Chapter 5: Destiny is indeed a cruel reunion

Kagome woke up the next morning surprised to see Inuyasha's robe on her. What was even more surprising is that he was sleeping peacefully, when normally he would have stayed up all night watching over everyone.

Inuyasha woke up and yawned. He then asked Sango, who was already up and making breakfast, if he could do anything to help her. She at first was surprised at his kindness but then asked him to bring her more firewood.

Inuyasha agreed to do so and left camp. He was walking in the forest and he stopped at the tree he had seen earlier. It looked so majestic, and he was eager to learn why it felt so important to him. But then another half of him didn't want to find out. He finally decided that when the time was right destiny would reveal the answer to his question.

He quickly cut up some firewood with his sword and brought it back to Sango. She thanked him and then when the water began to boil a mischievous smile spread across the demon exterminator's face. "Inuyasha" she said slyly, "I never did get to properly thank Miroku about what happened last night". Inuyasha had no idea what she was talking about and decided to keep it that way. "Listen, I have a bowl here of boiling hot water, if you could take it to the monk and GIVE it to him I'd appreciate it.

He grinned at what she was implying. However he made a mental note to never piss her off. "Oh and Inuyasha be careful not to trip" she said winking.

Inuyasha walked up to Miroku who was groping in his sleep and saying "You all will bear my children? Well than step on in…" Inuyasha couldn't help himself, he threw the water on Miroku and there was a yelp of pain. "Shit" said Miroku rubbing the part of his skin that burned. Luckily he was too occupied with the burn to realize Inuyasha had thrown the water on him.

They all ate breakfast besides Miroku, who had gone to find the coldest water available. Sango asked Kagome "Are we going to search for Naraku today?" "No", Kagome responded, "There aren't any leads and I haven't sensed any evil energy. And since Inuyasha is still trying to regain his memory, I think it would be a good idea to avoid any confrontation with him for a while". Sango nodded her head in agreement.

Miroku walked back over to them drenched in cold water he had poured over himself. "Ok, who threw the water on me earlier?" Miroku asked with a slight tome of annoyance. Inuyasha and Sango looked at each other and started laughing. Kagome who hadn't seen the water being thrown looked at Inuyasha and Sango curious as to why they were laughing.

The monk just sighed after he got no response. He decided to sit down and join them for breakfast. Later in the evening after the Inuyasha gang helped a child who was being possessed by a demon, they went back to their camp. Inuyasha seemed to be getting the hang of fighting back and Kagome felt that soon he would be able to fight with his full potential again.

It was starting to grow dark and everyone decided it was time for bed. Inuyasha however, was wide awake. He found out he didn't easily get tired. Kagome said this was because of his demon blood. He sat for a while by the campfire while everyone was sleeping, watching over them.

He decided it was pointless to try and sleep. He didn't sense any demons so he thought it would be ok for him to take a walk for a while. He hopped back to Goshinboku and looked at the tree. He decided to sit in its branches for a while.

He looked at the moon and thought about some things that had been bothering him lately. He wanted to find out more about his friends, and he also wanted to know why they were collecting these 'jewel shards'. While he was gazing he didn't notice someone walking towards him. Finally he picked up the scent and thought it was Kagome's, however he was mistaken.

A woman in the typical shrine maiden outfit looked up at him. She strongly resembled Kagome. However there was something different about her. She had an aurora of sadness about her. She looked up at him and said in her deep voice "Inuyasha destiny is indeed a cruel reunion."