Authors note: This is a Kag/Mir but there is no Inuyasha or Sango bashing, in fact it starts out cannon, so don't worry about it. I usually don't do het so who knows how this is going to end up.

Warnings: Mild profanity...not much else.

Chapter one

Rain and bugs, rain and bugs, rain and bugs. Sometimes Kagome had to remind herself why, exactly, she willingly chose to stay here for such long periods of time, especially when such little progress was being made. And especially when he was acting like this.

"Hey, you back there! Quit yer whinin'. It's almost nightfall, try to keep up!"

"We've been keeping up with you all day long without stopping! My legs are killing me. Can't we just stop and rest for five minutes?" Kagome argued back.

Miroku and Sango exchanged glances, knowing exactly what was going to happen if Inuyasha didn't relent.

"We can stop and rest when we stop to make camp. Right now we need to keep going while the sun is still out, there ain't no time to be taking a rest right now!"

"Just five minutes! We've been traveling all day, and we haven't eaten since this morning! It's unfair of you to ask this much of us!"

"Keh! After all this time you'd think I'd have gotten used to traveling with weaklings, but nooo…" Inuyasha spoke under his breath.

"What did you call me?"

"Hey!" Sango cut in before someone ended up in ribbons. "We're all tired. The hunger and bad weather aren't helping either, so let's just try to keep our tempers cool for once, okay? We've still go a long way to go before we reach our destination; group conflict isn't going to help anything. Inuyasha, you know a five minute break wouldn't hurt. We'll still make it to a camping spot before nightfall. Just let us rest our feet for a moment."

"Yeah, I'm exhausted too! Can't we just sit down for a minute, pleeease?" Shippo begged, dragging his little paws along in the muddy pathway to emphasize his words.

"Bloody hell, you too?! I thought you called yourself a demon, and yet you get tired this easily!"

"Inuyasha!" Kagome shouted.

"What? Wait...No!"

"SIT!"

Mud rained up around the area of impact.

"He's still just a child, you can't expect everyone to be able to keep up with you!" Kagome snapped before taking Shippo and going off into the woods. "You can go on by yourself for all I care! I'm staying right here!" she added before she disappeared into the trees.

Sango and Miroku both expelled longsuffering sighs.

"So much for trying to be peacemaker," said Sango. "Miroku, do you think you could try to talk some sense into Inuyasha?"

"Never in a million years, but I'd be happy to try."

"Thanks. I'll go see if I can get Kagome to come back to us. I'll meet back up with you guys here," she said as she went after the other two.

Miroku carefully approached the brooding demon who had parked himself on a stone buried in the mud on the side of the path. Even though Inuyasha's face wasn't visible, he had seen this body language a million times before and knew he should choose his words carefully.

"I think it might be for the best if we made camp a little earlier than originally planned," he said, trying to sound neutral about it.

A low growl was the only response he got and he took a step back, waiting a moment before deciding to speak again. "Or…after a quick rest we may get enough energy back to make up for lost time…?"

There was a long stretch of silence.

"There's a village just beyond the next hill," Inuyasha said flatly, all of his previous anger gone from his voice; in fact he wasn't showing much emotion at all anymore. "I wanted to get there before the sun sets because I thought Kagome would like to spend the night inside for a change, since the ground is so muddy."

"Why didn't you just say so in the first place?" Miroku nearly shouted. "Kagome's mood would have been entirely different, and you know that. She probably would have even insisted we go faster if you had explained your side of the story."

"I didn't want her to know it was my idea! She…might think I care about you guys or somethin'. I must be getting soft…" he ended with a loud sigh.

Miroku couldn't contain his laughter.

"What's so funny?!"

"Inuyasha, you're just so…"

"What?"

"Clueless."

"Hey! What's that supposed to mean?"

Miroku chose to ignore the fact that Inuyasha had just proven his point and tried to explain to him just exactly all the things he was doing wrong...

.:.

Mranwhile, Sango had tracked Kagome and Shippo beyond the short wall of trees to the edge of a thin stream, where the two of them had stopped to cool off their aching feet.

"Kagome, may I sit with you for awhile?"

"Of course, Sango. You're not the one I'm mad at."

Sango sat down wordlessly, settling down next to them before she spoke.

"He's just tired too, you know."

Kagome scoffed and wriggled her toes around in the pebbles at the bottom of the water. "You mean to tell me the great and mighty Inuyasha can actually get tired? You must be joking."

"I don't mean physically tired, I mean another kind of tired. We all are, but he is especially. I know you're aware that he's just frustrated because we haven't had any progress in a long time. He just wants something to happen. You know how he hates sitting around. I'm sure he didn't mean to act the way he did."

"If he doesn't mean to act that way, then why does he? All the time?"

"He doesn't know how to express his emotions very well. We need to learn to be understanding of him, as he needs to learn how to understand us. If we're all going to stick together, we need to tolerate each other and give grace when someone…usually Inuyasha…does something stupid."

Kagome shrugged. "I guess you're right…but I just wish it wasn't always me having to do the forgiving."

"I know, Kagome. But he needs you. He's improved a lot since he met you. If you were to give up now, he'll just continue being idiotic. You were given the job of straightening him out. Maybe one day you'll be rewarded for it."

"Do you really think so?"

Sango nodded.

"What kind of reward do you mean, Sango?" a small voice spoke up, startling both of them.

"Shippo! You've been so quiet I forgot you were here with us!" Sango said, laughing.

"Oh, sorry! But what kind of reward do you mean? Do you mean like the kind of reward Kagome brings me whenever she comes back after a long time?"

The two girls giggled. "Not quite like that. Something even better."

"Even better than chocolate? I can't even imagine what it could be! You must be really lucky, Kagome."

Kagome took Shippo into her lap and started drying off his paws with her skirt. "I guess I am, even if sometimes I don't feel like it."

.:.

"What's taking the girls so long?" Miroku wondered out loud. If they were taking even longer than it took for Inuyasha to cool off, then they must be in some sort of danger! "If they don't come back in the next couple of minutes I'm going to go look for them myself."

"We could have been resting peacefully by a warm fire by now if we had just gone with my plan…" Inuyasha grumbled, perking his ears up to check for any distress calls beyond the trees. Miroku slapped his palm to his forehead. Fifteen minutes of lecturing him and it all went in one ear and out the other.

Luckily only a few moments later there was a rustling in the trees and the three missing parties rejoined the group.

"Finally—" Inuysha began, before being cut off by Miroku's foot stomping down on his own.

"I'm glad you're finally back, I was beginning to get worried something had happened," Miroku interrupted.

"Everything's fine!" Shippo announced, feeling refreshed after his dip in the cool water.

"And I'm feeling much better. I think I'm ready to go on the rest of the way," Kagome said, regaining some of her enthusiasm.

Inuyasha felt the sole of Miroku's sandal dig even deeper into his calloused foot as he whispered into his ear: "If you don't want Kagome to disappear to the other side of the well forever then you'd better remember everything I told you."

"Alright, alright! Just let up your damn foot, will ya?!" Inuyasha hissed back.

Miroku released him and Inuyasha sauntered forward. He cleared his throat in what he thought was a cool and casual manner before he spoke.

"Ahem. Um…glad to see you decided to come back..." Inuyasha mumbled at Kagome, his personal growth obviously still stunted by his pride.

"What else?" his sensitive ears picked up Miroku whispering from a few feet away, as if he were trying to act as his conscience.

"And…um…I was...being unreasonable...and...I'msorrythatImadeyouangry," he said, trying to hide his twitching eye.

"That's so sweet of you, Inuyasha," Kagome said.

Several feet down the path Miroku and Sango shared a high five.

"Hop on." Inuyasha said as he turned around to get back on track. "There's not much further we're going to travel tonight, so if you're really that tired I don't mind carrying you the rest of the way."

"Oh! Thank you…" She was caught so off guard she didn't know what else to say, so she grabbed onto his neck. She saw Sango give her a thumbs up as the group began walking forward once more.

"I'm impressed, Miroku," Sango said, the two of them hanging back a few paces to give Inuyasha and Kagome some space. "You did a really good job straightening him out this time."

"Well, I can't take all the credit. He did offer to carry her all by himself."

"Did he? I never thought I'd live to see the day..."

"Say, Sango, if you're also tired, why don't you hop on my back and let me carry you a little ways?"

"In your dreams, monk," she said, quickening her pace.

Miroku sighed. "Sometimes I think I'll never live to see the day..." he lamented to himself.

.:.

Inuyasha had been right and the group came upon a village just over the next hill. However, any hopes of finding a room at an inn, let alone two, were getting smaller and smaller as the entire village seemed to be crowded beyond its means.

"What's going on here, I wonder?" Inuyasha spoke to himself as he let Kagome hop back down onto the ground.

"Looks like we might have had better luck camping in the mud back there, hehe," Shippo said.

"Shut your gob," Inuyasha returned, along with a light pop on the head.

"Ow! Hey, Kagome!"

"Inuyashaaa…"

"I'm sorry, okay! Jeez…."

They passed by building after building, all either announcing its fullness with a 'No Vacancy' sign, or by the groups of people spilling out of the doors and into the street.

"So much for my plan…" Inuyasha grumbled when he suddenly felt a tickle on his cheek. He stopped in his tracks and slapped the itch, bringing his finger out to see what had bitten him.

"Myoga!"

"It's so good to see you again master Inuyasha," Myoga wheezed as he pulled himself up to stand on Inuyasha's finger.

"What are you doing all the way out here? Can you tell us what in the world is going on around here?"

"There's a great evil in the next town! All of the townspeople had to evacuate and come here to escape the destruction that's destroying the entire area."

"A great evil?" Miroku repeated. "How did you find this out?"

"Everyone here is talking about it! Hundreds of people have already died trying to fight it...and I fear it might not be too long before it spreads to this village, too."

"Heh, well then, it looks like we've finally got some action," Inuyasha said, cracking his knuckles in excitement.

"Wait Inuyasha, you mustn't go there! Not yet, anyway..."

"What do you mean?"

"It's…" Myoga paused and looked at the rest of the group. "Let's see if we can find a place to stay for the night first. You look like you need some rest, and I'd like to speak to you in private."

"But it doesn't look like there are any places available."

"Try a little further towards the edge of the town. There were a few rooms available over there when I came into town."

The group followed Myoga's advice and headed toward the edge of the village. True to his word, the crowds thinned out around the outskirts and it looked like they may be in luck after all.

"Do you think it's anything serious?" Shippo whispered to the other three who were trailing behind.

"I don't know…," Sango answered. "The way Myoga was talking…I'd never seen him act like that before."

They eventually came across an inn that had a handful of rooms available. It wasn't the best, but it was better than sleeping in the mud. They were shown to their separate rooms; however, once the proprietor left, Myoga asked to speak with Inuyasha privately before Miroku settled into their room.

"That will be fine!" Miroku agreed with a grin. "I'll just keep the girls company while I'm waiting."

"I don't think so, monk," Sango immediately interjected

"It'll only be a few minutes, you should be able to handle yourselves for that long, right?" Inuyasha said, somehow doubting his own words.

"Don't worry, I'll protect you from him!" Shippo offered, jumping up onto Kagome's shoulders and waving around his little fists.

Miroku heaved a sigh. "Truly you do underestimate me…" he said and they made their way to the other room.

"What's this all about?" Inuyasha asked as he slid the screen to his room shut.

"Master Inuyasha, the aura surrounding the next town—it felt as if it were coming from Naraku!" Myoga whimpered, as if even being this close in proximity unsettled him.

"Naraku! Are you kidding? Why are you wasting my time talking to me like this? If he's so close by—"

"Please, listen to the rest of what I have to say! That's certainly not all there is to it. The town is located near the area where the great demon Kano was defeated."

"Great demon Kano? Phft, never heard of 'im. Obviously he ain't the great."

Myoga sighed. He had been hoping this wasn't going to be a long night...

"Hundreds of years ago Kano wreaked havoc upon the countryside, killing or destroying anything and everything that lay within his path. He was far too violent and powerful for anyone to defeat...until the monk named Tsuyoshi."

"Who the hell is Tsuyoshi? And what does all this have to do with Naraku?"

"Tsuyoshi knew there was only one way to defeat Kano: by sealing him away within the walls of the surrounding cliffs. The only way he could do it was by dragging Kano into the cliff himself and sealing it off from within, which meant he would have to die to save everyone else. He did manage to stop the demon and the terror he was causing, but Kano is still laying dormant within the stones of the cliff..."

"...And you think Naraku is trying to reawaken Kano so he can join with him," Inuyasha finished for him.

"Exactly. If we aren't able to intervene beforehand, Naraku will be unstoppable."

"So then we'd better get going right now before it's too late! He's probably working on unsealing it as we speak!"

"Wait, master Inuyasha!"

"There's still more?"

"Tsuyoshi's method, while a great sacrifice, was the only successful way of defeating such a powerful demon."

"Yeah yeah, I got that all already!"

"It made me realize that perhaps the only way to destroy Naraku would be to follow his example."

"What do you mean? There's no way Miroku possesses the spiritual power to be able to seal off Naraku."

"No, not Miroku...you, Inuyasha."

"Me? Idiot...I'm not even a monk at all!"

"You misunderstand. I don't mean seal Naraku away. I mean if you can't kill Naraku in this world, then maybe the only way is to take him to hell yourself."