Chapter 2

In the dark of the night, a small furry child walked out to a holy place. A large tree resided there, called the God Tree. This child was not there to see the tree, though. He was there to talk to the tree's occasional ornament, an inu-hanyou whose only thoughts were of a girl from the future.

"InuYasha, are you there?" the young child called up to the highest branches, straining to see what the human eye couldn't.

"What do you want Shippo?" a gruff voice floated down to the child's ears.

Shippo shifted nervously. He then began to climb the tree, hoping to reach InuYasha before he became angry. When he reached the branch that InuYasha was sitting on, he paused to catch his breath.

"You should be sleeping back at Kaedae's," InuYasha said without turning to face the kitsune.

"I want you to go get Kagome," Shippo blurted out.

InuYasha's face hardened. "Not happening runt."

Shippo started to feel his eyes burn with the appearance of tears. He crawled closer to InuYasha and softly said, "Please Papa, bring Mama back."

InuYasha swiftly turned and picked up the kit. "What did you call me?" He meant for the statement to be filled with anger, but it was filled with an unknown emotion.

Tears flowed freely down Shippo's face. "I want you to go get Kagome."

"That's not what I asked you."

Looking off to the side, Shippo said, "I called you Papa."

InuYasha blinked. "Why?"

Shifting nervously, he explained, "When you saved me from the Thunder Brothers, I thought of you more as my brother. But as you and Kagome got closer and we got to know each other, I started calling you Papa in my head. You really do act like my father did, all arrogant and powerful." Shippo hiccupped, a result of the powerful crying he had done.

InuYasha set the kit down, staring off into the trees. He felt small arms reach around his arm and he jumped. Looking down, he saw that Shippo was hugging him. Nuzzling his face into the fire rat haori, Shippo's shoulders shook with sobs.

Shifting on the branch, InuYasha sighed. Taking Shippo, he lifted him up so that they were eye to eye. "Listen here runt, I can't go get Kagome. She doesn't want to be here or she wouldn't have left."

Shippo shook his head. "How do you know? She wouldn't have left without saying goodbye. You know that!" Fury overtook the kit and he started to flail his arms, kicking and biting.

InuYasha merely sat and held the kit at arm's length until he tired himself out.

"I want her to be happy. If she were happy, she wouldn't have left. You are too young to understand." He looked Shippo in the eyes, which was a bad idea since the kit's eyes were wide with innocence and wet with unshed tears.

Shippo hung from InuYasha's hand for a moment before he gathered the courage to whisper, "Will you at least go back for me? To have her come back here to say goodbye to me, to everyone? All I want is to see her one last time."

Sighing, InuYasha placed Shippo on the branch. "Fine, I will bring her back if she wants to come, to say goodbye. Now, go back to the hut and sleep."

Grinning, Shippo ran up to InuYasha, hugged his neck and said, "Thank you Papa."

Before InuYasha could react, Shippo was down the tree and out of sight. Resting his back against the trunk, InuYasha looked up to the moon, thinking about the next day.

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Kagome woke up when the sun's rays fell across her eyes. Sitting up and rubbing her cheek where the cold glass window of the car stuck to it, she glanced around her. Souta was asleep in the seat next to her and Grandpa was snoring up in the front.

The car rolled to a stop in front of a massive house. Kagome gasped at the magnitude of it. The walkway wound through an overgrown garden up to the wrap-around porch which attached itself to the faded blue house. It was four stories tall with a tower on the north side. The windows were black and dirty, revealing nothing about the interior of the house.

Kaiyo placed the car in park and popped the trunk. Without facing Kagome, she said, "Help me bring the bags into the house."

Kagome, still furious with her mother, did not respond, but hurled herself out of the car and into the garden. After she was certain that her mother would not be able to find her, Kagome slowed to a walk. Admiring the flowers around her, she nearly missed the small doorway in the midst of the bushes and ivy.

It was an old wooden door with an old steel lock with rust overtaking its body. Brushing aside some leaves, Kagome attempted to break the lock. Bracing herself, she yanked hard and fell back on the ground.

The lock dissolved in her hand, the years of rain and snow taking its toll. Brushing her jeans off, she pushed the door open. Kagome's jaw dropped as she took in the courtyard. Huge flat stones made up the walkway that led to various benches, fountains, and statues.

Slowly strolling through the courtyard, she was amazed at the craftsmanship she saw. Statues of warriors in armor and princesses in their dresses were placed at random intervals around the fountain in the center of the yard.

Kagome was enthralled by the fountain. Moving forward, she reached her hand out to run it over the smooth stones.

"Kagome!"

She jumped as her brother's voice caught her attention. A strong desire to keep this place secret filled her and she ran out the door, closing it behind her. Walking further up, she found her brother searching for her in the bushes.

Sneaking up behind him, Kagome gave a shove, sending Souta flying headfirst into the bush. Angry mumblings were thrown into the air as Souta pulled himself out. "This is the thanks I get for coming to get you! Next time I will let you stay lost."

Kagome laughed at her brother's pout. Ruffling his hair she said, "Thanks squirt. I get dibs on the tower."

Souta gaped, his mouth flapping open. "That is so not fair! C'mon, Kagome!"

Running down the path, Kagome stuck her tongue out. Laughing, the siblings ran to the house to pick out their rooms.

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The sun shone brightly through the canopy as InuYasha walked to the well. He was lost in thought as he neared the clearing, explaining why he didn't hear the monk until he was right next to him.

"So, what is your plan of action, InuYasha?"

The hanyou barely managed to keep from jumping out of surprise. Instead, he just growled at the monk.

"None of your damn business, Miroku."

Miroku sighed. "Well, I just wanted to tell you: good luck."

With that final statement, the monk walked away, back to the village. InuYasha grunted. "Damn monk, doesn't know what he's saying."

Growling, InuYasha jumped into the well, feeling the familiar pull of the magic bringing him to the time that he hated so much. Walking through the courtyard of the deserted shrine, InuYasha paused at the base of the Goshinboku tree.

He brought his hand up to gently caress the spot where the arrow had pinned him, his eyes going soft at the memory of meeting Kagome. "Of course, I wanted to kill her, but I won't focus on that right now."

"Hey! Get away from there!"

InuYasha jumped, landing in a crouch behind the tree's massive trunk. Glancing around the side, he saw one of Kagome's friends running toward him. 'What was her name…? Edi? Eki? I'll just wait for her to introduce herself.'

"I know you're there! I want to know why you're trespassing on shrine grounds!"

He was about to step out when he remembered that his ears weren't covered. "Shit," he whispered to himself.

The young woman stiffened. "I heard that! I know you are there. If you come out I won't call the police!"

'Police?' InuYasha sighed, calling out, "I am Kagome's friend. I just came to see her."

"You know Kagome? Then why are you hiding behind the tree?"

"You startled me. How was I supposed to react?"

To his surprise, the schoolgirl blushed and apologized. "I'm sorry, but Kagome moved. Her mother came to pull her out of school a few weeks ago. Said something about Kagome's health and needing fresher air."

As InuYasha crouched behind the Goshinboku, a plan formed in his mind. He knew that this world was too complicated and that it would take him forever to try to find Kagome by himself. He took a deep breath and said to the girl, "Do you want to go see Kagome?"

"You know where she is? Her mom didn't leave a new address, which I thought was suspicious, but everyone else thought that I was crazy…"

InuYasha rolled his eyes. 'This girl rambles worse than Kagome does.'

"Yea, whatever. Listen, I want to go find Kagome, but I will need your help. I'm going to step out from behind the tree. Please don't yell or scream."

He stood up and walked out to face the girl. She stood for a moment, taking in his appearance, from his white hair and dog ears to the red haori he wore. "So you are the mighty InuYasha? It's nice to finally meet you face to face. My name is Eri; I am one of Kagome's school friends."

InuYasha froze in shock as Eri stuck out her hand. "How do you know who I am?"

Eri rolled her eyes. "Please. Kagome talks about you all the time. Plus, I overheard her grandfather yelling once about a demon when I was over at the house a while ago." Smirking, she reached out to grab his hand. Shaking it, she let his hand fall limply back to his side and turned to walk inside.

Pausing to look over her shoulder, she called out, "Aren't you coming to find Kagome? There isn't any time to waste!"

Shaking his head, InuYasha followed the girl, wondering what he had gotten himself into.

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Two hours and three Ramen cups later, InuYasha was sitting on the floor in Kagome's living room, staring at a map that Eri had brought out of her pocket.

"I figured you would be coming to look for her so I brought this to help you. I, thankfully, am on a school break so I can go with you. I told my parents that I was going to visit Kagome, so it all works out."

Pointing her index finger on the map where a red X was marked, she said, "This is the shrine. Do you have any idea where they moved to?"

InuYasha nodded, remembering the note attached to the Ramen cup. "Her mom said Osaka."

Eri gasped. "I had no idea," she trailed off. Thinking for a moment, she snapped her fingers. "I got it! We will take the train to the main city of Osaka and continue our search from there."

"How big is the city?"
Faltering, Eri laughed. "Oh, it's not that big. It's just a couple thousand people, much smaller than Tokyo."

She laughed, causing the hanyou to scoot away slowly, fearing for the girl's sanity. Waving her hand, she continued. "Well, you should be able to sniff her out. That will help greatly if you can smell where she has been, then we can follow her trail to her house."

InuYasha watched as Kagome's friend folded up the map to focus on the city of Osaka. She muttered to herself and drew a plan of action for when they got to the city. "Why aren't you scared of me?"

Eri looked up. "Why? Should I be scared of you?"

Blinking, InuYasha answered, "Well, most sane humans are scared of demons. You didn't even flinch."

Looking down guiltily, Eri was silent. InuYasha was about to leave when she started softly, "Kagome confided in me once. It was about 4 months ago; she had come back to school for a long time and I asked her if she wanted to sleep over at my house."

InuYasha remembered that fight. Kagome was so upset she stayed on this side of the well for 2 weeks. It was about Kouga, the wolf having come to claim Kagome yet again. They fought and he injured the wolf demon seriously. Kagome had run over to the flea-bag, cleaning and dressing the wounds before coming over to yell at him. He said some very untrue things, his anger at Kagome's care ruling over his common sense.

"How could you hurt him so badly? I should have used 'it' to stop you."

"Well, why don't you use it now? I bet Kikyou wouldn't have hesitated. Keh, you're just a pathetic little shard detector who doesn't know when to keep her fucking mouth shut! Run over to your lover before he leaves, I'm sure he won't be happy to have you over here with me for too long."

InuYasha winced at the memory. He didn't mean any of what he said. The look on her face almost sent him to his knees begging for her forgiveness. He looked up when Eri cleared her throat.

"She agreed and we spent the night watching movies and playing games. Then we went to bed and she confided in me. She told me about your 'quest' and how she travels to the past." Glancing up at him, he was surprised to see anger in her eyes.

"She told me what you said to her, how cruel you were when she helped the wolf demon. I can't believe you did that!"

He lowered his eyes, unable to keep contact with her brown eyes. "But she also told me how she had forgiven you." This caught his attention. His ears swiveled to focus on the girl. "She told me how kind you were when you had time alone, how you protected her with your life several times, how you really weren't that bad when you were by yourself, and how much she loved you."

InuYasha froze, his heart stopped beating for the second after Eri revealed that. Somehow, having her say it had more meaning, hit deeper in his heart then reading it in the note her mother left. Eri stood up and squatted in front of the hanyou. Placing her hand on his shoulder, she forced him to look at her.

"I don't know how you feel about her or how deep your connection is, but I do know this. She loves you with her entire being, her heart and soul, and nothing would have kept her from returning to you if she had any control over it. She had no idea that her family was moving. I talked to her the day before they left. Her mother told her that they were going to visit an aunt. She did not leave you willingly. Will you be able to put that aside and do what it takes to bring her back?"

InuYasha was silent. He knew the girl wanted an answer from him, a declaration of love to the miko from the future. He also knew that he couldn't give it. "I don't love her. I only want her back to have her help finish the quest. After the Jewel is complete then she'll come back here and live her life."

He stood up, breaking off Eri's rejection of his answer. "Finish what we need to do to find her. We leave tonight."

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InuYasha watched the sun setting behind the shrine from his spot in the braches of Goshinboku. The door to the shrine opened, revealing Kagome's friend. She was dressed warmly, carrying a big yellow bag on her back. It was worn and dirty, one of the straps was falling off. Leaping down and startling Eri, InuYasha took the bag from her.

"This is Kagome's bag."

Eri nodded. "I found it in the trash when I came over the other day. It seems like her mother didn't want any reminders of her trips through the well. It was still in pretty good condition so I took it."

InuYasha didn't reply, only gave the bag back and started walking toward the shrine steps. He stopped when the hat was placed on his head. "I don't think so."

He turned to look at the girl. She was holding a pair of pants and a shirt, along with sock and shoes. "If I'm going into a strange city I don't want to be the center of unnecessary attention. You're going to change into modern clothes."

Growling softly, he replied, "And what if I don't want to?"
Eri stared him down. "I don't really care what you want. If we get to the city and her mom sees us because we stand out like a sore thumb, what do you think she will do? Keep Kagome away from wherever we are searching and you won't get a scent trail. Then you'll have to finish your quest without her."

Grumbling, InuYasha took the clothes from her and went inside the shrine to change. He came back out several minutes later, dressed in his modern clothes and stuffed his feet into the shoes. Smiling, Eri chattered like she was oblivious to the hanyou's foul mood. "I'm glad the clothes fit you. I was a little worried, but Kagome said you were the same size as my brother so…"

Sighing, InuYasha prepared himself for a very long trip.

To Be Continued. . .

A/N: This is just the beginning of this story, that's why the chapters are not as long as some of you may like, though I am proud to say that this one is a full page longer than the last one. I know it has been awhile since I updated my stories, but life comes at you fast and before I knew it, 2 years had gone by without my even thinking about FanFiction. I am back now, for a little while and I hope to be updating regularly. I hope you are enjoying this story so far, feel free to review! I would prefer that you don't flame, that makes me angry and unwilling to write.