Disclaimer: I don't own InuYasha.

'thoughts and inner voices'

"talking"

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Soon enough the unusual pair arrived back at the burning village.

Koimizu stopped in his pace as he stared at the destruction that the bandits had done while under Kanna's influence. He still hadn't really come to peace with what had happened in the events. He still didn't understand how his powers could have summoned all those youkai. He took a deep breath and headed onwards again.

As Naraku watched the boy continue his way he silently followed. Those villagers would make trouble once they saw them again. Those foolish mortals, who were horrified by all the blood and death that stained their village. Ungrateful as they were, they chased away their hero.

He threw another glance towards Koimizu's back. And the hero accepts his fate with… dignity. That is what a poet would have called it. But to Naraku it was mere cowardice of a fool, unable to pave his own path, unable to conquer his own place.

Naraku stared at the boy's black hair that played with the wind. He observed the bow Koimizu held in his hand that was moving forward and backward in time with the pace he took as he walked on. He listened to the soft clattering of the arrows in the holster that Koimizu carried on his back. The soundless steps the boy made.

'You look so much like her…'

Koimizu turned around to face Naraku. "What are we going to do? We can't just stand here all day and wait until she appears."

Naraku nodded. "Indeed, we can't," he agreed as he picked up the sound of three human beings and two youkai coming towards them. Immediately Naraku registered who they were. They were Kagome, Sango, Miroku, Kirara and Shippou. Naraku focused more carefully on his surroundings as he listened intently. Ah, there it was! InuYasha was a little ahead of his group.

He frowned. He was a fast healer, but he still wasn't fully recovered from the blow of the combined attack dealt to him by that future-miko and the hanyou. If they found him now… it would be his death. "Let's go," he said as he turned around to walk back towards the forest. But he was too late already.

"Going somewhere, Naraku?" InuYasha asked smugly. A smirk adorned his face as he drew his Tessaiga.

Soon enough the rest of his group had caught up with him. All glaring eyes were on Naraku.

"Che, you're even more stupid than I thought, Naraku." As expected, InuYasha would not let down the opportunity of insulting him. "If you're going to slaughter off a village at least do it when you are not an injured weakling like you are now. And especially when you know we are near you."

Miroku frowned. "Wait InuYasha," he said silencing the hanyou. "Something odd is going on. I can't sense any jaki coming from Naraku."

InuYasha blinked. "His jaki?" He looked around and soon enough he spotted Koimizu.

A jolt of shock triggered through him.

"… Kikyou?"

No sooner had those words left his lips or his whole pack had shot their eyes towards the figure standing not too far behind Naraku.

Slowly the blankness in InuYasha's mind subsided and as he observed the miko before him more closely, he concluded that this could not be Kikyou. The miko before him had a flat chest, so that could only mean that he was a boy. His eyes were nothing like Kikyou's either. They were round and golden and resembled his own so much, that it made InuYasha shudder.

"Kikyou!" Kagome yelled out. The anger that had been buried deep inside her rose as she saw the miko before her face. She hadn't forgotten how Kikyou had betrayed her trust. Twice she had and twice was enough. Kagome pulled out an arrow and readied herself for an attack.

"Stop, Kagome," InuYasha ordered in a tone that did not belong to the normal InuYasha who had just seen Kikyou. She eyed InuYasha for a moment, but he gave her a look that did not tolerate disobedience and she lowered her bow.

InuYasha lifted his head upwards to the sky and sniffed for a moment. Then he lowered his gaze and settled it on Koimizu. "You…" he growled in a threatening tone. "Why do you smell like Kikyou?"

"I don't know what you're talking about," Koimizu defended himself. "I don't know someone named Kikyou."

InuYasha narrowed his gaze. "You smell like her, kid. You smell like Kikyou, mingled with her tears and someone else's blood." He didn't once let go of his gaze as he glared at the boy. He didn't trust this at all. 'A boy who smells like Kikyou and her tears and the blood of… someone I know. I know this scent, but I can't figure out whose blood this is…'

Slowly Naraku looked from InuYasha to Koimizu and then from Koimizu back to InuYasha. 'I knew he had something to do with Kikyou… Who is he?' He glanced one more time at Koimizu. 'But he didn't lie. Not to me, nor to InuYasha. I can hear it in his voice.' And then he turned his gaze back on InuYasha. "You were going to fight me, I assume," he said in a deadly calm voice, but he didn't feel calm at all.

InuYasha focused his gaze back on Naraku. "I sure as hell am," he confirmed and charged.

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