Ai ga subete – Our era starts from here

WoW! I got more than 40 reviews!!! That's terrific! Thanks to everybody who reviewed!
And I'd like to thank you for your faithfulness as well. I'm so sorry I wasn't able to update earlier, but I'm really busy at the moment. I didn't even have enough time to check the reviews until now. Anyways, I hope you'll like this chapter.

Mysterium

(Oh, and I don't own Inuyasha! … Well, not yet…)

Ai ga subete – Our era starts from here

Chapter 6: Nightly events

"Hou..., err, Miroku? Where are you?" Sango asked, stepping out of the hut. Sun hadn't set completely yet, but it was already quite dark. She knew that he was looking for Inuyasha, again. Of course Inuyasha was nobody you usually have to worry about, but no matter how angry he was, he should have come back by then. Especially since it was his time of the month to become human, the new moon, tonight. He had always stayed with or at least near them during this time ever since they knew about his secret. It was really strange that he hadn't returned.
"What is it, Sango?" Miroku stepped out of the shadows some trees were throwing on him.
"Has your search been successful?" she said, facing him with a sad smile. He simply shook his head. "I'm really starting to worry about him" Sango nodded. They had refused to talk about that subject all day. But though they did so, Shippou had been questioning them about Inuyasha's whereabouts. Kaede, who had been involved while Shippou was busy drawing pictures with the crayons Kagome had given him, had told them that even some of the villagers were confused about Inuyasha not showing up the whole day while his friends were staying. "I sent Hatsie to the nearby villages. But nobody met Inuyasha lately. It's just like he'd disappeared without a trace left." Miroku's uneasy feeling hadn't decreased during the day, though there hadn't been any signs of something unusual being up. "Kirara didn't sense him nearby, too. Maybe he really only wants to be alone because he is angry with Kagome" Sango said.
"Yeah. Probably." Once again they both thought that this wasn't true, but they wouldn't express it it.
"Let's go back to Kaede's hut. I promised to help her cooking."
Miroku nodded.

- - -

Rain, more rain, and even more rain was pouring down, forming puddles, flowing together into small brooks. His robe made of fire rat fur was soaking. Even though the sun hadn't completely set yet, he already felt his powers fading. He already wasn't able to smell or hear as good as usual anymore. And slowly he started to feel cold from the rain.
"Damn wenches" he muttered. He had tried to follow Kagome and her friends all the time since they'd left her room. Of course this was quite easy while they were outside, but he hadn't been able to exactly tell where they were when they went back to the hotel because it started to rain.
He knew that he was in a big hall with huge windows and lots of tables in it. He had seen her and some of her classmates enter this room when he had been creeping around the hotel complex again.

"And that human blood sucks, too!" Inuyasha hissed shuddering with cold.
He jumped down from the branch he had been sitting on for a while. Nothing happened to him. His body wasn't weak enough yet. But soon even a simple action like that would probably cause him pain. Kagome had just left that hall with her friends. Why did she have to go everywhere they did? There hadn't been a single chance for him to talk to Kagome. They had always been around.
He slowly approached the hotel, each of his steps causing a small 'splash'. He didn't worry about somebody seeing him at the moment. He doubted that anybody would be stupid enough to walk around now that the rain was splashing down like this. And even if there'd been somebody, this somebody wouldn't have been able to clearly recognize through the rain.
Inuyasha stopped when he finally reached a place where he could see the window of the room Kagome was staying in. There was light. She was there. Probably with her friends again…
He didn't jump up to look if she was alone. It wasn't safe anymore. His demon powers were fading slowly, but he didn't exactly know how long it would take until he became human. And risking a sudden fall down to the ground didn't seem that wise.
But since not even Kagome would go to sleep that early and her mother had mentioned something about a walk in the evening, there was still a chance she would leave the hotel again. He only had to wait.
Soon the light was switched out and he knew that Kagome was about to leave her room. He didn't know where she was going, so he decided to simply check the entrance of the hotel. While he was on his way (he wasn't running or jumping this time) he heard two well known voices above him. Eri and Ayumi were somewhere in one of the lit up rooms. He stopped, hearing the sound of a door opening (though it was very faint).
"Hey Yuka" a boy said. "Are the teachers still there?"
Inuyasha sure wasn't able to see her nod or shake her head. But since another boy suggested waiting at least half an hour, he guessed that Yuka's answer had been 'yes'.
Even though he wouldn't have really cared as long as Kagome wasn't involved, he started wondering what those guys were up to. He listened for a while, but the things they were talking about didn't make any sense to him. The only thing astonishing him was the familiar way they talked to each other. He wondered whether Kagome did talk the same way to everybody else than her three friends. He'd never seen her talking to another boy than that Ho-ho guy in her time (who wasn't one of the boys he was eavesdropping at the moment, by the way).
Making him think about something else… Was that guy on the trip, too? He hadn't thought about it yet and in his momentary state he wasn't able to smell him anyways. Well, but since he hadn't seen him buzzing round Kagome as he usually did, it seemed inconceivable that he was somewhere near her.
He was lost in thought for a moment. Then his ears picked out another interesting comment.
"So Higurashi isn't going to join us on our trip?" one of the boys asked.
Higurashi… Inuyasha was sure that they were talking about Kagome. In his time only lords and noblemen in general used to have last names. But he knew that it was different in this time.
So, whatever those guys wanted to do, Kagome would do something else. So waiting for her to enter the room some of her classmates were in wouldn't make sense.
Inuyasha was just about to continue on his way to the entrance when he noticed something moving behind him. Turning round he saw that there was a girl, wearing a dark yukata, her hair tied into a tight knot, heading into the opposite direction.
"Kagome?" Inuyasha said, recognizing the way she walked. But she didn't seem to hear him. She was almost 300 feet away now.
He looked down on his left hand. His claws had gone.
There wasn't another possibility. He had to go after her. Knowing that there wasn't anything to cover anymore he took off the baseball cap and hid it in the folds of his kimono.
The ground had gotten completely sodden, making it harder to run.
Inuyasha didn't know where she was going. He remembered that she and her friends had been near there in the afternoon, but then she turned to the right, walking down a small path.
He ran faster. Kagome raised her pace, too.
"Kagome!" Inuyasha shouted again. But it turned out to be pointless. The rain was muffling his voice. Concentrating fully on not losing sight of Kagome, he didn't take care of the slippery path. When he saw that she was about to lose her balance, he completely forget about thinking what his own feet were doing. So he tripped over one of the rounded of stones lying on the path, turning over several times before landing in one of the bushes.
Kagome stopped for a second. She looked back, but continued on her way when she didn't see anybody who could have caused the noise she had believed to hear.
Inuyasha groaned. He felt dizzy. Rubbing the back of his head he straightened up, looking for the girl he was following. But she was already out of sight. Though going after her wouldn't be any harder because of that. She had followed the path, there was no doubt. After a couple of seconds he went on, this time more carefully. The rain was slowly easing off. But the sound of it didn't fade since leaves and branches were still dripping water.
Soon Inuyasha saw a low house. He knew that Kagome was in it since he could see light in some of the windows. And there was something else confirming him in the belief that she was here. Looking down at the building he recognized that its door was leading out to some hot springs.
Onsen! Of course that had to be the reason for Kagome walking around in the midst of the night. Well, it wasn't really that late yet, but still he would never have left her alone since it had grown completely dark. Too dangerous.
He couldn't suppress a chuckle. Absolutely typical of Kagome, wasn't it?
It didn't take him long to approach the house, but when he was finally there she hadn't left it yet. Not wanting to rush things, he stopped near the onsen. Well, anyways he didn't know what exactly she was doing in there, though he got quite a good idea of it. Inuyasha sat down leaning against a tree trunk, his eyes still on the door.
Some minutes past until it finally moved.

- - -

"Oh Kirara. You were waiting for us?" Sango bent down, picking up the cat demon in her small form. Kirara nestled up to her with a loud purr. Kaede's hut was only some feet away now. They could already see it. "Inuyasha hasn't come back yet, has he?" Of course she didn't expect an answer, but she didn't need it anyways. She knew that he was still missing from the expression she saw in Kirara's eyes. Still scratching the cat's head, she started continuing on her way but stopped again when she noticed that the monk wasn't following her anymore. She threw a look over her shoulder and could see him standing still, staring at something in the distance.
"Mi-Miroku? Is there something wrong?"
He forced himself to look back at her.
"Small whirlwind" he told her. "It's coming nearer. Fast."
"Kouga?"
He nodded. "I guess so."
Only seconds later their suspicion was confirmed by the leader of the wolf tribe, who suddenly was next to them, the whirlwind he had been causing still making it hard to remain standing.
"Hey you lot! Where's my woman?" Koga snarled. He seemed slightly upset that he hadn't gotten the chance to run Inuyasha down this time. Well, at least not yet. But since he could smell that Kagome wasn't anywhere near he'd decided that it would be much easier to find her if he asked her friends. He had to see her. It was quite urgent this time.
Before Miroku was able to say anything Sango stepped forward.
"I don't know where 'your woman' is. But if you're looking for Kagome… She isn't here. She went to the land she is coming from and won't be back for a while."
Kouga looked even more upset now.
"So where is that dog turd? Hiding himself like the anxious pup he is?"
Now it was finally Miroku's time to speak. "Well, actually we don't know where he is. He didn't come back since last night."
The wolf demon's lips formed a smug smile.
"That's what I'm talking of! He's running away, tail between his legs."

'You're the one always running away!' Sango and Miroku thought in unison. But none of them was in the mood for an argument with him right now.
"So is there anything we should tell Kagome when she comes back?" the demon huntress asked, bored by his usual attitude.
He thought for a moment. "Since she isn't here now it doesn't really matter. I just came to take her with me. Of course the mangy half breed wouldn't be able to take care of her. He wouldn't even be able to fight such a mighty enemy without becoming bloody human tonight."
Sango cut him off. "What is this supposed to mean, 'mighty enemy'?"
"I don't know what he's up to or if his plans include ya lot, but I can smell him. He is only some miles away…" He looked at the asking expressions of Kagome's friends and knew that they were still expecting him to say something that would prove their guess to be false.
"Don't know if it's the real one, though. Could be another offspring."

- - -

The rain had stopped completely. Silence. Everything was quiet. Then the faint sound of the door opening. The sight of her stepping out of the building. Nude.
Naked as the day was born. The only thing covering a small part of her tender skin was a towel she carried. Her now undone hair was curling softly. His breath, his heartbeat was getting faster.
He was stunned. He blushed, realizing what he was doing.
He turned away, closing his eyes. He shouldn't peep on her lay down the piece of cloth and let herself glide into the steaming water. Even thinking about it made him blush even more.
He needed something to take his mind off things.
He started wondering how she could possibly walk around like that, if there could be somebody watching her.
Well, of course there'd been that fence he'd have to climb to get to this area without going through the house Kagome just had left, but still…
The sound of water splashing cut off his train of thought.
He waited a couple of minutes till he finally allowed himself to take a glance at her again.
She leaned on one of the rocks at the edge of the onsen. She sighed. She turned her gaze up on the sky. She seemed to be lost in thought.
Finally taking heart he whispered her name. Maybe he wouldn't get the chance to meet her again, alone.
"Kagome?"
She didn't hear him. He tried another time, a little louder. She couldn't hear him. She'd dipped her head under water. He didn't know why she did something like that, but he remembered that she'd used to dive and swim under water several times he'd accidentally watching her.
Some seconds later she broke the surface of the water again, drawing a deep breath.
He took his chance to draw attention to him.
"Hey! Kagome!"
She looked around, rather surprised about somebody being there, somebody who knew her name.
"Who…who is there?"
"It's me!" he answered.
Her eyes widened. She was obviously shocked to hear his voice, to learn that he had followed her, that he was here with her.

"I-Inuyasha!?"

She let herself sink even deeper, the water now covering everything down from her shoulders.
"Yeah, it's me. Don't worry, I won't look…"
'Well, but only because you already did' he heard a voice inside his head scolding him.

"It's new moon tonight! You…What the hell are you doing here!?" Kagome asked indignantly. She felt like being mad at him, but was even too stunned to shout.

"What do you think I am here for? I'd guess it's not that much of an accident, stupid.
Of course I'm here because I followed you. Isn't that obvious?"

She sighed. 'Obvious, right. But it's not the reason…' She didn't want to argue with him again, so she just tried to drop the subject.

"So why do you want to talk to me?"
"Because we have to talk!" Another mindless respond.
"Oh, do we? And what do we have to talk about?"
Silence.
He hadn't exactly thought about it, yet. What should he say to her? How could he tell her that he wanted to stay the whole week? How was he supposed to…?

"Get out of the water" he commanded.
"And put on your clothes" he quickly added when he noticed that she might have misunderstood what he'd just said.

She sighed. "Inuyasha, what is that all about? If you want me to come back with you… I already told you that I want to stay here, in my time for this single week. You can't make me change my mind!" She felt kind of angry because he'd followed her, of course. But on the other hand, she was quite happy. He was alright and the strange feeling that she'd had all day long had been caused by him, so there was nothing seriously uncanny going on.

"Nope, not this time. You can stay, if that's what you want." The astonishment at hearing this was nearly preventing her from realizing what his following words meant.
"But I'll stay with you!"

She gasped. Now, this was really worth talking about! Inuyasha following her, gods know how he managed, then allowing her to stay in her time and finally wanting to stay there as well!
Kagome wasn't able to say anything for several minutes.

"So what are you going to do? Just sitting there and waiting for the onsen to dry up?"
She'd finally figured out where exactly he was, though she was only able to see some bangs of his now black hair behind the trunk of a big tree.
"Wait a minute. I'm just getting dressed. … And don't you dare even think about looking!"
She'd quickly left the hot spring, picking up her towel. She tried to cover her body as much as possible, her eyes never leaving the form of the human Inuyasha leaning against the tree trunk.

She headed for the door leading to the changing room and showers. Kagome was already about to open it when she heard one of the least expected sounds behind her.

"Inuyasha? Were you just…sneezing?" she asked in disbelief, throwing a concerned look at him over her shoulder.
He shot a short glance at her without turning his head.
"Feh. You're just hearing thihings … aitchu!"

She turned round. "So, I'm just hearing things, eh? Are you OK, Inuyasha? You probably might have caught a cold" she said, slowly making her way to him.
"Halfdemons don't catch a cold." Inuyasha snarled. He kept staring at the ground.
"But you are human tonight!" She kept holding the towel as tight as possible.

Kagome kneeled down in front of the hanyou and lifted her right hand to feel his forehead. Hot. Wet.
She couldn't see his face. It was too dark.
She looked down on her hand, eyes widened in shock.
Red.
"I-Inuyasha! What happened to you? Ya-you are bleeding!"
He looked up at her. She was trembling.
Bringing his left hand up to his forehead, he could feel the small rivulet of blood making its way down his face from an (unless to him) unignorable wound.
"Damn human body!" he muttered. It wasn't that bad at all. He hadn't even really felt (or maybe he had only ignored) it.
"It doesn't matter" he told her, whipping the blood away with the soaked sleeve of his haori.
"But…"
"I told you it doesn't matter. Doesn't even hurt."
She still couldn't turn her gaze away from his face.
"But you have a fever and …you're drenched to the skin! We have to get something dry for you to wear. I think I'll have to ask one of the boys if he could lend me some…" She slowly got up.
"Don't have to" Inuyasha replied.
"Huh?"
"Brought some of that modern clothing with me" She was startled.
"How…? Where did you…?"
He smirked. She should have known it! It was so typical!
"Your mom gave them to me."
She sighed. Her mother! Of course she'd been the one telling Inuyasha where the trip was going to.
"Oh, yeah, and she wanted me to tell you that she didn't tell me where you were going."
Kagome grimaced. She remembered making her mother promise not to tell Inuyasha where the hotel was.
"So how did you manage to follow me then?"
"She told me that I only had to follow that coach thing."
She sweatdropped. That was absolutely typical for her mother.
"So where are the clothes?" she asked, not wanting to go in greater detail about this at the moment. Even though the towel covered most of her body she shivered with the cold air.
"Put them under the bed in that room you're staying in."
She groaned. The coldness of the night seemed unbearable to her.
"I'm getting dressed, OK? Then we can go and get them." He gave a nearly unrecognizable nod.
He tried to hold it back, but he was feeling cold as well.

- - -

"Hey, Inuyasha! Where are you?" She couldn't see him when she stepped out of the back door. She'd just fetched some clothes for Inuyasha and changed into casual wear herself in her room. She'd decided that it would be better if nobody would see him in that old-fashioned kimono he was wearing all the time. So she wanted him to change into normal clothes before taking him to her room.
Suddenly she felt uncomfortable. There was someone behind her. Quickly turning round she saw that it was only Inuyasha. She drew a breath of relief.
"Sorry, didn't want to scare you. I was just hiding from some of your classmates. Ya know, they were just sneaking away one minute ago." He grasped the bundle of clothes she was holding.
"I heard them talk about it earlier, but I don't really know what they're up to."
Kagome giggled, remembering the conversation with her friends after dinner.
"Well, some of my friends saw a suspicious creature, you know, kind of flying past their windows and things." Inuyasha blushed. "They want to find out what it was. And Ayumi told me that they think this place is haunted." They'd been walking over to the edge of the forest.
"I suggest I'll just wait here until you're done." He nodded, then disappeared into the shadows of the forest.
Kagome leant against a tree, looking at the many lights of the hotel.
"Err…Kagome? Could you help me getting these closed?" she heard him ask only a few minutes later. Inuyasha stepped out of the shadows. He was wearing black jeans and a black t-shirt with a white shirt over it.
Kagome had to admit that those clothes looked really good on him. Still it was strange since she was unused to see him in something else than his fire rat robe. But he seemed to have a problem with buttoning up the shirt, making her giggle slightly.
She quickly closed the distance between them.
"Of course I can." She started to button the shirt up. He was still fumbling with one of the buttons. When she finally came to this one he took hold of her hand, causing her to look up at him in surprise.
He didn't say anything, just looked down at her.
Kagome blushed and looked down on their hands.
"Inuyasha?"
"Hush!" He turned his head, now looking at something near the hotel. "There's somebody over there."
Kagome followed his gaze. She gasped when she recognized the person. It was Mr. Yamamoto, her Math teacher!
"Inuyasha…do you know where my classmates went?" she asked, dragging him into the shadows where the lights from the hotel couldn't light them.
"Not really, only saw which direction they were heading. Why do you want to know?"
"I have to warn them. The one over there is one of my teachers. They aren't supposed to leave the hotel area on their own."
Inuyasha nodded. "C'mon." He grabber her wrist, leading her to where her friends had vanished from his sight. Certainly Kagome would get into trouble if somebody saw the two of them, so he made sure that teacher didn't cross paths with them.
There was only one way they could have gone, a small path leading down a rocky slope.
As they started climbing down he tightened his grip on Kagome. He didn't want to risk a fall, especially since he wouldn't be able to save her.
Soon they reached the entrance of a cave.
"I guess they went in." Kagome nodded. "Let's go!"
Darkness. Nothing else. It was even many times darker than the pitch black night outside. Not wanting to get lost Kagome clung to Inuyasha's arm.
After only a few minutes of walk the saw a light flickering.
He stopped, turning his head into the opposite direction.
"Kagome, there's something wrong. I can sense it" he whispered. "Even without my demon powers."
Now she could feel it, too. Something was there, something evil.
"Go and get your friends outa here!" He placed his hand on the hilt of Tessaiga, ready to draw it if necessary.
"But Inuyasha!" She was afraid. He didn't need his sensible dog-demon nose to know that she was. She was trembling. She didn't want to let him go.
"It's not strong, whatever it is. Don't worry, just do what I told ya." With that he stepped into the unlit hallway on the left.
Kagome hurried to where the light was coming from.
"Eri!? Yuka!? Anybody there?"
"Kagome?" the response came.
She entered a rather big cavern lit by the light of some torches. There were Yuki, Eri, Ayumi and some other guys, including the girl Ayumi was sharing her room with and some boys from another class.
"Hey Higurashi! You decided to join us, then?"
She shook her head. "No time to act the speleologist! Mr. Yamamoto has found out about your little trip. I just saw him creeping around to find out where you've gone"
"Shit! Let's get out of here! We'll get into trouble if he finds us" said a boy Kagome didn't know, though she thought that she remembered his name, Toshi.
They didn't waste any time. Soon the sound of their steps faded away.
Kagome draw a deep breath. There was another sound than the excited voices of her classmates now. A sound she didn't like.
"Inuyasha!?" She tried to feel her way along the wall.
"Inuyasha!" she screamed again. She was able to see him now. He was breathing heavily, swinging the untransformed Tessaiga down. She wasn't able to see what he was fighting. Whatever it was, it was to fast to be seen by human eyes.
He turned to look at her.
"Stay back, Kagome!" he cried, preparing to dodge the next attack. But it didn't come.
Finally he took some steps towards Kagome, still on guard.
But she didn't wait out if the danger was averted. She just flew towards him, throwing herself to his chest. She was on the verge of tears. "A-are you OK?" she sobbed.
" 'Course I am!" he replied, holding her tight.

- - -

Kagome left the bathroom. She saw that he was still sitting on the edge of the double bed, looking out of the window, his arms folded.
"Inuyasha?" she asked, putting down her taken off clothes on one of the chair.
"What?" Inuyasha watched her every move. She was wearing her light blue 'pajamas' now.
She turned off one of the lights, then crawled on the bed, sitting up right behind him.
"You should try and get some sleep!"
He groaned. "How many times have I already told ya that I don't need as much sleep as you do?" Kagome leaned against his back, sighing.
"It doesn't matter how often you tell me. I know that you need at least a shut eye now. You're tired. You have a fever, you need to rest!"
He just 'feh'ed, like usual.
"I know that you want to stay on guard, but there won't be any demons attacking in my world" she whispered. Enjoying the warmth of his body, she closed her eyes.
"No demons, eh? So what about the thing in the cave?" he snarled.
"Don't know" she whispered. "Maybe just a spirit who got woken up by my friends. It wasn't able to hurt you at all…fortunately"
He remained silent, lost in thought about what had happened earlier. He still didn't know what had been going on. When he'd entered a huge cavern a really strange power had started attacking him. It hadn't been strong, only fast. But Kagome was kinda right. He'd never felt the presence of a demonic being in her time before, except of the noh-mask with the jewel shard in it.
"Kagome?"
No response. He sighed. Inuyasha carefully got up, holding her shoulders so she wouldn't fall over. Then he put her down, covering her with the blanket. He turned off the other light.
Smiling, he lay down next to her, looking at her sleeping face.
'Remembering me of last night…' he thought.
"Good night, Kagome" he whispered, wrapping his arm around her waist. To his surprise she snuggled up to his chest.
"Night…"
He blushed. There was something else this scene was reminding him of.
"Oh, and Inuyasha…" He started to recall Mrs. Higurashi's words.
"I called the hotel. It's fully booked. You'll have to share one room with Kagome.
So please don't carry things too far!"

Finally finished this chappie. Please review and tell me what you think about it.
Hope you liked reading it.
I will update on at least this Sunday again. Promise!
Inu-KagomeFan,
I'm really sorry, but as I already told I didn't even read my reviews until now, so I didn't know about your birthday. So please regard this story as a late birthday present.
13 is a great age. Belated best wishes!

(and about our well-discussion: He blocked the well with a tree. He only took the shikon shards from Kagome so there was no need to take her back to Sengoku Jidai. I think you're right about the producers. But I guess that the translation could be wrong as well…)