Chapter 16

Harry was completely silent for the next few days, the others sensing his discomfort stayed away. They were so quiet that by the time the third day rolled around, and Ron started to speak they were all surprised that they could communicate.

"We should get to a village, we need to know if we are going to cross any borders soon." He looked at his shoes when he said this but Harry could tell that he was being truly humble when he said this. He glanced over at Hermione and she smiled at Ron who didn't notice because of the fact that he was still entranced by his laces and trying to cover up his ears, which were now bright red.

They walked in silence for a while longer until Harry could no longer bear it. He turned to Ron who had stopped staring at his sneakers.

"What did you see?" He looked his friend straight in the eye and didn't stop staring even though Ron tried to avoid his glance.

"Harry I dunno, different pieces of my life. There was a part when Fred and George were picking on me, and there was another at Hogwarts and just different stuff." He was trying to be vague but when he mentioned Hogwarts Harry's curiosity was peaked.

"What did you see at Hogwarts?" It was this time his friend succeeded in not looking at him, Ron looked up at the sky, which for a change was bright blue.

"I saw Ginny get taken into the Chamber of Secrets, I couldn't stop her and I saw her go, I also saw Hermione get petrified but I was able to stop that, instead the snake got me instead, I was there when my leg got broken by Sirius but before anything could happen I accidentally let go of Scabbers and he got away. There was a voice and it was saying that I made a poor wizard and who am I kidding thinking that I could fight dark wizards with you." He seemed out of breath from his rant but he was able to look straight into Harry's eyes. Before he could ask Harry what he saw Harry turned onto Inuyasha.

"What did you see?" He was stubborn, not willing to let the hanyou brush him off. Inuyasha growled but seeing no other option he started to speak.

"I was fighting, the entire time with my brother." He looked Harry straight in the eye when he said this, and even if he was lying Harry didn't like the challenging stare that covered the hanyou's face. "What did you see," when Harry paused, Inuyasha started to laugh, "Oh I get it you have to know everything about everyone but you can't tell anything about yourself. What a sad story that you are."

"You were lying!" Harry shouted.

"At least I said something, human, you were so cowardly that you weren't able to say a thing." Harry hated the winning look on Inuyasha's face; however, he knew that the half-demon was right.

"I saw people die, ok." He threw Inuyasha a scathing look as everyone else stared at him their mouths open. "What are you staring at a lot of people have died around me." Hermione reached out a trembling hand and tried to touch his shoulder. Harry brushed her off, but immediately felt sorry. "I watched them die all over again, Sirius, and Cedric. I was there though," his voice falling just above a whisper, "when…. I saw my mom and dad."

Harry felt like punching Inuyasha in the face just to do something, just to stop everyone from staring at him. He wanted to do something rash, to not have to endure the horrible pity that shrouded his companions' eyes. The only person who seemed indifferent to this display was Inuyasha, his haughty smile had fallen but he still kept looking down on Harry.

Harry stalked off shoving his hands into his pockets, despite the sun rising the weather was changing for the colder. He didn't know how long or when it started but soon everyone was following him, they all kept a good range away but Harry could sense the beings tracking, and watching, his every move. This is exactly what happened after Cedric died, everyone was afraid of talking to me, because I was this tragic little boy. His insides burned with anger was that how Kagome felt? That I'm just some basket cast that will hurt her if she came up to talk to me? Harry's head started to hurt from all the contempt he was holding in at his friends. He had just started shaking with spite when someone came and tapped him on the shoulder.

"Harry," Kagome looked him straight in the eye, there was no fear in her features, only concern. This seemed to calm Harry down and he was able to speak quite civilly to her.

"Yes?" There was no need for him to say anything more, he was still angry.

"I thought maybe we should stop for now, I mean its getting dark and all." I sound so stupid, and here I am trying to comfort him and I sound like an idiot Kagome screamed at herself in her head.

Harry looked around in wonder at the hours that had passed since he had last spoken to anyone. The visions of his past were so clear and new that it seemed unbelievable they had vanished over seven hours ago. He nodded at Kagome's waiting form and walked to the edge of the road.

As everyone were setting their packs down, Ron frightened them all when he cried out as he was going through his sack.

"What the hell…..?" He reached in again and pulled out a box, wrapped in brown paper and had a note stuck to the front.

Everyone quickly gathered around to see what the note said and Harry felt his anger ebbing away to nothing when he read the note.

To our dearest brother Ronald;

We wish to congratulate you for leaving the house so early, and for having the guts even to stand up to our dear mother and tell her she can't do anything to stop you. Upon further inspection of your bag we realized……

"Hey!" yelled Ron, "They went through my stuff!"

Upon further inspection of your bag we realized that not only are you a dolt, you are a complete idiot as well.

Everyone burst out laughing, all except Ron who turned a furious shade of magenta.

You have never had the extreme displeasure of having our father take you, to what muggles so fondly call cramping, so when you are out in the wilderness you do not know what to pack. We have given you all you need to survive in the wild outdoors and hopefully you are not stupid enough to find it after many days in front of your entire company. If you ever are in London please stop by, if you don't we will be forced to hire our dear mother since she feels it would be us you would confide to first. We hope that you are well and that you and Hermione are not forcing Harry to wear our earplugs more than necessary.

Your older and more handsome brothers,

Fred and George

When the end of the letter came to a close all those around were wiping their eyes from laughter, Fred and George seemed to have that affect on people. No matter how dreary the day, the year or the moment was Fred and George Weasley knew exactly how to lighten it.

"I knew you borrowed something from Fred to hinder your hearing." Hermione rounded on Harry. He looked sheepish as Ron chuckled and hit him on the shoulder.

"Hermione, do you think you two would have stopped fighting just because I asked?" Hermione opened and shut her mouth, and Ron's hand fell from Harry's back. Inuyasha looked like he was about to laugh when Harry looked at him and Kagome, "And do you think that you wouldn't have hit me if I asked you to stop bickering?" The group went silent but Harry just started laughing, they all looked so silly with that guilty look on their faces. "Honestly guys I don't mind I just wish I didn't have to use the ear plugs eighty-five percent of the time." They all looked sheepish which only made Harry laugh even harder.

Canvas and metal rods were what turned out to be in the box from Fred and George. After a while they were all able to set up the tent, and Harry was delighted to see the same look he wore on Kagome and Inuyasha's face the first time he had seen a wizard tent.

Harry pulled the flap back and first Ron, Hermione and he all went through. When Kagome and Inuyasha were absent for a few moments Harry put his head through the flap to invite them in. They seemed hesitant but yielded to Harry's request.

The sight that met Kagome's eye when she walked through the tent opening was like nothing she had seen before. There in the center of the room was a table and five squishy armchairs; there was a small but efficient kitchenette off to the right and three doors leading off to the left. Hermione was standing next to the far door and looking happily inside. As Kagome neared, Hermione turned to her, almost with tears in her eyes. Kagome sighed when she saw a full bathroom, with soap and enough soft towels for all of them. Kagome eagerly went to the next door entitled 'gents' to find bunk beds, and in the last room entitled 'misses' two smaller beds were laid out. Fred and George had seemed to think of everything and over and over in her head Kagome thanked them.

Ron was busy in the kitchen looking around at all the things inside it. He was looking dumbly at bowl and a small package with strange writing on it.

"AHHH" Kagome screamed causing everyone and everything to jump, and Ron to drop the package he was holding. Kagome ran to pick it up and started jumping in the air. When she was ready to speak everyone but Inuyasha was able to understand what she was saying, "Its udon, its udon, its udon, I am going to have udon. Oh thank you Fred, oh thank you George." She held the small package to her and danced around in the kitchen.

Upon further inspection of the kitchen Kagome realized she could not only make Udon, but also Okonomiyaki, her personal favorite Gyoza. Inuyasha started to get excited, not only was Kagome one of the best cooks he knew but she was also going to make Okonomiyaki.

(A.N. You may be wondering what these dishes are and I will tell you: Udon are Japanese soup noodles, there are many different ways of preparing it but Kagome will make the Kitsune Udon, appropriate because it is the fox udon, and it is made with fish sausage naruto, baked tofu, and leeks. Okonomiyaki is a pizza pancake and you can really put whatever you want in and on it. Finally, Gyoza are Japanese dumplings and they are filled with a mixture of pork, leeks, and sake they can be known as "pot stickers" in America)

After everyone seemed to think they were going to burst from Kagome's cooking she brought out another treat, she explained they were Kanto-style Sakuramochi. They were folded sweetened rice cakes and Kagome seemed proud that she could finally show off her talents in the kitchen.

After everyone had gone to bed Harry stumbled into his bunk above Ron, hardly able to wait to get to sleep. It would have been eaiser if there wasn't a silvery being floating above Harry's pillow.

"We have to talk."