Then and Now

A/N: Hey! This chapter, we're going back to visit Inu Yasha in this chapter. This takes place at the same time as the last chapter. Also, many thanks to those few reviews I've gotten so far. I'm glad you guys didn't give up on me!

Disclaimer: I don't own a damn thing. You can't sue me...nyah, nyah-nyah, nyah nyah nyah!

Chapter 10

"Of course. I'll be glad to get my whole soul back, but it will be very entertaining to watch her suffer for taking it and everything else from me."

"And Inu Yasha?"

"My affection died with my body fifty years ago. When he's no longer useful, he will die."

Inu Yasha turned away from the clearing. He couldn't believe it. His mate. How could she? I loved her! I thought I loved Kagome, too, though...maybe she was right to choose someone else. I don't even know what love means. The only one who ever loved me was my mother. Inu Yasha ran silently from the forest. He needed to go somewhere and think. Away from the group and their questions. He wanted to be alone.

Inu Yasha ran northwest for many miles until he reached the place he'd felt most at peace, the one place he had purposely avoided since he'd left. There were just too many sad memories there. His Mother's house. The place had been abandoned decades ago. The rest of the village had left even earlier, not feeling safe with a growing demon nearby. Apparently, those stories were still going around. The place was empty. And falling apart. Ninety years of abandonment would do that. He decided to repair his mother's home while he was here. He felt it would please her to know he was taking care of the place.

He entered the large building. The fact that his mother had been a noblewoman meant that her house was among the biggest in the village. He walked up the steps, remembering how they used to sit there together. When he was small, she would hold him close and sing to him. She had a beautiful voice. He missed her. Her sad smile would be engraved on his heart forever. Sadness that she had brought him into a world where she knew he would be hated. He leaned against the support post for the mostly non-existent roof of the porch and cried. How had he lost it all?

His mother had died. Twice. Kikyo had died and been revived to hate him, and was now working for the one who killed her to begin with. And Kagome...Kagome had loved him, he knew. He had ruined that, himself. He had berated her, compared her to Kikyo, pushed her away and then forced her to come back (supposedly because he wanted her to finish finding the Jewel, but he knew it was because he had wanted to be near her), and yet she had stayed. Was it any wonder she'd found someone else? He'd practically tossed her to him! At least, this male seemed to truly want her. Not like me...how could I have been so stupid? Why couldn't I see? She was the best thing in my life. My first real friend. And she didn't even care that I'm a hanyou. She wasn't afraid of my demon self. Even kissed me in that form. I lost it all...

He moved into the entryway of the house. He had to decide what to do about Kikyo, and how to show Kagome how sorry he was for the way he'd behaved.

Now, though, he needed sleep. The emotional upheavals of the past few days had left him drained. He shuffled down the hallway to the room he had once occupied. The hanyou selected a corner and settled down to a dreamless, exhausted sleep.

The next morning, Inu Yasha awoke slightly disoriented. Wha-? Where am I? Suddenly, the events of the past few days came to him in a rush. Kagome...I have to apologize to her. He stood up and started out the door when his stomach reminded him that he hadn't eaten the previous day. He decided to catch something for breakfast before returning to Kaede's village. Within half an hour, he had a few fish cooking over flames in the cooking pit of his mother's house. Finding dry wood proved to be more difficult than the fish, thanks to the sudden heavy downpour. He'd had to remove pieces from the interiors of neighboring houses for his fire. He hurried through his meal, barely tasting it, and then rushed off to the village.

The hanyou kept to the trees to avoid the huge mud-holes that had developed during the storm. He traveled for several hours until he saw thetorii indicating that he had found the temple. The storm had recently let up and the sun was creating an overwhelming humidity. He spied Sango near the posts of the torii, apparently looking for something. He decided to ask her where Kagome was.

"Oi! Sango! Where is Kagome?" He called as he approached. She looked up as he landed a few feet away.

"Ah, Inu Yasha! Kagome-chan and Kurama-san went to look for Shippo-chan. He was playing with the girl Rin who travels with your brother." She answered.

"They're following Sesshou-maru! That fox is taking her right to him! That Kami-damned Kitsune!"

"Wait, Inu Yasha! Kurama-san indicated that he knew Sesshou-maru from his youth. Apparently they were friends."

"That's bullshit! Sesshou-maru's never had friends. I knew better than to trust Kagome with that fox! I'm going to get her back! " He said before he rushed off to the west.

It took a while to find an area beyond the rains that still held a scent. He found the scent of Kagome and the fox, though the fox's scent no longer had the human smell covering it. And, older than that, Sesshou-maru, Shippo, and the rest of his brother's following. He came upon another scent a bit later on, that seemed to have crossed paths directly with Kurama and Kagome. Kouga. But there was no smell of aggression. No blood. And Kagome's soft scent continued on with the fox, while Kouga went another way.

Kouga let him go without a fight? I don't get it. Inu Yasha hurried on faster toward the castle, more determined than ever to find Kagome. Too many things just didn't make sense. He needed to return some semblance of order to his world.

He reached the boundary around the castle near midnight. Everything seemed quiet. The only blood was from a large demon who had been diced up quite neatly a few hours earlier. But the youkai's blood was so strong that it might be masking any other scents nearby.

"Sesshou-maru! Bring that fucking fox down here! And if you've hurt Kagome, I'll fucking-"

"Must you use such language so loudly at this hour? The miko and Kurama are sleeping, as well as the kit. You may see them tomorrow if they wish it. Until then, you will quiet yourself and wait."

"I'm gonna see her now! I don't trust you or that fox!" The Inu hanyou shouted and tried to leap over the taller youkai. Sesshou-maru sent out his whip, grabbing Inu Yasha's ankle and pulled back sending him slamming into the ground. He decided to use the whip to tie the stunned hanyou to a large tree nearby. The problem of how to shut him up was solved by gagging him with a piece of leather, charmed against being cut or torn. That should keep him for tonight. Sesshou-maru thought with a grin as he entered the castle.

Okay people sorry it's so short and that it's late. I just wanted to catch up with Inu Yasha before the next chapter. Hopefully it will be out in a couple of weeks. Until then!

Ja ne!