"Why good morning, Inu-yasha!"
Kagome looked up at him, pushing her fringe out of her eyes and smiling. He leaned on her fence, admiring her work with the rose bushes lining the edge of her garden. He noticed a stray blade of grass stuck in her hair, and reached out a hand to pluck it away... and suddenly Kagome was ten years younger, dressed in her green and white school uniform, her hair blowing free around her shoulders. No fence separated them now, and he picked her up in his arms, hugging the small body to him. He drew a deep breath, filling his senses with her wonderful scent... blood. She smelled of blood.
He ran his hand through her hair and it came away sticky and red. Abruptly he shoved her away from him, looking at her in alarm. She smiled at him, looking puzzled, and then opened her mouth... and blood ran out of her mouth and over her chin, and as the eyes turned lifeless and the body limp in his arms he heard laughter, cold cruel laughter that made his hair stand on end and set his blood boiling.
...Inu-yasha was lost and alone. He stood in the courtyard of a castle, a courtyard where the ground was soiled with blood. Naraku was gone, having fled at the last minute. Miroku and Sango lay dead, fallen side by side, their arms wrapped around each other in one final embrace. Shippou, his body torn to pieces, was lying next to Kirara, who was whining, licking the dead boy's face while the life ran away from herself. And Kagome...
Kagome...
"Go," she said softly as he threw himself down beside her, checking her body for the worst wounds, his brain racing to think up a cure for her. "Go, Inu-yasha. You have to... kill Naraku. To avenge... Kikyo."
"I don't care," he snarled. "I don't care about Kikyo." Her main arteries were cut, in the neck and arms... he had to find something to stop the blood flow, quickly...
"Inu-yasha." Her voice was now barely more than a whisper. "Don't you see? I'm dying. Use your strength to... to heal yourself instead, and go after Naraku. For... them." She inclined her head towards their companions. "And for... for me."
"No. Kagome, I'll..."
Her hand dropped limply to the ground.
"Kagome. Kagome!"
The cold lips returned no answer, the empty eyes could not see him.
"KAGOOOMEEEE!!!!"
Inu-yasha woke, screaming, to the dark night in his new house. Someone caught him as he shot upright in his bed, someone put their arms around him and held him, hugging him tightly. Kagome!, he thought for one wild moment, but then he noticed the masculine build of the arms and the faint scent of after shave.
"Miroku?" he asked, his breath still coming in short, sharp gasps.
"It's alright," said Miroku softly, stroking his hair gently. "It's OK. I'm here."
Exhausted with terror, Inu-yasha let his head sink onto his friend's shoulder, relying on Miroku to comfort him and make everything good again, as he had done countless times before. He knew how to get Inu-yasha out of the black land of nightmares and back into the world of the living. Inu-yasha closed his eyes, thanking the heavens that Miroku was home that night.
"What was it about?" asked Miroku later, as they sat in the kitchen with one large cup of cocoa each (with a generous helping of brandy, Miroku had insisted). Inu-yasha averted his eyes, looking at the wall.
"Can't tell you."
"My death?"
"Among others'." Inu-yasha could never describe that day to his friend, because it would mean revealing more of the past than Miroku was willing to hear. And anyway, Inu-yasha wasn't sure if he could tell him, either. He didn't know if he would be able to describe that day, that horrible day when his life came to an end. They had found Naraku at last and he had proved to be strong, far stronger than anyone of them had reckoned on. He had had his minions murder Sango, Miroku, Shippou and Kirara, but he had saved Inu-yasha and Kagome until last. And they had fought, fought and killed his minions one by one, fought until at last Inu-yasha managed to get close enough to Naraku to deal him a deadly wound. But Naraku had escaped before Inu-yasha could finish him, and Kagome had collapsed, having been dealt too serious wounds to live on.
From that day Inu-yasha no longer lived. His body was whole, but his heart had died together with his companions. He learned that Sesshoumaru had at last eliminated Naraku, "finished my brother's sloppy job", to use the demon lord's own words. He learned that a war was now raging between Sesshoumaru and the one of Naraku's shades he hadn't been able to kill, Kagura. He learned that Kaede was hard put in her village, begging for his help. And he didn't care about anything he heard.
The last thing he remembered from his past life was a snake demon, blocking his path and gazing malevolently at him with green eyes.
"Sso, the famous half-demon, with ssstrength of a full and more. Funny, you don't look so sstrong at all..."
He supposed the snake had killed him. The thought didn't bother him at all.
"Sheez, mate," said Miroku, shaking his head. "I'm glad I don't have any memories of my past life if that's what you get for it. You must have at least one of those nightmares per month! I'd go insane if I had to endure that. I mean, look at me, I'm shaking like mad and I didn't even have the bloody dream! It's your voice, you know. That's plain horrifying. You put enough terror in that scream to last through five Swedish zombie movies."
"Have you never had a single dream like that?" asked Inu-yasha incredulously. "That's what dreams usually are, a link to our past life."
"Had one or two," said Miroku carefully, looking at his right hand. "About wind. And being swallowed up. Think it's that thing you told me about, my hand? That it was like some kind of abyss? Damn scary, anyway. Is that how I died? No, never mind, don't tell me. I don't want to know."
They sat in silence for a while, until Inu-yasha felt a need to break it.
"Had a good week?" he asked. "Last time I saw you was... Saturday, wasn't it? What have you been up to?"
"Met this terrific girl at the Roxy," said Miroku promptly, not surprising Inu-yasha in the least. "She was absolutely loaded, had this great yacht and a cab that would have costed you several years of pay. So we went on a trip for a while, must have been a group of... sixteen maybe... great week. How about you? What's up with the girl? Been a month now, I want to see some action!"
"We're having dinner tomorrow," said Inu-yasha. Miroku grinned, broadly.
"Well, good on you! Tell you the truth, I was getting worried that we would ever see any improvement here, what with the boyfriend and stuff... broken up, have they?"
"Er... no," said Inu-yasha, looking embarrassed. "Actually... he's going to be there, too."
Miroku blanched.
"Well, there's nothing wrong with threesome, of course, only I didn't quite think you – "
"No!" Inu-yasha exclaimed, blushing. "Geez, you are such a pervert! No, I'm joining them on a friendly dinner. Just as a friend."
"Sorry, mate," said Miroku, laying a hand on his shoulder and looking sympathetic, "but you know what they say about men who are 'friends'. Your hope of scoring with this girl is practically dead. 'Course, in a manner of speaking, she is dead..." Miroku got no further, as a hand shot out and grabbed his windpipe, pressing uncomfortably tight. He choked, and gestured wildly with his hands. Inu-yasha growled deep in his throat, then released his hold just enough to let his friend speak, his eyes glowing red.
"Sorry, it was uncalled for," croaked Miroku. "But you know I joke about serious things... aargh... would you mind letting me go? Um... your eyes are red again..."
Snarling, Inu-yasha opened his hand and drew it away, careful not to let his elongated claws slice the throat of his friend. He turned his back on Miroku and tried to relax. It was at times like this, when something upset or angered him suddenly, that the demon blood which was part of his heritage made itself known, and he lost control. He breathed slowly, trying to regain that control. When he felt somewhat calm again, Miroku's wheezy, short gasps for air finally made their impact on his brain and his conscience and he turned back, biting his lip when Miroku flinched.
"Sorry," he said, feeling utterly ashamed of himself. "I thought I had it under control these days, but..."
"Oh, it was my fault," said Miroku cheerily, a guy who could forgive and forget in less than five seconds (a world record). "I shouldn't have said what I did. But you know me – the insensitive bastard!" He laughed, then put his head on one side and regarded Inu-yasha curiously. "You really do love her, don't you?"
Inu-yasha gazed at him seriously, then looked away and nodded.
"Fascinating." Miroku was now looking at him with something that resembled awe. "True love. Ain't it amazing. Well now, how about I mix us a drink or something? I could do with a Slow Comfortable Screw Against The Wall right now, but since that seems improbable I'll have to make do with the drink of the same name instead. How about you? You like Bloody Mary, don't you?"
Inu-yasha's gaze went to the clock suspended on the wall.
"Miroku, it's four o'clock. In the morning."
"And?" asked Miroku, a man who hadn't only turned the day around, but shoved it in a food mixer afterwards. He could just as well eat lunch at nine p.m. as seven thirty in the morning, and complained loudly about people who wanted more than four hours sleep each night. And he felt that whenever he woke up, be it four o'clock in the morning or four o'clock in the afternoon, the day began. He'd once written a complaint to McDonalds for not serving breakfast at eleven p.m.
Inu-yasha thought briefly of explaining to Miroku that normal people used the night for sleeping and the day for working, eating, mixing drinks and suchlike, but decided that he was much too tired. He sighed, rubbing his temples and thinking longingly of aspirin.
"And... I want to go back to bed. I have to get at least a couple of nightmare-free hours of sleep, alright?"
"Alright." Miroku shrugged. "Guess I'll take a walk past Roxy and see if there is any action."
"But it's Thursday, Miroku! And you've only just come back!"
"Aw, I didn't know you missed me that much," grinned Miroku, making Inu-yasha grimace. "Think I'll only be off for the night, so don't worry. You'll have your Miroku back in no time."
"Gee. Lucky me."
..................................SORRY FOR THE DELAY! I've had a crazy couple of weeks... Ooh, and by the way – I don't think I mentioned this (oops) but there will be characters that do not appear in the original manga in this story. Just thought I'd tell you:)