Owari Nai Yume; Unending dreams

Chapter 5

Disclaimer: InuYasha and all its characters belong to Rumiko Takahashi. Wahhhhhh!!!!T-T

Stupid wench and her stupid incantation. Why the hell would she use it on him...On the night of the new moon, at least. Did she like him having to hang off of her as they walked back to the village? Did she like causing him so much pain? Damn, being human sucked worse than Naraku getting away all the time. If only he had been a full demon, than he would never have this pain, this vulnerability, these horribly strong human emotions. He had to wonder if he always felt them and they were merely amplified by his human blood, or if on his human nights was the only time he felt them. Even if he hated them, they had done him some good, like.......okay, so maybe nothing came to mind, but he was sure they had some use. Or not. He was probably looking too deep into them, or not deep enough. That was another thing he hated about being human. He could never make up his mind.

"You never answered my question."

He looked over at the girl as she replaced something she called 'a-da-vi-ra' in her bag. He had to admit, that stuff really took away the pain, even if it had been hard to swallow. He was glad, in retrospect and would never admit it, that Kagome, the sweet girl that she was (even if she had been the one to cause the pain in the first place), was stubborn enough to make him take it.

"What question, wench?"

"What were you doing out by the well in the middle of the night while you were human?"

Duh, wench, I missed you and wanted to go see you. Stupid human urges. When I'm a hanyou, at least I can crush them.

"I was bored."

"Bored?"

BORED!?

"Just plain bored. There's nothing for me to do when you aren't here."

Oh, shit! How the hell could I say that?! Being human sucks!

"Yeah, I guess you need me to go shard hunting. I'm just a shard detector." she whispered the last part so he could hardly hear it with his human ears.

Dammit, I've made her sad. Oh no, she's gonna cry! Think, InuYasha, THINK!

"You aren't just a shard detector."

Oh?

"Oh?" Kagome asked looking over to him from across that fat, yellow bag she carried with her.

Think, InuYasha, THINK! What else is she?

"Well...you aren't."

Oh yeah, real reassuring InuYasha. That's really gonna help you. What next? Say that she's Kikyo's reincarnation? Do you have a death wish that I don't know about Inu-

"You're my friend."

Yasha?

"And Sango's, and Miroku's. And you're Shippo's second mom," he added smoothly. "You're a key fighter in the pack. I mean, there have been demons you've killed when noone else could, and you nearly killed Naraku once. If your aim had been then what it is now, I don't think we'd be worrying about him at all, let alone having to deal with his incarnations, not that I'm blaming ya for missing or nothin'!"

Damn human feelings! Damn stupid worthless weak human feelings! Stop before you say something really bad! That you can't take back or blame on the new moon!

"We all need you, Kagome, especially me."

Oh no, now you've done it, you idjit! She's gonna ask what you meant and then...

"InuYasha," she smiled sadly, "You're just saying that because it's the new moon, not that I don't think there'ssome truth in it, but..."

'But'?

"But, I think you should stop, before you say something you don't really mean, or'll regret, or whatever." She swallowed and smiled up at him. "Thank you for telling me that stuff though. It really...really...means a lot to me that you think that." She quiet for a few minutes before she stood and grabbed a spare blanket, draping it over him, saying something to the effect of 'don't want you to get cold' before she removed her shoes and grabbed a shorter blanket from her bag. "G'night InuYasha. Try to get some sleep, and let those wounds heal! We need you in full health if we're going shard hunting tomorrow."

"Feh." he snorted as the girl fell into a deep sleep.

Sweet dreams, sweet Kagome. Stupid new moon and human feelings, making me think such stuff. Oh well, may as well live it up for now. Goodnight sweet, wondrous, pleasant smelling, kind, angelic Kagome. May all your dreams be peaceful.

She could feel them, her servants, the Kaze no Shimobe. They were near, and they had what she required.

She rose form the spot on the floor in the hut reserved for travellers she had been using for the last few days and left the hut, in a near trance, starving for her midnight meal, weakening with every step. She passed through the village, a ghost, never seen, never heard. The villagers were sleeping. They were not something she need fear. They all loved her, and she them, especially the children. She taught them about herbs during the day and told them tales at night. She wished she would be allowed to live her forever, but that monk...

She shook her head to release the thoughts and realized she had arrived at the stream she had been going to. Untying her hair, she let the ebony strands flow down her back, relaxed but disciplined. Everything about her was disciplined, even when she didn't need them to be, even when she wanted to relax, she couldn't. She always felt like she was on display, that even in her rare, private moments, someone saw her and judged her.

Always, but at her midnight feedings.

The Kaze no Shimobe surrounded her and deposited their loads into her body, the souls of young girls. She noted there was one missing, and was informed from one that it had been slain by a hanyou. Not to worry, it was merely one in a thousand. She could easily have more than that in a very short time.

Then, the monk came upon her, attacked her, and she defended herself well by sending his own sutra against him. As the monk died and his apprentice ran for dear life, she heard a sound from the bushes.

"Who's there?" she demanded, turning fiercely to them to reveal a young girl with a look of mortal terror on her face. "Sayo?" she asked in shock, "You were watching?" She approached the girl carefully, as one would a scared kitten so it wouldn't run away. "Sayo," she repeated as she knelt next to the girl, only for her to draw back in fear. "I am sorry." She whispered, "I have frightened you."

She stood and walked away from the dear child with a heavy heart, turning back as she neared the edge of the wood.

"Lady Kikyo?"

"Farewell," she replied sadly. She had had a chance for a normal life, but it had been ruined. She could not stay after that. "Forgive me."

You will always be as my little sister in my heart...

Sayo.

Sound.

A fire, quiet chatting, rustling of cloth, sizzling food.

Scents.

Herbs, food, sweat, old cloth, musky forest...Musky forest?

Kagome opened her eyes and saw red. The red of InuYasha's haori. That explained the scent, InuYasha's scent that she had come to know so well from her hours riding on his back. She prided herself on knowing his scent; a feat her incarnation had never mastered. And never would. She almost felt bad for Kikyo, never knowing her lover's scent, not that they had been lover's in the physical sense, and not so much in the mental sense. Not when Kikyo wante...

"'Bout time you got up wench."

She pulled down the haori and looked at her friends surrounding her: Sango looking grimly at Miroku, who had the largest, reddest hand print on his check, Kaede sitting by the fire looking over the morning meal, Shippo smiling at her from his spot next to Kilala, and InuYasha sitting by the door, hands in his sleeves, Tessaiga's hilt resting on his shoulder, golden eyes glaring at her.

"What time is it?" she yawned, noting the large amount of light streaming in from the door.

"Nearly noon."

"NOON!?!" she demanded, "Why in Ra's name did you let me sleep in til noon?!"

"You got to sleep an hour before dawn, wench. I wasn't going to have you complain about being tired all day, and who is Ra?"

"Noone." she sighed. "I hadn't realized it had been that late. No wonder I was so exhausted." she smiled wearily at InuYasha. "Thank you InuYasha."

"Feh."

"How have ye been, child?" the old miko asked after a moment.

"Fine, thank you."

"Any more...dreams?"

"Uh, a few."

"What did you remember this time?" asked InuYasha with a most knowing look.

"I-I don't know what yo..."

"Yes, you do."

The silence that filled the hut was unlike any other she had ever felt. So much harder, so much colder, so much more painful than any silence, only it wasn't silent. Sango and Miroku were talking, Shippo was playing with Kilala, Kaede sitting and cooking, like none of them had heard InuYasha's comment. It was like she had imagined it, except for InuYasha. His eyes were locked on her's in the most intense, and softened look she had ever seen him give, and she could remember a lot about him, even if a lot of them weren't her memories.

"No, I don't."

"I see" he barely mouthed his response.

She nodded slowly, not wanting to remember what she did.

InuYasha's eyes lowered apologetically just as Kaede said the meal was ready. It was a quiet meal, for her at least. InuYasha said nothing, and neither did she, at least not to him. She forced herself to talk to Sango a bit, and of course Shippo demanded attention. After the meal, they set out for a village with a shard rumour, and the walk was even quieter. There was little talking, as the entire group could feel the tension between the girl from the future and their hanyou leader; feeling and not understanding. They both denied fighting, but Shippo had his doubts. It was nearly night fall when they finally reached a small village with its children still playing in the streets.

"Are we staying here for the night?" asked Sango, looking over at the monk.

"I see no tavern, or well off lodgings," the monk replied, "Perhaps we should sleep in the woods tonight."

"Yeah." agreed InuYasha, stopping. "This'll be a good place to set up camp. We can go into town tomorrow."

Kagome only half heard the others discussing plans for that evening. She stood stoic on the crest of the hill over looking the village, at the children, at a little girl in a yellow kimono decorated with orange flowers.

"Sayo."

Oooooooh! Nice. Poor Kagome's in denial. R&R. Oh, I have anouther fic up called "Unwilling"! Please R&R for that too!