Author's Note: Thank you so much for all the great reviews! You guys are awesome! I wish I could personally thank all of you, but I would like to give a special thanks to some of my favourite reviews: Dark Inu Fan (You rock!), angelica incarnate (Thank you!), Muraski-chan (Thanks!), The Soultaker (I totally agree.), scribs (lol!), and a big "thank you!" to all my other reviews! Please keep reviewing and tell me what you think of the story so far. :D

Disclaimer: I do not own Inuyasha, sadly, or any of the characters that the wonderful Rumiko Takahashi has concocted, but the character Rhiodoru is my own personal creation ;-)

( " " talking, italics thinking )

Mind Powers (Part II)

(After eating, Inuyasha's aching head felt much better. He now felt ready to face the others' questions, which were undoubtedly about to begin.)

Kagome had repeated to the others what he had already told her about the pain from his powers as they'd eaten. Now the entire group was staring at him as though waiting for him to pull some miraculous explanation out of nowhere as to how he had acquired his rare mind powers. Inuyasha himself had no idea how he'd ended up with the power. He hardly knew anything about it at all, except what he'd discovered he was able do, and what the occasional wise man or woman had told him about the power. In fact, Rhiodoru was only the other demon Inuyasha had ever met who had mind powers besides a very old, very strange demon he had known years ago. Inuyasha had stumbled across the strange man in a deserted village. He had taken pity on the weak, old demon, and had given him some food, not knowing at the time that the man had the same powers that Inuyasha himself had. In thanks, the demon had vowed to teach Inuyasha all he knew of his powers, but only after a week of instruction, had sickened and died. Inuyasha told this to the others.

"So you know hardly anything about the power." Miroku mused. Then his eyes narrowed accusingly, "That doesn't explain why you've never told us about it before."

Taking offense to the monk's tone, Inuyasha growled. "I didn't tell you for a number of reasons. For starters, the subject never exactly came up. Second of all, other demons absolutely despise demons with mind powers, so if this leaks out, I'll have demon hunting parties snapping at my heels for the rest of my life. And thirdly, it's generally a useless power, only good for healing people's minds, and I don't like using it, so you'd better just forget about it right now. I didn't tell you because if you knew then you'd want me to use it all the time. Well forget it! I haven't used it in years and I'm not going to start now!" Inuyasha crossed his arms across his chest and glared at them, daring them to argue with him.

"OK, OK, calm down Inuyasha." Miroku said placatingly. "First things first. Why do other demons hate demons with mind powers so much?"

"Because we scare them. We have the ability to manipulate them, to control them. We threaten their freedom, and they won't stand for it. They hunt down and kill all demons with the power, if they know about them. That's one of the reasons it's so rare."

"Well, don't worry Inuyasha. Your secret's safe with us." Kagome declared fiercely. "We won't tell a soul."

"I don't doubt that." Inuyasha grumbled. "But Rhiodoru knows now. He could tell anyone. In fact, he'll probably tell everyone he comes across, just to get back at me."

"I don't know about that Inuyasha." Sango said reassuringly. "In order to tell others, he'd have to admit that you tricked him, defeated him, and forced him to run away. There's no way that he'll willingly do that."

Inuyasha considered this. He still wasn't satisfied though. He wouldn't put it past the dragon to just lie about his part in the battle.

"Inuyasha," Shippo asked innocently, "why did you say your mind powers are useless? Can't you do to demons what Rhiodoru did to Kagome?"

"Ya, Inuyasha. Can't you do that mind-tearing thing too? If you can fix it then you should be able to do it, right?" Kagome added.

Inuyasha flushed with rage. "Are you actually suggesting that I do that? That I reach into someone's mind and rip them, their very being, to pieces? Are you all insane? What do you take me for? I'm not a monster!"

The others stared at him in shock. He realized that they didn't understand. He took a deep, calming breath and explained. "When I use my power, the other person is helpless against me. Completely and utterly helpless. They can't defend themselves in any way at all. I can do whatever I want to them. Anything. I could shred their mind, take control of their body, drive them completely insane, erase their memories, create new memories, or create emotions, sensations, or pain. I can alter their free will, make them my slave, torture them, torment them, anything. The list goes on. Or I can heal their minds, take away their emotional pain, take away bad memories, bring back forgotten memories, or cure someone who's gone insane. But no matter what I do, the other person can't stop me. Once I'm in their head, I'm in absolute control. And I won't do it. It's like attacking a helpless baby, or slitting your enemy's throat while they sleep. When I'm in their mind I can look at their deepest secrets and desires, most personal memories, and most private thoughts. Everything that they've ever done, said, thought, or experienced in their life I can see – and alter. It's nothing less than rape, except it's of the mind instead of the body. It goes against everything I believe in, everything inside me. I can't do it, not to anyone. It's wrong."

The others continued to stare at him, but this time their shock was from a much different source. He realized that he had probably never said so much to them at one time as he had just then. He silently cursed himself. He usually kept all those personal-type thoughts and feelings tightly locked inside his inner barriers. It was a necessity for him, something he had learned early on in life. It was his protection against the cruelty of the world. He had a virtual fortress built up around his mind to keep his inner-self safe. The only time he'd ever opened his barriers more than a crack had been when he'd given the others that little demonstration when Kagome had been in heat.

But right now, his inner barriers were severely weakened from using his power too much, and things he did not wish to reveal were slipping out without his noticing. He had just said four times more than he'd meant to. He also realized that, for the time being, his emotions would be far more visible on his face than usual. He attempted to school his expression. He would have to be very careful what he said in the next couple days until he regained his emotional strength and reinforced his inner barriers.

Kagome was the first to speak, and that was with great hesitation. "Did you... did do anything to my mind? Did you see all my - my private thoughts and memories and stuff?"

Inuyasha winced. He had expected the question, but it still hurt.

"Kagome," he said, mentally kicking himself for the definite note of earnestness and sincerity in his voice. "I did what I did because I couldn't stand seeing you hurt."

Damn! That was not what he'd meant to say! He continued in a rush, furiously ordering himself not to blush.

"I knew that whatever Rhiodoru did to you would kill you. I had no choice. I didn't want to do it. I couldn't even ask for your permission. There was no time. You only had moments left as it was. I almost couldn't reach you." He didn't know if she understood what he meant by that last sentence. He wondered for a moment how much she remembered from when her mind was torn.

"Kagome, I swear on my demon blood that I only did what had to be done to save you and nothing else. Nothing. I saw nothing in your mind; I didn't look at all. The only thing I heard was a couple thoughts that went through your head right as I finished healing you the fist time, and a couple more thoughts the second time. They weren't anything bad or revealing. That's all, I swear."

Kagome nodded, looking relieved. Miroku and Sango, on the other hand, were looking at him very curiously. He kicked himself again. What was wrong with him? All he meant to say was that he'd seen nothing. And here he'd gone and swore fervently that he hadn't looked or anything at all, and gone on and on about it. He decided that it would be a very good idea to end this conversation now, before he said something he'd really regret.

"I think we should get going now. Rhiodoru is long gone with that jewel shard, so where to now?"

"Well, actually, I need to get home." Kagome said. "I'm almost out of supplies and clean clothes, plus I'm so behind in school, I'll never catch up if I don't go to at least a few classes."

Inuyasha snorted to show her what he thought of her "classes" then shrugged to show her that she would get no argument from him. He needed some time to recover from the battle with Rhiodoru and from healing Kagome. His head was starting to throb more forcefully from thinking so much and doing all that talking. He scowled, thinking about how easily his mind would tire for the next day or two. The best cure was sleep, but he didn't have that luxury right now. He wasn't about to admit to the others that he was too tired to travel when he'd just suggested that they leave.

As he watched the others collect their things, he started to think about that last hug Kagome had given him. What did it mean? His head gave an unpleasant throb and he stopped trying to figure it out. He realized with resignation that today was going to be a very long day.