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Through all the pain
And the sorrows

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Inuyasha's rage held all the power of a wildfire and the poor little boy could practically see the flames roaring in those amber eyes as the half-demon advanced.

"Wait," the child breathed as he quickly scrambled to his feet and began backing away, "Wait."

"This is all your fault," Inuyasha snarled angrily as he unsheathed his sword and held it at the ready, "How much you wanna bet that killing you will get me out of this hellhole?"

"I know what that sword can do, okay? So before you start blowing up buildings, just…just decapitate me or something first and you'll see why that's a stupid plan," the boy managed shakily as he held up his hands in clear surrender, "And for the record, I didn't know you had a connection to this place or I never would have…"

"You want me to decapitate you?" Inuyasha snorted as he maintained his position and tried to size the kid up, "Why?"

"I'm dead. Can't kill me twice, ya know?" the boy countered with his hands still held up, "Kinda goes with the territory."

"That's a nice story. Sounds exactly like something I'd say if I didn't want to get murdered," Inuyasha hissed, "If you want to get decapitated so bad, come over here and I'll do it clean and quick."

The half-demon did not expect the boy to shrug and comply. Unsure what to do now, Inuyasha tried to ignore the churning in his stomach as he raised his sword and swung it…

Completely through the child's body which blurred momentarily before taking its former shape. Amber eyes blinked once as Inuyasha slightly relaxed his pose, "So…so you're really dead. Everyone here is dead."

"I think so, yeah."

Inuyasha's stomach dropped at the statement. So this...this whole world was hell. He was dead and if Kagome was here...did that mean she was dead too? Turning a sickly shade of green, the half-demon struggled to keep his composure and mask his internal screaming.

"You think so or you know so," Inuyasha huffed as he swung his sword onto his shoulder and narrowed his eyes in suspicion.

"Okay, so I know I'm dead," the boy amended awkwardly as he scratched the back of his neck, "But then I'm the only one who can go back and forth. So I can't say for sure what they are. Everyone else…everyone else is just stuck. No one acts like they know this isn't normal. They don't remember what happened. Its just me and…"

Inuyasha's scowl relaxed somewhat in favor of a set jaw and an attitudinal pose, "What did happen?"

"Okay so way back and I'm talking over a hundred years ago," the boy began awkwardly as he scratched his temple, "The lord apparently killed his sister and her son to prevent the son, which is you I guess, from inheriting or something. Except, you know, you're alive so your uncle didn't exactly do a good job but…"

The boy chuckled nervously before launching back in, "Um anyway, so about a month after that, civil war broke out and then this silver haired demon appeared. Started destroying everything and the next thing I know I woke up in this world. I didn't…I didn't realize anything was wrong at first until I started counting days. I wasn't aging. No one was aging and then…then one day I wandered into the garden and popped out the other side. You know, the living world. I found my body or what…what was left of it anyway. So, I'm definitely dead. A ghost or…"

"Get to the point," Inuyasha huffed, "This silver haired demon? Did he have tattoos on his face? Gold eyes? White fancy clothes?"

"It was a lady," the boy clipped back condescendingly before sighing, "But other than that yeah, pretty much. You know her?"

"You sure it was a woman and not a man?" Inuyasha repeated as his confusion reached new heights. Did he have a sister out there he didn't know about? Or an aunt? But then…then why hadn't they found him? Taken care of him. This made no sense. Why take revenge but not follow up with the person you were avenging?

"It was a woman. There are some things even a kid notices," the boy reaffirmed without additional elaboration, "Anyway, since you got here, everyone started doing more. People started acting like time mattered again."

"So," Inuyasha breathed shakily as he tried to stay calm, "So I really have been here for three years. I've been dead for three years."

"If it makes you feel better, I don't think you're dead and it's been like three or four hours in the normal world," the boy explained awkwardly, "Time doesn't exactly make sense here and..."

Inuyasha wanted to puke or pass out and he wasn't exactly sure which was going to win the day.

"Hours?" Inuyasha squeaked as he swayed on the spot and officially began to panic, "Its…its only hours? I…I…"

If hours felt like years, what would a week feel like? Would he age? Would he grow old before the others got him out of here?! The air seemed to be growing thinner and his vision began blurring as the full gravity of the situation hit him like a ton of bricks. Someone probably thought they were doing him a favor but instead created a hell he couldn't escape. A hell he never wanted. He'd been happy. For once he was happy and now...

Hyperventilating at the prospect of being trapped here forever, darkness began creeping into the corners of his eyes as the little boy rushed to catch him.

"No, no, no don't pass…"

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Kagome paced her small bedroom as she tried to control her frazzled nerves. There was something ominous about this whole thing – besides the fact that this was obviously a fake world meant to trap them. It hadn't want her though so that meant it wanted Inuyasha. But not to hurt him which was strange. A distraction perhaps but why would anyone want to trap Inuyasha specifically? What were the chances? Inuyasha didn't act like he knew the place after all. It didn't seem familiar to him and he hadn't refused to go in. The boy too was strange. He just disappeared into thin air. Maybe he had the answer. Maybe he was the key to this whole thing. A demon of some sort that…that…

Made a land where Inuyasha was in power? That was made with him in mind? That made no sense either. Why go through all that trouble? Not that Inuyasha wasn't worth a little effort but this was just…

It was weird, okay? It was weird. Any person in their right mind would agree that the entire premise was ridiculous. Everything in this stupid place had some elaborate backstory filled with little nuances and details. There were no just background characters like in the movies. Every single person here was filled out. They had lives and children and relationships. There was gossip and if she didn't remember who she was, it would've been so easy to think this was normal. It was like someone just ripped up this entire stupid region and deposited it in some new plane of existence. Who the hell would do that? Why would they do that?

"Lady Hana, are you prepared to leave?" a soft hesitant voice asked just outside the door, "The horses are ready."

"Coming," Kagome sighed miserably as she took a deep calming breath. What she needed to do, if Inuyasha didn't remember her, was mention something that might jog his memory. Maybe reference the sacred jewel or even just straight up say sit. Except if she did say sit and he did slam to the ground, she'd definitely get called a witch and be executed on the spot. Eyes darting blindly as her mind raced, one very clear option popped into her mind.

"Ramen," Kagome murmured with a definitive nod, "There is no way he could forget ramen."

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Numbly staring at the wall of his bedroom, Inuyasha ignored the alarmed whispers of the shaman and his servants. Apparently he'd been found unconscious in the courtyard and that caused an uproar. Not that he cared. There was an extremely high probability that he was dead. That he'd died all alone by himself and his soul, which good on him for having one, got deposited into this specially crafted hell. Thankfully he knew for a fact reincarnation was a real thing so maybe he should just suck it up until he was reborn and could meet Kagome again under better circumstances. One where he didn't waste time grieving and learning social skills. Maybe his future reincarnation would be the one to comfort her in her time of need. Even if she only thought of him as a friend, Kagome would be sad he died. Maybe if he was lucky this stupid place would spit out his corpse so he could at least get a proper burial. One could only hope.

Right now though, he just wanted to be left alone instead of being fussed over. There was no amount of herbs in the world that could fix what was wrong with him.

"Just leave. All of you," Inuyasha ordered miserably, "I'm fine. Just tired."

"My Lord..."

"What about leave did you not understand?" Inuyasha groaned as he propped himself up, "I just need to sleep is all."

"V-very well. Come ladies," the elderly chief of staff murmured as she gave him an understand yet worried look, "I'll check on you in the morning my Lord."

"Whatever," Inuyasha breathed as he plopped back down and burrowed under the covers. Once he was sure everyone was gone, he arranged one of the blankets into a little pillow shape and cuddled it against his chest. If he did manage to get out of here, if he wasn't dead, Kagome and him would need to talk about sleeping arrangements. It was going to be hard not to touch her at all times. To be near her at all times. For the past three years she'd been the only thing he'd thought about. The only thing he wanted. He needed her like he needed air and water. And right now, he needed her brand of comfort. He needed her to say it was going to be alright.

A tear slid down his cheek as he barely stifled a sob. That little boy had noticeably absent since he woke up too. Probably mocking him from the walls with his ghost body. That bullshit story about a lady Sesshomaru was about as believable as Kagome saying mankind had been to the moon. Or maybe the kid was just his mind playing tricks on him.

Or the most likely scenario of all...

He'd gone insane.

Curling up around the blanket, Inuyasha held it tighter still as a few more tears slid down his cheeks. With each passing day, the blaring obvious truth kept smacking him in the face. He was insane. Maybe this life had been his life all along and he was just so miserable in it his mind came up with a world where he was happy. That made way more sense than ghosts and spells and...

Sniffling, Inuyasha pulled the larger blanket over his head and settled into a more comfortable position. Even if he was crazy and Kagome didn't actually exist, that realization didn't make it hurt less. In fact it made it hurt more.

"I miss you," Inuyasha whispered into the silence as another shuddering sob escaped him and a shiver ran down his spine.