Nights in White Satin
Chapter four: Path Unfolding
Written by: Sleepwalking Chicken
Written: August 12, 2004

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"Are you saying that there is a way to reverse what the shikon no tama has done to Inuyasha?" Kagome asked hopefully, barely able to contain her excitement at the opportunity of saving the depressed youkai.

"Aye, that's exactly what I'm saying. Of course, I'm not sure if it will truly work or not," Kaede said as she observed the frantic schoolgirl, her blue eyes shinning brightly with unshed tears. Hope glimmered in Kagome's oceanic orbs as she grasped every word Kaede said.

"Tell me," Kagome whispered, her blue eyes staring at Kaede.

"It's simply a rumor I heard many years ago. At that time, I thought nothing of it, simply believing it was nothing more than a travelers' fairy tale. However, to the North, on the most northern island, there is rumored to be a hidden mountain, invisible to the naked eye, a holy mountain that no one has visited for centuries. It is said that in the mountain, a simple relic resides upon an altar. It is believed that the relic can grant the beholder their deepest desire. If Inuyasha truly wishes to become a hanyou once again, he simply must ask it from the relic."

"That's all?" Kagome asked in wonderment. The schoolgirl had been expecting something much more complex than that. However, now armed with this new knowledge, the little flame of hope within her burst into a fire that could not be quenched. "I have to go tell Inuyasha!"

"It's simply a rumor, child, we have no way of telling if it's real or not," Kaede warned.

"It's worth a try, Kaede," Kagome said with a large smile as she zipped out of the hut.

The girl ran quickly towards where her youkai friend resided, itching to tell Inuyasha the good news; the new hope.

"Inuyasha?" Kagome called as she journeyed into the woods, one hand shielding her eyes from the sun as she ran to the Goshinboku. "Inuyasha? Are you here?" When she received no answer Kagome felt a small bucket of water being thrown over her flame, though the fire kept burning. Squaring her shoulders, she tilted her head back and searched for the silent youkai. "Inuyasha!"

"What?" his voice suddenly snapped, a thin layer of annoyance lacing the Inuyasha-like greeting.

"Inuyasha, come down here!" Kagome called, a bright smile on her face.

"Why should I?" he asked snidely. Kagome paused in her calling to give the tree a curious glance. Why was Inuyasha acting differently? He sounded like his old self now, instead of the depressed youkai who was trying to regain whatever humanity he may still have.

"Because I have some good news!" Kagome smiled and giggled 'I just saved a bunch of money on my car insurance by switching to Geico.' Kagome had an urge to say this out loud, but she had a very strong feeling the man in the tree branches above her would not get it in the least.

"You can tell me without me coming down. Go away," he snarled.

Kagome frowned. "Inuyasha, get down here this minute or I'll…you know, into the next generation!" Kagome fumbled over her sentence in an attempt to not say 'sit'.

"Feh," came his classic reply as he descended from the tree, his golden eyes narrowed and his arms crossed over his chest. Kagome knew better though, Inuyasha was trying to cover up the hurt he'd been faced with in the days past.

Kagome smiled brightly as the youkai came into view, and she rocked back and forth on her heels. "I have very good news."

"Yeah, what?" Inuyasha snapped and averted his gaze, the golden eyes looking towards the horizon instead of the girl. For a brief moment Kagome could have sworn she saw a flash of regret dance across his eyes, and she didn't doubt that that's what he was feeling; but soon it was gone and his anger returned.

"Well, if you'll stop acting like this, I'll tell you," Kagome said and lightly touched his shoulder. He jerked away. Kagome stared as he took a few steps away from her. Recoiling her hand she blinked. "What's wrong with you?"

"Nothing." He said it so simply, like he was striving to use the smallest amount of words as possible. Suddenly realization hit Kagome.

"Are you…ignoring me?" she asked as her eyes widened and a small amount of dread crept within her. She felt tears prickle the back of her eyes, but refused to let them fall.

"No."

"You are," she whispered and watched as Inuyasha walked away.

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Several days later found Kagome sitting sadly near the rice patty fields, the water swirling around as long green shoots shot out of the liquid. She feebly held a stick as she stirred it along the water's edge. She let out a sigh.

'Three days now. Where is Inuyasha?' she wondered with a frown. 'Why is he ignoring me? Avoiding me? What did I do?' Kagome scrunched up her brows in thought. 'Was I annoying him when I brought him food? Oh, for crying of loud, why would that bother him? The stupid guy needs to eat, or else he'll become weak. Duh. Besides, that wouldn't cause him to ignore me completely, would it?'

She tilted her head back and stared at the sky, the stick falling out of her hand as she used it to support her weight as she leaned back. 'Maybe I said something that insulted him? But he wouldn't run away because of that. He'd pout for a few hours and then be over it…So what is it?' She felt like screaming. Since when had Inuyasha become this confusing to her?

Standing, Kagome crossed her arms over her chest and huffed, 'Fine then; be that way, you stupid puppy. I'll be waiting until you get back and then I'll sit you until your back breaks.'

Kagome looked sadly at her feet as she began to walk back towards Kaede's village. 'Please come back soon. I'm really worried about you, Inuyasha…'

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Deep within Inuyasha's forest, high up in the tree's limbs, sat a figure clad in red. Golden eyes peered towards the horizon and silver hair swayed in the wind. He let out a small, painful sigh as his claws dug into the bark of the tree branch he resided in. the painfully sharp claws cut away the soft wood of the branch as he idly carved characters into the branch. He let out another sigh as his fingers traced the hiragana for Kagome's name. 'Ka…go…me…' The 'ka' looked much like the sound it represented, the 'go' just two parallel lines with two little nicks at the top. His favorite was the 'me' because of its loopy design. Slash line and then a large loop over it.

He shook his head and stopped his carving. It was too hard. Who knew that pushing Kagome away was so damn hard? He'd had to run away in order to not throw himself at her feet and feast upon her sympathy. He despised pity, but when Kagome was there to comfort him, things seemed more tolerable.

He stared at the branch he'd destroyed with his feverish tracings. 'Kagome…I'm so sorry…I'm so very sorry…' he thought as he stared at the multiple 'Kagomes' traced into the bark. 'Forgive me; I don't want to hurt you. But I have to.'

Images of Kagome flashed in front of him as he closed his eyes to sleep. Kagome crying, Kagome screaming, Kagome dying, Kagome hurt, Kagome bleeding, Kagome falling…Kagome dying.

He jolted upright in his branch, nearly knocking himself out of it with the sheer force he'd used. Slightly shivering, he rested his back against the tree again and closed his eyes to sleep.

Kagome dying.

He snapped his eyes open as he was plagued with another image of Kagome dead. He rubbed his eyes and tried to get the image away from him. After a long moment of only breathing, he closed his eyes again.

Death.

"What the hell is this?" Inuyasha snarled to no one. Why was he plagued with these images.

'Go away, you stupid images; Kagome's fine. I'm protecting her from myself. If I can't protect her from me, who can I protect her from?' he reassured himself and closed his eyes.

A large youkai dug his claws into Kagome as she screamed his name.

He jolted again and shook his head. With the sudden movement he fell from the tree, knocking his head against branches and finally hitting the ground… where a rock broke his fall.

Kagome ran fast as she tried to dodge the attacks the large bear youkai threw at her. The youkai's lips were drawn back in a snarl as the girl screamed loudly, her blue eyes slammed in pain as one of the youkai's claws dug into her back.

Inuyasha stood watching as Kagome ran past him, her blue eyes opening and staring at him. A red tear fell down her cheek, the crimson liquid splashing against the ground. "Save me," she whispered pathetically.

She turned her head again and ran faster again as the bear drew closer. More red tears fell from her eyes as she opened her mouth and screamed again. "Help me!" she screamed as another claw dug into her.

"Don't just stand there, help me!" She fell to the ground, her hands thrown in front of her in order to break her fall. She fell with a thud as fearful blue eyes turned towards the youkai towering above her. She held her hands in front of her face as the bear neared her.

"No!" Inuyasha screamed as his legs responded and began to run towards the dying girl. His hand grabbed Tessaiga at his hip. Suddenly he was thrown aside, electrical shocks flying over his body. His father's sword fell beside him as he was pushed back from the sword's shield. Inuyasha's golden eyes widened in surprise. He couldn't touch his sword.

Kagome screamed again.

Inuyasha reached for the sword again.

Scream.

Thrown aside.

This continued until finally Kagome's screams were silenced.

A twig snapped. Kagome snapped her head up as she heard footsteps in the forest. She was currently scrunched up into a small ball at the base of the Goshinboku. She blinked her blue eyes open as a white faced Inuyasha came marching into the clearing. His golden eyes landed on her and they widened in surprise as he hurried towards her. His hands reached out and touched her shoulders. Kneeling down in front of her, he gently touched her cheeks and her hair. His golden eyes locked with her blue ones and suddenly his arms were locked around hers, pulling her into his arms. "You're ok," he murmured.

He felt Kagome wrap her arms around him. "Where have you been?" Her voice was strained with relief. "I've been so worried," she whispered as she clutched onto him.

"You're ok," he repeated. "I thought something happened to you."

"I'm fine, Inuyasha," she murmured with a smile as she ran her fingers through his hair. "I'm fine." A stray tear escaped her. "I'll always be fine when you're around. I promise."

'Kagome…I'm sorry,' he thought sadly as he rocked her gently from side to side. 'I thought it was helping you…by going away. I need to protect you…'

"Inuyasha," Kagome said brightly as she pulled away from the youkai's arms. She smiled brightly at him and he felt his heart stop. "Kaede thinks there may be a way to undo what the shikon no tama has done!"

Inuyasha's eyes widened and his arms flopped heavily to his side. He felt like a tremendous weight had just been lifted from her shoulders. "She does?" he asked.

Kagome smiled and nodded her head, her hands lightly touching his cheeks, the fingertips tracing the markings there. "She does," she whispered.

"Tell me, then, woman," he snarled, though he couldn't hide the excitement that resided in his voice.

Kagome gently touched his shoulders and pulled closer to him, her eyes twinkling as she told him what Kaede told her. When she finished, she let out a small laugh of triumph and hugged him tightly, her arms squeezing him tightly. "Inuyasha," she whispered, "You don't have to be sad anymore. We're going to make you better. You'll be fine, I promise." Inuyasha feebly hugged her back, just barely able to contain his gratitude for the woman that sat before him.

"Kagome…"

After a long moment of staying in each other's arms, and only a mild discomfort for Inuyasha, the two headed back towards Kaede's village, their hands lightly touching before interlocking together. Walking hand and hand, the two made it past the rice fields and towards Kaede's hut. As they approached, Inuyasha regretfully removed his hand, wishing to keep the contact, but not wanting to injure his pride.

Kagome licked her lips and sighed before entering the hut. "Minna!" she called with a bright smile, "We set out tomorrow!"

Their traveling companions looked up as Kagome and Inuyasha walked in. Sango smiled at her friend and Miroku nodded. Shippou and Kirara continued to eat like they hadn't been interrupted.

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"Everyone, before we set out," Kagome said the next morning. The group had awoken at dawn and they had just finished eating some breakfast. Shippou still slept soundly in Sango's lap. "I think I'll head home to make sure we have everything. I'll grab some extra supplies and be back in less than an hour. I also want to tell my mom what I'm doing."

"You can't," Inuyasha said crossly from his location in the hut's corner. Kagome let out a sigh and rubbed her temples. She knew there was a possibility he'd do this, but she hoped he wouldn't for the sake of their journey.

"Inuyasha," Kagome said calmly. "I'll only be gone for an hour. Just enough time to get supplies, to make our trip easier. I'll grab extra ramen," she said, saying her words carefully in hopes of making Inuyasha's decision sway.

"You can't," he repeated.

"Inuyasha," Kagome growled, her patience leaving her. "I need to go home to say goodbye to my family!"

"If you go through the well, you won't come back," Inuyasha said, a hint of sadness in his voice. Miroku and Sango watched the exchange silently, both casting glances at each other whenever their friends would speak.

"Of course I'll come back, don't worry about that." Kagome let a small sigh escape her.

"No. You won't," Inuyasha stood so that he was eye level with the schoolgirl. "The shikon no tama is gone, Kagome."

Kagome stared as realization dawned on her.

"If you jump through the well, you can never come back because you'll be stuck on the other side. The fucking jewel is inside me!"

"Inuyasha…"

"You're stuck here until this journey is over." He hated to say that. Truth be told, he wanted her to stay forever. "After I turn back, you can do what you like."