Hey guys, I am SO SORRY that it's taken this long to post this chapter. My personal life has been all kinds of chaotic recently, and I lost all motivation to write until just recently. Timewriter also sends her apologies because she had forgotten to edit the chapter for a little bit after I had sent it to her. Anyway, things are getting better, and I should be able to write more now. Hopefully, it won't take me almost another year to post the next chapter. If it takes too long, just spam me XD Anyway, thanks for all your patience, and now for what you all have been waiting for: the next chapter!

Chapter 15: We're on our Way

Saya faded in and out of consciousness while the group traveled that morning. She only fully regained awareness when they stopped for lunch—and that was only because Hiyori made sure she was awake.

"Would you like to eat before or after the healing barrier?"

"After. I wanna see if I can feed myself this time."

"As you wish."

The light miko situated Saya before encasing her in a barrier. As the enclosure began its work on her, Saya felt her strength returning to her in a steady trickle. By the time Hiyori deemed the barrier had completed its task to the best of its ability, Saya was able to sit and stand up on her own. She resisted the urge to jump up and down—barely. Hiyori handed her a ramen cup, and Saya was forced to scarf down her meal quickly. Inuyasha wanted to get moving again.

She managed to keep pace with everyone for a good hour—though she had a feeling they were all walking slower for her—before her strength began to fade again. Saya slowed as her body became increasingly tired. She stopped instantly, hunching over as her breath came out in short puffs. Perspiration had quickly gathered upon her horsehead, running into her eyes; she was forced to close them momentarily as a bead of sweat made its way down her face. She wasn't exactly surprised when she felt herself being lifted. She honestly expected Haru to carry her again when she began to show signs of fatigue. Imagine her surprise when she glanced to her left to see Haru giving her a sly grin as he walked. Face draining of color, she glanced up. Inuyasha glanced down when she gave a startled squeak.

"You were slowin' us down."

Saya was certain her face was nearly the same hue of red as Inuyasha's garbs. She attempted to school her tone to not portray her embarrassment but knew she failed.

"You don't have to carry me, ya know."

He didn't even bother to respond to her.

Heaving a sigh, she tried a different approach, "Could you at least carry me on your back? My back and legs are starting to hurt from being carried like this for the past two days."

She was rewarded when he paused a moment later to let her down. She climbed onto his back immediately after. Sighing again in thanks for little miracles, Saya rested her hands on his shoulders. Now that she wasn't tucked up against someone, she surveyed their surroundings.

They were traveling along a path in a grassland. The foliage around them condensed in the distance, transforming into a wooden terrain clustered around the base of the mountains further ahead. Her eyebrows rose. She hoped Inuyasha wasn't planning to cross those before they stopped for the night. They still looked far off.

"Let's pick up the pace. I wanna cross those mountains before nightfall."

Yup, she just knew it. She held back a sigh. She wasn't the only one who had doubts; a moment later, Haru spoke up.

"Hey, Mutt for brains. Are you crazy? There's no way these humans can make it that far in such a short time. The two of us, sure. No problem. But them? I don't think that's gonna happen."

"Haru is right," Sango piped in, "We likely won't make it over the entirety of the mountains before sun down. Why not camp at the base and take the climb tomorrow?"

"Then ride on Kirara. We need to make it over that mountain before sunset."

This was getting ridiculous.

"Why are you so set on this," asked Saya.

"Whatever. We'll get as far as we can."

The longer Inuyasha walked, the more he seemed to vibrate with nerves. It concerned Saya. What had him so on edge? Was there something about this area that was unfavorable? Was there an enemy nearby? No, Inuyasha would have warned them about anything like that. Whatever his reasoning, Saya only knew one thing: she had to trust Inuyasha. He wouldn't intentionally lead them into anything dangerous without warning. She resigned herself to quietly observe the area as the group continued their trek.

During their travels, she didn't spot anything abnormal—but then again, her senses weren't up to par. It was nearly sunset when Inuyasha finally deemed the group had traveled far enough. They had just reached the base of the mountains and would resume their voyage in the morning.

Inuyasha was quick in his tasks for that night: He quickly gathered most of the wood and started the fire before anyone had the chance to finish their parts of setting up camp. Saya blinked in surprise when he glanced at the sky, letting out a quiet curse. He was making to make his way to the trees on the edge of their base when Saya finally had enough, calling out to him.

"Inuyasha, are you okay? You've been on edge all day. It's starting to worry me."

He paused at the base of the tree to glance behind him. Everyone at camp gazed at him with concern—even Haru. He winced. As he opened his mouth to say something, the sun set. What happened next surprised the hell out of everyone: He lost his demonic appearance.

Saya gaped at him with wide eyes. Everyone exchanged surprised glances or gazed at Inuyasha in stunned silence. It was finally broken a minute later by Shippo.

"Oh, right! It's the first night of the moon cycle."

Had Saya the mental capacity, she would have liked to yell at both males for holding out such information from the group—from her! Sadly, she had no such capabilities. Her mind was short-circuiting from Inuyasha's new appearance. She vaguely heard the conversation taking place around her: Sango asking Shippo how he knew about this, and why he didn't tell anyone.

"I forgot about it! It only happened one time! It was when I first joined Inuyasha and Kagome. A lot's happened since then, ya know!"

Saya finally found her voice, though she was only able to speak softly.

"Why didn't you tell us about this?"

"Perhaps I can shed some light on this topic."

Saya glanced around for the voice. It sounded like that flea demon. What was his name again? Moga? Migu? She felt a small, pinching feeling on her neck. Slapping the spot, she pulled her hand back to stare at the flattened flea demon resting on her palm. He inflated himself a moment later.

"Myoga? Since when have you been here?"

Oh, right, that was his name.

"For your information, Master Inuyasha, I have been traveling with you since you left Kaede's village."

"And you just now decided to pop up?"

"You required my assistance."

"You sure you weren't just hungry?" The twitching in Inuyasha's eye indicated he believed that to be the exact reason.

Myoga chose to ignore Inuyasha's accusation to redirect his attention to Saya.

"To answer your question, most half demons prefer to keep the time they lose their demonic powers a secret. It is a time they become extremely vulnerable, and most don't wish to share that vulnerability—with anyone."

"Yeah, I get that, but it's not like we're gonna use that information against him. If we had known, we could have been able to help protect him or something!"

Saya distantly registered Haru grumbling something that sounded suspiciously like "speak for yourself" under his breath. She also heard Hiyori slapping him and grumbling about men and their testosterone. Saya pulled her attention back to Myoga as he continued to speak.

"Yes, but I fear that Master Inuyasha did not wish to appear weak in any way in front of you all."

"Well, we're a team, aren't we? We're supposed to look out for one another. But we can't do that if everyone isn't honest with each other!"

Myoga hummed in agreement.

"I'm right here, ya know."

The conversation continued as if Inuyasha hadn't spoken.

"This happens at the beginning of every moon cycle?" Sango furrowed her brows in confusion. "We've been traveling for numerous cycles. How's this the first time we've seen this?"

"Because I always hid before it took place."

Everyone redirected their attention to Inuyasha then.

"You mean those times we stopped extra early for the day were because of the new moon?" Saya hummed in thought. "Now that you mention it, it did seem to happen every new moon. I didn't notice it before, but now that it's pointed out, it's obvious that was the reason."

"It appears we were not very observant of our friend." Miroku stood and approached Inuyasha to lay a hand on his shoulder. "We vow to be from now on."

Inuyasha shrugged off his hand.

"Feh. I don't care what you do. I just want this night to hurry up and end."

Shippo jumped up onto his other shoulder. "Don't worry, Inuyasha! We'll make sure to keep you safe."

"Agreed. It's the least we can do for not noticing earlier." Sango sent him a smile.

"Keh. Do whatever. Don't matter to me."

He crossed his arms and looked away, but Saya could have sworn there was a small blush dusting his cheeks.

Everyone settled down after that. Saya set about to boil water for ramen as it was too late for anything else. While she waited for it to finish, her mind was a whirl with thoughts—all centered around the now-human hanyou. She was in trouble. That's all there was to it. She found him attractive no matter if he was a raging demon that could kill her in a second, a human like her, or his normal, hanyou self. Kamis above, after the adrenaline had faded from the situation, Saya could look back on the day that Inuyasha had turned into a full demon and honestly say that she still found him attractive. She was in trouble. She needed to stop this. It would not end well for her—she was certain.

Saya pulled the pan from the fire before it could boil over. She distributed the water and waited. Why couldn't she just like Haru? She had a feeling her life would be much easier if she did, but she knew that wouldn't happen. She spared him a glance over the fire while she waited for the food. He was cute, but he wasn't Inuyasha. She sighed. She saw him raise an eyebrow at her shook her head. He studied her face for a moment before moving to sit next to her.

"What's wrong?"

She shook her head. He lowered his voice.

"Mutt-face can't hear you. Human hearing, remember? Now, what's up?"

She heaved a sigh of long-suffering before whispering, "Why can't I just like you? Life would be so much easier if I did."

He stared at her for a moment before throwing his head back, laughing. Saya glanced around nervously as all attention was redirected to them—even Inuyasha opened his eyes from where he was against a tree to look at them. She shrank away as much as she could. It wasn't much. Haru stopped his laughing when he noticed how uncomfortable she was.

"Sorry, it's just funny. I've been asking myself that same question since the first day I met you. I've decided it's fate that we're not meant to be."

"Yeah…"

She sighed again before standing to distribute the ramen. She figured Inuyasha wouldn't move now that he was human, but he still needed to eat. She also decided that she would pass out the ramen to everyone instead of just singling out Inuyasha. It seemed better that way. She did save his for last, though.

"Here."

"Don't want it."

"Really? You don't want ramen? Please."

She sat down carefully with a cup in each hand. She placed his on the ground next to him.

"What's really going on?"

She received no response.

"Fine. Don't tell me. I'll just let my imagination run wild. It can come up with some pretty disturbing things. Trust me."

She gave him a smirk. When she still didn't receive a response, her face fell.

"Inuyasha, what's wrong? You can share with me. I promise it won't affect my views of you."

"I don't care what you think of me, wench."

Her face scrunched up in a look of hurt.

"Fine! Sit here and wallow in your own misery. Enjoy your ramen."

She stood and stomped off. She handed her ramen to Haru before marching her way out of camp.

"Where do you think you're going?"

She heard him call after her. She didn't stop.

"A walk."

She heard him groan before hurried footfalls followed her.

"You sure that's a good idea? I mean, just earlier today, you could barely move."

"Well, I won't walk very far then." Her tone was full of bite.

She heard him sigh. "Had to get away from the Mutt?"

"Yup." She popped her p in her response.

"Fine. I'm coming with you. You stormed off, no weapons, and you haven't eaten yet. Forgive me if I don't trust you to handle any demons that come your way without your bow."

She stopped short at the comment before releasing a groan.

"Dammit."

He laughed at her, "Come on, let's wear some of that frustration out, shall we?"

She sent a relieved smile his way.

Inuyasha narrowed his eyes as he watched the wolf follow Saya when she stormed off. He knew he was being a jerk, but he was always more unpleasant when the new cycle hit. He hated being weak. Vulnerable. Unable to do anything. If someone were to try to attack everyone right now, he would be absolutely useless; he hated it.

"Inuyasha, that was uncalled for."

Inuyasha directed his attention to the monk with a narrowed gaze.

"Mind your own business."

"She was just worried about you. We all are, but she was the only one who did something about it."

"Nothing to worry about."

"I believe differently, and so did Saya."

"Keh."

Miroku sighed. "Inuyasha, what's wrong?"

"Nothing! Just leave me alone!"

"Very well."

The camp fell silent as they awaited the duo's return. Inuyasha saw Hiyori gaze at him for a moment before she stood and ventured over to him. Taking the spot that Saya had previously vacated, she sat back with a sigh. Inuyasha remained silent, opting to observe her in case she tried anything. They may have agreed to a truce of sorts, but that didn't mean he trusted her just yet. There was still something about her that didn't set well with his senses, and it drove him crazy that he couldn't figure out what it was.

"You know that lashing out when you're feeling like this is not going to do anything but hurt you in the end, right?"

He huffed while crossing his arms and looking away.

"I don't know what you're talking about."

"Inuyasha, she was just worried about you. There was no need to lash out at her like you did."

"Where do you get off giving me a lecture? You're still hiding something from all of us. So, don't lecture me!"

Hiyori was silent for a moment as she gazed directly into his eyes.

"There is only one thing I care about right now, and that is to make sure that Saya is treated the way she deserves. You are the reason she is upset. She did nothing wrong. If I were you, I would apologize."

With that, she stood to reclaim her position beside Hiro. The wolf gazed at him with narrowed eyes, and he couldn't be certain, but he could have sworn that Hiro was emitting a low growl. Inuyasha gulped. That moment was when Haru came back to camp carrying a passed out Saya on his back. The females were instantly on their feet.

"What happened?"

"She's fine. Just got tired. Apparently, getting pissed and storming out of camp wore her out. We didn't get very far before she started slowing down." He shook his head as he carried her to her bedroll. "Once I picked her up, she was asleep within seconds. She was pushing herself too much; her body just wanted to make sure she knew."

Sango let out a sigh of relief. "I'm glad she's alright."

"Yes. Thank you for accompanying her."

Hiyori tucked her into her roll before standing while Haru shrugged.

"No problem."

Inuyasha watched the scene unfold in silence. She was still that easily tired? Damn. He had thought she was getting better than that. She had seemed to almost be back to her normal self, earlier. Damn again. His brow furrowed in thought. It really was his fault that she was like this. Dammit! He ground his teeth in aggravation. Throughout the night, he was vaguely aware of those in camp preparing themselves to turn in for the night. He didn't focus his attention on them, however; his focus remained on the slumbering form of the miko from the future.

So, that was the chapter. Things are developing nicely, if I do say so myself. Let me know what you thought of this! Review please! They help give me inspiration to write! Thanks again!

~Saph