He walked out from the hut, furious. The only thing he wanted right now was solitude. No bother, no people talking, no arguing, and certainly no Kageri!
He heard her call his name, upset, but he ignored it. Right now the hanyou wanted to be alone.
He sprinted off into the forest, the cool night air damp against his face. He ran until he was sure he was a good distance from Kaede's hut, and lunged up into a tree.
He found a good, solid branch, and perched there, his Tetsusaiga in his hand, closing his eyes.
Damnit all to hell, when was he going to leave? Get lost?
InuYasha was trying his best to show his best to Kagome. He had told her, at the train station that time, that he was going to show her what she meant to him. He would win her back. He had been a fool, had done something extremely stupid, but now he was going to win her back. Win back her affections. He had had something priceless, and lost it. But he would gain it back.
And it was starting to seem like he might have a chance at that! Kagome was warming up to him again, letting him touch her, letting him take her hand or...sharing a soft smile. They were growing closer, he could feel it. Ways she looked at him...he remembered those looks, and although he wanted to act on them, he always made sure he did nothing more than take her hand for a second, or just smile at her. For a few, brief seconds there, it looked like he just might win.
Then that...that DarkWind had shown up...and now...
Kagome was clearly taken with him. That much was obvious. The hanyou would have to be blind not to see the way she smiled at him, or the way she laughed, or the way her eyes lit up when he complimented her.
Or the way she blushed.
She used to blush that way when he'd compliment her. And she looked so cute when she did.
InuYasha didn't have a chance against DarkWind, and he knew it. The Kageri was older, more handsome, more powerful. He always knew exactly what to say to her to make her happy. And...and she was starting to look at DarkWind the way she looked at him. He had finally had to accept that DarkWind wasn't going to try and eat them all in their sleep...in fact he had proven to be a good person. He had saved Miroku's life that time, causing himself to be punished so badly, he was no longer a Kageri.
Worse...worse even than the Kageri's looks...was the fact that they...DarkWind and Kagome...were BloodBonded. He knew Kagome's every thought. Every want, every need, every desire. Whatever Kagome needed to hear, DarkWind knew, and said it. If she wanted support, he was there. If she wanted to feel safe, DarkWind was there!
How was InuYasha to compete with that? He never knew what to say, what to do...half the time Kagome made him so nervous he said or did something stupid...and the other half of the time he avoided it altogether because of that fear!
And the more he grew angry at DarkWind...the more he tried to show Kagome that he cared for her...the more he tried to show her that he was right for her...the more she pulled back, and often went to talk to DarkWind!
What do I do?
They had been practicing all afternoon, the Kageri teaching her to use her own lifeforce more and more, calling it out of herself, and molding it to her will. It sounded damned dangerous to him...
Worse...DarkWind was too touchy-feely with Kagome. He freely touched her body, her chest, her waist, her hip, her face, to illustrate what he was saying, to make a point.
He had watched, as Kagome's face turned a shade of pink, but as she looked at the Kageri, her eyes were sparkling.
InuYasha had never, ever, felt so helplessly jealous in his life. Watching her with DarkWind made him feel so jealous he felt sick to his stomach. He wanted to just grab the Kageri and toss him off a cliff or something. Just get rid of him!
Get him away from Kagome.
If only he hadn't taken the damn Jewel out to Kikiyo. None of this would have happened...
"A cool night."
Eyes flaring open, he turned to see Mikado standing in the tree next to him, calmly studying him. InuYasha very nearly fell out of the tree.
"Give a guy some warning before just popping up like that!"
Mikado laughed freely, "Sorry. I was actually up here before you, so..." she paused, "What's your trouble?"
"Nothing. Everything is fine."
Mikado arched a brow, "Is that why I can hear you grinding you teeth all the way over here?"
"It's that...that..."
"Kageri."
InuYasha glowered at her.
"Well...I just figured you were trying to find a name for him, so I guessed it was DarkWind." Mikado sat on the branch on the other side of the tree.
"Why the hell can't he leave? Show her what she's supposed to know, and leave?"
"He's teaching her how to use the Shikon, InuYasha. That's going to take time."
InuYasha crossed his arms, snorting. A conversation came to him, from about a week back. When he had met Kikyo in the forest.
"I...isn't the Shikon supposed to be un-usable, anyway? It turns bad luck on the wearer?"
"That's what was thought," Mikado stretched, "Because people who tried to use it couldn't, so they ususally met with a bad end."
Mikado looked closely at InuYasha, "I know you're close, InuYasha, but...you can't believe everything Kikyo says about the Shikon."
InuYasha scowled harder, "I never mentioned her."
"You didn't have to."
He grunted in reply, put out. After a second, he spoke again, "What was that supposed to mean? Kikyo wouldn't lie to me, she..."
"So Kagome still has the Shikon."
"Yeah."
"So she's still alive."
InuYasha had winced at Kikyo's cavalier question.
"Kikyo wouldn't openly lie, no," Mikado said, "But she only knows what she was taught. And she might not like the fact Kagome is proving more powerful with it than she was."
He said nothing, then spoke lowly, "Can't Izumi fix things? Can't she - "
"No," Mikado shook her head, her two braids flopping about.
InuYasha sunk down a little, arms crossed, "I don't see why not. She can do anything else."
Mikado sighed, leaning around the tree to meet his eyes, "She already told you, InuYasha, it's not easy for Izumi to look into the future and see things. It was a power given her by Amaterasu, and it's only for this war. Besides, she can't tell you what she doesn't know."
"Why wouldn't she know?"
Mikado shook her head, "She told you. The 'future', as you put it, is far too unstable. Things happen that can prevent other things from happening."
"I don't get you."
Mikado sighed. She didn't have the patience Izumi did, "Look...think of time as a tree. You now stand at the junction of a bough. With every decision you make, InuYasha, you turn onto another branch, and then onto a twig, and so on. Right now, there are hundreds, if not thousands of potential futures. In one, you and Kagome get back together. In another, you do not."
"That's no help." he glared down at the ground below her, "What about the fact that Kagome comes from the future? I mean...that one must be stable, right?"
She nodded, "It's stable...to a point. Even her future can be altered in some way. Some are meant to happen, no matter what. These are "boughs" that cannot be altered. Kagome coming back from the future is but one of them. You getting your father's weapon is another. Some are small. Some are big."
"What about the fact that I...I...care..."
Mikado rolled her eyes, "Your love for Kagome is no secret to me, InuYasha. Izumi and I do talk, you know."
He looked at her, face turning red, "What!?"
Mikado grinned, "Oh, we don't exactly gossip about you, so relax. But I know how you feel about her, so stop trying to find the perfect word." She frowned at him, "If you can't even say it to me, that's not a goo-"
"Fine! I love Kagome. There. Get back to what I was saying...the fact that I love her, I mean...isn't that a big one? Unavoidable?"
"I don't know."
He frowned, angry, "It is. I love her. That won't ever change."
Mikado was quiet.
"How do I compete with DarkWind? He knows all the right things to say, all the right things to do. I care so much for her...and yet I still get tongue-tied when I try to use the "L" word around her. I mean...I can tell her, but sometimes I still seize up. It's hard to say, and..." his voice turned bitter, "DarkWind throws it around like water."
Mikado said nothing, just listened.
The hanyou's voice was frusterated, "Does she honestly need this, Mikado? Her spiritual arrows were powerful, why can't she use those?"
"Kagome's training is very important, InuYasha. You have to trust us on this."
"It's stupid," he crossed his arms again, defensive, "I'm here to protect her."
"InuYasha..."
"It's stupid!"
Mikado sighed.
"Alright. I guess this is karma."
He blinked at her.
"You remind me of me. Maybe Amaterasu told me to come and talk to you to show you what Izumi had to go through training me. Stand up."
"Uh...what?"
"Stand up. You need to be shown and not told."
Uneasy, the hanyou stood up. Mikado held out her hand, "Here."
"What am I..."
"Just take my hand. I'm going to show you something."
InuYasha had not had good experiences lately, whenever someone wanted to "show" him something. He shrank back a little, "Just tell me."
"Stop being a wimp and take my hand!"
Uneasily, the hanyou did as he was told.

InuYasha felt something shift, the world around him blurring and changing. He was swept by a sense of dizziness, and would have fallen out of the tree if he hadn't grabbed onto the branch.
The colors seemed to turn into paint, running into each other.
Finally, with a sickening jolt, they stopped, and everything came to a stop.
"What...what the hell just happened?"
Mikado leapt down to land lightly in the tree, motioning for him to join her. He did, looking around, "Did you...move us? This place looks different."
"Yeah. But first...go look in the water, there."
Frowning, InuYasha turned from her, and walked to the edge of a small pond. Kneeling down, expecting to see something in it's depths, he leaned over, and looked.
He blinked.
He looked different.
He was a human...and he wasn't even his normal self as a human.
For starters, he had short hair, pulled back in a style similar to Miroku's. A little ponytail. His eyes were a little lighter, and he was wearing an all-black suit. Reaching up, he felt his face, his hair...his ears. He felt no ears on the side of his head, still felt his long hair falling around his face.
"You are merely disguised," Mikado's voice was soft, "Not changed."
He faced her, "What the hell are you doing?"
"You are here to observe, InuYasha. You can't be recognised. It would really foul things up. Now let's go into the village down there."
InuYasha hung back. It felt weird to feel the locks of hair that normally fell around his face, but not see them.
"Come on, let's go." Mikado closed her eyes, and as he watched, she shimmered, rippled...and vanished.
Blinking in alarm, he stepped forward, "Hey!"
"I'm still here, InuYasha," she laughed, "But I don't want to be seen."
"Why not?" he was growing more and more uneasy, "Why don't you just disguside yourself, like you did me?"
"Too long, too complicated, and you're supposed to be "alone". Come on, just walk, I'm beside you."
He looked down at the village that sprawled out before him. It was nestled in the lee of a large mountain. Very small, it looked a little run-down, poor. There were well-worn paths running from it in all directions. It might be small, but it seemed well-used.
"Come on," Mikado's voice came to his right, "let's get going."
Noticing that he seemed to be wearing sandals, he started down the small hill, "What's this place? I don't recognise it."
"You wouldn't. Now remember, I can't be seen. I'll still be beside you, at all times, but no one can see me. You can talk to me if you want, ask questions, but try not to let anyone see you, they'll think you're crazy. Also, try not to use your hanyou powers. A human carrying around a few hundred pounds without even breaking a sweat will look odd. Oh, and your Tetsusaiga is disguised."
Alarmed, InuYasha's hand dropped, wrapping around the hilt at his hip. Looking down, he was alarmed to see he was holding nothing.
"It's still there, InuYasha," Mikado's voice sounded exasperated, "But no one can see it, so try not to whip it out and start attacking anything with it."
InuYasha scowled at the path before him, "I get it, I'm not stupid."
"No, but you're easily excited," came the dry reply.
They made their way down, levelling out and approaching the village. As they walked, InuYasha began to see other people walking towards the village as well, coming from all directions. They all looked tired, beaten down, exhausted.
"What's going on?" he asked lowly.
"All these people," came the voice from thin air beside him, "Are refugees."
"Refugees? From what?"
"What are people usually refugees from? War. War, hunger, disease. All these people need help. They know they will get it here, at this small village."
InuYasha fell into line with the others, after making sure it was necessary. He looked at the people around him, watching their faces. They all looked so tired. There were people his age, and older. Some were old people, hobbling on canes or walking sticks. Some were young families, carrying babies. He noticed even the small children, Sokai's age, carried little bundles, probably their meager belongings. Some older people were with families...many were alone.
An old woman near him tripped, and would have fallen if InuYasha hadn't caught her. She was very thin, as heavy as a bundle of twigs. Carefully putting her back on her feet, she cast a grateful look at him, taking his hands and thanking him before trundling on. Her clothing was thin and torn, and very old.
The kind hearted hanyou started to feel anger in him, "Who the hell is driving all these people out, anyway? Some of them look like they're on their last legs!"
"No one is driving them out intentionally, InuYasha. But wars have many victims. The farmer, who loses his farm because soldiers take all his food for themselves, or lose his plots of land due to pitched battles. Old people, whose houses are taken over, or even destroyed. Families leave because they are afraid their wives, daughters, or young children may be raped and killed, or taken to fight in battles they want no part of."
"Maybe this person needs to have a few things explained to them," he growled lowly.
"It may not be one person," Mikado said, "Or...it may not be human."
InuYasha, still walking towards the entrance of the village, stopped suddenly, looking towards where Mikado's voice came from. Someone bumped into him from behind, and mildly complained, but they were too tired to make a deal of anything, and walked on.
"Are you saying this a war of demons?"
"I'm saying, InuYasha," Mikado said, "We don't know what this war is about, and stop glaring at my direction, you look mental."
Muttering under his breath, he dropped his gaze to his feet, and walked on.
He walked several feet, when suddenly he felt a hot, stinging pain in his butt. Yelping, InuYasha grabbed his butt, swinging around, "Hey!"
A young kid, younger than Kohaku but older than Shippo, stood looking at him, face pale. He clumsily tried to hide a slingshot behind his back, but it was too late. InuYasha started towards him.
The young man turned paler, and suddenly dropped to his knee, hands together over his head, "I'm so sorry Sir I never meant to hit you, I swear it was an accident I'm very sorry Sir-"
"Didn't try to hit me!?" InuYasha's butt still pained like he had been stung by a bee, "You did a damn good job of it!"
Another kid appeared in front of the first, hands raised before him, "He was trying to hit me Sir, please, he didn't meant to hit you, I swear, you have my word of honor!"
The first thing InuYasha noticed was that the kids were identical. Twins, they had to be. Their hair was short and black, but messy and wild. They had slightly turned up noses, and very dark eyes. Their ears were a bit big, tending to stick out on the sides a little. InuYasha thought if Kagome had been there, she probably would have called them cute. The next thing he noticed was that they were wearing clothing as faded and patched as anyone else.
The kid that had been kneeling stood up, "I swear Sir, my brother and I were fighting. We just got too close to the newcomers. We shouldn't have been doing it...our father's warned us enough, said he'd take our slingshots away!"
"But how are we supposed to protect anyone if we don't have weapons?" finished the other.
"Weapons?" InuYasha avoided rubbing his stinging cheek, "You call those things weapons?"
"It's the only weapon father will let us carry," the first one said, "He doesn't want us having to carry any real weapon yet. But mother says the time has come to-"
His twin interrupted him, "I swear, Sir, we are both very sorry. Did we hurt you badly?"
Snorting, InuYasha shook his head. If he had been human, he probably would have been in a lot of pain.
"I'm fine, just a little stung." He glared at them for a moment, then paused, "Wait. You called them "newcomers". Does that mean you live in this village?"
Both twins nodded.
"We come out here to help the newcomers," one of them said. The other turned red, and mumbled, "When we're not goofing around."
His brother nodded solemly, and continued, "The older ones, and the really young, sometimes they get this far and they just...can't go any farther. So we come out and help them. Keep an eye out."
"Who are you?"
"Oh, I'm Kin, and that's Kiyoshi." InuYasha wasn't sure who had been the one to strike him, but he nodded. The two twins laughed.
"Don't worry," one said, "You'll never tell us apart after this. We often just tell people to call us Kinkiyoshi."
"Or Kiyoshikin," the other interjected.
"Uh...right."
"Anyway," one of the boys said, "You should get back in line. You're lucky to be coming here today. We have a lot of room, and extra blankets and food."
InuYasha turned, following the last stragglers towards the village, "Lot of room? What do you mean?"
The two young boys fell silent, suddenly looking subdued. One of them spoke, "We were attacked, and..."
"We lost some fighters," finished the other one, "So we have room for more."
InuYasha studied them, nodding quietly.
The young boys walked on, until one was prodded by the other, "Come on, let's go help mother. She's probably tired by now."
"Yeah, ok."
The two boys nodded to InuYasha, and ran on up ahead, slipping and darting through the line of people, slipping inside the village gate.
InuYasha was about to speak to Mikado, but saw they were very close to the gate, so he fell silent.

Passing through, he was startled to see such a huge group of people gathered in there. All ages, some were standing behind boxes and bags, handing out things to the line of people. InuYasha noticed even small children were helping as best they could, carrying food around to the people. Some looked barely old enough to carry the trays. Everyone looked tired and tense.
InuYasha whispered lowly, "What am I doing here, Mikado? I don't need anything."
"You have taken on the role of a refugee, InuYasha," Mikado's voice came back to him, "Act like one. Take what they offer. Oh, and from now on, you are Daiki, not InuYasha."
"Why the hell do I have a different name?"
"Trust me."
He sighed.
"Pay attention," Mikado's voice was firm, "and say nothing."
He frowned, what did that mean?
The line he was in moved along, and now InuYasha could see there was a woman handing out blankets. She spoke to the people as they paused. The woman leaned forward to talk when she could, seeming to brace herself on a table the blankets were on as she did. For a second, InuYasha frowned. It was strange. The woman sort of looked like Sango.
The person talking to the woman took a blanket, and moved on, and InuYasha got a good look at her.
He paused, shocked.
It was Sango.