AN: Ok guys, here's the lowdown for all you people who don't visit my Fanfiction site (the site in my Profile on and read the blogs and Recent news stuff. I promised a quicker chapter and well, I guess I need to quit promising crap! ;;; Anyways, this is Chapter 11 and its called "Renewal" For a very specific reason. Why was the chapter such a long investment of my time? ONE WORD: School. High school to be exact and I have also had the pleasure of contracting an illness from a classmate in the past week or so so, Huzzah for me! YIPPEE! Anyways, I'll keep trying to catch up with these things and I have no clue when the next chapter'll be out but If you get curious on progress you can always e-mail me at or visit http/ for more info. (On the site I managed to fix the alignment bug, so now its all nice and neat and the Recent news is located at the top now . Have fun) NOW WITHOUT FURTHER ADEU, HERE IS CHAPTER 11 OF TRUTHS!

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Chapter 11

(Renewal)

Several more days passed in the days that Inuyasha had come to know as no more than hell itself. Eating with the three girls and looking around to find the vacancy of their partner was not only sickening to him, but tear jerking in itself. Inuyasha had, on several occasions, had to take his food outside and eat because of the pain of seeing an empty seat that he knew would never again be filled by his lover. However, even outside the memories of what had taken place seemed to play itself out like a play taken on by professional travelers. There was no fighting the unconditional sadness that seemed to consume him everywhere he went.

When he slept at night he often found himself hugging the sheets of his lover close, inhaling the scent of incense and Buddhist perfume. He didn't know why, but he seemed to start having visions of the monk in Naraku's castle. He was always sleeping and was indeed in no harm whatsoever, but the bed stand next to it seemed to have something purple glowing inside of it. Inuyasha had this dream repeatedly for many nights, always questioning to himself what the purple on the bedstand next to the monk was until one night Naraku entered the picture and explained to the weakened form that it was his heart, and that it was now the key to defeating Inuyasha. Inuyasha hadn't told anyone when he had had this dream since he suspected it to be nothing more than his sick and twisted wants and hopes for the monk to somehow still be alive, but he knew that Naraku wasn't foolish enough to keep him alive.

On the final night, after Kagome had finally deemed that Inuyasha was precisely one-hundred percent better, Inuyasha climbed into his sheets as always and closed his eyes, trying not to think about he vacant bed spot that lay next to him. When he drifted off to sleep the dream slowly progressed and this time Naraku slowly picked up the so called heart off of the bed stand and waved it about in front of the monk.

"You see this monk?" He said sarcastically as he waved it in front of a weakened Miroku who lay sweating in a bedded corner of the room, his body limp and unable to move.

"This is your heart," he said as he rolled what now appeared to be a medium sized marble in his hands with a purple mass in the middle, "This is the one key to destroying that half breed once and for all. Want to know how?"

Miroku moaned and grunted, obviously trying to make some noise of protest. Naraku simply snorted, his malicious purple eyes slowly scaling the marble in his hands.

"See were Inuyasha ever to fall in love again it would be quite easy for me to simply take the bond that forms between the two hearts and cut it." Naraku grinned, "Do you know, monk, what happens to the other person when the bond is destroyed forcefully?"

Miroku lifted himself up off of the ground slightly, propping his shaking body against a wall, the bead of sweat upon his forehead showing no sign of their existence amongst the now gleaming purple eyes.

"Inu…Yasha…will never… die…" he said shakily, his purple eyes turning from a desperate look to that of one which showed nothing but pure loathing of what sat beside him.

"Oh?" Naraku exclaimed slightly at the remark as he slowly cleared away some of the purple smoke to reveal a red center, "Let's test that…"

Miroku's face went pale as Naraku's fingers squeezed the orb.

A sharp pain seared throughout Inuyasha's body as he sat straight up, his eyes falling upon the empty bed beside him, his body aching as though he had just been through another fight. His eyes were livid as he clutched his aching chest which was presently drenched in cold sweat.

"He's alive…" he muttered breathlessly as he got up and made his way shakily to the door of the girls room which was darkened by the absence of light, "Miroku… I'm coming for you!"

Inuyasha pushed the door aside and panted heavily as he bent down slightly.

"Inuyasha!" A female voice called sleepily from the edge of the room, the embers of the fire pit still glowing hotly, turning the room into a sweatbox. "What are you doing up!"

"Miroku… alive…" Inuyasha managed to get out as he clutched his still aching chest; the pain was slowly beginning to fade.

"WHAT!" Kagome yelled as she sat straight up, managing to wake Sango and Shippou up.

"Dream," Inuyasha spilled out breathlessly as he clutched his chest and slammed down upon a wall close to the fire pit., "Dream was too real…"

It didn't take long for a roaring fire to be crackling merrily in the pit and Sango, Kagome, and Shippou to be focused intently upon his every word.

"So you're telling me that you had a dream about this." Kagome asked feeling her heart sink slightly.

"This was no dream," Inuyasha said as he slowly pointed to his chest, "Naraku squeezed Miroku's heart and said that it contained a link to mine and I woke with my body in incinerating pain."

"Sounds like something Naraku would do." Sango said slightly as she reached behind her for a bag of water, pouring each of them a cup and passing them around.

Shippou nodded in agreement towards Sango's statement as she continued while Inuyasha took a breather from talking and sipped on some water.

"We need to act fast if this is true." She said, "Which means that we need to move now. Inuyasha…"

"Yea?" Inuyasha replied, curious as to what possibly could be more pressing than getting up and making haste.

"Did you happen to notice anything about the location of the castle?"

Inuyasha nodded slightly.

"Yea, but you're not going to like where it leads…"

"Which is?" Sango asked with a slight fear.

"Mt. Hakurei." Inuyasha answered, "The birthplace of Hakudoshi…"

The group slowly packed up their gear and made their way to the front door. As Inuyasha's feet hit the line that bordered between the house and the outdoors, he turned, his amber eyes surveying the dark room, which held a certain air of mystery to it. Inuyasha felt the eerie sensation of being watched slowly come over him as his eyes grazed over the dark corners of the room.

"Inuyasha?" Kagome said slightly, causing Inuyasha to jump slightly. "Is something wrong?" she asked.

"Yea." Inuyasha said as he turned and walked past her, stopping at the foot of the stairs where Sango and Kirara sat not to far away, no doubt waiting on his every move. "Miroku's gone… and we…"

Inuyasha shook his head slightly,

"No, I, must find him and being him back…"

"Then lets hurry up!" Sango said as she walked over to the hanyou, whose eyes were sparkling with tears in the sunny day.

Inuyasha nodded and walked forward, facing the woods he sniffed the air. Slowly he found what he had been looking for and proceeded in the direction opposite the village in the valley, which brought him to the backyard of the mansion. The backyard was more like an entry way for a beggar. Its sides were crudely protected by a makeshift coy pond which resembled a small moat, leading all the way around the back. No doubt this was what had fueled the small waterfall in the bathing chambers, Inuyasha thought as he took in more of the scenery.

Over the moat looking coy pond there was a sort of bridge which followed a beaten path up a small slope into the woods. Inuyasha meandered over to the path and peered down it. It seemed to lead straight the entire time, fitting no more than the size of a mere man down its narrow chute, an abnormality for trails. What was stranger though, was that it was unkempt, no doubt tended to long ago, it had been allowed to grow filled with briers and thorns.

"Is this the way?" Sango asked as she surveyed the path with narrowed eyes.

"Keh, unfortunately." Inuyasha spat disgusted at the manner in which they were supposed to travel.

"So sense in slowing down." Sango said as she made her way ahead of Inuyasha, squeezing her womanly body down the narrow pathway easily.

Inuyasha slowly followed, noticing the winces that Sango gave every time a thorn pierced through her demon-slayer armor. While Inuyasha may have loved Miroku, and Miroku had loved Inuyasha, Sango was still just as much in love with the monk as Inuyasha was, and he had noted this before, however had failed to think on it too much. Now she stood before him, just as determined, if not more than himself to find and rescue the monk by any means necessary. Slowly it dawned on him the reason why Sango had sympathized with him more, it was because she understood the overall harmfulness of the situation at hand.

Inuyasha shook his silvery head and beat his way through the brush, checking over his shoulder every now and then to make sure that Kagome and Shippou were following along ok.

That night, no moon shone upon Inuyasha's cheeks, only flashes of white illuminated the tears that still swam silently down his pale, soft cheeks. A campfire that had been made before showed no signs of resisting the storms fury above, and slowly mellowed out into the dreary night. Slowly Inuyasha got up from his resting area and walked into the nearby thicket. He needed a break, he needed time to think, he just, he needed what he hadn't been able to get.

"…Miroku…" Inuyasha said silently into the darkness as he walked through the woods, his clawed hands held loosely at his sides, glimmering in the soft moonlight the reflected into glowing amber eyes. Wait, moonlight? Inuyasha glanced upwards to find himself facing a moonlit sky whose soft glowing rays lapped warmly upon the sodden moss covered trail that lay before him. Inuyasha slowly found himself rubbing his eyes, was this a dream?

Fireflies glowed around him in the moonlit summer night, and slowly the sound of flowing water reached his ears. It can't be, Inuyasha said to himself as he quickened his pace steadily before breaking out into a flat out run. Sure enough, he found himself busting into a clearing, whose waters shimmered with the combined light of the moon and the fireflies. Amber eyes slowly widened as they lay upon a figure clad in a black and purple kimono, sitting silently by the stream, a golden staff lying to one side.

"M-Miroku…" Inuyasha said slightly, fearing a trap. This is too good to be true, He thought to himself.

The figures head turned, revealing a curious face which slowly melted into a relieved smile.

"It's been a little while Inuyasha…" he said as he got up, reaching for his staff and using it as a hiking staff as he scaled the mossy ground toward Inuyasha, who simply stood, his throat and eyes burning with relief and happiness.

"Y-Y-You're A-Alive…" Inuyasha said as he looked into the deep purple eyes of the other man who stood opposite him.

"Indeed." The man said with a smile.

"But how'd I get… How'd you get…."

"Here?" The other man said, finishing Inuyasha's sentence, "I find it quite perplexing myself; Truly I though I'd finally died."

"But you're real?" Inuyasha said, his legs trembling in perfect sync with his throat. "You're not a dream?"

Miroku reached his right hand out and pulled the hanyou into an embrace which slowly degraded all feelings of helplessness from his mind.

"I'm as real as they get Inuyasha, trust me." He said softly.

Inuyasha tightened his grip on the other man, holding him for as long as he could. He never wanted to let go, never again would he allow himself to let go of the man which stood in front of him, never.

"Inuyasha, I have something to tell you and it's urgent and of paramount importance that you listen to what I am about to say." Miroku said as both slowly relented to the inevitable and broke away from the soft embrace.

"Naraku is using my heart to gain control over you Inuyasha." Miroku said seriously into the amber eyes of the hanyou which sat opposite him. "He'll use it against you and most likely succeed in killing you in the end…"

"I know…" Inuyasha replied as he slowly felt himself melt away from the soft fantasy that the embrace had left him with.

"Good…" Miroku said a little relieved as he turned his gaze towards the moonlit sky for a few seconds , "Then you already know why you must not come after me."

Inuyasha felt his heart ache. Not come after him? Inuyasha rolled the words around in his head a little to make sure that he was hearing them right.

"You know I can't do that Miroku." Inuyasha said firmly with his amber eyes fixed upon the violet marbles which stared back at his own.

"I figured you'd say as much…" Miroku said closing his eyes and walking towards the stream and sitting back down on its bank, giving a silent invitation for Inuyasha to join him.

Inuyasha walked over to the stream, his feet enjoying the sensation of the carpet of moss which engulfed the clearing and his eyes sparkling with the glow of the moon and many thousands of fireflies which flickered around them. So long since he had seen Miroku, So much heartache and pain and yet all he wanted to do was find sanctity in the other man's arms. He wanted rest, craved it, needed it-and yet he was hesitant to try as he sat down beside the man, both of them staring at the reflection of the moon in the flowing water.

So many nights had passed, so many times he thought he had lost, So long since he had felt the comfort of the only one in life he had ever needed, He craved the scent of his lover and felt at ease when he sat by the man. Even now, Inuyasha thought, It feels like nothing has happened and that it is just another peaceful night…

"Inuyasha…"

Inuyasha was driven back to reality as he heard the man's voice.

"Yea what is it?" He replied curiously.

"Don't Die." Miroku said as he slouched his head on the hanyou's shoulder, both violet eyes closing and allowing the moon to filter through softly.

"I'll never die if it's to save you Miroku…" Inuyasha replied as he closed his own eyes and laid his head down on the monk's, thankful for some physical contact at last.

Inuyasha felt his eyes almost slam down immediately and his world slowly shut down. Miroku is alive for sure! He thought behind his half lidded eyes. And somehow I'm going to fix what has happened… Even if I do die in the process…

(((T)))