Chapter 6 – An Old Friend

Okay. So traveling again wasn't as fun as I thought it would be.

We'd only been on the road for a week – that was nothing compared to the three months we'd spent on the road last year. But you know, when you're traveling with a very grumpy hanyou, a silent monk, a priestess who's majorly PMSing, one very very very annoying little fox demon, a six-month-old who manages to make us stop every five minutes, and your mom, who's being seriously overprotective ever since she learned that her daughter and husband were fated to die in a year, one week can be a very long time. In fact, the only normal one was Kirara. When have we seen this situation before?

"Kagome," Inuyasha said through clenched teeth, "I know Kaida's six months old, but can we please attempt to walk for ten minutes without stopping?"

"Hey, she can't take her naps when she's out here. What do you expect I do?" Kagome grunted, attempting to comfort a bawling Kaida.

My dad sighed and grumbled something about having to find a decent hotel for the night. I couldn't agree more – sleeping on the ground was about as fun as setting your ass on fire.

Eventually Inuyasha couldn't stand it, stomped over to Kagome and grabbed the baby. Giving Kaida a deathglare he usually reserved for me, he placed her over his shoulder and continued walking. She screamed at first, but then realized that that wasn't getting her anywhere, and contented herself with staring into space over her daddy's shoulder, big brown eyes wide with amazement as she stared at everything.

"So, Miroku," Inuyasha shouted behind him, "what was that about a hotel?"

"Um, aside from the fact that we need one?" I interjected.

"Is your name Miroku?" He replied.

"I think there's a village coming up ahead that we could stop at." My dad said, ignoring both of us. "I've been to it a couple of times. We should be able to find a place to stay there. Or at least, everyone there is rich, we could pull some sob story and make them take us in."

"Not that's what I'm talking about." The hanyou grunted. Beside me, my mother smiled. It was the first time I'd seen her smile all day. She'd been so depressed lately. Normally, I didn't believe in the mushy crap, but today I edged myself over to her and squeezed her hand. She glanced up at me, surprised, and then smiled more fervently.

Kagome was totally going off on the whole idea. "We could use Kaida…someone will make her cry, and then we can come up and be all like 'We're poor traveling Taijiyas and the baby's got a chronic illness and is going to die so can we, like, have a room and some food?'"

Kagome's true valley girl nature really shone when she was hungry. I grinned and said,

"So you're such a bad mother that you'll make your daughter cry to get some food?"

"Hey, it's for the common good." Kagome said defensively. "If we don't have food then we'll all die. And anyway, if I don't have nourishment then I can't breast-feed. So she doesn't know it, but she'd be doing herself a favor."

"Uh-huh, yeah." Inuyasha said, picking up the baby and nuzzling his nose against hers. "So, Kaida, you firmly convinced your mama's crazy yet? Huh?"

Kaida giggled and grabbed Inuyasha's ears. "Puppy! Puppy!"

Shippou burst out laughing at the sour expression on Inuyasha's face. "Oh, sure." He grunted, prying her fat fingers off his ears. "Just wait till you're old enough to understand what I'm saying, then I'm gonna rag on you till the day you die, my little puppy girl."

Kagome started to launch into a speech about not abusing the baby, but suddenly I was way beyond listening. Our little group had stopped short on the road. A lone figure had suddenly stepped out of the forest, looking as surprised to see us as we were to see him.

My mom pushed forward, eyes huge, her hands trembling. He looked back at her with eyes equally as wide.

"Kohaku?" She whispered.

Finally realization settled on his suntanned face. He smiled gently at us.

"It's been a long time, ane-ue." He said.

"She looks just like you, Kagome." Kohaku said, tickling Kaida's stomach. The baby's laughter was the only sound in the clearing, though. Every one was silent and sober. The reappearance of my uncle, my mom's brother, was pretty weird. And Inuyasha was still at odds with him. As much as I had gotten Kagome to tell me, a lot of stuff had happened with Kohaku before I was born, stuff that would set Inuyasha on edge. And that hanyou could bear a grudge forever. My mom, as if she wasn't emotional enough, was hovering between supremely excited and cautious. In the end she settled on a reserved happiness. My mom could reel in her emotions like no one else.

Eventually we told him why we were traveling all of a sudden. I think he had a vague idea when he first saw that my dad had the Kazaana again – his eyebrows raised really creepily – but when he heard about the new demon, he shook his head and sighed.

"I can't believe it. Is this another Naraku? And just when we got rid of the old one."

"No kidding." Kagome said softly. "I mean, it's just…"

"It's supernatural, that's what it is." Miroku said. "It shouldn't be happening. Normally there's an explanation for everything in this world. But with this, this new phenomenon, with the Kazaana returning, I don't understand. I only know this – someone really wants us."

He didn't say it, and for that I thanked him. But everyone knew it. I fiddled with my rosary beads as blood rose to my face. I couldn't look at anyone.

This whole thing was my fault. I knew it. Everyone knew it. They didn't want us. They – whoever they were – all they wanted was me. The Daughter of the Wind, the one who killed Naraku.

Oh, God, if only I could take it all back now. If only I could go back to the way I was. Maybe if I hadn't gone on that crazy journey to find my dad we could all stay as we were. Sure, I never would have found my father if I hadn't gone…but what was the point, now that we'd found him, if he just had the Kazaana again and was going to be taken away again? Just because I had so much damn power I couldn't control it.

Everyone noticed how quiet I'd gotten. Before I went to bed, my father grabbed my hand and squeezed it. Inuyasha and Kagome smiled at me, and Shippou came up to me with baby Kaida, and she gave me a sticky kiss. I could almost laugh as I kissed her back and gave Shippou a hug. I think he understood how much I appreciated it. Shippou had matured a lot in this past year.

When I went to bed it was about an hour after sunset, and my mom and Kohaku were quietly talking under the sweeping branches of a tree. She got up and kissed me, and Kohaku said softly, "It's nice to see you again, Kaza."

I curled up under my sleeping bag, and was just falling asleep when I felt a furry snout in my face. Kirara was sitting in front of me, looking at me with her big crimson eyes. She mewed quietly and snuggled under the covers with me, her warm little body pressed right against my heart. I almost cried when I felt her next to me. Everyone was just so nice to me, even when it was my fault we were here, in the middle of nowhere, with an impossible deadline and half the demons of Japan on our tail. They were still so nice to me.

What in hell had I done to deserve this?

Okay, i swear this wasn't a filler chapter. There is a point to this. But anyway, even if you're all planning to egg my house because I give you this mushy shit for a chapter, that's fine. Don't hurt the turtles. And at least now we know that Kaza has emotions.

Anyway, happy new year's! As your Christmas/New Year's present to me, please review, even if it's just to give me deaththreats. I can handle those. And i promise the main story arc starts next chapter. Seriously. Trust Pegelia, she's not as stupid as she seems. Anyway, ttyl! -PVB

P.S. Thanks for the idea Cati!