A/N: Mmmmm…this is the last chapter before little Inu-chan's decision will be revealed.  I dream of an ending that will please everyone, but…the choices are really get slammed by many or get slammed by…erm…not as many.  Geesh…ppl these days, picky, picky…  Y'know, I really feel like I don't even own this fic anymore…-_-

Second Chance

By Sango

Chapter Five

Choosing Your Own Path

"Damn…" Inuyasha hissed, pounding a limb into soft splinters as he glanced skyward in frustration.  Once again, the sun stayed doggedly in the same position.  The gods seemed to love playing with his mind, and Inuyasha deeply resented being a pawn for a power greater than he.  It was bad enough to have to make this decision, but the fact that the remaining afternoon and night seemed to drag on forever…every time he thought he'd chosen, he'd change his mind once again.

"I need some advice…" he mumbled to himself, giving up his massacre of the plant life.  Inuyasha's mind whizzed over the options: I don't have any friends in this time…everyone I know is dead or nonexistent…shit, shit, damn, damn…his thoughts always eventually turned into mindless cursing.

Wait…Inuyasha lifted his head up quickly, banging it on a branch.  Maybe there was one person whom he could trust for advice right now…yes…

"Muhona," he whispered to himself, and then winced at the thought.  He'd always hated visiting the ancient soothsayer, no matter for how short a period of time.  He'd only kept up his visits to the lizard demon because he felt he owed it to the one who had protected he and his mother for a short while after Inuyasha's father's death.  After being unpinned from the tree, Inuyasha had traveled once more to Muhona's dwelling, only to find the yôkai dead and the cave abandoned.  He'd felt a sense of loss, mixed with some relief at not having to visit the cantankerous magician again.  But this time he had to hear the old yôkai's advice.

"Chikuso!" the hanyô hissed in annoyance on last time, then left the forest, trudging glumly onwards.

*****

Smoke, mildew, and the pungent odor of dried herbs and god-knows-what met Inuyasha's nose as he cautiously stuck his face inside the dark cave.  He sneezed, as he did every time he entered.

"Inuyasha?"  The quavery, shaky voice of the fortuneteller belied his fierce temper and belligerent personality, forming a false sense of security.

"Yes, Muhona?" the dog demon answered reluctantly.

A giggle from the shadows.  "That's Muna-jiji to you."

Once again Inuyasha wondered if the wizened old man was insane.  "Yeah, yeah."

The yôkai's bamboo cane whipped out and smacked Inuyasha firmly between the ears.  "No impertinence, pup!"

"Itai…" Inuyasha complained, wincing as he rubbed the lump on his head.

Cackling mischievously, the demon rocked back and forth, his frail frame shaking all over.  "There's still life in this old body yet!" 

"Unfortunately for me," his younger companion muttered.

"I heard that," Muhona warned, wagging a scaly green finger in front of the hanyô's nose.  He settled back on his haunches and grabbed a battered clay pot, which issued forth a hissing burst of steam as soon as he touched it.  The yôkai set the pot and two mismatched cups in front of Inuyasha.  "Pour."

Grumbling moodily, Inuyasha filled both cups to the top with the hot tea and handed one to his mentor, who snatched it up immediately and drank the scalding contents in a single gulp, smacking his lips contentedly as he finished.  "Ah…perfect."

Eying the other's untouched drink, Muhona demanded, "Are you going to drink that?"

Dutifully following the usual routine, Inuyasha replied, "No, Muna-jiji."

"What's that?  I'm rather hard of hearing in my old age."

"NO, MUNA-JIJI."

"No need to scream, pup!" The lizard yôkai leisurely lifted Inuyasha's tea to his lips, favoring him with a beady glance.  "As long as you don't want it, I'll have it.  Nothing should ever go to waste—remember that, now."

"Yes, Muna-jiji."

"Hmmmm…what am I forgetting?" The old demon stared at the air for a moment.  Inuyasha bit his lip to keep himself from telling him; Muhona hated having any help remembering.

"Oh, yes.  Something to chew on while we drink."  Waving his free hand in some seemingly random movements, a plate of some dried-up onigiri and a few other unpalatable-looking items appeared between to two.  Muhona grabbed a snack and munched happily, seemingly unaware of the age of his food.  With a full mouth, the old magician glared at Inuyasha.  "What's wrong, boy?  My food not good enough for you?"

"No, I'm just not hungry."

The plate slid across the floor, moving closer to Inuyasha as it did so.  Pointing, the ancient yôkai commanded, "Eat."

Inuyasha halfheartedly took a rice cracker, bit down, and then immediately wished he hadn't.  It was like biting into a stone…every tooth in contact ached.  He may be one of the most powerful magicians alive, but his cooking sure sucks…

"What's your problem?"

Surprised by the sudden change of subject, the hanyô met his elder's piercing, direct gaze and then looked down, unable to hold it.  How did he break the question to him?  He busied himself chewing the tasteless bite as he tried to think of an answer.

"Haven't got all day."

"Well…um…it's not about me, you understand."

Muhona snorted disbelievingly, but replied, "Yes, of course not."

"You see…" Inuyasha paused mid-sentence.

Inuyasha's sensitive ears flattened automatically as screeching laughter emitted from the gnarled lizard's mouth.  "As a matter of fact, these old eyes haven't been able to see much for years now."

Clearing his throat uncomfortably, Inuyasha looked away as he continued, "I have a friend, and he has a big problem.  He has these two other…friends…that he knows equally well, and he likes both of them.  But he knows that someone is trying to hurt one of them, and if he saves that friend the other one will be hurt.  So what should he do?"

Eyes mocking, the old magician prodded, "What exactly is his relationship with these "friends"?"

Still looking away, Inuyasha mumbled, "Idonobuhhemywuwem."

The bamboo cane shot up once again, this time inserting itself under Inuyasha's chin and moving his face up so that he was looking into Muhona's eyes.  "Say that again."

He didn't try to move his head again, but Inuyasha's eyes roamed elsewhere as he repeated his earlier statement more clearly.  "I don't know but he might…love them."

"I'd say your…friend…sounds an awful lot like a certain demon lord, hm?" Muhona queried, making sure Inuyasha knew that he was no fool.

Red-faced, half from anger and the other half from embarrassment, Inuyasha stared persistently to the side.

A wide, slightly malicious grin split the wrinkled, scaly face as Muhona nudged his young pupil.  "When your father asked me a very similar question, he wanted me to take a glance into the future to see what would happen with each of his possible choices."

Leaning closer eagerly, Inuyasha tried to hurry the story up.  "So…did you do it?"

Purposely drawing his ending out, Muhona ignored the hanyô's question and spoke louder to drown the other's words out.  "Your father was powerful enough to tell someone to jump of a bridge and they would do it.  He was that respected…but he couldn't order me around!  I had wrinkles when he was still a mewling pup.  He was like a son to me, and I loved him."  For the first time, Muhona's gaze lost the wickedly mirthful, crafty expression and softened.  "I would have done anything for him…but I said no."

"But why?"

"Do you know how many possible futures there are for any situation?  Even something as simple as whether or not to steal a scrap of food from your own table can have millions of endings.  All a fortuneteller can do is pick the most likely ones and guess on it."

"So why couldn't you do that when my father asked?"

Muhona shook his head slowly.  "Telling someone what could have happened, how they could have lived…that destroys them.  Every time tragedy strikes them…and it strikes in the happiest people or demons…they'll wonder if it could have been avoided by choosing the other option.  Living life in that way is no life at all."

Inuyasha sighed and sat back.  "So you're not going to read the future for me."  Muhona would never tell me the wrong thing, but still…knowing ahead of time doesn't sound so bad…

Using his unsettling ability of seemingly reading minds, Muhona turned the dog demon's question back on him, challenging, "Do you want me to?"

Another choice…Inuyasha hesitated, contemplating the decision.  I'd really like to see if Kagome would be reborn later…was the time of Kikyo's death a factor in her birth?  And what if I saved Kikyo but left through the well when it's built?  But…Muhona's advice had held an unmistakable ring of truth, an undeniable certainty, and at last he whispered, "No."

For the third time that day the bamboo rod smacked Inuyasha smartly on the back, but this time the blow was gentler, more like an affectionate pat.  "Then go, pup.  Choose your own path."

Inuyasha stood to leave, then stared into the beady black eyes one last time.  Did he know that he would die, that his own cessation of living would be soon coming?  Somehow, Inuyasha thought he did.  The hanyô nodded a farewell and headed out the cave, his decision still unknown to him but…there.

Once outside, the hanyô breathed in a deep draught of fresh, clean air and headed back to the Shinboku tree, noting from the light that it was nearly dawn.  A few minutes now to make his choice.  A familiar feeling of panic fluttered in the hanyô's chest, but he quieted it with the old demon's last piece of advice. 

Choose your own path.

Closing his eyes, Inuyasha reached for the decision that had lain dormant for a long time, but still there down at the bottom of his heart, and pulled it up, let its firm conviction reassure him one last time.  He opened his eyes, determined and resolute at last.  Gathering his body together, Inuyasha sprinted down the path to his own destiny.

A/N:  I just read the reviews.  Now I'm really POed.  P-I-S-S-E-D.  Damn…*GLAAAAAAAAAAAARES at random innocent and not-so-innocent reviewers*