Hello everyone!

So, this is a story that has been stewing in my brain for more than three years (I started writing it around the time I started writing "It's an Oracle's Life", only this one I managed to continue writing) it's a short chaptered fic, but don't worry! This one will not leave you hanging without an ending!

I plan to update once a week or so, so stay tuned.

Disclaimer: I don't own Inuyasha, or any of it's charaters.

And with that said – on with the story!

Lost in His Memories, Ch 1.

A spark of recognition among the eternal sea of blackness pulled at her, two familiar voices conversing. She was lying on a bed, a blanket covering her, but not giving her the warmth she needed – her hands were freezing. She didn't care. She wanted to go back to the darkness, where she could just forget about everything that happened when she first woke up. Forgetting was apparently the path she had taken, and she saw no reason not to continue with it. She did not want to remember, could not remember, though memories flooded her anyway. Memories of the first time she had awoken to find out she had no memories at all.

Her eyes fluttered open to an unknown room which, after a few glances around, she surmised was a hospital room. There were two people in the room, talking to each other, not looking at her. She must have made a sound because they were suddenly quiet, and into her vision came the loving, smiling face she had known for all her life. "Mama," she whispered weakly, and the woman's smile deepened, her eyes glistening with tears she had yet to shed.

"Kagome, we were so worried about you! When Inuyasha showed up, carrying you, I thought…" Kagome's mother paused, letting her tears finish the sentence for her. Kagome was still digesting the information, though not much, that she had just received.

"Inu…yasha?" she asked, the word so familiar on her mouth, yet so strange and foreign. "Who… who is—" she tried to ask, but was stopped by her mother's gasp.

"You… you don't remember him?"

Kagome frowned. Try as she would, she could not remember anything concerning a man called Inuyasha. She didn't even know it was indeed a man until her mother said so.

"What is the last thing you remember?" That question came from the frowning man her mother was talking to. She didn't know who he was, but from his clothes she gathered that he was a doctor, which meant that she was right. She was in a hospital.

"The party you've thrown to me on the night before my fifteenth birthday," Kagome replied, smiling weakly at her mother as she remembered, not prepared for another gasp, nor for what came next.

"Kagome… that was three years ago."

That first time had been at least seven days ago. She knew that, because the nurses seemed intent that she would not sleep for more then ten hours straight. They would always come in, whistling to themselves or talking to her, making so much noise as they moved around and did whatever it was nurses did. If it was up to her, she would not have been awake at all. Just thinking about it – three years forgotten completely – was enough to make her stomach twist. She couldn't help but think of what had happened during those three years – and that always caused a major headache. All in all, sleeping was the best solution to her problem she could find.

The mention of her name, however, drew her to full consciousness.

"Kagome does not remember a thing about her travels with Inuyasha," her mother's voice stated. "I think it is best to leave it like that."

"Are you sure?" that was Kagome's grandfather.

"There has to be a reason why she has forgotten… her doctor seems to think it is her minds way of dealing with some traumatic experience – she just shut away everything that could remind her of it."

"Hmm," was her grandfather's response.

"You know how stubborn Kagome is. If she found out, she'll want to go back, and… I don't want her to be hurt again."

"Alright," her grandfather agreed. "It is like the story about the hime and the—"

Kagome groaned. Her grandfather was always like that, telling stories that in no way could have really happened. He actually believed that demons existed in the feudal era!

Blinking as she realized they had stopped talking, she turned her head to see their worried faces looking at her.

"Are you alright, Kagome?" her mother asked.

"Yeah," she answered, and decided to go for it. "Mama… who is Inuyasha?"

"Inuyasha is… he was a friend of yours, Kagome, you used to spend a lot of time together." Her mother smiled as she answered, but Kagome knew she was hiding something from her. 'What does she mean 'was a friend'? Eri, Yuka and Ayumi were her friends, and she had no trouble remembering them. Houjo-kun was also a friend, and she remembered him. Why couldn't she remember that Inuyasha guy? And what did Mama mean by 'go back'?'

"You're not going to tell me, are you?" Kagome asked sullenly, not looking at her mother. After a few minutes with no response, she added a whisper. "Why?"

She got no answer to that question either, not until the nurse came in to tell them that visiting hours were over, and Kagome's mother was hugging her goodbye, Kagome herself never taking her eyes of a certain spot on the ceiling.

"I only want your best, Kagome."

And then she was alone, and with no reason to hold her tears anymore, she cried herself to sleep.

Kagome did not mention again that name, nor did she try to inquire as to what happened in those last three years. At least, not to her mother. She had already decided on a course of action. Her mother might say that she wanted her best, but could she not see how impossible it was for her to live with that hole in her memories?

She had learnt other things, however. Her last memory was from two and a half years ago, not three. Close enough, though. She had spent almost a month in the hospital unconscious before waking up for the first time. Some of the doctors were surprised that she did. Most of them, in fact. It would take a while for her to be able to go home. It was summer now, but she figured that by the time she was released school year would begin again. Her last school year. She wondered how she would be able to get through it. She didn't remember a thing she learnt the past three years in school – would they make her go through them again? It would be embarrassing, to say the least. She wanted to finish school along with her friends. And so she decided to use the time she was spending at the hospital to study. She asked for Houjo's help whenever he came by, as she did when her friends, Eri, Yuka and Ayumi dropped for visit. It was not much, but slowly, she realized that there might be a way for her to pass through her last year of school.

She stayed in the hospital for three weeks – besides the month unconscious – three very long weeks. She was released home a few days before school started, so she would have time to adjust herself. Her house was just like she remembered… with a few changes. A different TV, for example. Clothes she didn't remember having in her closet. She expected that. What she didn't expect was having the shrine around the old well all locked up. She had never been inside, but it was always open, never locked.

Sighing, she turned away from the window, away from the shrine, and walked into the kitchen where her mother was cooking dinner.

"Kagome! Come, sit, dinner's almost ready. I made Oden, just for you." Her mother said with a smile. Kagome returned her smile, but even Oden did not excite her as much as it usually did. She wanted to know what her mother was hiding from her. She deserved to know.

"Would you mind setting the table, Kagome?"

Kagome shook her head, taking four plates out of the cupboard. It seemed like everything was back to normal, but how can anything be normal when she's walking around with a hole in her memories?

"Yes, Eri, I'll meet you and the rest at Wacdonalds after school. Don't worry," she tried assuring her friend, though Eri could probably tell her heart wasn't in it. It's not that she didn't like meeting with her friends, it's just that she felt as if that time could be put to better use – as in, researching more about her past.

Only, she had no idea where to look, or even what to begin with. She figured meeting with her friends would be better than agonizing over doing nothing.

Stopping the lolling of her pen over today's newspaper for a minute, Kagome had to work hard at not letting any tears surface at the next words coming through the phone.

"Yes, Eri, I remember the way. I still have most of my memories, remember?" that was one of the things she hated most. She knew her friends cared for her and wanted only the best, and yet, she couldn't help but feel as if they were trying to remind her of her memory problems on purpose.

"It's ok, don't worry about it. I'll see you tomorrow. Night!"

Kagome put down the phone, looking at the newspaper and blinking. On the front page was a picture of some businessman or another, but that was not the cause of her repeated blinks. The cause was what she had drawn on his picture, while on the phone, and not really looking. Now, the man had a crescent moon on his forehead, just between his brows, and two stripes, ending in a point, on each cheek. The man had also sported some sort of fluffy thing on his right shoulder, and some evil-looking spikes on his left. She did not recognize him, nor did she recognize her reasons behind the new look she had given him, but she did not dwell on them for long. It was late, and she was tired, and that was probably the reason behind her doodle. Yawning, she got into her bed and fell asleep almost immediately, dreaming of silver and gold and red.

People were just stupid.

Of course, that went by definition, but he thought that the people from the Tokyo airport managed to reach new levels of idiocy. No, he was sure about that.

First, his suitcases were delayed. A thing which was stupid enough as it is, since making him annoyed usually cost people their jobs. If not lives. He was one of the richest men in the world, and not to be dealt with lightly.

But it didn't end there, oh no. the driver that was supposed to wait for him came late, and in a filthy car.

Did they really think he would agree to be seen in a filthy limo? A limo stained by dust and careless birds?

Really, people were just stupid. That's the only answer he could find.

He had sent the driver back wherever it was he came from, and called another limo agency to pick him up. After all the waiting, all he really wanted to do was to get home – or to his hotel room, it was the same to him – and sleep. Or maybe go hunting. Yes…hunting. That would be great. Releasing some energy – both physical and demonic – would only do good for him, especially if he wanted to supervise over the establishment of his mother company's new headquarters.

'Japan has changed over the years,' was the first thought he had as he descended from the plane. Of course, he didn't expect it to remain as it was, so long ago, but he had never imagined Japan would become so… western.

He figured that there would be cars and traffic and trains and railroads and traffic lights and traffic signs and restaurants and malls and supermarkets and signs in Japanese and signs in English and people and – oh god so many people!

He knew that that was what he should have expected – but for some reason, he kept thinking Japan will be the same as he knew it – 500 years ago, when demons flooded the land and human were scarce, when the land was green and clean and beautiful. Not gray and filthy and nose-gagging.

He was looking blankly through the window of the limousine, watching but not really seeing all that happened beyond it, thinking of changes, expected and unexpected. And then he blinked.

He managed to refrain himself from blinking again, as the sight in front of him registered through his brain. Four girls were walking down the street – that was a pretty normal occurrence. After all, girls were allowed to walk the streets, so it shouldn't befuddle him as much as it had – only, there was something about one of the girls that tickled his memory. But what made him think he knew that girl?

'Promise me… if you'll ever see her again… promise me you'll protect Kagome.'

His brother's last words. But why now, all of a sudden? He hadn't thought about Inuyasha for more than two hundred years. Why now?

And then the limo turned, and he got to see the face of the girl.

Now, he was – well, he was Sesshoumaru. And Sesshoumaru was never wrong. And he did have a pretty good memory – much better than a human's or even most youkai's.

This time, however, he must have been wrong. There was simply no way that that girl could be the same girl who used to follow his brother all the time. All the time, 500 years in the past.

Then he noticed, for the first time, (since he was Sesshoumaru and Sesshoumaru did not pay attention to such trivialities) the clothes of the girls. He had, in fact, dismissed them as being simple school uniforms, but he should have learned long ago: nothing was simple when involving Inuyasha's miko.

There was no denying that this outfit was the same one the girl used to wear while traveling with his brother – or an outfit extremely similar – in an age where wearing such a thing was considered immodest at the very least, by humans and demons alike.

That had made him regret his earlier doubt, and also served to bring very disturbing thoughts to his mind. How did a human manage to survive over 500 years?

Smirking to himself, Sesshoumaru gave new instructions to his driver. He will satisfy his curiosity, and learn a little more about the enigma that was his brother's miko.

This is just the beginning, setting the ground for what's to come... still, I hope you enjoyed it so far. Tell me what you think!

~Lyla