Chapter 10: Release

I could see her relax, once we had left that woman's domain. Her expression no longer hardened. I noticed her going a different way from the way we'd come.

"Are we not going back to the village?"

She shook her head. "We are headed to the West. To see if we can find out any more information about Tsubaki."

"Your companion will not like that."

"I do not do things to please Inuyasha. So what I do or do not do, is not to make him happy. Nor do I need his permission to do anything. He will be fine. I do not need to be protected or anything like that. I am competent, thank you very much."

I was beginning to get irritated. "How long will you behave like this?"

She hit the break on her contraption and I flew out of the basket. I flipped over landing on my feet.

"That was unnecessary for you to do," I told her.

She gripped the handles. "What is your problem?"

I could tell that she was holding back her anger. Her clenched jaw and tense shoulder did nothing to help the fact.

"I believe I have already asked you that," I told her.

She scoffed looking away from me.

"We will not move from here until you answer me."

"That's funny. You love to say that you are not a child, but you sure are acting like one right now." She'd said.

"I could say the same for you woman."

She scowled. "My name-"

"Is Kagome." I finished for her. "I am well aware. Now, what is wrong with you Kagome?"

She seemed surprised that I had used her name. I had surprised myself as well. Her name felt strange leaving my lips.

She sighed. "Why does it matter to you anyway?"

"I am not used to you behaving this way."

"Oh. I am sorry that my human emotions are so much of an inconvenience to you."

"That is not what I meant." I jumped back into the basket. "I do not want you to be like this."

She looked at me strangely. " I don't want to talk about it."

"If you do not talk about it, you will continue on like this. I specifically remember someone telling me that they would show me what life has to offer. How would you be able to do that if you are like this for the rest of our travels."

She stared at me. I could tell she was mulling over what I had said.

"Fine." She began riding once again." I heard Kaede telling you a few things last night, but the important parts were left out. The thing is Inuyasha and Kikyo used to be in love with one another. There was a demon we defeated some time ago by the name of Naraku. He had used some dirty tricks to come in between them because he wanted the jewel around my neck. What he had done had caused Kikyo to die and Inuyasha to be trapped in a tree with an arrow in his chest for fifty years. That's when I came along through that well Kaede had told you about. It was me who freed him from that tree. We began collecting jewel shards together, which caught the attention of Naraku. By chance, Kikyo had been resurrected by another dark Miko. What had happened all those years ago, in her mind had only happened just the day before; because of what Naraku had done she still believed that Inuyasha had betrayed her and taken the jewel. I had just gotten caught up in all this mess. As I am sure you heard her say back there. I am her reincarnation, which is why we look so similar. She tried to steal my soul. She still has part of it. She also tried to drag Inuyasha to hell with her. Not only did she try to take my soul essentially killing me, but she also tried to take the man that I loved to hell with her. She has been quite the thorn on my side. Inuyasha no longer wanted her and her sister was too ashamed to have anything to do with her. She turned dark, and has been lurking around, and causing trouble ever since."

"I see. That is quite a story."

"That's not even the tip of the iceberg. Well, now you know why. Hope you're happy.

Iceberg? What is an iceberg?

"It did not add to my happiness. However, I can tell that you are feeling much better after speaking about it."

"Yeah. I guess so… thanks for that by the way. For listening to me vent. I didn't mean to be such a jerk."

I nodded. "You are welcome. Another thing, that half-breed is beneath you."

She laughed. "Is that your way of saying he isn't good enough for me?"

"Of course. He has feelings for you."

"I know he does. He is not very good at hiding it, but that's behind me now. Too little too late. Too much has happened between us."

"Too much has happened?" I asked.

"That is another story. Possibly for another time. Now, stop being nosy." She smiled. " We have to hurry if we want to get to the West quickly.

We managed to travel a great distance. She reached great speeds on that contraption of hers. It was quite impressive. I sat quietly watching her intently as she dug into that large yellow pack of hers. Pulling out all of these strange things I had not seen in my years. She had to be quite strong to carry something so large on her shoulders. Being such a small human woman and all.

Wait.

Why was I so amazed by her? She wasn't doing anything extraordinary. I needed to get a hold of myself.

"These things are from my time." I heard her say. "This is a sleeping bag and these are snacks that I bought from the store."

"The store?"

She tapped her chin. "hmm, here I guess it would be called a market."

"I see."

She broke a piece of something she was eating, handing it to me. I cautiously took it from her. It smelled rich. I took a bite of the strange food. My tongue had never tasted something so delicious. I scarfed down what I had left. Resisting the urge to lick my hand. Just what was this food called?

I looked up seeing her staring at me, with a smile on her face. "It's called chocolate. It's a sweet

Treat. I'm glad that you like it."

I looked away from her. "It was alright. Nothing special."

"Mhmm sure, if you say so."

I didn't need to look at her to know she was smiling. I could hear it in her voice. I watched her out of the corner of my eye. She climbed into that thing she had called her sleeping bag. Facing the fire, her eyes closed slowly.

"Goodnight shippo," she said sleepily.

"Goodnight…Kagome."