Disclaimer: I do not own InuYasha.

Chapter 27: The Journey

InuYasha and Shippou skidded to a stop somewhere in the middle of the forest where Makoto's scent was strongest. It took all Shippou's willpower not to just turn around and puke at the smell and sight of what was left of Akina. InuYasha turned to where a growl was being directed at him. Makoto was still transformed, covered in blood. He clenched tighter to the new sword he held in his hands. If he could just get Makoto to grab the sword, then he would revert back to his hanyou state. The problem was, in the state he was in, he would sooner rip both their heads off before grabbing a sword.

The youkai-Makoto didn't like being interrupted when he was reveling in his big kill. He hated it even more that the new intruders didn't seem afraid of him. He would soon change that. He snarled at the hanyou, obviously the stronger of the two intruders. The hanyou turned to face him, but didn't show any move to attack or even defend himself. Makoto growled louder to see if he could get some kind of reaction. At first he did nothing, then started to growl back. Youkai-Makoto took an involuntary step back. Something about the hanyou's growl was commanding, empowering. Makoto felt like this hanyou was a leader of sorts. It confused him.

InuYasha could see the confusion on his son's face. Though Makoto couldn't recognize InuYasha, he could still sense his authority as a make-shift pack leader. InuYasha continued his growl, creating a soft but commanding tone. He motioned for Shippou to stay back, and took a couple of steps forward with the new sword in his hands. Makoto shook his head and started snarling again, and InuYasha stopped his advancements. He was trying to avoid a battle with his son at all costs, but it didn't seem as if Makoto were going to make it too easy on him.

"Listen to me, Makoto. Stand down." InuYasha stated in an even tone. "I don't want to fight you, but I will."

"Oyaji, I don't think…"

"Shut up, Shippou." Makoto continued his snarls, but lowered his tone where he could hear what the hanyou was saying. InuYasha took another step forward. "I said stand down, pup."

Makoto could understand what the hanyou was saying. He knew the hanyou's name, InuYasha, the youkai behind him, Shippou, but just like with Akina the names meant absolutely nothing to the blood-thirsty youkai. But, the flashes of memories is what stopped him from attacking. InuYasha, picking him up by the collar of his kimono and setting him down in a branch of a tree. There was something about him, he knew him, but how? And why did he even care? The confusion was making youkai-Makoto angrier by the second. He knew how to get rid of the confusion. Besides, who did this half-breed think he was, challenging him like this?!

InuYasha jumped out of the way as Makoto charged him. He felt the wind from his son's claws brush against his face. Before he could complain about nearly having new stripes across his face, InuYasha was ducking from another blow. "Dang it, Makoto, I said STAND DOWN!" He dodged another attack from the youkai.

Makoto's fangs were bared against his own father. The rouge youkai stormed forward on his left foot, stooping low and bringing his right foot around to hook behind InuYasha's knees. InuYasha fell flat on his back, rolling to one side to avoid the onslaught of claws and fangs. Makoto was able to get one good slash in, ripping though the fire-rat haori and leaving hair-thin scratches along InuYasha's arm. He looked down at his arm and growled.

"Oyaji, forget about that, just get him to grab the sword!" Shippou yelled from a safe distance.

InuYasha was still growling to himself. He was hoping he could bring Makoto around without having to fight him to take the sword, but the pup was too far gone to even talk to. InuYasha held the sword in one hand and ran toward Makoto. The youkai-Makoto calculated his movements and side-stepped his father, bringing one clenched fist down hard on InuYasha's shoulder. InuYasha wasted no time, quickly turning back around on his heels and using the sword to put a choke-hold around Makoto's neck.

Makoto thrashed about, trying to pry himself loose from InuYasha's hold around his neck. He growled, clawed, kicked, and punched but InuYasha held the sword firm and matched his moves. With no other option, youkai-Makoto reached up and grabbed the sword, tilting down with all the strength he could muster, sending InuYasha flying over his head straight to the ground in a body slam, the sword in the youkai's hands.

At first Shippou and InuYasha wondered if the sword would work. Makoto was just standing there, sword in his hands. Then he dropped to his knees with a howl. Pure energy crackled from the sword, traveling up Makoto's arms until it fanned out across his entire body. InuYasha got back to his feet and backed up. Youkai-Makoto was fighting the changes with everything he had. He tried to let go of the sword, only to find the sword wouldn't let him. He howled again in pure rage as his claws started to recede, and fangs shortened. With a flash of gold in his eyes, he feel forward. InuYasha took a few cautious steps toward him. Makoto raised his head and sat up on his knees, rubbing the back of his head with his free hand. Before Makoto could get a good look around, InuYasha brought down his doubled-up fist on the back of his head, sending him into unconsciousness.

"What was that for?! He was back to normal!" Shippou yelled, putting one of Makoto's arms around his shoulder while InuYasha did the same on the other side.

"You want him to see all this right now? Keh. It's going to be hard enough when he remembers it."

Shippou nodded. "What do we tell Okaa and the others?"

"We tell them the truth. Without the details. The less they know about this, the better off we'll all be."

"…and Makoto?"

"I'll deal with that myself."

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Miroku sighed heavily as he walked down the path to the village, which seemed to have lengthened considerably since he last walked it. Everyone else had already gathered at his hut for the night. Maybe it was the sights he had to witness, maybe it was the fact they after today with all the attacks he knew they were all vulnerable, but Miroku had never felt so alone in his life as he walked that path on his own. He could only imagine how InuYasha and Kagome felt right now, or how Makoto would feel when he awoke. All he wished was to be in Sango's arms, sitting with his girls and all their friends.

Sango leaned on Miroku's shoulder as he sat down next to her in front of the small fire in the hut. InuYasha had found both of them when they returned with Makoto and had given Miroku instructions to purify the grounds. From the looks of it, whatever he had found had not been all that pleasant. Sango didn't want to know. She'd seen what InuYasha could do in a blood rage, and she didn't even want to think of Makoto being capable of such. Instead, Sango swore to herself to do anything she could to help.

Shippou and Tani silently sat on the other side of the fire just across from Miroku and Sango. Tani had her head buried in his shoulder, hands clinging to his haori. She had been clinging by Shippou's side ever since he had arrived, dragging Makoto in beside him. He wasn't looking too well himself; pale in the face and barely saying a word. Was it really all that horrible?

InuYasha sat with Kagome in a corner, Tetsusaiga propped on the wall beside him. He had agreed to wait till the morning before heading out to Sesshomaru's castle. They had to wait until Makoto woke, anyway, and to tell the truth he didn't really feel like leaving at the time either. How was he going to handle this situation? He should have gotten a sword created for Makoto a long time ago. He guessed he was just hoping that Makoto wouldn't have the same kind of problems he had himself. But InuYasha was going to do just what they started. First, he was going to deal with Haru. Whatever happened liked that will be taken care of in time.

Kagome kept glancing over her and InuYasha's shoulders to the back bedroom. As worried for Makoto as she was, millions of other thoughts were running through her head. What about Kouga, Ayame, and Kigia? Though Akina had betrayed them all by joining sides with Haru, she was still part of their family. Their daughter. His twin sister. Surely Kouga would understand what had happened, wouldn't he? He wouldn't hold a grudge on Makoto for his daughter's death, not in these circumstances, not after what she had done. Kagome still couldn't believe it. She knew Akina wasn't the most loyal of the wolf-youkai, but to completely throw aside her pack for revenge? It was inconceivable. Then again, why would anyone be so coldhearted?

Kita sat silently with Makoto in the bedroom, his head lying in her lap, her hands idly switching between combing through his hair and stroking his fuzzy ears. That's how the two had been since Makoto had been drug in by his father and brother. She, Kagome, and Mai had cleaned the cuts and dried blood from his skin. Mai left for home, and Kita assumed Kagome had gone back into the main room with InuYasha and the others. She didn't need anyone to explain what had happened. The fact that the majority of the blood she smelled happened to belong to Akina told the whole story.

He killed her. Makoto had killed Akina. Though the motive behind the killing wasn't yet apparent to her, Kita knew there had to be something behind it to motivate him. Even in his youkai state, he wouldn't kill her unless he was provoked into doing so. She looked back down at the inu-hanyou's sleeping face. His brows were furrowed, jaw clenched tight, lips pulled back showing off is white fangs. Makoto wasn't resting at ease. Maybe it would be better if she woke him. But how would he react? Would he remember what happened right away, or would it take awhile? Kita didn't have to ponder too long. As she continued to absent mindedly stroke his hair, his eyes slowly opened, followed by a long groan.

Makoto reached up and touched the back of his head with his hand. The small bump InuYasha had given him was already receding, but it still hurt. Makoto took a few moments for his eyes and other senses to focus on his surroundings. The first thing he noticed was his closeness to the she-wolf. He gave a sleepy smirk and turned in her lap to nuzzle against her hand. Kita smiled softly back. Makoto sat up and stretched his arms in the air, popping his shoulders and wrists. All the while Kita sat quietly, watching Makoto's face for any sign of emotion that he remembered what happened. Instead he flopped back down and sighed.

"How long have I been out?"

"A few hours."

"Hours? And Oyaji hasn't pushed everyone into leaving yet?"

"You were pretty hurt." Kita stated softy. "He thought it best to stay here tonight and leave first thing in the morning. Just in case some youkai are still out there."

Makoto paused. "Haru. I think he was there, with other inu-youkai." He closed his eyes as his brow furrowed once more. "He sent thousands of youkai from the western lands. I kept them off for a long time, but more and more kept coming. Too many." He was talking more to himself then Kita, trying to recall what happened through all the fuzziness in his memory. "Then they all stopped…and…Akina…" Akina was there. Why was she there? It's hard to remember… "We fought. I yelled, she yelled, she…she kissed me…" He saw Kita flinched but ignored it for the time. After that memory, everything was dark. Fuzzy. And man did his head hurt. Big time. The room started spinning…

"Makoto, forget about it right now." Kita lay down next to him and snuggled against his shoulder. "It'll come back to you, in time." She said halfheartedly.

"Yea… yea, you're right. As long as everyone is okay." He turned sharply to the side with a worried expression. "Everyone is okay, right?"

"Everyone is fine, just worried about you."

Makoto yawned. "Good. Sleep…now." It was a command. Kita shook her head but didn't object when Makoto flung his arms around her waist and pulled her to his chest. By the time InuYasha cracked open the door to Makoto's room to check on him, the two were fast asleep. He made sure the sword was near before slipping back out.

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Makoto lagged behind the large group as they marched on toward the castle. Two days into the trip Kagome, Yumi, and the pups were riding on Kirara's back while Shippou had transformed into a rather plump-looking horse to carry Tani. InuYasha and Miroku were walking up front, occasionally turning to each other and whispering, then taking a glance back at him when they thought he wouldn't notice. Sango, Kita, Hana, and Cho walked on either side of Kirara. Like the others, Kita would turn to look back at him, showing off her signature sad smile. Mai was the only one absent, having chosen to stay behind with her husband and help him with his growing duties within the village.

After the first few days of whispers and glances from the others, Makoto finally dropped Kita's hand from his own and signaled her to walk ahead. He could see the hurt expression the wolf tried to hide, but nudged her on. Makoto needed time to think alone. He remembered everything up to the point of his transformation. After that it was just a big, dark blur. Apparently something had happened; otherwise he wouldn't be getting all those looks. He sighed and brought his hand down to rest on the hilt of Touken. Shippou had told him Toutousai's warning, and that he should keep it close at all times. Then InuYasha had interrupted and told him never to let the weapon out of his sight for any reason at all.

Makoto had figured that he had attacked Akina, and that InuYasha or Shippou had placed the sword in his hand to revert him back to his hanyou form. How…bad… had she been hurt? Was that why no one would talk to him about it? He sighed to himself. If he had really hurt her too bad, odds were she had ran back to the den and told Kouga. Most likely, the wolf was already out looking for him. Maybe that was why the others were staring at him. They had lost the pack as an ally because he couldn't control himself. That still wouldn't explain some things, like InuYasha. He wouldn't care about that. Come to think of it, neither would Kita. She wasn't really on friendly terms with other wolves in the first place, being a runaway from her own pack. He stopped, nearly ramming into Kita in front of him. He hadn't noticed the others had stopped, nor had he noticed how dark the sky had gotten.

"Everyone get some sleep. That goes for you too, Makoto. I'll keep watch tonight." InuYasha said. Makoto just watched as everyone pulled out various blankets and traveling futons to make their place for the night. They all seemed rather weary, even Shippou and InuYasha's shoulders were slumped more then they should have been.

Kagome rolled out her futon next to InuYasha, placing the sleeping pups between them. Mehiji gave out a small snore as she tucked him in for the night. Miroku and Sango lay side by side on their futon, the girls cuddled with the transformed Kirara. Shippou and Tani were already sleeping by the fire they had built, Shippou's tail twitching occasionally in the air. After several moments just standing over the campsite, Makoto noticed Kita sitting with her arms and chin draped over her knees with a thoughtful gaze in her emerald eyes. She looked concerned, confused. He walked over and she gave a small smile as he sat down next to her on the ground.

"Tired?" he asked. She nodded. Makoto slumped against the bark of a tree and pulled her into his lap with a sigh.

"I…" Kita started, but fell silent.

Makoto looked down at her. "You what?"

"I just…wanted you to know… that I am here for you, Makoto. You taught me to trust you with any problem that I had…and…you can trust me, too." She blushed.

Makoto smiled and dropped his lips to caress hers in a quick but passionate kiss. "I just want to remember what happened. No one is saying a word about it, but they keep staring at me… like they're expecting something to happen at any moment." He sighed and his ears drooped. "I just hope I didn't do what I think I did…"

A/N:

GAHHH!!!!!!!!!!!

SORRY!!! Things keep piling up on meh. For those of you who didn't know, my dad has been in and out of the hospital for the past month..or two. I don't even remember how long. Anyway, hope you enjoyed the chappie, 28 will be out sooner.