Please review! I like knowing what people are thinking when they read my fanfiction.
Disclaimer: I don't own Inu Yasha.
The next morning, Kaze woke up to find Inu Yasha in the same position as he was last night, still wide awake. Sho was curled up next to Kaze's head but everyone else had left the room. "Where is everyone, Inu-san?" Kaze asked, sitting up.
"They went to get the horses ready," Inu Yasha replied, trying to hide a yawn. Kitten-Sho snuggled into Kaze's pillow as she tried to pick him up to put her stuff away.
"Did you sleep?" Kaze asked, managing to put her stuff away and pick Sho up, who was still sleeping.
"No, but I wanted to make sure no other demons came during the night," Inu Yasha said, standing up." We only have another half day before we reach the village Rin mentioned."
Inu Yasha left the room, carrying Sho out by his scruff, to allow Kaze to change. Kaze changed slowly, listening to Inu Yasha and Koga fight outside. When she was finished, she packed up her things and double-checked the room to make sure nothing had been let. She left the room, thanked the owners one more time, and went outside to find the others.
"Why are Inu Yasha and Koga fighting?" Kaze asked as Sho latched himself onto her waist.
"Inu Yasha is trying to convince Koga to get on the horse," Mel began.
"And Koga claims the horse is a demon creature bent on killing him," Kiara continued.
"To which the horse replied by running him down," Mel took over.
"Which Inu Yasha thought was hilarious, so of course they began fighting again," Kiara finished, sighing. She and Mel sat on a stone bench, watching the two boys yelling. Kaze eyed the bench momentarily before moving the two girls off of it.
"Inu Yasha, SIT!" Kaze yelled angrily, simultaneously throwing the stone bench at Koga. Inu Yasha was thrown to the ground by his necklace as Koga threw himself to the ground to dodge the bench, but both boys were momentarily silenced. By the time both boys stood up, the three girls and Sho were already on their horses, bags loaded to the sides.
"Well, let's go," Kiara said, patting the back of her horse and trying not to laugh at Koga. He grumbled a bit, but climbed up, clinging to Kiara's waist as soon as the horse began moving. Inu Yasha sat behind Kaze and was soon fast asleep as the girls led the horses away.
The group continued on, checking the make-shift map Kaze had made to make sure they were still moving in the right direction. Right before the village they were headed towards had come into view, Kaze heard Inu Yasha sniffing the air sleepily behind her.
Soon he let out a growl of anger and jumped off a horse, sitting stubbornly on the ground. "Inu-san, what are you doing?"Kaze asked, slowing her horse and turning it around to face the stubborn demon.
"I'm not going any further," Inu Yasha replied, frowning.
"Why not?" Kaze asked suspiciously, sliding off the horse and walking back to him. "This is the village Rin sent us to; she said we might find something here."
"We'll find something, but it won't be good," Inu Yasha replied, standing up and sniffing the air again.
"Don't be a pain, mutt," Koga said, still wobbly from the horse ride. "We don't have forever to wait for you."
"Yea, Inu Yasha," Kiara said, beginning to lose her patience. "We have-"
Before Inu Yasha could react, Kaze had pulled her bow out, notched an arrow, and shot the air between Kiara's and Koga's head, startling them both.
Kiara was the first to react: "What do you think you're doing?" She demanded, dropping off her horse to stomp over to her friend. "You could have killed us!"
"Are you a fox?" Kaze asked, ignoring Kiara and directing her question to the figure handing from the back of his white kimono shirt off her arrow.
"Huh?" Kiara asked, confused until Kaze spun her around to see the figure. "Oh… Thanks."
"So it is you Shippo," Inu Yasha said, sounding smug and surprised at the same time. "What are you doing here?"
"Protecting the demon hunters from imposters like you!" The teenaged-looking fox demon shouted back. Shippo was very handsome, his orange hair standing on end and his orange eyes glaring angrily at Inu Yasha. He had fox paws and an auburn fox tail which was bristled in anger and poling out of his brown kimono pants. His features seemed to still be transitioning between a child's and an adult's, giving him a fierce, but innocent look.
"What are you talking about?" Inu Yasha asked, irritated. He'd begun walking towards the fox demon as he spoke.
"You've been here before, imposter!" Shippo yelled, struggling to free himself. "Inu Yasha and Kagome are gone! Just go aw-Ow!" Shippo clutched his head painfully, having just received a punch to it from Inu Yasha.
"Stop talking, stupid kid," Inu Yasha threatened.
"Inu Yasha!" Kaze gasped. "Sit!" Inu Yasha was thrown to the ground as Kaze hurried to pull the arrow out of the tree, releasing Shippo. "Are you okay?" She asked Shippo.
"No," Inu Yasha snapped, pulling himself out of the dirt.
"I wasn't talking to you," Kaze snapped back. "Sit!" Inu Yasha was again thrown to the ground as Shippo watched. When Kaze tried to reach out to him, however, he hit her hand angrily.
"Don't touch me, imposter!" Shippo shouted, backing away.
Kaze turned a dark look on the fox demon before grabbing him by his collar, dragging him back to her. "I was trying to be nice, brat," Kaze said clearly, punctuating each word with a poke to his chest. "Apologize for causing us trouble and stay out of our way or lead us to the village. We were sent her by Priestess Rin; we didn't come for our health."
Shippo had frozen, gaping at her in shock. He finally stuttered out an apology, his head dropping in shame. "Good," Kaze said, smiling at the fox demon. "Now, can you-" Kaze was interrupted by a huge boomerang hitting her on the back of the head before it fell to the ground.
"That should have beheaded the demon!" An elderly woman said in surprise. Kaze growled angrily, spun around, and grabbed the huge boomerang before chucking it back to its owner. "Ack!"
"STOP ATTACKING US!" Kaze y yelled, successfully pulling a tree out of the ground in her anger.
Kaze's face suddenly went blank, her eyes clouding over, and she dropped the tree. "Geh… How did she do that?" Kaze asked, stumbling away.
"How did I do what?" Kaze asked blankly, looking confused. She then noticed the older woman and smiled kindly. "Oh, hello!" She said, running up to the woman. "Do you know where the demon slayer's village is? Priestess Rin told us to go there in order to find something."
The older woman looked at Kaze strangely and backed away. "Um…" She began.
"Look, old woman," Inu Yasha began, already having moved past Kaze's issue and picking up the boomerang. "I don't know why you carry Sango's Hiraikotsu or why Shippo was trying to protect you, but if you don't show us to the village and tell us why that old lady told us to come here, I will make sure that you meet your death before your time."
"Oh, shut up, Inu Yasha," the woman finally sighed, yanking her boomerang away from him. "I guess you're the real thing, but who is this?" She eyed Kaze warily as she led Inu Yasha away, Kaze following.
Koga grabbed a guilty-looking Kiara by the collar and glared at her expectantly. "What just happened, human?" He growled.
"Human?" Mel questioned. "Why do you call her a human?"
Koga ignored Mel and fixed Kiara with a glare until she began fidgeting. "Kaze-sama doesn't have her memories!" Kiara finally whined.
"Kaze?" Shippo asked Mel.
"Kaze is the girl who ripped the tree out of the ground, then forgot about it," Mel answered.
"Lost her memories?" Koga repeated.
"What do you mean?" Sho asked, frowning. "What is it that she doesn't remember?"
"It doesn't matter!" Kiara replied, spinning around to catch up to Kaze, Inu Yasha and the old woman.
"The demons turned to Mel expectantly, who shrugged. "Not my story to tell," Mel said simply, leading the horses towards the village.
"So, who are you, old woman?" Inu Yasha asked, passing through a large wooden gate behind Kaze and the woman.
"You don't recognize me?" The woman asked, shooing some kids away.
"I'm getting tired of all these old women asking me that question," Inu Yasha growled.
"Maybe if you didn't have such an awful memory, you'd know," Kaze replied breezily. Inu Yasha glared at Kaze, who ignored him.
"You are very funny, Kaze-san!" the woman laughed, sitting down on a wooden platform in front of a house. "Inu Yasha, I may be old, however I'm still Sango."
Inu Yasha stared at her in confusion for a moment before shaking his head. "Right, I was asleep for fifty years; humans get old," he sighed. "Where's Miroku then?" He asked, looking around at the dozen of kids running around.
"He died some time ago," Sango muttered sadly. "We never got rid of Naraku, so his wind tunnel consumed him."
Inu Yasha stopped looking, frowning. "Right," he said. "Sorry."
"Um, may I ask what's going on?" Kaze asked looking between the brown-haired old woman and Inu Yasha.
"My husband's family was cursed by Naraku," Sango began. "The only way to remove the curse was for Naraku to die. Unfortunately…" She paused, looking at Inu Yasha warily. "Things fell apart for some of our group and Naraku was left alive." Inu Yasha frowned off to the side, not looking at either female. "Miroku and I kept looking, but it seemed that when Inu Yasha and Kagome disappeared, so did Naraku. So we raised a large family and even took in orphaned kids."
"Why orphaned kids?" Kiara asked, walking up to the three, suddenly looking sad.
"Miroku and I were both orphaned at young ages," Sango explained. "We decided that we would give a home for any kid we found orphaned."
Kiara looked at the old woman with respect as Sho latched onto Kaze again. "So we were sent here by Priestess Rin," Kaze continued. "I'm going to guess it's because of the shards you found?"
Sango laughed happily, pulling two shards out of her robes. "I was hoping you'd have someone who could sense then, Inu Yasha," Sango approved, holding the two shards up. "Because you otherwise would not be able to get these." With that she threw the two shards behind her, successfully hiding them in the tall grass.
Kaze smiled happily at Sango as Inu Yasha jumped up, yelling in anger as he waded through the tall grass. "Where did they go?" He yelled, digging around.
"That was impressive, Sango," Kaze laughed, nodding. "Inu Yasha, it's no use, they aren't over there." Sango laughed happily.
"Where are they, then?" Inu Yasha demanded, stomping back to Kaze.
"Still in her hand," Kaze replied, yanking Inu Yasha's sleeve to make him sit. "Did I pass?"
Sango chuckled happily, handing Kaze the two shards. "Very good, Kaze-chan," she said, smiling at her and ignoring Inu Yasha's grumbling. Kaze pressed the shards into hers and after another flash of pink light, showed Sango the jewel half.
"That's all we have?" Inu Yasha whined, making a grab for the jewel. Kaze pulled it out of his reach and he almost fell into her lap. "Give it!" He ordered, reaching for the jewel again, only to have it pulled out of his reach once more. He continued reaching for it until Kaze was pushed the floor, still holding the jewel out of his reach with him above her, still reaching for it.
"Get. Off," Kaze ordered, putting her hand in his face and pushing him away. "You can't have it."
"Yes, it's mine!" Koga whooped, diving for the shard, only to have it pulled away from him too. "Damn," he muttered, his face to the ground.
"Neither one of you can have it until it's complete. When that happens, go ahead and fight each other for it," Kaze said, tucking the jewel back in her shirt.
"When are you going to take Koga's shards?" Inu Yasha asked, frowning unhappily at Kaze.
"We'll cross that bridge after Naraku," Kaze replied, standing up. "Sango, have you heard of anything strange going on lately?" She asked, dusting her jeans off.
"Actually, I have," Sango began, climbing to her feet and leading the way into the house. Kaze followed carefully, leaving the others outside. Inu Yasha leaned slightly in order to keep her within his sights, even as Koga began bugging him. As Sango moved around the room, looking for something, Kaze looked out the doorway to see Inu Yasha watching her, Mel and Kiara playing with the kids, and Shippo, Sho, and Koga talking. She smiled at Inu Yasha and he suddenly looked embarrassed, looking away from her.
"Aha, here it is," Sango exclaimed, pulling a map out from under some knives. "Because this village is still considered the home of the demon slayers, we get requests for services every so often," Sango began, spreading the map out on the floor. "We can send some of the older ones out, but sometimes we get too many to investigate." Kaze nodded in understanding. "I noticed that this village here," Sango continued, pointing to a place on the map, "sends us requests every so often, but we have no way of getting there.
"It doesn't look very far away," Kaze mused, attempting a rough sketch of the map.
"It isn't, if you have a sturdy boat," Sango replied, pointing to what looked like a fairly skinny part of the river. "This river runs extremely fast and is nearly impossible to cross. We simply don't have the resources to cross this section."
"What about further up or further down?" Kaze asked, running her finger along the path of the river.
"That's the problem," Sango sighed. "The only place we've found that runs slowly enough to cross safely is here," she pointed to a place on the map pretty far away from the initial crossing.
"But that's nearly as wide as a lake," Kaze muttered, drawing the map the best she could.
"Exactly," Sango nodded. "I've sent a small team out, but haven't heard from them yet."
"We'll try to get there quickly," Kaze said, folding the paper up and putting it in her pocket.
"Where are we going now?" Inu Yasha asked, standing up when Kaze came out of the house.
"East," Kaze replied, rounding up the group.
"Um, Kaze-san," Shippo began nervously. She turned to him expectantly, raising an eyebrow as the others mounted their horses. "I'd like to join you," he said, looking away.
"That would be lovely!" Sango exclaimed before Kaze could say anything. "Shippo has been to the village before, he could help you get there!"
"Hm, well, I'm alright with that, but are you sure?" Kaze asked, looking over at Inu Yasha impatiently waiting for her to get on her horse, holding Sho by his scruff.
"I feel bad attacking you earlier, and I could help," Shippo insisted.
Kaze looked to Mel, who turned her horse sideways and patted behind her. "Climb up, let's get going!" She said, grinning at Shippo. He smiled, relieved, and hopped up behind her as Kaze climbed onto her own, followed by Inu Yasha and Sho.
Kiara led the way out of the village, urging her horse faster once they were clear. Kaze yelled out the direction to the others and they adjusted slightly to face east. Inu Yasha was soon asleep on Kaze's shoulder and Koga had passed out on Kiara's.
After a while, the group finally slowed and stopped next to a lake to give the horses a break, everyone sliding off to stretch their legs. "It looks like the sun is setting," Shippo stated, flopping to the ground. "Let's rest for tonight, the horses are exhausted.
"I think I see a hot spring," Mel said, pointing off towards the forest in front of them.
"Sure seems that way," Inu Yasha snorted. "Go on, go have your bath." He waved the girls away and began throwing some twigs and branches in a pile.
"Are you sure you can start a fire?" Kaze asked teasingly, poking Inu Yasha.
"Of course I can!" Inu Yasha snorted, waving Kaze off before digging in her bag. "You have these magic sticks Kagome used to have," he continued, pulling out a box of matches and holding them up for Kaze to see. "I've used them before."
"Magic sticks?" Mel mouthed to Kiara.
"Just leave it alone," Kiara sighed, nudging Mel towards the hot spring with Kaze following, each carrying things for the bath. They reached the hot spring, undressed, and folded their clothes out of the way before slowly getting in.
"Wow, this is nice," Kaze sighed, relaxing in the spring.
"So…" began Mel, eyeing Kaze warily. "What's the deal with Inu Yasha?"
"What do you mean?" Kaze asked as Kiara kept quiet.
"Well… Like, he mentioned a name once, um, Mira. Who's she?" Mel asked.
"Ah, Mira," Kaze sighed, nodding. "All I know is that I look like her. Inu-san refuses to talk about her."
"I asked Koga, who said that Mira was a half-cat demon who traveled with Inu Yasha whenever Kagome was gone for school," Kiara said. "I guess she confessed to Inu Yasha, who didn't answer her, but then Naraku got her while she was trying to protect Inu Yasha… I think."
"Wow, Inu Yasha's a player, isn't he?" Mel snickered. "Now, what about Kagome? She comes up a lot."
Kaze sighed, but Kiara spoke up. "Oh, I researched her while we were home. It turns out she's Kaze's great-so-many times grandmother."
"Really?" Mel and Kaze asked.
"Yup," Kiara replied, nodding knowingly.
"And from what Inu-san's told me, he knows her from a time when she came here also," Kaze continued. "She's his old flame." Mel raised an eyebrow, still unsure that they were in this time, let alone that anyone else could have been here before them. "Apparently there was a well like the one Kiara and I came through 200 years ago that led back to about… Fifty years before when we are now."
"But it's only been fifty years for Inu Yasha," Mel stated. "How is Kagome from 200 years ago in our time?"
"The time lines moved at different speeds, I guess," Kaze stated, shrugging and rinsing off. "We were put here at the time we were needed, no sooner, no later."
"Ooh, mystical," Mel teased. Kaze rolled her eyes and opened her mouth but at that moment they heard an explosion.
"That came from where the others are," Livy said, hopping out of the hot spring and wrapping a towel around herself, followed by the other two. They grabbed their things and ran, barefoot and covered only by they towels, back to the others.
"What happened?" Kaze yelled, skidding to a stop at the camp. Inu Yasha was on the ground looking terrified, Koga dropped an object onto the ground, also looking terrified, and Sho and Shippo were huddled together near the water. Kaze walked over to Koga and bent to pick up the item he'd been holding. Once she saw what it was, she sighed and tossed it to Kiara.
"Hey, it's my gun!" Kiara exclaimed, pulling it apart and taking the bullets out. "Wait, you were in my bag?" She pointed the empty gun accusingly at Koga, who instantly ducked.
"I'm sorry!"" He yelled, covering his head. "I didn't know what it did! And then it exploded!"
"Yea, that's what a gun does," Mel laughed.
"I thought you left it at home?" Kaze asked Kiara, shaking her head.
"This is my backup," Kiara explained, stuffing it back in her bag. "I forgot I'd put it in here."
"Kaze?" Inu Yasha began, sitting up so he was squatting within reach. Kaze turned to him expectantly. "You guys are naked." Half a moment later and he was flying into the lake.