So excited that I was able to update so soon. This chapter might be slightly shorter than the others. Enjoy!

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Chapter 7: A Moment of Peace

When Kagome finally woke up later that day, she felt a whole lot better. A slight knock was heard on her door and she asked whoever it was to come in. The door opened slowly just to reveal Colin, shyly peeking in. Kagome smiled at him and motioned for him to come and sit next to her on the bed. He smile brightly and did as he was told.

"How are you Colin?" she asked sweetly as she hugged him.

"I'm doing alright, and yourself? I heard what happened when you guys were coming here. I'm glad everyone is safe."

"Yeah, it was quite the trip I tell you!"

Silence was surprisingly met. Her eyebrows scrunched in confusion as she stared at him. He was looking at his hands in his lap and he was holding in tears. Kagome gently grabbed one of his hands and made him look at her.

"What's wrong?" she softly asked.

Bright blue eyes made eye contact with her and he started crying.

"Ilia," he started, "She doesn't remember who I am…"

Kagome's heart dropped at the reason why he was upset. It was obvious that Ilia took a great and important role in his life. He loved and admired her, and seeing her in the state she was in, it was heartbreaking for him.

"Link will get her memory back, right? He's been helping everyone. He helped you as well! I know that he will help her… I have faith in him."

Before she could reply, Link stepped in her room. He had heard everything Colin said and he felt that Ilia's memory loss wasn't normal either. Somehow he would regain it back. But for right now, obtaining the Fused Shadow was a priority.

"Glad to see you're back to normal Kagome," Link commented teasingly as he looked at her. Her hair was a complete mess and her clothes were all wrinkled, probably from all the moving she did while she was asleep.

She playfully glared at him, "Why so do you."

He looked at Colin and gave him a small smile, "Why don't you go and play with Kirara? I'm sure Sango will let you."

Colin's sadness was quickly replaced by joy. Since the moment he had see the cat-demon, he wanted to play and pet her but was too shy to ask. Now knowing that he would most likely obtain a positive answer, he rushed out the door, thanking Link on his way out.

Link waited until Colin was gone to speak to Kagome again. She waited for him to say anything, so the meanwhile, she took in his current state. He was not wearing the tunic, just normal clothes. The only thing she saw that he was wearing from the tunic were his brown leather boots over his dark pants. The shirt was sleeveless, giving her a full view of his arms. His muscles in his arms were very pronounced, not as bulky as a bodybuilder, but bulky enough to state that he was a warrior. She then remembered the vision that she had at Fanadi's place and quickly started blushing.

Link noticed her staring, but did not say anything. However, once he saw her blushing, he couldn't help but tease her.

"Like what you see?"

She glared at him and tossed a pillow at him, "Shut up."

"So, you're not denying it?"

Kagome buried her face in her hands to hide the redness in her face. Who would've thought that sweet and polite Link could be a flirt?

He started laughing at her, "Relax, I'm joking. What I wanted to say is that I already spoke to your friends in more detail what has been going on. They're ready whenever you want to set off."

"I'm sure we can leave tomorrow… And Link?"

He gave her a confused look for her change of tone, "Yes?"

"How… how are you doing? About the whole thing of Ilia. We haven't been able to talk about it."

He took a deep breath as he grabbed the same chair he had sat on when he looked after her when he first found her. He placed it in front of her and gave her a bittersweet smile.

"In all honesty? It sucks. We were close since we were children."

Kagome looked at him closely as his eyes seem take in a darker hue, lost in his own thoughts.

"You've done so much already," she spoke softly as she reached to touch his hand, "You'll help her just on how you've been helping your land."

He looked at her hand on top of his and he couldn't help but feel grateful. Grateful for her kind words and for being a part of his life now. Just on how Midna has helped him throughout the journey, sarcastic remarks and all, Kagome has been able to give him so much strength as well. In all reality, he was crumbling in the inside for Ilia's situation. Specially when she finally had the chance to thank him for his help even though she didn't know him and he was a 'stranger' to her.. Ever since the twilight falling, he's had a few rare occasions where he broke down about the whole thing, and Ilia calling him a stranger… Well, he had to use all of his self control to not break in front of her. It pained her knowing that she could not remember anything. Besides, the children were suffering as well.

"Am I interrupting something?" Inuyasha said from the doorway. He suppressed the growl he wanted to let out the moment he saw them so close to each other.

Kagome immediately let go of Link's hand and went to Inuyasha, smiling brightly.

"Not at all! He was telling me how he told you guys everything. It's going to make it a lot easier now, us being together to travel. It'll be faster and nothing is going to get in our way."

He snorted at how chirpy she sounded, "Wench, anything that even tries coming our way I'll just destroy it with my fang."

She playfully rolled her eyes and went downstairs to look for Sango and Miroku. There was so much she wanted to tell them.

The rest of the day progressed normally. Everyone had gone to see prince Ralis, just to see that he was still unconscious. Ilia finally left his side and decided to join everyone at dinner in Renado's place. The group had decided to leave the following day so he wanted everyone together before they set off.

Ilia still felt rather awkward and insecure being around so many people, specially cause most of them apparently knew her. She felt horrible for the children since she saw the disappointed look on their faces whenever they would bring up something from their old life back in Ordon. She felt like she could do more, to remember, but her memory wasn't doing much. She was grateful that Link was being even more patient with her. From what she had heard, they had grown up together and were best friends all of their lives. She knew he felt pain since she couldn't remember anything, but he never pushed it. He would give her gentle smiles and would change the subject.

She was grateful for that.

The new group of people still confused her. She had never met anyone like them, from what she could remember. They were strange, but she could tell they were family. Kagome was a strong girl for her age and she had to be the sweetest person she had ever met. She would continuously ask her how she was or how the young prince was doing. She liked her, but she couldn't stop the feel of something pulling at her heart whenever she saw her and Link together. She couldn't explain it, so she just decided to keep that to herself.

The gorons finished building a table big enough to sit everyone right outside of Renado's house. Miroku, Inuyasha, and Link worked around the village to create different lanterns in order to give some light since night was close approaching.

Sango, Luda, Beth, Kagome, and Ilia finished up setting the table and helped Renado to start bringing out the food. After Link had talked to Kagome, him and Epona had set off to find the main course for their dinner. His hunt was successful and didn't take him long and brought back a big enough hog to feed everyone.

Once everything was almost ready, Link formally introduced Inuyasha and MIroku to Darbus and Gor Coron. Inuyasha was fascinated by Darbus' strength, and he wasn't too surprised that he had been the one under the control of the Fused Shadow.

Link grimaced at the memory since that wasn't the best thing being thrown like a rag doll when he was fighting him.

They all sat down comfortably around the table. Renado was at the head of it with Luda on his right. Kagome was sitting next to her and then it was Inuyasha, Sango, Miroku, Gor Coro, Darbus, and Barnes. On Renado's left was Telma, Link, Colin, Ilia, Beth, Talo, and Malo.

Everyone enjoyed the rest of the night, with the kids occasionally asking Link for stories of his adventures, specially since Kagome joined him.

Link and Kagome weren't sure what to say, since most of the people did not know about Link's transformation. Thankfully Telma came into their rescue and told them about the battle against King Bulbin on the bridge.

"Link was out of arrows by this point, since unfortunately he missed his last shot. Next thing I know, I see Kagome here firing an arrow right at him. Link jumped backwards from Epona and caught it in mid air!"

All the kids were fascinated by that.

"Woah Link! That's awesome!" Talo happily exclaimed as he looked at his hero.

Link looked down at his food, "It wasn't that big of a deal," he mumbled.

"Stop being so modest!" Telma said as she slapped his back with her hand causing him to start coughing since he had been in the middle of drinking water.

Kagome couldn't help but tease him, "Yeah Link, stop being so modest."

He playfully glared at her, "Says the one that's afraid of bugs."

Kagome stopped laughing as soon as he brought that up. She knew he had gotten her so she just stuck her tongue out to him.

And so the night continued on. The children played with Kirara after dinner while the adults talked.

Renado took out a map for the heros for them to plan thoroughly their departure the following day. It was old and worn out, but the main areas that they needed were still clear enough to see.

"The bridge is gone right here," Link said as she pointed at the map, "That is the fastest way if we were going to the Zora Domain. The temple according to the spirit, is right here on the lake."

Sango put a finger under her chin as she studied the map, "So we either leave the same way we found you and Kagome or we cut through Castle Town."

"Isn't the small bridge broken there too?" Miroku asked.

"But we got Inuyasha and Kirara. It wouldn't be a problem getting to Castle Town. I say that would be the best route. We can spend the night or day at Castle Town and head out the following morning to Lake Hylia." Kagome suggested.

Inuyasha nodded at her, "That's the smart way to do it. We'll head out first thing in the morning."

It was getting late and they soon noticed the children to start yawning. With the help of Renado, all the children were tucked away in their beds after saying goodbye to their friends since most likely were not going to be there once they woke up.

Sango and Kagome were in their room, packing the rest of their stuff and preparing their clothes for the following morning.

"It's a relief but crazy knowing that we are traveling together again," Sango commented as she cleaned her weapon while sitting on the bed.

Kagome nodded, "Yeah. It's been a while. And now we are somewhere completely different."

Sango looked at her for a moment and then sighed, "Do you think we'll go back to Japan?"

Kagome gave her a sympathetic look. She knew why she was asking. While they were here in a different world, Naraku was lose in their world. They didn't know if their friends were still alive. Sango didn't know if her own brother was alive.

Kagome walked towards the bed and sat down. She put an arm around Sango's shoulder and gave it a gentle squeeze.

"Don't worry Sango. We'll go home and we'll kill Naraku and have Kohaku back with us."

"I hope so, I really do."

After a while, they both fell asleep as soon as they got under the covers of their rooms. Who knows when will be the next time that they slept so comfortably.

He couldn't sleep. He had tossed and turned, even put the pillow over his head but he could not sleep. He left the inn and started making his way up to the lookout area where Talo would be during the day. He was anxious about the upcoming trip. The other two temples that he had encounter on his own had been somewhat difficult. He wasn't sure how it was going to be now with a group of friends.

Friends…

Is that what they were to him?

Kagome definitely was. And he had taken a great liking to Miroku even though he hasn't gotten the chance to really talk to him one on one. He had huge respect towards Sango for being such a strong female warrior and she was also nice to him, thanking him profusely for keeping an eye on Kagome.

The enigma was Inuyasha.

He was no idiot. He had seen the small glares from the half-demon whenever him and Kagome talked or when he was near her.

He could understand why. Kagome was a very beautiful girl with her long raven hair, bright eyes, beautiful smile, soft lips…

He stopped dead in his tracks at the last thought.

Where did that come from?

He didn't think he was attracted to her. At least he told himself that. Kagome was from another world and she was in love with someone already. He needed to be focused on the task at hand, even if it meant sacrificing his own heart if he were to develop feelings for the priestess.

And then there was Ilia…

He smiled bitterly as her face popped in her mind. Maybe in another time, they could've been something. He had heard the women talk about him and her back at the village. Maybe. But not now. He had too much in his plate and the more he was near Ilia, the more he realized that that small crush he used to have on her went out the window, and it wasn't the fact that she had lost her memory. He was already feeling that before the kidnapping.

"What's up with you, Mr. Hero?" Midna asked as she appeared in front of him.

He looked up to stare at her. And then there was her. He knew his feelings were nowhere of being romantic towards Midna, but she understood him. She could be on his ass all day but she had her moments where her attitude drop and she was caring for him.

"Just thinking about the trip to Lakebed Temple."

Her red eye narrowed at him, "Liar, that's not all."

He avoided eye contact as he debated with himself whether or not to bring up what he was thinking.

"Just setting my mind straight with the priorities, that's all."

Midna nodded, "Kagome I take it?"

He looked at her this time, "I'm not sure. I can't deny she's strong and beautiful, but I'm not going to get in the way between her and Inuyasha if I were to have feelings for her."

Midna was about to say something when he interrupted, "And even if I did, it would not work out. Once this is all over, they're going to leave and I won't see her again."

"If she leaves."

"She will. They have their own enemy Midna. I have to take care of the one here and get it over with."

She stared at him for a few moments. She respected the fact that he didn't want to have distractions, but she knew that sometimes you couldn't control your heart.

"You need to go to bed," she suddenly said, "Long day tomorrow and we have to put up with dog boy the whole time."

He smirked, "And here I thought you would like him since you two are so alike."

"Shut it wolf boy," and with that, she disappeared.

As soon as the first signs of dawn were seen, Inuyasha took the job himself to go and wake everyone up. He was about to bang on Link's door to notice it was slightly open. He saw Link putting on his boots and it seemed he was ready to go.

He didn't bother giving him a warning, he just walked in and told Link to start going outside. He didn't wait for a reply as he went to the next room, which was Kagome's and Sango's. He knew better than to burst in through the door with two women in there so he just knocked and hissed at them to hurry the hell up.

Last but not least, was Miroku. Inuyasha just walked in to see the monk drooling on the pillow and mumbling in his sleep. He grabbed the cup of water on the nightstand and threw whatever was left to Miroku's face and walked out.

It had been decided that Link would not be taking Epona with him. Instead, he would be riding with Sango and Miroku on Kirara since it would be easier to reach Castle Town. Besides, after the trip to Kakariko Village, he knew that his mare needed time to relax. He was concerned since they did pack a couple of things but according to Sango, Kirara was strong enough.

He was waiting for Miroku to get comfortable when he saw one of his hands rubbing Sango's bottom. Link's eyes widened and he was about to tell him something when automatically, Sango turned around and slapped him so hard that he fell off Kirara.

"Seriously Miroku! And this whole time I thought you would continue to behave yourself!"

"But Sango! I couldn't control it, my hand is cursed!"

Kagome and Inuyasha walked next to Link to see what the commotion was. As soon as Inuyasha saw Miroku he snorted.

"What a moron."

Kagome shook her head, "He will never learn."

It was then decided that Link would ride behind Sango with Miroku behind him to stop any other altercations. The whole time, Miroku pouted.

They said goodbye to Renado, whom had woken up to bid them off, and they left to Hyrule Field.

The sun was slightly kissing the sky with sunshine as it finally rose. It was a bit chilly, so Kagome made sure she had a blanket over her shoulders as she rode on Inuyasha's back.

"This brings back old memories," she whispered to him as he continued to run.

He grunted in response, "Yeah, you being lazy and wanting me to carry you everywhere."

She playfully hit his head, "That was mean."

He smirked but didn't say anything.

Sure enough because of his and Kirara's speed, it didn't take long for them to see the outlines of the castle in the distance.

Link had put his sword away but he had his bow and arrows ready in case of any monsters apperead. The closer they got to Castle Town, the more his muscles tensed. He had not seen any monsters the whole time that they were traveling.

"So Link," Miroku said as he looked at him, "How old are you?"

"Turning 18 in a couple of months. Yourself?"

"I'm 20, same as Sango. Kagome turned 17 a few months back and Inuyasha is just old"

"I heard that Miroku!" Inuyasha yelled from his spot at the front.

It was mid afternoon when they finally reached the broken bridge of the western entrance to Castle Town. Kirara flew right over and with a quick jump from Inuyasha, they were officially in Castle Town.

Kagome had told them about the variety of people and the different types of businesses. Since Telma was still going to stay for a few more days at Kakariko Village, the group had to find an inn if not, they would have to camp outside.

They were able to find an affordable room in an inn, however Link was only able to get two rooms since they still needed to stock up on a couple of supplies. Instead of just waiting in the rooms, they decided to go with Link to buy a couple more things. As Link finally found a supply store, he raised his eyebrow at how fancy the place looked. As he stepped inside, he immediately got a glare from the seller. He ignored the glare and just continued forward. As he told the seller which items he wanted, he looked to see his companions just looking around.

The seller put everything on the counter and said, "That's 5,000 rupees."

Link's eyes widened and narrowed his eyes at the man.

"Why is it so much?"

He looked at Link up and down and scoffed, "They're the best out there and of the best quality. However, I can see that neither you or your friends have the money to purchase these items."

"What's that supposed to mean?" Inuyasha demanded.

"Your clothes young lad! With that attire I cannot expect you to pay for my wonderful items!"

Before Inuyasha could jump over the counter and strangle the man, Link put a firm hand on his shoulder.

"Let's go."

Outside, everyone went on a rant.

"I can't believe how rude he was!" Kagome exclaimed.

Miroku nodded his head in agreement and Sango just shook her head as she stared at the store.

"You should've let me use my claws on him. Bastard..." Inuyasha mumbled.

"We'll have to make due with what we have. At least we can get a bit more food. Who knows how long we'll be at the temple."

The rest of the day continued on, with no more incidents of being judged or anything in that liking. Back at the inn, they sat around a table where they were eating before heading to bed. The group shared more stories with Link regarding their adventures in feudal japan.

Link was very surprised to hear that Inuyasha has an older half brother back home and that he is able to transform into a dog demon.

Next thing they knew, it was time for them to go to sleep. Inuyasha, Miroku, and Link were staying in one room while Kagome and Sango stayed in the one across from them.

As they were settling in for the night, Inuyasha eyed Link's Ordonian Sword with criticism. Link hadn't noticed the looks, but apparently his shadow did.

Midna could see and feel Inuyasha's skeptical attitude towards the sword. Yes, it was a simple sword but Midna knew that Link was a formidable fighter with that and he knew how to cause damage.

"You really think you can defeat Zant with that thing?" Inuyasha asked.

Link looked at the sword next to his bed and before he could reply, Midna beat him to it.

She exploded, "What's your problem dog boy?! I'll have you know that even if it's just a normal sword, Link can STILL defeat you in combat!"

Everyone was shocked at her sudden outburst. Link because, well, he wasn't expecting her to defend him. Miroku and Inuyasha because this was the first time that the imp had made an apperance.

Midna then realized what she had done and a slight shade of red could be seen spreading on her transparent cheeks. She ignored it and just crossed her arms and glared at the half demon.

After his shock worn off, he glared right back at her, "It's a puny sword! You're telling me that there is an evil son of a bitch out there and Link is going to defeat him with that thing?"

Midna growled and continued to argue with him.

Link closed his eyes for a moment to relax when he remembered what the Hero's Shade had told him when he first met him.

"A sword wields no strength unless the hand that holds it has courage."

Miroku looked at Link confused, "What do you mean?"

"It doesn't matter if I were to have the most powerful sword out there, like let's say the legendary Master Sword. Any sword is useless if I don't know how to handle it and have faith in myself. I hate to say this but Midna is right, I would defeat you in combat."

Inuyasha narrowed his eyes, "Bullshit."

Link suddenly got a challenging glint in his eye and Midna noticed. His animal instincts were finally kicking in full blast by being challenged by Inuyasha for his fighting capacity. She's seen that ferocity before. The more he fought, the more his wolf instincts were coming out in his human form.

Inuyasha might have faced his own battles, but he won't stand a chance against Link, Midna thought as she stared at her companion.

"Follow me then."

Aaaaaand you're probably hating me for leaving it right there. I'm sorry! Couldn't help it.

Next chapter, showdown between Inuyasha and Link and they reach Lakebed Temple!

Please review and let me know what you thought! Any constructive criticism is welcome ^.^