Chapter 4: Thoughts Under the Moonlight

After two weeks of training, Kagome was confident that Sakumo would be able to travel with them to find the jewel shards. Although Inuyasha wasn't happy about Sakumo being with them. Unfortunately he was outvoted about the issue at hand. Right now, they're leaving Sango's village and headed out from there.

"Hey, Sakumo-san." Shippo said as he sat on Sakumo's right shoulder.

"What is it, Shippo-kun?" Sakumo asked.

"Are you sure that you want to travel with us?" Shippo asked.

"I'm positive, Shippo-kun. I have to repay you all somehow." Sakumo said with a closed eye smile.

"He can leave if he ever gets too scared or can't handle the job." Inuyasha said with his hands on the back of his head.

"Osuwari." Kagome said. Inuyasha went head first into the ground. Shippo sighed.

"He'll never learn." Shippo said.

"Perhaps so, young Shippo." Miroku said as he and the others walked past the 'grounded' hanyō.

"Does he always act that way around everyone?" Sakumo asked, curious.

"Unfortunately he does. But we have yet to find out the reason why though." Sango said.

"Wasn't he raised by his parents?" Sakumo asked.

"Inuyasha's father died the day he was born. His mother died a few years later and he was left on his own." Kagome said, sadly.

"I see." Sakumo said, sadly.

"Sakumo-san." Sango said, trying to change the subject at hand.

"Hai?" Sakumo asked.

"Do you...miss your village?" Sango asked.

"As a matter of fact I do, Sango-chan. But I mostly miss my son, Kakashi. I keep wondering how he's doing by himself." Sakumo said.

"I'm sure that he's fine, Sakumo-san." Shippo said.

"You think so, Shippo-kun?" Sakumo asked.

"Hai! I know he will be okay." Shippo said.

"Thank you, Shippo-kun." Sakumo said.

The journey to the next village was mostly a quiet one. But Sakumo made up for the quietness by telling the group about his village. All of them were very interested about except Inuyasha. The one thing that Sakumo left out was what a jinchūriki is and how they're treated. Considering that Inuyasha was a hanyō and the last thing they would need is Inuyasha getting into an argument with him.

"Konoha sounds like an interesting place." Kagome said.

"I think that Sandaime-sama would like all of you." Sakumo said.

"Thanks, Sakumo." Kagome said.

Suddenly, they heard screams up ahead and quickly ran towards them. When they got there, they saw a demon tearing up one of the fields while the villagers were running away from it. Kagome analyzed the demon to be an oni. A big and ugly one at that, too. Then she noticed a small pink glow in the middle of its chest. It was a jewel shard!

"What is that?" Sakumo asked when he saw the demon.

"That would be a demon, Sakumo-sama." Miroku said.

"I see. Then we must defeat it, right?" Sakumo asked.

"Hai." Miroku said.

"Alright then." Sakumo said as he unsheathed his sword. Everyone soon unsheathed and readied their weapons. Kirara turned into her larger form and Sango and Miroku got onto her back. Inuyasha unsheathed Tessaiga.

"Its got a jewel shard! So be careful, everyone! Okay, everyone ready?" Kagome asked as she readied her bow and arrow, "Let's go!"

Everyone headed towards the oni, but the one who got ahead of them was Sakumo. He was in front of the oni and the next they saw him on the other side of it. But then the oni's left arm came off and it screamed in pain. The oni tried to hit him with his remaining arm, Sakumo dodged it and headed towards the other arm. The arm fell off and the oni screamed in pain once more. Sango used her Hiraikotsu and severed the head off. Kagome hit the oni with her arrow which pierced it into the heart. The oni's body fell forward and soon turned to ashes. Kagome quickly ran over to the oni and retrieved the shard. It was instantly purified as soon as Kagome touched it.

"Another one purified." Kagome said as she put the shard in her bottle that she wore around her neck.

"That was amazing, Sakumo-san!" Shippo said, excitedly. Sakumo blinked in confusion.

"Those were very fast moves there, Sakumo-san." Sango said.

"Thanks." Sakumo looked away and scratched the back of his head nervously.

"Don't get too cocky just because you cut off the oni's arms. Any other high level yōkai is able to do that." Inuyasha huffed.

"Osuwari." Kagome said. Inuyasha was slammed into the ground again.

"Shall we get going then?" Miroku asked.

"Good idea." Sango said. Then everyone turned towards the village that was up the road, leaving Inuyasha behind. As they walked, Kagome noticed that Sakumo was gazing at some of the damage that the oni caused.

"Don't you think that we should help the villagers with the damage?" Sakumo asked.

"We don't have time for that! We got more shards we need to find!" Inuyasha said with his hands behind his head as he walked ahead of them.

"Actually, Sakumo made a good suggestion." Kagome said, placing her finger on her chin.

"I agree." Sango said.

"I agree as well. We don't know where the next shard will be and it could be a good chance to stop and rest after we're done." Miroku said.

"It'll be a waste of time!" Inuyasha shouted.

"Osuwari!" Kagome shouted. Inuyasha got slammed face first into the ground.

Against Inuyasha's protests, the Inutachi group decided to help repair the damages that the oni had caused for the villagers. Kagome and Sango were helping the injured while Sakumo, Miroku, and Inuyasha helped out in the fields and repaired the houses. Shippo and Kirara entertained the children. Inuyasha was grumpy the entire time, which annoyed Kagome. So she sat him a few times until he decided to try and stay on her good side. Afterwards, the village decided to treat them for their hard work. Luckily, Sango whacked Miroku in the head before he requested women. That probably would have end up badly.

"Thank you for helping us." The village headman said.

"It's nothing, sir. It wouldn't be right to leave your village like that." Sakumo said with a closed eye smile.

"But still, we are very grateful towards you all." The headman said. Then the village girls brought out their meals. Each of them enjoyed the meal, but Inuyasha stole most of Shippo's fish.

"Hey! Give that back, Inuyasha!" Shippo yelled as he tried to reach for the fish.

"Nope. I'm bigger than you, so I need more energy than you." Inuyasha said, smugly. Then he ate the fish.

"Inuyasha, you're so cruel." Shippo began to tear up.

"Shippo-kun, you're welcomed to have the rest of mine." Sakumo said.

"Really?!" Shippo asked, excitedly.

"Hai." Sakumo said, nodded. Shippo quickly ran over to Sakumo who kindly put the rest of his fish onto Shippo's plate.

"Thanks, Sakumo." Shippo said as he stared at him with admiration.

"No problem, Shippo-kun." Sakumo said with a closed eye smile.

"You're a lot nicer than Inuyasha, Sakumo." Shippo said.

"Hey!" Inuyasha shouted as he stood up.

"Well it's true! You're always mean to me!" Shippo pointed at Inuyasha.

"He is right, Inuyasha." Kagome said, "But why are you always so mean to him?"

"It's none of your business, wench!" Inuyasha shouted. Kagome flinched at the name 'wench'.

"Inuyasha, that was very rude of you to call Kagome that." Sakumo said, sternly.

"Why the heck do you care?! You're not part of my group!" Inuyasha shouted as he pointed at Sakumo.

"According to Kagome, I am. Why do you have to be so cruel to your own friends, Inuyasha?" Sakumo asked. Everyone noticed how silent Inuyasha was being while he was gritting his teeth. Then he stormed out of the room.

"I'm sorry, I didn't mean to cause a fight between you all." Sakumo said.

"It's alright, Sakumo-sama. He'll come back once he's cooled down." Miroku said.

"Are you sure, Miroku?" Sakumo asked.

"I'm sure." Miroku said.

Later that night, Sakumo sat on the porch of the house while watching the full moon. He couldn't stop thinking about his old home in Konoha and his young son, Kakashi. He felt bad that he had now left him all alone. Then he began to think about the life that he was living now. He couldn't figure out why he was brought here in the first place.

"Can't sleep?"

Sakumo turned towards the voice and saw Kagome in her pajamas that were from her era. He didn't know how he didn't sense her.

"Hai. You as well?" Sakumo asked.

"Yeah, I had one heck of a nightmare." Kagome said as she sat down next to Sakumo.

"What was it about?" Sakumo asked, curious.

"Math." Kagome groaned.

"Do you hate math?" Sakumo asked as a sweatdrop appeared on the back of his head.

"Hai. I'm trying so hard to understand it, but with the shard hunting, it makes it impossible to remember everything." Kagome said and sighed.

"I see." Sakumo said.

"Every single time when I'm in the middle of studying, Inuyasha hurries me back here when I'm not ready at all." Kagome said as she stared at the ground, "All he cares about is Kikyō, gathering the jewel shards, and defeating Naraku."

"Kikyō?" Sakumo asked.

"Inuyasha's undead lover. I'm actually her reincarnation." Kagome said.

"How is she alive?" Sakumo asked, confused. How can someone who died years ago be alive once more?

"A clay witch stole Kikyō's ashes and made a clay body of her. Then the witch kidnapped me and ripped my soul out of me which entered Kikyō's body. I don't remember much of that encounter, however Shippo told me that my soul escaped from Kikyō and came back to me. But a bit of my soul remains in her body." Kagome paused, "So now, she uses her soul collectors to collect the souls of dead maidens in order to stay alive."

"I see. It must hurt that part of your soul is missing." Sakumo said.

"Hai, I know that Kikyō wants the rest of my soul, but I don't want to give it to her." Kagome said, "Not to mention that Inuyasha keeps comparing me to her. He keeps saying that I wouldn't measure up to her."

"Don't worry, Kagome." Sakumo said. Kagome looked up at Sakumo who was smiling softly at her, "I won't let Kikyō bring any harm to you. Besides, to my point of view, I say that you're much stronger than her."

Kagome started to blush pink on her cheeks. She never heard anyone, not even Inuyasha, say something like that to her. Well, he did say that he would protect her. But he probably wouldn't protect her from Kikyō. Afterall, he was still in love with her and Kagome was just her replacement if she died once more. Unfortunately, Kagome refused to become someone's replacement. No way, not happening. For some strange reason, her heart skipped a beat at Sakumo's words. It made her feel warm inside.

Sakumo felt sorry for Kagome. He couldn't believe that Inuyasha would be so cruel to his own packmates. He fully knew that they had to work as a team in order to defeat their enemies. Even though that there were a few shinobi in his world that were able to stand against many enemies on their own. But Naraku was a lot more powerful than any enemy he went up against.

If Inuyasha continues to fight alone, he won't stand a chance against Naraku. Sakumo thought. Then he noticed that Kagome was rubbing her arms.

"Are you okay, Kagome?" Sakumo asked.

"I'm okay, just a little chilly is all." Kagome said. Unexpectedly, Sakumo wrapped his arm around her and pulled her onto his lap. Kagome blushed even harder than before as her head was placed on his chest.

"T-Thank you, Sakumo." Kagome said, nervously.

"You're welcome." Sakumo replied, "Don't worry, I'll keep you warm."

Kagome smiled and leaned closer to Sakumo's chest. She truly felt warm as he wrapped his arms around her. At that moment, the thoughts about Inuyasha and Kikyō no longer seem to matter. All she could think about was staying in Sakumo's big, strong arms that brought warmth to her small body.