The sun shone down on the group brightly. Miroku held his hand up to shield his eyes and looked toward the sky, where his friend, the half demon Inuyasha soared, jumping from treetop to treetop.

"Inuyasha!" he called out. "Perhaps we can rest for a while now? A bit of ramen sounds good, doesn't it?"

Inuyasha looked back towards his group of friends, down on the ground. Suddenly his stomach growled. He hadn't realized he was hungry until the monk mentioned food. Damn. He jumped down and looked around for a good place to stop. He saw a little creek bordered by some grassy slopes and figured it was as good a place as any.

Kagome stopped her bicycle and leaned it against a tree. Shippo, the small fox demon, was still sleeping in the basket in the front of the bike. Inuyasha looked over at Kagome and noticed, for the second time today, that she didn't look well. Her skin was pale and she had small dark circles under her eyes.

Sango, the female demon slayer must have noticed it as well, because she began to unpack their supplies and set up a campfire with Miroku's help. Kagome, uncharacteristically, sat down in the shade of a tree and closed her eyes, while Shippo ran to the creek for fresh water.

Sango quickly had water boiling to make some ramen cups that Kagome had brought back with her through the enchanted well from the future, and soon the group was eating in silence. Miroku was feeling very uncomfortable with the lack of conversation and tried to talk to Inuyasha about the demon that had attacked them a few days ago. The demon had a shard of the Shikkon jewel in its neck, and Inuyasha was determined to track it and add that shard to their collection. Inuyasha's answers to his questions were abrupt and soon the half demon was reclining on a large branch up in a tree, ignoring the rest of the group as the sun went down.

Miroku was throwing their trash on the fire when he noticed Kagome get up from her spot and walk down to the water. He looked purposefully at Sango, who nodded and got up to follow Kagome. Miroku thought, if anyone could get to the bottom of this, it would be Sango. Sango and Kagome had become fast friends while they were on their travels, and they regularly confided in each other. Miroku wondered if Sango ever talked to Kagome about him. His feelings for Sango were getting stronger with each passing day, and sometimes he just wished she would return them even a little.

He looked out into the darkness in the direction the girls went in, then looked up at Inuyasha in the tree.
Instead of reclining, Inuyasha was sitting alert in the tree, his ears twitching. It was obvious he was trying to eavesdrop on what was said between the girls. Inuyasha started to stand up, and Miroku cleared his throat. "I don't think it is a good idea for you to get any closer, Inuyasha. Let them talk in private."

Inuyasha settled back against the tree, but it was obvious he was still trying to listen, by the furious twitching of his ears.

Sango approached the creek and saw Kagome sitting with her legs underneath her, by the water. "Kagome?" she said quietly. Kagome seems to stiffen a little at the sound of her voice, but quickly relaxed. She turned to face her and Sango was shocked at how haggard Kagome's face looked.

"What is going on Kagome? Please tell me."

"Oh, Sango!" Kagome suddenly blurt out and started to cry. Sango quickly rushed to kneel beside her and put her arms around her.

"Kagome! What is it!?!?" She stroked Kagome's hair while Kagome shook with sobs. "What has happened?" Kagome continued to cry but seemed to regain a little bit of composure.

"Sango, I have been having these dreams for the past couple of nights, and you have to help me stop them. I can't take it anymore!" She almost shouted.

"Dreams? What dreams Kagome? Are they nightmares?" Sango asked.

"No, I am wrong. They are not dreams. They are memories. Kikyo's memories!" Kagome said almost breathlessly.

"Kikyo?!?" Sango exclaimed. But why is Kagome seeing Kikyo's memories in her dreams. Yes, Kagome was Kikyo reincarnated and the two women shared a soul, but usually dreams did not travel with the soul. This was most unusual.

"Yes, and I can't take it anymore, Sango. I….I….I can't stand to see the way that Inuyasha looked at her." She whispered and lowered her eyes.

"The way Inuyasha looked at her?" Sango repeated and suddenly she realized, exactly how bad this was. Kagome loved Inuyasha. Inuyasha had been in love with Kikyo fifty years ago, before they had been tricked into betraying each other. Kagome was seeing Inuyasha looking at Kikyo with loving eyes every time she drifted off to sleep. No wonder she had dark circles under her eyes! Suddenly, the weight of this struck Sango and her heart broke for Kagome. Sango couldn't even stand to think how hard this must be for her. Tears welled up in Sango's eyes, for Kagome's pain.

"What am I going to? I can't take this." Kagome whispered into Sango's hair. Sango let go off Kagome and stood up. Kagome looked up at her, puzzled.

"Kagome come with me, back to the others. I think I know what is going on here," Sango said. "I don't think this is just a case of bad dreams, Kagome." Kagome nodded and followed her friend back to the fire.

Inuyasha sat up as he heard them approaching. "I hope this isn't bad." Miroku said, as he too heard leaves rustling.

"With the smell of two women's tears in the air, somehow I doubt it is good." Inuyasha said quietly, but just loud enough for Miroku to hear him, as the girls appeared in the circle of light, the tears on their cheeks shining.

"Sango!" Miroku said, perplexed at her look of sorrow.

"We all need to talk. Right now." Sango said. Inuyasha jumped down out of the tree and looked at Kagome. "We have a big problem."

Shippo grabbed onto Sango's dress. "What is it Sango? What's wrong with Kagome?"

"Well, I could be wrong, but I think we have a mind control demon at work on her. He has been making Kikyo's living memories play in Kagome's mind as dreams." Sango said, seriously. Inuyasha gasped and looked at Kagome with a look of pain in his amber eyes. Her eyes were cast down at the ground. She couldn't look at him and see those eyes looking at her. Knowing she would never have him look at her the way he looked at Kikyo.

The group was silent for a moment. Miroku broke the silence. "Why would someone do that?"

"My guess is that maybe they were hoping that the memories would cause Kagome enough pain that she would separate from Inuyasha, and leave her ripe for the picking, Shikon Jewel shards and all." Sango said.

"It makes perfect sense." Inuyasha said. "If the four of us weren't all together - it is just easier to pick off one of us alone." Kagome looked at his hands. They were being clenched into fists.

"How should we go against this enemy, who attacks in such a cowardly way?' Miroku asked.

"That's easy." Sango said. "Kagome needs to go to sleep."