Hi! New chapter online, Cap'n. You may notice a slight change in the theme of the story, but it's just a quick diversion from the main context. READ THE STORY!

Chapter 15: This Does Not Bode Well

The three were walking down the forest path again. Inuyasha kept shooting glances at Tobias, who acknowledged each one with a smile and a cheery nod. Obviously, he wasn't too broken up about telling them his secret.

"So how much longer is it until we get to the village? I do NOT want to run into another one of those titans," Tobias said.

"We're almost there," said Kagome. "It should be just past this stand of trees."

"Finally! Civilization at last!" Tobias bounded ahead and went right through the forest. Kagome looked at Inuyasha funny.

"We've only been walking for half an hour...what's with him?" Inuyasha smirked and was about to respond in a very smarmy way, but a glare from Kagome silenced him. They walked on, through the trees. The first thing they saw was Tobias, on top of a hill overlooking the village. His back was to them. He seemed stunned about something. As soon as they cleared the hill, they found out why.

The village had been destroyed. Utterly destroyed.

Broken fragments of houses littered the ground, blood pooling on the ground from the slain townspeople. There was not an area that had been spared from the devastation that had swept the area. Tobias's face was pale as a ghost. He managed to get out a few words.

"Who...what did this?" he whispered. "Why..." He fell silent again. Then, slowly, very slowly, he walked down the hill. Kagome was absolutely horrified by the annihilated village. She clung to Inuyasha's fire-rat kimono like it was a life raft. Inuyasha tried to hide his emotions, as he always did, but even he could not mask the shock he felt from the scene splayed out before him. He began down the hill as well, with Kagome latched onto him.

No matter where they looked, it was always the same. Bodies everywhere. The broken fragments of a statue in the town square. The local priestess's shack, torn to bits. Kagome tentatively pushed aside the ruined door to look inside a house. She saw the occupants, dead, bleeding on the floor.

It was too much. She ran to a corner and got sick. Inuyasha appeared in the doorway. Who did this? Why? How did this happen? It was Naraku. He had to have done it! He spoke up.

"Naraku did this," he said shortly. Kagome looked up at him, a little shaky from the scene she just saw. "Only he could do something this...this heartless." He took a step back, then left to look through the ruins. Tobias came up and put a comforting arm on Kagome's shoulder.

"I don't know who or what did this, Kagome," he said gently. "But rest assured, we will find out who did it. And we will make them pay." She sniffled and nodded appreciatively.

"Thank you, Tobias. I just wish..." Her eyes misted over. "I just wish...we could have been here to help..." She broke into tears. Tobias touched her arm lightly, then went off to find Inuyasha. Soon, Inuyasha's voice rang out through the devastated village.

"Kagome? Come here..." She got up and went over. Inuyasha and Tobias were standing in the remains of the village square.

"Kagome, I've searched all over this place. There are a lot of bodies..." Inuyasha paused for a second. "There are a lot of bodies, but Miroku and Sango aren't here. They must have escaped."

Tobias was looking out into the distance. The sun was setting, casting a fiery red shadow on a bloody red village.

"Tobias?" Kagome said softly. "Are you okay?"

He did not move for a long time. When he finally turned, there was such a look of sorrow and pain and anger in his eyes that none dared comment.

"Let's go," he said quietly. And without another word, he walked away. Inuyasha looked at the ground. That bastard is gonna PAY for this. I swear it. He motioned for Kagome to follow him, then trudged after Tobias.

None of them saw, in the middle of the elder's hut, the village leader who had been frozen into a solid block of ice. None of them saw the message carved into the ice.

I found you, Tobias.

"Where do you think Miroku and Sango are?" Kagome asked. They had set up camp for the night. The ramen was warming up over the flickering fire. Inuyasha was waiting for his ramen to cook. Tobias was staring into the fire.

"I don't know," said Inuyasha shortly. "They could be anywhere. We'll just have to look for them."

"Do you think they're okay?" Kagome's timer dinged. The ramen was done.

"They can take care of themselves. They're good enough at doing that." Inuyasha grabbed his bowl of ramen and slurped it down noisily. Tobias did not reply. He seemed lost in thought. He barely heard Kagome and Inuyasha talking. Instead, he was focused on his memories, those horrible memories which had been unearthed that day.

*Flashback*

Tobias ran. All around him was carnage, blood, and death. No matter where he looked, it was all the same.

"My friends," he breathed. "All the people I ever knew..." He quickened his pace and got to his house. He burst through the large double doors.

"Mother? Father?" He ran through the ruined structure. It was all the same. "Where are you?" His voice grew increasingly frantic. "Marcus? Are you okay?" Tobias found the door to his parents' private chamber. He flung it open and dashed inside.

He could not even bring himself to look. The blood dripping from the walls told him enough. He sank to his knees and clutched at his head as tears spilled from his eyes.

"They're all dead," he whispered, over and over. "They're all gone..."

*End flashback*

"Tobias!" Tobias yanked himself out of his stupor to find both Kagome and Inuyasha staring at him. "Are you okay?" Kagome sounded genuinely worried. Tobias forced a smile.

"I'm fine. Just thinking a little." He stood up. "You know what I think...I think we should just try and put this behind us." Kagome gave him an odd look. "No, really. It was a terrible tragedy, but we can't really do anything about it and dwelling on it is just going to get us all depressed. We'll find Miroku and Sango and then they can tell us what happened. It'll all turn out okay, I'm sure."

Inuyasha grinned at him. "So, you're alive again. You looked dead, sitting there."

"Not hardly, my dear hanyou. Just brooding." Tobias looked at his bowl. "Ramen? Ah, I hate this stuff."

"Well, that's all I've got. Inuyasha doesn't eat much else," Kagome said between spoonfuls.

"Bleeding hell. I'm gonna go hunt down a deer or something. I need meat." Tobias unsheathed his sword and strode off into the wilderness. Kagome watched him leave. She then turned to Inuyasha, who by this time had finished off his and Tobias's ramen.

"Inuyasha...who do you think did that...at the town?"

He snorted. "Isn't it obvious? Naraku. He's the only one who's enough of a bastard to do something like that."

"But he doesn't usually just attack towns like that...most of the time he has a reason for doing things."

"Maybe he was trying to capture Sango and Miroku. He would do something like that."

"Inuyasha..." Her eyes glassed over. "All those poor people..." She flung herself into Inuyasha's arms and hugged him tightly while she cried into his shoulder. Not knowing what to do, Inuyasha awkwardly caressed her back while holding her with his other arm. He whispered nonsensical endearments in her ear until she sniffled one last time and rose.

"Thank you, Inuyasha." She leaned in and kissed him briefly, before going over to tend the fire. Inuyasha grinned to himself. At least he got something out of this.

A few minutes later, Tobias arrived back at the camp, holding something in a large sack which Inuyasha recognized as being made of deerskin.

"My efforts have not been wasted. I got us some choice venison cutlets. He reached into the sack and pulled out some hunks of meat. "Kagome, are you still hungry?" She shook her head, repulsed slightly by the blood. "Inuyasha?" He nodded. "All right. So it'll be for Inuyasha and me." Tobias took some pointy sticks out of his bag and fashioned a crude spit. Soon, the meat was roasting nicely.

"Tobias?" said Inuyasha. "Why didn't you just cook it before?"

"How?" Tobias said.

"Well...with your sword." Tobias glared at him.

"I told you already. I don't have any powers of fire unless I'm enraged. And this deer did not exactly invoke the flames of hatred inside me." He sniffed the air. "I think the meat's done." He and Inuyasha ate some, then all three of them settled in for the night. Inuyasha was up in a tree, Kagome was in her sleeping bag, and Tobias was sitting against another tree.

"Goodnight, you two," Tobias called out. He closed his eyes.

"Goodnight, Kagome," Inuyasha said from the tree.

"Goodnight, Inuyasha," Kagome said from inside her sleeping bag.

The three waited out the long night...but only one slept.

Tobias's eyes were closed as he slumped against the trunk, but his mind was racing. What could have done something like this? To innocent villagers? What the hell happened? It almost looked...like... He blinked furiously, to try and clear the images from his head. What happened then had nothing to do with this. I should follow my own advice and just not think about it. Dwelling on it forever isn't going to help anyone, much less those poor people. And I have more important things to think about. Like, what will happen when I come back? Lasako's going to clobber me so hard...I shouldn't have left her. I'm getting mixed up in things that are way beyond me. And to top everything, I had to tell them. Great job, Tobias old boy. You royally screwed yourself this time. Next thing you know, they'll be asking about my past and how I got this sword in the first place! Hm. Like I'd tell them. I have no reason to, and I won't in the future. Unless...unless HE is here...argh, what am I thinking? I'm paranoid, that's what. I'm going to go train. He stood up and walked away.

In the tree, Inuyasha was equally deep in thought. Naraku isn't happy with just attacking us. Now he's gotta attack entire defenseless fucking villages! Kagome seems really broken up about it. I don't see why I should be. They're just humans, after all. If I had been there, Naraku would be a bloody corpse by now! We just HAD to stay that extra goddamn day, didn't we. I'm gonna pummel Tobias for delaying us like this. Now we won't be able to look for jewel shards because we'll have to go searching for Miroku and Sango! Kagome's gonna insist on that. This just sucks. ... Tobias really likes to hide stuff from us, doesn't he. If his sword could do that all the time, and he NEVER TOLD US? He probably did make that huge explosion in Kagome's time. Not that tri-nitro-whatever stuff he told us about. I wonder what else he hasn't told us. He glanced down at Tobias. To human eyes and ears, he would have looked sound asleep. But Inuyasha's enhanced senses told him what was really going on. A twitch here, a mumble there, breathing out of sync; it was obvious that Tobias was pretending to sleep.

"Tobias," he called down, trying not to wake Kagome. Tobias did not say anything or open his eyes, but he nodded slowly. "What else haven't you told us?" Tobias smiled. If only you knew, Inuyasha. If only you knew.

It's not all peaches and cream, so you see. But don't worry yourselves about it. I'm not gonna turn this fic into an angsty depressing one. Tobias's past is not a happy one, and we need to know about it. Just one hint, though. It wasn't Naraku. REVIEW...please?