CHAPTER TWO
COLLISION OF PAST AND PRESENT
"She's not going to be back tonight, so it doesn't matter," Inuyasha said stubbornly. His arms were folded across his chest and his eyes were closed as he leaned against the wall of Kaede's hut.
"She might be," Sango argued. "I think that someone should go up and check just in case.
Inuyasha let out a long sigh, and stood up. "Fine," he said curtly.
Miroku was standing before the door before the hanyou was halfway across the room. "Not you," he said. "The sun will set soon, and you will be vulnerable. We've sensed many youkai lately, it will be dangerous to be out."
"Please," Sango inserted, "Stay inside and be safe tonight."
Inuyasha groaned, hands clenching into fists. Frustration built in his chest, frustration with the weakness of his human blood, with the slow, inevitable waning of his youki that would leave him a weak, defenseless human until morning.
"I'll stay with Inuyasha," Shippo volunteered.
Miroku and Sango nodded. "We can look quickly," Miroku said. "Kagome said that she would return this evening, so we should check around the Well."
"She can find the village on her own," Inuyasha said.
Miroku stared at him.
The hanyou tried to beat back his concern for Kagome. He hoped that she would be gone another night, just until morning, just until he could protect her again. The number of youkai in the area had multiplied alarmingly recently, and no one was safe. "Go on," he said roughly.
"Kagome is here," Shippo said suddenly. "She's calling for you!" He looked at the hanyou with wide, fearful eyes.
Inuyasha was immediately out the door, the rest of their party running to catch up. He glanced at the sun automatically. It was falling quickly, and his senses had already started to become dull, but he could make it to the Well if he hurried.
He threw himself into motion, running as fast as he could up the hill and toward the clearing. He didn't smell her, didn't hear her, and the lack of those senses had him gritting his teeth as he neared the Well that was a portal between their worlds.
He skidded toward the clearing just as he caught the receding echo of Kagome's voice and the low-pitched growl of wolves. The sun set just as he burst through the bushes, and he gasped as he felt his claws recede and his strength fade to nothing.
By the time he stopped moving, he was fully human. Now-useless Tetsusaiga bumped his leg and he stared, heart in throat, at the trio that stood before him.
Two boys and a girl, all dressed in the Modern clothing that Kagome wore, or variations of it, but no Kagome.
"Wolves," Shippo whined. "I smell wolves!"
The little kitsune scampered up onto Kiara's shoulder as the cat-youkai settled onto the earth. Sango and Miroku leapt from her back, weapons at the ready.
"She's not here," Miroku said.
Inuyasha growled at the monk's inane statement. He curled his human hands into ineffective claws. He smelled the air, but his senses were too dull to be useful.
He looked at the trio again. The older boy stood with his shoulders rigid. He was clearly scared, but not afraid of confronting the fighters. The girl's lips were trembling, and her eyes looked wet. She wasn't going to cry was she? Hastily, he looked at the last figure. Smaller than the others…
Souta?
Kagome's brother?
"What the hell?" Inuyasha blinked. "How did you get here?" He
turned to the boy. "Souta?" Where was Kagome?
Souta blinked, and the hanyou saw him swallow. "Who…. Who are you?"
Hojo stepped forward bravely, blocking the boy and the now-crying girl from Inuyasha's growled questions.
"It seems that you have a definite advantage here," he said composedly. "Perhaps we should go somewhere safe where we can discuss this?" He glanced at the darkened forest that surrounded them. Inuyasha sensed the boy's apprehension, even with his muffled human senses.
"Inuyasha, look!" Sango pointed to the side of the well, "Isn't that Kagome's backpack?"
A chill sped across his nerve endings, and he turned to see Kagome's distinctive yellow pack nestled against the base of the Well. He approached it warily. It was firm—real—when he touched it. He saw that the bow and quiver of arrows that she had left hidden among the grass were gone. At least she was armed.
The dark-haired boy jumped in front of him, shoving his arm aside. "Leave Higurashi-san's belongings alone, please," he said firmly.
If he had been in his proper form, Inuyasha might have skewered the impudent bastard. As it was, he was going to have to leave that pleasure to the morning. Nothing stopped him from glaring at the boy and baring his teeth menacingly, however, and he suited action to the thought. "Where is Kagome?" He growled.
"Inuyasha niichan?" Souta stepped forward timidly, staring up at him. The boy's eyes traveled over his haori with recognition, then halted on the dark hair and dark eyes that were definitely not part of Inuyasha's usual appearance.
"Kagome came with you. What happened to her?"
Sango laid a hand on his arm, silently counseling him to be gentle with the child.
Inuyasha rolled his eyes but tolerated both the touch and the warning. "It's dangerous here, Souta, you know that. We have to find her before she gets hurt."
"She went off with her boyfriend," the girl blurted.
Inuyasha instantly transferred his attention to her. She wore the same clothing that Kagome usually did, and her hair was shoulder-length and very wavy. Her hands were pressed together tightly but shook anyway. He didn't find himself inclined to gentle his undoubtedly fierce expression, even in the face of her fear. "What boyfriend?"
"She called him Kouga," the girl whispered.
"Kouga?" Sango echoed. "Kouga was here?"
"That's what Kagome-chan called him."
Inuyasha squinched his eyes shut and fought the fierce trembling that overtook him. "That bastard," he whispered. His hand clenched around Tetsusaiga's hilt. Fear for Kagome was uppermost in his mind. Kouga may be prince of the wolf-youkai, but he didn't have the strength or skill to protect her from the many demons who wanted to use her powers or take her life. If they had the misfortune to meet Naraku, there was no hope for either of them.
"What did he say?" He noticed that everyone was watching him, waiting for a reaction. When no one answered fast enough to suit him, he glared at the girl. "What did he say?" Inuyasha demanded, taking a step closer.
The girl's eyes were wide with fright, and as he came near her she squeaked loudly, then burst into tears.
Inuyasha threw his hands into the air and stomped off. "This is useless!"
Miroku went to help the boy calm the girl. Inuyasha plucked Shippo from Kiara's back and dangled him by his tail. "Do you smell which way they went?"
"I smell a lot of wolves, but Kagome's scent is very faint," the kitsune confided. "I think they went that way."
Inuyasha glanced in the direction Shippo was pointing. "They probably headed for their nest." He grunted in satisfaction and plopped the small youkai back down. "We should get rid of them," he slanted a hostile glance at the three strangers, "and then we'll set out on her trail."
Sango edged toward Inuyasha, having heard his muttered conversation with Shippo. "We can't do anything tonight anyway," she reminded him. "We should take them to Kaede's hut. Once they are warm and comfortable it will be easier for them to talk about what happened here."
Inuyasha growled, but conceded that she had a point. "All right." He lifted Kagome's pack to his back in a familiar gesture and headed for the road to the village. He didn't wait to see if anyone else was following him. He didn't really care. All he could think about was the stinking wolf-youkai that had put Kagome's life in danger yet again, and how he was going to make him suffer for that offense.
As soon as he was back to normal….
* * *
Ayumi walked cautiously, careful to stay close to Hojo-kun in case she was attacked by the strange people who surrounded them. Kagome's little brother Souta clutched her hand on the other side. She was glad to know that she wasn't the only one who was scared.
She shivered, all too aware of the darkness that had closed in around them.
What was going on? Where were they? One minute she had been standing in the courtyard of Kagome-chan's family Temple, and then she was falling down a Well and emerging… wherever she was.
She didn't want to think about the odd man who had taken Kagome—a man who sported a tail and looked like a complete barbarian. She vaguely remembered Kagome telling them about a man called Kouga. She had said that he was obsessed with her.
If that 'Kouga' had been obsessed with her, Ayumi was sure that she would have contacted the police long ago. There was something about him that was simply terrifying, and it wasn't just the fact that he seemed to be friends with a bunch of huge, slavering wolves.
She looked around at their unasked-for escort.
Far ahead was the dark-haired rude boy dressed in odd red clothes. He called himself Inuyasha. Directly ahead of them was the Buddhist priest. His presence was calming, though it seemed to be out of place among the other members of his group. Behind them stalked the woman with the huge boomerang tied to her back. Her hand rested on the huge demonic cat, on which rode a cute little fox-boy.
Ayumi was dismayed to realize that she considered the fox-boy cute. With a bushy tail and little fox-feet, it was clear that he was as much as monster as the huge cat he rode – or the scary man who had taken Kagome.
"We'll be at the village soon," the priest said over his shoulder. "You can get some food and rest there."
Though his words were kind, they were underscored with sheer steel.
Perhaps he belonged with the rest of the people after all.
She glanced at the woman again. She looked unaffected by the priest's tone, or the dark-haired boy's violent eruptions. There was a shadow in her eyes, however, a tenseness to her frame that Ayumi found disturbing.
"Is Kagome all right?"
Ayumi started at the fox-boy's quiet question, and even more at the fierce-looking woman's assured tone when she answered. "Kouga will take care of her."
"Inuyasha will kill him for kidnapping her again."
The girl smiled. It was a dark look on her pretty face. All Ayumi could think was 'again?' The man had kidnapped Kagome before?
"I think that Kagome-chan will take care of Inuyasha," the woman laughed.
The fox-boy laughed too.
The priest smiled back benignly.
They walked until they crested a hill, and down below spread a village of fields and small huts. The hut that the dark-haired boy led them too was on the edge of the village. Parked against the wall was a well-cared for bicycle. One that looked oddly familiar.
The dark-haired boy stalked into the hut. The priest was kind enough to hold aside the woven hanging door to let them walk through before he stepped through himself. They filed in one by one.
Ayumi gulped as she watched the huge fanged cat change before her eyes into a bitty, bright-eyed kitten. The kitten scrambled onto the fierce-looking woman's shoulder, no doubt digging her claws in for purchase as the woman took off her huge boomerang and laid it on the floor.
The hut was warm, though close with so many people stuffed inside of it. Besides Hojo-kun, Kagome's brother and the menagerie of weirdness that had met them at the mysterious Well was an old woman who wore a patch over one eye and was dressed in the traditional clothing of a priestess.
Maybe now, she thought as she huddled against the wall and stared at the people around her, maybe they could get some answers.
* * *
Souta looked around the small hut with no little interest. He had recognized Kagome's bicycle leaning against the hut, and he was beginning to match the real-live people that surrounded him with the sketches and tales that Kagome had told him so often.
"You're Shippo," he said abruptly, staring at the creature that his sister described as a kitsune. He had looked up what exactly a kitsune was at that library after she had first mentioned the little one that she called Shippo-chan. They were supposed to be tricky creatures, and some were legendary as illusionists. He had sort of expected Shippo to be bigger.
The priest was easy to identify. "You're Miroku." The priest smiled widely and nodded.
"Sango." Even the fierce woman colored with pleasure at being readily identified. The cat-like creature—youkai, Souta corrected his thinking—twisted its head in question. "You're Kiara," he said. The youkai trilled in agreement.
"You must be Kaede-baba." The old miko folded her arms over her chest.
They dispensed with the rest of the introductions quickly.
Souta furrowed his forehead as he stared at the all-too-human boy wearing Inuyasha's haori. He also wore a rosary that looked exactly like the one that gave Kagome the power the plant Inuyasha face-first wherever he stood. "Why do you look so different?" He asked.
Inuyasha glared at him from under the thick blackness of his hair. His dark eyes were disconcerting. "At least she didn't tell everyone," the half-demon muttered.
"Now that we are warm and safe," Miroku began, "perhaps you can explain what happened to Kagome-sama?"
Souta noticed the sudden tautness of Inuyasha's grip on his haori, and the throbbing of the muscles in the boy's jaw.
"What did the wolf say," Inuyasha asked.
"Her boyfriend said that he was taking her. That she wasn't being taken care of right, so he was taking her back." Ayumi must not have noticed the convulsive grip that the dark-haired boy took on the battered hilt of his sword. (Souta's recognition of the very powerful blade that Inuyasha carried convinced him more than anything else that inside the changed human face the awe-inspiring hanyou who had saved his sister's life so many times did indeed exist.) She couldn't have seen the violent flickering of the boy's eyebrows either, but Souta saw both. He knew that Inuyasha was on the verge of a very loud, and in all probability fairly childish explosion of temper.
"She didn't want to go," he said hastily.
They were the right words to say. Inuyasha calmed down quickly, and Souta found himself breathing much easier. Even though he didn't project the same powerful aura, the boy knew what the half-demon was capable of. He didn't want to be at the wrong end of Testusaiga if he could help it!
"She told me to get you," he continued.
The eyebrow started twitching again.
"We need to find her," Hojo said. "That … beast … said that she was his woman."
"Poor Kagome-chan!" Ayumi cried, tears in her eyes. "She said that Kouga-kun was obsessed with her, but that his love wasn't returned. How could that man do this to her?"
"He obviously has no care for Higurashi-san's health," Hojo continued with Ayumi's supportive nod.
"Her health?" Miroku asked. He was, Souta noticed, slowly edging toward Ayumi. From Kagome's tales the boy knew that the priest was up to his usual behavior.
"She's been unwell! In the hospital even!" Hojo said. "I'm sure she doesn't want anyone to know, but she's been taking experimental medication to control her condition. I fear for Higurashi's life if she is not properly cared for."
"Hospital?" Miroku echoed the word.
"Kagome-chan told me about those places," Kaede contributed. "They are buildings where doctors treat wounds and sicknesses with specialized medicines and treatments."
"She has been to this hospital place recently?" Sango asked.
Souta sighed. "Kagome isn't sick."
Though he said it quietly, Hojo turned to him, expression fierce. "Untrue! I saw her medicine myself only this morning!" His eyes gained a faraway look. "I…I knocked her off her feet—accidentally!—and the medicine fell out of her bag. She was very embarrassed about it."
Souta fell back against the wall of the hut. Was Kagome actually sick?
"I assure you," Hojo continued, "that she was truly unwell. Her face was flushed, and her skin was cold."
"Her skin?" Inuyasha interrupted. "How do you know her skin was cold?" The hanyou was fingering the pommel of his blade menacingly.
Hojo ignored the growled question, and the threat couched behind the blunt words. "She was shaking with weakness, and looked almost feverish."
"You held her hand!" Ayumi cried out.
Hojo blushed.
A heavy rumble sounded in the small hut. It came, Souta realized after a moment, from Inuyasha's throat. Scary!
"We were to meet," Hojo said, becoming redder still, "but I was late arriving at her family's Temple. We found her on the edge of the well. She did not look herself."
"That's true," Ayumi nodded. "She looked very odd."
Inuyasha jumped to his feet and pushed open the curtain-like door.
"Inuyasha," Miroku said instantly. "You should stay in tonight."
"Feh!" The hanyou disappeared into the darkness.
Sango and Miroku looked at each other, and the youkai exterminator turned to the kittenish Kiara. "Keep an eye on him," she told the small youkai.
Kiara meowed, and meandered out of the hut.
"Inuyasha is worried about Kagome-chan," Kaede said. "His temper is uncertain. The best thing right now is for you all to eat something filling." She glanced at the wall. "He is going to want to leave tonight."
Sango nodded, and sighed. "Hojo, Ayumi and Souta should stay here while we go find her," she said.
Kaede-baba pinched her chin between two fingers. "No," she said decisively. "They must go with you."
"It is dangerous for any traveler," Miroku reminded the old miko.
"There is a reason that they are here, though we do not know what that reason is. They will travel with you to find Kagome." Her voice brooked no argument.
They ate in relative silence. Souta was soon full, and found that the soft, warm glow of the fire was making him drowsy. At some point, Inuyasha returned to the hut and got a bowl of stew from the pot that crouched over the first. Kiara tumbled in behind him.
"Ayumi," Miroku asked as they were all finishing up. "You are very beautiful." He took the girl's hand between his own. "Would you bear my child?"
Ayumi blushed brightly, even in the dim light, and Souta blinked with interest. He knew what was coming next. The monk's hand was already traveling.
Ayumi jumped a second later, her hand flashing out to meet the monk's cheek with a resounding slap. Sango's boomerang crashed down on his head right after.
Inuyasha snorted and shook his head.
"Miroku," Shippo chided, staring at the monk's crumpled form.
Ayumi stared first at Miroku, then at her reddened hand.
Souta smiled at the almost-familiarity of it, and let his eyes drift closed. All that was missing was Kagome, and everything would be perfect.
* * *
