Disclaimer: Yes, it is I again giving out another disclaimer, Rose is my muse, I love her, however she does not have the power, nor do I, to make me own Inuyasha…Basically I own none of these characters unless I bring in an original and I specify…Which isn't likely, so onward!

Shadow: Do not let her fool you, I have taught her everything she knows.

Miss Murder: Oh what? I have been writing since I could hold a pencil.

Shadow: Yep, it's true, she wouldn't be anything without me.

Miss Murder: Bitch please…You don't tell me, I know all.

Shadow: Yeah right…

Miss Murder: Do you want deleted?

Shadow: o0 Uh…On with the story!

Stranger in the Dark

Miroku stared at him, mouth dropped; taking him a good two or three minutes of composure, he then cleared his throat and rubbed the temples of his forehead stepping towards Inuyasha, who had stepped away from him into the shadow of a tree, now regretting and ashamed of what he just had said.

"Listen, Inuyasha, dreams are not always as they seem, sometimes they mean completely different things."

"Listen Miroku, I am fine, I never asked for your pity and I'm not about to start doing so now. So just drop it, it was just a dream and it means nothing, nothing, do you hear me? Nothing."

Miroku watched him dash off as he did once before, sighing, he turned and walked back to camp, a drawn in look upon his brow.

"Where's Inuyasha?"

Shippo questioned watching the Monk sit back down where he had once before; a moment or two later, while staring into the fire light, he replied: "He's gone off to do some—'' He paused for a moment, "Thinking." He finished muttering to himself more than to anyone.

Inuyasha ran, where he was going he knew not. All that mattered at this point was running, to the point of sweat, to the point of outrunning the one thing he new he could not: his own human emotions. He leapt over high branches, it wasn't necessary to do so, however, he felt the need to relieve some of his self caused tension.

He came to the edge of the thick tree line, without even a second thought he pushed himself over the dried up ravine that lay below him. Afterwards, he wasn't sure if it had been his speed or leg balance, but with an odd twist he plummeted to the ground with a loud 'Kerthump!' he hit the ground, his back catching the full extent of the blow. He held in a yelp and ground his teeth together, if anyone else was around at that moment, he would have been up and had composure regained, however, since he was alone, he sat there stunned for a moment and actually stopping to let his body realize that there was pain shocks going through him. He had never noticed them before that moment, how sore they really were until he just sat there and let them run…

It was because of his internal instinct to not show pain or weakness to anyone.

"Damnit!" He cursed to himself as he stood up and brushed himself off.

"So prim and proper, aren't we?"

Inuyasha's head snapped to the right on full alert now, searching for the body of the voice; he turned in two full circles, gritting his teeth and omitting a slight growl from his throat.

"You wouldn't want your beloved Kagome to notice you have fallen, now would you? You must be clean."

"Where the hell are you?"
Inuyasha snarled fully annoyed, if it were a normal day he may have been able to keep a bit more calm. But at this moment he was neither in somewhat of a good mood or was he feeling kind.

"Tsk tsk Inuyasha, have some manners."

Inuyasha noticed a small figure in the shadows, he bolted at it, only a white flash could be seen; however, all he received for his efforts was a fist full of tree bark. He ripped his splintered hand from the tree whipping around, and there in a patch of moonlight he sat.

He was a small boy, looking no more than the age of ten, his face dirty and his eyes covered by the shade of a wicker helmet. He had a long red scar across his open chest; a childish smirk running along his small lips as he crossed his leather string bound arms. They criss crossed all the way down to his finger times in small strips, his pants were beige, ratted up and torn at the bottoms. He wore no shoes, this boy looked like he had lived with no parents for a very long time.

Inuyasha glared at the boy and spat: "Who the hell are you?"

The boy's smirk increased slightly as he shifted to the right.

"You don't have a very large vocabulary do you?"

"What do you want from me, and how do you know my name?" Inuyasha balled his hands into fists and remained unmoving; the boy laughed quietly, picking up a stick and swiping at grass growing within the ravine near him.

"I know a lot of things Inuyasha, the question is, what do you know?"

Inuyasha gave him a cold stare, "What is that suppose to mean?" Inuyasha questioned watching the boy's movement with the stick.

"I don't know, you decide for yourself."

The boy said with a shrug as he turned walking down the empty river bed.

Inuyasha followed along the bank, keen with exasperated interest; "Hey, kid where the hell are you from?"

The boy shrugged once again as he kept going; Inuyasha dashed at him and the boy stopped and waited for him as he grabbed his open vest and held him just above his head. The boy didn't squirm, and he didn't cry out, he simply stared at him with no emotions in his hollow eyes.

"I don't know who you are, or where you are from, but if I don't start getting some answers, I'm going to tear you apart."

The boy's stare remained true, he parted his lips slowly and whispered quietly, "Inuyasha, you will learn all of this in time."

And with a snap of a finger, the boy was gone; Inuyasha stood there, with an empty hand, he looked around, his stark silver hair flailing every which way with his rapid movement. He stepped to the left and then the right, pulling out Tetsuiga he gave a mighty swing, blowing two trees out of the ground.

"Where are you? You bastard? Where in the hell are you?" He scream into the bleak darkness, he searched everywhere around the ravine; without realizing it, he exerted much energy. With the combination of anger, movement, and adrenaline, he collapsed into the ravine once again.

He pounded the ground with his fists, cursing and growling, as if the boy were still there, which he probably was not.

"Where are you? Where in the fucking hell are you?" He dented into the ground harder each time he threw a punch until finally he stopped, his breath heavy. His arms grew limp as his movement came more slow, he soon fell, lying there, motionless, and feeling defeated and broken. For hours, he did not move, he felt dead, he had let his anger get to him, and he felt so drained of it, what had brought him to this point. He could only think of one thing.

His dream.

The firelight had been out for twenty minutes now, Kagome still lay awake in the silence of the night, Shippo nestled in the crook of her arm she sighed, worried about Inuyasha.

'Where could he be?'

She shifted slightly and then suddenly became very still when she heard a slight rustle in the bushes. She heard light, almost soundless footsteps enter the camp; Kagome heard the familiar sound of someone climbing up a tree. She was now sure it was Inuyasha, sitting up she whispered into the darkness:

"Inuyasha?"

However, he gave her no response.