The next morning, Kagome and Sango awoke to see Inuyasha gone. Slightly panicked, Kagome got up and went to the door. She poked her head out and looked around, letting out a breath of relief when she saw him with the older woman from the previous night.
The two girls got cleaned up a bit before going out and meeting them, seeing that Inuyasha and the woman were talking.
"You girls are up late," the woman said, "this one was up at dawn."
Kagome looked to the demon, "Did you even sleep?"
He looked to her and just shrugged, making Kagome sigh, "Right…"
"What were you talking about?" Sango asked.
"He asked if someone you were looking for passed through here," the woman said, "he may have, but I'm not quite sure."
"Did he say his name?" Inuyasha asked, seeming to have taken a moment to get his thoughts together before the question.
"The man didn't say anything, but that woman with him was quite odd…"
"Odd how?" Kagome asked.
"It may have been my imagination, but it seemed that she was a demon. She had pointed ears, red colored eyes… She carried a fan as well."
"Kagura…" Inuyasha muttered under his breath.
"Yes! That was her name," the woman exclaimed.
"When did they pass through here?" Sango questioned.
"A few days ago, late at night," the woman said, "I told them it wasn't safe to go through the forest, especially with the young boy they had with them."
"Young boy?" Kagome said, turning to Inuyasha, "Does he have a child or something?"
Inuyasha slowly shook his head, "Dunno…"
"Either way, we should get going," the slayer said.
The old woman offered them some food before they left for Kiken Forest. Before they entered the foliage, Kagome stopped in front of Inuyasha to properly tuck in his robe, which made him scrunch up his nose.
As they walked through the forest, Kagome had her arms wrapped around herself, "This place is really creepy…"
"The demons here are usually dormant during the day," Sango said, "unless that's changed since I've been through here…"
Kagome looked to Inuyasha, who had his ears perked up, twitching at every sound. He seemed calm, except for his tensed muscles.
"I think we're almost out," Sango said, "I don't think there are many villages out there, either."
Kagome tapped her chin, "At least the moon is out tonight. I think tomorrow the moon is dark…"
If Inuyasha wasn't tense before, he was now. His body stiffened after she had spoken, his face no longer calm.
"Are you okay?" Kagome asked.
The demon just nodded, "Just… Thinking."
Though Kagome knew she should believe him, she heard him mutter something from his made up language, something she could only decipher as, "Kloshiev" or something along those lines. From how he said it, it was probably an equivalent to a curse.
However, she ignored it, looking forward on the path.
After about twenty minutes, they made it out of the forest unscathed. When Sango said there weren't many villages, she was right; they could see out for miles, and there was only open land. The next village was maybe a two days trip away.
"I guess we should get walking," Sango said. Kirara, who was on her shoulder, mewed in agreement.
The trio then began their long walk, Kagome and Sango talking about where they would camp that night. Meanwhile, Inuyasha was silent, lost in his own thoughts.
"Inuyasha?"
He snapped out of his thoughts, his ears perking up at the sound of his name. He looked over at the other girls, "Huh?"
"Do you know this area?" Sango asked.
His eyes scanned the open area, trying to see if it was familiar to him. He slowly nodded, "Sorta?"
"Hmm…" Kagome pondered, "All we really need to do is find a place to stay tonight, so we don't really need to know the area."
"Right," Sango agreed.
"So we can stay outside for tonight and maybe look for a village tomorrow," Kagome said.
After a moment, Inuyasha nodded in agreement, earning a look from Sango, "It seemed that you didn't like staying in a village last night. We could just stay outside."
"He said he sort of knows this area," Kagome said, "perhaps he knows the villages?"
Inuyasha nodded slightly, silent.
The then kept walking, stopping every now and then to rest. When they rested a little bit after noon, Kirara left Sango's lap to go over to Inuyasha. She curled up on his lap.
"She really likes you," Sango chuckled.
"Is it because they're both demons?" Kagome asked.
"She usually doesn't take a liking to demons, actually," Sango said, "maybe it's because Inuyasha is one of the first friendly demons we've encountered."
Kirara then mewed, rubbing her head against Inuyasha's leg. The three of them took it as an agreement to what Sango had just said.
The topic was left when Kagome and Sango started talking about what direction to head towards. There was a path heading one direction, and then another heading in the complete opposite direction of that one.
"Going to the left one seems like there's nothing out there, though," Sango said.
"But going to the right seems like a lot of hiking, it goes back into the further end of the forest," Kagome said.
Sango looked to Inuyasha to ask him what he thought, but before she said anything, the demon suddenly sat up straight, his ears perking up. The smaller demon on his lap awoke abruptly with her ears perked as well, growling slightly.
"What is it?" Sango questioned.
Kirara jumped off of Inuyasha lap before he stood up. She transformed, growling at nothing.
The two girls stood up, looking around. Kagome looked to Inuyasha, confused, "There isn't anything there…"
It took a moment, but Inuyasha spoke, "Something's out there…"
"Something?" Sango said.
"There is something…" Kagome murmured, "I feel something bad…"
Inuyasha just shook his head, "It is not after us…"
"What is it?" Kagome shuddered, "It feels evil…"
"Is it Naraku?" Sango asked.
"Probably," Inuyasha muttered.
As if nothing happened, Kirara transformed again. The evil presence suddenly vanished.
Inuyasha nodded, "It was him, I know…"
"How can you tell it's him?"
"I… I have felt that before?" The demon said, "Years?"
"Years ago," Sango said.
He nodded,rubbing his forehead. It seemed like he wanted to explain something, but with his limited vocabulary, it would have been difficult.
"How about we just keep going?" Kagome said, "Which path should we take?"
Inuyasha's ears suddenly perked, and h looked at the two paths they were met with before they stopped to rest. He nodded to the path on the left, "There… Is a village out there."
"Then let's head out that way," Sango said, slinging her Hiraikotsu over her shoulder.
"It is far out," Inuyasha said, "maybe… a day?"
"That's not bad," Kagome said.
The three of them plus Kirara then headed on the path to the left, going out into an open field that goes on for miles. Though it didn't seem like there was a village anywhere in that direction, the two girls trusted Inuyasha and walked down that path.
What the girls didn't know is that the direction they were going was where Inuyasha sensed the evil presence of Naraku.
Since it was a little bit after noon when they started down the path, they decided to keep walking until nightfall. When the sun was hanging low in the sky, they found a place to stop for the night, which was just in the open.
They all laid down in the grass, where Kagome and Sango almost immediately fell asleep. Inuyasha had his arms behind his head, staring up at the sky, which was slowly becoming darker and darker. He stared at the moon, which was a very small crescent. It was obvious the next night would be moonless.
He knew he should stay awake and watch over them, but he hadn't slept in the past few days, and he felt exhausted. Though he tried his best to keep his eyes open, they eventually closed.
The chatter around was loud, but none of the words made sense to the little boy that held a ball in his hands. He had a wide grin on his face as he traversed through multiple people. When he had made it away from the crowd of people, his ears perked at the sound of familiar voices that he could understand.
"How is this going to happen?"
"I will figure out the details later. For now we will go along with this plan of attack."
"Do you really expect this to work? Won't they be prepared for something of the sort?"
"My father knows them like the back of his hand, he will know how to handle it."
When he came into view of the two speaking, they ended their conversation. The tall male with long, white hair stared down at him, narrowing his eyes, "What are you doing?"
He held out the ball, "Game?"
"Scram, brat," the male with black hair scowled.
The two males walked away from him as his ears flattened.
"Inuyasha!"
He abruptly turned around, met with a woman walking towards him, a warm smile on her face, "You know Sesshomaru doesn't like it when you interrupt his meetings with Naraku, sweetie. They need to speak alone, okay?"
He nodded, holding the ball in his hands close to his chest.
"Now, let's go find Papa, okay? Maybe he'll play ball with you," the woman said, placing a hand on his back and leading him back through the crowd.
His ears perked at Sesshomaru's voice from behind him, though it was far away and faint.
"We'll kill him."
Inuyasha quickly pushed himself up, his breathing staggered. He let out a deep breath and rubbed his forehead. Dreams of his childhood wasn't something he enjoyed.
He looked over at Kagome and Sango, who were still sleeping. He sighed and looked up at the sky, seeing that it was most likely a bit past dawn. He stood up and stretched, scrunching his nose at how his robe pulled out of his pants a bit. He decided to pull it off and drop it onto the ground. He honestly never liked wearing it how it would normally be worn.
He looked over when Kagome sat up, stretching out her arms and yawning. She looked at him, "When are we heading out?"
It took a moment for him to think of a response, "When Sango wakes?"
Kagome gave him a weird looked, "Are you okay? You seem a bit… Off."
"Off?" Inuyasha questioned.
"You're tense," Kagome explained further.
Once Inuyasha realized that he was indeed tense, he relaxed a bit, "S'nothin'."
She couldn't question him any further, because Sango woke up. The slayer sat up, Kirara sitting beside her.
"We should get going," Inuyasha said.
Sango readjusted her kimono as she stood, "Sounds good."
They gathered their things together and got moving. Inuyasha had grabbed his robe and messily threw it on, not bothering to tuck it in or tie it.
Along the way, Kagome got out some fruit from her bag that they had gotten from the village. It had stayed fresh due to the chilly air. They had bits of apple and such.
As they walked, Inuyasha seemed to be starting to catch on to their vernacular, since he was slowly speaking better and more fluently. At one point, Kagome must have said something funny, because Inuyasha laughed, covering his mouth right after. He was getting comfortable around them.
Once it had started to become late afternoon, the trio talked about finding a village before nightfall. Inuyasha was pointing out into the distance when there was suddenly a scream from that direction. The demon's ears perked up and he didn't hesitate before running where he had pointed to.
"Inuyasha!" Kagome yelped, running after him with Sango and Kirara in tow.
Once they had caught up to him, they found the village he had been talking about. It was being attacked by a demon.
Inuyasha ran towards the demon, his robe falling off when he jumped up to attack the demon. It looked like it was half woman and half centipede.
Though he did attack the demon, she just threw him into one of the houses, breaking through the wood. She then came after Sango an Kagome, who couldn't get to their weapons fast enough.
Then, sutras flew out of nowhere, hitting the demon. A male with black hair in a short ponytail stepped in front of them, holding a few sutras and a staff, "You should be a bit quicker, ladies."
Sango took her weapon off of her shoulder and threw it, cutting the demon in half. She caught the weapon, "That quick for you?"
The male went over to the demon to make sure she was dead, "Nice shot."
Kagome ran over to the house that Inuyasha was thrown into, seeing that he was unconscious. She Turned her head over her shoulder, "Sango!"
Sango ran over to her, "That knocked him out?"
The male poked his head in, "Oh, so the other demon was with you?"
Kagome pulled Inuyasha up, slinging his arm over her shoulders, "He tried to help."
An older woman came over to stand beside the male, "If your friend needs help, please come with me."
Sango helped Kagome carry Inuyasha as they followed the woman to another hut, going inside and laying him down. When they heard the woman gasp, they turned to look at her.
"Is this by chance Inuyasha?" She asked.
Kagome nodded, and the woman smiled, "Alright."
The woman was about to start wrapping the cuts he got when he suddenly jerked awake, looking panicked.
"Hey, hey, calm down," Sango said.
He looked at the older woman and looked confused for a moment. His eyes then widened slightly, "Kaede…?"
"I'm surprised you recognize me," Kaede chuckled.
"How do you two…?" Kagome asked.
"It's a long story," Kaede said.
After Inuyasha's cuts were tended to, he went outside to help the villagers clean up the remains of the demon and help with damaged homes. Kaede had made some stew for the girls.
"How did you come across Inuyasha?" Kaede asked.
"He was in the forest behind my village," Kagome said, "I got curious and found him there."
"So he hasn't found another village…" Kaede murmured.
"What do you mean?" Sango asked.
"Inuyasha's mother lived in this village," the woman explained.
"Aren't his parents demons?" Kagome said.
"Well, Inuyasha is different than a pure demon," Kaede said, "his mother was human, and his father was a demon. He is a half-demon."
The term "half-breed" became clear to Kagome.
"Is that why his brother would try to kill him?" Sango said.
Kaede sighed, "So he was found again… I might as well explain what happened when he was a child."
"Inuyasha's mother had gotten together with the leader of the Dog Demon Tribe. When both our village and their tribe found out that she was pregnant with a demon's child, neither were very happy. Her parents had kicked her out, and she went to live with the dog demons. We never really heard from her until she had Inuyasha, and she came back to the village to tell us. When she left, that was the last time we ever saw her. The next time we saw Inuyasha, he was a terrified five-year-old. He had the Robe of the Fire Rat, which his mother wore. It was stained with blood, his mother's blood. We concluded that his mother was murdered, and he got away. He didn't know how to speak very well, since he didn't have a very good education with the demons, but he told us that his brother had banished him and his mother. He stayed at the village for that night but was gone the next morning. It's been years since then," Kaede explained further.
"That's awful…" Kagome said.
Kaede nodded, "And the fact that tonight is the moonless night is quite a coincidence."
"Why is that?" Sango asked.
"Since he is a half-demon, there is one night where he turns human. We found out that it is the night with no moon."
"So he's going to be human tonight?" Kagome questioned.
"Yes."
"That explains why he was kinda tense when he found out there was no moon tonight," Sango said.
"It's probably a good thing we came across your village, then," Kagome said.
"Oh, I remember something I wanted to ask," Kaede said, "why are you two girls travelling with a demon?"
"We found out that we've all been sort of been involved with a demon named Naraku," Sango said.
"I've heard the name," Kaede nodded, "Inuyasha's mother didn't really trust him."
"Inuyasha said he didn't trust him either," Kagome added.
"Most demons you can't really trust," Sango said.
A small conversation then went on about why they were after Naraku and such, until the male that had saved Kagome and Sango came in, "Lady Kaede, I hope it's no trouble for me to stay the night again."
"Not at all, Miroku," Kaede said, "you're always welcome to stay."
"So your name is Miroku," Sango said, "I didn't get a chance to thank you for earlier."
Miroku was from the door to her side in an instant, taking her hand in his, "It was my pleasure… Sango, was it?"
"Uh, yes," Sango said.
"I am always ready to save women in need," Miroku said.
"Miroku, are you done cleaning up?" Kaede interrupted.
Miroku let go of Sango's hand and stood up, "Some of the other villagers are finishing up with the remains of the demon."
Inuyasha came into the hut, pulling on his robe, "They are finished."
The half-demon came in further to sit against the wall as Miroku left. It had gotten dark out since they had started to clean up, and the sun was nearly set. Kagome and Sango watched with wide eyes as Inuyasha's hair suddenly faded into black, his dog ears disappearing and his eyes turning dark.
After seeing their faces, Inuyasha got up and left. Kagome was the one to get up and go after him, which was difficult, since he was just outside, leaning against the wall.
Kagome stood in front of him, clasping her hands in front of her, "I… I'm sorry about your mother."
What the girl didn't expect was Inuyasha to look her dead in the eyes and speak in a serious tone, "I don't need your sympathy."
Before she could say anything else, he cut her off, "Kaede told you, right? I'm a damned half-demon, my mother was murdered in front of me. I don't need anyone's pathetic apologies."
He left her standing there as he walked away from her. She was shocked about how fluent he spoke, but also how serious he was. She shook her head and decided to leave him be, going back inside.
The others didn't see Inuyasha until later that night, just before they were asleep. No one questioned him of his whereabouts before they fell asleep.