Things were supposed to be good.
Naraku was dead and all of their party had survived the battle. His incarnations had been released and some had died, the others had disappeared. Kikyo had been returned to the grave, by her own hand, in an act of mercy and not vengeance. Most of the shards had been gathered, Kouga giving his up willingly in an act of love for his new wife Ayami.
Things were supposed to be good.
Her friends had finally admitted their love for one another and were ridiculously happy. She herself had finally admitted her feelings to the one she loved and he had changed his ways for her. Miroku's cursed hand was cured; the wind tunnel had disappeared.
Things were supposed to be good.
The void left by Naraku's departure had been filled by other demons, but their group had managed to exterminate enough that people weren't living in fear. InuYasha and Sesshoumaru had come to an uneasy alliance and no longer tried to kill each other on sight.
Things were supposed to be good. But they weren't. Not for Sango. For Sango, despite being united in love with Miroku, life was not good. There was only one jewel shard yet to be collected. The others were sensitive to what was going on, but they didn't really know what to do or say. The remaining shard was in her brother Kohaku. Kohaku was no longer under Naraku's power but the only thing keeping him alive was the shard in his neck.
Sango had not seen Kohaku for at least three moons and she was not sure if his memories had returned yet. Part of her hoped that they never would. Kohaku had slaughtered their entire village while under Naraku's control. He had almost managed to kill her as well. Sango wanted her brother to remember her but at the same time, if he remembered her he would have to remember what he did to his family. Sango didn't want him to have to bear the pain and guilt of something that wasn't his fault.
"Kohaku, where are you?" she whispered into the evening wind. She didn't expect a reply. Her sigh was lost on the wind as well as she turned to return to the hut she shared with her husband. Suddenly the fire cat at her feet growled and transformed and Sango whirled to see what Kirara was sensing. What came out of the woods was indeed a demon, though not a very formidable one.
"Jakken?" Sango asked. The little green toad demon was Sesshoumaru's lackey, not usually far from his master and Sango kept her eyes open for Sesshoumaru himself. "What do you want?"
"I've come with a message from Lord Sesshoumaru for his brother." The demon answered in his nasally voice.
Kirara was still growling and Sango had to agree, this demon couldn't be trusted. "InuYasha's not here."
"Where is he?"
"Demanding little thing isn't he?" Miroku joined the conversation. He had sensed Kirara's transformation and had brought Sango's weapon with him when he came to investigate, though it appeared she wouldn't be needing it. Sango nodded her assent and Jakken started to hop from one foot to the other.
"Where is InuYasha?! I am on a mission from Lord Sesshoumaru and he won't take your stalling lightly." Jakken was freaking out, it had taken him longer than planned to reach the village without Ah-Un to carry him and he was afraid his Lord would be angry.
"We don't know. He left with Kagome a few days ago." Sango told him, not fazed at all by the threat. InuYasha and Kagome had gone back to her time for a visit and that meant she really didn't know where her friends were, or when they would return. "I suppose you could come back in a few days and they might be back."
"A few days! I can't wait that long."
"Well you'll have to since InuYasha's not here now." Miroku told him. "And you can't wait here, you'll scare the children." Miroku was referring to the children in the village.
"Where is InuYasha's house?"
"You're a demon, sniff it out." Miroku said disdainfully. He took Sango's hand and led her back to their house. Their backs were to Jakken but they didn't fear an attack, Kirara was there and their own instincts were honed to where they would feel an attack coming in plenty of time to counter.
The toad demon was left hopping about, he wanted to blast the two humans to smithereens but he knew that their power was greater than his and he didn't really want to die. Finally he tried to take Miroku's advice and sniff their house out. However he was a toad demon and they weren't known for their sniffing capabilities. After an hour or so of sniffing about he was no closer to finding InuYasha's house than he was before. He had run into a couple of villagers as he'd been walking and they kept their distance. Finally it clicked in his head that he should ask one of them where the half-demon's house was.
The next villager he saw was an elderly woman in red and white with a patch over one eye. He was pleased to see that she didn't run when she saw him and he called her over. "You! Human. Where is InuYasha's house?"
The woman came over without hesitation, "Why do ye want to know?"
"Just tell me woman!"
"I can't just tell ye where Lord InuYasha's house is without knowing who wants to know or why." Her calm was infuriating.
"I am on an important mission from Lord Sesshoumaru! Tell me now!" Jakken was yelling.
"Surely your Lord Sesshoumaru told you where his brother's house is?" the old woman asked him. Jakken was hopping again; his brilliant idea wasn't going exactly as he'd planned. He gave up on the old woman and stalked off in a direction he hadn't tried before.
Jakken had given up and was starting to think about what the afterlife would be like, since Sesshoumaru would surely kill him for failing to deliver his message, when he heard a familiar voice. InuYasha and Kagome were walking right by where he was hiding in the bushes. Jakken went to jump out at them but stopped when he found the pointy end of the Tetsusaiga in his face. "What are you doing here?" InuYasha snarled.
"I-uh-um. I have a message for you from Lord Sesshoumaru." Jakken managed to get out while staring cross-eyed at the massive sword in his face.
"Well deliver it and get lost."
Jakken drew himself up as far as he dared, "My Lord wishes to meet with you."
"Feh. I'm not meeting with him. Besides, if he wants to talk to me he knows where to find me." InuYasha slung the Tetsusaiga over his shoulder.
"Lord Sesshoumaru doesn't have time to run all over the country, he's far too busy." Jakken was indignant again.
"Whatever." InuYasha turned to walk away.
"Wait!" Jakken cried; even if InuYasha didn't want to meet with his Lord, Jakken wouldn't get in trouble for failing to deliver his message. "My Lord wishes to make a trade."
"What kind of trade?" Kagome asked, laying a hand on InuYasha's arm.
"My Lord desires the Tetsusaiga-"
"He's not getting my sword!" InuYasha yelled, "Besides, he can't use it anyway." Kagome rolled her eyes, as if anyone thought InuYasha would trade away his sword.
"Lord Sesshoumaru has something that you want though." Jakken continued.
"Feh, whatever." InuYasha sheathed the Tetsusaiga.
"What Jakken?" Kagome asked, wanting to be away from the creepy little demon as soon as possible.
"He has the last shard of the Sacred jewel."
"But, the last shard is in Kohaku!" Kagome said surprised.
"If that's the human's name then yes. Lord Sesshoumaru will trade the boy for the Tetsusaiga." Jakken was pleased at the shocked look on their faces.
"Where are they?" InuYasha's tone was dangerous.
"Lord Sesshoumaru wished that I take you to him. Now where is your house? We can leave in the morning." Jakken was suddenly eye to eye with InuYasha who had him by the collar.
"First of all there is no way I'd let you anywhere near my house. Secondly, we're leaving now." InuYasha dropped the toad demon and strode off after Kagome who was already on her way to Miroku and Sango's. InuYasha caught up with her and asked, "Do you think he's telling the truth?"
Kagome nodded, "I'm afraid so, it's not like Sesshoumaru to be deceptive." InuYasha had to agree, his brother wouldn't bother with deception, and he hadn't smelled untruth in Jakken. "Poor Sango." InuYasha nodded again as they reached their friends' hut.
Kagome knocked and Miroku opened the door. "Ah you guys are back! Did you know that- Oh, I see he found you." Miroku's smile faded somewhat when he saw Jakken running to catch up with the pair.
"We need to talk to you guys." Kagome said as Sango joined Miroku at the door. The pair moved to let their friends enter, Jakken close behind.
"In private." InuYasha growled as he punted Jakken out the door. The girls failed in trying to look disapproving.
"What's going on?" Sango asked.
"We should sit." Kagome said. The five of them (Shippo was staying with Kaede since both couples needed alone time) sat and InuYasha launched right into the heart of it.
"Sesshoumaru has Kohaku. He wants to trade him for the Tetsusaiga."
"Oh." Sango said. The group was silent, waiting for her to continue, "So what do we do?"
"We go see my good for nothing brother and get Kohaku back." InuYasha said. Kagome studied Sango; she was a little bit pale and had a far away look in her eyes.
"Where is he?" it was unclear which he she meant but since they were likely to find Sesshoumaru and her brother together it didn't really matter.
"We don't know. Jakken is supposed to take us to them." Kagome explained.
"When do we leave?" Miroku stood and started gathering food to take with them.
"Now." InuYasha said.
"After we visit the house." Kagome replied. "We'll need a few things too." InuYasha nodded and they stood as well. "We'll be back soon." Kagome and InuYasha opened the door to find Jakken sitting on the steps. They ordered him to stay and Kirara lent weight to the order by standing behind him and transforming. "We should hurry."
"Ok, get on." Kagome got onto InuYasha's back and he took off running. In a few minutes they were at their house and Kagome had her yellow bag packed in a few more minutes. Kagome wanted to change however; her sundress wasn't durable enough, or practical, for the road. InuYasha was, as usual, in his red kimono.
By the time they were back at Sango and Miroku's the couple were dressed for the road. They considered telling Shippo but decided against it, he would be safer at Kaede's. They set off walking since Kirara didn't want to carry Jakken. InuYasha was frustrated at the pace, but since the toad demon wouldn't say where they were going they were forced to follow at the pace Jakken set.
Sango was quiet as they walked, and the others gave her her space. Sango was preparing herself for what she believed was going to happen. She knew InuYasha would never give up his sword, even for Kohaku. But they were on a mission of rescue so it didn't seem to matter that Sesshoumaru was willing to deal. It all seemed pointless though to Sango, they needed the last shard to complete the jewel and rid the world of it, and to do that they needed the shard keeping her brother alive. So what did it matter if Sesshoumaru took the shard from Kohaku or if it was them? He was dead either way.
She had to admire her companions though; none of them had ever mentioned trying to track her brother down in order to retrieve the final shard, even InuYasha who was more eager than the rest of them to have it in one piece. It looked as though they may have the last shard with them in the next few days though and Sango was feeling sick about it. She wanted her brother back, but with the shard in him it might be too big of a temptation for InuYasha. Sango shook her head, no, InuYasha wasn't like that anymore, Kagome had changed him. But that didn't change the fact that sooner or later they would have to deal with the last shard.
"Just how far are we going?" InuYasha demanded after a couple of hours.
"We should get there in the afternoon the day after tomorrow." Jakken replied.
"Two days! You-" InuYasha was stopped by Kagome.
"It's getting dark, we should make camp, we can leave early in the morning." InuYasha grudgingly agreed and within a half hour they found a suitable place and started a cooking fire. No one was in a talking mood so shortly after dinner the group split into three and made their beds. InuYasha was too agitated to sleep so he kissed Kagome goodnight and leapt into a tree to keep an eye, ear and nose on things. Miroku lay behind Sango and held her close, offering the comfort of his nearness.
Kagome lay alone in her sleeping bag, wishing InuYasha was with her, but she understood the need to be alert, they were traveling into the western lands, lands which were wilder than the ones they were used to living in. Kagome hugged herself and sighed, knowing that what she was feeling was nothing compared to Sango's loneliness. Her family and village had been killed, she herself had barely survived. She was further tortured by having to see her brother's dead body animated and used against her and her friends. And now she would have him back, but for how long?
Sango's thoughts were echoing Kagome's. She was reliving every moment with her brother since the day Kohaku had killed their entire village. Normally she was able to forget, or at least not think specifically about it, but all day she'd been going over their brief moments of contact. Even the presence of her husband, cradling her in his arms, couldn't lessen her pain. But she hadn't cried. Strangely she hadn't cried at all since she had lost everyone she'd known and loved. First there was confusion, then anger at Naraku, then nothing…she had been able to feel joy and sadness, but she hadn't been able to cry and she wondered why. Kagome was able to cry, in fact she did it quite often, it seemed a healthy way to let her emotions out, but Sango couldn't bring her tears to the surface.
She could feel Miroku relax into sleep and she tried to turn her thoughts off to get some rest as well. She focused on each part of her body in turn, concentrating on relaxing until she was able to sleep as well. Dawn came quickly and the small group was soon back on the road. Jakken was again in the lead and the others followed. InuYasha kept wandering ahead and back, trying to scent his brother or danger. Kagome fingered the jar around her neck that held the almost completed Shikon jewel.