Disclaimer: Not only am I not the Queen of Sri Lanka, I am not the owner of Inuyasha. So don't sue me.
"Phew," Kagome hissed as she lowered the empty flask from her lips. She grimaced. Whatever Kaede had put in that concontion was strong stuff. The old woman had told her it would help her fall into a deeper sleep than was normally possible, necessary for the spell to work correctly. Already she could feel it taking affect. As she glanced over to Miroku, her vision began to blur.
The monk was sitting cross-legged at Inuyasha's head chanting softly under his breath. Sango gently pushed Kagome's shoulders down on to the mat she had been sitting on. She gave the younger woman an encouraging smile. "Good luck, Kagome."
Kagome tried to say something back or even smile in response but too quickly the world around her was dimming and her body felt incredibly heavy.
~*~*~*~
The first thought through Kagome's mind when she awoke was that the spell had not worked. She sat up groggily from the cot she remembered laying on in Kaede's hut. She stood slowly, puzzled as to why they had left her alone. Even Inuyasha had been removed from the hut's floor.
Cautiously she lifted the door's covering and peered out into the darkness. That's funny, she thought. It should be daylight unless I've slept through the entire day. No the spell DID work, she realized suddenly. The forest before her was definitely not Inuyasha's forest and even if it were, it should not have surrounded the hut so.
She stepped out carefully. "I guess I shouldn't be surprised that Inuyasha's mind is dark," Kagome said to herself and the sound of her voice cheered her a bit. The silence of the forest around her was thick and oppressive. Breaking it seemed at once to make it more bearable.
"Inuyasha?" she called out hesitantly. This was his mind, so he should be here somewhere, right? She took a few more steps out the door. When she glanced behind her, Kagome noticed with surprise that the hut was gone, as though it had never been there at all. With a small frown, she started walking again.
She had only gone a short distance when Kagome abruptly realized she had not gone anywhere. Her legs moved but the trees around her were in exactly the same place. "How did I not notice that immediately?" she asked herself quietly. "Great, now what am I supposed to do? How can I look for Inuyasha if I can't move around?"
There was noise from behind almost as if in response to her question. Kagome spun around to see Inuyasha stepping lightly into her field of vision. "Inuyasha!"
He gave no response, acting as though he had not heard her or that he could not see her although she stood in plain sight. Kagome took a step towards him and breathed a sigh of relief when she did actually move. But he still made no sign that she existed. She looked at him closer and suddenly realized how different he looked.
He was younger, maybe thirteen. His eyes lacked the hardness she saw in him regularly. He stopped walking to look past her with an almost hunted gleam in his golden eyes. Kagome turned around slowly. On what had been empty ground up until a moment ago was now a slight raised burial mound. This is…a memory! she realized suddenly.
She quickly stepped to the side as he moved forward to the grave. He knelt slowly. "Mother," he said softly as he placed one clawed hand on the ground before him.
Although Kagome had no idea how old the hanyou had been when his mother died, she guessed that in this memory, she had been gone for a while. Although Inuyasha looked sad, his eyes held more resignation than mourning.
As she watched, he stood slowly. "I'm sorry, but I would rather your final home be lost than be found by that bastard." His voice was bitter and barely recognizable beneath his thick growl. Kagome had only a moment to ponder what he meant by that before she saw him slowly and purposefully dig his claws into his arm.
"Inuyasha!" she said before remembering that he could not hear her. He ignored her, predictably, as he leapt into the air above much of the forest. With a yell of, "Blood Claws!" the trees around Kagome were violently ripped to shreds. Kagome threw herself on the ground behind Inuyasha and covered her head as debris settled in the surrounding area.
Cautiously, Kagome lifted her head to survey the waste around her. Except the forest around her had disappeared. She felt a cold metal point at the back of her neck and she suddenly stiffened.
"You do not belong to these memories," said Inuyasha's familiar voice. Kagome turned very slowly. A human Inuyasha was standing above her holding the untransformed Tetsuseiga to her neck. "Who are you?"
"Kagome!" she said harshly. Jeez, doesn't he know me? Suddenly she felt very angry that she was risking her life and going through all these pains for him when his subconscious didn't even recognize her.
He rolled his eyes. "You look very much like her, but she would have no reason to invade my mind. Who are you?"
"I am Kagome!" she yelled. Shoving Tetsuseiga away from her throat she stood and glared at him. His brown eyes regarded her without their usual expressiveness. Slowly recognition set in and he sheathed his sword.
"Then why are you here?" he asked flatly.
Kagome watched him warily. She was not exactly sure how anyone would react in this sort of situation, but it seemed as though Inuyasha, in particular, would act angry. Yet here he stood, perfectly calm. Just from the tone of his voice, one might think he was talking about the weather (except Inuyasha had a habit of sounding angry about things as neutral as weather anyway).
"You were sealed by Naraku," she said slowly, noting carefully his expression. "Miroku and Kaede helped me get here in order to break the seal."
He frowned slightly, the first real sign of emotion she had gotten from him. "I cannot permit you to move freely about in my mind."
"Uh," she stuttered, unsure exactly what she should say. "But I'll need you to come with me, to help break the seal."
"No, thanks."
Kagome looked at him incredulously. "What is that supposed to mean?"
He began to turn away from her slowly. "I'm not interested."
A/N: Ok, I know that probably wasn't the best place to leave it off, but if I kept going, it would have been a really long chapter. That also means it would have been a lot longer before I got this out. So oh well! Thanks to everyone who left me reviews! I love you all! Yeah, I definitely wrote most of this chapter when I should have been writing my two-page Spanish paper. Ah procrastination…
Oh yeah, there is definitely a reason for why Inuyasha is acting the way he is. Trust me, it's not just a random whim. The memory will also be explained, but it doesn't have a lot of importance. Ok, lata'.