If the Roles Were Reversed

by Glon Morski

I: Until he fell down the well and 500 years into the past, Inuyasha didn't believe in legends. His beliefs were challenged when he found himself in a world in which said legends are reality. Problem? He wants to leave that world behind, while it is unwilling to let him go. And so he begins a search for a substitute for a duty, aided by Kagome, his slef-proclaimed hanyo protector.

40. Reiki

So, here we are, chapter forty. Man, I've never gotten that far in any other story. I must admit I'm proud of myself. And quite happy, too. But, I'm even happier with all of you guys' wonderful feedback :D Can you believe that we're over 650 reviews already? Well, we are. And if it keeps up like that, we'll hit 700 before we know it LOL

I wish I could just tell you 'enough of my talking, happy reading', but before that:

IMPORTANT, PLEASE READ (preferably before reading the chapter, though after works, too).

I have thought long and hard about how exactly I want IRWR to go, because in some points, I still wasn't so sure. I haven't figured everything out yet, either. But that's not important. What's important is, during that time of intense thinking, I realized this story would be best divided in three parts. Those of you who'd bother with going back to the prologue/chapter 1 will notice an additional summary added there. That's the summary of part one called 'The Search'. We're still in that part.

DO NOT WORRY, all the parts of this fic will be published together as one fiction, there's no need to fear that you'll miss part two when it's out. It'll be right here as the next chapter of IRWR after part one ends. Still, I thought I should inform you of this little change, since every part of the story will have its own prologue and epilogue about canon Inuyasha and Kagome. So, please, do not panic if you see an epilogue in what seems the middle of the story. It will simply be the epilogue of part one, and it will be followed directly by the prologue and chapter 1 of part two, so you won't miss anything.

With that said, happy reading everyone :3

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ANONYMOUS REVIEWS:

Cindy: Thank you, I'm happy to hear you enjoy my story. Don't worry about reviewing each and every time, though. I know I don't always do it with other fics, I certainly won't demand that from you ;) As for your ponderings… well, you'll just have to wait and see how Kōga's and Kagome's relationship ends. But first, the wolf needs to show up, no ;) Stay tuned until then.

gateway guest-jl: (review for chapter 12) – thanks, I have no idea how that typo stayed there. I have removed it from the chapter on my laptop and on the other side I'm publishing, I have no idea how I missed it here. Still, it's taken care of now. Thank you :) (review for chapter 19) – Thanks for that correction, too, I'll get to it in a bit. I'm also happy to hear you enjoy the story so far, especially the original parts. It's good to know they're interesting to someone other than me and that I'm doing a good job of weaving them into the story :) (review for chapter 20) – another good constructive critique. Still, this time I must ask for clarification as to what exactly you mean, especially with the part about 'describing common things'. If you could use an example, I'd be grateful. As soon as I understand exactly what you meant, I'll try to apply it to my writing. I want to improve, after all :3 Thank you for your helpful reviews. I'm glad to hear you enjoyed the story so far and I hope you'll keep enjoying it :) Looking forward to hearing from you again.

Dino-Rogue: I can't believe it! Someone actually figured out from the chapter title that Kōga wouldn't be appearing! Yipieeee! *clears her throat* Sorry about that, but whenever I hear someone actually saw through some foreshadowing of mine that I actually WANTED people to see through, I can't help being happy. Especially since, for some reason, those moments are rare :/ Anyway, about the 'fast-forwarding' part, don't worry, you're not the only one doing it. And as for your question in that regard… well, remember the prologue? I had canon Inuyasha and Kagome 'travel' to this alternate reality we're in now, if you recall. Obviously, some time, they'll have to go back. And I think it goes without saying they'll remember what they witnessed. So… yeah, I'm sure you can do the math from here ;) And the quote... well, it wasn't a quote, to be honest, and if it was, then it was totally unintentional, but still: sad, but true, no? *sigh* Oh, and believe me, I should be the one thanking you for your most amazing reviews. So thank you, and I'm happy to hear you enjoy my little story :] I hope future chapters won't be a disappointment :)

animefan21: No need to apologize. Besides, there are no dumb questions, there are only dumb answers ;) But on another note, haven't I proven enough times already that this story, minus the scenes taken from canon, is my own? Why do people keep expecting it to go along the lines of something else they've read? *cries*

Guest (review for chapter 13): What exactly do you mean by 'I wanted that to happen in canon, too'? The fact that Kikyo didn't want to kill Kagome and they actually listened to each other or the fact that Kikyo died right away? Or both? I wonder… That being said, while I appreciate the praise, I highly doubt my story is better than the original. But thanks, anyway :)

Inukag fan (review for chapter 14): You're not the only one wondering, trust me. Still, you need to read on if you want to find out, because I sure as hell am not spilling the beans :p

Guest: I'm glad to hear you enjoyed it, although 'master piece' is taking the praise a bit too far, I think. In my humble opinion, anyway. But thank you, it's always nice to hear that people enjoy reading what I write :3

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Tracks for this chapter:

UVERworld: Rush

GazettE: PEOPLE ERROR

Standard disclaimer and reader's key apply.

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What happened last time: Upset, although he didn't exactly understand why, by the fact that Kagome is about to meet an 'old friend' of hers, Inuyasha decides to go home. While there, he has the opportunity to evaluate his feelings and realizes that, without his noticing, Kagome had become an incredibly important friend to him, and that he, in turn, wants to be just as important to her, though at the moment, in his own eyes, he does not seem to be. It is Ririko who helps him see the truth of the matter, proving to him that Kagome knows how much he cares about her, and that she cares about him in return as well – enough so to do anything she has to in order to ensure he will not worry about her when it is not necessary. Meanwhile, in Kaede's village, Kagome is forced to postpone her meeting with Kōga as a mystery yōkai kidnapped all the children. With no scent-trail to follow and unable to go through the well to get Inuyasha so he could try tracking the demon's youki, Kagome decides to seize the first chance that fate offers her to find the demon, after swearing to herself that the risks she would have to take would not become more than that. With Souta's life on the line as the boy is captured by the demon's mind-control, Kagome and the gang, follow the boy to the yōkai's den, knowing full well that failing to find the demon swiftly will cost them the other children's Souta's life…

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Chapter 40 – Reiki

Inuyasha sighed in relief as he stretched, enjoying the warm sunrays hitting his face. With school over and his results of the make-up tests known to be passing, the world suddenly seemed much brighter than it did that morning, or the day before for that matter. Just yesterday, Inuyasha had been on the edge of despair, fearing he would not pass. But in the end, he did, which was a pleasant surprise – as had been the fact that the teachers already had his results, but after a moment of thought, Inuyasha figured they preferred to hand him the results today, since they didn't know when he'd call in 'sick' again.

It was all the better for him, though. He had planned to go through the well as soon as he knew the results, anyway, and since he had them, that meant he could go even this afternoon. He hoped his mother wouldn't mind that he left so quickly, though. But he also swore to himself that if he caught even the slightest sign of her wanting him to stay, he would. She was his mother, his family, after all. He ought to spend more time with her.

Inuyasha sighed again, but this time, it wasn't a sigh of relief. Thinking of how he always left his mother alone when he went to the past made him feel guilty. Maybe he should stay a few additional days. He was sure Kagome wouldn't mind a bit. She was probably occupied with the wolf, anyway.

Inuyasha clenched his fists subconsciously at the thought, suddenly feeling irritated. But before he could ponder the sudden change in his mood, his attention had been called elsewhere.

"Hinoiri-san, wait up!" the familiar voice of Shirugawa Ririko called behind him and Inuyasha stopped to wait for the girl to catch up. She did so in not even a minute, though she had to rest her arms on her legs as she bent over panting, trying to catch her breath. "Why don't you ever wait for me, Hinoiri-san? You always leave first and leave me to catch up. Is that your way of saying I should exercise more because I could use losing some weight?" she asked once she regained her breath, her voice sounding a bit accusatory and her expression daring him to say 'yes', although there was a twinkle of mischief and mirth in her eyes. It was obvious she was joking with him. Inuyasha snorted.

"That's not it at all. I'm just not used to waiting for anyone," he answered with a careless shrug as he started to walk again, Ririko falling easily into step next to him.

"Doesn't sound like you have a lot of friends," the black haired girl commented softly, only to gasp slightly at her own words. "Oh, I'm sorry. I shouldn't have said that. I'm sorry…"

"It's fine. It's not like it's not the truth, anyway," Inuyasha interrupted her apologies, once again shrugging carelessly. "Or at least it was," he corrected himself after a minute.

"Was?" Ririko repeated, her eyes widening as she openly stared at the black haired priest. Had he glanced her way, Inuyasha would have noticed (and probably wondered why) her cheeks were starting to tone slightly red. But he did not, and so remained unaware of Ririko's telling blush as he simply nodded.

"Yeah. Can't say I don't have friends now," he said, unable to help the tiny smile that formed on his face. He was still unaware of Ririko's more and more reddening face. "Not since I met Kagome, anyway."

That one remark was all it took for Ririko's face to become a normal shade again, if not slightly pale. Her eyes lowered and fell to the concrete at her feet, although they were slightly wide in surprise.

"K-Kagome?" she stammered, sounding curious and surprised at the same time, and there was even a slight note of disappointment hidden in her voice. Inuyasha, however, was too focused cursing himself for his slip-up to notice. He calmed down relatively quickly, though, as he remembered his conversation with the same girl who was now walking next to him from the previous evening.

"The girl I met in the hospital," he lied. "I told you about her, didn't I?"

"Yes. You did," Ririko replied quietly, her mood obviously deflating as she sighed, although the sigh itself should be considered like one of relief, rather than one of disappointment. Inuyasha raised a brow, wondering what would have caused it. He couldn't think of anything he might have said to dampen the girl's mood this much, much less to make her as on edge as she seemed to be a second ago. Before he could so much as open his mouth to ask what was wrong, though, Ririko spoke up again. "What is she like?"

"Eh?" he asked intelligently, her question having thrown him off guard. Without so much as blinking, Ririko repeated herself.

"Kagome. What is she like?" her voice still made it more than obvious that she was down for some reason, but Inuyasha wasn't dumb enough not to realize his classmate didn't want to be called out on it. So instead of asking what he wanted to ask, he pretended not to notice anything like Ririko obviously wanted and answered her question.

"Strong-willed, kind and impossibly selfless," he said without a second thought. "She always puts the needs of others before her own and goes to impossible lengths to help someone if she thinks she can do it, no matter what it means for her own health. Quite frankly, she's such a do-gooder that it gets really annoying sometimes. As if she couldn't think of herself at least once in a while," he continued, his last few words more grumbled than said. He knew he wasn't lying at all, and that was what annoyed him the most. Kagome was really too much of a do-gooder sometimes.

"Sounds like she's quite noble," Ririko commented softly, causing Inuyasha to snort.

"Stupid is more like it. She wouldn't hesitate to hurt herself if it meant helping someone else. And she wouldn't even stop to think how that would make others feel before she actually did it, either."

"A born martyr, then?" Ririko asked, although it was easy to figure out she hadn't meant that seriously. To the girl's astonishment, however, Inuyasha nodded.

"Definitely," he replied with a sigh. "I feel like yelling at her sometimes because of it."

"I think I understand why. But why won't her friends and family try to get through to her that she's overdoing it?" Ririko asked again, though this time, the question didn't seem to be directed at Inuyasha at all. But the kannushi had long since stopped thinking about what he was saying and answered anyway.

"'Cause she doesn't have a family. And despite how impossible it seems because of her personality, she says she doesn't have many friends, either. Something about most people hating her for what she is and whatever other crap."

"'Hating her for what she is'?" Ririko repeated, her brows furrowed in confusion. "What's that supposed to mean?"

Inuyasha cursed at himself for his running mouth, only now realizing he had revealed way too much. His mind scrambled for a plausible lie, but he quickly realized there was no time to come up with one. Sighing in resignation, Inuyasha opted for the truth.

"I doubt she'd like it if I told you," he said, well aware of the fact that he was not lying. 'Besides, if I told you, you'd probably think I'm crazy or something.' Ririko, however, didn't seem to mind the somewhat harsh answer much and only smiled gently.

"Right. It's not something I should meddle with. Sorry for sticking my nose where it doesn't belong," she said slowly. She was quick to raise her own spirits again, however, as she looked at Inuyasha with an unexplainably awed expression on her face. "But you know, now that I think about it, your friend kind of reminds me of the Inuyasha," she said with a laugh. Inuyasha froze on the spot, easily recognizing the title as the one Kagome was sometimes called by, and not his own name.

Ririko couldn't possibly figure out that the Inuyasha and Kagome were one and the same person, though, right?

No, that wasn't possible. There was no way she'd even think that.

"The Inuyasha?" the black haired priest asked, although what compelled him to ask for clarification when he knew perfectly well who Shirugawa was talking about, he didn't know. Did he hope to make sure through this conversation that Ririko wasn't on to him?

In response to his question, the black haired girl giggled.

"Right. I keep forgetting that legends is the subject Hinoiri-san is most hopeless in," she said, causing Inuyasha to snort in an attempt to hide his relief. Ignoring it, Ririko continued, "the Inuyasha was the hanyō who was different from any other. Despite being hated by humanity, the Inuyasha dedicated his life to protecting humans."

'Her life. Kagome is a girl,' Inuyasha corrected in his mind, but knew better than to say the correction aloud. There was something else in Ririko's words that captured his attention, however, and he frowned in thought.

"Hated by humanity? Why would anyone hate someone who protected them?" he asked, for the first time feeling like he might actually get an answer that made sense. Of course, Kagome had often said that most people, if not most of the world, despised her. Still, the only reason she ever gave was that she was a half-demon, which was completely ridiculous.

"Well, well, what do we have here? The Hinoiri Inuyasha is actually interested in a legend?" Ririko teased as she stopped mid-step to turn around stick out her tongue at him playfully.

"Keh," was all Inuyasha said in response as he crossed his arms aver his chest and turned his head away from the girl with an annoyed look on his face. Shirugawa giggled.

"Oh, come on, I was just teasing you, Hinoiri-san," she said, trying to earn his forgiveness. When it was obvious Inuyasha would not respond, Ririko sighed and answered his question, instead. "Not much is known about the Inuyasha outside of all of what he did. His history previous to the time covered in the legend is a complete mystery – as is usual with legendary people. But the legends say one thing: that the Inuyasha was a hanyō. And, well, hanyō weren't really tolerated very well, if the legends speak the truth."

"Are you trying to tell me the Inuyasha was hated by humanity simply because of being a half-demon?" Inuyasha couldn't believe his ears. Just how many other people would sprout such nonsense? As if Kagome alone wasn't enough, now Ririko was saying the same thing? "That's stupid. You can't judge a person simply because of who they were born as," he grumbled under his breath, but not nearly quietly enough for Ririko not to hear. The girl sighed.

"That may be true, but it doesn't change the fact that it's real. Even if our current world. I mean, isn't that what prejudice really is? And yet, you'd be astounded how powerful that one concept is. Maybe it's not set against half-demons anymore, but there are still many victims subjected to prejudice. There are even wars fought because of them – because people refuse to try to learn to know each other and instead rely on… I don't even know what to call it, because it certainly isn't 'knowledge'" Ririko said, her voice growing angrier and angrier with each phrase. And thinking about it from that point of view, Inuyasha couldn't help but admit that she was right.

He still thought it was completely stupid, though. And impossible to apply to Kagome. The hanyō just wasn't someone who could be easily despised. Especially if you got to know her.

"It's a hanyō we're talking about. It doesn't need a reason." Sango's words and her tone suddenly resonated in his mind and Inuyasha scowled. The way the slayer had said it made it sound like the simple fact that Kagome was a half-breed (Inuyasha clenched his fists in anger remembering the insult, even though it was thrown at Kagome, not him) was enough reason for her to be evil. She didn't want to try to get to know Kagome for that same reason, either.

It was only now that Inuyasha realized that Sango was the perfect example of what Kagome had always told him the reaction of most people was. And it was only now that it occurred to him that Kagome didn't seem affected by Sango's treatment of her. Not beyond the fact that she definitely acted differently. But her sudden distance, now that Inuyasha thought about it, might simply have been her way of dealing with it. Her way of defending herself against prejudice was to pretend she didn't care what people said of her, even if she could hear it. And Inuyasha had to admit that it seemed quite effective, because Kagome really didn't seem to care for Sango's opinion of her at all. On the contrary, she even made it look like she preferred it that way over trying to persuade Sango that her opinion was misjudged.

Actually, it reminded Inuyasha quite a lot of himself before he fell down the well. Back then, he always hid behind a mask of anger and annoyance. And he was so used to wearing it that he even managed to fool himself into thinking that his reputation and the resulting fact of being completely alone didn't bother him at all. He had fooled himself into thinking that he was better off without friends.

Could Kagome have done the same? Had she managed to fool herself into thinking she didn't care that people hated her when they had no reason to?

No. Inuyasha knew for a fact that wasn't it. Just remembering his conversation with her the night after their encounter with the Baku was enough to convince him of that. She didn't fool herself. She was merely fooling others into believing she didn't care, fooling them into thinking their words couldn't do a damn thing to her.

Inuyasha only now understood that her behavior lately was simply due to being so used to being treated like Sango treated her, for this treatment to be so much an everyday occurrence and something evident, that Kagome no longer bothered to fight it. Instead, she put a mask on her face and hid her true feelings from the world, bottling kami knew what kind of negative emotions inside of her.

Suddenly, all of Kagome's actions made sense. The way she hid her emotions behind a stony mask was simply a defense so no one saw what Sango's words and actions were doing to the half-demon. The way she treated Inuyasha like a stranger instead of the friend he was, was simply a way of protecting him from the prejudice directed at her – he knew, after all, that people associating with victims of prejudice often became victims of it, as well. And the way she preferred to be alone rather than with others was simply a way to get away from Sango. While it could essentially be described as fleeing, Inuyasha hardly imagined anything else Kagome could actually do, and he knew from his own experience that he'd do the same. After all, before falling down the well, he had preferred to be alone over proving to anyone that his or her opinion of him had been misguided, too.

If he thought about it from that point of view, it suddenly seemed too obvious and logical. And yet, he hadn't realized what was going on until now. Why hadn't he? Why had he not noticed what was going on until someone else had pointed it out?

"I guess that's one of the reasons I love the legend about him so much. In truth, I envy him. I envy him for his strength of heart," Ririko spoke up again, her voice once again cutting through Inuyasha's thoughts and bringing him to the here and now. Inuyasha blinked at her words.

'I envy that about her, too,' Inuyasha thought briefly, but before he could comment on the girl's words, she was talking again.

"It's just like my envy of you, Hinoiri-san," Ririko almost whispered, but Inuyasha still heard her. Stunned, the black haired pries turned his head to stare at the girl walking beside him, his eyes wide.

"You… envy me? For what?" he asked, unable to fathom what in his character, behavior, or anything else, really, could warrant such an emotion as envy in anyone. Especially in a girl like Shirugawa Ririko, who seemed so much better in any of those regards than him.

"For the same thing," Ririko replied calmly, a wistful smile appearing on her face. "You also have quite the reputation at school. Not a good one, either. But if anyone got to know you, they'd see it's a complete lie. You're nothing like what the rumors make you out to be. In essence, you've been subjected to prejudice as well. And yet… you're not fazed by it at all. It's as if those rumors and opinions didn't reach you. And despite all of it, all of what others think of you, you still help people out – like you helped me. You're able to put all that prejudice behind you and help others regardless, much like the Inuyasha did," she continued, her smile slowly transforming into an amused one as she spoke, an idea obviously forming in her head at her own words. She giggled suddenly before letting her companion in on the funny thought: "I guess your name really suits you better than I first thought, Hinoiri-san. You truly are worthy of being named after the Inuyasha and your parents couldn't have chosen a better name for you. You are just like the Inuyasha in both character and behavior… and you're just as strong as the Inuyasha," Ririko's tone turned sad once again and she hung her head, finishing her slight monologue. "I'm not able to do those things at all. I'm not that strong… but I sure wish I was."

To say Inuyasha was stunned would be an understatement. Ririko's opinion of him was definitely not like anything he had expected and he had no idea how to answer her. Even less since he didn't agree with her in the slightest.

He wasn't as strong as Kagome. He was nowhere close, to be quite honest. While he pretended not to care about what others said about him, he still couldn't help getting angry at some rumors. And when he got angry, he quite often leashed out, which only condemned him more. Kagome, on the other hand, simply brushed it off, as if nothing were. Sure, she wasn't exactly unaffected by it, but anyone who didn't know her would think just that. You could throw almost any insult you wanted at her and she wouldn't react at all. The only exception was 'half-breed'. But even then, unless the insulter was another demon whom she was planning to kill, anyway, she didn't leash out. Her demeanor would change, she'd become eerily calm and her voice and gaze would be colder than anything he'd ever seen or heard, but she wouldn't scream or yell – again, unless it was at someone whom she wanted to kill either way. Her anger would be palpable in the air, but she would not leash out.

And, even more astonishingly, Kagome was able to put all of the hurt aside and still help people who needed her protection. Even if her reward would only be more hurt in the end. Inuyasha knew he'd never be capable of that. Sure, he had helped Shirugawa once. But she had been new then, had not known of his reputation and, more important still, had never said anything bad about him – due to the fact he didn't remember ever seeing her before despite her testimony to the opposite. If it had been someone else then, someone whom Inuyasha had heard talking about him before and supporting the rumors the school was so full of, the black haired priest knew he wouldn't have interfered. He would have simply passed by and let the person get what they deserved. Or, at the very least, he would have just turned away and pretended not to have seen anything, as to not meddle in what wasn't his business.

Kagome would have never been capable of such a thing.

Thinking about it, Inuyasha couldn't help but feel guilty and ashamed of who he was merely two months ago, and even more astonished at how much Kagome had changed him in this short time. Not that the half-demon was aware of any of it, though. Another thing he sometimes felt the need to tell her, but ultimately never found the opportune moment or, if he did, lacked the courage to say.

There was no way he could say any of that to Shirugawa, however. But just as he started to think about what to say to her to fill the suddenly pregnant silence in their conversation, her last comment fully registered in his mind and the appropriate response was more than obvious.

"You sound like you've experienced something like that before," he said slowly, directing a questioning gaze at the black haired girl. Ririko shrugged, not looking up as she spoke, her tone still forlorn.

"Guess I did," she said, her behavior obviously trying to dismiss the matter as unimportant, but her voice betraying her true feelings about it. "It's in the past, though, so it hardly matters."

"You're a bad liar," Inuyasha replied without thought. "Even if it was in the past, it obviously still affects you."

"My father always says that. That I'm a bad liar I mean. Guess lying is one thing I'll never learn. It was the same when… I tried to hide… well… what was happening from him," she replied, obviously struggling to get the words out. Inuyasha sighed and decided to let the matter drop.

"If you don't wanna talk about it, you can just say so, ya know," he said with a shrug and, before Ririko could answer in any way, he decided to change the subject. Upsetting Ririko was not on Inuyasha's to-do list, after all. "About the legend of the Inuyasha, though, that's not the only legend you're fascinated with, is it. You're pretty much obsessed with all of them to my knowledge. How come you find them so interesting? It's not like they're relevant to our world or life in any way, like history is. So why are you so fascinated by them?"

The question had been one Inuyasha had wanted to ask her before. Being someone who despised legends with all his might, he found it incomprehensible that someone might be as fascinated with them as Ririko obviously was. And despite the fact that more and more legends turned out to be actually reality of a distant past, Inuyasha still doubted he'd ever truly warm up to them. The need to change the subject of the conversation in this very moment was just a convenience for him to finally ask what he had wondered about since the project they had worked together on.

Surprisingly, however, instead of cheering up and responding to his question like Inuyasha expected her to (legends seemed to be the topic of conversation that couldn't go wrong with Shirugawa, after all), Ririko suddenly paled and promptly shut her mouth. She looked, in the very sense of the phrase, like a deer caught in head-lights. But before Inuyasha could question her strange reaction to what should be a simple and quite normal question, Ririko found a way out of what seemed to be a tight spot for her for some reason.

"Oh look, here we are, it's my house," she said quickly as she walked up to the gate of her garden. "Thank you for walking me home, Hinoiri-san, even if it was unintentional," she added, easily reading from Inuyasha's expression that he had not, in fact, realized when they walked off the school grounds and in the direction of her home – which was in the opposite direction than his family's shrine. "I'm really sorry, but I need to leave right away. I promised my father I'd help him with something when I got back," she added and, with a smile that seemed almost forced, Ririko turned on her heel and practically ran to the entry door. Stunned, Inuyasha watched her leave, only reacting when her hand was already on the door knob.

"Shirugawa!" he called from where he stood at the gate, causing Ririko to stir and carefully look over her shoulder at him. He was stunned once again when he saw her expression, her eyes haunted and filled with fear for reasons he couldn't possibly figure out. Deciding that his question must have somehow hit a nerve, or that Ririko was still affected by recalling aspects of her past that most definitely weren't happy to remember, Inuyasha dismissed her weird behavior and merely offered what she had once offered him. "If you ever feel like talking about anything," he said, forcing himself to look her straight in the eyes to ensure she knew he was being serious, "I'll listen to what you have to say."

There was silence after his declaration for a while. But when Inuyasha didn't back down and instead kept eye-contact with Ririko, she seemed to realize he was indeed serious. With a soft smile, she whispered one word before entering her home a quietly closing the door behind her. Her voice had been too soft for Inuyasha to hear what she had said, but he had been able to read it from her lips.

"Arigato."

"Like there's anything to thank me for," Inuyasha huffed to himself. It wasn't like he had offered anything special, he was simply saying that if she needed someone to talk to, he'd listen, like she had done for him a few days before – even if he hadn't actually realized he'd needed to talk to someone about it. Muttering another soft 'keh' under his breath in mild irritation, the black haired teen turned away from the house and left the way he came, heading back towards his school and, from there, towards his shrine.

~ξ~

"Where is everyone?" Inuyasha asked a few hours later once he entered Kaede's hut. Save for the old priestess, the little home was completely empty, a thing Inuyasha had not expected. Even if Kagome had decided to reside in the forest for the day in order to stay away from the elder of the taijiya siblings, the siblings themselves, at the very least, should be here. And if not, then Shippō would keep the old priestess company. At any rate, if the group was still in the village, then Kaede should not be alone.

The obvious conclusion, then, was that Kagome and the rest of their group had left somewhere. Question was: where did they go? And why didn't they wait for him to return?

"I do not know their exact location," Kaede replied calmly. "All I know is that they left in search of a certain yōkai's den," she continued, before explaining to Inuyasha what had happened in the village while they had all been away on their journey, and also what had happened while Inuyasha had been in his own time. The black haired teen scoffed when the explanations were over.

"Why didn't they just come and get me? I would have come with them," the future-born teen grumbled under his breath, but somehow, Kaede still managed to hear him. The old priestess sighed, the sound sounding almost dejected to Inuyasha's ears.

"Kagome had tried to get to ye. The well, however, did not let her through," she said, causing Inuyasha's eyes to widen.

"It didn't let her through? Why not? It had done it before."

"Kagome suspects it has something to do with her bow breaking."

"The bow? The one Kikyo gave her? What's that got to do with anything?" Inuyasha kept asking, unaware of his own enchantment being placed on Kikyo's bow. When he had placed it, he had been too unaware of his own powers to even notice they were being put to use and later, Kagome hadn't mentioned it.

"It would seem ye had placed an enchantment of your own on it without realizing, thus binding Kagome to yourself and allowing her to pass through the well. With the bow broken, the enchantment was overcome as well and the connection vanished, along with Kagome's ability to pass through the well," Kaede explained calmly, her eyes never leaving Inuyasha to gauge his reaction. After all, he had, up to this point, been unaware of the connection he had subconsciously created.

"Binding Kagome… to me? What's that mean?" Inuyasha asked confused, although somehow he already knew the answer. There had always been something between Kagome and him – something he had been more and more aware of as he grew accustomed to spreading out his senses to feel for nearby demons. He didn't know why he had tried to ignore the feeling at first, but he had and because of it had never wondered what it meant. And surprising even himself, he wasn't actually relieved when that feeling, whatever it had been, vanished without a trace some time ago. He was uncomfortable when he felt it, but even more uncomfortable once it was gone.

"I'm afraid only Kagome can answer that, as besides ye, only she had felt this connection between ye," Kaede replied with a sigh. "I must say it is quite intriguing, however, for I have never heard of a spiritualist subconsciously binding himself to someone else."

"But what is that bind you're talking about? You say you can't explain it, but you talk as if you know what it is! So which is it, damn it?" Inuyasha was starting to become quite frustrated with this conversation, and he wasn't planning on hiding it. If Kaede had been bothered by his outburst at all, however, she did not show it other than a mild, reprimanding look.

"'Binding' is difficult to explain, as it is many things at once. Different spiritualists use it for different things. Some use binding to force a yōkai into submission. Others use it to ensure their own safety from a yōkai, for example by tying their life to the yōkai's. The demon can die without consequences, but if the spiritualist were to pass on, the demon would be forced by the binding to follow. And others still use it for other things. Binding has many uses, Inuyasha, and I am unable to tell how exactly your enchantment bound Kagome to ye," Kaede explained calmly. Silence followed her words as Inuyasha absorbed the information.

He wished he hadn't asked, though. Now that he knew more or less what binding was about, the mere thought that he had done something like that to Kagome made him nauseous. The idea to enslave her in any way had never passed his mind, not even once – and it seemed that was what binding really was.

"I do not think your spell did any of those things I mentioned, however. Kagome is not a hanyō who would take anything like that without saying a word. And she had never mentioned the bind to ye, had she?" Kaede tried to console the obviously distraught priest. Inuyasha only shook his head mutely in response, but his thoughts were far from cheerful at that realization.

'Maybe she didn't mention it because she knew that so long as I had no clue it was there, I couldn't use it,' Inuyasha thought glumly, only to forcefully shove the thought out of his mind. 'No, she wouldn't do that. She'd never believe I'd harm her intentionally. She knows me better than that by now, as I know her… right?'

And yet, that small corn of doubt refused to leave his mind and set the young kannushi on edge. Seeing this, Kaede sighed.

"Be that as it may, the fact remains that Kagome had been unable to cross the well to where ye live. And that is why, when the only chance to find the demon presented itself, she and your other companions seized it and set out. She asked me to deliver a message to ye, should ye come here before she returned," the old priestess said, her words causing Inuyasha to look up at her curiously.

"A message?" he asked, glad for the change of topic. Kaede nodded.

"Kagome asked me to pass on to ye that she wishes ye to remain here and wait for her and the others' return."

And just like that, all of his wonderings and worries about Kagome's thoughts on him and the bind he had apparently placed on her evaporated from Inuyasha's mind, replaced with surprise and mild irritation.

What, he should just sit on his ass and wait until she decided to show up? If she thought he'd listen to her apparent wishes, then she really didn't know him. Especially since, even if he had agreed to wait, that would have imprison him in Kaede's village. After all, he couldn't very well go home while he waited if Kagome could no longer pass through the well, or they'd be waiting for each other without knowing the other was waiting. Not that he planned to actually listen to her request and remain here while she was Gods only knew where, fighting kami only knew what kind of demon. No, he definitely wasn't going to do that. If anything, Inuyasha was planning to follow her.

As if reading his mind, Kaede sighed.

"Before ye recklessly decide to disregard Kagome's request and follow her anyway, think it through, Inuyasha," the old priestess advised calmly. "Tell me, for example, how do you intend to follow her when neither I, nor anyone else in the village, know where to find her or even in which direction she and the others left?"

The question gave Inuyasha pause. Kaede was right. How could he go after Kagome and the rest of the gang if he had no idea where they went? Heck, even if he knew the general direction, that wasn't nearly enough to ensure he'd find them. If he just set out blindly, the chances of actually finding the place where the others have gone were slim, if not nonexistent. And yet, some part of him knew that if he just set out, he'd find them. He didn't know how he knew, he just did. Almost as if the answer he sought was right there, in some deep recesses of his mind, close enough to see it was there, but too deep inside to actually reach and draw knowledge upon.

Scowling in frustration, Inuyasha decided to stall for time while he waited for his mind to find the answer to Kaede's question – the answer he knew he had, even if he didn't know what it was yet.

"When did the others leave?" he asked the first question that came to mind. If he knew when they left, then he could try to figure out how long he'd need to catch up.

"The evening of the same day they returned to the village," Kaede replied calmly. "Nearly two days ago."

Inuyasha froze at the news. His astonishment didn't last long, however, and it was soon overridden with anger. Whether he was angry at Kagome for not being able to get him or at himself for not being there to begin with, Inuyasha didn't know. All he knew was that he was mad and that Kaede was the closest person to unleash that anger upon.

"Two days ago?" he exploded, jumping to his feet in the process. "And no one thought of going after her and making sure she was alright?!"

"Kagome knows what she is doing, Inuyasha. This is not the first hunt she has gone off on," Kaede replied, still calm if not a bit reprimanding at Inuyasha's show of temper. The kannushi hardly cared, though.

"I thought you and her were close! Aren't you even the least bit worried that she's gone so long? You and I both know that Kagome would hardly need this long to take care of one goddamned yōkai!" If he had stopped to reevaluate his own feelings for a second, Inuyasha would have noticed that despite the fact that he was still yelling, it was rather in order to hide his true emotions than to express any anger. Truth was, he wasn't actually angry. He was worried. He just refused to see it, deciding that anger was an emotion he was more familiar and thus more comfortable with. But Kaede wasn't a priestess that was fooled easily.

However, before she could open her mouth and try to placate the agitated priest, he was already at her door-mat, ready to push it aside and leave. Frowning, the old priestess rose to her feet as well when Inuyasha left, then followed him out of the hut.

"Where are ye going, child?" the old priestess asked, addressing him for the first time in a long while as 'child' instead of by his name. Inuyasha had long since learned that when Kaede used that term, it meant she disapproved of whatever the person she was talking to was doing and would soon reprimand him or her like the child she thought he or she behaved as. But at that very moment, Inuyasha cared little of what anyone else thought of his actions. He knew what he wanted to do and hell would freeze over before he'd let anyone stop him.

"I'm going after Kagome," he replied resolutely, his voice daring Kaede to stop him. She didn't. Not physically, at least. But the old woman didn't need to grab him to stop him from leaving. Her words were enough to achieve that goal.

"And how will ye find her?" Kaede repeated her question once again. "The wolf might follow her scent, but ye have no such possibility. So what are ye planning to do?"

Once again, Inuyasha froze at Kaede's words, once again reminded of the reason he left this time three days ago to begin with. It wasn't for the tests. Those had just been a convenient excuse to stay home longer – not that he actually needed an excuse to stay home, but he felt better when he had one.

No, the reason he left was that he didn't want to be here when Kagome met with that wolf-friend of hers, though he had yet to figure out why that was. Just as he had yet to figure out why the obvious conclusion that they had apparently not met in the end relieved him. Now wasn't the time to be pondering that, though.

"Wolf?" Inuyasha repeated, although he knew perfectly well who the old priestess was talking about.

"A wolf-demon, yes. Do not play dumb with me, child. I am well aware Kagome had informed you of her meeting with him," Kaede chastised. Inuyasha winced at the reminder of their meeting, still bothered by it even if it hadn't taken place. What he didn't know was why he was bothered at all, let alone as much as he was.

"Kagome wanted him to follow her?" the question flowed from his mouth before he even realized such a thought was present in his head. Once in the open, however, it caused even more emotional havoc for the young kannushi, especially when he realized it was in fact very likely. After all, just as Kagome said, the demon could follow Kagome's scent trail, whereas Inuyasha could only search blindly. But even with that obvious and logical explanation, the violet eyed teen couldn't help being angry. Why would Kagome want some wolf to follow her, but insisted he stayed behind and waited? Did she not trust him to take care of himself on the way? Did she really think he needed to be babied all the time? He wasn't a child, damn it, and even if he hadn't always lived in this time, he was starting to adapt. He'd be fine. Why couldn't the half-demon just give him a chance for once?

"Actually, no. She had asked me to tell the ōkami to return to his tribe and pass on apologies for not being here when she said she would. It was his own decision to follow her once he learned of her reason for not coming to their meeting," Kaede said, effectively cutting through Inuyasha's thoughts. "If I recall right, he said it would 'not feel right if he didn't at least attempt to follow and help her'," she continued with a smile, "I can say many things about that ōkami. And one of them is that he truly cares for Kagome like no other."

The old miko had closed her eyes in thought by that point, and was thus unaware of Inuyasha's reaction to her words. The priest in question had stiffened visibly, unable to not feel insulted. Though he knew Kaede had meant nothing by her words except for the very things she said, it still sounded as if she were comparing Inuyasha to the wolf – and the kannushi was visibly losing that comparison.

'He cares for her? So what? I do, too, damn it! I care about her just as that goddamned wolf does!' Inuyasha yelled in his mind, not yet realizing what his thoughts actually implied. 'You think I don't want to go after her? You think I'm happy to be forced to sit back and wait? Of course not, damn it! I want to be at her side, just as that fucking wolf does! I certainly don't want to stay here and hope she'll be back without doing a goddamned thing!' Inuyasha's fists clenched as his thoughts raged. The rational part of him knew, of course, that Kaede had not accused him of any of these things, nor had she actually compared them to the nameless wolf about whom Inuyasha only knew that he was Kagome's old friend – or rather something more than just an 'old friend'. The rational part of him also knew that no matter how much he wanted to, he couldn't follow Kagome like the wolf did, as he had no way to actually know where she was at the moment.

However, the rational part of him was not exactly the one Inuyasha listened to at the moment.

Eyes steeling with determination, Inuyasha decided to ignore Kaede and just go off looking for Kagome. Maybe it wasn't the wisest of ideas, but it definitely beat sitting on his ass with his arms crossed. Alas, he didn't go far before he was stopped – not by Kaede, however, but by a villager who just so happened to see him attempt to leave.

"Where are you going, kannushi-sama?" the old man asked, his form of address unsettling the future-born teen as it always had. What was with these people and them calling him 'kannushi-sama'? He understood it was their way of showing their respect, but damn it if it didn't make him feel like his spiritual energy was the only reason they respected him at all. What if he wasn't a priest? Would they still put him on a fucking pedestal then? Inuyasha seriously doubted that.

He debated whether to leave the man without an answer or not. The villager's question, however, had caught the attention of many others and suddenly, Inuyasha found himself in the center of attention of a small crowd. Almost everyone in their direct vicinity stopped whatever they were doing and waited with bated breath for Inuyasha's response. He fought the urge to squirm under their unrelenting gazes, but ultimately managed to appear confident and responded without flinching.

"I'm following the Inuyasha," he replied courtly and made a move to move passed the old man. The fact that he called Kagome by her title instead of her name had been accidental, or maybe rather instinctual, but after a second of thought, Inuyasha realized the villagers probably didn't even know her real name, given that they ever only called her the Inuyasha when talking about her, or even with her.

"Following the Inuyasha?" a woman asked under her breath, the question not directed at the priest but still heard by his very much human ears.

"Maybe he thinks the Inuyasha can't take care of everything by herself. He's never seen her in true action like I had fifty years ago. He must think her weak," another old man said just loud enough for Inuyasha to hear, the comment making him bristle. Kagome was not weak and he was as far from thinking she was!

"But what if the Inuyasha hadn't returned yet because the demon turned out stronger than she expected?" a younger woman whispered, immediately earning herself the older man's scoff.

"Like I said, you all think her weak because you haven't seen her in true action. I've seen her defend the village from a hoard of demons so vastly outnumbering her and Kikyo-sama that it seemed impossible to destroy them all. And yet, every time, the village ended up covered only in demon carcasses as each and every enemy was ruthlessly destroyed."

"I'm not saying the Inuyasha is weak. But, you all have to admit, that no matter how strong she is, she is a half-demon," the younger woman defended, her voice holding no malice when she called Kagome by her race. "Eventually, she's bound to meet a yōkai stronger than herself. She cannot expect to always win."

"There is no yōkai stronger than the Inuyasha. That, I am sure of."

The villagers continued to argue, fully forgetting that Inuyasha was even there. Contrary to what one might have expected, however, the priest didn't use everyone's obvious distraction to sneak away. He was too preoccupied by realizing just what his actions could cause to the entire village.

"Ye are surprised," Kaede spoke calmly, expertly ignoring the villagers around her, as if such large-scale arguments occurred every day. Then again, given the obvious current atmosphere in the village, maybe they did. "Why? Shouldn't such a reaction be normal, Inuyasha? After all, ye are a powerful kannushi who travels with the Inuyasha and who protects the Jewel. For ye to adamantly refuse to stay and wait is to prove ye do not believe Kagome can face the danger alone. And if ye do not believe in her, how will those who placed their children's fate in her hands feel?"

Inuyasha understood perfectly well what the old woman was talking about. The atmosphere in the village was strained enough as it was. Of course, this was only to be expected given the situation. But if there was the slightest reason to believe Kagome would not return, the situation would deteriorate further faster than anyone could have expected. And Inuyasha leaving was enough to set that seed of doubt into the villagers' minds, since he traveled with her and was thus believed to know the limits of her strength and ability best.

Such assumptions couldn't be farther from the truth, though. Despite traveling with her, Inuyasha knew nothing of Kagome's limits. The only one who knew of those was Kagome herself. And that was why he wanted to follow her and make sure she was indeed fine. He trusted her to be alright, sure, but he still wanted to see for himself that it was the case. He just needed to be by her side, period. Was that so hard to understand?

"I do believe in her," Inuyasha defended hotly. "I know she's fine and she can handle herself. I'm also sure that if we wait patiently, she'll certainly return along with everyone else," he continued, hardly realizing that a dead silence had settled over the crowd around him as the villagers listened to what the young priest had to say.

"So ye don't believe she needs any help?" Kaede probed, "if so, then why follow her?"

"She doesn't need my help, that's for damn sure," the black haired priest grumbled, not liking to admit that at all, but knowing it was the strict truth. That, however, did not change the fact that he wanted to go find her and fight alongside her. She might not need his aid, but he still wanted to help however he could.

He just wanted to make sure she didn't get hurt. She might not need it, but he still wanted to protect her. As it should always have been. He was the guy, after all.

Suddenly realizing the silence around them, Inuyasha took a look at his surroundings, only to realize that he villagers have long since stopped quarreling and have returned to what they had been doing before. Apparently, Inuyasha's assurance that Kagome would be fine and didn't need anyone's help calmed their nerves enough to return to work. Briefly, Inuyasha wondered why they hadn't questioned his confidence in his words, but ultimately decided to let the matter drop. Instead, he focused on Kaede, who was now looking at him expectantly, obviously waiting to hear something more from him. Inuyasha was sure he knew what it was that she wanted to hear, too. But, he was about to sorely disappoint the old priestess.

"I'm still going after her, even if she won't need my help," he said stubbornly, turning on his heel to leave. Behind him, Kaede sighed.

"Ye could give Kagome a run for her money where stubbornness is concerned, child," the old priestess said, her voice betraying the fact that she gave up convincing him. Raising a hand, she beckoned one of the villagers to her and asked him to ready a horse. Surprised, Inuyasha glanced at her over her shoulder questioningly. She gave him a dry look in response. "Should ye not find her, ye can at least hope the horse finds its way back here. 'T is always better than relying on your own sense of direction in unknown territory."

"I guess," Inuyasha replied with a shrug. Though he knew little of horses, he doubted they had anything like a 'homing instinct'. So long as they had food and water nearby, they were happy. But then again, maybe Kaede was right, or their horses somehow trained to get back home or something. Whatever the case, he decided not to argue. He'd find Kagome faster on horseback than if he ran, anyway.

Then, there was also the question of how he'd find them. He wasn't a demon, he couldn't follow a scent trail or anything like that. He had actually no way of knowing which way they went. Or at least, that was what Kaede had tried to make Inuyasha believe. In the end, however, the kannushi's gut had proven to be correct as his mind made him listen to Kagome's voice, to words she had said to him a few days prior.

"Are you saying… you can distinguish yōkai from one another by the feel of their youki?"

His eyes snapped wide open as realization hit. Of course! How could he have forgotten that? He could follow the feel of Kagome's youki. He'd certainly never mistake hers for anyone else's, no matter how many different yōkai at once he felt.

There was only one problem. Right now, he couldn't feel Kagome's demonic energy at all. In fact, he couldn't sense any demonic energy.

He frowned. That hadn't happened in a long time. Ever since he came to this time and gradually realized that he had some mystical powers he had yet to try and understand, his sixth sense had worked perfectly. He could sense demons around him without any problem. Now, however, it was as if the 'eye' that always 'saw' the youki decided to close, leaving him in total darkness.

Frowning, Inuyasha closed his eyes and tried to concentrate. If he really tried to feel it, he realized, his awareness heightened and the youki of all nearby yōkai brushed against him. There were quite a lot. To make it worse, the different energies were melting together, making the distinction between them quite hard. Biting his lower lip, Inuyasha searched harder.

It took him a while but finally, after what felt like ages but was in reality only a minute or two, his senses caught a slight signature in the different energies around him. 'There!' Inuyasha called in his mind as he latched onto that familiar feeling. That was Kagome's youki alright. It was very faint, though. She had to be quite a way away from him if he had this much trouble sensing her.

Never mind the fact that it took him a lot of concentration to feel any demonic energy at all.

As if on cue, a horse was brought before him. Without hesitation, he got into the saddle and turned the beast in the direction he knew he needed to go, eager to leave. He took a second to look at Kaede, however, unable to keep a confident smirk off his face.

"Oi, Kaede," he called to get her attention, "I might not be able to follow Kagome's scent like that wolf did. I'm human after all. But, I'm also a priest," this had to be the first time he admitted it and actually felt proud. Then again, this was also the first time that he started to realize just how handy his powers could be – although he had yet to realize their full potential in what they were meant to be used in, namely battle. "I'll just follow her demonic energy."

And with that, he was off leaving Kaede's village behind, the old miko staring at him with wide, surprised eyes.

XxX

It was well after sunset when Inuyasha finally stopped the horse. He was lucky enough to have reached his destination before night fully set in. But upon closer inspection, the priest quickly realized it didn't matter, because he was going to wander through pitch black darkness in a moment regardless. After all, it was unlikely that a yōkai living in a cave needed light to feel at home there.

'I guess it was a good idea to take the flashlight with me after all,' Inuyasha admitted as he took the 'magic candle' (as Kagome had once called it) out of his back pack and approached the entrance of the cave. The idea to take the flashlight had popped into his mind shortly before he left through the well, and though at the time he had no idea why he'd ever need it, as he had never needed one before, he decided to throw it into his back pack regardless. Now it proved to have been a really wise choice.

Standing right in front of the cave's entrance, Inuyasha hesitated. Closing his eyes, he concentrated again, just to be certain. Sure enough, though still faint, Kagome's youki was definitely originating from there. And it would seem the hanyō was quite deep inside.

Inuyasha's apprehension grew. The cave wasn't that far from the village. On a horse, he needed only something around five or six hours to get here – though he pushed the horse to its limits, if its tired snorts were anything to go by. Still, he didn't even need half a day to reach the yōkai's den. It was safe to assume, then, that Kagome needed just as long, if not even less time if Kirara carried the slayers and the monk.

Why, then, had they not finished their business here and returned to the village yet?

The black haired kannushi knew there was only one response to that. Something must have gone wrong. Something must have happened to delay them. Inuyasha only didn't know what that was, though he wished he did.

'Well at least I can be certain they're not dead,' he tried to calm himself, focusing again on Kagome's demonic energy. If he could still feel it, then the half-demon was obviously still alive. And if she was alive, then there was no bout that so was the rest of the group. As much as he hated it, Inuyasha knew that if anything were to happen to their odd lot, Kagome would be the first to go, in an attempt to save everyone else.

With a sigh somewhere between frustration and acceptance, Inuyasha turned the flashlight on and entered the cave.

~ξ~

As the future-born priest found out soon enough, the 'cave' turned out to be a gigantic, subterranean labyrinth. He had no idea how many tunnels there were crisscrossing every five to ten meters, but he was quite sure there was a lot of them. And then, there were also the 'rooms' every now and then – of course, calling them 'rooms' was saying a bit too much. They were in fact circular extensions of the tunnels, something like a subterranean, circular cave. Inuyasha had passed at least five of those already, each time grateful for his ability to sense Kagome's demonic energy as he would have had no idea which of the many bifurcations to take.

Inuyasha didn't know how long he had been down here already. It didn't feel like a short time, however, and slowly, Inuyasha started to worry. Even if Kagome was deeper in than him, her spiritual energy should have brushed stronger against his senses by now. And yet, the feeling remained extremely faint and distant, making it a very hard trail to follow.

Soon, the priest found himself at another bifurcation. He stopped where the two ways separated and closed his eyes, like he had many times before, trying to get a better feel of Kagome's aura – or, more specifically, to distinguish where it was coming from.

It took a while, but eventually, his eyes snapped open and the kannushi turned towards the left tunnel without hesitation. Absentmindedly, one of his hands rose to his forehead to wipe away the sweat that was accumulating there. He felt tired. Not overly so, he didn't need to rest yet. But he definitely felt worse than he should considering the rather short, in comparison to usual, time he had traveled. The only explanation for his fatigue would be the fact that he tried to feel Kagome's demonic energy. In fact, Inuyasha was positive, although he couldn't explain why, that that was exactly why he was starting to feel drained.

It was strange, though. Feeling a yōkai's energy had never been tiring before. So, why now?

Before Inuyasha could ponder that fact, which should have become obvious and worrying to him long before now, Kagome's aura suddenly flared and the tunnel in which Inuyasha stood shook slightly. In the distance, the black haired priest heard a noise he believed could only be the muffled sound of an explosion, or maybe stone breaking when something crushed it by colliding with it. It was clear that there was only one explanation for something like this happening: Kagome and the others have found the yōkai and were obviously fighting it this very moment.

If he could feel, and even hear, the repercussions the battle had on their surroundings, that meant the fight in question wasn't actually happening very far from his current position. So why hadn't he felt Kagome's energy more strongly up until now?

The thought was forgotten immediately after it entered Inuyasha's head as the tunnel shook slightly again. Cursing under his breath, Inuyasha broke into a run and headed towards the battle, once again glad that he had taken a flashlight.

[T]

The young kannushi wasn't lucky, however. Whereas the other tunnels he had crossed were straight for the most part, the one he had found himself in now turned every which way almost all the time, slowing him down considerably. It was also descending deeper into the earth, rendering running all the more dangerous. One false step could lead to slipping and that, in turn, would lead to falling down the rest of the way, however long that was.

Inuyasha didn't let that stop him, though, and kept running as fast as the constant twists and tunnels of the tunnel would allow. Thanks to his flashlight, he was forewarned about things like a big rock blocking his way, so at least he didn't have to worry about that. Instead, he simply jumped over the hindrance without stopping for even a second.

He could hear the sounds of battle getting louder. That was enough to make him run even faster. He stumbled a few times in his mad dash in the dark, but did not fall and kept running.

He was forced to halt a few moments later as one of the tunnel's walls seemingly exploded a short way away from him. Next thing Inuyasha knew, a horde of lesser demons flew out of the hole, part of them flying further down the tunnel and the other, bigger part, heading straight for him.

He didn't have time to think of how to defend himself, much less to actually react other than press himself to a wall. But Lady Luck seemed to smile upon the teen for once. The demons passed by him as if not noticing him, Shikon or not (he had enough common sense to switch off the flashlight, luckily). Actually, it looked like they were fleeing, rather than attacking from what Inuyasha could tell. Still, he did not dare move from his position, preferring to let the swarm pass him by. The demons did so in a visible panic. Whatever they were running away from, it had obviously terrified them. And that in itself was a feat. Inuyasha had encountered many lesser demons already, none of which had survived the encounter, falling either by his sword or by Kagome's claws (or, as it also happened lately, by Miroku's Air Rip). But never had the yōkai displayed any fear, no matter how obvious it was that they were outmatched or how clear that their life was about to end. It was as if they hadn't cared in the slightest, and thus were not afraid to die.

To anyone else, this might have been considered a sign that the battle going on nearby was not a normal one. Anyone else might have considered turning back, or at least waiting it out. But not Inuyasha. The priest thought little of the obvious terror of the lesser demons and didn't let it distract him from his original objective. So, as soon as they passed, Inuyasha broke into a run again, following the now much louder sounds of battle.

It was easy to figure out that the fleeing yōkai had inevitably created a shortcut for the black haired teen – the sounds of battle were definitely coming from there, and if Inuyasha hadn't noticed that, the weirdly flashing lights were hard to miss. He didn't think any further than that. He just ran.

He didn't have to go far. He barely took three steps when the tiny tunnel he found himself in turned and suddenly opened into one of the cave-like rooms. But unlike the other ones Inuyasha had walked past, this one was not empty.

As soon as he reached the 'room', Inuyasha had to close his eyes as another flash of light blinded him – probably some attack or other. It faded soon enough and the priest opened his eyes, blinking to get rid of the colorful spots in his vision. The sight that greeted him was a woman he didn't know. He could feel her youki, so he was certain she was a demon. If it hadn't been for that, however, he would have believed her to be human.

"Keep clinging to life all you want. It's useless in the end. The likes of you are not permitted to live long. You simply do not deserve it," the demon said while raising both of her hands and moving them gracefully in from on herself, as if she were dancing. Immediately, strings of energy surrounded her briefly before striking out like enraged snakes at her opponent. One Inuyasha knew well.

'Kagome…' he thought worriedly, but the hanyō easily evaded and the attack crashed into the ground where she had been standing. The snake-like energy-blades were fast, though, and even seemed to have a life of their own. Immediately after crashing into the ground, they chased after the half-demon. Being airborne, Kagome could not evade this time. Instead, she crossed her arms in front of herself for protection and Inuyasha suddenly realized that the hanyō-girl had yet to draw Tessaiga.

The energy-snakes bit into Kagome's arms and, following their masters bidding, exploded upon contact. A cloud of smoke hid Kagome from view for a few seconds, but the silver haired girl emerged from it quickly, landing lightly on the ground relatively unharmed. A dangerous growl was rising from her throat as her left eye narrowed, her right one still hidden behind the fire-rat-eye-patch. But still, she did not reach for her sword, or attack the demon at all. The woman smirked while Inuyasha tried to figure out what Kagome was playing at.

"Persistent, aren't you, hanyō. Are you that desperate to live?" the demon asked with a melodic, but cruel laugh, her long black hair shaking in a wave-like fashion from the movement. Kagome's growl grew in volume and finally, finally, she leapt at the yōkai. The laugh died immediately in its throat, its expression turning disbelieving. "You would even strike me down?" she asked, as if not wanting to believe it. Inuyasha wanted to snort from his position, still unnoticed by anyone.

'Why wouldn't she attack you?' he wondered sarcastically, sure that the battle was over now. But to his great surprise, Kagome actually stopped, her claws inches away from the demon's throat. And she had not been prevented from attacking by the demon in any way. She halted on her own. Inuyasha stared. The demon-woman smirked.

"Foolish half-breed," she said while swiping at the air in front of her, as of wanting to get rid of an annoying fly. Once again, golden energy manifested in front of her. This time, it took the form of a small ball and flew at the stupefied half-demon. Kagome had barely managed to dodge it and the energy once again hit only stone. Debris flew everywhere, some stones bigger than others. The demonic woman easily evaded them all. Kagome wasn't as lucky, however, as the debris came from her temporary blind-spot. Slightly dazed, the half-demon shook her head to clear it and the yōkai clearly wanted to use the momentary opening to strike, if her hand rising was anything to go by.

"Kagome-sama!" a young boy's voice yelled in warning. Immediately, Kagome's good eye snapped back to the enemy and she jumped a little ways back to avoid the next attack, shielding her face from another cloud of debris.

Inuyasha's attention was taken away from the battle – one which Kagome was visibly losing in – as that voice rang in the cave. Turning his head, the young priest easily realized where it was coming from and his eyes fell on the rest of the group. Kohaku had been the one to yell. Beside him, Sango and Miroku stood, seemingly calm although their faces betrayed tension. Miroku was gripping his staff tightly and obviously itched to help. Shippō sat on his shoulder, his eyes worriedly following Kagome's every move. Kirara sat on the ground next to Kohaku's feet, still in kitten-form, her fur standing on end on her arched back as she hissed angrily, obviously eager to join the fight as well. But in the end, none of them moved to help Kagome, much to Inuyasha's astonishment.

Another explosion had him glancing back towards the battle at hand. The demonic woman was trying to hit Kagome again, but though her attempts failed, they also stopped Kagome from getting any closer and to actually attack. The hanyō was at a disadvantage, if not downright losing. And Inuyasha was sick of standing idly by. He didn't know why the others stayed back and watched, nor did he care. But he did know that he would not do the same.

He had learned already that charging in head-first was not a good idea, though, so he waited. With how Kagome was jumping around the demon, there had to be a moment when he could get an opening and use it. And indeed, soon enough, the yōkai turned to follow Kagome's movements, turning its back to Inuyasha.

A few weeks before, Inuyasha might have considered his actions as cowardly. But not anymore. He wasn't being a coward. He just saw an opening, so he used it.

In a second, he was running, his hand already on Seiryuu's hilt, ready to draw the sword. He reached the demon instantly and ripped the sword from its sheath, intend on slicing the unsuspecting demon in two. In his haste, he didn't see Kagome's eye widening at his sudden entry, nor did he see her move.

He did notice, however, that instead of cutting through flesh, Seiryuu collided with another blade. In the same second, light-blue light erupted from his blade, effectively blinding him. It didn't last long and next thing he knew, he was lying flat on his back on the hard stone. The demon must have thrown him back.

What he didn't know, was that the one who had stopped his blade and pushed him back was actually Kagome. It was also the half-demon who had been on the receiving end of the sudden burst of reiki on Inuyasha's part and now, she was kneeling on the ground, panting.

"Kagome-sama!" Miroku's and Kohaku's worried voices reached her, but she didn't need to look at them to know why they were worried. With wide eyes, the young girl stared at her hands and the blunt nails that had replaced her claws, only now realizing what she had done. She had stopped Inuyasha's attack and his powers had reacted to her, turned her human.

In essence, she had protected the enemy.

'Damn it!' she thought in both, panic and frustration as a cold laugh rang behind her. She froze, cursing herself again. And she had asked the others not to interfere exactly because she feared something like this might happen…

But, Inuyasha didn't know that, did he.

"Foolish hanyō," she heard the eerie voice of the demon behind her. She didn't even have the time to turn around before its hand closed over her neck from behind, much less to free herself before a wave of demonic energy that wasn't her own ripped through her very much human body. Her back arched and, unable to help herself, Kagome screamed.

It was in that precise moment that Inuyasha finally picked himself off the ground where Kagome had thrown him, just in time to see her being pretty much fried. His eyes widened, his mind only partially registering what he was seeing. His ears rang from the horrible sounds of her screams.

"KAGOME!" he yelled in terror, just as the rest of the group finally sprang into action. Kirara was first to try and join the fray, but she didn't get nearly close enough to the demon as with a laugh, the woman simply threw Kagome into one of the stone walls with enough force to crack the stone and cause some of the roof to collapse on top of the now human girl. Kirara changed course immediately, reaching Kagome in the nick of time and protecting her with her now larger body from the falling debris.

The demon turned to face the cat, mirth shining in her eyes as she plotted how to finish both neko and hanyō in one strike. Kirara hissed again, but did not move from her spot, knowing that if she did, Kagome would be inevitably crushed.

The yōkai didn't get to try and attack Kirara, however, as it had to jump away to avoid a chain-sickle that would have otherwise taken its head. The blade flew flawlessly through the air and returned to its master. Inuyasha glanced stupefied at Kohaku, unable to move for various reasons. Kohaku's eyes were cold and firm as he threw his weapon again, no hesitation whatsoever in his movements. The demon evaded it again, smiling almost seductively.

"My my, another playmate. Will you be more fun to fool around with, I wonder?" she asked even as her features became distorted and she started to vanish in a cloud of mist. Kohaku didn't seem impressed, though, and instead redirected his weapon at her again. The blade obeyed him without falter. The demon dodged again.

"Hiraikotsu!" Sango yelled suddenly, throwing her boomerang at the changing demon. Her features had become manlier by now, though for Inuyasha, it was still too hard to distinguish her current face from behind the mist. The demon dodged the boomerang, too, albeit with more difficulty.

For a few moments, the two taijiya siblings fruitlessly tried to finish the fight, with Miroku's help. But the demon dodged all of their attacks. Still, it seemed annoyed for some reason.

"I guess now's not the time to play anymore," it said with its distorted voice, and before anyone could do anything to stop it, it dissolved completely into white smoke and flew off, leaving the group alone in the cave.

[/T]

"It fled," Sango stated angrily, although her words seemed to go unnoticed by everyone else. As soon as the demon fled, both Kohaku and Miroku turned their attention to Kirara, who was still holding off rocks from crushing the hanyō-turned-human. Inuyasha finally shook off his shock and joined them. He reached Kirara first, but although he patted her slightly in thanks for helping, his attention was ultimately stolen by the half-demon.

"Kagome!" he called worriedly as he fell to his knees beside her, leaving Kohaku and Miroku the task of freeing Kirara and allowing the cat to turn back into a kitten so she could safely approach the fallen half-demon.

Kagome was unconscious. And, as Inuyasha's brain realized only now, she was human.

She didn't respond to his call. She didn't even twitch as he shook her slightly. In fact, she didn't even seem to be breathing. Inuyasha's breath caught in his throat.

"K-Kagome?" he asked again as he gently turned her onto her back. A cough escaped her lips in response to the movement, ensuring him that she was alive, at least. He breathed a sigh of relief, but it was short-lived as Miroku spoke up gravely.

"We need to find a safer place. This cave looks like it's about to collapse on itself. And once we do, we need to see to Kagome-sama's injuries," he said.

"You mean I need to see to her injuries," Sango piped in. Though she had not approached Kagome to make sure she was alright (or at the very least alive), her tone of voice implied she would not take no for an answer. Before Inuyasha could even get stunned at that, though, Sango quickly explained where she was coming from, "I wouldn't trust your 'cursed hand' anywhere near her. And I don't think she'd appreciate any ogling, either."

So, Miroku had finally shown his true colors to the demon slayer, huh. Inuyasha had been wondering when the monk would finally slip.

"In any case, we need to get out of here and somewhere safer, first," Kohaku interjected before Miroku could utter even a word in self-defense. The young boy's voice was firm, though a note of worry was also easy to detect. The black haired priest didn't have to think twice about why the boy would be worried, though. It was really more than obvious.

~ξ~

Later, Inuyasha, Kohaku and Miroku found themselves sitting in one of the bigger tunnels. Kirara was sitting in the middle of their small circle in her bigger form, the flames surrounding her paws serving as a tiny source of light. Kohaku was sitting directly besides the demonic cat and petted her, though she did not purr like she usually did. Sango was hidden behind the nearby sharp turn of the tunnel where she was tending to Kagome's injuries, equipped in Inuyasha's first aid kit and his flashlight.

Silence reigned over the group, as no one knew what to say. Unable to focus on anything else, Inuyasha's mind went over the happenings of the last hour again and again as the priest tried to figure out what had gone wrong. One moment, he was attacking the yōkai Kagome was fighting. The next, he was on his back while the demon was using all of its power on Kagome, who was miraculously human. All that happened between those two things was an explosion of bright, light-blue light Inuyasha could only too easily recognize by now.

It wasn't very hard to understand what had happened.

Inuyasha's gut clenched painfully at the realization, his whole frame freezing up in dread at the truth of the situation.

Somehow, instead of attacking the demon like he wanted to, his blade reached Kagome. The sound of steel clashing with steel must have been when Seiryuu clashed with Tessaiga – which Kagome still miraculously held in her hand when she was thrown against the wall, and even afterward. The explosion of light had been his own power reacting to demonic energy. Kagome's demonic energy.

In essence, he had purified Kagome, thus rendering her vulnerable to the yōkai's attacks.

He had indirectly aided in almost killing her.

[T]

Just the thought made him want to throw up. The guilt gnawing at his insides wasn't making it any better, either. Biting back a whine, Inuyasha brought his legs to his chest and buried his face in his knees. He wanted to pretend none of this had ever happened. It couldn't have. He would have never attacked Kagome, after all. He had to be dreaming.

Inuyasha's mind, however, was far from allowing him to flee from reality. As if to torture him further, Miroku's words from seemingly so long ago, when it had, in fact, only been a week or two ago, resonated in his mind again.

"But what if even that semblance of control is gone, what then? Who's to say your powers won't react to those you wish to protect or fight alongside with and hurt them, instead?"

Inuyasha's fists clenched. Miroku had warned him about this. He had said it might happen. But had he listened? Of course he hadn't. He was an idiot who always thought he knew better.

"It won't happen," the memory of the conversation hit him like a ton of bricks. The memory of his own response to Miroku's warning confirmed the priest's thoughts. He'd been an idiot. And the worst of it was that Kagome was now paying for his mistake. Kagome, not him.

"Unless you learn to control your power, Inuyasha, it might. And it probably will."

"It won't!"

But it had. Despite his self-assurance that he'd never hurt his friends, he ended up doing just that. And to make matters worse, it was in the worst possible moment, in the middle of a battle. If Kagome died, it would be because she was human. And she was human because of him. That was the same as if he had killed her himself if he were to be honest.

Would Kagome blame him for this? Probably. Definitely. She had no reason not to blame him. As far as she knew, he could have done this on purpose.

Inuyasha's sucked in a long breath, his eyes widening as fear set in. What if Kagome thought that? What if he had just irrevocably lost what little of her trust he had gained?

The idea made him feel even worse, especially since he was certain that it was inevitable. Kagome would never trust him near her again. Why would she after he almost killed her? He had just lost his first and only real friend, he was sure of it. And he could do nothing to change that, as he didn't even have anything to explain. He had only himself to blame for that. And Kagome… she probably hated him now.

Once again, his own thoughts caused Inuyasha to freeze. Would Kagome hate him? He knew she had all the reason to – he had, by all means, betrayed her, after all. She had all the reason to hate him, to want him gone, to never want to see him again. And yet he prayed it wouldn't go that far. He prayed she wouldn't leave him alone.

Then again, she had promised to keep him save until they found someone who could take the Jewel. And if there was one thing Inuyasha learned about Kagome in the time he knew her, it was that she never broke her oaths, no matter what happened. So even if she hated him, she would stay by his side, if only so long as he had the Jewel.

But knowing that didn't make the black haired priest feel any better. If anything, that knowledge only hurt even more. After all, whether she left or stayed, there was no way Kagome would forgive him. She would hate him, there was no doubt about that. After what he did, he didn't deserve anything less than her hatred. He knew that.

Still, he prayed she would not hate him. If not forgive him, then at least not hate. The mere thought of her hating him made his heart clench painfully in his chest. He took in a shaky breath, trying to overcome the pain. He never felt anything like this. No physical wound could ever amount to the agony he felt now. And Inuyasha knew that when she actually threw the three little words 'I hate you' in his face, or if she only showed that she indeed hated him, it would only get worse.

Her hatred… it was something he knew he wouldn't stomach. Although he knew there was no way Kagome would ever forgive him, no matter how forgiving she was, he also knew that her hatred was something he wouldn't be able to take.

It was pathetic. He was pathetic. Before he met Kagome, Inuyasha wouldn't have cared if anyone hated him. Even if it had been thrown in his face, he wouldn't be fazed by it at all. When he first met the hanyō-girl, she could have resented him, too, and he wouldn't have minded. But that time was long gone. Now, Kagome was more than just some half-demon he happened to run into. She was his friend. Without him ever noticing, she had become a friend so important he could no longer stand the idea of losing her trust and friendship. He just couldn't lose it. But of course, he only realized that after doing something that could only cause him to lose that trust he wanted to badly to gain from her. It was only now, when it was certain Kagome wouldn't ever want to be near him again, though she'd probably stay because of her promise, that he realized how scared he was of losing what she'd given him.

And the worst of it all was that he had only himself to blame for this. It was all his fucking fault and no one else's.

How could he have been so stupid? Why hadn't he listened to Miroku? The monk had also spiritual energy and knew how to handle it. It was obvious the houshi knew what he was talking about when he warned Inuyasha that he might lose control of his reiki and unwillingly unleash it on his friends. So why hadn't he listened? Why had he refused to see reason?

Because he was a stupid idiot, that's why.

It wouldn't happen again, though. Inuyasha wasn't going to take any chances anymore. He'll learn. He'll learn to control his power and make sure it never leashes out at Kagome, or anyone else he'd never want to hurt, ever again. He'll ensure everyone's safety from himself. Something like this would never happen again. He was going to make sure of that. No matter what it took, he would learn.

That wouldn't be enough to make things up to Kagome, though. Inuyasha may have been an idiot, but he wasn't a complete fool. He knew that it would never be enough to make it up to her for this. He was far beyond redeeming himself to the half-demon and he was better off accepting it.

There was just nothing he could do to atone for what he had already done.

[/T]

Just then, Sango finally emerged from the other side of the tunnel's turn and sat down beside her brother, a weary sigh escaping her as she absentmindedly set the flashlight beside her. Inuyasha's head snapped up to glance at the slayer, waiting anxiously for any news. When Sango remained silent, it was her brother who broke the silence.

"Ane-ue?" he asked carefully, only continuing when Sango turned his head to glance at him. "How is she?" he asked quietly. Sango sighed again in response.

"She's still unconscious," she replied carefully. Inuyasha briefly noticed that the demon slayer was finally starting to talk like Kagome was a person instead of an object, but he was far from caring much at the moment. He was more worried about the hanyō's condition.

Inuyasha couldn't be sure whether Sango sensed his anxiety or not. Be that as it may, however, the taijiya continued her 'report' without having to be asked to do so.

"I took care of her injuries. There wasn't much and none of it is life-threatening, human or not. At least, as far as injuries I could treat are concerned. Can't say anything about those I cannot see."

'Injuries you can't see?' Inuyasha wondered what the slayer meant by that. It only took a moment for the obvious answer to pop into his head, though. The only injuries that would fit the description would be those that are internal.

Inuyasha shuddered. Internal injuries were dangerous even in his time. Maybe not all of them, sure – broken bones were easily fixed, for one, even if it took a while. But any other internal injuries could easily be deadly, unless treated via surgery and fast. And then, there were also injuries to the internal organs. A simple surgery rarely fixed that, though it depended on the organ. In the worst case scenario, one needed a transplant, which was more or less easy to come by – again, depending on the organ in question, on the blood type of the patient and many other things.

What if Kagome had internal injuries? There was no way anyone knew how to treat those here. Even if they did, there was no way they'd be able to get her to a healer in time. Which in turn meant that if Kagome had any internal injuries, she was most certainly going to die.

Inuyasha felt cold and numb by that point. He shivered again. The possibility of Kagome surviving was diminishing by the minute and there wasn't a damn thing he could do about it. All he could do was hope she survived.

If Kagome died, he would never forgive himself. Not that he thought he would forgive himself for just attacking her like he had, but if that ended up being the reason she died, he would never get over it, he knew. If the regret didn't eat him alive, the sense of guilt definitely would.

Unable to do anything other than wait, the group fell into silence again. No one moved, each and every one of them lost in his own thoughts. Only Shippō glanced at Inuyasha from time to time, something the young teen didn't fail to notice. All the kit's looks managed to do was to deepen the ever-growing hole Inuyasha was currently digging for himself, as the future-born kannushi interpreted them as accusatory.

It only served to remind him further that the current situation was all his fault.

And, that he couldn't do a damned thing to set it right.

---

And here you have it. What had to happen finally happened, and as it usually is, in the worst moment ever. Question is, will Kagome get out of this alive? Well, things don't look good for her at the moment, that's for sure.

Anyway, that's it for chapter 40. I hope you enjoyed and please forgive the half-cliffie there. Pretty please. The next chapter is already in the making, you only need to wait a month. Really. I'll meet the deadline, I swear :)

Until then, why don't you review and tell me your thoughts? ;)

Next Chapter: The Demon's True Nature

See you then :]