Shadows from the Future

Chapter Seven: Tell Her That You'd Miss Her

Everyone sat outside on the warm summer day trying to figure out a plan to kill Naraku and (after much persuading and many 'sit' threatening) Inuyasha agreed to have outside help.

"We still can't do anything until Naraku's shield is broken again." Miroku explained.

Inuyasha snarled. "Oh yeah, and when's that gonna be?"

Miroku sighed; he did have a point there.

"Naraku's barrier is at its weakest when he's human, right? So why don't we attack then?" Shippo suggested earning himself a hit on the head from Inuyasha.

"STUPID! HE'S ABLE TO CHOSE HIS NIGHT TO BE HUMAN SO HE'S PROBABLY GONNA CHOSE WHEN I AM HUMAN SO I CAN'T GO AND KILL HIM!"

"I was only trying to help!" he squeaked as he ran to Kagome.

"Inuyasha, we know you're angry at Naraku, but please don't take it out on Shippo!" she scolded.

"Shippo's plan isn't too bad, actually." Keishou added. "You see when Naraku's at his weakest so is Inuyasha, but that doesn't mean that Inuyasha has to fight. Why don't you stay by his castle and when Inuyasha's at full power go in for the kill?"

Miroku shook his head. "His incarnations would be waiting for us and with Inuyasha at his weakest there'd be no way to survive long enough to actually get to Naraku."

Arasoi smiled. "Well that's were Koga and the others would come in. They'd be at their highest and could kill the incarnations while Inuyasha waits to become a demon again. All you have to do is make sure you're at the castle near the break of dawn."

Sango sighed. "I dunno..."

Inuyasha closed his eyes. "Right now we dunno if Naraku will be setting up another trap, breeding a new incarnation, or adding another shard to his collection, but as long as we have those shards he will be after us. I guess we'll have no choice other than to fight him."

Everyone was silent for a long time until Kaede walked out of the hut.

"Miroku, Sango, could I see ye inside for a moment?" The monk and demon exterminator nodded and followed the old priestess inside. Keishou also stood up, "Hey Shippo wanna learn another game?"

Shippo sat up in Kagome's lap. "Sure! What game?"

Keishou smiled. "It's called Hide and Seek. Come on Arasoi, you're playing too." Arasoi gave her elder brother a blank look and followed him.

Kagome smiled at the young pups, "They hide it well."

Inuyasha looked at her funny, "What do you mean?"

"Their pain, Shippo lost both his parents in a brutal fight and Arasoi's and Keishou's mother's soul was stolen."

"I still don't understand why those two had to stay with us."

"Inuyasha, their mother's souls was stolen and they didn't know why. They need to figure out why Kikyo needed the soul, and maybe by them finding out by themselves it may help them move on. It may not make much sense now, but when you lose a parent you want to believe their soul is in a better place. They don't even have that." She looked up at him. "But I guess you already know that, Inuyasha."

Inuyasha looked away not wanting to remember anything about his mother's death, the death that wasn't at all her fault. They killed her, because she loved a demon and gave birth to a half-demon.

"Inuyasha?"

"WHAT?" he snapped.

She was taken back at his anger, what had she done?

"Kagome... I'm sorry. I didn't mean to snap at you."

Kagome looked into his amber eyes, it was remarkable how much they've soften over time. "When we beat Naraku, I want you to know that'd I'd go to live in my own time from then on."

Inuyasha felt his heart sank. 'NO! SHE CAN'T GO! I WON'T LET HER!' His mind screamed out solutions. 'BREAK THE WELL! HOLD HER BACK! TELL HER YOU LOVE HER! DID WE ALREADY SAY BREAK THE WELL?' Inuyasha was flabbergasted. "Why... don't you want to stay here?" He felt his voice crackle.

"I do... but it's just that I want to finish High School. I'm going to be a senior this year and everything counts for my future."

He still looked hurt. "So that whole thing about you liking it here was a load of crap, eh?"

Kagome looked up at him. "I never said that, Inuyasha. Please don't make this harder for me than it has to be. I don't belong here."

Inuyasha stood up. "What's the real reason you don't want to stay here, and I don't want to hear that bull about your future and school. Tell me the truth, Kagome."

Kagome stared up at him, tears threatening to fall. "What use I am after the jewel is put back together? What would keep you from going to hell with Kikyo?! What would I do here, Inuyasha!?" She then ran into the forest crying leaving a very quiet hanyou behind.

She ran and ran until she felt the burning in her lungs. "He's such a jerk," she grumbled. "Why do I put up with him?! Why shouldn't I just go home now? There's nothing keeping me here anymore!"

She found herself in a small clearing. Kagome fell to her knees and let loose the tears she'd been holding in. 'Why can't I just let go? It's not like Inuyasha the only guy in the world who may need me. There's Hojo and even Koga. Why do I get myself so worked up for that guy?'

"Kagome?"

She heard her name and was thrown out of her thoughts.

"Go away Inuyasha! I don't feel like talking to you right now!" she hissed at the figured.

"Whoa! You got the wrong hanyou, it's me Keishou."

Kagome lifted up her head. "Keishou? What are you doing here?"

The young boy sat down next to her. "I was seeking and I saw you run in here. What's wrong?"

Kagome whiped her face with her hand. "It's nothing, Inuyasha and I just had a fight."

Keishou looked at her seriously.

'His eyes..." Kagome thought. "Are so much like Inuyasha's.'

"Is this about what happened last night also?"

Kagome gasped. "How... do you know?"

He looked down at the ground, "I heard you go outside, you were crying. Was it because of Inuyasha?" He paused to wait for her answer. She remained slient. "You love him, don't you?"

Kagome looked at the boy who smiled.

"Oh come off it! It's all over you're face!" He pointed at her face. "Here: I love Inuyasha."

Kagome laughed a bit and sighed. "I do," Her own voice surprised her, she never told anyone before, and why did she just tell this boy? "But it's not so easy to tell him. I think it's because he still loves Kikyo."

Keishou eyes darkened at the sound of her name; he hated Kikyo.

"You shouldn't dislike her, Keishou. It's not her fault she's the way she is."

Keishou gasped, was she defending the one person keeping her from happiness? It must sound strange to an outsider.

"She thought the person she loved was the cause of her death," she continued. "In an instant her life was ruined and her death was certain. She was then brought back from the dead only to relive her last moments over and over. I know if I was in her shoes I'd be bitter as well."

Keishou looked at the ground and smiled a little, "Wanna hear something crazy?"

"What's that, Keishou?"

"You remind me a lot of my mother. She'd always tell Arasoi and me to be nice to people and to treat other as you'd wanted to be treated." He paused again. "I miss her a lot."

Kagome looked at him. "I lost my dad when I was younger too, I know the feeling."

Keishou smiled a weak smile. "He likes you a lot too, Kagome."

The teen looked at him with a confused look. "What do you mean?"

Keishou's smile grew. "Inuyasha, he really cares a lot about you. When you were gone before he was so upset, he barely ate or did anything. Sango said it was probably because he couldn't get any work done but I don't think so. He missed you, I know it."

Kagome couldn't help but smile at this, had this young boy really cheered her up? Keishou stood up and whipped the grass from his pants. "Now I must be going, I got a demi-dog and a Kitsune to find!"

Kagome laughed and got up herself. "Keishou?"

"Hum?"

"Thanks, for everything."

Keishou smiled and brushed his bangs out of his face. "No problem and you're secret's save with me."

Kagome seperated from the young boy and began to make her way back to the hut. She was just in the mist of walking through the forest when she noticed a red blur run to her.

"KAGOME!" Inuyasha yelled.

She stood in shock, was he worried about her? Inuyasha stopped running when he reached her, neither of them decided to talk as they looked at one another. Kagome couldn't hold back anymore as the tears fell from her eyes as she ran to Inuyasha and hugged him. Inuyasha was in shock to say the least.

"K-Kagome?" he questioned but she ignored him and held him tighter and he held her too. "I thought you went through the well, and then remembered that you didn't have the shards with you to come back... and it scared me." Kagome's eyes opened as she listened. "I don't want you to leave, and I hate it when you cry, Kagome. After Naraku, if you chose to go back to your own time," he felt himself choke on the words but continued. "You can, but I'll miss you too much."

Kagome felt like she was going to starting crying again. "But... you'll always have Kikyo..." she whispered but Inuyasha heard it.

"Kagome, please listen to me. I don't love Kikyo," he explained. "I'm sorry for all the things you've had to see and for the lies. If you want to leave, Kagome, don't let that be the reason."

She looked up at him, this didn't sound like Inuyasha at all!

"So...just think about that." He said as he looked down at her, she still clung onto him and he did the same to her.

Kagome rested her head in his chest. She didn't want to ever leave that spot; she'd give anything to be that forever.

Meanwhile at Kaede's hut, Sango and Miroku did their best to share their discovery in a clam and mature matter.

"WHAT!?" Kaede bellowed. The monk and demon exterminator had almost given her a heart attack, was Arasoi and Keishou really Inuyasha and Kagome's kin?

Miroku nodded, "We heard them talking the other night."

Kaede took a deep breath in a sad attempt to calm her a bit. "I remember feeling Inuyasha's aura around the boy, but how could they be his children? I've known Kagome since she came out of that well and freed Inuyasha from the god tree, its impossible for them to have a child!"

Something clicked in Sango's head, why didn't she see it before.

"Sango? What is it?" Miroku asked.

"Unless that is," the young woman said, "They pulled a Kagome!"

(AN: And done with another Chapter! I have to go to go back to school and won't update nearly as much! But then again I never really updated a lot in the first place. Okay, remember to review and be nice! Much love sent!)