Twice Lost, Once Found

An Inu-Yasha fanfic

A story of a special someone who did not exist in their lives long enough to mention.

Chapter One: Something New

It had begun like any other adventure: Kagome came through the well with her usual giant bag of stuff and Inu-Yasha yelled at her for being late. Miroku and Sango sighed at the two's endless bickering and Shippo was just happy to have Kagome back and he didn't have to hang around with Inu-Yasha anymore.

When Kagome had beaten Inu-Yasha's pointless argument down, she went to bid the elderly priestess Kaede greetings. Lady Kaede was sitting outside by her herb garden. She had great trouble standing, but she didn't complain. She was too stubborn to complain about an ailment.

Kagome sighed secretly to herself when Inu-Yasha went to pull the old priestess onto her feet. Kaede's spirits had been down since she got word of the reincarnated Kikyo being incinerated in Naraku's deadly miasma. Her age was beginning to catch up with her. Inu-Yasha's spirit's always seemed down too when they were in the village now-a-days. Kagome thought that perhaps that's why he yelled at her so much for being late.

"So, which way are we headed today?" Shippo asked with a cheerful inquisition from the basket on Kagome's bike.

"We haven't heard anything new about Naraku." Sango commented.

"Or the sated jewel shards," added Miroku.

"Or anything!" Inu-Yasha groaned in annoyance. "Let's just pick a direction and go. We're bound to find something."

Kagome smiled, humoring her half demon companion as she walked along side her bike. The day was warm and sunny, and even if all they did was have a pleasant walk and a picnic, it would be a nice calm in the aftermath of so much stress. Looking up at the sky as she walked along the ridge she said, "Yeah, let's keep going and see if we can find a new paAAA!"

Without warning, Kagome's bike jumped on a rock and teetered over to the side, the weight of Kagome's bag sending the bike and herself over the edge of the path and cascading down a steep, grassy decline.

"Kagome!" Everyone shouted as they darted and slid down the ridge after her.

Kagome and the bike finally skid to a stop at the bottom of the ridge. The bike struck a tree and Shippo was slingshotted into the woods. Kagome sat up slowly, rubbing her backside. "Ow. What the-"

"Kagome, are you all right?" Inu-Yasha asked as he landed at the bottom of the ridge.

"Oh no!" Kagome squealed in terror.

"What?" Inu-Yasha leapt around looking for the threat.

Kagome was examining the back of her skirt. "I hate grass stains!"

Inu-Yasha fell flat on his face before leaping back onto his face shouting, "You could've gotten seriously hurt and you're complaining about stains! What is it with you woman!"

"Hey!" Kagome got up and an argument was thrown once again into full swing. Sango and Miroku who had just reached the bottom of the ridge sighed to themselves. "Not again."

"Will those two ever be at peace with each other?"

Shippo was awakening from his concussion while all of this was going on. He awoke slowly and groggily at first, but was then thrown into a full out panic when he realized that he was hanging from a tree branch by his kimono. His shouting aroused Inu-Yasha and Kagome from their fighting.

Shippo's struggles were frantic for a moment, then he paused and looked around. He was hanging over an overgrown path of some sort. It was narrow and most of it was filled in with wild grasses and shrubs. Shippo was in the middle of feeling perplexed when Kagome reached up and slipped him down from the branch.

"There you go, Shippo."

"Kagome, look!" Shippo pointed down the old path.

"This must've been a hunting trail, judging by its size." Sango suggested.

"Looks like it hasn't been used in years." Miroku pointed out.

Inu-Yasha sniffed the air. "It doesn't smell like it hasn't be used in years."

"Let's go down it!" Kagome chimed, thrilled with their good fortune. Inu-Yasha looked at like she was a crazy lady. Kagome continued to smile. "It'll be something new!"

Inu-Yasha's will to argue was destroyed by Kagome's overwhelming joyful smile, the kind that conjures up little sparkles. Miroku and Sango smiled back. "Kagome's charm wins again."

With Shippo in her arms, Kilala in Sango's, Miroku along side her, and Inu-Yasha grumbling in the back with Kagome's bike, they headed down the old trail into a new adventure.

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Yo! This will be a short little tale like my other Inu-Yasha fanfic: Second Try for Love. This one will be more meaningful, though, 'cause it will explain things! I like making up fanfics that explain things that aren't explained in the series. My other ones are really long and not written. This one will be short; Maybe four or five chapters.

So review them, please, so I know it's worth my time.

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I do not own Inu-Yasha. It's Rumiko Takahashi's… At least it's not Yu Watase's. She's a jerk to her characters.