The demon's roar shot out over the land, as it twisted in anger and fury. It was hungry, and it's prey was so close! The demon opened it's alligator-like snout, long white teeth glinting in the setting sunlight, and roared again at the two children that crouched in the grass, eyes closed, crying. The older child, about 8, hugged his little sister tightly, wishing there were something he could do to save her.

"WindScar!"

The yellow energy exploded outwards, carving a deep gouge into the demon, entering and exploding bits and pieces all over the place. With a snarl of fury, it died, goo and gore dripping all over the place.

The two children opened their eyes, peering at the bits of the demon that lay splattered all over the ground before them. The billow clouds of dust startled to settle, and a figure stepped out of the dust.

He was tall - to a child - brilliantly dressed in crimson, long silver hair moving as he walked. He had startlingly bright eyes, golden. A massive sword was carried lightly in one hand.

"Hey, you kids ok?" he called, walking over to them. The little boy noticed dumbly that the man wore no shoes.

The little girl looked up at the man approaching them, and burst into tears. The man in crimson blinked, backing up a step.

The little girl got to her feet and ran to the man, suddenly wrapping her arms around one of his knees, "Oh thank you sir you saved us!"

The little boy walked over to the tall man, trying to look a little more mature about the whole thing - although his heart was pounding and he was sure he had been about to die. He wanted to be able to sit down and cry, too, but he wasn't a kid. He was 8!

"Thank you, sir, for s-saving me and my sister."

"Uh...yeah...you mind...getting her off?" the silver-haired man was lightly wiggling his leg, but the little girl was clinging to him with all her might. The man looked like he wasn't sure if the little girl was going to bite or not.

"Akemi, let him go, you're embarassing us!"

"But I thought I was gonna die!" she wailed, clinging all the harder.

The little boy heard laughter, and he turned to see two people walking towards them now, a man and a woman. One was clearly a monk. The other was a beautiful woman wearing black armor, and carrying what looked like a huge wooden...thing...over one shoulder.

The monk spoke, "You seem to have an admirer, InuYasha."

"Yeah, so I see." InuYasha sounded less than pleased, blinking when the little boy grabbed his sister and yanked her off the hanyou's leg. Akemi sniffled, now clinging to her brother.

The little boy bowed to them, "I am Ryota. Please accept my thanks again for saving us, sir."

InuYasha slid the Tetsusaiga back into it's sheath, and crossed his arms, "Kids shouldn't be this far out, this close to dark. Go on now, get back home."

"Yes sir," Ryota took Akemi's hand, and they turned, running back towards the village.
Miroku watched them go, smiling, and was about to speak to InuYasha, when the hanyou turned, and took off running. He called back over his shoulder, "I'll see you guys back at Kaede's!"

Miroku blinked, "Where's he off to in such a hurry?"

Sango smiled, "He was on his way to the well when he saw the demon. Kagome should be crossing back any time now."

"Ahh," Miroku smiled, "I wondered why he used the WindScar on such a rather smallish demon. I suppose this way was faster. If...messier."

"Well, you know InuYasha has never had much patience."

"Speaking of InuYasha and patience," Miroku said, turning back towards the village, "Have you seen DarkWind lately?"

"Why yes," Sango nodded, "He's been helping Kaede today with some chores." She fell silent, and looked at the monk, "You're thinking about the other night."

Miroku nodded, "Yes. There was quite obviously some sort of fight between InuYasha and DarkWind. I can only assume DarkWind found out it was Kikyo who fired that arrow. I'm not sure what happened. I know InuYasha would never allow DarkWind to harm Kikyo, but to be honest, I can't see DarkWind wanting to harm Kikyo once he found out who it was."

"Miroku, do you think Kikyo was aiming for DarkWind, or...Kagome?"

Miroku looked at her, startled, "The arrowhead was white jade, Sango. That is what is used to kill Kageri."

"I know, I just...Kikyo's an expert shot with an arrow. I find it hard to believe that she could have missed."

For a while, Miroku said nothing, then he spoke lowly, "Well, DarkWind always liked InuYasha, despite InuYasha's obvious dislike of him. But I have noticed that lately DarkWind seems to have no time for InuYasha. And...I'm afraid it's only time before Kagome finds out."

Sango sighed deeply, "And they finally seemed to be getting close again."

Miroku nodded, "I know."

InuYasha ran through the forest, a flash of crimson and silver. The sun was close to dropping beneath the horizon.

He didn't want to be late.

Despite the hundreds of years that separated the times across the well, the time of day always seemed to match up. InuYasha had never gone through the well, either here to there, or there to here, at one time of day, to come out in a different time.

Kagome said she'd come back at sunset, after she had supper with her family. Today there were no tests, no heavy studying, nothing stressful or unhappy, just a time to spend with her family. She had asked if he wanted to come, but he held off, saying he wanted to get some practice in with Tetsusaiga. In reality, he just wanted her to spend some time alone with her family. She always came back in a good, happy, content mood when she did that, and even though he would have liked to have gone with her, it would be better if he didn't.

Because it might make her that much more likely to listen to him, if the situation ever presented itself.

InuYasha had no plans on letting it drop. Two days ago he had been taken by that crazy group of monks to be a sacrifice...but before that, they had been talking. Him, and Kagome. And he had confronted her about her feelings for him.

They had been interrupted, but despite the fact she insisted there was nothing there, she couldn't look him in the eye and say it. She kept avoiding his face, and that, to him, said so much. So the very next chance he got, he was going to spring it on her again. And again. He would be relentless, until she finally wore down and admitted there was something there.

So a happy, calm, and content Kagome was a good thing.

He left the woods behind, coming out into the clearing, looking up at the well.

Kagome was already there, sitting on the edge of it, looking up at the night sky.

InuYasha ran up to her, and when she looked down and saw him, she smiled.

"Are you alright?" he called, running up to her, looking her over. She was just sitting there, had she hurt herself?

"Alright?" Kagome blinked, "Why wouldn't I be?"

"You're just sitting there."

"I thought I'd wait for you." she replied.

InuYasha paused, surprised, and pleased. He looked away quickly, not wanting to show any emotion whatsoever - Kagome tended to balk if she suspected he was feeling anything other than friendship - pretending to look for her backpack.

She laughed, and stood up, "I only have this one little bag." She showed him a white cloth bag, "I bought something for Kaede to thank her for always looking after us."

He waited as she fell into step beside him as they started back towards the village, "You want me to carry that for you?"

"Well...it's very fragile, so be careful, ok? Here, look."

Kagome reached into the bag and pulled out what looked like a round ball of crystal, with a little white castle inside. It was set into a base that looked like mountains, and when she gave it a little shake, tiny white glittery flakes swirled up around it.
InuYasha peered at it, fascinated, "What is it?"

"It's called a snow globe. You can get all kinds. I saw this and thought it was something she might like. The castle reminds me of something, but I can't quite place it."

Kagome slipped it back into the bag, and handed it to him. InuYasha took it, and kept a good grip on it, not wanting to damage it. They started back again.

"Did you have a good time with your family?"

They crested the little hill, and Kaede's village spread out below them. The little huts were starting to be lit up from within by cooking fires and candles. Kagome smiled as she watched it - it was one of her favourite times of day.

"Yes, I did. They were really surprised I showed up. You could have come, you know."

"That's ok. I wanted to clean up Tetsusaiga, after...you know."

Kagome nodded.

"And how is everyone over here doing?"

"Us? We're fine, as always."

Kagome looked up at him, "How are you?"

InuYasha blinked at her, startled. What did she mean? Was she actually bringing up the...

"I mean...about what happened with Izumi," Kagome clarified, seeing he looked confused.

InuYasha looked back to the path, and shrugged, not sure what to say.

"I'm fine."

"Are you sure?" she asked softly.

InuYasha glanced at her, then back to the path, and shrugged again. He didn't even know how to start putting it into words.

Despite what Kagome said, he felt maybe he had had something to do with it. Izumi had never had trouble closing that other portal. So why this one?

"She sent me back," he said quietly.

Kagome looked at him, alarmed. Did he know? How did he find out that Izumi brought him back from the dead? Who told him?!

"W-what?"

"She sent me back from that island, Kagome. I can't get past that. She must have known she was going to die, but why? Damnit, why didn't she let me stay and try to help her somehow?"

"But...why...why would she have thought she was going to die? Come on, InuYasha, that makes no sense."

They walked in silence again for a moment. It was dark now, only the faintest sliver of a moon visible. Tomorrow would be the new moon. Kagome could just make out the path ahead of her, down to Kaede's house, but she knew it by heart.

"She told me that she would have raised me after my mother died, if Amaterasu had let her."

He had stopped walking, and Kagome turned, looking back at him. InuYasha was hard to make out in the darkness, and she knew that was why he had stopped there, feeling comfortable in the shadows.

Kagome spoke very softly, "Yeah, I remember you telling me."

"I...a couple of times, I...I actually stopped and thought about that, you know?" his voice was a strange mix of sadness, and a self-mocking sound, as if a part of him still looked upon emotions as a weakness, "I mean, I actually sat there once or twice, and wondered what it would have been like to have been raised by Izumi."

Kagome wanted to sit. She wanted to take him by the hand and lead him somewhere and sit so he could talk. It would be so good for him, to be able to talk it all out.

I can't help but love you, can I?

But there was no place to sit, they stood in the middle of a dirt path, and she knew if she took him now and touched him, he'd stop talking about Izumi. He'd throw up walls around that part of himself.

"What do you think it would have been like?" she asked quietly.

She saw his profile shrug, "I dunno, I...it's weird. I mean, I was with my mother for a while, but then I was on my own. I can't imagine being older than I was, and still with someone there. I mean, would she still have worked for Amaterasu? Would I have lived up there, with her, or down here, and stay with someone else for a while when she had to go do something? Would we have lived in a village, or...and..."

"InuYasha?"

" 'Oba Izumi'. It sounds so weird."

Kagome said nothing.

InuYasha was quiet for a minute, then shook his head, snorting, "Come on, we look stupid just standing here." He started walking again.

They moved down to the entrance to Kaede's hut, and Kagome startled InuYasha by taking ahold of his sleeve. He blinked at her.

"Listen, InuYasha. Any time you want to talk about Izumi, I'm here, ok? I'll listen."

InuYasha looked at her in silence for a minute. Kagome's other hand was on the door covering, and he knew she was going to step inside, so he just nodded, "Thanks."

Kagome smiled at him, and pushed back the covering, and went inside. He followed.

She awoke, cold. Shivering, she wrapped her arms around herself, lying on cold stone. It was dark, but a faint reddish glow could just be seen through the tiny opening in the cave wall. It was what amounted to dawn, here.

She knew she was going to have to move. There would be other things starting to move, now, things that slept when it was dark, and moved when it was light. Much the same way she did.

The woman slowly pushed herself up off the stone, feeling the icy chill deep down in her bones. Her arms and legs felt leaden.

That's all there was, here. Extreme cold, extreme heat. The 'nights' were so dark you couldn't see anything, not your hands in front of your face, nothing. She had no way to make a fire, so she had no way of knowing if that would have made any light or not.

Besides...light could bring...things.

There were things that walked in the blackness, things that made horrible sounds.

The first night she had awoken she had fought one of them, something that had latched onto her arm in the blackness, sucking, pulling. A thousand needles dug into her arm, tearing, pulling. She had screamed, and flailed, and picking up something hard and heavy, had battered at it until it left her alone. She had crawled all night in the darkness, until she had found a small, stinking, empty hole to crawl into.

She had no memory of anything.

She didn't know who she was, or where she was. She only knew of awakening here, in this place, alone, frightened. Her simple white shift was soon filthy and marked with slime and worse things she didn't want to think about.

She had found this tiny cave the fourth night, and wedged herself in, blocking the entrance with other rocks and stones. Sometimes things came to the entrance, but anything small enough to get in was instantly brained by a rock.

She was hungry, but couldn't find anything to eat. She didn't want to eat any of the creatures she found there...something told her it wasn't a good idea.

The only water she had found looked fouled and contaminated, and she didn't think it was a good idea to drink that, either, but she was getting so thirsty.

She had learned the second day to pull her hair down inside the back of her shift. It kept getting hooked on things, caught up. Once, something that faintly resembled a human with the legs of a pig and wings had chased her, and had caught her by her hair. It had been screaming something at her, and she didn't think it wanted to talk.

She had fought back, struggling, as it tried to lift her off the ground. The only thing that saved her was that she had fallen over a small cliff, and her hair had been yanked from his grasp - leaving only a small hank in his hand, and she had fallen far enough down that it had lost interest in chasing her.

Landing in something disgustingly rubbery and wet, she managed to flail and crawl her way off and back to the faintly lined path, and made her way back to her cave.

But she was getting desperate. Soon she would have to eat something, or drink something, before she died. She would have to take that chance.

When she got back to her cave, she started picking over some rocks that lay around the cave entrance. Something she could use as a weapon. There were no swords here, no daggers. She didn't know how she knew she could use a sword, she didn't know, just as there were other things that came to her from time to time.

If she knew why she was here, maybe she could get away from here.

Surely she hadn't been here forever?

But she had no memory of anything other than here.

Sometimes...at night...when she was curled up in the blackness, listening for the sound of something outside her cave that might try to get in, a rock tightly held in her hand for protection...sometimes...images came to her. Sounds. Faces. Worlds of color and wonder that made her heart hurt with longing. Surely she must have been in those other places, to be able to see them so clearly?

Green fields, with splotches of color that her mind told her were flowers.

Small creatures that moved from tree to tree, some dun brown while others were so brilliantly colored, and such beautiful sounds that came from them, things called birds.

Younger people like her, children, laughing, running, calling. Playing.

A woman with two braids, watching her, always watching, learning, so impatient, impatient, but making her laugh, so happy.

Figures with golden eyes and silver hair. One came to her, his hair pinned back, smiling at her, laughing, yet serious, always so serious. A sensation of love and acceptance, and pride. And a beautiful woman with him, smiling, laughing. Holding out her hand. Such feelings of love and loss, grief. Why was there such grief around them?

Another face, so like the first, only younger, so much younger. Hair wild, dressed in crimson, no markings on his face. Was this one the first one, younger? So wild, wild. No. The first one was quiet. Sedate. The young one was not sedate. He burned with a powerful spirit, free and yet lost. There was such a feeling of ownership about him. She felt such a need to protect, to guide. Such an overwhelming desire to hug, to hold, to keep safe from all the hurts of the world. Such feelings of pride at him.

Another face. In between the first two. More like the first than the second. Markings on the face as the first. Long silver hair not as wild. Dressed in white. A strange fur over one shoulder. Eyes were cool, calm, and yet...flickers of emotion in them. Like a brief spark of a fire, before burning out. Images of him turning, looking at her over a shoulder. An amused twitch of an eyebrow. A faint, sardonic smile. Always slow, always measured, always confined.

Such a different feeling for this one. A desire to guide, but...a desire to...

Hold. To be held by. A need to see that rare smile.

A need for help.

Help me... she thought, as she drifted, images of water in her mind, water lillies and lotus flowers.

Tears filled her eyes, and she let them fall in her grief and fear, loneliness and longing.

I am not supposed to be here. Please...please...help me...