Chapter eleven: The consequences of a vision

Sengoku Jidai. 1601 a.C.

Inuyasha stretched his arms and put them behind his head, yawning widely in the process. His sweated haori rested at his side.

He felt very pleased with himself.

With time, under Sango's tutelage and his own perseverance, he dared to think of himself as an excellent swordsman and a pretty damned good youkai exterminator, even if he no longer had demonic powers as an extra help. Indeed, little by little he had started seeing himself under a new light, one that showed him not as useless or weak, as he considered himself at the beginning, but as a strong man. Yes. A man.

And he and Sango made such a great team; they complimented each other during battle in a way he would have never imagined. After all, he used to depend on him and only on him before his transformation, even if the others were there to help. He always felt responsible for their safety and it was nice to have a change in that aspect; to be able to share that responsibility.

Of course, they didn't get rid of the youkai as fast as they used to when he was still a hanyou, but they managed pretty well. They never lacked of job offers, that was for sure.

Funny. Of all of them, Inuyasha never thought Sango would want to keep on exterminating demons after Naraku's fall; he guessed she had seen enough battles to last her a lifetime, but apparently she loved fighting as much as he did and he had rediscovered some joy in his life as a result of that. And to think he had thought his existence to be void and worthless after he became human and Kagome left.

Soon it would make two years since she crossed the well that last time.

He wouldn't say he lost hopes for her return and from time to time he still kept guard at the well and even, though rarely, tried to go across. But he really didn't have that much time to think of her, not with all the time he spent training with Sango and going youkai hunting; he relaxed and had fun at those times. Sometimes he wondered if there was something wrong with him, for feeling relaxed after a good battle.

Yet, he thought of Kagome, despite the fact that after a while, her memory stopped from being that raw, painful open wound in his chest and became more of a dull ache that stung his heart now and then.

All he had to do if he wanted to dispose of that sickening feeling was to look for Sango and, after some well chosen insults and teases, force her to spar with him. It took his mind away from things.

But why she hadn't returned was a question that haunted his lonely nights.

Had she found someone else to be with? That thought hurt him and drove him crazy.

Did something grave happen to her? What if she… died? That possibility hurt even more and he knew he preferred the first option.

Or maybe she didn't come back to him because he had become human and no longer had those 'cute' dog ears she loved so much. And at that moment, he wasn't strong any more but a shadow of himself.

Well, she should see me now, he thought with a smirk and tilting his head up, looked at his arms. They surely weren't this developed back then. Now that he thought about it, Inuyasha was kind of skinny; with his innate strength, he had never had the need to exercise beyond what he did during battles, but now, he found his body still slim but well built, with each muscle nicely traced. It had been difficult to achieve that look and he felt he had the right to be proud of his accomplishments.

And the guilty one of such change was currently lying on his lap, oblivious to everything as her chest rose and fell in slow movements and her face showed a peaceful expression. Her legs clad in her black taijiya pants were near her chest, and one hand was tossed carelessly over his knees.

That year the heat had been almost unbearable, which promised copious rains, and Sango and Inuyasha had decided to rest at the shadow of a maple tree near the well after their morning training.

They had sat with their backs against the tree, talking about nothing and anything and after a while, Sango started to doze off, her head falling on his shoulder, then it slipped to his chest and at last, ended resting on his lap. He felt startled at first and somewhat embarrassed, but after some time he relaxed and decided to let her sleep there. No doubt it would be really funny to see her face when she woke up and realized where she had decided to take a nap, and that would make such a great teasing material.

Besides, it felt nice.

Blood flow started to fail so he lowered his right arm to his side and shook it a couple of times, but Sango was on his left side and there was no room for his other arm. Inuyasha tried to put it behind him but it was a bit painful, placing it on his chest or back behind his head wasn't very comfortable either. Maybe…

He eyed the sleeping girl and then her milky skin. Hesitantly, he placed his hand on her arm and held his breath, as if waiting for her to wake up and smash his head with Hiraikotsu, but Sango kept on breathing deeply.

He relaxed and finally let the full weight of his arm fall over hers. It was pleasant. His eyelids started feeling heavier at each passing moment, and at some point, he never knew when, he started moving his hand up and down Sango's bare arm with slow strokes, enjoying the soft skin exposed by the short sleeved hadajuban she was wearing; she had been sweating so much that she decided to take out her outer hadagi and now it rested next to Inuyasha's haori.

Her skin felt even nicer.

He was practically asleep, engulfed in the soothing sensation, but his touch must have awaked Sango because after some time she stirred and with that, brought Inuyasha out of his slumber.

He was having a pleasant dream and resisted to wake up completely, opening his eyes into only small slits, but they were big enough for him to distinguish out the corner of his eye a familiar silhouette with raven hair and penetrating eyes standing by the well.

Was he still dreaming? Inuyasha fought to emerge from his foggy dream and shook his head hard, this time his eyes wide as plates. His heart started running wildly inside his chest, but there was no one else there.

He couldn't have dreamed it!

He removed the waking Sango from him and frantic, ran to the well, clasping its edges and looking into it, an anxious look on his features.

"Kagome! Kagomeee!"

Sango sat confused on the ground; first for waking up (because of a very pleasant sensation on her arm) and finding herself on Inuyasha's lap, later because he dropped her in a haste and more recently, because he was at the well, screaming her long gone friend's name.

She stood up and walked toward Inuyasha, who kept on calling for Kagome. His voice echoed in the empty pit and returned to her ears.

"Inuyasha? What's going on?" she called after him but it had no effect, instead, Inuyasha jumped all the sudden into the well and seconds latter, Sango heard his body making contact with the hard bottom.

"Inuyasha! Are you alright?" She clutched the edge, looking down, her ponytail hanging besides her shoulder.

After some moments, she saw him emerging from the well, his face a mixture of disconcert, anxiety and bewilderment.

He was sure he had seen her. He had seen Kagome! Or hadn't he? Had he been dreaming?

"Inuyasha?" Sango's worried voice reached his ears and he raised his gaze to meet her perplexed visage.

"I saw her, I saw Kagome!" he declared, his voice trembled a little.

"What?" She let her jaw drop and incredulous, fixed her eyes on the well. Surely it looked the same as it had looked for the past two years.

"Are you sure?" she asked, her eyes studying now his face, for a moment she wanted to reach to his forehead and feel for a fever. Maybe the heat had affected him.

"I don't know! I—I think I saw her! She was looking at us, standing right here!"

Sango looked at the well again. If Kagome had come, she was pretty sure she would have at least talked to them, after all that time of being absent. It would have been a joyous reencounter. She looked back at him.

"I think you were dreaming, Inuyasha. If Kagome had returned, she would have stayed. I'm sure of that," she said in a calm voice, trying to not upset the already altered young man.

"But I— I saw— she… she…" Inuyasha didn't find the words. Had he been dreaming indeed? Sango's words seemed to make sense. Kagome wouldn't return just to leave again.

He dropped on the grass and rested his head on his hands; he wasn't sure what to think. Why had that vision come and torture him, now that he was finding some peace?

Sango knelt down next to him and patted him on the shoulder. "Are… are you okay?"

Maybe that's why. He had dared to let his feelings for Kagome go numb, he had allowed her face slip little by little to his sub conscience. He had let Sango rest on his lap, and he had dared to like it, to crave for her touch. More than once.

"Leave me," was his only, low response, but it was so firm, so vehement, that Sango felt as if her touch on his shoulder burned her.

"A— alright," she said and stood up, a hurt tone in her voice. "Then I… I'll meet you back at the village… I'll get everything settled for the journey."

"I'm not going."

"But—"

"I'm not going. I can't."

Sango opened her mouth and closed it again, letting a sigh escape her lips and her shoulders drop in defeat; she knew better than to try to convince him now. She nodded and turned around, and then walked to the maple tree and picked their bokuto. They never practiced with their swords.

Inuyasha could see her retreat to the village with a slow pace but he couldn't go with her, as well as he couldn't accompany her to her now annual trip to visit Miroku and her kin's tombs the next day, as he had promised.

What if what he saw was a signal? Maybe Kagome was about to return, and she had to find him there. His heart beat wildly at the sole idea.

Inuyasha pulled the small, rounded object in the yarn from his hadagi and held it tightly to his chest.

She was coming back, she was coming back. He knew it.

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Tokyo. 2001 a.C.

Slowly, Kagome lowered her feet to the floor of the little shrine that contained the ancient bone eater's well and she felt for the frame and sat on it, her eyes astray.

She felt cold, like anesthetized, as her mind went over and over the scene she had just contemplated on the other side. Her vision blurred and she realized she hadn't been breathing, probably since she had spotted them under that tree, her head on his lap, his hand caressing her arm in such an intimate touch… so caring…

She shook her head with almost violence, her short hair stroking her shoulders as she desperately tried to erase those images, but there was no use.

Well. She had seen them, right? That was the purpose of her going back. Wasn't it? But she just froze at the view, even if it was predictable, and felt as if a black hole swallowed her very much as Miroku's kazaana had done to him

And then, Sango moved, and Inuyasha started to wake up. Kagome panicked.

All the sudden she didn't want them to spot her, to acknowledge her presence, she didn't want to know anything. With no second thoughts she jumped back in the well and ran away. Her questions were left unanswered.

How did it happen? What made it happen? What drew them together? Why?

Why didn't you wait for me, Inuyasha?

That morning she had finally made up her mind and was ready, she thought, to obtain the responses for those questions and maybe to get, as her mother had said once, some kind of closure. She had tried very hard to move on and forget about Inuyasha, but those issues still disturbed her and she wanted to hear the answers. She deserved those answers.

But Kagome was unable to get them.

And why wasn't she crying? She surely felt like shedding a river, but tears wouldn't come. Her eyes didn't even prick, but the cold wouldn't abandon her.

Kagome liked to think she was a strong person, but at the moment, she felt to be everything but strong. She sighed and lowered her head until her chin touched her chest and wondered why she tormented herself with something so futile, something that had been even before she was born, and her mother, and her grandfather, and his grandfather's grandfather…

"Higurashi. Are you in there?"

A kind voice made her jerk her head up and she saw a tall, slender figure approaching the little shrine. She passed her hand over her eyes and retrieved some moisture. What about that, she had cried a little, after all.

"Higurashi, your mother told me you were here." A smiling face appeared at the threshold.

Kagome felt like rolling her eyes. She did not want to talk to Hojo right now. She considered for a moment jumping back into the well just the escape him, but on second thoughts, she preferred to deal with Hojo any day than with… with that.

Resigned, she stood up and smiled at him. "Oh, Hojo-kun. What are you doing here on a Saturday morning?" She got her answer when her eyes found his arms tugged with about a dozen books. Oh. She had forgotten.

"We were supposed to study today, remember? For Monday's anatomy test. I said I'd come by your house today and you said it was okay." For a second, his voice reflected some disillusion for her rashness at their appointment, but covered it very well with another of those charming smiles that had so many girls at the faculty going head over feet for him.

"Oh… yeah, that's true, sorry, how silly of me. I was… uh… I was only…"

"It's okay, if you're busy I can go." There was that disappointed tone again. It made Kagome feel miserable, for him and his eternal infatuation with her, and for herself, for being in a similar situation. What a pair of pathetic losers they were.

She started to laugh, though for her ears, the sound was rather grim.

"Higurashi, do you feel okay?" Hojo got closer to her and waited patiently as her laugh subsided.

"I… I'm okay Hojo, please forgive me, I wasn't laughing at you, I was just remembering something kind of funny… I'm sorry for forgetting about our appointment."

"Don't worry about that, so… do you want me to leave?" he asked apprehensively.

"I… no, no, that's okay, we have a lot to study." She tried to smile but wasn't sure if she accomplished it.

"Higurashi, do you feel okay? You seem a little pale, perhaps you should better rest. I don't want you to fall sick or something."

Good Hojo. Always so considerate, always putting others before him. He indeed reminded Kagome of herself, at a time.

"No. I am fine, now it will be better if we get started with all these books, here, let me help you." Kagome grabbed some of the books from his arms and exited the shrine. Hojo wanted to ask more but decided against it and followed her to the house.

"By the way, what were you doing in there?"

Kagome didn't respond but she expected the location of the duodenum and the portal vein would keep her mind out of it.

"Nothing. So Hojo, how are the clinic plans going?"

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Sengoku Jidai. 1601 a.C.

"Inuyashaaaaaa, Why ain't you coming?" Shippo came running and stopped in front of Inuyasha, a furoshiki that surely contained his traveling gear was tied around his shoulders.

Inuyasha looked at him but didn't respond, Shippo, curious, looked down the well.

"Sango says you thought to saw Kagome yesterday. Is it true?" Inuyasha threw him a side glance but still didn't answer.

Shippo looked meditatively at the well and then regarded the sad man sitting next to it. "I don't think she came. I bet she would have come to see me if she had returned." The now practically adolescent kitsune looked at the sky with a longing stare.

"You better come with us. What are you gonna do here all by yourself?"

"Keh!"

"You better leave him alone, Shippo." Sango appeared down the pat, her own furoshiki in hand, Hiraikotsu at her back and a small Kirara besides her. She stood in front of Inuyasha and regarded him with a hard gaze. "If he wants to stay here then that's his choice."

Inuyasha couldn't help looking at her hard stoned face. Now what was her problem?

"We'll be back in two weeks, see you until then, and please don't stay here all the time, it seems the weather will be unpleasant," she said in a cold tone and with no further words, she gave her back to him and walked away.

"Tsk, tsk, Inuyasha, I don't know what you did to her but she's really pissed off at you."

"Get the hell out of here you little pest." Inuyasha growled.

"Shippo, are you coming?" Sango called him. The red haired youkai stuck out his tongue and ran after Sango and Kirara.

Sango turned her head one more time to see that… that stubborn man still sitting by the well.

She was so mad at him! All that hard work to get him off of his ass and a single hallucination of Kagome was enough to make him go back to his foul temper and his fastidious, disagreeable, detestable, awful manners!

Indeed, all the way back to two years ago. For Kami's sake, the guy didn't even sleep in his hut! He had stayed by the well all night! She couldn't believe him!

It was as if these past two years hadn't existed, as if he forgot he had learned how to smile again, how to bother Shippo, how to enjoy life. As if he forgot what she taught him, what they learned together. One more time all that existed in his world was Kagome and the hope for her return. Nothing else. No one else.

After a while, Sango wasn't sure why exactly she was mad at him.

Hadajuban: It's a thin waist length kimono used as underwear. Ok, maybe in real terms, it wouldn't be correct for Sango to be with a man only in her hadajuban… but… well, I just used creative license here. :P