{The Road Between Souls}

{chapter 7 - free like the wind}

Standard disclaimers...you know the deal.

~~~

Kagome woke up, at least an hour after she should have. She felt Inuyasha's warm breath on the top of her head, his arms holding her close to him. Oh, man...I was supposed to be in the kitchen forty-five minutes ago...Tsuraiuta's gonna kill me...

Carefully, Kagome disentangled herself from Inuyasha's grip, rolling off the futon.

"'S too early t' get up..." Inuyasha mumbled. "c'mon, Kagome."

"I should have been cooking a long time ago," she hissed. "Tsuraiuta's gonna rip me apart." Kagome reached over for her under-robe, which had somehow gotten tossed on the table with the sword stuff. Inuyasha closed his eyes, yawning.

Slowly, the door opened, and Tsuraiuta stuck her head in. "Oh, good, you're getting dressed already. Dokukon needs your help with Sesshoumaru-sama's breakfast. Hurry, don't wake Inuyasha-sama up!"

"I'm already awake." Inuyasha opened his eyes, then propped his head up with his hand, leaning on his elbow. He put a cute smile on his face, and Kagome snickered inwardly. Inuyasha was never cute with anybody. "Tsuraiiiiiiiii-chaaaaaaaaaaaan..." he sing-songed. "who owns you?"

"Y-your whole family, Inuyasha-sama." Tsuraiuta was obviously confused.

"That's right! Now, tell me...who does Kagome belong to?" he blinked, looking absolutely adorable.

"Y-you do, Inuyasha-sama."

"Exactly!" he said, then dropped the sweet act. "Get the fuck outta my room, bitch. Kagome belongs to me, not you, and I'll be the one to say if she has to go make breakfast for some asshole like Sesshoumaru. That being said, leave before I kill you." Tsuraiuta bowed quickly, then all but ran out of the room. Inuyasha giggled like a kitsune child. "That was fun."

Kagome rolled her eyes. "Immature. I should probably go, though." Inuyasha scowled at her.

"You're not going anywhere," he said silkily. "Come back to bed." he glared at her white robe, and Kagome smiled at him.

~~~

Sango walked into Miroku's room, absentmindedly dusting the perfectly clean room.

"Sango?" Miroku looked up from the scroll he was reading, a book full of long and complicated purification spells.

"Yes?" Sango looked up into her master's face. "Don't ask me to bear your child."

Miroku chuckled. "I won't. Though isn't it considered wrong for you to hit a houshi?"

"I'm Shinto, not Buddhist." she responded flatly, trying to hide her grin.

"Well. There goes my excuse." Miroku gave her an innocent smile.

"What did you want?" she asked in an exasperated tone. He always did this, dragging out conversations, as if trying to pry information out of her.

"Did you have a family back in the taji-ya town? Friends?" he asked quietly.

"Y-yeah...why?" Sango was confused as to why he was asking. He seemed so sad.

"Could you tell me about them? Just sit with me and tell me the story of your life?" Miroku's face was now unreadable. "I want to know more about you, Sango."

Sango smiled, then sat down next to him on the floor, looking up at him. "Of course."

In the quiet soft light, stories were shared and a thin thread of love was unknowingly spun between two people.

~~~

Shippou bounced around Tsuraiuta. "Where's this Kagome person? I wanna meet her! When can I!?" Tsuraiuta closed her eyes, taking a deep breath to calm herself, ignoring the kitsune child trying to annoy her. She knew that Inuyasha would have killed her if she had not run out of there. He had obviously attached himself firmly to Kagome, the way Yari had tried to attach herself to Sesshoumaru and failed.

While Sesshoumaru was the crueler of the two, the brothers were matched in strength, Inuyasha's human blood notwithstanding. However, Inuyasha held grudges for far longer. If his elder brother defeated anybody in battle, it was over as far as he was concerned. Inuyasha, though, would make life for whomever annoyed him hell on earth until he got bored of it.

"Well!" Shippou cried out, yanking her hair.

Tsurai's eyes teared as she stood up, dragging the kit with her. "Itai~!" she shrieked out, jumping up and down, causing more pain and Shippou to go flying.

"Kyaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa!" his shriek was cut off as a pretty human girl caught him in her arms.

"Konnichi wa," she said brightly. "I'm Kagome. Who are you?"

"Shippou!" he said brightly. "The guy with the gold staff said you and Sango were gonna take care of me!" Kagome giggled.

"I guess I am, then." she set him down gently, then turned to Tsuraiuta, who was nursing her scalp. "Tsurai? Is there anything extra to eat? I'm starved."

"I'm sure you are," she muttered sullenly. "I think there's some extra rice balls. Beware, though, 'cause Dokukon made them."

"On second thought, I think I'll pass." Kagome laughed again. "I don't want to die, thank you."

Tsuraiuta managed a small smile. "Yes, I think Inuyasha might be needing you," she said wryly, watching Kagome turn red and stammer.

"How come?" Shippou asked with an air of childlike innocence. Tsuraiuta and Kagome looked at each other, then cracked up laughing. Tsurai wondered why she felt so happy. I think it's Kagome. Her good mood is contagious.

~~~

It was dark and cold. Sango slumped up against the wall, feeling more than a little depressed. Telling Miroku all about her family had made painful facts resurface. She was a slave, albeit a very well treated one - Miroku didn't seem to mind the thwacks she dealt to him, nor her flatly refusing to bear his child. She didn't know exactly how Inuyasha had gotten Kagome to sleep with him; she wasn't a slut at all, unlike poor Yari.

Kagome was with the annoying bastard at the moment, in fact. Sango heard Shippou mumbling in his sleep, then the door creaked open and Kagome cautiously crept in.

"Hey, Sango-chan," she said quietly.

"Why're you here?" Sango asked. "I thought you were with Inuyasha."

Kagome shrugged. "He's asleep, and much as I'd like to stay with him, I don't want to risk my life with the rest of the royal family by not getting up early enough to make breakfast. I doubt I could wake up in time if I stayed with Inuyasha."

Sango grinned. "Really now." Kagome smiled back, then settled down to sleep.

~~~

In the shadows, a figure wrapped in a cloak of baboon skin chuckled evilly. "So this is the taji-ya village. Not much."

Carefully, quietly, he crept in, then headed straight for the town square, where a party was taking place. "This should be very interesting. Shikon no Tama, I will have your power very soon."

~~~

Sesshoumaru watched impassively as Rin came skipping back into his room, setting down the tray and pouring sake for him. "Rin was a good girl today," she said proudly. "Rin helped Kagome make Sesshoumaru-sama's breakfast. Kagome said Rin was a good helper, but Rin got burned by Shippou." she pouted momentarily, then smiled again. "See, see, Sesshoumaru-sama! That's the miso soup, and that's the rice that Rin made all by herself!"

Jaken moved Rin out of the room, and Sesshoumaru felt a faint glimmer of annoyance. "She can stay, Jaken." he said coldly.

"Hai, hai, Sesshoumaru-sama," the toady thing replied, pulling the child back in. Rin bounced over to him, her smile shining like the sun.

"Rin gets to stay with Sesshoumaru-sama!" she crowed. Sesshoumaru felt the faintest trace of a smile grace his girly features.

"Rin made Sesshoumaru-sama smile!"

~~~

It was a cold night, but Kagura wasn't worried. The fact that she was a youkai made her immune against colder temperatures. Kagura clenched her fist. "That bastard Naraku," she hissed. "all I want is to be free..."

A sadness began to fill her features, and she held out another hand. "Free...free like the wind...the wind that I was meant to be a part of..."

Slowly, her sad expression shifted to anger. "I hate you, I hate you, I hate you," she chanted. And one day, I will defeat you.

"Not likely," Goshinki said, sitting down next to her, still towering far above her. "Naraku is far stronger than even I can estimate. Without the Shikon no Tama, it's unlikely that even Juuroumaru could kill him."

"I'm stronger than Juuroumaru," Kagura said sullenly. "Kanna's the strongest, but I'm the oldest, and she wouldn't do anything unless Naraku told her to."

"I really don't see what you're all upset about. It's not like he's horrible to us, and we get to have loads of fun." Goshinki protested. "And I'm stronger than she is. By far. Where'd you get that she could beat him if she wanted to?"

"Baka! I never said that she could. I just said that she's easily the strongest. Kanna's the only one with powers that affect the spiritual side of a being; the rest of us only have physical attacks. And those are mainly useless against him."

Goshinki thought this over for a minute. "Yeah..." he said slowly. "But you're crazy. I'm not planning on rebelling."

"Neither am I," Kagura snapped. "I just won't say no to freedom if the opportunity presents itself."

Goshinki chuckled, an odd sound in his throat. "Tricky little bitch you are. Sure you're not a kitsune?"

Kagura scowled. Goshinki stood up, then walked away. Kagura sighed, and blew a gust of wind towards him, knowing it was pointless, as he would predict the attack - which he did.

She spent the rest of the evening fixing the rips in her kimono. Bastard!!!! Him and Naraku both.

~~~

Okay, I know that was short...but...oh well.

See you in the next chapter!!! ^.-

-Katra Winner