Hi! Bearmoon here. Very short chapter. Sorry. Promise next one will be longer. I've just been busy. This is actually the only chapter without a song. Wow. Be careful though. Next chapter's going to be...interesting.

~*~Silver Rain~*~

Chapter Six: The Men of The Taiyoukai

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Kikyou and Kumako sat outside of a cute cafŽ drinking tea. It was quite pleasant actually. She and Kumako had nothing to do for once, just relax.

"Kumako-kaasan"

Of course things couldn't be perfect. Kumako had brought along Rin. Apparently whoever watched after the girl had left her in Kumako's charge for the day. Kikyou was curious about her, but she let things be. If Kumako wanted to tell her, she would.

The two women reminisced, filling each other in on what had happened in their lives. Kumako obediently got Rin another cup of coco then returned to their conversation.

"Kumako, How did you meet Inuyasha? He seems to hold something against you."

Kumako gazed across the street, her attention not really focusing on anything, "I think it was about a year after I parted with you. I met his brother actually. Never really him. Then I heard him and Miroku play one night, and I offered to get them a nightly job, where they could play to their heart's content. When he found out I knew his brother he never really liked me. They don't exactly get along. But... I had fun helping them out. I even wrote some songs for them. He doesn't trust me though, but I don't think Inuyasha trusts anyone really. You?"

Kikyou tilted her head, "Um...At Spinning Petals. I think it was five weeks ago. Ningen-Youkai was playing and he insulted Kaede. I got angry and argued with him. So our 'friendship' sort of grew from there."

"He's strange that one. He tries too hard to hide his emotions. It'll kill him or someone dear to him someday."

"Hmm."

Rin watched the women converse, clearly uninterested in what they were saying, "Kumako-kaasan! Let's go to the park!"

Kikyou exchanged looks with Kumako, "She knows a lot."

"Yes. She can also speak French and Japanese. She picks things up quickly."

"I can see that."

Rin sighed, frustrated that Kumako hadn't answered her question. Maybe if she repeated herself, "Kumako-kaasan, Can we go to the park, please?"

Kumako chuckled, "Yes, Rin! Of course! Be patient. We'll go."

Kikyou and Kumako finished their drinks then walked toward the park. Rin skipped happily between them, holding Kumako's hand every once in a while. The two friends walked in a comfortable silence. Drinking in the sounds of laughed and the light breeze.

"Kumako, Can you...read Inuyasha?"

"Quite easily. Why?"

"Well, he has a very strong barrier around him."

"That's true."

"I think I saw something he left unguarded at one time."

"What?" Kumako was curious. Knowing Inuyasha, the stubborn mule, he never told anyone his past. What had Kikyou seen that Inuyasha might have left unguarded?

"I saw such sadness and loneliness. How I feel at most times. It was strange and eerie. I felt frozen and shocked. He seems so carefree and laid back. Seeing such sadness in him put me into a stupor. I felt something I hadn't before."

"Well, Inuyasha does have a dark past. He doesn't like to share it though. I don't blame him. But, he should tell someone. You've heard his songs. Sometimes I think he's afraid to leave his closet of darkness. He thinks that will protect him."

Kikyou pondered this as she watched her moving feet. She sat down on a bench as Kumako pushed Rin on a swing. She was lost in her thoughts now. Dark past? How could someone act like nothing had ever happened if it had been so terrible?

Kikyou was gone, too preoccupied by her thoughts to notice someone sit down next to her. What dark past? She was distracted from her feelings as she felt someone's hair tickling her arm.

She looked up at the same time the person beside her did, a meeting of amber and sapphire.

"How do I keep running into you?" Inuyasha scowled.

Kikyou shrugged her shoulders, "Beats me. What are you doing here anyways?"

Inuyasha crossed his arms, "Thinking."

Kikyou stared at him. He did it again. She knew she had seen it. What was that? Inuyasha felt the fine hairs on the back of his neck. He turned back to her, "What?"

"You're the one who always looks sad."

"What the hell?! I swear! I'm surrounded by psychos!"

She sighed, "Remember the other night in the club? You asked why I looked sad all the time. You look sad too."

Inuyasha scooted away a bit from Kikyou, "It's nothing you should know about."

"I wasn't asking about it. I was just discovering that we were similar. Almost the same. You lost someone important to you, didn't you Inuyasha?"

"What would you care? She died and that's the end of it."

She bowed her head. The wind played with the hair of the silent pair. Black obsidian and pure silver reflecting in the setting sun. Kikyou shivered in the sudden breeze. It held an uncomfortable feeling. The laugher seemed to be dying down. She could still hear Rin a bit though. Something warm wrapped around her shoulders. She looked up, meeting amber depths.

"Inuyasha?"

He looked up at the sunset. He didn't know why he was holding Kikyou; he just needed to feel someone close to him. Maybe he wasn't ready to tell someone? No, he knew. He was tired of hiding it. It was weighing him down. He had to tell anyone. Someone. A stranger. Kikyou. She might understand, or she might think he was some bizarre weirdo. Either way it didn't matter.

"My mother died when I was younger. My father had left her and my half brother after I was born. My mother never married my father because he had never divorced my brother's mom. My brother constantly picked on me because I was more of an accident, something about pure blood shit, but my mother would defend me. He even beat me up pretty badly at one time when she was on nightshift. She worked hard waiting for my father to come back. When she died, my world fell apart. My brother left me to fend for myself while he went to find our father's heirloom or the old man himself. I survived somehow. Living in the streets and find crummy jobs that could get me some food. My brother found me again and took me in for a while. We didn't make amends while we were together, but I was grateful that he finally got some sense and took me in. He sent me off to college and here I am now."

Inuyasha's bangs hide his eyes, but Kikyou could sense the pain in his voice. She knew that pain. It was one of confusion and hopelessness. Knowing there was no way to change the past and hating yourself for it. As if what had happened was somehow your fault. She leaned into his side to comfort him. She placed her arm on his back, stroking his hair in comfort. Like how her mother did when she was distressed. Kikyou thought of her own mother.

---

"Mama?" the six-year-old Kikyou inquired.

"Yes, Kikyou-chan?"

"Will being a miko be sad?"

Her mother nodded her head, "But you could make it happy, Kikyou-chan."

"What did your cards say, Mama?"

The raven-haired woman looked down at her daughter. It would be a painful life for her. She wished she could stay with Kikyou a little longer, "You'll become a very proud miko, Kikyou."

Kikyou walked over to her mother and hugged her, stroking her mother's long and silky hair. Why did Mama cry whenever she asked about becoming a miko?

---

Kikyou realized that Inuyasha had both his arms around her and she felt her face wet with tears. She pulled away from his grasp, realizing that she was the one that was crying.

"I'm sorry, Inuyasha. I didn't mean to do that."

"Its nothing."

"But..."

Inuyasha let go of her suddenly back to his old self, "Forget it."

Kikyou felt the tears forming in her eyes again. Anger and hate made her cheeks tingle. She felt she was being too weak and emotional. There were too many sad memories being mentioned. Inuyasha jumped back in alarm.

"What'd I do?! Don't cry!" he said, not sure of what to do.

Kikyou brushed a tear from her face and looked up at Inuyasha with her normal sad face, free of tears and pain.

"I don't cry anymore."

"It sure sounded like you were."

Kikyou looked down at the grass bending in the wind and the swings swaying gently. How silly of her to open up to this stranger. To cry on his shoulder of sad times that were long forgotten. She hated herself for it. Why had she done that?

"Inuyasha...why?"

Inuyasha looked at Kikyou's backside, "Why what?"

"Why didn't you push me away?"

"That's cruel. You seemed like you needed to lean on someone."

Kikyou turned around to face him, "You did too."

Kumako watched the two of them argue, oblivious to their surroundings. She shook her head. Those Taiyoukai brought about loves they could never have. Sesshomaru and Inuyasha. Even the Taiyoukai himself could not have the love he wanted. Poor miserable family. Those brothers only had each other now and they failed to realize it. Kumako sighed as she started to push Rin again. The girl though had jumped off her seat.

"Rin! Don't scare me like that!" Kumako called to the girl as she scurried away. Now where was she going? She followed the child with her eyes as the girl stopped at the feet of a man with long white hair and golden amber eyes. She could hear Rin call his name, "Sesshomaru-sama!"

'Great.' Kumako thought, 'Wonder how long he's been there?'

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Reviews! Please review! It really boosts my moral. I want ten more reviews before I update the next chapter. It's waiting to be posted; I just want to know what I'm doing. So please give me some advice! Review!

~Japanese Translations~

Kaasan- Short for Okaasan

Miko- Priestess/ Shrine Maiden

*Bonus*

Gekkono Kumako- Bear of the Moonlight