Disclaimer: I do not own Inuyasha.

Chapter Ten

Inuyasha and Kagome: Threadwork

Inuyasha had hardly been able to stand it, watching Kagome sit down there, in shock after defeating the puppet of the man who destroyed his life. Despite his aching body, he had made it out of the bed and down the stairs. After fumbling with the door, he had gone outside, towards the shaking body of the girl he now knew for certain was a miko. Without quite being in control of himself, he knelt down, and wrapped his arms around her, trying to stop her shaking by the strength of his own body. She had stopped, and rebuked him for moving, to which he hesitantly laughed. Together they helped each other inside, and sat in Kagome's room, with her feeding him some ramen from Eri's stash. It was hours before they really talked at all. But they had, late in the evening, after Kagome's family had come home and gone to bed.

"How're you doing?" Inuyasha asked her, the tiny amount of concern laced in his voice a surprise to him. She was sitting on her desk chair, large enough to allow her to draw her knees to her chest. The shaking had stopped long ago – she had to pretend to be normal around her family – but her eyes still were wary. Those eyes now turned towards the hanyou, and he blinked at the grey depths.

"As ok as I suppose I can be," she replied. "This is crazy, what I've gotten myself into. What was he going on about anyway?"

"I'm not really certain I understand," Inuyasha replied. "Tell me again what he said to you."

"He said he wanted the Shikon no Tama, that jewel you told me about. He said if I gave it to him, he would make sure my death wouldn't be too painful. And it was your fault that he didn't get the jewel, so it was burned. And he kept calling me Kikyou." Kagome paused, thinking. "Tell me what happened between you and Kikyou again."

"I pretty much told you everything. I sort of courted her, and then he killed her, and then he killed me...what did you say his name was?"

"Naraku. But if he killed you, how is it you're here, alive?" Inuyasha shrugged at Kagome's question.

"I've been asking myself that very same question, endlessly."

"Were there any other men in Kikyou's life?" Kagome's question sounded heartless, but Inuyasha saw where she was going.

"None that were of significance. Like I said, she was a miko, so she was always helping the poor, or sick or whatever. But none of them meant anything to her."

"Are you sure?" Kagome winced as she saw the pain shoot across Inuyasha's eyes. He was sitting on her bed, back against the wall, cross-legged. Most of his wounds were healed completely, but he was oddly sore still, as though his body was fighting the fact that he was moving. His left shoulder was especially sore.

"I don't think I could prove it," he finally answered softly. "That is, I have no way of knowing for sure how faithful she was to me. I'm just a dumb hanyou, and I didn't really know how to court her properly or anything."

"Don't say that," Kagome said, just as softly. "You're not dumb at all." Inuyasha laughed shortly, the hollow noise sounding suspiciously bark-like.

"You don't even know me at all."

"I'm trying. Tell me about your father."

"I did tell you, he's dead." A look of irritation crossed Inuyasha's face. Kagome mirrored the look.

"I meant, tell me what you knew about him, what he was like when he was alive."

"I didn't know him. He died when I was only a baby."

"Surely your mother talked about him." Inuyasha didn't reply immediately. Instead, he gazed at Kagome thoughtfully, his ears swivelled towards her. She stared back just as intensely, hoping he would tell her something.

"I can hear your heartbeat from here," he finally said. Not what Kagome was expecting to hear, but she waited for him to continue. "I am a hanyou, a half demon. My mother was human, my father the greatest dog demon ever to ever live. Because of my heritage I am scorned by humans and demons alike. I am one of each, but accepted by neither. Kikyou was the first person since my mother died to treat me as more than dirt to be wiped away."

"So did you love her?" Kagome asked quietly.

"Enough to give up being a demon for her."

"Why did she want you to do that?"

"I don't know."

"So everyone hated you except for your mother, and presumably your father, but you didn't know him. And after both your parents died you had no one, until Kikyou, who didn't want you for what you were anyway. And then both you and she were killed."

"Um...well, I guess so." Inuyasha looked something akin to perplexed at Kagome's conclusion of his life.

"So where does Naraku fit in...?" Kagome tapped her chin thoughtfully. "Why did he think I was Kikyou?"

"Because you look almost exactly like her," Inuyasha replied bluntly. Kagome looked at him in shock.

"What?"

"Well you do. And you have the same powers as her...that arrow you shot at the puppet? She was an archer as well, and that same pink light always engulfed her arrows. You really are a miko. So, because her body was burned with the jewel, and you look like her, he must assume you have it." Kagome stared at Inuyasha wide-eyed, surprised by his sudden hypothesis.

"So if you're right...where does that leave us? What is he going to try next? And, where is the jewel anyway?" Kagome pondered this, while Inuyasha pondered her.

She sat there, staring off in space, trying deeply to figure out the mysteries suddenly pushed upon her. Her hair was pushed away from her face, and her lips were pursed in concentration. Inuyasha was struck by how she looked so much like Kikyou, and yet looked nothing like her at all. And she smelled so much like Kikyou, and still smelled nothing like her. In fact everything about her was so Kikyou...and yet she was definitely not Kikyou.

Inuyasha wondered again what had happened. And then he thought to finally ask something that had been concerning him.

"Where exactly am I?" Kagome started out of her thoughts at his question.

"Tokyo."

"Which is..."Inuyasha trailed off, the question still in face. "And why are there so many houses everywhere?"

"It's the city." Kagome's brow furrowed. "Why, where are you from?"

"Well, Japan, but it's all covered in trees, and grass, and there are only villages, and none of the stuff in those homes have the stuff in your house."

"On my..." Kagome's eyes suddenly grew very big, and her mouth formed a tiny 'o'. Then she blinked and shook her head. "No, it's not possible."

"What isn't possible?" Inuyasha slowly leaned forward, ignoring the painful throb of his body.

"What you're talking about...it sounds something like...the past. Think about it – I look like Kikyou, who you said died. And somehow you've time traveled to here, to the future. I'm not certain why. But here you are, even though you thought you died. It makes sense that you did, that's why Takumi looks so much like you. We're reincarnations of you and Kikyou!" After Kagome's outburst, she looked stunned. Inuyasha had other things on his mind.

"Takumi? You mean that boy who was here earlier?" And Kagome felt her mind fully blown.


Author's Notes: I'm moving updates to Sundays/Wednesdays, so two chapters every week, yay!