disclaimer- I own nothing, no suing for you

e mail five of mind games

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' I'm pathetic…' Inuyasha thought to himself, lying awake. A shiver ran thorough him.
He tried to bury himself deeper into the protective embrace of the monk, flattening his ears.

He could feel Miroku shift slightly, his arms around his waist.

It ate him up on the inside, the cold sorrow and despair devouring him alive. He whimpered to the uncaring night.

A slight chill brushed over his skin as the night wore on; it was enough to rouse him from his uneasy slumber. As his eyes opened slowly, tiny white snow flakes fell from the deepening sky.

Inuyasha reluctantly pulled away from the embrace, his body protesting as he got to his feet. The ancient tree swayed and groaned in the sudden cold, even causing him to shiver slightly. He cast a single, yearning expression at the monk, shivering once more. His conscience distinctively reprimanded him and told him they would be better off without their pet guard dog hanging around. Because that's all he was to them, a guard dog to keep the other demons off at bay.

But even as his conscience tried to get it through his thick head, he didn't want to believe it himself.
He couldn't help but ponder endlessly on the subject though.

..Is that all I am to them, a mere pet..?

He didn't know why he waited in the awful silence, even though he knew he would receive no answer.

Maybe to hope for some confirmation or sign that he was wrong. But only the deafening and overwhelming silence greeted him.

Maybe.. …to Kagome, to the others, I am just a guard dog. He growled softly at the thought, a tinge of pain arising in his heart. It's true, isn't it?

Again, he was only met with silence.

Most likely. I'm already wearing a collar; why not just add the leash to jerk me around by. Make it easier for them.

He reached for the sword by his side, hand resting on its pommel. He wouldn't need it any more, he couldn't protect himself much less them with it.

Tetsuiga slide out of its sheath smoothly, the dull rusted blade glinted faintly in the starlight before he sunk its tip deeply into the ancient tree. The blade quivered slightly as he tossed its sheath to the ground.

Inuyasha turned away, abandoned the blade and the legacy it carried. Miroku would awaken soon, and hopefully he would be long gone by then.

The frost covered grass crunched under foot as he walked away, shoulders bent as if weighed down by some invisible sorrow, never once looking back.

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Sango leaned heavily against the tree. The massive demon bone boomerang was a comforting weight on her back, her eyes never leaving the wells iced over lip. Shippo had blessedly fallen asleep, curled up near the massive form of Kirara, protected from the early morning chill.

The winter was coming on harder then ever before. A massive snowstorm was making it was across the country, leaving a coating of white death over the ground. There would be a lot of casualties this year, both human and youkai.

Miroku broke her chain of thought as he appeared as sudden from the shadows, nearly collapsing on her. Even in the cold he was heavily sweating. His weight heavily leaning on his staff was the only thing that kept him on his feet; his breath was coming in gasps.

"Miroku?"

"In…Inuyasha is gone."

Sango all but leapt to her feet; they had to find him before the storm reached. Half demon or not he wouldn't last long in it. If the storm didn't get him…she shuddered under the burden of the thought.

Demons could pick up a weakness and converge on a target, and he was a walking target for every demon in the area. The snow would cover up any trail they could follow in a short period, the system of the continuous change of time was not on their side.

Her eyes caught the long dark object in his free hand….Tetsuisga.

He had abandoned the sword.

Time was pressing on them now more then ever. With out the legendry blade his demon blood could break free.

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"Inuyasha!" The sound was pitifully soft in the darkness, the night surrounding and silencing their voices as the wind howled had kicked up ice and snow. Miroku tired to shield himself with the edge of a sleeve as he stared into the night. He staggered in the cold, almost losing his balance the hundredth time, leaning heavily on his staff. The snow was already becoming heavy and the air as cold and damp as early winter could make it, the sun's already weak rays were slowly shut out by an advancing army of grey clouds that promised more than snow fall.

His skin was already going numb, his lungs burned with each breath. The storm had grown in power in the short time they had been aware of their companion's missing presence.

It became a thick flurry of whiteness, the cold driving ice needles though their clothing and Kirara's fur. Lungs burned as the temperature steadily dropped, revealing nature's true dominance of the feudal world. Soon even the most determined of creatures could no on; on; the snow had come in thick droves, forcing them to find any kind of shelter.

A hand seized his shoulder, and he turned around to meet the one who interrupted his search. Sango.

"Come on, get inside."

He pulled away, her voice barley heard above the wind's fury.

"Not until I find him!"

Sango had to all but drag him back to the entrance of the small caves gapping entrance, holding tightly to his robs, knowing full well he would keep going even if he collapsed.

"You won't be able to find him in this storm." Her words sunk in slowly as he finally went limp in her grasp. He turned his gaze back to the swirling mass of white.

Shippo and Kirara were all ready inside, huddled into the far back of its damp cold interior, well out of the snow.

His shoulders slumped as he half trudged, half stumbled back into the cave; the feeling of guilt over weighting is own safety. He was supposed to watching after Inuyasha.

He slumped down, his strength corroding as the night roared on. He could barley hear any of Sango's comforting words through the self-imposed guilt that hung around him like a noose.

If Inuyasha was out in the storm, they could only pray he had found shelter as they huddled in the damp wet cave as the entrance piled high with snow.

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two weeks later modern world

The early morning air was laced with frost as winter made itself known. Tiny icicles hung on the edges of tree limbs, sparkling as the sun's pale, watery rays touched them.

The oddly silent morning was chilly to her skin as she wondered to the edge of the well; the others had to be worried about her by now. Inuyasha was mostly likely sitting by the well on the other side, sulking as usual, even in the cold.

She never realized the time had passed so quickly. Kagome often didn't realize how much she missed civilization until she came back home. The days blurred into each other, each running into the other until two long weeks had fled and was lost to the burden of memories.

Still she just couldn't shake the sense of dread that shadowed her for the last few days, creeping closer until it all but breathed down her neck.

Something was wrong, very wrong. She hoped nothing had happened to him during her short stay away.
The well's icy edges creaked as she slipped in, leaving her world behind.

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The wind drove the snow and ice like razors, the snow kicked up so it created a thick swirling cloud of whiteness that encompassed everything.

The temperature still dropped bit by bit, freezing any exposed flesh that came its way. Even the sun's weakening rays were shut out by the black-blue clouds that rolled across the dark sky.

He limped heavily, his teeth clenched, as each step was agony. Broken ribs grated on each other, his once silver hair matted by ice and blood. Inuyasha wondered aimlessly in the darkened snow covered woods with only pain and the ever-present shadow of death as his only company.

The long two weeks were nothing short of a nightmare stretched thin over the days and nights, each just blending into each other in a creamy smooth symphony of pain, cold and despair. His own screams would forever blacken the walls of the hellish nightmare where he had been kept. Each slowly taking its toll on him, pulling him further and further away into the dark void. He felt nothing but the weight on his body from the snow as it steadily sucked the heat from him.

He shivered violently under the growing mantle of snow.

The ice over surface of the well came into view. His breath came in raged gasps, the cold burning his throat and lungs.

His legs gave out as his strength fled and he collapsed near it; she had not returned the whole time. The snow and ice around the ancient stone was undisturbed by anything save the lonely wind. His breath came in ragged gasping as he clawed his way forward, any tears that fell had gone unnoticed to the snow.

He lay there, his glazed eyes slowly shut, never leaving the wells edge even as he slipped in the darkness. Each small thud of snow only grew as it continued to pile up persistently on his still form.

TBC

to all who are wondering what happened in the missing two weeks, I'm working on a side story to fill in the gap