Kagome and the others sprinted out of the rain the pelted them along with the harsh wind as they ran along the edge of the valley into one of the caves. "We may have to keep cover from the rain here" Songo huffed. "At least till the rain dies down"

Inuyasha nodded in agreement as he shook off the excess water. "What is this place anyway? Don't you find it strange there are a whole bunch of caves along here?" Inuyasha asked remembering a whole bunch caves on a higher path when he had looked up. Kagome had thought about it

"Now that you mention it this place… I think I've seen it in one of my text books before" Kagome muttered

"it seems the cave goes deeper" Miroku added

"Let's check it out, make sure nothing is lurking in here that could hurt us while we sleep" Inuyasha said as he marched deeper into the cave then suddenly paused. He looked down at his feet feeling a change under his foot. Something had been etched into the ground. "what the hell?" Inuyasha muttered irritated.

Kagome wandered over to see what was wrong. "it says 'Kitsune, Cave of the dark fox'" Inuyasha frowned and drew his sword stomping father inside until they could no longer see

"Shippo, can you light this place up?" Inuyasha asked. The young kit nodded and used his fox fire sending it into the room and somehow manged to find some fire pits that were around the room and suddenly they were all on the defensive as several Kitsune Youkai were standing around the edge as guards going father into the darkness of the cave. Inuyasha, had to look again as he realised all the foxes were limp, all nailed into the wall to make them seem alive, ears nailed to keep their head up tails nailed to the wall as to not seem so limp, all nailed in the shoulders to make it seem they were standing.

"What is his place?" Shippo asked horrified.

"someone came and slaughtered them all" Kagome said sadly "who would do such a thing" Shippo noticed two familiar foxes towards the end

"No they were already dead" Shippo stuttered "Someone was going around and stealing corpses"

"how do you know this" Kagome asked a little shocked. Shippo pointed to the two familiar red foxes

"Those two are my parents and they were already dead then their bodies went missing after they were buried."

"let's keep going" Inuyasha ordered as he continued down the cave sword still drawn. It wasn't long till they came to the end and there sat a black-haired fox demon sitting on a throne. This time though Inuyasha knew it was dead because this time from the light at the entrance to the "Throne room" that Shippo had created casted enough to show the ropes that bound it in position.

Inuyasha looked to Shippo who nodded and lit the two spires next to the "Throne". It was a female fox, with long black hair and black fox ears and tail she was tied as if she was sitting regally on the throne in boredom, cloudy blood red eyes stared blankly

Everyone looked around the room until the clatter of a sword hitting the ground turned their attention to Inuyasha who was looking in horror as he fell to the ground and coughed up blood. "Inuyasha" Kagome yelled running to his side only for Inuyasha to swipe at her even at Miroku, Songo and Kilala. However, in his frightened unconscious daze he allowed Shippo to approach him even touch him.

"Shippo do you think you could change into something that could carry Inuyasha to the entrance?" Songo suggested.

"I can try" turning into the small pony form he was able to drag Inuyasha to the entrance. Now fully unconscious everyone laid him out on the ground his head resting on Kagome's lap.

"That was strange," Songo commented

"No one else is feeling effected, are they?" Miroku asked but everyone shock their heads.

Sesshomaru

Sesshomaru watched out of the small hut he had found for Rin to rest in as unlike him and Jakken her body wouldn't be able to handle the weather. The small girl was asleep on a futon one of the inhabitants had provided for the human girl and Jakken was asleep too on the one next to her and Sesshomaru couldn't help but smile as a ghost of a dark Kitsune leaning over to press a kiss on the young girl's cheek with a gentle smile before it faded away along with his smile.

'What would it be like if she was here?' he thought idly to herself. 'if only I knew where her body had been taken to then maybe she would be here and he wouldn't have to suffer alone anymore. If only I knew where her body was' he thought sadly. Closing his eyes, he reached deep inside himself, feeling his connection to all he knew. He felt his red string of fate, frayed as it's other-half was dyed black, and the one like it in a silvery white colour was frayed and dyed the same black. Sesshomaru reached for the connection that was pulsing and fully coloured a metallic gold and immersed himself in it.

A sort of disgust enveloped him along with anger as he felt the power course through him. Sesshomaru smiled inwardly in relief until that suddenly changed to fear and the power cut off and pain shot through him making Sesshomaru's golden eyes rip open. He immediately stood "Jakken" he barked and the imp awakened suddenly

"Ah, yes, Milord?"

"Take care of Rin I will be back soon"

"Of course Milord"

Sesshomaru was gone instantly as he raced through the trees 'what happened' he immediately picked up his brother's sent and followed it to a valley there he saw a multitude of caves on a higher path and one single cave on the lower 'what is this place?' there he saw in the lower cave one of his brother's friends, the demon slayer, standing guard at the entrance to the cave, the woman obviously spotted him as she had turned into the cave. Sesshomaru hoped more than anything Inuyasha would run out and try to attack him, however after what seemed to be a discussion, the priestess he always travelled with came out and called for him.

Inuyasha

Inuyasha swirled around as the world around him contorted into different scenes as he remembered nothing of them. Right now, seemed to be a wedding, a western themed one to be exact. Rows of seats lined with human and demon a like attending, his mother Izayoi was sitting in the front row next to Sesshomaru's. the two women were talking and laughing. He looked around again and noticed that it was Sesshomaru standing at the end of isle next to an alter wearing a black hakuma with blue flames around the bottom with a cold face trying to hide the joy dancing in his eyes. The scene threw Inuyasha off. He could pick out the reasons behind small things but he couldn't fathom where he knew this from, like the fire on his hakuma were to signify the fact he was marrying a fox who used blue flames. 'This doesn't make sense Sesshomaru never got married he never even showed emotion'

The music started playing and Inuyasha swivelled around to see a younger him walking up the isle carrying two rings on a silk pillow, one with a blue diamond set into the thick band, the same one Sesshomaru always wore and a smaller one with an emerald resting in a setting of a thinner band. Inuyasha wore his red hakuma as per normal however he wore a white haori with pale green flames over top and he walked right up to Sesshomaru who picked him up and tweaked his ears teasingly before placing him down beside him but still gripped his hand. 'He was never that nice to me! Was he…?' Inuyasha tried to demand what was happening but nothing came out.

Sesshomaru smiled widely as the black fox from before in the cave came down the isle wearing a pure white Kimono that faded into a pale jade green to represent Sesshomaru's poison. Her red eyes were alight with laughter in this memory compared to the lifeless eyes from before. Then the scene shifted.

Inuyasha seemed to relax a bit more with it as it seemed Inuyasha and Sesshomaru were arguing like they normally would but the area around him seemed to be his step mother's home. "I want to go home!" the young Inuyasha cried to Sesshomaru "Then who would look after you!?" Sesshomaru yelled back "Mother has said she would raise you as her own do you really want to upset her by running away and getting yourself hurt? Or even worse killed?"

"I don't care I want my mother! Not yours she doesn't need to raise me when I have my own mother!"

"Your mother is sick! They want to give her one night where she doesn't have to worry about you being left alone so she could rest and maybe even recover, if she does its only one night you spend here"

"You can't make me stay here!" Inuyasha cried.

"Think of Izayoi!" Sesshomaru barked. "She'll feel at ease knowing you are safe! She would be devastated if you had run off!" Inuyasha gripped his hands into fists as he struggled not to cry

"I hate you! Don't you dare use my mother against me! You and Mother are the only blood family I have! I want to take care of her! I don't want her to die alone!" Inuyasha screamed before he ran off to his room. Sesshomaru's face had changed into an expression of guilt before he fell to his knees when the fox woman he had married came into the room.

"I didn't think he would feel that way, Setsu, I-"

"Hush, Sesshomaru, he's just worried for Izayoi, he doesn't really hate you, you're just looking out for him, he knows that"

"Maybe I should stay at the human residence with him instead"

"Sesshomaru, you will spoil that boy, he needs to learn that somethings are for the best. He has you wrapped around his little finger" Setsuka snapped before smiling "I will admit I spoil him just as much but Izayoi asked this of you, did she not?"

The scene shifted to him in his room crying and "Setsu" peaked her head in. "Pup are you ok?"

"Setsuka-nee-chan," Inuyasha cried running to the fox "Make Sesshomaru take me home" the fox knelt on the ground in front of the half breed

"I know you want to go home, puppy, but you can't, your mother asked us to bring you here or a while"

"Liar-"

"It's the truth, Inuyasha, this is a test to she if she can last longer with a few nights' rest but she was worried about you, because when she passes you will move in here but for now you are a guest and you will go home in the morning. Sesshomaru doesn't know how to handle this, you know Izayoi is like a mother to us as well"

"but brother always knows how to handle things" The fox hugged him to her tightly.

"I know pup, but sometimes when we are in a state of worry we can't think clearly when we don't know our options, Sesshomaru has always had options but this time his only option is to let your mother be at peace," Setsuka smiled "So will you stay?"

"Maybe" the young Inuyasha pouted.

"Good now let's apologise to Aniki shall we? He thinks you hate him after all" and with that everything turned into black fog.

"Kagome

"I'll keep watch, let's just wait till Inuyasha has recovered." Songo said as she left. Kagome nodded and continued to pet Inuyasha's hair. It wasn't long until Songo called. "Kagome, Sesshomaru is here, what should we do, only Inuyasha is able to hold him off, we can't stop him from attacking"

"Hold on, Songo" Miroku said "Maybe he could help find out what's wrong with Inuyasha"

"why would that dumb pure-blooded dog demon help him?" Shippo hissed.

"Think about it, Sesshomaru wouldn't harm Inuyasha when he is weak and even when they fight it's only ever Inuyasha that tries for the fatal blows" Miroku explained.

"We should give it a try. There is also the fact that he may only want to defeat Inuyasha only when he is well, if he helps Inuyasha get well it would make his goal faster to reach. We just have to get inuyasha away before he does" Kagome removed his head from her lap and ran out into the harsh weather and saw the dog demon standing there on the valley edge on the opposite side as if waiting for something "Sesshomaru! Inuyasha needs help!" she yelled over the roaring wind and in an instant Sesshomaru was at her side.

"What is it?" he asked, seemingly uncaring.

"Inuyasha, he – when we went farther into the cave we came across a gruesome sight and once we reached the end he coughed up blood and wouldn't let anyone but Shippo near him before losing consciousness" Kagome explained as they entered the cave. Everyone in the cave was tense. 'despite calling for my help, they expect me to attack him' Sesshomaru mused to himself 'I don't blame them' he added sadly.

Suddenly a groan came from Inuyasha as he woke up with clouded eyes. Sesshomaru seemed to be the only one who noticed this as Kagome moved to him. It was too late until Inuyasha swiped with a golden glow trailing his claws at Kagome. She closed her eyes waiting for the strike however she didn't feel the pain. When she opened her eyes, she saw Sesshomaru standing in front of her with a bleeding arm. "Sleep Inuyasha, you will hurt your friends if you keep this up" Sesshomaru ordered and it seemed to do the trick as he was immediately asleep again 'His memories are returning, what could he have seen to trigger them?' "Young Kitsune, Inuyasha will only wake up and react the way he did until I can fix it, he will only react to the voice and touch of a fox or a dog demon, when he wakes up before I come back you are to order him to sleep and he will do so, the rest of you keep away or he will kill you"

"ah, yes" Shippo agreed saluting.

"What's wrong with him?" Songo asked and was shocked when a saddened look crossed the dog demon's face

"Show me what he saw" Sesshomaru ordered ignoring the question.

"What?" Kagome stuttered.

"Show. Me. What. He. Saw" he reiterated. The Miko nodded and led Sesshomaru deep into the cave. That's when he saw the dead foxes lining the wall and felt his stomach churn. 'these were her people, but Inuyasha shouldn't have met any of them back then' at the end of the row there seemed to be a doorframe and on the floor, recently spilt blood. 'In here then' Once he was inside he felt his heart stop. "Setsuka" Sesshomaru breathed. "The only black fox in existence" 'No wonder it was triggered'

"Lord Sesshomaru?" Kagome asked as she saw that same look of horror on his face worried he'd end up the same as Inuyasha. But as soon as she called his name he snapped out of it

"Cut the black fox's ropes I'll come back to carry her out"

"But she's dead" Kagome said as he left he stopped to look at her

"I intend to revive her" Sesshomaru said throwing the Miko off guard with his sweet nostalgic smile. "For now I must return Inuyasha to normal,"

"You didn't answer Songo's question; what's wrong with Inuyasha?"

"When he was younger I had to seal away his memories otherwise he wouldn't have turned out the way he did but I could not allow anything that would cause a trigger to those memories."

"Meaning you couldn't get along with him" Kagome concluded. Sesshomaru closed his eyes as if in pain.

"I couldn't show him an inch of kindness that I had back then, removing his memories was a last resort. The reason for his pain right now is because that fox was a major part of that forgotten part of his life. And the reason why I had to remove his memories, he felt too much guilt for her death, he thought that I blamed him when I never did and I still don't but it caused him to start to waste away and I couldn't let that happen" Sesshomaru said "Even if it meant protecting him from the shadows, and seeming like the bad guy when leading him to fathers fang, teaching him how to use it, keeping his swordsmanship fresh by attacking him" Kagome smiled gently at him as he left.

Inuyasha

"Inuyasha" a familiar voice called making Inuyasha turned towards it

"Sesshomaru" he hissed but was shocked as his brother smiled at him.

"Inuyasha, I am aware that I have earned your hatred but I hope you come to understand at least why I did what I did" Sesshomaru pleaded.

"Why should I?"

"You maybe be half demon but you are also half human. After so long without caring for yourself despite your older brother's concern you would have wasted away when I had already lost so many members of my family"

"I don't remember doing such a thing!" Inuyasha snarled. "What is all this! Are you trying to trick me?" he was again thrown off as Sesshomaru gave a sad smile. With a wave of Sesshomaru's hand the world wavered into a scene in the back yard of his stepmother's palace.

"I have control of what you see because of a connection we have, the golden string of brotherhood, I will show you the moments before and the reason why I removed your memories for the sake of keeping you alive" Sesshomaru answered the unspoken question instead.

Suddenly a young Inuyasha burst out one of the back doors and ran into the back forest with a cheeky grin on his face as he disappeared into the forest. Not long later Setsuka came around with a smile of her own. The older Inuyasha looked to Sesshomaru and saw the pain on his face. 'Maybe this isn't a trick' "this will give you back all of your memories" was all he said. Inuyasha turned back to watch the scene play out

Setsuka seem to be looking around for him playfully "Inuyasha where are you hiding my little puppy?"

"Lady Setsuka!" A guard called "Please Milady you must play with lord Inuyasha inside, Low level demons in packs are wondering around, it isn't safe" Setsuka seemed to have paled.

"Oh no, Inuyasha!" she yelled into the forest. She turned to the guard "Alert Sesshomaru, tell him his brother has gone into the forest and I don't know where he's gone and to hurry and help me find him."

The scene shifted to Inuyasha running not realising the danger to himself. He looked back to see if the fox had found him only to run into a pack of demons. Inuyasha was then picked up by the leader and him being him he tried to claw himself out of it

"Look here a half breed for lunch how delightful"

"When my brother and sister get here they'll kill you all if you don't let me go"

"Hm? And what could little half breeds do to me?"

"They aren't half breeds they are Pure-blooded! And Sesshomaru will kick your-" the demons all laughed

"what make you think I would believe that your brother is the lord of the west? A half breed such as yourself?" they all laughed again.

"You better believe it!" the half breed snapped. They all laughed harder until the leader yelled out dropping the boy.

"How dear you touch my Brother!" a feminine voice growled and they all turned to the rather angry fox demoness with her hands a flame in bright blue. "such insolence" The leader grinned before drawing his sword making the fox turn to look in disgust then to horror as it swung at Inuyasha and all she could think to do was to rush to him and put her body between them only for the sword to pierce her heart "Inu … yasha" she breathed in pain and the young half breed started to cry. "Pup…Don't… cry… you'll be… okay" she rasped before the life slipped from her eyes.

"Weak" the leader laughed. At that moment Sesshomaru burst into the clearing. "Lord Sesshomaru!?" the leader stuttered. Sesshomaru looked around and saw his wife on the ground in a pool of blood, Inuyasha crying and begging for her to get up. Seeing the young lord's gaze the leader hid his sword.

"You dare to lay your hands on my little brother and kill my mate" Sesshomaru snarled "You will pay for your treason." Sesshomaru's body contorted as he continued "I allow you in my lands and this is how you repay me!" where Sesshomaru once stood a large dog howled in anguish before tearing the group to shreds.

Once he was finished he walked over to the body of his mate and his brother and pressed his nose to Inuyasha's face in comfort before returning to his human form with open arms to which the child gladly ran into.

"This is all my fault" Inuyasha sobbed. Sesshomaru held the boy closer fighting his own tears as he fell to his knees.

"It wasn't your fault it was never your fault" he let the boy down and carried the body of his mate back home "we will find father's Tenseiga and bring her back, all is not lost"

As the days turned into weeks it was as Sesshomaru said, Inuyasha started to wither away, he got sick and refused to eat no matter what sesshomaru tried, the boy didn't sleep he just cried as Sesshomaru held him. One day Sesshomaru came into his room.

"Inuyasha I cannot bare to see you like this. You continue to blame yourself for something that was not your fault" the Hanyo never answered and Sesshomaru sighed "Mother has given be a spell that will seal your memories of her, I will place it on you until you recover and I have found Tenseiga to revive Setsu till then I will have to do something I do not wish to do, I can no longer look after you or teach you but I will protect you in any way I can without breaking the spell" and with that everything went back to black

"What took so long then?"

"Two days later Setsu's body had been stolen"

"So why now?"

"You had found Setsu's body, I told you I'd give back your memories when I could revive her and you are healthy. I always keep my promises"