I do not own Inu Yasha. One day though…I'm gonna buy a Shiba Inu and name it Inu Yasha….then I'll teach it to "Osuwari!" Then truly, I will declare to the world "I DO own Inu Yasha!" *laughs insanely* Yeah, alrighty then. Until that day….I'll just keep writing, ok?

Shadows

Chapter 18: Where did that Houshi go anyways??

"So, what should we do? We have a whole afternoon to just sit around and do whatever we want!" Kagome asked, looking down at the kitsune sitting in her arms. Inu Yasha had just left with Souta to begin his training.

"I dunno Kagome…" Shippo glanced again at Inu Yasha and Souta as the disappeared into the woods. "Why does Souta need special training anyways? I never did!"

Kagome smiled down at him, "Shippo, you were born like you are, and are used to it. Souta just started to change and he needs to be taught how to protect himself, and others so he doesn't hurt anyone." A large part of Kagome was relieved that Inu Yasha would teach Souta how to protect himself, especially if he would be traveling with them, but the other part of her wondered if it wasn't too much? Maybe they shouldn't train him at all, just leave him here in the safety of Kaede's village.

"Does that mean the Souta will be accompanying us?" Sango asked, turning towards Kagome.

Glancing at her friends, she sighed, "I don't know…I want to have him near, but I want him to be safe too. And we all know that traveling with us isn't exactly a walk in the park."

"Perhaps we should leave it up to him, then," Miroku interjected, and the two girls nodded in agreement.

Shippo looked at the monk, and remembered that he had not been with the rest of the group earlier. "Hey Miroku," he began suspiciously, "Where were you anyways?"

"That's right! Miroku, where did you disappear to with Kirara while we were bathing?" Kagome questioned him.

"Why are you so curious! I wasn't doing anything wrong!"

"Yeah right, probably picking up all the girls in the village," Shippo crossed his arms and looked at the monk, "I've seen you before, using Kirara to attract them!"

"Houshi-sama…" Sango began angrily.

"Sango, I swear, I was doing nothing-"

"Then tell us where you went!" Shippo jumped on to his shoulder and poked him in the head with an accusing finger.

"Oh, come on you guys! I'm sure he didn't do anything too bad…" Kagome spoke up, feeling bad for him.

"Thank you, Lady Kagome, at least someone isn't against me!" Miroku said and smiled at her.

Kagome then felt the hand creep on to her butt and promptly slapped it away and blushed. "Nevermind! Torment him all you want!"

*~*~*

Kagura smiled as the wind blew across her face as she sailed through it on her feather. Escaping from the dungeon in Naraku's castle had been a lot easier than she had expected, almost as if someone had cleared the way for her. Had he not noticed her absence? She doubted that, since she was a part of him, or at least had been. What exactly did her new-found freedom mean anyways? Was she still the same as him, could he come after her and re-absorb her? Or was she truly free?

All of these questions raced through her head. 'Why didn't he notice my leaving? If he didn't feel it, Kanna's mirror would have surely showed him what was going on…' Another though crossed her mind. The woman had said to choose carefully over who her allies were. But where exactly could she turn, after all she had tried to kill all of the people against Naraku at some time or another. Where could she go? Who would accept her?

*~*~*

Kagome sighed and starred up into the clouds. "It's such a peaceful day…the air is so much cleaner here than in my world." She looked down from the sky to the ground. Her world…it was beginning to feel foreign to her. There was no one, nothing left for her there now. Souta was here, her mother and grandfather were gone. This was her home now.

Shippo cuddled further into her arms, breaking Kagome out of her thoughts. She then realized that Sango had left. "Ano…where did Sango go?"

Miroku glanced at the hut, "She went to get her boomerang to polish." 'she cherishes that thing almost as much as Kirara!' He thought to himself, then looked at Kagome and Shippo, "If you two can keep a secret, I'll tell you I went earlier. I need your help with something."

Miroku motioned to them to lean in and the both did, which was good since his next words were spoken so quietly that even the demon hearing that both of them now possessed almost didn't pick it up.

"Tomorrow is Sango's birthday, and I went to get her something from a nearby village."

Kagome gasped. Sango's birthday? How could she have forgotten that! "Oh my god, Miroku! I completely forgot!" She remembered when Sango had told her when her birthday was. Kagome had brought one of her teen magazines with her once and they were reading their horoscopes while they bathed. 'Wait a second!' "Miroku! You were spying on us bathing then?"

Shippo crossed his arms, "When doesn't he peek at you guys?"

Miroku stuttered and waved his hands in front of him, smiling sheepishly, "Anyways! I would like to do something special for her, besides the gift I've gotten, but I'm really not to good at-"

Kagome stood up, knocking Shippo out of her lap, and raised her fist in the air, "I'm gonna throw Sango the best surprise party ever!" she exclaimed, then lowered her voice, "Oh no! I've gotta go get her something too! Maybe I can find something tonight."

"Find what?" Sango asked as she exited the hut.

"Oh! Nothing! Just….ah, some herbs for…ah, shampoo! That's it, I just want to find some stuff that will work when my shampoo runs out!" Kagome laughed nervously.

Shippo jumped onto Miroku's shoulder. "That was pretty pitiful." He whispered to him. Miroku nodded in agreement.

*~*~*

"No Souta! You've gotta concentrate more on the power than the movement itself!" Inu Yasha yelled again at his new trainee.

"But Inu Yasha, I don't know how to do that!" Souta cried, exasperated. Inu Yasha had been trying to test his powers, to see if he had similar ones to himself. But the boy didn't seem to be able to tap into his demon powers at the time. 'Well, he is only a quarter demon…maybe he doesn't have that much?' Inu Yasha shook his head. He had never encountered anyone with less than half demon blood, but he assumed that any demon blood meant they had some sort of powers.

"Come on Souta, you've gotta be able to do more than that!" Inu Yasha yelled and pointed at a small tree that Souta had managed to mangle up a bit with his claws.

Souta fiddled with the front of his shirt and looked sheepishly at the hanyou in front of him, "But…I didn't want to hurt them…"

Inu Yasha stopped and looked at him, eye's widening, "Them?"

Souta shook his head and pointed at the tree, "Yeah, those things all around the tree. Don't you see them? They look like little people with wings!"

Looking at the small tree, limbs splintering off and almost bare of leaves, he saw nothing. "There ain't anything there, kid!" He growled and walked over to the tree and sniffed it.

"There is so Inu Yasha! There's about five of them, and they look sad." Souta walked over to the tree, "I think that this was there home."

Inu Yasha looked at Souta like he was crazy, "What are you talking about! There isn't anything there!"

Souta rolled his eyes and looked again at the sapling he had butchered. Tentatively, he reached out a hand and touched one of the few remaining leaves. To his, and Inu Yasha's surprise, the leave started to glow green, then the branch it was attached to, and then the remaining parts. Before they're eyes, the tree began to grow back together, shinning brightly the whole time. When it was fully restored to its original state, the green glow faded away. Inu Yasha looked down at the boy, shocked. Souta continued to stare at the tree.

"I think that's enough training for today…" Inu Yasha grumbled and they began their way back to the village.

*~*~*

"Did you…go fishing?"

"No."

"Did you…buy me something good to eat?"

"No."

"Did you…stop somewhere and have lunch?"

"No."

"Shippo, is there some reason you keep asking about food!" Sango turned toward the kitsune who had been interrogating Miroku for the past half an hour.

"Yeah, I'm hungry!" Shippo cried. He had been continuously questioning the monk so it would seem like they still didn't know what he was up to. Kagome laughed and rummaged through her bag and found a candy bar for him.

"Candy! Yummy!"

"Here Shippo, just remember that we can't use the well anymore, so one the candy is gone, it's gone."

Shippo paused in his consumption of the chocolate bar and starred at it, depressed, then continued to gobble it down.

Miroku sighed and stood, turning to the girls. "I'm going to go out for a walk."

Sango glanced up at him and stood as well, "I'll go with you, I still want to know where you went with Kirara!"

Miroku sighed, then grabbed her hands, "Don't you trust me, dear Sango?"

Quickly pulling her hand away, she eyed him carefully, "…"

Kagome smiled as she watched the two leave the hut. Once she was sure that they were out of earshot, she turned to Shippo, "I thought of the perfect thing to give her!"

Kaede entered the hut, returning from assisting a family in the village whose son had grown ill. "Who is it you speak of child?"

"Oh Kaede! How is the boy?" Kagome asked her.

"He will be fine, it is nothing but a simple cold. Now, who is it you are giving something to?"

Kagome smiled at the older woman, "Sango! Tomorrow's her birthday, and we're going to surprise her with a party!"

"Oh, well perhaps I should go and collect some things to prepare for a special meal tomorrow."

"That would be great Kaede!" Hearing voices approaching the hut, everyone turned towards the door as Inu Yasha burst in, followed shortly by Souta.

"I'm telling you Inu Yasha! They were real! I'm not lying."

"Feh, I didn't see anything." He looked at Kagome "What the hell kind of demon was your father again? Cause Souta doesn't have any powers hardly!"

Kagome frowned at him as his brother came and sat next to her, "Kagome, there were these things floating around the tree Inu Yasha had me practice on. They looked really sad around the tree, and I felt bad for them so I touched a leaf and the who thing started glowing!" Souta excitedly told her, "Then the tree grew back together! It was soo cool, nee-san!"

Kagome raised an eyebrow at Souta, then looked at Inu Yasha, "Things floating around the tree?"

Souta nodded. Just then Miroku and Sango came back into the hut, hearing the last words spoken. "What's this about floating things?" Miroku asked, sitting down on the hardwood floor, Sango following his actions but keeping a safe distance from any wandering hands.

After a quick recap for the two new occupants of the hut, Kaede cleared her throat, causing the attention in the room to be brought to her, "What did these things look like, child?"

"Well, they looked like little people, except smaller and they had wings and stuff…"

Kaede nodded, and sat down. "It sounds like you have powers resembling those with nature. Those things you saw were probably spirits of the tree you were practicing on."

"But how was he able to bring the tree back to its natural state?" Kagome asked, confused.

"He must also possess a healing ability along with his ability to see these spirits." Kaede answered, then continued, "Those powers will probably be very useful in the battles that occur during your shard quest."

"That would make sense, remember when we fought against Naraku to free Kagome," Miroku started, remembering the events of only a few days ago, "Afterwards, Kagome was able to heal all our injuries."

Sango nodded, "But why doesn't she seem to be able to see the spirits like Souta can?"

"I am not sure…the miko blood that also runs in her veins might possibly be holding it back."

"Feh, don't you guys know anything?" Inu Yasha spoke from his position, leaning against the wall near the doorway, cross-legged.

"What do you mean Inu Yasha?" Kagome asked him.

"Just because you share the same blood doesn't mean your powers are the same. It's actually rare to see siblings with the same powers."

Kaede began dinner while everyone thought about this while. 'So, Souta and I sharing the same ability of healing is rare?' "How do we train those abilities more, though? I mean, it would come in handy during our searches for the jewel shards." Kagome asked no one in particular.

"Well, it seems as though both of your powers were set off when you were feeling guilty or sad for something. Maybe it's an emotional response?" Miroku answered, not really sure if it was right or not.

"Maybe, but what happens when it's a response other than guilt or sadness?" Sango asked, remembering when they had been attacked by Kagome while she was being controlled. That blue energy that had hit them had been strong and not very easy to dodge, since it had seemed to follow with them wherever they moved.

They left the question hanging, no one having a good answer.

Woo Hoo! That's a pretty long chapter! And I've got some pretty good ideas for the next one! ^_^

Oh please, Review!

You know you want to, right? ^_~