If the Roles Were Reversed

by Glon Morski

I: Until he fell down the well and 500 years into the past, Inuyasha didn't believe in legends. His beliefs were challenged when he found himself in a world in which said legends are reality. Problem? He wants to leave that world behind, while it is unwilling to let him go. And so he begins a search for a substitute for a duty, aided by Kagome, his slef-proclaimed hanyo protector.

36. Shared Agony

Not much to say this time. I made my deadline, here's the chapter. I really hope you'll enjoy and won't feel like killing me once you're done. Angst-addicts, you should get your fix for the day with this *laughs lightly* Thanks for all the wonderful reviews and hope you keep them coming :D

Oh, and on a side-note: This story was awarded Best AU/AR Fiction by the Feudal association, tied with Wolf Blossom's 'The Heir and the Spare'. Thanks to all those who voted, I'm really honored :)

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Anonymous Reviewers:

animefan 21: You're right, it really wasn't a question LOL You'll get a first glimpse at how Sango 'turns out' in this chapter, although I don't think there's enough interaction between her and the group to judge her yet. All I have to say to that is patience, though :) Hope you enjoy the chapter.

inufan123: I don't mind your rambling. You don't need to assure me your fic isn't a role-reversal, either. Even if it was, why would that bother me? There are countless fics like that out there, most of them crappy in ly opinion, hence why I write my own. What is one more fic with that general idea out there to me? It's not like IRWR is the first fic ever covering that plot, so no need to assure me your fic is different. But anyway, now I'm rambling myself, aren't I. To answer your question, which I believe is in essence if I'd help you with that description, the answer is yes, so long as you can provide me with a ff penname I can send a PM to (or just a 'signed' review I can reply via PM to) or an e-mail address. Sorry, but I won't add such a description in an 'anonymous review answer' in front of my own story, 'cause that'd get entirely too long. Hope you enjoy the chapter :3

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Tracks for this chapter :

Yui Makino:Tsuki no Shijima

Final Fantasy X OST: Truth Revealed

GazettE: PEOPLE ERROR

Standard disclaimer and reader's key apply

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What happened last time: after their encounter with the Baku, Kagome and her group continue on their way and eventually run into a group of demon slayers. Suspicious of their rather peculiar situation, Kagome suggests they follow them. It turns out to be a good decision, as the taijiya are headed straight into a castle that turns out to be Naraku's liar, and a death trap prepared by that same demon. Most of the taijiya fall, killed by Kohaku, the youngest of them all, who's possessed by a yōkai pretending to be a lord. He wakes up before killing the last of the slayers, his sister Sango, and both are saved from sharing the fate of the rest of their companions by Kagome, Inuyasha and Miroku, although Kagome pretends not to be there on purpose or with the thought in mind to save the slayers. She eventually manages to enter the castle and faces Naraku, but he flees before she can kill him, allowing her only to glimpse a spider-like burn on his back, which seems to be a characteristic he cannot get rid of. Meanwhile, the group outside is attacked by Naraku's wasps, and unable to kill them because of their deathly poison. Miroku makes a barrier with his and Inuyasha's power, realizing while doing so that the future-born teen's reiki doesn't respond to his guidance as it should. Kagome arrives just in time to defeat the first flock when the barrier suddenly falls, and demands that the rest of the group flee, along with the taijiya. Once the second flock is taken care of, she follows after her companions.

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Chapter 36 – Shared Agony

"You're the two priests we met on our way to the castle, aren't you?" the taijiya girl asked slowly, observing the two of them with narrowed eyes.

Considering her state and need of as fast as possible, if not even immediate by then, medical attention, Inuyasha and Miroku hadn't dared carry her very far from Naraku's liar. They were actually barely a thirty-minute-walk away from where the shouheki was. The stop had been unavoidable, though, as the slayer's wounds demanded treatment.

The duty to dress her wounds had fallen to Inuyasha, and though uncomfortable with it, he had done the best he could without letting his eyes wander much. He was definitely glad she hadn't been awake while he was doing it, though. He would have much preferred if her brother had done it in his stead (he definitely didn't trust Miroku to do it without ogling or even stealing a feel), but the boy had said he had never tended to anyone's wounds before. The fact the woman in question was his sister didn't help matters much, so as uncomfortable as it made him, Inuyasha found himself being the only one capable enough to treat the woman.

He was still thanking the fates that she had woken up only after he'd finished treating her.

"Indeed, taijiya-san. You have a good memory," Miroku replied. He was sitting on the other side of the small camp, opposite the slayer and her brother (what separated them was an empty space that would otherwise be a neat camp-fire), where Inuyasha could keep him in check. Shippō was sitting on a low branch of one of the nearby trees, his tiny ears and nose checking the surroundings in an almost perfect copy of Kagome's behavior. The hanyō-girl, however, was nowhere in sight, and Inuyasha was starting to feel antsy. She should have caught up to them by now, shouldn't she…?

"Sango," the woman said, once again bringing Inuyasha's attention to herself and her barely-started conversation with the monk. Miroku inclined his head in understanding.

"It is my pleasure, Sango-san. I am called Miroku," he replied.

"Inuyasha," Inuyasha supplied in a gruff tone when Sango looked at him, introducing himself much like she had. Sango nodded her head in understanding before turning back to the issue at hand.

"Why were you at the castle?" she asked finally. "When we met you, you said you didn't know where it was. You weren't heading in its direction, either. So why did you turn up there? Did your hunt of the hanyō lead you there?"

The question made Inuyasha freeze and stare at her incredulously. Sure, at first, Kagome and Miroku had pretended that this had been the reason they were there – that it was purely accidental. But once it was obvious that apart from the slayers there wasn't a single human in that castle, Kagome had dropped her act. Hadn't Sango seen it? Hadn't she realized on her own that it had been pretended? It couldn't be that hard to figure out if Kagome stayed behind to protect them from the insects, could it?

Then again, Sango had been unconscious when the insects arrived. Actually, she had been already unconscious before then. Inuyasha didn't know when exactly her consciousness faded, but it was obvious she had not been aware in the most crucial moment.

Before he could enlighten her on who the hanyō really was, though – meaning part of their weird group – Miroku beat him to it, sending the kannushi a look that was easy to identify as an order to remain silent. Raising a brow, Inuyasha decided to comply, turning his head towards the way they had come, as if expecting to see silver and red appearing in the distance.

"Actually, we headed towards the castle because we met you," Miroku replied calmly. "We met the hanyō on our way and feared it might be the reason for our unease, so we engaged it in combat. It was actually pure luck that it led us to the centre of happenings in the end," he said, causing Inuyasha to stare at him in disbelief, while Miroku explained to Sango just why they had been uneasy and decided to follow the group of taijiya. Throughout his explanation, the monk stubbornly refused to mention Kagome was with them, and even went as far as inventing an imaginary run-in with her which led to a short fight before she fled, effectively leading them to the castle where the real tragedy was taking place.

'Why is he lying?' Inuyasha thought in bewilderment, his eyes scanning the monk for any kind of clue as to his choice of action. He found none, and his own mind didn't provide him with an explanation, either. What good was lying if the truth couldn't stay hidden for long, anyway? Any minute now, Kagome would come along and it would be obvious she isn't just some hanyō they tried to hunt down. So why did Miroku continue the farce when it was doomed to be found out?

"Oi, Miroku," Inuyasha started, but as if sensing that he was planning to make the monk come clean, the houshi sent him another silencing glare – one so fierce that it actually effectively stunned Inuyasha into silence, more out of surprise than anything else.

"I see," Sango said softly, unaware of the tension between the two spiritualists that build because of one small lie she was not aware of. "We are in your debt, then. Without you, my brother and I would most likely be dead. So thank you. I wish I could offer something to recompense you with, but I'm afraid that in my current situation, I am unable to offer anything."

"No thanks is needed," Miroku assured her, although Inuyasha had the fleeting feeling that the monk could think of various ways how the woman could 'recompense' him for his 'gallantry' once she was healed. "Although I have to admit that in your current condition, it would not be honorable to leave you and your brother without assistance. I'm quite sure my companion here agrees," he said, glancing briefly at Inuyasha, but didn't wait for him to respond. "It would be only rational to escort the two of you to the nearest village, at the very least."

Sango was silent for a moment, her facial expression betraying deep thought. When she spoke again, her voice didn't hold a single ounce of indecision or insecurity in it – she had made a decision and she would not stray from it, that much was certain.

"Our fort is not far from here. We could lead you there. You could stay there a bit and rest up a little if you so wished. After what you did, you'd certainly be welcomed," she said, although her words sounded as much as an invitation, as they did as a question. Miroku nodded.

"Very well. If you lead the way, we shall escort you until we reach your home, Sango-san," the monk promised. Sango nodded her head with a grateful expression on her face before giving in to her tired body's demands and falling asleep. Her brother, worn out by the happenings of the day, had fallen asleep at her side quite a while ago already.

"We'll set out as soon as Sango-san wakes to indicate the way to the fort," Miroku said in a calm, though commanding tone. His words didn't seem to be directed at only Inuyasha, however, since his eyes were focused on the trees around them. Inuyasha raised his eyebrows.

"What about Kagome?" he finally asked. "And why did you lie about her to the slayer woman?"

"What about Kagome-sama?" Miroku asked back, not understanding Inuyasha's question. He disregarded the second question entirely.

"I mean, shouldn't we wait for her?" the black haired priest elaborated, fighting hard not to let show how much it bothered him that the hanyō-girl still hadn't turned up. She should have caught up to them already, they didn't go that far! "And don't avoid the question, Miroku. Why did you lie?"

"Wait for her?" the monk replied, obviously surprised and once again omitting the second question. "Why wait if she's already here?"

It was Inuyasha's turn to be caught off-guard.

"What?"

"Can't you feel her youki? Kagome-sama has been nearby for a while now. She simply chose not to reveal herself."

Narrowing his eyes, Inuyasha leaned back against one of the trees and tried to concentrate. And indeed, if he paid attention to it, he could feel a familiar youki brushing up against his senses. It was Kagome's youki. What should have bothered Inuyasha, however, was that he had to even concentrate to feel her, while not even a day before, his senses were spread out subconsciously to feel any demon around him.

"Now that you mention it, you're right, I do feel her," Inuyasha said, although now he was wondering why the hanyō decided to stay hidden. Scowling to himself, the future-born priest stood up and brushed off his trousers. "I'm gonna go talk to her," he said off-handedly before walking off, missing the worried, contemplative frown that now formed on Miroku's face.

XxX

Kagome sighed as she lowered herself deeper into the stream, allowing the flowing water to rinse her body and calm her soul. She was still unsettled because of her encounter with Naraku – because of what he said and how she had reacted to it. A good, cold bath was exactly what she needed to (quite literally) cool down. Not that the cold bothered her much. She was hanyō. She was immune to the cold. Well, maybe not entirely immune, but definitely less sensitive than ningen.

She sighed as she leaned back in the water so that she could submerge her scalp and rinse her hair, feeling the tension seeping out of her and floating away like the blood from her clothes. That was the second reason why she desperately needed to get into the stream, or any other water-source for that matter. Of course, considering where the blood came from, rinsing it out of her clothes wouldn't help much – they would be soiled again soon enough. But at the very least, she could hope the sickening stench of human blood wouldn't cling to her for days afterward.

'Then again, it would just be my luck to be rewarded like that for a good deed,' she thought sarcastically as she rose again, glancing towards the bushes where she'd hidden the corpses despite herself. She didn't regret taking the killed taijiya with her, though. Since they were going to their village anyway so that they could deposit Sango (or whatever her name was) and her brother at home, it would only be fair to bring those along who could no longer come on their own. Though unexpected, their death had been honorable in Kagome eyes. They had died in battle, doing their job. It was only appropriate that they be brought to their home for burial instead of being left behind at a demonic castle or being buried in some nameless forest. 'They deserve to rest where there are people who cared for them,' she thought.

It didn't make the only possible way of getting them there any less uncomfortable for her, though.

Her ears twitched when the sound of light footsteps caught in them. Someone was approaching. Kagome scowled, knowing only one person in the world would dare try to sneak up on her while she was bathing – and he would also be the only one to somehow know that was what she was doing. He knew she was nearby, he could certainly know when she was doing something he would very much like to witness. He must have put a trailing spell on her or something, of that she was sure. Or at the very least, she wouldn't put it past him.

Moving slowly through the water, she hid behind a large boulder and waited, knowing well that she was not visible from the riverbank. One hand reached slowly for a rather large rock while her ears were trained intently on the approaching person. When her ears told her he was close enough, she unexpectedly rose just enough for her head and raised arm to be visible before throwing the rock with all the strength she'd allow herself to use knowing her target was human.

"I thought I told you last time I won't tolerate any attempts at peeping, pervert!" she yelled as the rock hit the target perfectly. The teen fell flat on her face and Kagome's anger rose even higher when she realized the spiritualist before her wasn't the perverted monk she had expected, but Inuyasha. She scoffed. "Oh, so now I have to deal with two perverts? As if one wasn't enough," she grumbled under her breath, just loud enough for the black haired teen to hear as she jumped out of the river and shook the excess water off in a very dog-like fashion, effectively drenching him in the process.

"And after I warned you about not finding you in such a situation again. And you don't have the excuse of wanting to stop Miroku-sama to hide behind this time," she growled as she slowly advanced on him, while Inuyasha tried to regain his bearings after the rather harsh encounter with the stone Kagome had thrown at him.

"I wasn't planning on peeping! Hell, I didn't even know you were in the river, stupid! I just wanted to talk to you," Inuyasha defended himself as he slowly tried to stand back up. His head was already starting to pound. This would definitely leave a bump, not to mention a serious migraine, the latter of which was already well on its way of becoming reality and not just speculation. And he didn't even deserve it!

Kagome paused, watching him through narrowed eyes. She had to admit that he had a point – there really wasn't a way for him to know she had been bathing. She was just so used to them knowing where she was, since she always had to tell them where she was going, that she assumed he knew she was bathing. It seemed apologies were in order…

"Besides, it's not as if there was anything to see, anyway," Inuyasha grumbled while finally standing to his full height. He had meant the fact that she was still fully clothed, but unfortunately for him, Kagome understood his words differently. Her eye twitched and before Inuyasha had the possibility to consider what was going on, he was kissing the ground again, a second bump deciding to keep the first one company

"As if you know anything," Kagome growled, a feminine part of herself begging to differ. Or course, it wasn't like she wanted Inuyasha to look or like what he could possibly see, but that didn't mean she would just sit down and take his crap without defending her female honor.

Still growling, the hanyō turned on her heel and marched back over to the river, intent on getting into the water again and ignore the priest behind her completely. Her clothes weren't completely rinsed yet, anyway.

[T]

Still on the ground where she left him, Inuyasha groaned softly as he started to pick himself up again, his head pounding twice as hard as a second before.

"What did I do now?" he asked weakly as he stood, swaying slightly on his feet. That second hit had made him slightly dizzy, though he'd never admit that. Kagome ignored him and eased herself back into the river, allowing the cool waters to once again calm her and ease the knots in her muscles. Of course, hot water would have been better for relaxing, but cold water would have to do.

Sighing softly, Kagome started to scrub at her arms, noting with satisfaction that the water was turning a slight pink while the stench on her clothes slowly lessened. With any luck, she really wouldn't have to deal with the stench for the next week.

"Hey, Kagome, I wanted to ask…" Inuyasha started to say as he walked over to her, but his words broke off when he saw the blood in the river, its source more than obvious. "What the… You're hurt and you were planning to hide it? What the fuck, wench?!"

"Don't yell, the taijiya might hear you," Kagome chastised calmly. "And don't get so riled up. It's not my blood."

Her words seemed to calm Inuyasha some, although he didn't need to be told twice not to yell. His pounding head definitely didn't appreciate it. Still, something about Kagome's request sounded rather peculiar.

"Who cares if the taijiya hear me?" he asked grumpily.

"I do. If they hear you, they'll know I'm nearby, which I'd rather avoid," Kagome replied easily, not turning around to face the priest. Inuyasha frowned.

"Is that why you didn't come to camp when you caught up?" he asked rhetorically, but didn't wait for an answer. It was obvious anyway. "Why would it be bad if they knew you're here?"

"Because of what they've seen. And because I'm hanyō. I thought we've been over this already," the hanyō-girl responded, slowly starting to get irritated. Inuyasha gaped.

"What do you mean 'because of what they've seen'? Is it a bad thing they've seen you saving their life?" he asked, although he sincerely doubted the answer was a positive one. If anything, it should have caused them to think twice about attacking Kagome, hanyō or not. Kagome sighed.

"Yes, I helped save their lives. You know that. But they don't," she said slowly, finally turning around to face him before getting out of the water again. This time she didn't shake herself dry, however, opting instead to wring out her clothes and hair like any human would. "As far as they are concerned, I wasn't with you when you first met them. As far as they are concerned, you two pursued me and I accidentally led you to the castle. And then I came back and cold-heartedly killed those guards."

"But they were yōkai," Inuyasha protested, causing Kagome shoot him an irritated glare.

"And you yourself figured that out only after I threw a corpse in your direction," she scoffed. "They hardly smelt like yōkai and their youki was ridiculously weak. That's why they took on a human form. That's what they mostly do. Shape shifting is the only real ability these kind of yōkai have, and they use it to pretend to be something they're not to live in peace. Don't ask me why they decided to fight me when that was counterproductive, I don't know, but it's not important. What matters, is that they looked human and even a spiritualist would have trouble telling they actually weren't. So what do you think a taijiya would think about this?"

"That you killed humans," Inuyasha replied slowly, his eyes darting away in shame when he remembered that he himself had for a moment believed that was what she was doing. He had doubted her, if only for a second… again. Why couldn't he just believe in her unconditionally? Why did something have to happen to make him doubt her and his trust in her whenever he thought they were getting somewhere with resolving their trust-issues? It was as if fate was trying to tell him full trust between them was impossible and it angered him to no end.

"What about that swarm of bees or whatever? They couldn't possibly think you weren't protecting them then," he pressed, determined to find at least one reason for her to stop hiding. It wasn't right that she had to hide. She was travelling with them, she was part of the group. She shouldn't have to pretend not to be there just because they decided to help someone who most likely wouldn't like her (although that was putting it mildly).

"Except that the girl was unconscious by then and the boy too focused on his sister to notice anything else," Kagome replied calmly as she threw her hair over her shoulder after wringing it out.

"They didn't have much qualms about Shippō," Inuyasha tried again. "If they can accept a full yōkai, why not you?"

"One, because he's a child. Two, because he didn't pretend to be a monster and actually helped them instead…"

"And why did you pretend that you didn't come there to help them?" the future-born teen interrupted. Kagome sighed.

"Because I thought that castle was filled with humans," she said. "How do you think it would have looked to a human lord if he called for taijiya to kill off a demon, and then a half-demon butted in when things got ugly? Obviously, he'd think the slayers and I are working together, and that spells only trouble for the slayers," she explained. At Inuyasha's blank look, she sighed again and elaborated.

"Demon slayers get their money through slaying demons. So why would they work together with a hanyō? Better even, if there was one intheir midst, who's to say there aren't more of them? Believe me, if a lord started to think that way…"

"But you knew the lord was a yōkai! I told you he was," Inuyasha interrupted her, and Kagome found herself praying for patience as her irritation rose.

"Yes, but I thought the guards were human and I wasn't planning on killing them," she couldn't help but snap. "If there was no lord left, but a whole bunch of humans thinking the taijiya worked with a hanyō, the outcome would have been the same as in the case the lord himself thought so. Their fort would be attacked and destroyed sooner than you'd think. So I pretended I came by 'accidentally' to prevent it. I wanted to help, not make matters worse than they were.

"Since I pretended to come by 'accidentally', the slayers themselves don't know my true reason for being there, either, so they have about as much reason to trust me as I have to trust them. So give it up, Inuyasha. It's better they don't know I'm here and it's better you finally accept it."

"What if I don't want to?" the black haired priest asked angrily. "I won't accept something I know isn't right. And this isn't! You're part of our group. You're our friend. You shouldn't have to hide your presence just because we decided to help someone. It's neither right nor fair to you, especially since you helped saving them, too."

For a moment, Kagome could only stare at him blankly, as if not comprehending his words. And while she did understand them, it took a while for their meaning to actually sink in. Once it did, though, Kagome couldn't deny the warmth that filled her body and covered her like a blanket she didn't even know she needed. She smiled gently.

"I really appreciate that, Inuyasha," she said softly. "But just let it go. It doesn't matter. We won't be spending much time with the slayers anyway. We'll bring them to a village where they can get treatment and go on our way. And we'll most likely never see them again."

It was Inuyasha's turn to sigh.

"You know they wanted us to bring them to their fort?" he asked, and the warmth that had filled Kagome seconds before quickly drained out of her body to be replaced with irritation. She hid it well, though, so Inuyasha remained none the wiser about it.

"Yeah, I heard," she replied curtly, trying hard not to scowl. 'A fort full of demon slayers. Now doesn't that sound appealing,' she thought sarcastically, then shook her head. "You should get back to camp, Inuyasha. It's still day. If the slayers are well enough, we could cover some ground before nightfall. And the faster we get to that fort, the faster we can leave it and part with the slayers."

Neither of them knew just how horribly wrong that prediction was.

[/T]

XxX

True to Kagome's hopes, the slayers were actually well enough to get moving, so the group managed to cover some ground before nightfall. Sango had wanted to walk on her own at first, but it was quickly visible that she wouldn't be walking anytime soon, so in the end, Inuyasha had carried her on his back, as he still didn't trust Miroku to do so without trying something perverted.

The monk was strangely quiet the whole way, however. He was obviously lost in his own thoughts, which Inuyasha couldn't help but think somehow involved him, if the monk's glances at him every now and then were anything to go by. It was only once night fell and the camp was set that the black haired priest found out what had been bothering his friend.

"Inuyasha, may I talk to you for a moment?" Miroku asked once the slayer siblings and Shippō were asleep with full stomachs after a good, futuristic meal of cup-ramen. Inuyasha raised a questioning eyebrow, but came closer to the monk and said down next to him, anyway, so that their conversation wouldn't wake anyone up.

It took a moment of staring on Inuyasha's part, but eventually, Miroku understood that the black haired priest was merely waiting for him to say whatever he had to tell. Without a word, the houshi took his shakujō and held it vertically between them, as if he was going to use it as support to stand up. He didn't make any other move, however, his eyes boring into Inuyasha in a rather unsettling way in the future-born teen's opinion.

"Put your hand on my staff," the monk commanded gently, but in a way that broke no argument. Inuyasha found himself complying without a word, although his gaze surely said exactly what he wanted to ask. If Miroku saw the question in the kannushi's eyes, though, he ignored it and his intentions remained known only to him as he closed his eyes in apparent concentration. In that very moment, Inuyasha felt as if someone were tugging on some string inside of him, much like he had back in the castle when Miroku put up a barrier using both of their powers – most likely to ensure Inuyasha didn't get out of the barrier and do something stupid than anything else.

The feeling was yet again different from last time, however. Back then, it felt like someone was playing tug-of-war inside of him. Now, he could definitely feel someone pull on some inward string inside of him with enough force to make it quite painful, as if someone was trying to rip that string out of him. Beside him, Miroku narrowed his eyes in concentration, and the feeling inside Inuyasha increased tenfold, actually making him wince. But aside from that, nothing was happening and to any third person looking at the two spiritualists, it would have merely looked like they were sitting together and meditating.

As suddenly as it started, the feeling stopped and Inuyasha found himself panting slightly from the ordeal. Sitting beside him, Miroku took a deep breath as if to calm his own, racing heart, and then looked at Inuyasha gravely.

"Tell me, Inuyasha, just now, did you consciously try to stop me from guiding your power like I did before?" he asked, his eyes boring into the black haired teen and demanding an immediate answer. Inuyasha shook his head.

"I didn't do anything. But I want to know what you were doing," he replied angrily. Whatever the monk had tried to do, it had fucking hurt, not that Inuyasha would ever admit this aloud. Miroku sighed.

"Then it is as I feared," was all he said before rubbing his temples, as if he were praying to Buddha for patience. In reality, though, he was merely warding off an oncoming headache, caused most likely by the failed attempt to do… whatever he had tried to do.

"What are you talking about?" Inuyasha asked, although for some reason, he wasn't quite sure if he'd really like to hear the answer. Miroku sighed again.

"Just now, I tried to coax your power into cooperation, like I had back in the castle. I had tried to make it follow my lead and make a barrier. But as I'm sure you noticed, it ended up in failure, because your reiki actively fought against my guidance," the houshi explained, his eyes hard and cold as he stared straight ahead. He seemed to be hardly acknowledging Inuyasha at this point, despite talking to him, obviously lost in some sort of important thought or another.

"Fought against your guidance?" Inuyasha repeated, not understanding what the monk was talking about at all. "What's that supposed to mean?"

"It means your power refuses to cooperate. It refuses to be used," Miroku replied curtly, a frown forming on his face. Inuyasha didn't need to ask any more questions, however, as the houshi continued explaining. "I believe this is linked to our recent encounter with the Baku, as well as the fact that you are untrained and have no control of your own power. Because of those two factors, your power locks itself up inside of you and will not come out unless you call upon it. But if nothing is done soon, it will stop responding to your call, as well, and manifest whenever it sees fit, instead."

Inuyasha's eyes fell to the ground and he furrowed his eyebrows once Miroku finished talking, trying to make heads or tails from the monks words. It was a wasted effort, however, since he had absolutely no idea what the monk was talking about.

"What do you mean, Miroku?" he finally asked, the expression on the monk's face telling him enough about the gravity of the situation. If it was important enough for the monk to make that kind of face, then it was probably even more important that Inuyasha understand when he meant. And even if it wasn't important, it involved Inuyasha, so he had every right to know what all this talk was about. Miroku sighed again.

"Think about it, Inuyasha. Since you have practically no control of your powers, you can't decide when to use them and when not to. That you actually managed to call upon them to shatter that shouheki is miraculous enough, but from the way you acted, I don't think it was intended. Whenever you use your powers, you never consciously call upon them. It's your subconscious that commands them. As such, your use of reiki against youki is purely instinctual and without any sense of control. You either don't use it at all, or you use it without any control of how much of power you actually put into it.

"The Baku used that lack of control. When you encountered it, your reiki instinctively responded to the threat, and the Baku's power made it impossible to stop the flow. That's how it works with those creatures. As a result, you almost used up everything you had and nearly died. Your instincts learned from that experience, and now, any outside source is not permitted to control your power. Whether it'd be another Baku trying to feed off of you or me trying to help you use your reiki to make a barrier to save our lives, your subconscious will actively fight against the intrusion and not allow your power to be used.

"That's all well and good, but to your subconscious, your conscious thought could also become an 'outside source'. If that were to happen, even if you tried to learn to control your powers, you could never do it without fighting against yourself – if you could do it at all. Worst case scenario, you'll become like any normal human, with your power manifesting whenever it deems fit without any control from your conscious mind," Miroku said. But to his utter frustration, Inuyasha failed to see the gravity of the situation as he merely shrugged.

"I don't see how that's any different from how it was up until now," he said carelessly, almost causing Miroku to groan in exasperation. But somehow, the monk managed to remain calm, if not slightly irritated.

"It's very different, Inuyasha," he said, trying to convey the importance of the words through his hard look. The message was lost on Inuyasha, though. "For now, your conscious mind has at least some semblance of control over the holy energy you possess. It's the reason why your powers never reacted to Kagome-sama while you spared, or to Shippō. You consciously know they're no threat and hold your powers back, somehow. But what if even that semblance of control is gone, what then? Who's to say your powers won't react to those you wish to protect or fight alongside with and hurt them, instead?"

Silence fell over the small camp after the monk's words as they hit Inuyasha hard and gave him pause. He narrowed his eyes and glared at the ground, unable to help visualizing something like this happening. He shook his head to get the images out of his head immediately. Still, just the mere thought of something like this happening made him feel sick.

"It won't happen," he replied hardly, trying to convince Miroku as much as himself. He would never attack Kagome like that. He knew he wouldn't. But Miroku still wasn't letting it go.

"Unless you learn to control your power, Inuyasha, it might. And it probably will," he pressed.

"It won't!" Inuyasha hissed back angrily. It won't ever happen. He wouldn't allow it to.

Without another word, he walked back to his sleeping bag and climbed in, signaling that this conversation was over. With another sigh, this one sounding like a regretful one, Miroku also lay down to rest for the night.

As they fell asleep, neither of the two spiritualists noticed that while they were talking, the young taijiya boy had woken up and wandered off.

XxX

Kagome crept stealthily between the trees, not a sound betraying her presence there as she moved forward, on all fours, just to be sure. She had hidden her 'cargo' when the others had set up camp and, deciding to forgo supper since she wasn't really hungry, had watched over everyone from a nearby tree. She was careful to stay out of everyone's sight, though. It wouldn't do to be spotted by one of the taijiya or even Inuyasha. If the kannushi had noticed her, he'd probably start talking to her and try to coax her to join them, inevitably waking the slayers in the process and thus exposing her. So his noticing her had to be avoided.

She couldn't hide her youki from being sensed, however, so it was inevitable that Miroku certainly knew just in which tree she had taken residence. But he didn't make her presence known, so that was alright.

It had surprised her again, however, when just like earlier today, Inuyasha had failed to sense her nearby. Either that, or he ignored her presence, but if her conversation with him from before was anything to go by, that was unlikely. She had also heard what Miroku told Inuyasha, however, so the mystery was quickly solved. That didn't mean that it didn't leave a problem in its wake, though. It would seem she'd have to forfeit her training with Inuyasha for a while yet again, for while she did trust him, she couldn't afford to trust him not to hurt her with power he had no control over. So until he learned to control his powers, she would not cross blades with him again. It was up to him to decide if he wanted to learn more or if his current skills with the sword were sufficient now.

Unlike the two spiritualists, however, the hanyō-girl noticed when Kohaku decided to sneak off. Wary and somewhat intrigued, she made sure to keep track of his scent to know if he was still nearby, but stayed where she was at first. It was only once Inuyasha and Miroku stopped talking that she realized the boy was taking too long and was slowly moving too far away for comfort. So she followed him.

Still, the young taijiya wasn't aware that there was a harmless hanyō following them (or, more accurately, following her own group), which was why she was currently sneaking around on the ground. She wasn't planning to sneak up on him or even look like a predator out on a hunt, but she didn't want to be seen if it wasn't needed, either. Her sole purpose was to make sure he wouldn't be attacked by some stray yōkai. And that he wouldn't do something stupid and unnecessary. 'Kami know he'd be capable of doing any kind of stupidity after what had happened,' she thought with a frown. She didn't blame the kid, however, no matter what he could possibly have in mind.

A sudden sound of something cutting through the air stopped her in her tracks. Her ears twitched, trying to discern what it was exactly that disturbed the relative silence of the forest. It definitely wasn't a bird or anything like that. It sounded man-made, like some sort of weapon. But what sort of weapon could cut through the air continuously like that? An arrow would eventually hit a mark and stop, a sword would eventually stop its swing to start a new one, no weapon she could think of could fly through the air without stopping for even a second like the one she was hearing.

Furrowing her brows further, Kagome slowly crept to the nearest tree and, using it like a screen to hide behind, rose to her feet, cautiously peeking over the bark. What she had heard turned out to be Kohaku's weapon, and the boy himself was standing not very far away from her between the trees, facing only slightly to her right and thus not noticing her.

His right arm was raised above his head, his wrist turning slightly to make the chain-sickle continue turning in a cycle above him. It looked like he was preparing to strike out at something. And yet, Kagome wasn't at ease. It was pretty late and he had gone out pretty far into the forest just to do some training.

That was when she saw his face and her eyes widened in realization. His expression wasn't one of concentration or resolve. It wasn't the face of one trying to better their skills or kill a prey, imaginary or not, for whatever reason.

It was the face of a man doomed to die.

'He isn't going to do something like that, is he? He can't possibly be planning to…' Kagome's thoughts were interrupted when Kohaku suddenly closed his eyes and threw the chain-sickle with all his might at the very tree she was hiding behind. Instinctively, Kagome ducked, although she didn't need to bother as the sickle soared passed the tree, nowhere near close enough to strike it or the person hiding behind it. The throw was executed with astonishing precision, however, and the angle was just perfect for the chain to wrap around the bark and make the sickle fly in a curve, cutting through any plants in its way effortlessly before it soared back towards the one who had thrown it, aiming straight for his head. Kohaku stared at his weapon impassively, but did not move. Kagome acted on instinct, her hand shooting out and grabbing the chain in the blink of an eye, only to yank at it, causing the sickle to halt in its path and soar back towards the tree, where it imbedded itself in the bark. Giving up on hiding, the hanyō-girl slowly stepped out of the shadows, revealing herself to the stunned taijiya.

"I suspected you'd try something idiotic, but I never thought you'd actually go quite that far," She pointed out as she leaned against the tree that would have helped the boy end his own life, had she not followed him. The boy was staring at her with wide eyes, although to her own surprise, she didn't smell any fear from him. But it was soon obvious why, too.

"You're… back at the castle… you're the one who saved me from those arrows," Kohaku slowly stuttered out, as if not believing what, or rather who, he was seeing. Kagome raised a brow.

"Impressive," she admitted. "I didn't think you'd recognize me so easily."

"You killed the guards, too," Kahaku continued, his words causing Kagome to wince. But she didn't speak up in her defense. What did it matter if one more human child believed her to be a monster? He would only be one among thousands of others, anyway. "And you saved us from the insects."

"Yes, I did all that. So?" Kagome found herself asking as she crossed her hands in front of her chest. If any third person had seen this scene at that moment, they probably wouldn't have believed their eyes. On one end, a young taijiya, a mere boy without any means to protect himself, his weapon imbedded in a tree a few feet away from him; facing him, a very nonchalant-looking half-demon who didn't seem to care in the least that she was talking with a slayer, talking about saving his life, nonetheless

"Were the guards yōkai as well?" Kohaku finally asked in a small voice, causing Kagome to blink. Out of all the things he could have said, this was not something she had expected.

"What?"

"The guards… were they yōkai, too? Is that why you killed them?"

"Would you believe me if I said 'yes'?"

"I would."

Silence followed that statement as Kagome stared at the boy, doing all she could to not show just how much he had surprised her. He had said it with absolutely no hesitation whatsoever, as if he were absolutely certain she would not lie. Such conviction was rare, especially in humans who dealt with her. Kagome narrowed her eyes, suddenly wary.

"You would," she repeated slowly, refusing to let it sound like the question it was as to not let on how surprised she was. But Kohaku seemed to catch on to the missing interrogative.

"Well, you saved ane-ue and I. Or helped save us, anyway. Plus, I'm quite sure you're travelling with houshi-sama and kannushi-sama, so you probably wouldn't harm humans if you could help it… you didn't really try to kill those guards at first, either, but even I saw their stamina was beyond human," the boy said slowly as he looked away from the half-demon, focusing on the ground instead. Kagome stared at him for a moment before nodding.

"You're quite observant," she said after a while, not bothering to ask why he thought she traveled with Inuyasha and Miroku. Once it was obvious that the lord himself was a yōkai, she hadn't really pretended to not be with them, anyway, so the boy probably based this theory on that.

"Well, if I'm right and you are travelling with them… why are you hiding now?" Kohaku asked slowly, his head rising slightly to gaze at her through his bangs, studying her intently. Kagome merely shrugged.

"Self-preservation, taijiya boy," she answered, putting a strain on the last two words to make sure he understood what she meant. Understanding shone in his eyes immediately and he looked down again.

"I wouldn't have tried anything… and even if I did, I'm sure my skills could never be enough against one as strong as you," he said slowly and Kagome's eyes softened when she realized just how much like a defenseless child he looked at that moment. It only occurred to her now that this had probably been his first field mission. And what a terrible start that was. She sighed.

'You may think your skills aren't enough, but trust me, I have to disagree on that,' she thought, but knew better than to point it out. Tempting the devil wasn't on her to-do list.

"Maybe so," she finally answered. "But your elder sister is another story."

"Ane-ue wouldn't…" Kohaku started vehemently, but stopped himself when he remembered what his sister had said earlier in the day – she definitely didn't believe the hanyō-girl was not dangerous. "Well, maybe she would," Kohaku finally admitted. Nothing was said for a while as Kagome observed the kid in front of her, while he examined the ground. Finally, the half-demon reached out for the sickle imbedded in the tree trunk and took it out, easily untangling it from the tree (not that it was truly tangled, anyway).

"But I don't think any of that is of any importance now, is it?" she finally asked as she gently threw the chain-sickle in Kohaku's direction. The weapon landed hardly on the ground at his feet, but he made no move to pick it up. "What is important, and what I won't leave 'till I know the answer to, is why you tried a stupid stunt like that."

Kohaku slowly knelt down to pick up his weapon, but didn't rise again, his eyes glued to the blade which had yet to be cleaned – the blade that was both witness and proof for his crime. Clenching his eyes shut, the boy let the weapon fall back to the ground again as his arms came around him in a self-hug as his body started to shake uncontrollably. Kagome's eyes softened at the sight.

[T]

"It was because of what happened at the castle, wasn't it," she said, more than asked. Really, it was so obvious it could hardly be any clearer. And although his choice of dealing with it was stupid, she couldn't really blame him for the attempt. Possessed as he had been, in his own eyes, he was still the one to kill all the slayers, his father among them and his sister almost joining them. Such tremendous pain and guilt wasn't something a mere child should deal with. It wasn't something anyone should deal with, actually.

Kagome's eyes fell to the ground for a moment as she tried to regain her bearings, the sight of the crushed boy before her and what happened to him bringing up images she'd rather forget. With a sigh, she approached him slowly and knelt in front of him, resting a hand on his head.

"Though I understand how you feel, you have to realize that's no way to deal with it. It won't make what happened any better. If anything, it'll only make it worse, if not for you, then for the only other person who bore witness to what that yōkai had done," she spoke softly, trying to calm him, although she knew that was an almost impossible feat. It was too soon and the wounds were too raw yet to do anything about them. But she had to at least make him understand that what he had tried to do wouldn't make it better. It wouldn't change the past and it wouldn't be atonement, either. Besides, he was still so young… he shouldn't die. He should live.

"It wasn't a yōkai who did that," Kohaku chocked out. "It was me. It was all me. I'm responsible for this… it's my fault…"

"It's not," Kagome interrupted gently, but firmly. "You were not yourself. You had no control of your actions. I'd be surprised if you were even conscious enough to actually see it happening. You couldn't do a thing to stop it. You were controlled by a yōkai. You cannot be held responsible for what it had made you do. So do not blame yourself, kid. It wasn't your fault."

Instead of calming him, her words only seemed to agitate the young slayer further. Finally, his arms fell back to his sides and his head snapped up to stare at her, his young eyes angry. And then, he let her have it.

"What would you know?! It wasn't you who did that to your own family! Controlled or not, it was still me! You think you know how I feel?! You couldn't possibly know that! There's no way you know that feeling!" he exploded and something in Kagome snapped.

"The feeling of complete and utter hopelessness? The feeling that you did something no one could ever actually forgive you for, not even yourself? The feeling of having betrayed those whom you loved without wanting to? The immeasurable regret at letting it happen without having even attempted to fight it? The feeling when you get when you believe you should die, because you couldn't possibly deserve to live if because of you your loved ones are dead? That kind of feeling?" she asked question after question, her voice a surprising mix of furiously angry and gently soothing as she spoke to the boy in front of her. Turning her head away and closing her eyes, she snorted. "I think I know that feeling quite well," she said as she stood up and walked a couple of steps away from the stunned boy, fighting off the memories that have now assaulted her, ripping open old wounds that she had hoped had long since scarred over. Well, so much for that.

"They were your family. How could you have possibly done that to them? How could you have let it happen without trying to fight it off? How could you let the people closest to you end up like that? Those are the thoughts running through your head, right?" she asked as she glanced at the young taijiya over her shoulder. He was staring at her with wide, surprised eyes. He definitely hadn't expected her to say all that and she was pretty sure she had hit the nail on the head.

A small part of her was yelling at her to stop. She had made her point, she was sure of it. He'd listen to her now. There was no need to let him know more, no need to relive those memories again. She could just lock them up and never think of them again, like she had for the past two hundred years (or two hundred and fifty if one counted the sleep Kikyo had put her to), give or take a few.

'But then again, I had always wanted to tell someone… to get it off my chest… to have someone listen and not judge…' she couldn't help but think as she glanced at the boy again. His whole attention was on her and she couldn't help but give him a small, sad, but understanding smile. 'If there's one person in this world like that, it would probably be him… he, who lived through something quite similar,' she thought, deciding to chance it. Besides, it wasn't only about her, anyway. Kohaku would need to hear it, too, if only to know that he wasn't the only lost soul out there with extremely painful past experiences. She might not know him very well and she might never see him again once they reached the fort tomorrow, but she still somehow knew that she could tell him that one secret, at least. So with a sight, she walked back over to him and sat down cross-legged.

"I'm sure you know what I am. A hanyō. A being of mixed blood and all. But what I'm quite sure you don't know is that I, more than anyone, am the example of balance."

"Balance?" Kohaku asked, surprisingly not questioning her about what that had to do with anything. He seemed to sense she was telling him something important and did not ask her to explain too quickly, for which Kagome was grateful. Especially since she could hardly even believe herself that she was going to tell him all this. But if there was one person in this world who could understand her, it would be this child. And in the long run, it would probably help him, too.

That was all she needed to know to move past her unwillingness to remind herself of what had happened. He needed to know. He needed to understand that what he had tried to do was the ultimate form of stupidity. So she'd make him understand in the only way she could think of. By sharing her own experiences.

"Yes, balance. Within my body, there's a balance between human and demon blood that defines who I am, what I am, everything about me. But… that balance can easily be disrupted. It happens once every month naturally, when my demon blood becomes dormant for a set period of time…"

"…and you turn human. It's called your time of weakness, right?" Kohaku interrupted her gently. When she glanced at him he bit his lip nervously and scratched the back of his head. "I was taught about that in case… I ever had to… you know…"

"Exterminate hanyō who were bothering, killing, feasting on villages and the like. Yeah, yeah, I know what kind of a monster humans see me as," Kagome interrupted him swiftly, wanting to make herself go back to the original topic before she subconsciously leapt at the chance to not talk about what she was about to reveal. "But never mind that. Yes, I meant the time when I'm human.

"But that's a natural moment when the balance shifts, and once a certain amount of time passes, the equilibrium between my human and demon blood is restored. And then, there's the other way the balance can shift."

"The… other way?" Kohaku asked slowly, as if sensing he was about to find out something she had kept to herself for a very long while. And he wasn't wrong. Kagome nodded slowly.

"When my human blood succumbs to my demon blood," she said slowly. The young boy's eyes widened as he stared ad her.

"That can happen?" he asked her, now sounding more curious than anything. Well, what do you know, he was a curious lad where species other than human were concerned, wasn't he? But then again, if he was to be a demon slayer, it'd be better for him to be curious and to learn things he was curious about, too.

"It can, although I can't say when it does. There isn't a pattern to it, it's not a natural occurrence like when turning human. But I know that when it does happen, a hanyō is no longer himself, but rather the very monster humans fear," she said slowly, unable to help the shudder at revealing that information, nor the one that followed when she forced herself to say the next words. "To me, it only happened once. And when it did… I killed my own mother."

Silence. That was all that greeted her revelation. Dead silence. Glancing up at Kohaku, she saw his eyes were opened wide as he stared it her, although he did not seem to be scared. Rather, he was surprised and… she could swear she saw understanding in his eyes.

"You… did what…?" he gasped out, but just like his eyes, his voice held no fear of her. It sounded pained more than anything else, as he was probably reminded of what he himself had done just a few hours earlier. Kagome sighed.

"I did the very same thing you think you've done today. I took the life of my only remaining family, the only person who ever loved and accepted me," she said, her voice devoid of all emotion as the images flashed in her mind again, a few blurry bits and pieces that she hardly remembered, but couldn't fully forget for the life of her. Then, she raised her eyes to stare at Kohaku, wanting to drive a few key points home.

"I killed her in cold blood, with no remorse until I was back in my normal mind. But unlike you, I wasn't controlled by another yōkai. That was completely my doing, out of my mind as I had been. And unlike you, I didn't kill part of my family. She was among many I slaughtered that night, but my mother was the only remaining family I had and knew of. Once she was gone, I was on my own. But you…" Kagome stopped then for a brief second, smiling sadly at the young boy in front of her, a mere child and nothing more who had went through a nightmare so similar to her own she could not help sympathizing with him. And as much as she was surprised that she opened up enough to tell him this, at the same time, she was aware that it had nothing to do with 'opening up'. This wasn't about trust. This was about helping Kohaku in the only way she could, no matter how much it might hurt her in the process.

She was not yet aware just how much this knowledge would help him, though, not to mention herself.

"You didn't lose everyone, did you," she finally said, though it was not a question. "You aren't alone. You still have your sister with you… Sango, was it? Do you really think she blames you for what happened? Do you think she would be happy to know you took your own life?"

Kohaku didn't answer, his eyes glued to her as if he were unable to tear his eyes away. Maybe he was. Kagome realized she didn't really care. All she cared about at this point was ending this conversation quickly and leaving so she could lick her wounds.

She had hoped enough time had passed for her to be able to at least tell someone about what had happened without opening up her old wounds too much. Now she knew she had been mistaken. Thinking about it, or telling anyone, wasn't any less painful than it had been when it first happened. With a sigh, she stood up and started to walk away, intent on leaving Kohaku to his thoughts and hoping he wouldn't try something like killing himself again. But just to be sure, she looked over her shoulder as she left, allowing a few last words to reach him.

"I can't say I blame you for what you tried to do. The thought had passed through my own head back then. But in the end, I couldn't help but think of the words I had heard many times," she said quietly, before reciting the words her mother had told her time and time again. "Death is the coward's way out, Kohaku. If you truly regret what you did, despite it not being truly your fault, then live. Live and atone for it for the rest of your life. And if it ever gets too painful, think that you live not for yourself, but for your sister. I do not think she wishes to be alone any more than you do."

[/T]

And with that, she turned back around and was about to leap off.

"Wait!" Kohaku called before she could leave and, intrigued as to why he was stopping her, she waited for him to say what he wanted to say. She didn't have to wait long. "Your name," he said slowly before gathering his courage and reformulating the request in a firm voice. "Please, may I know your name?"

"Kagome," the hanyō-girl replied after a moment of silence before leaping off, leaving Kohaku to return to camp on his own. But she still was close enough to hear his last words.

"Thank you, Kagome-sama."

XxX

The next day, the group was silent as they continued on their way to the fort of the taijiya, everyone lost in their respective thoughts as they walked. Even Shippō didn't babble on and on like he usually liked to when their group was too quiet, riding silently on Miroku's shoulder instead, though he was visibly bored out of his mind.

Sango was the one to interrupt the silence, telling them that the fort wasn't very far away now. In fact, they should see it within the hour, and reach it within the next one. She was visibly happy to be so close to home, which wasn't very surprising.

What was surprising was the rate at which she was recovering. Or maybe it was more stubbornness and the fact that she was accustomed to being wounded. Either way, after a good night's rest, she had proven herself capable of walking on her own, through at a very slow pace, as to not irritate her wounds too much. Because of that, they were walking at a much slower pace than the day before or than they normally would, as the stubborn woman refused to be carried by anyone if she could walk herself, slow as it was (despite Inuyasha telling her she should not be moving around yet).

Nevertheless, they were moving forward, and just as Sango had predicted, the fort had come into view soon enough. Compared to everything else he had seen in the Feudal Era so far, minus the majestic castle filled with demons the other day, Inuyasha had to admit that the sight of the fort was rather impressive. Even if all he saw was a tall, protective wall made of wood.

Still, seeing it even from afar, Inuyasha couldn't help but think that there was something that didn't sit quite well with him. Something seemed off, although he couldn't quite tell why. The fact that Miroku didn't seem any calmer than Inuyasha was didn't make the priest believe it was his own imagination, either. Nor did the sudden blur of red he saw out of the corner between the trees before it disappeared again, heading straight for the fort. Inuyasha narrowed his eyes. 'Kagome?' he questioned in his mind, wishing he could just run after her and ask what was wrong. For her to speed off like that, something had to be. But unfortunately, he had already lost her from view, so following her wasn't exactly an option, even if he knew exactly where she was headed.

He was rather quick to find out just why she had sped off, though, as it took them much shorter to actually reach the fort than Sango had anticipated. Especially since the slayer had sped up as soon as they got closer, despite Inuyasha's warning that she'd aggravate her wounds. Sango didn't seem to care, too focused on the approaching wall until she was almost running in its direction – or as close to running as her wounded body would allow – her brother close behind her. Inuyasha didn't blame them. The broken wall he was now close enough to see didn't seem like a good omen.

And unfortunately, it truly wasn't. That much was visible as soon as they had so much as glanced at the other side of the gigantic, though now broken, protective fence at the village inside of it. The buildings themselves were still standing for the most part. The same couldn't be said for the inhabitants, though.

Sango and Kohaku both stood rooted to the spot at the sight, their backs rigid and their eyes wide with disbelief and confusion. Behind them, Mirkou was saying a quick, collective prayer for the souls of the deceased while Inuyasha looked at his surroundings with no small amount of both disgust and ager, all the while fighting with his stomach to keep it contents where they were.

"What happened here?" he finally asked quietly, afraid to so much as raise his voice to disturb the dead silence that fell over the village. And really, dead was the perfect and only possible word to use.

"Demon attack," Miroku replied simply, although really, the surroundings answered Inuyasha's question for him.

Almost every inch of the ground was covered in blood or guts, unless those were covered with a body or two. Or body parts, as those were spread around everywhere, too, both human and demon alike. Weapons were thrown haphazardly every which way, not one of them seeming to escape the stain of blood. Those that did were protruding from different bodies, mostly yōkai carcasses, some being even imbedded with a multitude before going down. But that only showed that it was not truly a slaughter, but rather a desperate fight. One that ended with a draw as far as they could tell.

Sango suddenly lunged forward with a battle cry, catching Inuyasha's attention again.

"You'll pay for that, yōkai!" the female demon slayer yelled as she reached for her boomerang and prepared to swing, most likely charging at one of the remaining demons that somehow weren't killed by the taijiya. Still, Inuyasha looked past her and froze at what he saw. Standing among the mutilated bodies, demon and human alike, and drenched in blood was Kagome. And she was the one Sango was lunging at, though the half-demon didn't seem impressed at all.

She didn't say anything, nor panic as Sango threw her huge boomerang. She merely ducked out of the way to allow the giant bone to fly over her, her eyes never leaving the incoming slayer. Sango didn't stop in her run, one hand reaching towards her wakizashi, while the other reached into a small pouch at her side. But whatever the slayer was planning to do, Kagome wasn't going to allow her to do it. Without so much as blinking, she lunged as well to meet the taijiya half-way.

She was faster than the human woman, and before Sango could do anything, she found herself flat on the ground, knocked back by Kagome's open-palmed strike to her lower abdomen and with the hanyō looming over her. But unlike what she was probably expecting, the silver haired girl wasn't reeling at her or baring her fangs. She was merely staring at her, her eyes the color of the coldest gold anyone had ever seen.

[T]

"First of all, I am no yōkai," Kagome said in a eerily calm tone, or at least eerie to Inuyasha, who had just run up to them with Kohaku. The boy fell at his sister's side, worried for her well-being as her clothes were once again stained red, some of her wounds reopened from the exertion she had put herself through, just as Kagome raised a hand to catch the returning boomerang in her hand and let it fall to the ground beside the two slayers.

"Second of all, if I had wanted to kill you, I would have done so in the castle instead of saving your skin, taijiya. And if I had not killed you, what reason do I have to kill your kinsmen?"

"Since when do the likes of you need a reason other than wanting to kill?" Sango shot back, her anger and hurt obviously overriding her judgment. Shaking her head, Kagome decided to ignore her and turned to Inuyasha instead.

"You should check her wounds again. I'm quite sure she just reopened at least one of them," she said calmly before turning to walk off. Inuyasha hardly registered what she was saying to him, though, too focused on Kagome herself. Looking at her face, he couldn't help but notice that something was different about her since the last time he had seen her the previous day. Her eyes were more closed off than before and her whole expression and even demeanor were colder and more distant than what he was used to. And he couldn't say he liked that.

"As if I'll just let you run away," Sango grunted as she tried to sit up again, despite Kohaku's attempts to keep her where she was.

"Ane-ue…" he started to say in a somewhat pleading voice, but before he could say anything, Kagome turned around again and pinned both slayers down with a cold stare.

"Do you wish to become one more corpse among many?" she asked, hardly caring if her words were harsh or not. Right now, she was hiding behind a mask she had long since become accustomed to wearing and she knew better than to take it off in front of the taijiya. Let Sango think whatever she wanted, she would stay on her guard near the woman. "You are alive, taijiya. Maybe you should think about keeping it that way before you think of revenge. Especially if it is directed at the wrong person."

"But, Kagome-sama, you cannot deny… well, I do not mean to accuse you, of course, but you do look like you've been… hunting," Miroku said as he also walked over to them, choosing his words carefully as he regarded the hanyō somewhat warily. Now, even he had to see she was acting weird, although he was still giving her the credit of the doubt and though she did not show it, Kagome was grateful. Her only response was a nod toward the destroyed wall protecting the destroyed village, near the broken door they had come through.

"Look over there, Miroku-sama, and you'll know why I'm so bloodied," she said calmly, crossing her arms in front of her chest. Following her request, Miroku, and even Inuyasha, Kohaku and Shippō glanced where she was telling them to look. Sango was the only one to refuse to look away from the half-demon, though Kagome did the same thing with her, the cold golden eyes daring the slayer to so much as attempt to reach for any sort of weapon. Since she was partially restrained by Kohaku, however, and unable to move much anyway, Sango had to forfeit the fight for now. But her eyes gave Kagome a message that couldn't be any clearer. They would settle this as soon as the slayer recovered.

Kagome wasn't looking forward to it. In fact, she hoped they would part with the slayers before Sango had fully recovered. But considering the current situation and, more importantly, the scents surrounding her, Kagome suspected it wouldn't be that easy. That, however, only meant that she would have to stay on her guard at all times, like she always had ever since her mother passed away, killed by her own claws.

"Graves?" Kohaku finally whispered, bringing Kagome out of her thoughts yet again.

"You buried the inhabitants of the village, Kagome?" Shippō asked in awe as he jumped into her arms, hardly caring about the blood he would get on himself because of it. Kagome caught him reflexively and held him close to her chest, allowing his warm to give her comfort even if the kit wasn't aware of it, or how much she truly needed it right then. She shook her head.

"No, I didn't get to that yet. Those are the taijiya who died at the castle," she responded, her voice strangely hollow, cold and emotionless to Inuyasha's ears. She had never sounded more like Sesshōmaru than in this moment and, for some reason, this scared him. Something had happened, there was no question about that. What he had yet to find out was what it was.

"You… you brought them here, Kagome-sama?" Kohaku asked quietly, as if not believing what he was hearing. His sister shot him a strange look, most likely because of the use of not only a name, but also a honorific, but didn't say anything. Kagome simply nodded, glancing briefly at the female slayer who had tried to kill her a few minutes before (not that it was any surprise) and noting the reaction, before moving back and resting on Kohaku.

"I figured they deserved to rest among their own kind, rather than in some forgotten forest or being left behind in a demonic castle," she said with a shrug. "Didn't think 'resting among their own kind' would have to be taken so literally, though," she added under her breath as she looked around once more.

"We should look around. Maybe there are some survivors," Shippō said as he prepared to take off, but he was stopped when Miroku sighed.

"I do not believe there's any chance of us finding anyone anymore, Shippō," he said gravely as his eyes swept over the carnage. He didn't seem very much affected by the sight of the decimated village and the mutilated bodies everywhere, but then again, he had probably seen such scenes many times before, as Kagome had, too.

The hanyō in question shook her head at the houshi's words, silently disagreeing with him. He shot her a curious, questioning stare in response and she shrugged again.

"The scent of blood is quite fresh, actually. It wasn't long ago that the last man fell and took the last demon down with him. So if there were any survivors, we might still find them. However, though I can't tell for sure by scent, I do not hear any sign of life around here. But I could be wrong. My ears are not as accurate as my nose."

"Then we should start looking around instead of just standing here doing nothing," Inuyasha replied as he stood up. But Kagome just put her hand on his shoulder and gently pushed him back down.

"Someone has to look at her wounds," she said as she pointed to Sango without looking at her. "And you are the only one who has anything that could help her, so you'll start with that," she added. Then her eyes fell on Kohaku. "You should stay by your sister's, too. For your own good, among other reasons."

Inuyasha wanted to protest the idea of checking Sango's wounds again, for the same reason he had been uncomfortable with it before. Especially since she was wide awake now, unlike last time. He even wanted to suggest Kagome check on her, since she was a girl also and thus the whole situation would be much less awkward, but one glance at Sango's expression and the dirty looks she was sending Kagome's way was enough to convince him that was not a good idea. He had yet to figure out why Sango was acting the way she was, though. Wasn't it obvious that Kagome wasn't to blame for the carnage in the taijiya's fortress? So why did Sango seem to hate her so much, when she didn't even know her?

As for Kohaku, he nodded without complaint, obviously grateful that he didn't have to wander around a village he remembered to be full of life not even two days ago.

"These brave warriors also deserve a burial. If not a proper pyre, then at least a grave to rest somewhere," Miroku spoke up again, and Kagome nodded her consent.

"Then you start up on that. Leave looking for survivors to me," she said briskly, barely waiting for Miroku to nod before she turned on her heel and tried to walk off. 'Although I seriously doubt I'll find anyone alive,' she added in her thoughts. It was for that reason that she hadn't started to look for survivors the second she arrived at the village, and started by burying the taijiya she brought from the castle, first, but she decided to keep that grim truth to herself.

She barely made two steps towards the heart of the village when a woman she had not expected to speak stopped her.

"As if you'd help anyone if you did find a survivor," Sango spat angrily, causing Kagome's eyes to become even colder (if that was even possible). She glared over her shoulder at the slayer, but before she could say anything to her, Kohaku spoke up.

"Ane-ue, stop. Kagome-sama isn't like that," he pleaded. Sango turned her head to stare at him incredulously, obviously not believing a word he was saying and, Kagome believed, thinking he was under some sort of spell the hanyō might have put on him. After glancing at him for all of three seconds, Sango turned back to glare at Kagome. The silver haired girl's eyes narrowed at the slayer woman as she replied to her earlier words.

"I would watch my tongue, taijiya, if I were in your place. Hanyō though I may be, I am not the monster that tried to kill you. In fact, I am one of those who saved your life. So maybe you should reconsider if I'm an enemy to be resented or not. Had I not cared for the life of innocent people I do not know, you and your brother would have been dead by now," she said coldly and walked off without waiting for a response.

As she walked through the village, her ears and nose trained on her surroundings in a futile search for any sign of life, any indication that at least one person had survived, her mind wandered to a time when she saw a similar scene. There were few differences between this village and the one she had once lived at, the one she had destroyed herself when she lost her mind. One of them was the presence of demon carcass and resistance. In her own village, there hadn't been any demons to slay except herself, and once she lost it, there was little the villagers could have done to stop her. The other difference were the expression on the faces of the dead men and even women surrounding her – their faces spoke of determination and resolve, whereas the villagers from so long ago had only shown fear. Fear and agony. Both of which had her as the source.

She really tried not to think of it. She had remembered enough of that night just yesterday and dwelling on it would only reopen her wounds further than they already were. Too bad her immediate surroundings made it hard not to think of that night when her conversation with Kohaku from yesterday, and all that she had said to him, were still fresh in her mind.

She was forced to get her mind out of the clouds, though, as her ears finally caught a sound in the dead silence surrounding her. Immediately, Kagome's head snapped up in the direction it had come from, a small alley between two huts, both of which had seen better days. Another sound came from the same direction and Kagome narrowed her eyes. It sounded like someone, or something, was forcing their way through the debris that covered the ground with no small amount of force. It didn't sound like a human, though, of that Kagome was certain, unless said human had somehow escaped the entire battle and had thus no scratch on him. That wasn't very likely, though.

[/T]

Tensing, Kagome bended her knees in preparation, expecting a demon to lunge at her any moment. But before that could happen, she saw something in the very direction the sound was coming from. A pair of blood-red, cat-like eyes. Soon, the rest of the creature stalked out of the half-shadows of the alley and Kagome's eyes widened.

"Oh, you have got to be kidding me."

XxX

Inuyasha had made quick work of checking Sango's wounds again, and even a quicker one of redressing them (although he still made sure to do it properly). Contrary to what he had expected, however, Sango didn't make much of a fuss about a man tending to her. He expected it was because he didn't actually see any of the intimate parts of her body, since her wounds were mostly located at the height of her stomach and lower abdomen.

He was about to stand and go looking for Kagome, or maybe help Miroku with the graves, but once again, he was stopped from leaving, this time by Sango herself.

"That pearl around your neck… is that the Shikon no Tama?" she asked, her eyes glued to Inuyasha's chest. Blinking, the black haired priest looked down as well, only now noticing that the pearl had once again slipped out of its confinement behind his shirt and was in plain sight for any power-hungry demon to see. Cursing under his breath, he quickly tucked the gem beneath his clothes again, but didn't play dumb in front of the female. He didn't need to, anyway, as she obviously knew the answer.

"It is, isn't it. Then you're the priest charged to protect it now?" she asked again. This time, Inuyasha nodded, his eyes growing wary as he glanced at the wounded woman. She wanted to know a little too much for his comfort. And she still pressed on. "What happened to the miko who protected it before?"

"She died," Inuyasha replied curtly. "Why are you asking?"

"And she entrusted you with the Jewel before she passed?" Sango continued her interrogation, ignoring his question. Inuyasha frowned.

"I don't see how that's any of your business," he replied, his tone taking on a hard note. Who was this woman to interrogate him like that on things that should not concern her?

"It is my business because the Jewel came originally from this village," Sango replied, giving Inuyasha pause as he stared at her, repeating her words in his mind as if to help himself to comprehend them. "That and I wish to understand why a priestess pure and powerful enough to protect and purify the Jewel entrusted its protection after her passing to a priest naïve enough to trust and travel with a hanyō."

Anger bubbled inside the black haired kannushi, but not as much at the mild insult to himself as at the insult thrown at Kagome. His frown deepened and his fists clenched at his sides, but before he could verbally leash out and give the woman a piece of his mind, a few loud cracking noises filled the silence. In the next second, one of the walls of a nearby hut broke apart and Kagome came soaring through the hole, skidding to a halt on all fours easily. Her eyes were trained on the hole she had come through and for good reason, for something followed her through it. Leaping out of the way, Kagome landed on the roof of the hut nearest to her, then jumped back down to face the demon she seemed to be fighting, a warning growl coming from her throat. The demon before her growled right back.

It was a cat. Or at least, it would have looked like a cat, had it not been for the fact that it was about as big as a horse and was saber-toothed. Its fur was a light yellow, except at the tip of its ears, its paws and the end of its two tails, where it was black. The paws themselves were also coated in tiny, red flames in addition to the fur. Whatever the demon was, it probably had some abilities involving fire, or at least that was what Inuyasha expected.

Cursing again, the black haired priest was quick to stand and reach for his sword, but before he could rush into the middle of things, Shippō jumped on his shoulder and stopped him.

"Relax, I don't think they're really fighting," the kit said, but Inuyasha was not allowed to ask him why that was as another, familiar voice came from the cat-like demon, barely loud enough for the humans to hear.

"Please, stop, Kirara! This person is no enemy! Stop!" it yelled, but whoever the voice was yelling at (it seemed to be the cat-demon, but Inuyasha couldn't be certain), it definitely didn't work as the two demons jumped around each other again, growling all the while. Inuyasha had to admit, however, that it looked more like a game of tag than an actual battle. He frowned.

"That sounded like Myouga just now," he muttered under his breath before turning to glance at the kit on his shoulder. "What makes you say that?" he asked him, referring to what Shippō said moments before, although the longer he looked at the neko and Kagome, he couldn't find himself disagreeing.

"Well, besides the fact that it doesn't look like a fight, what they're saying makes absolutely no sense at all," the kit scoffed. Inuyasha raised an eyebrow.

"What they're saying?" he repeated incredulously, straining his ears. But aside from growling, he didn't hear anything. Shippō nodded.

"Yeah… that cat is saying things like 'stop just running around, you're no fun,' and Kagome replies among the lines of 'this not being the place for doing this' or something like that," he said with a shrug. "I don't really know what they're going on about, though."

"If they're not fighting then what are they doing?" Sango asked skeptically as she slowly sat up with her brother's help. Shippō shrugged again.

"I don't know, playing tag maybe?" he asked innocently, getting three skeptical looks in response. He ignored them, though.

Just then, the ground shook as the cat demon slammed into it with all of its weight, its paws bending slightly to absorb the impact so that it wouldn't fall over. Kagome was trapped between its paws and the demon lowered its head to stare at her. Kagome glared back at the gloating, red eyes, now getting irritated. The kitty wanted a game? Fine, a game it would get then.

The nekomata, for that was what the neko truly was, had made one crucial mistake: while it had trapped Kagome between its paws, it had not pinned her down to the ground, so the half-demon was free to use her limbs as she wanted to – and that was just what she did. Quicker than lightning, both her arms shot up and grabbed the neko's fangs, using them as support to not only drag herself from under it, but also to jump over its head and land on its back, much like she would on a horse. A feral grin formed on her face as her claws gripped the soft fur of the nekomata to keep herself steady while her legs tightened around the demon's back, securing her position even as the cat started to jump around wildly and tried to throw her off.

"Give up, Kirara, I won this round," Kagome whispered into the neko's ear. It snorted in response and the next thing Kagome knew, the cat was engulfed in scarlet flames and when they vanished, Kagome fell flat on the ground, barely managing to use her hands as support to not squash the suddenly tiny kitten below her. She frowned as she gently put a hand on one of the retreating cat's tails, enough to stop her from running off and re-taking her true form but not enough to actually hurt her. "That was dirty," she scowled at her captor before releasing it and standing up. "But I still win."

Kirara snorted again, then mewled softly and jumped towards the half-demon, easily reaching her shoulder and from there her face, which she began to lick with a vengeance. Kagome frowned and pushed the cat away, though she was careful not to push her off her shoulder.

"Yeah, yeah, it's good to see you again, too, but that's no reason to lick me to death," she growled half-heartedly, although her eyes softened as she glanced at the neko again.

"Kirara!" two voices called just then, interrupting what seemed to be a happy reunion. Kagome didn't need to look in their direction to know who had called, but she did anyway. The two slayer siblings were staring at the nekomata and herself with a mixture of happiness and surprise, not that Inuyasha was any different in the being stunned department. Unfortunately for them, Kagome didn't feel like explaining anything, so she just knelt down and gently deposited the little neko yōkai on the ground.

"Go to them," she said softly as she stood and turned towards were Miroku was busy digging. "I have something to do, anyway," she added as she walked off. If Kirara was here and did not try to drag her anywhere, that was proof enough that no human survived the attack. There was no point in looking through the ruins anymore, unless it was in order to dig up old ghosts, and she was not planning on doing that. So the only other thing she could do was 'tidy up', or at least help Miroku in doing so.

"Kagome-sama, you know Kirara?" Myouga suddenly asked, reminding Kagome that he was there. She didn't notice when he had gotten off Kirara and onto her shoulder where he was now, but the hanyō didn't really care at that moment.

"I do," she replied shortly. "But you know, Myouga, I haven't seen you since that whole fiasco with the cursed sword that possessed Inuyasha. That's quite the while. Care to say where you've been?"

"Are you talking to yourself, Kagome-sama?" Miroku asked, though his tone implied he did not believe what he was saying, as he stopped digging to glance at her. Kagome shook her head and pointed to the suddenly-sweating flee on her shoulder.

"No, I'm talking to him," she corrected, causing Miroku to walk up closer to her, so that he could actually see what she was pointing at. "So, Myouga-jii-chan, what's your excuse this time? Did you get lost? Suffered amnesia? Or maybe you couldn't be bothered to find me because you were occupied with something extremely important?" she asked, turning to the flea again. When her eyes met his, and he saw just how cold they were, the flea seemed to tremble even more than before. "I think I covered everything, didn't I?"

"I… Well… That's…" Myouga tried to justify himself, but his voice seemed to fail him. Kagome sighed.

"Never mind. Just tell me what brought you here, I can listen to your talk while I work," she said as she knelt down at the nearest human corpse and gently freed it from the demonic carcasses surrounding it before she brought it to one of the holes Miroku had already dug up and jumped inside to gently deposit it there. If they were going to finish the villagers' burial in a reasonable amount of time, though, she'd soon have to help Miroku with the digging.

"Who is this flea, Kagome-sama?" Miroku asked as he went back to digging as well, not questioning her helping him at all, as if he had expected it. Though Kagome wouldn't put it past him if he had.

"His name's Myouga, and he's my so-called retainer, not that I can really consider him one. He's too much of a coward to stick around when things get rough, which is most of the time," Kagome replied shortly, glancing at said flee briefly. "Now start talking already," she snapped, proving to the poor flee that she was in no mood to be crossed. Knowing better than not to obey in such circumstances, as crossing Kagome was a bad idea for him even on a good day, Myouga started to talk.

While Miroku and Kagome worked on the graves for the rest of the slayers, Kirara had walked up to Sango and Kohaku and was now happily allowing herself to be petted like a house-cat, curled up in Sango's lap. The two siblings were definitely happy to see the tiny, demonic kitten, if the relief in their eyes was anything to go by. Inuyasha frowned slightly.

"You're friends with this yōkai, aren't you," he said, more than asked, his words directed at Sango. She tensed briefly before squaring her shoulders and glaring at him challengingly.

"And what's wrong with it if I am?" she asked defiantly. Inuyasha snorted and stood up, intent on joining Kagome and Miroku – if all three of them worked on it, they would finish sooner. Besides, he couldn't just sit around and do nothing if he could be of some help.

"Nothing except for the fact that you're a hypocrite," he answered as he dusted himself off. Sango looked offended at the implication, but Inuyasha hardly cared and continued talking before she could interrupt him, anyway. "You're a demon slayer, yet you're friends with a demon. If that doesn't go against your principles, then I don't know what does. And yet you seem bothered by the fact that a priest like myself befriended a half-demon. Your yōkai friend isn't a monster despite her species, is she? So tell me, Sango, if humans can become friends with friendly yōkai, why should hanyō be any different?" he asked, using her name like he would anyone else's, without any honorifics. He wasn't one for being polite, anyway.

Sango didn't reply, but he didn't really expect her to, so he walked away to leave her to her thoughts. Shippō couldn't help but comment on his words, though.

"Wow, I never thought I'd hear Inuyasha of all people say something so wise," the kit said in stunned awe. Inuyasha's eyebrow twitched and he whirled around, fist raised.

"Shut it, runt," he growled as his fist came down, hitting its mark for the first time in a long time and effectively sending Shippō running towards Kagome as if the bats of hell were on his tail, wailing all the while. Inuyasha cursed and grumbled under his breath as he walked after him, hoping Kagome wouldn't give him hell for hitting the kit, like she had done before. She was definitely overprotective of the little fox.

"Stupid kitsune runt."

---

And here we are. This is it. So… who saw that truth about Kagome's past coming? *looks around expectantly* OK, I know some of you had the idea in their minds, but who actually believed I'd go and do something like that to Kagome? *looks around again with a smile*

Also, in case any of you wonder why Sango acts the way she does around Kagome, keep in mind two things: one, so far it's not so different from her initial reaction to Inuyasha after being lied to by Naraku, and two, she has every reasons to act the way she does and they were all already pointed out in the chapter itself. If you still think her behavior is OOC, then there's nothing I can do about it except say 'deal with it'. I prefer saying that in advance, in case anyone is, or will be, unsatisfied with how their relationship will progress at first. Thank you.

With that said, I hope you liked what you just read and that the month's wait was worth it. Reviews are welcome :3

Next Chapter: The Story of The Shikon Jewel

See you then.