Hello everyone. Eh heh heh… I know, it's been a long time since the last update. I've just been so crammed down with school, college searches, creative writing class draining my brain, and then every single weekend since September, my family has had some sort of "family project" to do… So, I'm really sorry about not updating for so long. I'm going to try and finish this fic before the New Year, but we'll see how that goes.

Disclaimer: I do not own anything, however Shingo, Yumi, and Ao are characters created by me.

Winter's Night

Chapter 26 (finally)

Inuyasha's POV

The night passed way too slow. I didn't sleep at all; constant thoughts of home and the upcoming fight ran through my head non-stop. I growl in frustration and lay back on my back on the deck. We've been at see for a month now, and every night since the beginning of the voyage, my mind has refused to let me sleep. Also the fact that beginning on a ship with limited space has made me restless. My muscles ache from lack of use, and I just feel so… blah.

I sigh and sit up staring over the rail of the ship. Blue. Ocean. Waves. Oh look, a fish jumped. I rest my forehead against the rail and allow my eyes to close. I think I'm slowly becoming insane, or at least will be by the time this is over.

Once the voyage ends, I get to go, journey far into China, search for some mountain, kill a dragon, travel all the way back, get on another boat, wait longer to get back to Japan, and then travel home. Talk about having a lot to do…

"Inuyasha?" My twitch as I'm brought from my thoughts. I grunt in response, not really wanting to talk.

"Hey, are you ok?" Footsteps get nearer and then stop besides me.

"I'm just peachy." I growl sarcastically. Why can't she take the hint and just leave me the hell alone? If I have to sink down into misery and insanity, then I want to do it by myself.

"Are you sure, cause you look like you're going to get sick…"

"I ain't gonna get sick, so just leave me the hell alone!" I growl and finally look up at the kitsune hanyou next to me. She steps back in surprise and I turn back to the ocean. "Damn, why do all you kitsune have to be so damn annoying?"

"Y-You know other kitsune?" She asked, her voice stuttering a bit. I look up at her with a raised eyebrow.

"Yeah, they're not that uncommon. Besides, one of my sons is one." I sigh. Thoughts of home, Shippo, Kiyoshi, Kagome, all run through my head. Why did that damn wolf have to show up and want to fight? Why didn't my demon blood recede enough for me to be a full hanyou again? If none of that had ever happened, I'd still be home, still with Kagome.

"Hello?" I snap out of my thoughts and stare up at the girl leaning down, her hand in my face. "Welcome back to the land of the living."

"Feh." I mutter and turn away, standing up to lean against the rail of the boat, my arms crossed. "Why aren't you gone yet?"

"Oh, someone's a little touchy." Yumi said mimicking my position. I growled but she just ignored me. "So… what were you thinking about just now?"

"None of your damn business."

"Oh come on, I bet you were thinking about someone back where you came from, someone who loves you dearly, who you love just as much, if not more." I stare at her in shock before turning back the ocean.

"Heh, am I that easy to read?" I saw her nod out of the corner of my eye and shook my head. "I am losing my sanity…"

"No, you're just a weary traveler. All first time sailors are." I shook my head, still not happy with that logic. "Anyway, who's this girl you left behind?"

"My mate." I state, my eyes going half closed.

"Really? You found a mate? Even as hanyou?" I nod and can tell she's shocked.

"Kagome, my mate, she's different from anyone else. She loves me for who I am, she doesn't care that I'm only half human."

"So she's a human then?"

"Yeah, and a priestess to boot." I hear a gasp and smirk. "She's one of a kind, and so is our family; an adopted kitsune son, and then our son Kiyoshi." Images flash in my head. The day Kouga attacked slides through my mind, how close I had come to losing my world. I shake my head to dispel the images and tuck my head down, my forehead resting on my folded arms.

I hear footsteps slowly move away as Yumi walks away. I lift my head a little, staring out at the vast blanket of blue. Nothing but ocean as far as I can see. I sigh. I'm really all alone…

Squawking, loud voices, yelling. I open my eyes and stand to stare towards the front of the boat. My eyes widen at the ship.

Hundreds of ships line the shore, people crowd the docks and everything beyond them. I sniff the air and stumble holding my head. Too many scents at once; the ocean, salt, fish, and the massive swarms of people on land.

"It's market day." A voice beyond me says and I turn to see Shingo. "I don't suppose you can change your appearance at all, can you? The Chinese don't take too lightly to Japanese demons."

I shook my head and he sighed. Stupid human, I don't care how the people would react, it's not like they could do anything to me anyway.

"Why the hell should I hide myself, I can just walk off of her and then go to the nearest forest and then- "I stopped when something fell over my head. I growled and pulled it off, turning to stare at the culprit.

"Eh heh… "Yumi held up her hands in defense. "Why don't you just wear a cloth like my brother? It'll hide your ears and we can tie your hair back…"

I glared. "There ain't any fucking way I'm –"

"That's a great idea Yumi." Shingo said picking up the cloth. I growled and he stepped back. "Come on, we don't want the people here to start anything."

"Yeah, I really don't feel like getting ridiculed today." Yumi stated, her voice tinged with a hint of sadness. I growled.

"Feh." I snorted and plopped down on the deck. Immediately Shingo tied the cloth over my head, and then tied my hair back with a piece of thin rope. He stepped back and I stood back up, crossing my arms over my chest.

"Happy?" I growled. Shingo nodded.

"Now let's get ready to go, we have to find an inn to stay at and then once settled we can plan what we're going to do about getting to Mt. Joma." He said as he walked towards the front of the ship. I rolled my eyes and turned to go get my haori which I had discarded in the warmth of the night, when I stopped, Yumi staring at me.

"What?" I growled.

"You don't look half bad, for a dog." She smiled and walked after her brother. I glared at her and took a few steps grabbing my haori off the deck before following after them.

I saw Ao jump on the deck and transform into a smaller form as the boat drifted up to the shore. I stood and watched as Shingo and Yumi tied the ship to posts on the dock and jumped off the boat followed by Ao to where they were.

After they finished checking the boat, I followed them as we went into the large village. People were everywhere and they were slowly pissing me off. Some stared and pointed, speaking in a language I didn't understand. I glared at them and they ran off inside. Cowards.

I turned my eyes back to the siblings in front of me and continued to follow them to the outskirts of the village. They walked a little ways into the forest and soon a rather nice looking inn came into view. Shingo walked up to the entrance and spoke with a man in a foreign language before turning to Yumi and I and waving for us to follow. We did and the man called three women who lead us each to different rooms.

I looked around amazed at how the room looked. There was a fire pit in the middle, but that was the only thing remotely similar to the inns back in Japan. Paintings covered the walls, depicting a variety of humans, nature, all done in rich colors. A thick mat lay near the fire pit; a fur blanket lay over it with another blanket of a softer smoother material laying over that. I sat on the mat and looked around the rest of the room. There was a door that lead outside, cushions stacked against the wall, and then another door. I stood an walked over to the door, sliding it open.

A bath.

I smile and close the door, flipping the latch to lock it. I stripped out of my clothing and tossed it in a pile near the bath. I slipped into the water and sank down in it, sitting down. I pulled the cloth off my head and the tie out of my hair, tossing them with my clothes. I went underwater after a few minutes, soaking my hair before coming to the surface and resting against the edge of the bath.

My mind wanders thoughts of home returning. If Kagome were hear, she'd be having the time of her life just relaxing in the bath. Images of us giving Kiyoshi a bath play through my head only to be replaced of images of just the two of us in taking a bath. The way she'd tempt me enough to drive me to the brink of losing control before one of us would make the first move, and it would all cycle downward from there.

I feel a heat run through my veins at one particular memory of the last time we had taken a bath. We'd left Shippo and Kiyoshi with Sango and Miroku before heading off to a hot spring across the river and deep in a cave in a mountain side. We had spent the whole night there, returning to the village just before sunrise. A night heated in passion, a need to feel whole. Of course, Miroku wouldn't leave us alone about it, that is until Sango smacked him with Hiraikotsu and said that if he didn't leave us alone, he'd be alone that night.

I chuckle softly to myself, and tilt my head back, running a hand through my hair. An ache finds it's way into my chest and I wince as it only continues to grow. I close my eyes tightly, and sink down deeper into the water, until just from my eyes up is above the water.

I miss them and it hurts… it hurts too much…

A soft knock at the door rouses me, and I get up off the mat that I'd been laying on for the last hour. I open the door and a woman comes in, places a tray of food near the fire and walks out. I shake my head and go back over to the fire, only to have another knock sound through the room. I growl in annoyance and yank open the door, only to find Shingo and Yumi.

"We came to talk about tomorrow's plans." Shingo says.

"Feh." I walk over and sit on the floor near the fire, and start eating as they walk in and sit down across from me. I finish eating, and not a word has been spoken since they sat down.

"What the hell do you want to discuss about tomorrow?" I ask brushing my hand through my hair.

"Well," Shingo began, "we would like to start out early, gather some supplies, and the begin traveling-"

"No." I said cutting him off.

"No?"

"I'm traveling alone. You two will only slow me down. I want to get this over with as soon as possible so that I can return to my own village." I state firmly, glaring at them slightly.

"But our mother is with that dragon, we must help her." Yumi protested.

"Look kit, I'll bring back you're mom for you, ok?" I say. "Besides, it'll be faster if I go it alone, so she'll be back with you two faster."

"You can't go alone; you don't know the ways of the people, or their language."

"I really don't give a rat's ass if I know how these humans act, nor do I care about their fucking language. I have a map and what the dragon looks like, so all I have to do is get there, kill it, and bring back your mom. Trust me, I've gone through much more before and I'm still here ain't I?"

"But- "I growled cutting off anymore of their protests. I stood up and grabbed Tessaiga which had been lying on the mat, and left through the door to the outside. I jumped off the ground and took to the trees, running deeper into the forest. After a while, I stopped and using the light of the moon, checked the map. According to it and the stars, I was on the right path, so I kept going.

Night quickly turned to day, and then to night again. The cycle continued on, and still I ran, stopping once in a while for a short rest and quick bite to eat before moving on. The thought of 'the quicker I get this over with, the faster I can get back to Kagome' fueled my body to keep going.

I even went on during my human night, but then I had to stop at night fall because I couldn't see. I don't even know how long it's been, but I can feel that I'm getting closer. The last village on the map before the mountain I passed days ago.

I slide to a stop, reaching a cliff as I come out of the forest. I stare down across the land below and smirk spotting a great mountain in the distance, a day's run at the most. The wind rushes passed me from the direction of the mountain and I can feel the youki, smell the dragon's rancid scent. My smirk widens as I scale the cliff down to the land below, continuing to run once I reach the bottom.

I run all day, never stopping until I finally reach the base of the mountain. I stare up at the bare side of mountain. It's covered in rocks and ash, no sign of plant-life anywhere. I look around the forest and jump into the largest tree closet to the mountain. I decide to rest, just for the night. Tomorrow, the dragon would meet his end. I allowed my eyes to drift closed as I fell into the oblivion of sleep.

Hey there, that's the end of chapter 26. I apologize for it being short, and also if it's a little too miss matched. I really tried to write, but I kept getting interrupted, and my brain just doesn't seem to want to function properly. I promise to write more soon though, and try to write an awesome battle with the dragon.

PLEASE REVIEW!!!

Ja ne!