for some sign of the lord, though he didn’t know what the man looked like.

He was intent on his search, that he didn’t notice that he was being watched until he hear a soft female voice.

“Excuse me, sir?”

He turned, and instantly he knew he was caught. His ears were a dead giveaway and he was prepared to run. The woman was young, perhaps only a year or two older than Kagome and she was wearing servants attire.

“Excuse me,” she said, and it was than that Inuyasha realized that she was not looking at him, but at her own feet. She hadn’t noticed his ears. “May I ask who are?”

“I’m…Hosun Mohiro,” Inuyasha lied, quickly. “I’m here to see Lord Heru Opuna.”

Still looking at the floor, the girl replied, “I am sorry sir, but he is ill.”

“Please,” said Inuyasha, inwardly thanking the gods for his luck. “I am here on his request.”

The girl was silent for a moment. “He is the last room down the hall,” she said. “But I must ask you to be breif with your business sir, as the Lord is very sick.”

Inuyasha nodded, and then, realizing she had not noticed, said “I will.”

He made his way down the hall in the direction the girl had indicated and paused for a moment to listen at the door. He could hear coughing inside. Without knocking or revealing his presence in any way, he slid the door open and stepped inside, making sure to shut it behind him.

The Lord was sitting up in his bed. He looked weak and frail…and much older than he actually was. He stared at Inuyasha with his eyes wide, apparently caught off guard by his sudden arrival.

Before he could speak, Inuyasha asked, “Are you Lord Heru Opuna?”

“I am,” said the man, his voice was as weak as his body appeared. “Who are you, demon?”

Inuyasha, however, did not want to waste much time with formalities. “What did you want with Kagome?”

“Who….?” asked the lord, still clearly bewildered.

“The woman with the Shikon Jewel!” Inuyasha said. “What do you want with her?”

The look of bewilderment on the mans face changed to one of shock…and then a look of fear. “It is too late….” he said.

“Too late?”

“For the jewel,” said the lord. “I no longer need it.”

“Look,” said Inuyasha, “I met those men in the woods…the men you sent after her. And something…something happened to me…I blacked out… Dead…I killed them all.” Inuyasha’s voice was cracking, and he had to regain some control of it before he continued. “I found a scroll on one of them. A scroll from you. So, you have the answers I need. What happened to me?! And what do you want with Kagome?”

If it was possible, the man looked even more terrified after Inuyasha’s speech. He took a deep breath and said “it’s my fault…all my fault…”

“What’s your fault?” Inuyasha asked, stepping closer to the man. “You know what happened to me?”

“I know…” said the lord. “And I caused it… Those poor men….”

“Tell me what the fuck happened…” said Inuyasha.

Lord Heru Opuna sighed deeply, which brought on a small coughing fit. “I opened Hell….” he said.

“What?”

“Just…be silent…and I will tell you everything. I’m going to die, anyway…” he said. “My wife died, you see?”

“What does that have to do with Hell? With Kagome and me?” Inuyasha asked.

“Just listen!” yelled the lord, coughing yet again. “She died…and I…I wanted her back. I found a scroll to open the underworld…I thought, maybe I could bring her back if I used it. But…it didn’t say how to close it again…and I thought…well, I heard the rumors of the girl with jewel…and I thought, with her and…the jewel…I could shut it.

I hired men…told them to find…the girl.. I told them where she was…last seen. I gave…them two months…to find her. That was…a month ago. But I got…impatient. I could wait! Seven days ago, I opened Hell… I couldn’t…wait any longer.”

Inuyasha did not say anything, but simply stared at the lord, a look of horror in his eyes, and waiting for him to continue.

“I believe that…you were unfortunate enough to come across the men…at the same moment that I acted. When…Hell opened…it must have triggered a response in your demon blood….that would explain why you blacked out…why you killed them. I’m sorry…I opened the door…but she didn’t come out of it…They did.”

“They?” said Inuyasha, “Who are they?”

The lords eyes grew wide and his voice shook as he spoke. “The forty-three”.

“The forty-three?” Inuyasha didn’t understand.

“Demons…” said Lord Opuna. “The forty-three….the most fearsome demons that have ever lived…One by one, they came out of the door…They… they are all alive once again.”

Horror fell over Inuyasha faster than he could blink. “And the door?” he asked, his voice louder than he’d intended. “Did you close it?”

The lord shook his head. “No…it closed…once they all came through. After that, I fell ill…those monsters were never meant to be freed…and I let them out… I believe that death is my punishment…”

“Why would you do something so stupid?!” Inuyasha yelled.

“Isn’t there anyone…someone you love…that you would open the gates of Hell for?” The lord asked.

Inuyasha didn’t answer. The truth was, there was someone he would go to those lengths for… But she was safely in the 21st century. “Why have you told me this?” Inuyasha asked the man.

The lord smiled, but there was sadness in his face. “Maybe it is because I am dying…but you…I can sense that this will affect you more than anyone…I can feel…that you are the one…who must fix my mistake.”

“Why would you say that?” Inuyasha asked, “What if I don’t want anything to do with this?”

“You love that woman…that Kagome…the one with the jewel…do you not?” The lord asked. When Inuyasha failed to respond, he continued. “Once they learn of her…if they do not…already know…they will come for the Shikon No Tama…and they will kill her…”

Inuyasha, who up until than had not thought of this, saw the truth in his words. “Will…will I black out again?” he asked. “Is there a chance that I could hurt her?”

“I think not…” said the lord. “With the door closed once again…I can’t see how that could happen…”

The lord began to cough once more, only this time, it was blood. Great globs of it, spewing across his hand and his white bedding. Then he began to choke…and his body seized up.

“No!” Yelled Inuyasha. “Don’t you die, yet! You have to tell me more!”

But it was futile. Before the hanyou could reach him, Lord Heru Opuna was dead. His eyes already taking on the emptiness of death.

Inuyasha ran, as fast as he could, out of the castle. He leapt over the wall and ran into the woods where he leaned against a tree, contemplating everything the Lord had revealed…wishing he had asked more questions.

Opuna had been right…these demons would come looking for the jewel. It was too dangerous to bring Kagome back, now. Not when forty-three demons…forty-three of the most powerful demons, at that, would come after her. He would not return for her, he would not go back to tell her this awful truth. It was better, really, if she never knew. As much as it hurt him, he would not return for the woman he loved until the forty-three were returned to Hell.

No matter how long that took.

Chapter 5

The Proposal

Kagome was running late. Hojo was not waiting for her outside the restaurant, but she hadn’t expected him to be. She entered, and the host greeted her with a friendly smile.

“Hello, ma’am,” she said. “How can I help you today?”

“Actually,” Kagome said, “I’m meeting someone. His name is-”

“Kagome!” came a voice from behind the hostess. Hojo was standing there, looking absolutely handsome in a tuxedo. Kagome, in a plain white dress and black high heels, felt terribly underdressed. Hojo smiled brightly at her. “You look beautiful, as always.”

He turned to address the hostess. “Her seat had already been paid for, ma’am,” he said. Than, he extended his arm for Kagome to take, and led her back to the table.

It was a beautiful little restaurant. Paintings of the feudal era adorned the walls, and everything was decorated in traditional Japanese style. Though it was a small place, it gave off an air of privacy and class. Kagome figured that it was probably expensive to eat there. Hojo, however, never said anything about the price. He pulled her chair out for her and she sat. He sat down across from her, still smiling brightly.

“What do you think?” he asked. “Do you like the place?”

Kagome smiled. “It’s lovely. I love the artwork!”

That second part was lie. The paintings reminded her of experiences…of certain people, that she would rather not think about.

It was fortunate that Kagome did not have a lot of time to dwell on this, as Hojo was very pleasant company. He was a graphic designer, and he told her about projects he was expecting to be working on. In his case, it didn’t come off as bragging, for he asked for her opinions on some of his ideas, and when he was done, he asked her numerous questions about her day, although only two had passed since they had last seen each other.

When their dinner came, Hojo poured them both some wine, and raised his glass. “To our one year anniversary,” he said.

They toasted, and began to eat.

Hojo looked distracted, but it was in an excited and anxious way. “You know, Kagome,” he said. “I was going to wait until after the meal, but I think I’ll do it now.”

“Hojo….” Kagome whispered, tears beginning to fill her eyes as she saw where this was going.

He held the box so it faced her and opened it. Inside was a marvelous diamond ring, with a gold band. Kagome couldn’t guess how much this had cost him.

Hojo smiled brightly, “Kagome Higurashi, will you marry me?”

There was a brief moment where the last three years flashed before Kagome’s eyes…and she clearly remembered everything that he was trying not to think of:

* * *

As Hojo walked her home after the dinner, his face was all smiles. Kagome couldn’t help but feel drawn into his joy. She loved Hojo…at least, she thought she did. The truth was, she didn’t feel for him anywhere near as strongly as she had felt for Inuyasha, and she wasn’t sure if her love for Hojo went any deeper than friendship. Regardless, she had now agreed to marry him…if for no other reason that to help her forget the hanyou.

Instead of walking her to the front door and departing, led her around to the last place she wanted to be- outside of the well house. He turned to face her and said “I don’t think I’ve ever been more excited about anything in my life! I must be the luckiest man in the world!” He lifted her off her feet and spun her around.

During the spin, Kagome thought she saw something out of the corner of her eye…someone standing in the door to the well house. This figure was so cloaked in darkness that only the outline was visible. Kagome quickly dismissed it as her imagination.

Hojo put Kagome back on her feet. “Are you as happy as I am?” He asked, his eyes twinkling.

Kagome, couldn’t help but steal a glance toward the figure. It hadn’t moved an inch. I’m just imagining things, Kagome told herself again. “I am,” she said, looking back to Hojo.

“We’re going to have a great life together, Kagome,” Hojo said. “I’ll make sure you have everything you want. We’ll be so happy…it’ll be sickening!” he joked.

Kagome laughed. “I’m sure we will be,” she said.

“When do you want the wedding to be?” he asked.

Kagome blushed. “Hojo…I’m not…”

“Not sure?” he asked.

“Yeah,” she told him.

“That’s okay,” Hojo said, putting an arm around her waist. “I don’t want to rush this. We’ll do it whenever you’re ready!” He smiled, and she smiled back.

Hojo leaned in and kissed her deeply. As they locked lips, Kagome looked toward the well house.

She saw a brief flash of silver…and then nothing at all.

Chapter 6

Broken Promises

Kagome sat on her bed, her feet dangling over the edge and staring intently at the ceiling without really seeing it. It had been hours since Hojo had walked her home…she wasn’t sure how many. However, it was very late and the breeze blowing in through the open window was chilling her, but she was too lost in her thoughts to feel it.

How could she ever have agreed to marry Hojo? Her heart belonged to another, and she knew it. On the other hand, how could she deny Hojo? He had been nothing but wonderful, and the man she loved had been out of the picture for a long time now. Again, she had to remind herself that she was entitled to be happy… but seeing as she wasn’t, it did little good.

But Inuyasha… She cringed at the thought of him, for she could have sworn that she seen him standing in the well house just hours ago. If he had really seen she and Hojo together, how could he ever forgive her? Did it even matter? Was he even really there? Or did she just miss him so badly that she had imagined him? So many confusing questions…and no straightforward answers.

At long last, she decided that marrying Hojo wasn’t right. She couldn’t marry him -couldn’t devote her life to him- when she couldn’t truly give him herself. At the very least, she had to find out what had become of Inuyasha. She needed that closure before she could go on with her life. As quickly as she could, she found her old yellow bag and began packing, running back and forth between her bedroom, the medicine cabinet, and the kitchen, and making so much noise that she was surprised everyone slept through it.

At long last, she was ready to leave. She scribbled a hasty note to her family explaining where she had gone with a request to for them to tell Hojo that she was sorry. She put in on the dining room table and headed for the door.

She was well aware that she had promised the hanyou that she would wait for him to return, but three years was much to long of a wait. She didn’t know what awaited for her upon her return to the past, but she didn’t care. It was answers that she needed…

and this one final chance to secure a future with the only man she had ever loved.

The time for answers was nigh. With one final glance at the present, and with no regrets in her heart, she leapt into the Bone Eaters Well.

* * * * * *

When her feet touched the ground, Kagome breathed in the air of the futile era, and climbed out of the well again. Everything about the area was exactly the same as she remembered it. The only noticeable difference was the lack of any silver haired half demons awaiting her return. Realistically, she had not been expecting him to be there…but it would have been nice.

Slowly, she walked the familiar path to Kaede’s village, enjoying the familiar silence that modern Tokyo lacked. She hoped, of course, that Kaede might be able to tell her what had become of Inuyasha and the others, so when she arrived in the village, she went straight to her hut, knowing that Lady Kaede would not care about the time.

She knocked loudly, and received no answer. Several times she did this, and never got a response. Kagome was getting worried now, and she stepped inside.

It was beyond empty. It had the air of a place that had not been lived in for a quite a while. There was no sign of life at all, and as she explored the hut, she found the unmistakable traces of wild animals that had made the place their home.

Kagome left to explore the other huts, and found them all in the same condition. What happened here? She thought, staring around at the abandoned village. She was afraid, to say the least. What could have happened these past three years to drive away a woman as strong willed as Lady Kaede?

* * *

Kagome did not know what to do. There was no point in waiting in the village, for it seemed unlikely that anyone would return to find her there. And there was no chance that she was going to go home…going home meant giving up. She couldn’t give up…not yet.

So, she ventured out onto the road, intending to follow it until she came to another village. If her friends weren’t there, she’d go to the next…and the next. If she was entirely honest with herself, she was afraid. It had been so long since she had faced a demon or any other kind of threat, and she remembered only too well how demon ridden Feudal Japan was. Kagome had her bow, of course, but she hadn’t shot an arrow since her return to her own time.

After about two hours of walking, she heard a soft noise and had the strange sense that she was being followed. She looked behind her and saw nothing. However, the sound and the feeling did not go away, and she walked quickly into the cover of the nearby forest. She followed the road from there for a while. At last, Kagome felt calm again. The noise had gone, and the sense of another presence had vanished. She had decided to return the road, uncomfortable walking in the forest in the middle of the night, when she felt a hard blow to the back of her head. All went dark.

* * *

When she came to, she felt comfortably warm, and she slowly opened her eyes. Blinking her vision into focus, she realized that she was in a small cave, and that there was a small fire ablaze in the center of it. It was until she attempted to stand up that she realized her hands and feet were tied. Kagome started to panic, and she squirmed about frantically, trying to unbind her hands.

After a few moments of this, she realized that someone sitting on the other side of the fire, apparently observing her. Her captor was dressed entirely in black, and his face was hidden by a hood of the same color.

Kagome was terrified. She didn’t know who this man was, or what he was intending to do to her…but, worst of all, there was no one who would come to save her. Inuyasha and the others had no idea that she was back. Realizing that her escape from this situation depended entirely on herself, Kagome found the courage to speak.

“Who are you?” she asked.

“Be silent,” said the man in a whisper, “or I’ll kill you now.”

Kagome began to panic again. “I have friends,” she lied quickly, hoping to frighten the man into freeing her. “Big, scary friends. They’ll come looking for me! And…and one of them is a hanyou!”

“A hanyou?” he said, louder now. His voice was cold and nearly monotonic, rather like Sesshomaru’s had been. The sound of it sent shivers up her spine.

“Yes,” said Kagome “His name is Inuyasha, you’ve probably heard of him…he…he killed the demon Naraku”. It was hard for Kagome to keep her voice steady.

The man stood and moved closer to her, though his face remained hidden beneath the hood. “Inuyasha?” he laughed.

“Yes,” said Kagome, afraid even more now that the man had laughed at the name.

Laughing, he removed the hood.

Across his right eye, there was a long, thin scar that extended from the middle of his eyebrow onto his cheek. Everything from his voice, to his entire manner was different…and yet… there was no mistaking that silver hair, that he now wore tied back, or those dog-like ears…those amber eyes….

“Nice try, Meimu,” he said, and smiled in a way that made Kagome tremble. “Inuyasha… is me”.

Kagome felt her jaw drop. “Inuyasha!” she exclaimed. “It’s me! It’s Kagome!”

He laughed again. “They all say that.”

“Huh?”

“You’re not Kagome. Kagome is happily engaged somewhere else. I know. I saw it.”

Kagome’s heart sank. “You saw that?”

“Come sunrise you’ll die, Meimu”.

“But its me!” Kagome yelled. “Inuyasha, it’s me!”

“You’ll die,” he said, as he pulled the hood pack up, obscuring his face once more. He walked back over to his place on the other side of the fire, and spoke no more…patiently awaiting the new day.

Chapter 7

A New Day

It must have been the stress, because somehow, Kagome had fallen asleep. She felt a sharp jab to her side and awoke immediately. The memories of the previous night returned to her in a flash as she stared at Inuyasha, who was kneeling in front of her with that same frightening smile on his face.

“Wake up, Meimu,” he said. “Its nearly sunrise”.

And with that, he rose and grabbed Kagome by the back of her shirt. He was rough, and seemed to give no thought to causing her injury, as he dragged her from the cave and out into a clearing. Kagome cried out as her legs scraped the rough ground through her jeans. When he had her where he seemed to want her to be, he let go of her shirt and her head met the ground. He paid no mind to this, and walked a short distance away from her.

Kagome had to struggle to get herself into a sitting position. Tears were pouring down her face, both from the pain in her body and the pain in her soul. Without a doubt, she knew that Inuyasha would kill her…this wasn’t the man she had fallen in love with.

The hanyou, who had was not wearing the black hood any longer, was looking up at the sky. He smiled coldly as he looked at Kagome. “Don’t cry,” he said, “you’ll be dead in a few minutes”.

This did nothing but make Kagome cry harder. “Inu…yasha… What ha-happened to you?” she asked between sobs.

He didn’t respond, but merely continued to look at her with that same murderous smile.

Sooner, much sooner than Kagome would have liked, the sun began to rise. Inuyasha wasted no time in drawing the Tetsusiaga. He walked slowly over to Kagome and pressed the razor-sharp blade to her throat. Kagome could feel her skin break, and blood oozed down her neck. It was no more that a scratch at the moment, but Kagome squeezed her eyes shut and tensed her body in anticipation of her death.

“I like to smell their fear”, the Hanyou replied, but he did not press the sword any harder.

And then, unexpectedly, the ropes binding Kagome’s arms and legs were cut, and she heard Inuyasha take a couple of steps back. Still trembling with fear, Kagome dared to open her eyes. The sun had fully risen now, and Inuyasha was looking at her with an indiscernible look on his face. The sword was held tense and ready at his side.

And then, “you’re not Meimu,” he said.

Kagome didn’t know what to say. Slowly, she shook her head.

“Kagome?” Inuyasha asked. He did not smile.

Before she knew what she was doing, Kagome had leapt to her feet and charged at Inuyasha. Frantically, she began hitting every inch of him she could reach. “How could you do this to me?” she screamed at him.

At first, he made no move to stop her. He took every blow without flinching once, the look on his face unchanging. But, after a few moments, Inuyasha grabbed her wrists in his hands, dropping the Tetsusiaga, and twisted. Kagome gave out a cry of pain as he pushed her back.

“Never touch me,” he said. He picked up his sword and headed back into the cave without a backward glance.

Kagome collapsed to her knees and cried, but the tears were short lived. She stopped as soon as she saw Inuyasha coming out of the cave again. He had something in his hand.

“Medicinal herbs,” he said, holding a slightly damp rag out to her. He held it on the very edges with his fingertips, in such a way that made it clear that he did not want to make any skin contact with her, even for a moment. “Its for you neck. You’re bleeding.”

Kagome nodded and took it, dabbing it gently across the cut. She did not know what to say to Inuyasha. His voice held no remorse…in fact, it held no emotion whatsoever. For the first time in her life, she was truly at a loss for how to speak to him.

“Come in when you’re ready,” he said. “I have food”. With that, he turned and headed back inside.

Kagome watched him go, observing that even the way he walked was different. Before, his movements had always been somewhat childish. He would plop down, slouch, walk with somewhat heavy footfalls…but now… He moved like an assassin, like his brother, with a kind of lightness and grace that he had never shown before.

She waited a few minutes before following him back into the cave. When she did, it was to find him staring at an apple that she assumed was breakfast, as he had set another one on a nearby rock, apparently for her.

Kagome sat down, taking care not to get too close to him, and took a bite of the fruit. “Thank you,” she said, after she had swallowed.

Inuyasha said nothing.

Kagome, who was determined to at know something that had happened over the past three years, was not about to let this moment go in total silence. “Who’s Meimu?” she asked.

For a time, he said nothing but started to eat his apple. Kagome noticed that even his table manners had improved…he ate more respectfully then she did. She was even more curious now to learn what had happened to him, and was about to ask more questions, when he finally spoke.

“Meimu is a demon,” he said.

“Then, why did you think she was me?” asked Kagome, confused.

“She is always you,” Inuyasha said.

“What do you mean?”

“I mean, Meimu takes the form that she thinks will have the greatest affect on the one she pursues, or the one who pursues her. I have been hunting her for some time, now. She always appears as you,” Inuyasha explained. “Always”

Kagome did not like the way he said that, without any emotion. “You haven’t caught her, yet?”

“No,” said Inuyasha. “Last night, I thought I finally had. The illusion- looking like you- can only last until sunrise. That’s why I waited.”

“You knew it was me when the illusion didn’t break?” asked Kagome.

Inuyasha nodded, but did not speak. “Finish your apple,” he said after a moment of silence. “I’ll take you back to the well. You have a life to get back to.”

Kagome suddenly found herself without any appetite, she set her apple down. “Inuyasha…”, she began, “I’m sor-”

“Don’t be,” he said, and it amazed Kagome that his voice continued to hold no feeling. “I can imagine that it must have been hard to wait for your half-demon boyfriend for three years, when their was a perfectly available human boy to give you comfort”. It was the first time he had ever referred to himself as her ‘boyfriend’, and where this would have thrilled Kagome before, now, it only made her wince as though he had struck her.

There was no anger or spite in his tone, but Kagome found that there didn’t really need to be. In fact, his calm indifference stung all the more, and Kagome wished he would get angry…she wished he would yell.

“I did wait, Inuyasha”, she said.

“It makes no difference,” he told her, standing now and pulling the black hood up.

“It does,” Kagome wanted to get some emotion out of him, she wanted to know that he was still in there, she wanted him to say that it mattered, that he was pissed…

“It doesn’t,” he said.

Kagome stood up, too. “What happened to you?” she asked. “What happened that day in the woods?”

“I grew up,” was Inuyasha’s reply. Without another word to her, he left the cave. Slightly dumbstruck, Kagome followed along after him.

Chapter 8

All The Difference

“You forgot your bag,” Inuyasha said the instant Kagome emerged from the cave. He was leaning against the entrance, looking slightly intimidating. Kagome, who had wanted to continue to question him, decided against it. She rushed back inside and grabbed up her yellow bag, noticing as she did so, that the cave was quite empty without it. Apparently, this was not Inuyasha’s permanent residence.

She left the cave again to find the hanyou in the same place she had left him. This time, however, he didn’t bother to speak to her. He set off through the forest at a fast pace, leaving Kagome to scramble after him.

For roughly a half an hour, they walked like that in total silence. Inuyasha did not slow down for her, or even bother to hold thorny branches out of her way. Where he was seemed unbothered by them, Kagome had to fight her way through, which resulted in small scratches on her hands, and several tiny rips in her clothing. This prevented her from enjoying the walk, as the forest was beautiful and filled with the pleasant sounds of birds singing and the gentle hum of insects.

After about thirty minutes of this, Kagome caught up with Inuyasha at a small stream. He was kneeling down beside it, and she watched as he cupped his hands together to collect some water to drink. Inuyasha must have realized that she was staring at him, for he stood and turned to face her.

“You should drink some water,” he said, and walked a short distance upstream. Kagome knelt down at the spot he had just vacated and took a sip of the water herself. She hadn’t realized how thirsty she was until the water hit her lips…she had not had a drink since last night.

After she had quenched her thirst, she walked over to Inuyasha, who was standing almost as still as a statue as he watched the water.

“Umm…” said Kagome “Where are we going, exactly?”

“I’m taking you back to the well,” he said, not looking at her. “I told you this already.”

“But…what if I don’t want to go?” she asked.

“You shouldn’t be here. Your fiancé is probably worried, and this isn’t a safe place for the Shikon Jewel”, he explained, stealing at glance at the jewel, which she wore around her neck.

“The Jewel?” Kagome, yelled. “Is that all you care about?”

“Yes,” said Inuyasha. “It is.”

Whatever Kagome had expected him to say, it wasn’t that. The brutality of his honesty was like a block of cement falling on her heart. He could have lied…she found herself thinking. She would rather he had lied…

What I have done to make him hate me so much? She thought. Is it Hojo? Does he hate me for THAT? But, somewhere in her heart, she knew that Inuyasha must have been building up this resentment for some time. He couldn’t have changed this much over one incident…in two nights…could he?

As she began to cry, he showed her no sympathy…no words of comfort. He simply stood there, watching the water, impervious to her pain.

* * * * *

After the short break, they continued their walk to the well. Kagome made no attempt to keep up with Inuyasha’s pace this time, but she soon realized that he would not so far ahead that she couldn‘t see him. Only twice did he bother to speak to her, and both times were to tell her to move faster, a feat which Kagome, who was still having trouble moving through the dense forest, found impossible.

After another hour of walking, Inuyasha suddenly stopped moving. He stood as still as death, his ears perked up. He raised a hand to signal to Kagome to stop moving. She couldn’t hear anything at first, but after a short moment, she did. There was a faint scraping noise coming from somewhere to the right, getting louder all the time. It sounded as though something heavy was slithering across the ground.

Kagome, squinting through the dense trees, was able to make out an enormous two-headed snake demon about fifty feet away. It was getting closer and closer to them, and Kagome knew that it was coming after the Shikon Jewel. She was afraid. “Inuyasha…” she whispered, “the demon! Don’t you see it?”

Inuyasha, though looking at the demon, did not charge after it as was his custom. He stood in the same spot he was in, watching the creature get closer as though he found this situation boring.

When the demon was twenty feet away from them, Kagome truly started to panic. He’s going to let it kill me! she thought, wildly.

The snake was ten feet away, and it had reared itself up, hissing madly…fully prepared to strike. Still, Inuyasha had not moved an inch. Kagome screamed, and fell to the ground as she tried to back away.

As the snake began to strike, Inuyasha, with a lazy flick of his wrist, threw the Tetsusiaga. The snakes hissing ceased, and both of its heads fell to the ground, severed clean away from its body.

Kagome was shaking all over. She stood, rather unsteady on her feet. She had been so sure that Inuyasha wasn’t going to save her… She looked for the Tetsusiaga, hoping to retrieve it for Inuyasha, and saw it stuck in a nearby tree. She made her way toward it.

In one swift movement, Inuyasha beat her there. He pulled the sword from the tree easily, and turned to face Kagome. “I do not want your hands on my sword”, he said.

Quickly getting over her anger, Kagome yelled, “You never cared before!”

“That was before,” said the hanyou, re-sheathing his weapon.

“Why do you hate me?” Kagome yelled, as he began to walk away from her.

Inuyasha stopped walking. “Hate you?” he asked.

Kagome started to cry again. How often could he make her cry in only twenty four hours? “You must hate me,” Kagome said. “You’re being horrible to me!”

Finally, he looked at her. “Am I?”

“Whaddya mean ‘am I’?!” Kagome screamed. “How could you not notice, Inuyasha? You’ve been nothing but cruel to me since I got back!”

“I didn’t make you come back”, he said.

“I came back for you!” Kagome yelled, tears pouring down her face. “Don’t you get that?”

Inuyasha’s face remained impassive. “This is who I am, Kagome,” he told her. “I do not hate you.”

Kagome opened her mouth to speak, to ask him if he still loved her. He cut her off.

“Nor do I love you, either,” he finished.

“Inuyasha…” she whispered as she took a timid step toward him. “What happened to you…? Please, please tell me something….anything…”

He took a step back. “Know this then, Kagome,” he said. “Love and hate…these are trivial human emotions that mean nothing whatsoever to me. You mean nothing to me. Nothing at all. Were you not holding the Shikon No Tama, you’re life would be as meaningless as that demon in my eyes.”

“Inuyasha…please!” Kagome cried.

At long last, Inuyasha’s apathetic demeanor broke. He pressed his hands over his ears, blocking out the sound of her continued sobs. “SHUT UP!” He screamed. “SHUT UP! SHUT UP! Don’t you get it, woman? INUYASHA ISN’T IN HERE ANYMORE!”

* * * * *

Inuyasha hadn’t spoke a word since his outburst, in fact, it had been so long since he had allowed himself to feel that he was quite surprised to learn that he could get angry. It upset him greatly. He thought he had overcome petty emotion.

Kagome was still trailing along behind him, still sobbing. He wished she would stop. She had wanted the truth, after all, he reasoned with himself. What he had told her had not been a lie. She needed to know that, but of course…he knew she wouldn’t understand.

That’s because you won’t tell her! argued the voice in his head. Inuyasha was quite shocked that the voice had emerged again. He had thought he had rid himself of his conscience years ago. He brushed the voice away. He had no use for it.

Had he been cruel to Kagome? Of course he had. He knew it. The simple truth of it was that he didn’t care. The man that Kagome wanted, that Kagome knew, wasn’t him. That man had died long ago, and Inuyasha was quite fine with that. With the life he now lived, what use was caring? Or love? Or hate, even? For the preservation of his own sanity, he had murdered the old Inuyasha…. he was just another splatter of blood on his already stained claws.

Hours later, they arrived at the well. Kagome stood in silence a short distance away from him. She was just another human, wasn’t she?

“You need to go home, now,” he said. He hated speaking to her.

She took a small step toward him. “I don’t want to leave,” she said.

She needed to leave. He needed her to leave. She should go. Now. But, Inuyasha didn’t say any of this. “Why?” he asked, unable to contain the slight curiosity that pulled at his mind.

“I…” she took another step toward him. “I want to stay with you. Please, it’s my choice isn’t it? Isn’t it?”

He wanted to tell her ‘no’. To knock her out and push her through the well himself. He wanted to make her leave and never come back. He wanted Kagome to disappear forever from his life. Inuyasha was more than capable of making her leave. How badly he wanted her to go…Hadn’t he just walked all this way to make her do it?

And yet… “Fine. Stay, if you must.” Just don’t expect more than I can give you, Kagome. You don’t know me anymore. But he didn’t say that part out loud.

Chapter 8

Meimu

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Kagome sat on the floor of Kaede’s hut, lost in her thoughts. Inuyasha had not wanted to walk any more that day, and Kagome was quite relieved about it. It was dark again now, and he was asleep on the other side of the hut, with his back to the wall. He had fallen asleep almost immediately.

She, on the other hand, was not tired. She almost regretted choosing to stay with Inuyasha…he hadn’t spoken a word to her since the well. A part of her desperately wanted to go home. What was the point of staying, she thought, if he didn’t want her there? But then, if he didn’t want her there, why had he let her stay? It was all so confusing.

In any case, Kagome had realized that she couldn’t expect him to be the same man from three years ago. This revelation had hurt, and it had been quite hard to accept…but there was no denying that it was true. She had to get to know him all over again, on his terms, and without resentment. But, even as she realized that this is what she must do, she also knew how hard it would be.

Every time she looked at him, she couldn’t help but expect him to say something sarcastic…or laugh…or smile… And lets face it, Kagome thought, smiling at the thought of killing me doesn’t count. She couldn’t help but want to comfort him, to touch him. For a moment, she even contemplated walking over and touching his hand while he slept, but she didn’t have the nerve. If he woke up, he would be furious, and she didn’t want to upset him. In her logical mind, she knew that she’d be better of with Hojo back in her own time…but her heart as good as wrenched this thought from her head.

After a while, it became difficult for Kagome to remain in the hut with Inuyasha. She needed some fresh air…a chance to think. She knew it was reckless to wonder about an abandoned village at night, but she was not intending to go far. Still, she took her old bow and arrows with her for protection, and headed for the Sacred Tree.

* * * *

She encountered no problems on the short walk. However, it did not do as Kagome had expected it to do. She had thought that coming to the tree might give help her think, that somehow (as irrational as it was) it would give her the answers she so desperately desired.

Instead, all it did was bring back an onslaught of memories that were of little use to her. Remembering how she first met Inuyasha, and how their relationship had slowly grown over the course of their adventures did not help her in her current situation. It did, however, succeed in making her cry. She tried to fight back the tears, feeling as if crying was all she had done recently, but the effort proved to be futile. There was just too much to cry about.

She felt a hand on her shoulder…

Turning, she saw Inuyasha standing there, smiling warmly at her just like he used to do. “Inu…yasha…?” she asked, unable to fully believe that he could change so fast.

“Kagome,” he said. “What are you doing out here?” His voice was as she remembered it.

“I’m…I just needed to…to think,” she said, wiping her eyes.

“You don’t need to cry”, said Inuyasha. He pulled her into an embrace, and Kagome couldn’t help but cling to him. She wanted this so much. “I’m here,” he said, and gently kissed the top of her head, running is fingers through her hair.

As he pulled back, he brushed the back of his hand across her cheeks, wiping away the last of her tears. Kagome smiled weekly up at him, and he kissed her. He kissed her with the such passion that Kagome couldn’t help but enthusiastically respond. Nothing else mattered, all current troubles sat dormant and forgotten, as she pressed her lips to his.

Kagome broke the kiss with great hesitation. “What happened to you?” She asked him. “Why have you been you acting so…different?”

Inuyasha sighed. “It’s the jewel, Kagome,” he said.

“They jewel…?”

“It makes me…” he seemed to struggle to find the right word. “different.” After Kagome continued to look confused, he went on: “If the jewel were gone, it would be alright again”.

“But…” said Kagome, “I can’t get rid of it…”

“I can.” he said. “Just give me the jewel, and I’ll get rid of it for us. Things will be exactly like they used to be, you’ll see!”

Kagome believed him. With all her heart she believed him. She reached her hand and unfastened the necklace. Holding the Shikon Jewel in her hand, she extended her arm out to Inuyasha, fully prepared to let him have it. And then-

“Don’t give him the jewel, Kagome,” said a familiar voice.

She spun around and saw Inuyasha standing about fifteen feet away. She shook her head. That was impossible…Inuyasha is right beside me, she thought. She turned to look, and sure enough, he was there. There were two Inuyashas.

“Kagome, that’s not me” said the new Inuyasha, in the cold and emotionless voice she had come to nearly hate.

“Don’t listen to him, Kagome,” said the one beside her, with the slightly gruff voice of the man she loved.

“Use you’re head, woman,” said the other one. “That’s not me, and you know it. You only want it to be.”

And in that instant, Kagome realized the truth. She turned to the Inuyasha beside her. “You’re…” she whispered, “You’re Meimu…aren’t you?”

He smiled.

There was a moment that seem suspended in time, and then Meimu grabbed Kagome by the wrist and pulled her behind the sacred tree.

* * * * *

It had happened so quickly that Inuyasha did not have enough time to react. Delayed by mere seconds, Inuyasha rounded the tree to find Kagome on the ground wrestling with Meimu…except that there were two Kagome’s, and Inuyasha couldn’t tell which one was real.

“Stop!” he yelled, and they both did. Both Kagome’s rose to their feet…identical in every way, the Shikon Jewel on the ground in front of them. They stared at each other with identical expressions of fright.

The only sure way to tell them apart would be to wait until sunrise, but with the Shikon Jewel so close, Inuyasha doubted that Meimu would let this go on for long. No…he was going to have to get clever.

The Kagome’s looked at him, both fearful of what decision he would make…both wanting the other to die.

“Inuyasha…please…” said one Kagome. “It’s me…”

“No,” said the other, shaking her head. “It’s me! You know me!”

“Be silent, both of you,” he said. “Kagome’s,” he continued, “You wanted to know what happened to me, that day in the forest? I’ll tell you.” He took a deep breath. He had no choice…it was the only way to be sure. “I followed the sound of footsteps deeper into the forest…I found men. Twelve men. I hid in a tree, trying to learn what they were after. I blacked out.”

Inuyasha was surprised at how easy this was to say. For three years, he had lived in fear of this memory…he had locked it away in the back of his mind. He had refused to speak of it. But, as he did so now, he realized that he didn’t care. The memory didn’t trouble him at all. Perhaps he truly had killed his old self… Unfeeling, both in his voice and his heart, he continued: “When I came to, I was soaked in blood. All the men were dead. I had slaughtered each and every one of them…and I enjoyed it.”

The Kagome on the left gasped, and took a step away from him. The Kagome on his right stepped toward him, her arm outstretched as if comfort him. This was all he needed: in an instant, he had drawn the Tetsusiaga and plunged it into the heart of the left-most Kagome.

She fell to the floor, writhing and screaming. Meimu’s body convulsed violently before taking on the appearance of a shadow…a blank template of a person, before exploding into dust.

As Inuyasha sheathed his sword, he felt Kagome’s hand on his. He stepped back.

“Inuyasha…” she said, her hand falling limply at her side. “How did you know?”

“Only you would touch a murderer” he said, coldly. “Get the jewel”.

Convinced that he had gotten the last word, Inuyasha started to head back to the hut.

“If you didn‘t care about me, you wouldn‘t have bothered to save me!” Kagome called after him.

For a moment, Inuyasha froze. But only for a moment. He had saved her because…because… Because, you care, said the voice in his head. He brushed the voice away. He had saved her because of the jewel.

For some reason, he had to tell himself that twice before he believed it.

Chapter 10

More Questions

Kagome hated nothing more than silence while in Inuyasha’s company, but silence was all she received. Since his defeat of Meimu two nights previous, he had not said two words to her. The silence was overwhelming for Kagome, as she badly wanted to speak to him, but she could not bring herself to break the silence, either.

Inuyasha did not slow his relentless pace for her, and she doubted he would stopped to eat or sleep if Kagome hadn’t been about to collapse. Of course, she had no idea where they were heading, and because Inuyasha had chosen to travel through the forest, it was impossible for her to interpret their direction. As much as Kagome loved the beauty of the feudal era, the unending wave of tree… after tree… after tree did get a bit nauseating, as it gave her the impression of traveling in circles. Coupled with the tense silence, this walk was nothing if not miserable.

Near evening on the second day, they arrived at a well concealed hot spring. For Kagome, this was a welcome sight. It was a nice break to look at something other then the unending forest, and her legs were tired and sore of all the walking she had done.

Before Kagome could gather her voice together to suggest a hot bath, Inuyasha had stripped off his black haori and let his hair down. Kagome couldn’t help but stare at him, blushing as she did so, but he didn’t seem to notice. There were several scars on his chest and arms, and Kagome was overwhelmed with an urge reach out to him, but she didn’t know what to say. She was still shocked about what he had said occurred on that night in the woods, and saying ‘gee, I’m sorry that you killed twelve innocent men’ hardly seemed comforting or appropriate. On top of that, Kagome was fairly certain that there was more to the story than he had revealed…something more had happened in their three years apart…but she had no idea as to what, and Inuyasha was not very forthcoming with this information.

In another moment, Inuyasha had taken off his hakama as well. Kagome looked and then quickly turned around, blushing furiously. “Inuyasha, SIT”, she yelled. Her voice was hoarse from lack of use.

However, there was no crash that signaled Inuyasha’s fall to the earth. “The beads are gone, Kagome,” he said, and she heard him enter the water.

“You can get in the water, you know,” he said.

“Not with you watching, I won’t,” Kagome spat.

Inuyasha did not argue, but stared resolutely off to the side. For the first time, Kagome was certain that he wouldn’t bother to peek at her as she undressed and entered the spring. Once she entered the water and was resting comfortably, Inuyasha looked at her again.

“Enjoy it while it lasts”, Inuyasha told her. “I don’t want to waste too much time here”.

“Where are we going?” Kagome asked him, her voice no longer as hoarse as it had been.

Inuyasha looked her over for a moment. “Home,” he said simply.

* * * * *

After two more days of travel, Kagome was feeling more tired than she remembered feeling in a long while. The monotony of the days dragged on, and conversation with the hanyou was sparse at best, and nonexistent for the majority of the time. He spoke to her only when he needed to, either to tell her to ‘keep up’ or to say that they were camping for the night. He never spoke to her just for the sake of conversation, and while he seemed quite unbothered by his solitude, Kagome found it agonizing.

It was around afternoon on the last day when Kagome recognized the Slayers Village, her friend Sango’s home, in the distance.

“Is Sango there?” she asked Inuyasha.

He didn’t answer her, and they continued on in yet more silence.

The village, when they arrived, was much different than Kagome remembered it. It was cleaned up, and many of the homes appeared to be repaired. It seemed that someone had been slowly trying to restore the place to its former glory. As they neared one of the houses, Kagome saw a small crop field, with a training field nearby, where a boy in red was practicing sword techniques on a wooden dummy.

When they neared the boy, he gave a yelp of surprise and smiled brightly. “Inuyasha’s back!” he yelled, and ran toward them.

The boy was feet away when Kagome recognized him. Shippou. He was taller, the height that any regular 10 year old would be, though he still had his pointed ears, his fox tail, and his fox-like legs. He was wearing a red kimono that Kagome recognized as Inuyasha’s fire rat outfit.

He stared at her, his face set in a quizzical half-smile.

Kagome smiled, “Hi, Shippou,” she said.

In that moment, Shippou’s face broke into a wide smile. “Kagome!” he yelled. “Miroku, Sango, come quick! Kagome’s back!” He pulled her into a tight hug.

* * * * *

Over the next few hours, Kagome found herself overcome with happiness at seeing her old friends again. There’s was a feeling of warmth and closeness that her reunion with Inuyasha had lacked. Miroku and Sango both had tears of happiness in their eyes when they greeted Kagome, and they wasted no time in pulling her into the house for a cup of tea and a real dinner. They had chosen to take up residence in the house that had belonged to Sango’s family.

Inuyasha ate silently in the corner as the others filled Kagome in on their last three years. It turned out that Miroku and Sango had not yet married. Sango explained that she had wanted to wait until Kagome could be present, but they were, at least, officially a couple.

“….and Inuyasha’s teaching me to fight with a sword, Kagome”, Shippou explained through a mouthful of food. “So, when demons attack, I’m much more help, now!”

“That’s wonderful!” said Kagome.

“What about you, Kagome?” asked Sango. “What have you been doing all this time?”

Kagome proceeded to tell them about the events that had occurred in her three year absence. Her graduation from high school brought on a resounded round of applause once she explained she no longer had to return to take tests. When she told them that she had been engaged to Hojo, Shippou blurted out “What about Inuyasha?”

Kagome blushed, but Inuyasha’s face remained as impassive as ever. She chose not to respond to Shippou’s question and proceeded to tell the rest of her tale, all the way up to the fight with the demon, Meimu.

Miroku glanced at Inuyasha then, “So, she’s dead, then?” he asked him.

Inuyasha nodded, “Yes, she is.”

“That’s another one down,” Miroku said.

“Another what down?” asked Kagome.

Miroku responded, “Hasn’t Inuyasha told you?”

“Told me what?”

“About…about the forty-three?”

“The forty-three…?” Kagome asked, even more confused now. “Forty-Three what?”

It was Inuyasha who answered. “Forty-Three demons who escaped from Hell. A man named Lord Heru Opuna opened the gates of hell to retrieve his wife and let forty three demons escape, instead.”

Startled by this news, Kagome covered her mouth with her hand. “How many have you killed?” she asked.

“Twelve,” said Sango. “There’s still many more left…”

“That’s why,” Inuyasha continued, his voice emotionless even when surrounded by friends, “I never came back for you. I wanted to get you once it was safe. It doesn’t matter now.”

The rest of the meal passed in silence. After eating, Shippou headed to one of the bedrooms to go to sleep. There were still many things Kagome wanted to know about these escaped demons, about her friends, and about what they knew about the change in Inuyasha, but guilt kept her from asking at the current time. She should have known Inuyasha had had a reason for not coming for her…She should have trusted him… But then…would it have made any difference? The way he was now, she doubted that promise would have mattered to him, anyway.

Inuyasha stood quickly and headed for the door.

“Where are you going?” Kagome asked him.

Inuyasha did not answer her. Instead, he addressed the others. “I will not return for two days,” he said, and left.

Confused, Kagome turned to the others, “where is he going?” she asked.

Miroku shook his head, his face set in a frown. “I don’t know. We’ve been traveling with him for a little over two years now…and he’s never said. Where he goes, he leaves about once -sometimes twice- a month.”

Sango cut in: “And he almost always returns with a better idea about the location of one of the forty-three”.

“What’s happened to him? He’s not the same…” Kagome was unable to hold back tears, and found herself crying again.

“We don’t know, Kagome” Miroku said. “We’ve been hunting these demons with him for a little over a year, but he doesn’t talk to us. Kagome, whatever happened to him has changed him greatly, he’s not exactly…right.”

“What do you mean ‘right’?” Kagome asked.

“He means,” said Sango, “that he’s not the same Inuyasha from before. He’s violent, Kagome, and cold, and unfeeling. We…we think he’s gone a bit mad, to be honest. Kagome…I’m sorry…”

“If you think he’s crazy, why do you stay with him?” Kagome asked them.

“Because we want to help him, Kagome,” said Sango. “He’s our friend, and we can’t just abandon him, even if we don’t know what happened to him.”

“And to be honest,” Miroku said, “We’re hardly a match for these demons without him. After you left, he told us that he’d sent you home, and that he had something he had to do, that we didn’t want us involved in. He left us, and that was the last any of us saw of the old Inuyasha. Sango, Shippou and I searched for him for two years, and we found him by chance. We had happened upon one of the forty three, and we were losing badly. Inuyasha saved us, and we’ve been with him since. By then, he was like this, and he would have left us behind again if we hadn’t pleaded with him.”

Kagome desperately wanted answers, but it seemed that it would be quite some time before she got them. Strangely, not knowing made her afraid…and she feared that when the answers finally came, she’d wish she had never asked the questions.

Chapter 11

The Black Assassin

The next day found Kagome outside, watching Shippou as he attacked the training dummy with a wooden sword, wearing Inuyashas’ fire rat kimono. Miroku and Sango had gone to the nearest village for news. Kagome was fairly content, but Inuyasha’s absence stopped her from feeling completely happy. This same mood seemed to be affecting the others as well, making an air of contradiction hang over the Slayers Village, as the place seemed both as welcoming and comforting as it did empty and depressing.

As Kagome sat on the stump of a fallen tree watching Shippou practice, she was amazed at how much he’d changed…how much everyone had changed. She felt trapped in time- the world had changed around her, as had the people in it, but she had not. She was still the same girl from three years who had jumped through the well and expected things to be exactly how she left them. It was foolish, she knew, and she couldn’t bring herself to admit to that foolish expectation…at least, not out loud. But it had been a comforting to think in that time she was away.

“Kagome, did you see that attack?” Shippou asked excitedly, pulling her from her thoughts.

“No…sorry, Shippou. I must have looked away at the wrong moment,” she said. “Go on and do it again. I’ll make sure I watch this time”.

“Nah, its okay,” Shippou said as he walked over and sat on the ground beside Kagome. “What’s wrong?”

“Nothing,” Kagome lied, not wanting to burden the boy with her thoughts. “Say, when did Inuyasha give you his fire-rat?”

Shippou thought back a moment. “When we first ran into him again,” Shippou explained. “We were fighting this big, mean demon, and we were losing. My clothes had gotten all ripped up, because I’d tried to help in the fight.”

“And then,” he continued, “Inuyasha showed up….just at the right time! He killed the demon, and you should’ve seen it, Kagome-he didn’t even try very hard! He just-” Shippou stood up, imitating what Inuyasha had done, “threw his sword-like this- and the demon was dead! It was so cool!” He sat down again. “He gave me the fire-rat after the fight…he wasn’t wearing it. He was wearing the black kimono he has on now”.

“And then what happened, Shippou?” Kagome asked, wanting to hear the rest of the story.

Shippou seemed more than happy to oblige. “Well, after he gave me the fire-rat, and he didn’t say anything to any of us, you know. And then he went to get his sword and…and…” Shippou frowned then and didn’t continue.

…And then?” Kagome pressed him.

“Kagome,” he started, the excitement in his voice gone. He sounded almost fearful. “You won’t believe me…if Miroku and Sango hadn’t seen it too, I wouldn’t think it really happened. But…after he got the Tetsusiaga…he…”

“He what, Shippou?”

“…he licked off the blood.”

* * * * *

So, Kagome thought, now I understand why Sango had said Inuyasha is going mad. If he’s been doing things like that. Does he like killing, now? The more Kagome thought about what Shippou had said, the less she wanted to believe it. She was having a hard enough time accepting the change in Inuyasha without throwing madness into the mix. But something was going on with him. Something. People don’t just change like that for no reason. Something must have happened to him three years ago, but he wasn’t going to tell…she knew that. But it still hurt.

It was dusk now, and Kagome was sitting on the porch of Sango’s family home. Shippou was inside. It was dark, but Kagome could just make out Miroku and Sango returning. She ran to greet them.

They both wore sad, pained expressions. Kagome deducted that whatever news they had learned was not going to be favorable. Still, she had to ask, “What’s the news? Did you find out anything of interest?”

“Of interest, yes,” said Miroku as they walked back toward the house, “but not the good kind.”

“What did you learn?” asked Kagome.

“As it turned out, The Black Assassin hit that village last night.”

“The Black Assassin?” Kagome didn’t understand. “Who’s that?”

“We don’t know,” Miroku explained, taking a seat on the porch that Kagome had recently vacated and holding his head in his hands. “He’s a killer, we know that much.”

“His murders are seemingly random, and don’t appear to be connected. As we can‘t be in every place at one, we don‘t know how often he strikes. But, I‘ve heard tell that there are about one or two victims a month,” Sango supplied. “We wouldn’t even know they were all done by the same person if he didn’t make it obvious.”

“How does he make it obvious?” Kagome asked.

“He rips out his victims hearts…he doesn’t use a sword to do it, he doesn’t use a sword…the hearts aren’t cut out. Its almost like he uses his hands. We saw the body in the village, they had me perform a burial service for him,” Miroku explained. “On his chest, there were three deep slashes, another trademark of the killer. Apparently, all of his victims look that same way. At least, that’s what I heard. This was the first one I’ve seen.”

Kagome didn’t want to hear more. Having a vicious murderer like that on the loose was frightening. She had a few more questions, though, which she reluctantly asked: “why is he called the Black Assassin? And do you think he’s one of those forty-three you guys told me about?”

Sango decided to answer, “the reason for the name is easy. No one has ever seen him kill. As for your other question: Inuyasha thinks so. He told us that he’s been hunting the Black Assassin for three years, but its impossible to get any leads on him. So, we’re focusing on the other demons.”

“But, this one seems much more dangerous! How could Inuyasha just ignore it?” yelled Kagome.

“Kagome, he’s not ignoring it,” said Miroku. “He can’t track a demon that leaves no scent…no trail. I guess, he hopes that by killing the others, eventually, the Black Assassin will come out of hiding or make a mistake.”

“And another thing, Kagome,” Sango cut in, “I don’t think Inuyasha cares so much about innocent people. He’s lost any value he use to have for human life, and you’re going to have to accept that. But, I doubt he’s any more angered by the Black Assassin than he is by any other demon.”

“You’re wrong, you know,” Kagome told her.

Sango hung her head, “I wish I was.”

* * * * *

The next day, everyone was on edge. They remained inside the house, which Miroku explained, was for everyone’s protection. If the Black Assassin was still nearby, they didn’t want to be easy targets. It was decided that once Inuyasha returned, they would have to leave the Slayers Village for a time, to put some distance between themselves and this seemingly untraceable killer.

As much as Kagome hated to flee, she had to admit that she saw the sense in it. Waiting for the Black Assassin to reveal himself was safer than staying here and hoping he’d come after them…and then hoping they could win.

When Inuyasha returned late that night, everyone was relieved. Immediately, Miroku explained what had occurred in the neighboring village, and that they should leave.

“You are right,” Inuyasha said, leaning against the wall and looking very intimidating. “Staying here would not be safe for you. It works out anyway.”

“What do you mean?” asked Sango.

“The next demon is rumored to be in a village to the east of here. Its about three days away.”

“How did you find that out?” Kagome asked him. “Where did you go?”

Inuyasha chose to ignore this. “I am leaving when the sun comes up. If you’re coming, do not delay. I will not wait for any of you, and none of you stand a chance without me.”

Chapter 12

Onward

Inuyasha awoke before dawn the following morning. It was several moments before he was fully aware of where he was. In the last few days, or rather, exactly one night after Kagome’s return, he had started to have dreams that slightly upset him. These dreams presented him with images and emotions from a past that he no longer cared to hold onto. Often now, upon waking, he was unsure of exactly who or where he was. These thoughts never lasted longer than a few short seconds, but they still bothered Inuyasha. Asleep, his mind was trying to take him backwards into a life that no longer belonged to him, but he had no use for yesterdays long gone… and he didn’t like to think about them.

He decided to walk to the nearest stream for a fresh drink and to splash himself with the cool water, which he hoped might help him clear his thoughts. As he made his way out of the house, Inuyasha made no attempt to avoid waking the others. If they wanted to accompany him to find the next demon, they needed to wake up anyway. After all, he hadn’t lied when he had threatened to leave them behind.

* * * *

Everyone was awakened before dawn by the loud beeping sound coming from Kagome’s alarm clock. When Kagome woke, it was to find Shippou, Miroku, Sango covering their ears, and Kirara pawing at the source of the noise. Hastily, she turned off the clock and returned it to her bag.

Once dressed, they ate a short and silent breakfast. The group was too tired and groggy to speak much. Kagome was worried that Inuyasha had left without them, even though they were up on time, since there was no sign of him in the house. Her fears were, much to her relief, proven false when he returned shortly after they finished their meal.

Kagome was still too tired to do much complex thinking, but after they had left the village, she noticed Sango looking back on it with sadness etched onto her face. Kagome realized that Sango had been hoping to make the village their home, and with a pang she realized exactly who had been repairing the houses.

* * * *

Having everyone together again made the long walk bearable, even enjoyable. Had it just been her and Inuyasha, Kagome thought she might have cracked under the pressure of his unwavering silence. As it was, she was able to enjoy herself, despite feeling sore and tired. It just like the old days, or at least, as much like the old days as she was likely to experience.

When the stopped to make camp on the second night of their journey, Inuyasha announced that he was going to collect water from a nearby stream. It was the first time he’d spoken since leaving the village. Kagome stole a glance at the others, who were chatting happily around the newly started fire, and decided to follow after Inuyasha.

She caught up with him at the stream, where he was busy filling their containers.

“Inuyasha,” she said kneeling beside him, “can I talk to you for a moment?”

He didn’t look at her, and Kagome honestly thought that he was ignore her. His response caught her completely off guard. “Care to help?” he asked, and motioned toward a small pile of containers.

“Yeah…sure, I’ll help…” his response had taken her by surprise so much that she was slipping over her words. She reached for a bottle and started filling it.

“What did you want to talk to me about?” He asked.

“You’re being nice….” Kagome pointed out.

Inuyasha looked at her and shook his head. “I am being civil,” he said. “Now, what did you want?”

“I…” Kagome started, carefully choosing the best words. “I want to get to know you again. You’ve changed so much, and it’s like I’m meeting you for the first time.”

“And what?” he asked.

“And I want to know more about you, as you are now. It will be easier for me accept that you’ve changed if I understand what’s happened to you”, Kagome finished.

“I never asked for your acceptance” Inuyasha said, his voice returning to the cold tone she was now too familiar with.

“I-I didn’t mean it like-”

“You did”, he cut her off. “What is it you want, Kagome? Do you want me to love you again? Is that it?”

Kagome was speechless. “I…I…don’t…”, she stammered.

In one swift movement, Inuyasha was on his feet. He reached down, and grabbing Kagome by her wrists, pulled her to her feet. It was the first time he had voluntarily touched her. His grip was tight and restricting, and he didn’t let go.

“Is that what you want?” he asked again.

“Inuyasha…I don’t…”

Before Kagome could react, his lips met hers. There was nothing loving or tender about that kiss. It was forceful and rough. He pressed his lips so hard to hers that it hurt, and she could feel his fangs pinch her skin…she recoiled.

Inuyasha pulled her closer to him and brought his lips to her ear. “Do you see? I cannot love you,” he whispered.

After that, he released her, and headed back for the camp, leaving Kagome to finish filling the bottles alone as she fought back the urge to cry.

* * * *

The next day, they arrived on the outskirts of the village they had been seeking. It was late afternoon, not yet dark, but the village appeared to be enshrouded in darkness. The closer they got, the more obvious this became. The sun was not shining on that place at all.

“What do you think is going on there?” Sango asked the group at large.

“I dunno…” said Shippou, “but I don’t like it”.

“I think its some sort of barrier” Miroku said.

Not until Miroku said it than Kagome noticed that it did, indeed, seem to be a barrier. From a distance, it almost passed as a dark cloud or a fog. Looking closely, Kagome noticed that the darkness took a semi-circular shape around the village, and seemed to be made up of swirling black mist.

“Inuyasha, do you know anything about this?” Miroku asked.

“Only that one of the forty-three is said to be here. I’m assuming that would be the one causing this dark barrier”, Inuyasha replied.

“Do you know anything about this demon?” asked Sango.

Inuyasha growled at her. “I have told you all I know”.

Kagome glanced at Shippou, who was sitting on Kirara’s back, and smiling confidently.

“Why are you so happy?” Kagome asked him.

Shippou laughed. “There’s not a single demon that could beat us! Its just like the old days. Another great adventure where we kick demon butt together and save the village! Right, Inuyasha?”

“Right,” Inuyasha said. He smiled at the boy. It was the first real smile Kagome had seen on his face since her return, and for a moment, she saw the old Inuyasha flash behind his eyes.