Chapter 2
Disclaimer: I do not own Inuyasha
They had been walking for awhile and the silence was starting to get to her so she decided to strike up a conversation with Inuyasha to see if she could finally learn more about him but thought it would be better to start off with a few easy questions to make him feel comfortable. "So Inuyasha what kind of half demon are you"
Inuyasha fell silent and flattened his ear to his head in an effort to make his ears less visible "I'm an inu hanyou" he muttered so quietly she almost didn't catch it. After that was said he began to walk away from them.
"Where are you going you don't have to leave" Sango called after him.
"You mean I can really stay even now that you know I'm a hanyou." he asked. "We knew you were half youkai to begin with" Miroku said before anyone else had an opportunity. "Yeah it's okay we'll still be your friends" Shippo added.
Inuyasha smiled happily and thought that he hadn't felt this happy since his mother's death. "Hey Kagome can me and Inuyasha play now?"
"Sure but don't wander off too far"
"C'mon Inuyasha I'll teach you how to play tag it's a fun game from Kagome's time" "Sure" and with that they ran off to play.
"So what do you guys think of him like this?" Kagome asked. "It's really sad to see him so venerable and scared" Sango responded. "I know what you mean I pity the little guy" Miroku said.
"Miroku do you know anything about this kind of curse and how to break it" Sango asked.
"I don't know much but usually curses can only be lifted by the person who cast it hopefully I'm mistaken and Keade can help him".
"Help who" Inuyasha asked as he and Shippo joined the group after finishing their game. "Oh just a friend of ours you don't need to worry about it" Miroku said quickly.
It was already in the afternoon and they were about a half day away from a nearby village they were planning to spend the night at and they were running into more travelers.
Kagome noticed that now he was younger the people reaction to them was completely different where before they would avoid him and be afraid they were now looking at him with scorn and a loathing that she couldn't believe was being directed towards a small child. Every time a group passed they would whisper to each other casting dirty looks at the hanyou. She could felt her blood boil as she could make out a few words usually half breed, filthy hanyou or monster. What made it worse was that she was sure Inuyasha could make out their entire conversations and as proof to her thoughts every time someone walked by whispering he'd hang his head sadly.
Kagome knew they were almost to the village and began to worry how Inuyasha would react. Inuyasha was at the head of the group with Shippo and the two had become good friends which Kagome thought was strange giving Inuyasha's usual behavior towards the kitsune. Suddenly when they came to the top of a hill that overlooked the village Inuyasha froze. "Inuyasha what's the matter" Sango asked.
"We aren't going there are we" Inuyasha asked. "Yeah we need to get more supplies and a place to spend the night." Kagome answered him.
"I can't go there it's not safe." "Don't worry Inuyasha we won't let anything happen to you" Miroku reassured "we'll all take care of you." But no matter how much they tried they couldn't get him to change his mind until finally Kagome had an idea she handed Inuyasha a piece of candy. "Go ahead Inuyasha try it, it's good" Inuyasha shoved the candy in his mouth and his face lit up he had never had anything so good. "Inuyasha" Kagome called sweetly "if come with us I'll give you more."
"So will you come with us now" Inuyasha nodded his head "good just make sure you stay close to us." They headed into the village with Miroku and Sango in the lead followed by Kagome and Inuyasha who was so close to Kagome that she had to be careful not trip over him. Inuyasha nervously cast his eyes around the village which seemed to stop as soon as they entered. Everyone seemed to be out and staring at Inuyasha as he tried to hide his ears which were his most identifiable hanyou trait.
After what felt like forever they reached the town's only inn. Miroku like usual was handling the negotiation, "What do you mean it will cost us 200 that's more than double a fair price." "Yes well there are certain circumstances to be considered here" he said looking down at Inuyasha.
Luckily Miroku had quite a bit of money he had been secretly accepting payments for youkai extermination. Miroku decided that he would pay and not cause any problems and paid the man for their two rooms.
"So Miroku where exactly did you get all that money" Sango asked. "Well it was gifts from villages that were grateful for our services and if I turned them down I would have offended them."
"Uh huh well since we all worked for that money how bout you take us out for dinner." "Sango are you asking me out." "Hardly" Sango said as she turned away to hide her blush.
They were heading back to the hotel after their meal when Inuyasha gave a formal challenge to Shippo "race you back to the inn." and with that the two friends ran off but didn't get far as they turned the corner Inuyasha ran straight into two men.
Inuyasha looked up and could immediately tell it was going to be trouble when he caught a strong whiff of alcohol on them. "I'm sorry" he said. "Why don't you watch where you're going half breed" the taller one said.
"Is there a problem here?" Sango asked as she and the others came around the corner. "No we were just going home when we ran into this thing" the shorter one said indicating Inuyasha. "Hey he's our friend and you shouldn't talk to him like that" "oh and what are you going to do about it." Why don't you two go home and sober up?" "How bout you make us monk?" the taller man said poking Miroku in the chest. Miroku had had enough he grabbed the man's hand and flipped him over his shoulder. His friend lunged at Miroku but was stopped when he collided into Sango's fist.
"Now are you going home yet" "C'mon lets go they're not worth it anyway" the short one said and they scrambled to they're feet and ran off. "we'll get you for this"
"Yeah right lets get back to the inn we got to leave early" Sango said. They arrived at their rooms but Inuyasha wanted to sleep with Kagome and Sango instead of Miroku. So Inuyasha fell asleep in between the two girls. Kagome and Sango were still awake they were quietly discussing the Inuyasha problem.
"What if he's stuck like this, how are we going to collect the jewel shard when our best fighter is a child?" "Well Kagome with Naraku dead it should be easy to find the last shards." (A.N. I'm really sorry that I forgot to mention they had defeated Naraku.)
"Yeah but that's not the only problem" "You're right it would be hard for you two to get together wouldn't it?" Sango teased. "Wh-What're you talking about" Kagome said trying to hide the blush that was spreading across her cheeks.
"Oh c'mon Kagome don't try to hide it everyone can tell you love Inuyasha except maybe Inuyasha himself and you know what I think Inuyasha loves you I mean he gets so jealous, the way he looks at you and he risks his life to protect you. The only problem is Inuyasha isn't one to share his feelings and last time he did he got pinned to a tree."
Before Kagome could respond Inuyasha stirred "Oh my God please tell me he didn't overhear us' but he didn't wake up he started to toss and turn. "He must be having a nightmare"
He started to toss violently and the girls were getting worried. "Should we wake him up, Sango?" "I think so whatever it is it seems to be bothering him"
"Inuyasha wake up" Kagome said as she started to shake him. Inuyasha opened his eyes and bolted upright. "Mom" he cried as he sat up. He looked around the room and saw Kagome and Sango trying to comfort him.
"Inuyasha what's wrong" Sango asked once he calmed down a bit. "It was just a dream" he said. "Inuyasha" Kagome said sternly" something is troubling you, you woke up and cried mom now tell us what's the matter.
"I-I dreamt about when my mother died last year" he finally managed to get out "she died when out house was set on fire. She suffocated on the smoke while I was getting her out"
Kagome watched Inuyasha's eyes well up tears and he blinked them away trying not to cry "It's okay to cry Inuyasha" she said as she hugged him closer to her she felt her shoulder get wet as the small boy cried.
Sango was hiving his back reassuring rubs and exchanged worried glances with Kagome. After about 10 or so minutes Inuyasha was back asleep. "That's terrible I had no idea his died when he was so young. Hey Sango when we get back to Keade's village we should try to give his some good memories." "Sure that sounds great but what'll we do." "I don't know we'll think of something but lets just go to sleep for now."
Important Please Read A.N.: I have added some things to the first chapter so you might want to reread it to make sure that you've read it all. I'm sorry that it is almost all about Inuyasha's problems but I promise that I'll try to put in some nice moments in later but probably not until they reach Keade's. I also would appreciate any ideas you might have and I was thinking about having Inuyasha play in the hot springs with Sango and Kagome since he is only six but was wondering what you would think of that.
