A/N: I apologize if this whole Kiyoshi's being the reincarnation of the man Kagome loved seems a little disturbing to you, but I shall not make it into a love thing between Kagome and her adopted son.. I have a different story in mind for them. And just for the record, I absolutely adore Sesshomaru, there just must be angst in this story, so yeah. Also, Rin's going to refer to Sesshomaru as 'Chichioya' (Means Father.. 'Tis what Sesshoumaru calls his father in the third movie) because he did sort of adopt her and I like it. It's just so cute.

But anyways, please give me your feedback and I hope you all enjoy the fifth chapter of Second Generation!

DISCLAIMER: I do not own Inuyasha. Enough said.

This scent is strangely familiar to that of my half brother Inuyasha.. But had he not perished nearly twenty years ago?

"Chichioya?"

Rin asked quietly as she followed Sesshomaru obediently. Sesshomaru had remained silent for the whole time he had been walking, lost within his mind and thoughts. This scent troubled him.

"Hmm?"

Sesshomaru mumbled dreamily, shaking out of his reverie at Rin's soft voice. He had turned his head slightly in Rin's direction, even if he knew that he could never see her joyful face again. The inu youkai sometimes seemed to think that maybe if he looked hard enough, his eyesight would return to him. But it didn't. Sesshomaru knew his sight was eternally lost.

"May I ask where we are going?"

The blind youkai paused before answering the woman whom he had saved many years ago, reflecting on what his answer was. He hesitated before saying his answer, pondering how to word it.

"By what I know, to visit an old enemy."

"This isn't really happening... It's a dream... Yeah, that's it, just a dream..."

Kiyoshi wasn't convincing himself at all.

The boy slowly stood, releasing his head from his tight grasp, now golden eyes refusing to look at his surroundings, afraid that if he looked too hard that this nightmare may come true. Only now did it really sink it to Kiyoshi's mind was this was, indeed, all terribly real.

Kiyoshi looked down at his new claws, taking in all his changes and these strange new instincts and abilities. Then an odd smell came to his sensitive nose, something he had not smelled before. It wasn't really an odor or fragrance but more of... a creature's scent? His instincts told him that this was indeed the scent of a nearby living being, but his mind just didn't comprehend this new information.

As his nose had told him, a large, gray, furry creature charged at him from the forest, snarling loudly. Kiyoshi jumped out of the way with a inu hanyou's agility, landing faultlessly on his feet.

"What? How did I do that?"

Kiyoshi said out loud, shocked at his own reaction. He looked up to see what had attacked him to see a large furry animal that looked very similar to a giant weasel. He recognized it from the many stories his mother told him as a child.

"Youkai?"

The youkai roared and attacked him again, Kiyoshi avoiding it just in time for the second time round. Not knowing what to do, or what he could do, Kiyoshi tried to escape the beast and didn't fight it at all, but after a while the youkai had managed to cut open his right leg with his claws. Kiyoshi yelped and stumbled over, falling to the ground. He covered his eyes and waited for the final blow... but it didn't come. Instead, he heard a male voice yell out.

"Hiraikotsu!"

He uncovered his eyes to see what was happening. Kiyoshi saw a boy that looked his age, if not a little younger, throwing what appeared to be a large boomerang at the youkai. He was dressed oddly, but Kiyoshi recognized the outfit of a taijiya, youkai slayers of feudal Japan.

A... a taijiya?

The human boy had short and messy deep brown hair and his brown eyes reflected the strength the young boy held. His outfit was the traditional black body suit with colored armor, his chosen color being a dark purple. A katana was sheathed and hung at his hip.

Just as quickly, a large and almost frightening looking feline creature came running through the forest, pouncing atop the now wounded weasel youkai. The youkai screeched and shook the fire cat off, running for its life.

The boy and his youkai companion then turned on Kiyoshi.

"Youkai, die!"

The taijiya yelled, raising the boomerang to attack the boy as well. When he saw the hanyou's expression, he stopped.

The hanyou boy looked horribly frightened and there was no evil at all in his aura, and there was a soft, petrified whimper coming from him. He was wounded and deathly afraid of everything around him, even himself. His un-youkai like expressions made the young taijiya lower his weapon and slowly move closer to the boy, making him scoot away.

"Get away from me!"

Kiyoshi yelled in an attempt to ward the slayer off, but there was no hiding the distraught tone in his voice. He would have growled, but he was too shocked by everything to do so. The teenager's youkai instincts told him not to trust this boy, for he would kill Kiyoshi if he did, but there was also a tug on his heart that told him to trust the young taijiya. It was as though two instincts battled within him.

"Youkai, you aren't like the others."

"I'm no youkai! I'm human! I'm human! I'm... human... human…"

Kiyoshi trailed off in a low whimper, knowing that his attempts to convince himself that he was still human were failing.

The young male taijiya was curious by this demon's behavior.

This youkai is no doubtfully harmless, his aura is not corrupted, and it seems like he's lost and delusional. Human he says? Wait, he does have human blood... a hanyou? Even if he is does have youkai blood, I think Mother would like to see him. She's the one who told me that not all demons are evil after all…

"I won't hurt you, hanyou, come with me and Kirara, we'll help you."

The transformed fire cat trotted over to Kiyoshi and nudged his face gently as though Kiyoshi was someone the fire cat knew and loved. She purred happily at the reappearance of a familiar face. The taijiya laughed.

"She likes you."

Kiyoshi cautiously stood and gently scratched behind the feline's ears. He felt as though he knew this creature from some other time, but he was certain he had not encountered a flying, flaming cat demon in his life before. Even this boy made him feel safe, as though he too were an old friend.

The taijiya climbed on Kirara's back and Kiyoshi hesitantly seated himself on her back behind the boy. The fire cat then jumped into the sky and set off for home.

"My name is Taku by the way, what's yours?"

"Kiyoshi." He then looked away, becoming lost within his thoughts.

"KIYOSHI!"

Kagome cried as she pulled herself out of the old well. She was hysterical.

"Kiyo..." She trailed off.

I... I vowed never to return to this place. I vowed never to remember those memories.. Oh, I can't be here, I can't...

Tears started to cloud her vision, the same way they had twenty years ago.

"Stop feeling sorry for yourself, Kagome! Kiyoshi needs you!" She said firmly, looking up and shaking away her tears. "He doesn't know this place and I have to save him! I'll take him home and we will forget about all of this!"

Kagome stated firmly, the only creature listening being a robin that was quietly sitting on the well's edge, preening his feathers. The middle-aged woman silently tried to unearth where her adopted son could have gone... when she saw the tree.

Goshinboku. Perhaps he went there, it's the only thing familiar to him here.

Kagome then hesitantly set off in the direction of the sacred tree in search in her adopted son, the feeling of a sickening deja-vu creeping slowly into Kagome's mind. There was a dreadful feeling forming inside of her now, the feeling that the closer she got to this beloved tree, the more it ripped her heart in two.

She pushed the bushes out of the way, the Goshinboku welcoming her long awaited return. Its branches swayed lightly in the wind, the leaves ruffling as they did when she first saw this tree in the feudal era. Kagome had secretly wished that she would push aside the bushes to see her beloved hanyou's peaceful face, eyes closed in an endless sleep and expression calm and still, something she so rarely saw when he was alive. She longed to see that silly boy bound to the tree, she longed for a new beginning. Though the wish was unrealistic, it crushed her heart to realize that Inuyasha truly was gone, that he would not return and that this wasn't a twisted dream, it was all real.

Kagome slowly approached the tree, staring up at it as though it would make her pain go away. It didn't.

She slowly fell to her knees, suddenly feeling as though all her will power had been drained. Kagome gently ran her hand over the collection of pink flowers that had grown at the tree's base, smiling lightly as they danced with the wind. Her brown eyes averted upwards to see the name written on it.

"Inuyasha."

The name brought tears to her eyes.

"I'm sorry." She wanted so much just to speak with him again, to be with him. She completely forgot why she had come here for the moment, continuing to whisper to her love's grave in hopes that he was listening.

"So they buried you here? Under the Goshinboku?" She smiled, brushing her tears away with the back of her hand. "That's good, it will always protect you now. Inuyasha, I'm sorry that I wasn't here for your funeral, I just couldn't bring myself to return here... I still have the Tessaiga, Inuyasha." She looked up as though she would see Inuyasha standing right there next to her. "I think you would be glad to know that I never replaced you with another man... I adopted a child though. His name is Kiyoshi, I think you'd like him…"

She rambled on to Inuyasha's grave but when she mentioned her adopted son to Inuyasha, she suddenly remembered why she was here in the first place.

"I thought you too had perished, woman."

Startled by another's voice, Kagome looked up to see who had spoken to her.

"Sesshomaru? What do you want?"

The youkai lord did not answer or look to her, but simply held his head high in the air. His eyes narrowed, he knew he scented out his brother here. Rin emerged from the bushes and stood silently behind him, watching him curiously.

"Hey! Don't ignore me like that! You could at least look at me, you know!"

Sesshomaru growled a loud warning to her at this. "Insolent wench, I no longer have my eyesight! Do not remind me of that!"

Only now did Kagome notice the lack of color in his once golden eyes. Even if Sesshomaru had tried to kill Inuyasha in the past, she naturally felt guilty for reminding Sesshomaru of such an unhappy memory.

"Gomen ne, Sesshomaru.."

Sesshomaru ignored her.

"My little brother's scent is strong here. He was here only a short while ago."

Kagome pulled herself off the ground to her feet and stared in confusion and shock at Sesshomaru.

"Inuyasha.. died many years ago." Kagome had trouble saying those words together.

Sesshomaru sniffed the air again. "There is no mistaking his foul scent. I am well aware that he perished over twenty years ago, do not assume that I am brainless. Although.." The inu youkai paused for a moment, sniffing the air yet again. "..It is not his scent completely. His kin? Did you bear him a child, woman?"

"No! I didn't do that with Inuyasha!" Kagome said, not knowing if she should be proud of that or not. Sesshomaru frowned.

"Then all of what you said to him went unheard, his soul has reincarnated."

"Re-reincarnated?" Kagome's heart sank.

Sesshomaru said that Inuyasha's scent is here, so his reincarnation must have been here not too long ago... Kiyoshi would have probably been here not too long ago either. Oh no, no... Kiyoshi can't be...

"Sesshomaru, please, have you seen a young boy with black hair and – oh no, gomen ne! I forgot!" Kagome said quickly after realizing that she had asked if he had seen Kiyoshi, which obviously he did not. Sesshomaru had growled angrily at her again, but he calmed down a little after she apologized.

"I am not inclined to help you find this boy."

"Sesshomaru, can you please help me find Inuyasha's reincarnation?"

The inu youkai scoffed. "Help you? Why? I shall find my little brother and kill him, do not get in my way. Come, Rin, we are leaving."

Rin nodded and turned to follow her father. Before she left with him, she smiled to Kagome. "Good-bye Kagome-sama! I hope you find whoever you are looking for!"

She's the child? Kagome thought, having not recognized her beforehand. "Thank-you, Rin-chan."

Sesshomaru frowned. Little brother, I failed to kill you in your past life, but I assure you that I will be the one to kill you in this one.

When Taku and Kirara had returned to their village, the villagers had been quite cheerful to see their taijiya return home and welcomed him back with smiles plastered to their faces. When they noticed Kiyoshi with him, the started whispering to each other and backed away. From what the hanyou could tell, the villagers were afraid of him. This made him feel uneasy as well.

"Mother! I'm home!" Taku announced when he reached a little hut.

"Welcome home, Taku-kun." Said his mother from inside.

Kiyoshi climbed off Kirara's back and the fire cat transformed back into its smaller form, purring when it did. Taku called out to his mother again from outside the hut.

"MotherI found a hanyou that you might want to see."

Taku's mother sighed and stood, soon emerging from their home. "Why do you want me to see this han.."

Sango trailed off at seeing the hanyou boy in front of her.

"Inu.. Inuyasha?"

Kiyoshi froze at the name. Wasn't that the name that was written on the Goshinboku?

"Inuyasha, it IS you! You have returned from the dead!"

Sango yelled giddily, throwing herself on him in a hug, refusing to left go. Kiyoshi yelped and tried to shake the woman off him.

"Get off!"

The taijiya woman finally let go and she looked hurt by the hanyou's words.

"Don't you remember me, Inuyasha? It's Sango, your old friend." Sango frowned when Kiyoshi did not recognize her. "Do you remember Kirara? Miroku? Shippou?"

Kiyoshi shook his head. "Um, Lady, I really don't know what you're talking about and my name isn't Inuyasha.."

"Kikyou? Kagome? You remember them, don't you? Don't you?"

Kiyoshi perked up at his mother's name. "Kagome Higurashi?"

Sango beamed happily. "Yes, you remember your lover!"

"My WHAT? Kagome Higurashi is my mother!" Kiyoshi said, horrified.

"Okkasan?" Sango said, confused. She moved closer to the boy, inspecting him closely. Her son Taku stood to the side, puzzled at his mother's odd behavior. "You are different from Inuyasha. You are not him. Is he your father?"

"My father? I was adopted and my mother isn't married… I don't know who my father is! Hell, I don't know who this Inuyasha guy is either!"

"Hmm..." Sango tapped her temple lightly, thinking hard on what could be going on.

"I don't know what's happened here, Inuyasha, but we're going to find out."

"My name is Kiyoshi!"

"Taku-kun, we're going to visit Granny Kaede, get Kirara." She turned back to the hanyou. "Don't worry, Inuyasha-kun, Granny Kaede will have an explanation."