A/N: Sorry for the long wait. I have been busy IRL but hope to resume weekly updates as much as possible from here on forward. For an exact schedule of updates on this story, please visit my profile page. Thanks to reviewers Flower of Venus, Ringdingding, Western White Tiger, Lorien Legacy, and the guest for their kind comments in the previous chapter. In response to the guest's question of when Kouga will appear, he will make an appearance in about five chapters or so. In the next chapter, Inuyasha's group will begin the Thunder Brothers arc, which will be written alongside a continuation of the Lord Kagewaki arc on Kikyou and Sango's side. Upon the conclusion of those respective arcs, Inuyasha and Kikyou will reunite, and the Birds of Paradise arc where Kouga will appear will be next. Sesshoumaru will also appear again in that arc. While there will be some drama throughout this story, the main characters will have a happy ending. Hope you'll continue enjoying the story. With that said, here is the next chapter. It is a transition chapter, so please forgive the short length.

Disclaimer: I do not own Inuyasha.

A Different Journey

The story of Inuyasha, and the miko he loved who had survived death

Chapter 10

Kagome had ferried back and forth from the modern era to Sengoku Jidai to bring Miroku meds for his condition. She wasn't sure whether antihistamines would work for demon wasp stings – particularly when they were delivered within a depthless hole in the person's hand – but Miroku did seem to recover from her efforts. He still wasn't too fond of the pills she had handed him though, comparing them to pebbles. It had been tough for Kagome to convince him that he was supposed to swallow them without chewing.

Inuyasha was still as impatient as ever. He no longer threatened to ditch the rest of them to hunt Shikon shards on his own, but that did not stop him from pacing around and around Kaede-san's hut till she politely asked him to leave. Now he paced on the hut's perimeters.

It was on a lazy day like this that Kagome found herself in the company of Kaede-san and Miroku. Kaede-san had few patients to treat today, and had been sitting by the hearth since finishing their last meal. Miroku was well enough to be up, and to Kagome's disgust, was showering Kaede-san with the same lecherous words he used on every other woman on the planet. Even Kaede-san was frowning at his insolence.

Kagome had opened a packet of soft candy to share with the two of them as they chatted. As Kagome had quickly learned, the cuisine of Sengoku Jidai was very plain, with things like sugar a luxury since refineries had yet been widely established. The first time Kagome brought along tea bags, Miroku and Kaede-san thought she was some sort of princess – it would be the Edo period before tea became popular with the peasant class. Now that they were eating Kagome's candy, they were convinced she was no ordinary princess, but one living in a castle of golden eaves. As the sweetness of the candy spread throughout Miroku's mouth, he chanted a mantra about vulgar lavishness, asking for forgiveness from Buddha.

"It is just candy. I bought it from a conbini," Kagome said, rolling her eyes. If she had been a bit more diligent in her studies, she would learn that a decade or so later in this timeline, Luís Fróis would obtain a permit for spreading Christianity from Oda Nobunaga just by presenting a flask of konpeitou!

Miroku had a hard time rolling his tongue around the word, conbini. Nor did he remember what a convenience store meant.

"I cannot even imagine what our nation looks like five hundred years from now, but it must be a wonderful place," Kaede said. Kagome nodded.

"There is running water, and electricity, and gas stoves, and you can catch the bus and train to just about anywhere in the city. Oh, and did you know modern humans can fly? Like we have these huge machines with metal wings that can transport people all around the world – even across the Pacific Ocean! Hmm…you might not know what the Pacific is…like if you look out the bay near Edo Castle and just far, far out there…"

"The ocean? Humans can fly across the ocean? Are you sure they are not youkai?"

"Yeah, humans!" Kagome then stopped for a moment of contemplation. "Strangely, we do not have youkai in modern times. But I suppose it is a lot safer without shapeshifters and the like…"

While Miroku was resting at Kaede's residence, he had told her about Naraku, and the theory that the youkai had orchestrated the fallout between Inuyasha and Kikyou. Kaede had listened to the theory, but did not offer an opinion – she had said that she needed more time to process the information.

"I thought a lot about Naraku the Shapeshifter the past couple days," Kaede began speaking, "I wonder if it has anything to do with the bandit Oneesama rescued some days before she fell…"

"What bandit!?" Inuyasha shouted, rushing in at that moment. Miroku was nearly shocked to death by his sudden appearance. Kagome narrowed her eyes at him.

"You and your sensitive dog ears…I hate how you can eavesdrop other people's conversations from a mile away."

Miroku ignored their commotion, turning to Kaede instead. "But I am certain the shapeshifter who cursed my grandfather was a youkai. I do not think a human would have such power."

"Indeed. That is why I hesitated bringing this up at first, but the more I think of it, the more it seems that Onigumo may be related to Naraku." Kaede got up from her seat. "Here, let me take you all to the cave where he had been housed. Something there simply sets my mind at unease."

The cave was not far from Kaede's residence. The sun was still high in the skies by the time they got there, affording them time to return before sunset. The cave was cradled between gentle slopes thick with vegetation. They waded through the undergrowth till their feet found rock. Inside, the cave was dry and appeared charred, parts of the stone blackened, and unknown remains scattered on the ground. Inuyasha covered his nose with the sleeve of his fire rat robe.

"This place reeks!" he exclaimed.

Kagome, too, shifted in her spot. She couldn't smell anything out of place the way Inuyasha could, but still got an unpleasant feeling in her stomach. She couldn't pinpoint what it was. Maybe the "miko powers" she inherited from Kikyou were trying to tell her something.

"I am sure you can feel something too, Houshi-san," Kaede said to Miroku. He nodded.

"Indeed. There is evil lingering."

"Onigumo was the bandit's name," Kaede continued explaining, "Kikyou-oneesama found him dying from burns. She carried him here and dressed his wounds, but so severe his injuries were, he could not move from the spot. Still, he lusted after Oneesama."

"How dare he…" Inuyasha cursed under his breath. Kagome intuitively disliked this Onigumo too, but the way Inuyasha got so easily enraged bothered her for some reason.

"Okay, I get that he is a bandit and all, so he's probably a bad guy, but what if he just genuinely liked Kikyou-san?" Kagome said.

"What do you mean he liked her? He fucking tried to kill her!"

"Aren't you jumping to conclusions, Inuyasha? Kaede-san just said that there is this bandit who liked Kikyou-san. Doesn't mean he tried to kill her. For all that we know, you might be the one who's lying, and you were the one who actually tried to kill-"

"I did not hurt Kikyou!"

Inuyasha's shout stopped Kagome's words. She realized that she had taken it a little far – from all her interactions with Inuyasha over the past days, she should've already been convinced that he wasn't the kind of guy to intentionally hurt anyone, let alone someone he still loved so dearly after fifty years of being sealed by her. Kagome wanted to apologize, but the word "sorry" remained unsaid – its presence at the tip of her tongue clenched something in her heart; she just couldn't let it out.

Kaede tried to keep going from where she had left off in hopes of easing the tension. "I cannot be sure that Onigumo was the one to make an attempt on Oneesama's life, but I can attest that his lust for her was far from innocent. It was an obsession, and as a little child visiting this cave with Oneesama, this obsession frightened me."

Miroku nodded along with the explanation. "I see that this Onigumo has a motive for separating Inuyasha and Kikyou-sama. But that brings into question, how can a human have such power? Actually, how can he even have known about Inuyasha and Kikyou-sama's relationship, given that he had been so severely injured that he could not even move from this remote spot?"

"Perhaps someone had informed him. Someone visited him other than Oneesama and I, and that someone was…"

"A youkai?"

"That is my theory. But the reason why I brought you here to this cave is this," Kaede gestured to the floor of the cave, "I had visited a day after Oneesama's fall and the cave had become like this by then. It had been vacated, Onigumo nowhere in sight. The place looked burnt, but there were no human remains amongst the ashes. He was gone without a trace."

"Because he became Naraku," Inuyasha muttered.

It was hard to believe, but Miroku began to see merits to Inuyasha's words.

By the time they got back to the village, Kagome said she had to return to the goshinboku well. "I have classes tomorrow, but I promise to be back soon," she had said with a smile, but both Miroku and Kaede knew her smile was forced. Miroku elbowed Inuyasha to urge him to do something about Kagome's departure, but he looked away, ignoring his message. After sending Kagome their farewells, they returned to Kaede's residence.

"Why did you let her go like that?" Miroku asked with a sharp tone.

"And why shouldn't I?"

"Clearly she was jealous by your fixation on Kikyou-sama. With women, you have to treat them equally, love them equally. That is how you keep your harem…"

"I am not a lecherous pervert like you! I want no harem!"

Kaede coughed so they would stop talking about women like objects while she was around. The conversation was dirtying her ears.

"So how do you plan on proceeding next? Will you wait for Kagome-chan to return?"

"No," Inuyasha said firmly.

Miroku sighed. "I thought we had been through this, Inuyasha. You can't do everything by yourself. Look at what happened last time – you and I wouldn't be here, alive and well, had Kagome-san not returned in time!"

"I know that!"

That was unexpected. Miroku and Kaede would've thought that Inuyasha would deny Kagome's contributions, mock her and mock all humans while he was at it. But no. In his expression there was something else: not arrogance, not irritation, not self-righteousness.

"Those saimyoushou…" Inuyasha mumbled, "have you thought about where they came from?"

"You're saying…"

"That bastard Sesshoumaru is a lot of things, but he ain't a sneaky coward. He sees me lower than grime. You think he'd spy on me to know you were with me, that you had a wind tunnel, and gone out of his way to prepare a bee hive just to poison you? You think he'd go around gossiping with humans about what happened to Kikyou and me, just so he could chide me with the rumours?"

There was silence as Kaede and Miroku came to understand Inuyasha's decision. If Kaede's theory were correct, Naraku was born from Onigumo, and he did what he did fifty years ago not out of greed for the Shikon, but jealousy for Inuyasha's relationship with Kikyou. Kagome might be travelling to repair the Shikon she had broken, and Miroku to cure the curse Naraku had inflicted – but what if the root cause of all their problems was Naraku's birth in the first place?

In Inuyasha's expression was a true concern for Kagome, and maybe some remorse for having pulled her into all his problems.

End of Chapter - reviews appreciated