In the Beholders Eye

Written By Sarga

May/June 2006

Disclaimer: I do not own Inuyasha or any of the characters, I'm just taking a theme and running with it...

Chapter 28: Identity Crisis

Sango and Kagome had spent several hours in the evening discussing Kagome's change and the events after it. They talked about Kagome's anger, Sango's journey, Kagome's training, Inuyasha. Sango, happy for her friend's new relationship, still felt a pang of jealousy, not having found love herself.

In the morning, slightly later than normal, the party of six, Inuyasha, Kagome, Sango, Miroku, Shippo and Kilala, headed out. After several day of watching the pattern of the locater it seemed that there were two distinct locations, one stationary and one moving.

Heading towards the stationary location in the west, they saw the locater point back and forth between the two locations. Over the course of the day they were veering more northward, apparently having gone as far west as needed.

As the afternoon made way to evening, the trees spread out, seeming to age as the group progressed. As the growth became older, more established, Inuyasha became more and more tense. Even Miroku, whose senses were more inclined to detect female upset, could tell that the hanyou was ill at ease.

Walking closer to Inuyasha, Kagome lightly touched Inuyasha's arm, causing him to jump before turning toward her.

"Are you okay, Inuyasha?" Kagome asked quietly. His jumpiness was making her jumpy, and she could tell that even Shippo was beginning to be effected by his odd behavior.

"No," Inuyasha stated simply. He didn't have the presence of mind to try to lie, such was his discomfort.

"What is it?" Kagome, slightly alarmed by his blunt response, began to peer around her, testing the air for foreign intruders.

Inuyasha stopped suddenly, pointing to a cozy looking nook surrounded by overgrowth. "We should sleep here for the night," he motioned for the group to stop, an unusual suggestion from him, especially during the light.

Not wanting to push him too hard in front of the others, Kagome helped collect firewood and set up a fire. Setting up her sleeping bag in its usual place at the side of the fire, she tucked Shippo into the blanket's warmth, whispering that she would be back when she was tired.

The evening's light was almost gone, the distant sun's rays casting an orange glow on the tops of the trees above. Leaving the campsite to Sango, Miroku, Kilala and Shippo, Kagome climbed up to the branch that Inuyasha had taken high above the others.

Sliding over to make room for her, Inuyasha otherwise feigned ignorance of her presence. She slipped closer than she had to, wrapping her arm around his side and leaning her head on his shoulder.

"I know something is wrong, Inuyasha. Even if I didn't have my hanyou senses, I could still tell that there's something about this place that bothers you." Kagome felt Inuyasha's already tense body tighten further in her grip. Exasperated, Kagome dropped her arm and turned to face him, straddling the branch as she did so. Turning his head towards her with her hand, she saw eyes that were far too alert for comfort. "Tell me what's going on, Inuyasha." She felt her voice become smaller, despite her attempt at bravery.

"You're scaring me," she whispered, her eyebrows upturned in concern.

Seeing the concern on her face, Inuyasha took her hand in his own, gently lowering it to his lap as he turned away once more. Taking a deep breath, he told her what was making him so uneasy.

"We're heading towards Sesshoumaru's castle," Inuyasha whispered.

"What? You mean these are the Western Lands he's supposedly lord of?" Kagome's eyes went wide with the realization. For all of Inuyasha's bravado when facing his brother, they both new that Sesshoumaru's home turf advantage would tip the balance, and not in Inuyasha's favour.

"There's no 'supposed' about it. He's the lord here, and he has many very loyal subjects." Inuyasha turned back to Kagome, his eyes full of worry. "It may have been 50 years but the memory of a demon is long. If we come across anyone who recognizes me for who I am we won't be able to avoid a fight. Anyone who opposes my brother will fight me because I'm so similar to him. Anyone who is allied with my brother will fight me because he hates me." Inuyasha swung his leg over the branch, mirroring Kagome, and clasping her hands between his. "We should make short work of finding this protector, Kagome. I don't know how long we can stay here without Sesshoumaru finding out. I...I couldn't stand to loose you."

Inuyasha pulled Kagome close, her stunned silence only succeeding in making him pull her tighter to him. She gently put her arms around his waist, returning the embrace.

"We'll be fine, Inuyasha. We'll find the protector before you know it," she whispered. Settling back against the trunk of the tree, still locked in their embrace, the pair fell asleep.

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Waking the others before Shippo, Kagome and Inuyasha proceeded to inform them of the situation.

"So we'd better tread lightly," Kagome finished.

"That means no perverted antics, Monk," Sango punctuated, seeing the wandering hand that had inched its way towards her body.

Lifting his hand in an open armed shrug, Miroku played innocent. Disgusted, Sango stood and relocated across from him, as far from his wandering hand as she could get.

Inuyasha crossed his arms in annoyance at the monk's antics, while Kagome woke the sleeping child with an offering of rabbit meat for breakfast.

Breakfast finished, campsite dismantled, the group continued their trek. Just after noon, the locater started pointing towards the stationary location again. They were close, the locater was changing slightly as the protector moved about, indicating that they were close enough for it to make a difference. Cresting a small hill, the group came to an end of the trees.

"Damn," Inuyasha, his voice fraught with sorrow, viewed the scene before them.

A large castle enclosure, its high stone walls towering above the grasses outside its borders, spanned a great expanse of land. Inside its confines were many small buildings, some more opulent than others, scattered about the central building. The central building, the large stone castle itself, towered above all else, matching the outer walls in construction, but dwarfing them in height. If the group had not been on a hill, they may not have seen the other buildings at all, such was the height of the outer walls.

"Is this Sesshoumaru's castle?" Kagome asked, knowing from Inuyasha's earlier comment that it was.

"Yeah," again his voice was a whisper.

Sango, standing next to Kagome, whispered to her. "You don't think it's Sesshoumaru do you?" she asked, her desperate hope flowing from her in waves.

As if to dash her hopes, a pale blue ball of light could be seen rising above the walls. In a flash the ball was moving east.

The locater following the light obediently.

Traitor.

- - - - - - - - - -

"There's no doubt, the protector is Sesshoumaru," Kagome stated the obvious.

"Should we try to meet them in their travels?" Sango suggested. "We would stand more of a chance defeating him away from his castle, wouldn't we?"

Miroku sighed. "It wouldn't matter if we defeat him. Short of killing him and making the object get a new protector, there's nothing that we can do to make the protector more likely to grant us his permission."

Inuyasha, silent since the discovery, finally spoke. "We'll just have to kill him, then." His voice was unusually cold and emotionless, the normal rage behind topics regarding Sesshoumaru was absent. His face eerily unreadable, Inuyasha's profile momentarily reflected that of his brother.

Not caring that they might be seen, Inuyasha led the group eastward, towards the inevitable battle.

End of Chapter

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Oh, ominous...

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- Sarga