Disclaimer: I DON'T OWN INUYASHA!
A/N: Well, here is the next chapter. I hope it's good. I have been really in the dark about this story, and to be honest, it's moving wherever IT wants to go. I am merely a pawn. He-he... Anyway, the chapter's here, and I hope you enjoy it. I am not sure if it really conveys all the pain Shippou is feeling, but I didn't want to go too tragic. He is hurting, but I don't want him too steeped in self-pity or anything. I hope you enjoy this next installment of TWHAW.

Chapter Four: Planning for the Present
"One light, one mind flashing in the dark, blinded by the silence of a thousand broken hearts."
-Green Day "Minority"

His head rested in his hands, as he sat motionless on the ground. "Why did this happen to me? Where am I? What is this place- somewhere I can feel more heart wrenching terror?" A rough sigh escaped his lips, and slowly he began to try and stand up. Kaede stepped toward him hesitantly, unsure how to react.

"This is not some land devised to torture you," she said. "You must be from a future of some sort, because as you can see, what has happened in your time has not yet happened in ours."

He blinked up at her wonderingly. "I cannot see how that could possible be true. Because that would mean..." He stopped speaking for a moment, and stared hard at the ground. "That would mean that the others were still alive, and I know without doubt that they are gone."

"It was hard for you, wasn't it?" she stated, hiding in a question. "My eyes don't see the same Shippou that I know, but my heart tells me that you are him. And I can see through your eyes; you are in a numbing sort of pain."

He began to laugh wildly. "Hard?" He asked, voice rising from irritation. "Just a numbing sort of pain? You speak of things that you don't know, foolish woman. I never stop feeling that pain- that unescapable, soul breaking pain. Don't label me numb; I am as freshly wounded as I was the moment my life was stolen. I am a broken being, and you dare speak to me about being numb? The Kaede I knew was much wiser than this; if you are only using her image as a disguise, I hope you get much enjoyment out of watching my pain."

He lifted his arms of stone, and raised himself up off the ground. "Come," Kaede said briskly. "I swear to you that I am not some other deception. If you will let me help you, then maybe we can come up with an explanation. You look so much like the little demon that I was close to, but you are so different. I want to help you."

He looked at her sternly for a moment, trying to judge her intentions to be cruel or sincere. After a moment or two, he decided that she wasn't lying. He began to walk towards her, and seeing him relent, she headed back to the village.

Kaede led the way into a low building, and reluctantly he followed her. "I need to hear what happened," she told him. "I know that it will be a painful experience, but I want to help understand what's going on, and why you are here."

He told her as much as he could. Details that had almost been forgotten he dredged up into the conscious part of his mind. And it hurt. It hurt so badly he felt like his heart was being destroyed once again. But he sat and took it. Leaning against a wall, with Kaede across from him in dim light, he relived memories better left forgotten.

And when he got to how he arrived back in that time, he saw her visibly tense up.

"I must have been sent here for a second chance," he said finally. "If I wasn't even allowed to end this miserable existence, then obviously there's something more that I'm supposed to do. Whatever that may be, I'm willing to do it. Life hasn't been... life without them. If there's even a chance that I could save them, then I'll do anything I can. Anything."

Kaede heard the passion in his voice, and knew that the wounds of his tortured soul would not be easy to heal. He had endured so much in his life, and it was hard to imagine that the man in front of her was the same carefree Shippou she knew.

And just thinking about the Shippou that she knew brought up another piece of knowledge to her mind. "They are here," Kaede said quietly, hoping the news wouldn't startle him. "Right now they are staying here at the village, waiting for Kagome to return from her own time."

His reply lay strangled in his throat. After so many years, could he handle seeing them again? Would his heart break even more, or would his old friends cause it to begin to heal? Whatever the case, he knew he had to save them. There was no way in hell that he would let all that tragedy happen again. The past would be changed; for the better. In the back of his mind, a little voice told him that if he succeeded in altering the future, then he would cease to exist. A new Shippou would emerge, free of the painful shackles that he had had to unwillingly bear. And deep in his heart, that cessation of his misery was all that he wanted. Nothingness called out to him; it's salvation inexorably called...

"I need you to do something for me," he addressed to her bluntly, all politeness pretty much forgotten and pushed aside. "Make me look like a human. Can you disguise my appearance and scent so that they won't be aware that I'm a demon?"

Kaede thought for a moment, digging up any helpful information from the vast store of knowledge she had amassed in her lifetime. For she desperately wanted to help him, and was willing to do whatever she could to aid him in his mission. "I can think of one solution," she told him finally. "A necklace of sorts, like the one Inuyasha wears, though it is more for deception or hiding rather than subduing."

He didn't particularly take to the idea of something that similar to the "collar" he remembered Kagome having around Inuyasha, but he needed something so his plan would succeed. If the group thought he was a human, then they would be more apt to let him tag-along with them on their hunt. He wasn't going to let them know his true identity- he would stay in the shadows.

"Fine. Just make sure it completely conceals me. I don't want them to know that I am-" he looked down with an unreadable expression on his face. "I just don't want them to know anything about me, alright? And if I don't disguise my scent, then chances are Inuyasha will either recognize me or try to kill me before I can get an opportunity to talk to them."

"Alright," Kaede agreed. "I will make this for you, but must promise to save them. I don't want them to go through what you say the future holds. I don't want you to have to go through that."

He nodded, remaining silent for a long moment. "I'm not sure if I will be able to see them without breaking down," he confided, looking at a wall. "But I'm not going to let them suffer. Naraku... will die." Kaede saw his fists clenched hard, nails making little rivers of blood trail down his skin. "Naraku will die."

His firm but whispered voice trickled out into the darkness. A grim determination set his features into a stern, almost desperate expression. There was no happiness in his heart, only a vow to save those he loved. A solemn, unbreakable vow.

End A/N: It is done. Thanx for reading, and please drop a review! Love and PEACE! -A.D.D.