The day started out normal. He would always remember that. Afterwords, he would always remember that the day started out completely normal. It was growing a little warm, even though it was early. The days lately had been so hot and dry, and this day promised to be the same yet again.
InuYasha sat up, feeling sort of groggy and stupid. Hot nights made for poor sleeping, even for him, and he felt like he hadn't slept at all. He glanced around, a little startled to see the others were already up, though their blankets and things hadn't been put away yet. Not up for long, then. He wasn't used to not being the first up, and that made him feel a little cranky as well.
The hanyou walked out of the small sleeping room he had shared with the others in the tiny village they had come across, to see Kagome and the others sitting around the small firepit, stirring a pot of something.
Kagome looked up, and smiled, "Oh, you're up. The kettle has just boiled again if you want tea."
"How long have you guys been up?" he asked, walking to the doorway. He lifted the flap and peered out. The sun was up and already starting to beat down on the village. Farmers were already returning from the small river with their buckets, having watered their crops early to try and keep them going.
"About an hour," Miroku said. The monk was seated on the foor, his back against one the walls, drinking a cup of tea, "You seemed tired, so we made sure not to wake you."
InuYasha made a non-commital noise, not sure what to say. He was feeling off his mark again, out of step with himself. He suddenly wondered if the new moon was due soon, and cursed. "Come have some tea," Kagome gently spoke, holding out a cup to him. InuYasha glanced at her over his shoulder, then turned, moving to sit beside her. He took the cup with a smile at her, pleased to see DarkWind was nowhere to be seen.
A soft mewing noise caused him to glance over at Sango. The demon hunter was holding out a small sprig of a plant to Kirara, who was batting at it eagerly. "I think Kirara misses Shippo," she said.
"Yes...I think we all do," Miroku said gently, "But lately we haven't been in the best place for a child...even one of Shippo's heart."
Kagome rose, picking up some of the water skins laying around the floor, "I'm going to refill these, and the other bottles, before we get ready to leave," she said. Tucking the large plastic bottles under an arm, the young woman slipped out through the door covering, settling shadow back across the small hut.
Kirara, by this time, had turned her attention to the paintbrush in the monk's hand, and was stalking him. Sango giggled as the small feline crouched, butt waggling in the air, getting ready to pounce. Miroku smiled, giving the paintbrush a wiggle or two, playing along. InuYasha watched the two of them, intent in the play of the feline, before looking back to the small fire.
It was that weird dream... he thought to himself. Outside, he could hear some of the farmers calling back and forth to each other, talking. Children ran by, shouting to each other, loud laughter echoing.
His dream had been strange. He had felt he was being pursued by something he couldn't see, couldn't sense or smell...and yet it was there, and strong. While he had a very bad feeling about it, he couldn't seem to grasp what it was, this strange, unknown fear.
A laugh from Sango brought his attention back again, and he looked over. Kirara was now chasing the paintbrush over and around various obstaces Miroku had put in her way, and small cups and sheets of paper were flying in all directions. InuYasha smiled as he watched his friends. The monk and the demon-slayer seemed to be close again, and that was good. They needed each other.
InuYasha glanced at the doorway, then silently rose and slipped outside, squinting in the bright light for a second.
Stepping outside, InuYasha glanced around, then let his nose tell him which way Kagome went. He followed a small path down towards a drying up river.
Everything's getting so damn dry...
Topping a small rise, he saw Kagome standing there, looking out over the river.
The scene struck him somehow. She stood there, back to him, looking out over the river, her black hair almost seeming blue in the sunlight. She held a hand up to shade her eyes from the sun, one foot resting on a small rock before her. Around her the river...smaller now than normal according to the marks on the riverbanks...rushing past in a dark blue swirl of motion. Small birds darted in and out of holes in the riverbanks. He didn't know what kind they were, but felt sure Kagome would probably know.
He was about to step down, start walking towards her, when he suddenly saw DarkWind stand up from where he had been sitting beside her, hidden from his sight by a boulder.
Doesn't he ever leave her side? he thought bitterly, scowling.
He started down towards them, feeling grumpy. He had hoped to talk to her, but now-
As he grew nearer, his ears picked up her voice. He couldn't hear what she said, but she was upset about something, annoyed. And her body language changed as well. She stepped away from the Kageri, crossing her arms. InuYasha paused.
He had seen that body language before...he had usually caused it. What was going on? Kagome was pissed at DarkWind?
Suddenly feeling a little better, he stepped down, walking towards them.
Kagome caught sight of the flash of crimson, and turned towards him, trying to smile. He could see she was upset, and uncomfortable.
"InuYasha, what are you doing out here?"
"I thought I'd see what you're up to."
She nodded, then turned to DarkWind, "Will you take the water bottles back to the others, please?"
DarkWind nodded, his face showing his unhappiness, "Yes, Nushi." Picking up the bottles, he started back towards the hut.
When he was out of earshot, InuYasha walked to Kagome, looking down at her, "What happened?"
"What? Oh, nothing."
"Don't give me that," he said, crossing his arms, "You're pissed off at him. What happened?"
Kagome looked at him, and sighed. His golden eyes were so intense at times, and this was one of them. She ran a hand through her hair, pushing back her bangs, "He's...different."
"Different how?"
Kagome looked at him, frowning, "Never mind."
"Kag-."
"Look, I know perfectly well you and Miroku want to think DarkWind is just waiting until we all let our guards down, and then he's going to turn on us and devour us in our sleep or something. He's not, and I don't want you getting all gleeful because I'm annoyed at him."
InuYasha huffed, turning his body away from her, looking out over the river. She had hit him nail on, and it was irritating, "I only asked!"
Kagome paused, watching him a little sadly. It had been a while since she saw that particular body language from the hanyou. He was sinking back into all his old standoffish ways, and she felt helpless to stop it. As usual, a flash of anger swept over her.
Oh sure, I'm supposed to feel guilty because I stood up for myself and told him we were through. Well I'm not! It's not my fault he's getting all prickly like he was before...
She sighed.
Turning, looking back out over the river, almost mirroring his body language, she spoke softly.
"Ever since he saw that other Kageri in that village, he's been...distant. Like all of a sudden he has secrets now, and I...it's weird."
InuYasha looked back at her, at the confusion in her face. He turned to watch her, "You think he knows her?"
Kagome nodded, "Oh yes, he knows her, all right." The memory of the expression on the Kageri's face came back to her. There was such an open, unguarded look on DarkWind's face. A look of...longing.
She felt...strange. DarkWind constantly reminded her that he loved her...as a Kageri does. And she always felt it, as well. To have him look at someone else that way was...weird. She sort of felt a little jealous, but not a lot. She wasn't in love with the Kageri, after all. But she felt...sad...to see such a sad look on the Kageri's face.
"Well, why don't you just ask him?"
"I tried. He won't tell me."
InuYasha blinked, and stepped closer to Kagome, "What do you mean, he won't tell you? You're his...his master or something, aren't you? I thought he couldn't turn you down or refuse you!"
"He...can't...not really, he..." she floundered around for a second, and InuYasha started to feel angry.
"Well? Can he or can't he?"
"It's hard to explain - ."
"Well give it a try!"
"Don't yell at me!"
"Damnit!" he took a breath, visibly tried to calm down, surprising Kagome, although she swore she could still hear his teeth grinding as he spoke.
"Are you telling me that thing is suddenly not listening to you?"
Kagome hissed a reply, "If you call him "thing" one more time-!"
"Just answer the question!"
"No! He's listening to me fine!"
"Then why won't he tell you?"
"Because I haven't demanded he tell me!"
"Why not?"
"Because I don't want to hurt hi-"
"Hurt his feelings! Don't be so stupid, he's not your friend!"
"He is my friend, InuYasha! I care about him very much, and I'm not going to just demand he tell me something that's hurt him! It would be cruel!"
InuYasha blinked, not hearing much more after the first, "What...what do you mean you care about him?"
Kagome suddenly blinked, "I...he's my friend, InuYasha! I wouldn't force you to tell me something if I thought it was going to hurt you."
InuYasha stared at her, his heart starting to pound a little harder, "That...that's not what you mean, is it?"
Kagome watched him, realizing what he was asking her. Her own heart hurt a little.
"InuYasha-"
He reached out, and grabbed her sleeve, voice tensing, "Kagome."
Kagome stared at him, almost breathless. His eyes were so intense as he looked at her, silently begging her. She shook her head, "I'm not in love with him, InuYasha, no."
He watched her for a second, watching her face closely. Was she telling the truth? Did she even know the truth? Maybe she cared and wasn't awere...
He let go of her sleeve, his arm dropping. He tried to say something; failed. Tried again, and could only manage, "He..he's dangerous, you know that."
"InuYasha-"
"It..it's not good..."
"InuYasha, stop."
"I..."
"InuYasha."
"InuYasha!"
They both blinked as the monk's voice cut through the early morning air. Together, they turned, to see Miroku, Sango, and DarkWind hurrying towards them.
"What is it, what's wrong?"
"A small group just came in, they were attacked out on the main road. They were travelling from the other village we had come from, the village of hanyou."
InuYasha frowned, "How badly were they hurt?"
"Not that badly, but InuYasha..." Miroku and Sango glanced at each other, "They said their attacker let them go with a message. That we were to go out and face him."
"Oh?" InuYasha suddenly smiled, that cocky smile that made Kagome worry, "Well then, let's g-."
"InuYasha, wait," Sango interrupted.
"What?"
"The attacker..."
"Yeah?"
Miroku and Sango exchanged another grim look before the demon hunter spoke again.
"It's Naraku."
She lay down the little basket, and carefully pulled up another mushroom, putting it in with the others. Pleased with herself, she sat back, wiping away some dirt on her face, succeeding in smearing it across her forehead.
The mushrooms with the fish would make a really good supper for her and Master Jakken. If only Lord Sesshomaru would have some of it...but her Lord never seemed to eat. Or if he did she never saw it.
Rin had thought about asking Jakken what Lord Sesshomaru lived on if he didn't eat, but she decided not to. Jakken would most likely just get angry at her. Master Jakken seemed to get angry at lot, but she wasn't upset by it. It was sort of his way, the same way she had black hair and her beloved Lord had silver.
I wonder what Sokai is doing? she thought.
Rin was thinking a lot about the little demon wolf girl she had made friends with. The last time they had played together, they had sat together under a large tree, their respective guardians nearby if anything happened, and discussed things that were important to little girls. Eventually their talk came around to their guardians, and why they seemed to hate each other so much.
"I don't understand it," Rin said as she braided some flowers into a bracelet for Sokai, "Lord Sesshomaru and InuYasha are brothers, I think. I never hear them say it, of course, but the others do."
Sokai nodded, "'Yasha said it once too, but he said it all growly-like, so I don't think he was happy about it. Maybe they had a big fight over something?"
"Maybe."
Sokai brushed her constantly messed hair out of her face, looking seriously at Rin, "Do you like living with Sheeomaru?"
Rin nodded, having stopped trying to correct Sokai's mangling of her LOrd's name a while ago, "I do. I'm going to live with him forever."
"You're lucky."
"Have you told InuYasha you want to live with him?"
Sokai nodded, looking down at her grass-stained feet. She tried hard not to cry, "I'm still too little. He says I have to stay with other wolf demons to be safe. He visits, though, but it's not the same."
Rin nodded sadly, and hugged Sokai. She didn't know what she'd do if she ever had to leave Sesshomaru.
"When you're older I'll bet he'll let you stay with him then."
Sokai nodded, sniffing bravely, wiping at her eyes, "I'm going to grow up strong so I can help him and not be in the way all the time."
Now, picking up her basket, Rin paused to wonder what her friend was doing. Hopefully nothing too dangerous, although the little wolf demon seemed to have plenty of bravery on hand.
Rin started back towards the small camp where they were staying.
Humming to herself, Rin was lost in her daydreams when she suddenly heard a voice that was familiar to her.
"Lady Izumi!"
Beaming, Rin put down her basket, and ran towards the voice. It had been a while since she had last seen the beautiful woman, and she was eager to meet her again. Izumi always seemed to make Rin feel special, inside and out, and despite what grump Master Jakken though, she was sure Lord Seshomaru liked her. He acted so differently around her!
Rin paused, pushing back some leaves as she peered out into a small clearing. She saw Izumi from the back, and was about to call out to her when she suddenly noticed that other woman was there as well.
Muzan.
Rin stayed where she was. She didn't like Muzan at all, even though the woman had come to talk to Lord Sesshomaru once in a while. There was something nasty about her that Rin couldn't put her finger on, like seeing a wonderful shiny apple, biting into it...only to discover the inside was full of worms.
Muzan was speaking to Izumi, her voice hard and angry.
Rin knew listening in on adults was not polite, but now she was sort of trapped, and couldn't move. If she tried to back out she'd make too much noise. She remained perfeectly still, and listened.
It was a short while later that Rin walked into the clearing. Jakken had been going over a few scrolls he had found somewhere on their journeys, and Sesshomaru had just returned from...doing who knows what. Both of them noticed right away Rin was crying.
Jakken rose and went to her, worried that Sesshomaru was somehow going to blame him if he didn't try to fix it.
"Rin, why are you crying? Did you hurt yourself?"
Sesshomaru remained where he was, but had turned, and was watching the little girl with his pale gold eyes.
"N-..n-..." Rin tried to speak and couldn't, sobbing.
"Well how are we going to help you if you don't tell us what's wrong?" Jakken said exasperatedly, "Stop that at once."
"Oh M-Master J-J-Ja-"
"I said stop that, you foolish litt-"
"Jakken."
Sesshomaru's voice was cool, but it froze the imp in place, "L-L-Lord Sesshomaru?"
The shadow of the Demon Lord fell over Jakken, his voice heavy with contempt, "She is a child, Jakken."
"Yes, my Lord, of course my-"
"Rin. That's enough."
Sesshomaru's voice was level and cool, but the effect it had on Rin was instant. A voice of calm reason to her, Rin stopped, struggling to catch her breath. She knuckled tears from her eyes, starting to hiccup as she tried to steady her breathing.
"Have you been injured?"
"No my Lord."
"Then why are you crying?"
"I...I heard Izumi in the forest, Lord. A-and that other l-lady. The ugly one with the pretty face.
Sesshomaru noticed Rin's choice of words, and nodded, "Go on."
"They were talking and...and..." tears well up in her eyes again.
"Rin."
"It's Lady Izumi, my Lord. She's going to die!"
"Naraku?"
Sango nodded. The young demon hunter watched her friend's faces closely, worried. This would be the first time they had faced Naraku since they had killed him.
Worryingly, but perhaps not surprisingly, InuYasha's grin only deepened, turned cold, "Well, let's go then."
"Wait," Miroku held out a hand, stopping InuYasha in his tracks, "We have to be careful about this."
"What do you mean?"
Miroku watched InuYasha closely, "He's not the same Naraku we killed, InuYasha. Remember what Izumi said. He's stronger now...and he has a Kageri as well."
InuYasha scowled, but nodded, "Yeah...so what are you suggesting?"
"I don't know...we obviously can't ignore him, he might take his anger out on the villagers."
"I ain't ignoring him anyway! That bastard wants to fight, I'll give him a fight!"
"Just...be careful, is all."
Kagome looked at DarkWind, "If his Kageri...what was his name?"
DarkWind looked at Kagome, his face intent, "BloodStar." Kagome noticed DarkWind said the other Kageri's name was a look of distaste, as if he had bitten into something bad.
"Right. BloodStar...can you fight him?"
DarkWind nodded grimly, his reddish black eyes more serious than Kagome had ever seen them before, "Yes, Nushi. BloodStar and I...go back. I will not allow him to hurt anyone."
Kagome nodded. She caught a quick glance of InuYasha, looking at DarkWind with a pissed look on his face, but he wisely said nothing. He remembered his few attempts at striking DarkWind, and how miserably they had gone.
"Let's go then," he said, and started out of the village.