Nights in White Satin
Chapter five: Heart of Gold
Written by: Sleepwalking Chicken
Written on: August 12, 2004

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The group waved goodbye to Kaede and set out towards the North. Kagome, with the little supplies she had left from her last visit home, had located a map and had stared at the northern island of Hokkaido for several minutes. "Well, everyone," she announced as she observed the map a second time. "Kaede said it was the northern most island, and I assumed that was Hokkaido, but there seem to be smaller islands above that. So, I figure that we'll have to be on the look out for an enchanted mountain."

"How the hell are we supposed to look out for an enchanted mountain, Kagome?" Inuyasha snarled, slightly annoyed after the brief discussion of the well.

"Inuyasha…" Kagome said warningly and the hanyou quickly fell silent as they continued their trek. "We'll just have to wait and see, won't we?"

"Feh."

"That's the spirit, Inuyasha." Miroku grinned from his position next to Sango. The demon huntress smiled slightly and shook her head.

"We'll figure something out," she said with a smile before shooting Miroku a warning glance when his hand began to stray.

Shippou, who occupied Kagome's shoulder, stared at the horizon, a bored expression on his face. "I hope this doesn't take too long," he muttered, only heard by Kagome.

They walked for several hours, a strive in their steps as a new journey unfolded before them. The search for the shards had grown dull, their motivation to move on was wavering and their moral was low. However, now, armed with the hope of their friend's happiness returning, they covered more ground. Inuyasha allowed them to rest, no longer were they pushed for time, no longer were they living in fear. This journey started out as an improvement as opposed to what they had to travel for before.

As they settled down for the night, aches in their feet, Inuyasha took to the tree in order to scout out the area they were camping. His gaze shifted from the darkening sky to Kagome's droopy gaze. The schoolgirl yawned and snuggled into her sleeping bag.

The others soon followed and the ambers of the fire soon died out into nothing but an unearthly glow.

Closing his eyes he allowed himself to rest.

Kagome's scream.

Inuyasha snapped his eyes open as the images bombarded him again. The dream was what had led him to return to Kagome, and though he tried desperately to hold her at arm's length, it grew increasingly hard as she rekindled his spirit. But why were these images haunting him? Was it a premonition? Or was his mind playing tricks on him?

He let out a sigh and forced the images away. They didn't come back and before he even realized it, he was asleep and dreaming a dream similar to what he'd witnessed a night before.

He stood at the base of the mountain. Its towering summit seemed to reach the sky. Four figures stood before him: one had a blue silhouette, one green, the other red and the last one a deep, milky white.

"What the hell is this?" he heard himself say as he looked around. His eyes widened when he saw Miroku and Sango on the ground, the deep green grass, once lush with life, darkened to a sickening red.

"Inuyasha…" he turned at the sound of his name and found Kagome, holding Shippou tenderly in her arms. "How could you?"

"What…?"

"How could you kill them?" Kagome asked as crimson tears ran down her cheeks. "Don't we mean anything to you? How could you?"

"No, I didn't…"

"How?" Shippou whispered, his green eyes staring darkly at Inuyasha.

Birds flew from the trees all around him; their beaks open as they let out furious cries of anguish and pain. Inuyasha stared at them and stared at his claws. They were stained red. "No," he said; his eyes widened.

"How could you?" came a third voice and he turned to see himself with black hair and lavender eyes. "How could you cast me aside like this?" He held out Tessaiga in his right hand. "Did I mean nothing to you? How could you throw me away? How could you throw mother away?"

A silver dog appeared at his human's self's feet, his ears dropped and his golden eyes sad as he stared up at Inuyasha. The puppy whimpered pathetically and ran away, a sad howl erupting from his mouth.

"Wait!" he heard himself yell out.

"How could you?" his human self asked as he walked towards Kagome. Kagome, still crying scarlet tears, cowered away from his human half as he pulled his sword out. The sword transformed, which confused Inuyasha (for he could not transform his sword as a human), and watched as his human half stabbed Kagome.

"No… stop this!" Inuyasha screamed as he clutched his head, feeling like he was going to have a headache. "Stop it! Leave her alone! Leave me alone!"

The dreamscape shifted; as if made of water, it dissolved and fell below him, leaving him in absolute darkness. He quivered where he stood and his gaze darted around, searching this shadow realm for some way to get back. Suddenly, the world seemed to come to life; a lone mirror floated in front of him, its shimmering surface reflecting back at him. It seemed like he was in a cave, where the mirror floated over a rock, the floor beneath him appeared to look like ice.

"Where…is this place?" he whispered. Outside he saw the waxing moon, its surface casting shadows across the land. He shook his head furiously. "What is this place?"

"It's a haven," Kagome whispered beside him. He stared at her, unsure as to when she'd appeared. "Trials face us, Inuyasha."

"I know…"

"It will all be fine in the end."

"I know…" he repeated.

"Inuyasha-sama," she murmured and inched closer to him. Inuyasha paled. "Inuyasha-sama, Inuyasha-sama," suddenly she was at him, her nose digging into his cheek.

"Inuyasha-sama!" chanted a small voice. Inuyasha's eyes snapped open and he slapped his cheek. Myouga, the flea, flopped down into his open palm.

"Myouga-jiji," he snarled his greeting.

"Inuyasha-sama, so it is true," Myouga declared as he licked the remainder of Inuyasha's blood into him. "You have become a full demon. But you are still sane, how?"

Inuyasha scowled and huffed, turning his face away. "Just lucky, I guess."

"Inuyasha-sama, this is great news indeed." the little parasite jumped onto Inuyasha's shoulder. "Your dream has been realized and now you are still in your right mind."

"It was a mistake, jiji, it wasn't meant to happen," Inuyasha snapped as he glared at the mountains in the distance. "We're going to the North to change me back," he sighed.

"Is there some way to help you in the north, my lord?" Myouga asked skeptically, his little flea brain trying to comprehend this new information.

"Yeah, there's supposed to be some mystic mountain that can grant my deepest desire, or something." Inuyasha shrugged. "The others are sleeping now." It wasn't so much a fact as it was a dismissal. Myouga, wasting no time, hopped down to his traveling companions in hopes of feasting on her blood. Inuyasha returned to his slumber, though a dread was left in his heart. Would he dream again?

The answer was yes.

The bear youkai snarled down at Inuyasha, who stood in the way of Kagome. "Step aside," he snarled as he glared at the inu youkai.

"You won't touch her," Inuyasha snarled back as he reached for Tessaiga at his hip. The sword batted his hand aside like it was nothing more than a fly. He clenched his fists as Kagome's grip tightened on him. "Kagome…"

"I'm here for you, Inuyasha," she murmured.

Inuyasha turned his gaze back at the bear youkai, who looked more annoyed than he did hungry.

His claws raised and slashed at Inuyasha, who yelped in pain as he was batted aside. A wound opened on his side and blood gushed out. "Fuck…" he whispered as he gripped his side. Kagome screamed and started running away from the youkai, who was preparing to use his claws against the schoolgirl.

Inuyasha felt a sudden power overtake him. He sat up on all fours, his lips pulled back in a snarl as his golden-red eyes flamed into red with blue irises. His body took on sudden warmth as his muscles rippled within him. A moan of pain escaped him as his muscles and his bones rearranged beneath him, his claws digging into the earth.

He threw his head back and howled loudly in pain as his body was covered in silver fur.

After a long moment of panting, he realized that he was no longer in his human body…

He was in his true form.

Wasting no time, the youkai sprung into action and dug his long teeth into the bear's back. "You won't touch her," he growled, though it only came out as a canine snarl.

As the bear youkai laid dead, he looked around, his red gaze focusing on Kagome, who looked up in wonder beneath him. He was nowhere near as large as Sesshoumaru, and he looked like a flea compared to his father, but he was large enough to frighten Kagome. She stared at him nervously until he knelt down beside her and gave a small whimper.

She giggled.

Inuyasha awoke again and blinked in confusion. "What the hell was that?" he asked himself with a shake of his head.

He ran his tongue over his fangs as he thought about his last dream. Did he have a true form now that he was a youkai?

He blinked again and willed himself to turn into a dog. He wouldn't.

"How does Sesshoumaru do this?" he asked himself as he tensed his body, 'Turn into a dog, you stupid body…'

He did nothing.

Slightly relieved and slightly disappointed, Inuyasha flopped back down onto the branch and awaited the sunrise.

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The next day, the team set out once again, though Inuyasha was oddly quiet as he stared at the sky. His thoughts were on the number of dreams he'd had for the past two days. He just couldn't get over how real they were, how eerily similar they all were. He was convinced they were all forewarnings.

Kagome walked calmly beside Inuyasha, her blue eyes often glancing in his direction, wishing he would open up to her. Ever since Inuyasha's vow to push her away (which, for the time being was failing miserably), he had succeeded on keeping her pushed a small amount away, to the point where she felt uncomfortable touching him or talking to him in fear of provoking his anger.

Inuyasha stared at the approaching horizon. They were a little more than a day's trip from the nearest village, where the houshi had convinced everyone was an excellent place to pick up supplies since Kagome was unable to return home for the time being.

They were walking through a grassy field when Kagome suggested they stopped for lunch. The majority of the group agreed (Inuyasha hesitant to stop so early in the afternoon) and they set about starting a fire so Kagome's kettle could boil and she could prepare the freeze dried food she always brought with her. They had to agree that supplies were running low.

Inuyasha and Miroku were instructed to go get water; and with help from Inuyasha's nose finding the nearest river, the two men set out, leaving the two females, a kitsune and a fire cat to their business.

"I hear there are many hot springs up north," Sango said conversationally. Kagome smiled and nodded her head. It was true, in her time, many people went to vacation in Hokkaido in order to visit the said hot springs, and to eat crab or go skiing. Hokkaido was famous for their sea food. Kagome's mouth watered at the sheer thought of it. If the crabs in Hokkaido were good in her time, they would be excellent in this time.

"There are," Kagome said and she shared the knowledge of Hokkaido with Sango, who also seemed excited by the idea of crabs and other various sea foods.

As the girls placed more wood on their small fire, located in the center of a dirt patch, so as not to ignite the whole field into a bundle of flames, Kagome continued to tell Sango about vacations from her time.

"Wow, you mean on a vacation you can take a break from anything?" Sango asked with a dreamy look in her eye. "Ah, to get away from it all…" she whispered.

"Yes, it's really nice. I haven't had one for a while because of my being in this time," Kagome smiled, "But then again, I like to think of this as my vacation, you know?"

"My, my, my," came a dark voice behind the two girls. They turned around cautiously and Kagome gasped in surprise. Before her stood a bear youkai, his dark eyes narrowed as he observed the two humans. "I hate to interrupt this lovely conversation, but I believe that you're in my field."

"Oh," Kagome blinked in surprise and smiled, "We'll just move then."

"Oh that won't do at all." the bear youkai shook his head. "Not at all. I'm afraid, my pretties, that you'll have to be eaten instead."

Kagome paled and Kirara charged forward, transforming into her larger cat form before being batted away by the youkai like she was nothing. Kirara let out a small shriek as she deformed back to her kitten self and was knocked out.

Sango grabbed her boomerang and threw it with all her might at the bear youkai. The bear smirked and dodged the bone, awaiting its return before pushing it forcefully towards Sango. It hit the slayer in her stomach and sent her flying against the trees that lined the field. Kagome stared in shock as the bear began walking towards her, his tongue flying over his lips as large drops of drool fell to the ground. "I'll eat you first, you look very delicious."

"Shippou," Kagome whispered to the kitsune, "Help Sango-Chan!"

"Kagome," "Shippou whined, but didn't object when Kagome shoved him with the heel of her foot. Kagome dodged a fly from the bear's claws and fell to the ground, her breathing hard.

Taking a deep breath she looked at where Miroku and Inuyasha had disappeared. "INUYASHA! MIROKU!" she screamed as she was kicked by the bear youkai, the demon getting on all fours and stalking towards her; his eyes hazed as he drooled.

Meanwhile, at the small creek where Inuyasha and Miroku had found the fresh mountain water, the two were having an argument over who would be in charge of carrying the water back to field where the girls were waiting.

"But you're a demon; it wouldn't even make you sweat!" Miroku accused with a furrow of his brow.

"I carried the fucking thing here!"

"It was empty when we carried it here, you ninny."

However, their conversation ended when Inuyasha's demonic hearing picked up Kagome's loud scream. Miroku, who had not heard the said scream, turned towards the youkai when he did not make a rebuttal to his last remark. "Inuyasha, what is it?"

"The girls are in trouble," before Miroku could reply, the youkai grabbed the monk's robes and pulled him towards the field, his body running as fast as he could. 'Kagome…hang on…I'm coming…'

They emerged from the forest just as the bear youkai slashed at Kagome's arm. Inuyasha's eyes narrowed as they flashed from their molten gold to the hideous red that often came with his demonic spirit. He released Miroku and went charging towards the bear youkai with indescribable speed. His claws dug into the bear's back, causing the youkai to yowl in pain.

"You bastard!" Inuyasha snarled as he stared at the youkai. "Trying to feed off defenseless women!" He growled deeply as the bear charged him. "Fight someone who can fight back!"

"Inuyasha!" Kagome called as she gripped her arm. Miroku ran up beside her and helped her stand.

Inuyasha growled darkly at the bear youkai and grasped his Tessaiga. Only to have his hand burnt from the shield. "Shit…"

The bear youkai laughed, "You cannot even grip your own sword?" He charged Inuyasha, his claws ready. "This is child's play."

"For me at least." Inuyasha smirked and ran his claws down the bear's back again, removing one of his arms in the process.

The bear screamed and growled darkly.

He was about to go in for the kill when something hit him from behind. Falling to the ground, Inuyasha looked behind him in time to see a second bear demon.

Grimacing in pain as his back hit the dirt; Inuyasha cast his eyes towards Kagome, who was once again being charged by the first bear. He sat up and gripped his Tessaiga. The sword stung him and burnt him. 'Please…' he thought as he clenched his eyes shut. 'Tessaiga, it's still me. I'm still me. It's still Inuyasha. My father's son. The son entrusted with you. Please, lend me your strength; right now I need you. I need you so I can protect her!'

Tessaiga's shield cackled and cracked around him, sending red welts onto his wrists. But soon the sword slid from its sheath and the fang transformed. Inuyasha stared at it as it fitted into his hand like it had as a hanyou. The shield no longer caused him pain.

The two demons were nothing after that. With one swipe from his trusty sword, the two evaporated into dust and were no more. Inuyasha let out a loud sigh as he flopped to the ground next to Kagome, digging the sword into the ground. A small bead of sweat fell down his cheek as he smiled softly at her.

"Are you ok?" he asked as he eyed her bleeding arm.

"It's only a scratch," Kagome said softly with a quiver in her voice, "It'll be fine."

He nodded and helped her stand, his hands holding her tenderly as he grasped Tessaiga, ignoring its painful jolt yet again and slid it into his sheath at his hip, where it belonged.

"Inuyasha," Kagome smiled, "You can wield Tessaiga."

"Yeah, at first it rejected me." Inuyasha shrugged as they made their way towards where Sango was being pried away from the tree by Shippou and Miroku.

"Don't you know what this means, Inuyasha?" Kagome asked, her eyes laughing.

"Uh…"

"You can use Tessaiga, when your brother, a full demon, couldn't." She giggled and grinned. "That means only one thing…"

Inuyasha raised an eyebrow curiously.

"Your heart is pure. Your heart is human."

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author's notes: I have a deviantart account i share with the beta. There's a link in my biopage if anyone wants to go. GO! (shakes fist) (just kidding, to one his own...)