Disclaimer: Nope

A/N: Sorry, this has to be REALLY fast...this story's gotten REALLY good...the chapter called "Maybe She won't Run Away." Is SO good...gosh, you guys are going to DIE...hehehehe...this one's getting wrapped up! (screams!) But I gotta go, can't stop for anything...hint paragraph at the end...

Lingering Dreams

"And I remember, so long ago

When I knew you were gone

But your love lingered on

Through the years

I still love you

Way down inside…"

She woke covered in sweat, her breath coming in pants as if she'd just run the Boston Marathon. A bad dream, her mind whispered, nothing more. Even so she couldn't purge the images from her mind. Exhaustedly she closed her eyes and rubbed them frantically, trying to scrub the dream from within her…but it was a hopeless thing…they remained nonetheless.

She'd dreamed of the Red Demon that night—which was to be expected. In her mind's eye she could see it so clearly, so richly…the demon in the distance, his red haori bright against his foe's white kimono. Both demons had silver hair and golden eyes, yet the taller of the two lacked dog-ears…somehow she'd known, as dreamers always do, that the two demons were brothers. Yet they fought each other until the taller demon in the white kimono thrust his clawed hand through the Red Demon's belly. She could see the blood in her mind's eye, smell it even. She saw him slumped toward the ground, his body fading, failing. And she saw herself, felt herself, crying for him, bitter tears. She'd tried to help him, had shot arrows at his foe—the demon in white. But he was stubborn and he risked himself to save her…them…

But who was them? What did it mean? Was it a dream her mind had fabricated, a vision, or a memory? She couldn't begin to guess.

Wearily she crawled from her futon, careful not to disturb Shisuki who was sleeping peacefully nearby, and crept out of the room. Her bare feet padded over the hard floors of her foster family's home, each slap of her skin made the girl cringe. Finally she slid the door open and walked out into the village.

The sweat still lingering on her body steamed in the cool air and she shivered, suddenly regretting her late night excursion…but when she looked up at the stars her thoughts ceased. Their beauty never failed to steal her breath away. Why? She hadn't a clue—the villagers took such beauty for granted, which bothered Sakana greatly, but she wasn't sure why she would feel so differently about it. Though it wasn't the first thing that had separated her from the villagers, kind and warm-hearted as they'd been to her.

She didn't respect the samurai. She wasn't afraid of protecting herself. She challenged authority. She was attracted to demons that were clear killers—or at the very least rumored to be. At the very least she wasn't scared of them as the rest of the village was. She had the distinct impression that she didn't belong in the village. Everything was wrong…

Cautiously through the darkness Sakana walked toward the stables, pulling her skimpy kimono about her, crossing her arms for warmth. One of the horses in its stall was awake—she could see its eyes gleaming back at her through the gloom. It was an eerie thing to behold, and yet at once it sent waves of exhilaration and excitement and familiarity through her. Why? There were so many unanswered questions she had about herself, and even the world for that matter!

Once she'd been a girl with the answer to everything…now she was hardly a girl without her memories.

Sadly she turned away from the stables and headed in the opposite direction, back toward Mijai's healing hut and the village gates. A few minutes of quiet walking later and she found herself before the gates—not Mijai's hut. The gates had always drawn her. She saw them not as the villagers did—as an ending to the security and safety of home—but as a beginning to where she belonged. She wasn't native to this village. Her home had been out there somewhere, and it was those gates that kept her from searching…

The sound of dirt crunching beneath another's feet made Sakana whirl around, her hand over her heart, near the ever present gems that glowed iridescent purple even in the dark. But as her eyes searched the darkness she sighed with relief, catching a familiar form.

It was Koshi.

"Koshi-sama…"

"Sakana…"

They stared at each other uncertainly for several long moments; until Koshi finally looked away, not brave enough to expose himself too much to her. He shifted on his feet uneasily and then blurted out something that had been bothering him all that night since Namaru had tossed Sakana outside to be eaten by the Red Demon…

"Sakana," he whispered timidly, quietly, "Why didn't that demon kill you? I was so sure that I would arrive too late to save you with my arrows…how did you hold him off?"

Sakana's gaze drifted away aimlessly, unfocused. "I don't think he would've killed me…"

"But that's impossible! The Red Demon killed five samurais! Five of them!" Koshi's hands balled up into fists of rage, "He's a monster! Two of my arrows didn't even stun him! It's to my shame that I didn't shoot one through his damned dirty skull!"

Sakana shook her head; Koshi's words reminded her of her strange dream of the two brothers fighting, the red and the white… "I…I don't know Koshi…"

Koshi chuckled through the blackness, "That's the first time you've forgotten to add 'sama' to my name…"

She looked up at him and suddenly, in her heart, something squeezed. Koshi was so sweet and handsome, like an angel sent to help and to guide her. Like Shisuki he'd become her friend over a very short period of time. She felt surprisingly comfortable with him…but she couldn't trust him. She couldn't love him or treat him the way she sensed that he longed to be treated. He was just like Shisuki and the other villagers—utterly different from her. She didn't belong with him; she didn't belong in the village…she didn't belong anywhere…

"What's wrong Sakana?" Koshi's voice tore through her and the girl looked up, cursing herself internally for her stupidity. Her emotions had reached her face and Koshi had managed to see them there and read them. Now what was she supposed to say?

"I…" she sighed, unable to say it to him, unable to understand it herself. Looking quickly away she said, "I'm going to go back to sleep…"

She turned and started to go, but Koshi called out her name, his tone worried. Without looking back at him Sakana answered with a simple. "What is it?"

"Sleep well, Sakana," he swallowed nervously, staring at her back, trying his hardest to avoid looking at the creamy smooth whiteness of her legs that he could see so clearly even in the black of night. "May your dreams be as beautiful as you are."

Sakana closed her eyes, miserably. A tear squeezed out, complete and utter frustration given physical form. "I thank you and I wish you all the same Koshi-sama. I'll see you in the morning." She walked away slowly, her head bowed low in a despair, a guilt she couldn't understand. Why did Koshi's feelings bother her so much?

Because you can't return them…and you don't even know why!

She walked back towards Shisuki's family's home, trying to hold back the tears.

High in the branches of a tree some miles away, Inuyasha was licking his wounds—literally. Without friends or materials to bind his injuries, the hanyou needed to rely on only his natural abilities. Thus, much like a dog, he was licking them clean. Although the arrow wounds were deep and they probably could've killed a mortal, Inuyasha scoffed at them, despite the pain and bleeding they did cause him. In the morning they'd already be scabbed over and halfway healed.

But his mind wasn't dwelling on his wounds. As he cleaned his wounds—which was a little difficult considering their positions—he was beginning to understand why even full inuyoukais liked to travel or battle in clans or with family, mates, or friends—his thoughts revolved around Kagome. He'd seen her, smelled her, heard her voice…she was alive! But there was something wrong with her. She acted as if she was one of the peasants in the village, but he knew full well that she wasn't. How could she not know it herself! It made no sense…

Could a mortal's mind be as fragile as their bodies were?

The question captured all of Inuyasha about then and he stopped cleaning the wound on his thigh for a moment, his wild amber eyes shimmering with thought. Humans were frail in body; he could kill any one of them if he so wished. The arrows that'd forced him to leave Kagome with the village that night would've knocked a mortal unconscious from simple shock for sure. Later infection would attack the body, fever would appear, poison would circulate through the blood and finally death would follow. Humans also couldn't regenerate their limbs or their organs like various youkai could. Inuyasha, for one, despite being only half demon, had regenerated injured organs on many occasions. Every time he was stabbed through the gut his body healed whatever had been punctured, although his own reaction and rehabilitation time was longer than that of Sesshomaru's for example, he was still nothing short of a miracle when compared to the likes of Kagome, Sango and Miroku…

But what about human minds? Human souls were powerful, that much he knew. Kikyo had pinned him to a tree for fifty years with nothing but the power of her soul, her spirit. If Kagome hadn't come along to free him he'd still be there! Kikyo's power lied within her soul, not her body…but what of the mind?

What if they have her under a spell? What if she doesn't remember me? What if they've made her think I'd hurt her?

The hanyou felt his ears droop. What if Kagome wouldn't stay with him, wouldn't follow him and stay at his side through thick and through thin, Naraku and the Shards of the Sacred Jewel…he felt his muscles twitch and spasm in little spurts of fear and emotional pain, but he quickly suppressed them and growled roughly into the blackness of the night.

I'll make her remember…I'll make her stay…

With new intensity the hanyou returned to tending his wounds, determined to recover swiftly and face the village and the villagers to recapture the company of the loveliest girl he knew—Kagome.

The next afternoon a band of girls, including Shisuki and Sakana, wandered away from the village, accompanied by a samurai astride a horse, toward the hot springs. Towels and spare clothes in hand, on any other day they might've begun gossiping and laughing happily, but not this day. The attacks of that last few days had frightened them to the point where mothers brought their husbands or sons with them when they drew water from the river, or a samurai to help guard the springs while they bathed. Normally such a thought was enough to make any girl above the age of ten blush bright crimson, but now that emotion was overrun with the thought of death at the slashing claws of the Red Demon.

Shisuki walked beside Sakana, but the two girls didn't talk much. They were friendly travel companions, but quiet under general circumstances, particularly Sakana. Without the push from the rather enthusiastic, friendly and talkative Shisuki Sakana hardly spoke a word unless the conversation could capture her attention…there was only one that did as they made their way to the springs.

And that was Koshi.

"So…" Shisuki began, quietly, making sure that the samurai, clopping on his horse nearby, couldn't overhear them, "I heard you sneak away late last night…where did you go? Did you go to frolic with Koshi-sama?"

Sakana looked at Shisuki in shock, her eyes big as dinner plates, "Frolic with Koshi-sama?" she repeated like a parrot, "No! Heavens no! There's nothing going on there!" she waved her hand through the air as if the gesture could prove her words.

"I don't believe you, Sakana. I see the way you and he talk…" she smirked meaningfully at the older girl and winked.

"No, Shisuki…" the other girl sighed dejectedly, "I can't feel anything for him…"

This seemed to alarm Shisuki. "You could've fooled me! With all the time you spend with him?" she shook her head, "You know a young man like him doesn't cultivate a friendship with a nice young woman like you idly." Her eyes were serious, strangely dark and bright at the same moment, "No, I'd say he's looking for a life-companion…"

Sakana looked as if she might collapse. She was so stunned that as they walked her foot caught hold of a tangled root. She stumbled and fell with a screech, her face landing hard in the dust. Shisuki, laughing, reached down and helped her up to her feet once more. She might've begun the conversation again but the samurai came to ride beside them, his gaze fierce and unforgiving.

"You foolish girls are trying to make trouble!" he barked, "Anymore talking or laughing and I'll whip the lot of you!"

They finished their journey in silence.

The hot springs were exactly as they'd been before, mere days ago, Sakana realized, when the samurais and Koshi had come to recover from the Red Demon's attack on their traveling company. Sakana watched the trees tensely, her emotions caught somewhere between excitement and fear. It was strange but once again she felt as if something was out there…

Shisuki sighed loudly at her side as she begun to strip her clothes off, first the small tie that kept her short robes closed, then the robe itself. As she undressed she muttered about the samurai escort under her breath.

"Stupid jerk…" Sakana smiled at her friend's annoyance, and Shisuki saw the expression, for her next words were louder and braver, "'I'll whip the lot of you!' he's just upset because he doesn't get to watch us naked, even though he thinks he's so perfect and powerful…" she snorted in disgust, "…as if any woman would want him…"

The samurai they spoke of was around the bend in the path, still on his horse, or so the girls and women hoped. If he abandoned his post and snuck through the forest to avoid the bending path he could get a view of them all bathing…which was what they suspected he'd do. And, because they'd all moved to bathe at the same time it seemed that the samurai might be able to get away with it: if he left his post watching for the Red Demon they'd never know it—they'd be too busy bathing.

While Shisuki continued to fume a little, Sakana listened and smiled absently—but she didn't take her clothes off…there was something wrong. Something deep inside her whispered that she had only to wait and things would be revealed to her—and she wouldn't want to face them naked!

"Aren't you going to bathe with the rest of us, Sakana?" Shisuki's voice queried as the younger girl stepped into the steamy water after the rest of their peers.

Slowly Sakana shook her head, "No, I think I'm going to go and stand watch with the samurai for a while—you know, to make sure he's doing his job…"

Shisuki grinned, but in her eyes there was a more truthful, harder expression too—both girls knew how true Sakana's words likely were, and all the women would be happy to have Sakana stand guard over their dignity. Any one of them would've wanted to do the same to protect the group, but none dared. None of them had the guts to show such open suspicion to the samurai.

"Thank you Sakana…"

"Don't mention it at all 'Suki."

She turned and walked toward the bend in the path, her gaze directed at the ground, trying to guide her feet around the pebbles and rough spots in the trail. But she never made it as far as the samurai…

Just as she reached the bend in the path there was a sound in the trees above her and Sakana's heart instantly picked up, beating like a frightened mouse's. The Red Demon…

A dark shape fell around her, enveloping her. The movement was so swift and sudden that she had no time to struggle against it, and only perceived the bright crimson of the Red Demon's robes as he scooped her into his arms and leapt straight up again, back into the branches of the trees above from whence he came. The only sound of distress Sakana could muster was a muted, "Help!" before the air was rushing past her legs, the demon's strong arms were about her, and all she knew of the world was the bright red of his robes.

"Stop! Beast!" arrows whizzed through the air, shot by the samurai, who was, as it turned out, doing his job. But he was a poor shot, much like Namaru. Every arrow missed and most never even came close. The Red Demon leapt away, his precious cargo carried in his arms.

The bathing women screamed as they saw and heard the arrows flying, and watched the red streak of the beast fly away, the green of Sakana's skimpy kimono still visible in his arms…

Endnote: Here goes:

"But without…" Sango closed her eyes, suddenly fighting a terrible lump in her throat that was both hot and cold at once, "…Kagome…Inuyasha will never listen to us…we can't make him sit…if he's really that crazy…"

Miroku's gaze on hers was stern and fierce, resigned to their shared fate, "If he's that crazy, Sango, you're right…we'll have to kill him."

There you go...hehehe...exciting...till later...I must go eat dinner, my mom's going to kill me if I'm here any longer...LOVE YOU GUYS! THANK YOU FOR REVIEWING! Drop me a line...Thanks...