"Who…are you?" Huge brown eyes stared up at him. Deep inside his chest, he felt a weight. His throat tightened. Clenching his fists, he took a step closer to the girl sitting on the ground in front of him.
"C'mon Kagome, quit fooling around. We've got the shards, now let's go." He tried to sound irritated, but his voice just panned out into a flat monotone.
Fear flickered in her eyes, which quickly took in sight of the large blade that rested against his shoulder. He made as if to sheath it.
"Th-that's close enough!" She cried, pushing herself back a few feet and rising to a kneeling position.
He paused, then put away the sword and held his clawed hands a few inches from his sides in a gesture of peace.
"Kagome?" His throat constricted again, and now it was a little harder to breathe. "You don't remember me?" He struggled with the words which seemed to ensnare him the moment they were free. He looked around for the others; they were taking their time exterminating the remaining demons in the area. He stepped closer again.
"Stay away!" he face fell to a commanding expression, one that he had come to know well. It was a voice she used when speaking with an enemy she wasn't sure how to react to, or the way she spoke to him when he accidentally said something crude. She was trying to put a show up to impress him, to make him think she wasn't intimidated by him. But a tiny flicker of fear drifted by his nose, and he knew she could not mask the distrust in her heart. He paused for the slightest of seconds as these thoughts flashed through his mind. "Answer me. Who are you? What am I doing here?" she demanded. Even though she couldn't recognize him, Kagome was still Kagome.
"It's me, Inuyasha." He offered by way of explanation. His voice came out much coarser than he had intended. "You came here with me, Kagome. We're…" he swallowed heavily, "friends, remember?" the word sounded harsh on his tongue.
She shook her head. "Is this some kind of joke? This can't be real, this…can't. Where's my family, where is this?" even as she refused the possibility, no explanation came to her mind that made any sense. She had opened her eyes, and the first thing she saw was a strange…could you call him a man? With dogs ears and white hair, standing over her. The red of his clothes seemed to glow in the fading afternoon sun, and the blade on his shoulder gleamed dully. Why was he here, and why was she here?
As the hanyou struggled for answers to her questions, a monk, woman, small boy, and odd looking cat burst from the surrounding brush. Before the startled girl could comment, the monk yelled, "Inuyasha! Take the lady Kagome from harm's way, I mean to use my wind tunnel!" Even as he said this, the monk turned to face the forest that was now rustling with the approach of many-legged demons.
Without a second thought, the man in red grabbed the girl around her waist and leapt to the side of the clearing.
"Hey! What're you-" she protested before the now irate hanyou cut her off.
"Listen Kagome, I don't know what's wrong with you, but we're not going to hurt you so stop whining and be quiet." She opened her mouth to reply when all thought of argument was swept from her mind as she watched the monk suck an entire horde of demonic creatures into an abyss in his palm. For a second she gaped mindlessly, and then a realization occurred to her. She was at once completely aware this was no dream, this was horribly, unbelievably real. The creatures she had seen were something like the faded pictures of demons her grandfather had once ceremoniously waved around her face while she scoffed. And though she did not know this strange…man….he knew her well. In her dazed shock, she absorbed the appearances of the new strangers who had arrived. The man dressed as a monk neatly wrapped rosary beads around his gloved hand, and Kagome assumed this meant he had closed the storm in his grasp. He wiped his forehead and turned to the silver-white haired man with the ears of a dog. He also had the fangs and claws of a dog, and Kagome hoped he truly was a friend as he had claimed.
"Inuyasha, does Lady Kagome still have the jewel shards?" he inquired. In response, the man wordlessly held out his hand. Twin shards gleamed silver-white in the patch of sunlight. The monk sighed in relief, but quickly noticed the strange state Inuyasha was in. His eyes narrowed as he caught sight of the half-demon's face. His eyes, there was something terribly wrong with his eyes. Something dark, surreal, a threatening thought that lurked in the darkest shades of his hooded golden eyes.
"Thanks to Lord Miroku we have taken care of the rest of the demons." The woman pronounced, and Kagome then turned her wondrous stare on her. She was tall and muscled but shapely. Her hair and eyes were a rich brown, her eyes rimmed with an exotic magenta liner. She was dressed in what seemed to be a flexible suit with pads of armor, and strangest of all, she carried a huge boomerang slung over her shoulder. Now the tiny kitten-like creature came over a nuzzled her leg. It was covered in circular markings and it had great staring red eyes. She noticed movement in the corner of her eye, and turned to face the small boy. He was unnaturally short, with a bushy tail to match the tan ears nestled in light brownish-orange hair. He tucked some toy away in his bright green and blue garb. While Kagome was watching him with some fascination, the other woman approached from her side. She placed a hand on the girl's shoulder.
"Kagome, are you all right?" she asked in concern, for she thought the girl seemed a little dazed from the fight.
Kagome snapped her head around in alarm. "Don't touch me." She said, more from surprise than fear. She jerked her shoulder away before she had time to plan the action. But what really shocked her was the reaction this statement aroused in all these new arrivals, from the step of the monk to the hurt widening of the little boy's eyes. The man with silver hair almost seemed to flinch, but after a moment she was sure it was only imagined. Immediately she felt regret for her words. The people, though strangers, seemed nice enough. And the lady was only asking out of concern. Still, she didn't understand the familiarity with which she was being treated. And because she didn't understand, she didn't like it. After all, she had only expected to see office buildings and buses when she opened her eyes. She had expected the reassuring presence of meaningless chatter, background music, footsteps of strangers on the pavement. But the silence was only broken by the shocked intake of breath from these people.
"Kagome." Sango repeated, her voice numb with shock. She felt like a doll, merely repeating the name she could hear in her head so clearly when everything else faded into a confusion of static. She and Miroku exchanged a horrified glance. What was this?
"Kagome, it's me Shippo. Remember?" his little voice trembled and his lip quivered. He could sense the uncertainty in Kagome, and he noticed the way her eyes flit from one face to another, blankly observing but not comprehending.
"I'm sorry…but I don't know you. I don't know any of you." Her voice faltered, and she felt as if she were letting them down in the worst of ways. She took a hesitant step backwards, afraid to run from them, but almost as afraid to stay. Even though she did not know the were well-intentioned, they were her only contact now. They might know how to get her home; they might remember what it seemed she had forgot.
"Is it possible the enchantress worked a memory charm on Lady Kagome?" the monk mused. Though he addressed the entire group, his eyes never left the girl's face. "Isn't it obvious? She doesn't know who we are." Inuyasha scoffed. He was practically growling in rage against their now-dead opponent. The words, what were those damned words? She had uttered something before she had attacked, but now the strain was too great and Inuyasha could not remember. Though he struggled and kept his face impassive, only allowing anger or disdain to cross his features, his mind had seemed to scatter itself; once piece meeting another and chasing each other through the depths of his mind. He heard Miroku speaking, and he forced himself to listen to the words hanging in the air: "…to the village. Lady Kaede is reasonably more knowledgeable when it comes to…" Inuyasha already knew what he was going to say, and his distracted mind excused itself. What now? The only hope he could anchor himself to was that Kagome would be cured when they reached the village. Perhaps she would lay down to sleep, with him watching over her, and when she opened her eyes in the morning, that recognition would shine in them. She would tell him off for something rude he had said the other say, or Sit him when he tried to steal ramen from her backpack. But now he could not think beyond that. Get her to the village, and Kaede will work something out. Everything will work out.
Sango was speaking to the girl now, trying to reason with her and persuade her to accompany them. Though, she really had little choice in the matter; whether she liked it or not, she left with them. For her own safety. Her voice… "…rest assured, we will not harm you. We are friends. Don't worry; we just want to make sure you're all right. We'll take you to a friend; she's a doctor of sorts. Then we can see about getting you home."
The girl's face seemed to relax a bit. She had already begun debating with herself whether or not to join them. She understood they could be dangerous, but something in her heart whispered otherwise. She was completely surrounded in an alien forest, and she was well aware of the burning glare of the setting sun against her cheek. Beyond her logic, beyond any comprehension of her own reasoning, she felt compelled. The soothing voice of the woman, the lines of worry gracing the monk's brow, the tears in the corners of the little boy's eyes, and most of all the silence of the man with silver hair, whose bangs cast his golden eyes into dark shadows. He seemed upset by her reactions, they all did. She was a compassionate person by nature, and she didn't want to hurt anyone who was trying to help her. She just wanted to go home, somewhere familiar and safe. She felt a weight on her heart, and she looked up into the soft brown eyes of the woman in front of her. She didn't want….what? She didn't think she knew anymore. She reached out and grasped the timid hand offered to her.
"All right." She whispered.