A/n: I do not own Inuyasha or Goblin: the Lonely and Great God

a/n: Oh boi, what's gonna happen here:O

Chapter Five

Souta continued to eat out of the bag of chips while Kagome carried the rest of the groceries home. Their walk, which normally would have been filled with chatter and a few light jabs here and there, was filled with silence instead. His sister's eyes held a light that he had not seen in a long time, and there was a determined expression that her jaw kept as it clenched. It had been a while since he had last seen such a look on her face. It hurt the middle schooler to see her like that, because it meant that she was contemplating them again.

"Hey sis," he tried, pausing chip mid-air as he waited to see what her reaction was.

She blinked slowly, her mouth drawing in a tired line while her eyes widened slowly—she had been brought back. "Hmmm? What's wrong Souta, did we forget something?"

The boy shook his head and he placed the piece of his snack back in the bag. "No, you just seemed kinda out there."

She hummed noncommittally, with a mumbled 'oh was I' before returning them to their quiet again.

With a grunt, he crumpled his chip bag so the metallic plastic could crinkle loudly. That annoyed his sister to no end and he knew that it would bring her back. He was met with a bop upside the head, and he wince a bit as he met her scowl.

"Don't be a nuisance," Kagome bit, her voice not unkind, but not wholly un-irritated either.

"I just wanted to know what you were so quiet," He sighed, continuing to eat again, chewing with his mouth open. "You're not normally like this."

"It's been a long day." She supplied.

He snorted. "Join the club. That's nothing special."

"What do you know you're just a kid."

"And you're just a teenager, so what?"

A slight pout crossed her face and her cheeks puffed indignantly for a moment. He was relieved to see her with that sort of a look.

When they arrived home, there was a comfortable silence between the two of them. When they finished climbing the steps to the shrine, Souta took the groceries from his sister and ran inside telling her he could handle the rest from there. She watched him go with a small smile on her lips. The air was starting to get chilly, telling her the time for mittens, her heavier coat, and scarves would be arriving soon. She certainly hoped so. Her footsteps lingered as she walked slowly, her mind traveling to different things to distract herself. There was the upcoming field trip to a museum, the shopping day she and her friends would have over the weekend, and not to mention Jii-jii's favorite day of the month: shrine cleaning day.

Her steps paused and she looked at the well house. It looked so tempting, just to step in and take a peek. What wrong could become of that? The worse that could happen is that the well would remain closed and she'd have a slight pain in her ankles from the drop. That would not be so bad. Especially considering the best case scenario would be time opening for her once again and she would be able to see everyone.

Their laughing voices and smiling eyes, glittering with the happiness of finally being reunited…

Swiping at the air, Kagome turned around and walked down the stairs of the shrine. She could hardly take this torture anymore. With her destination set in her mind, she was fully ready to make the trip. It would take a few hours, but it would be worth it, she believed.

Mama will understand, she thought to herself as she began to make her way to the train station.

The miko decided that she would take the train from Tokyo to the ferry in Koto and from there she would travel across the bay to Chiba. She had done this before, the first week she had gotten locked out from the Feudal Era. So this wasn't something new. It was just something she had not done in a while.

People crowded around her, chattering about school and working. Talking on the phones to their children or wives or husbands. It was noisy. Too noisy. Her lip trembled as she forced her mind to quiet as she reached the walkway to the station, her train card swiping past the sensors so she could wait on the platform. The screeching of metal wheels on steel beams reached her ears first before she saw the speed train. Her eyes searched the electronic sign to see if she would board. Her sight narrowed and she sighed. The next one. A plethora of people entered and exited the train and she almost wished she had stayed home. That probably would have been more productive. But the thought of the empty well house spurred her on. This was one of those days where she could not sit still. She had to go somewhere, anywhere, away from that reminder.

The overhead voice announced in its rattly, nasally voice the dart to Koto would soon be arriving and that withdrew Kagome from her solid determination. As the train slowed down at the platform, she sighed softly and closed her eyes. She tried to forget a hanyou meeting her at the train station to hand her the high school entrance exam ticket. Every time she came here, it would be a painful way of her to cope with the fact that he had been real and that she had not imagined everything in some fanciful daydream.

As she boarded and found an open seat, her mind went to the encounter earlier that day.

"Oi, wench!" He snapped, easing her off him in a contrastingly gentle manner compared to his tone. "My name's not Inuyasha."

She blinked, her eyes searching his gold ones. "W...what?"

"Keh," he scoffed in such a familiar way. "My name's not Inuyasha."

Still confused, Kagome tilted her head, eyes narrowed as she looked at him. Despite the strange changes to his hair and garb, he was still very much the Inuyasha she knew. His gold eyes. His apparently never changing huffy personality. But that gentle side he hardly allowed people to see.

"Then who are you?"

There had been youki and while a half-demon, Inuyasha had a strong youki that could even be compared to Sesshomaru's. She had recognized it the moment she saw him. But he claimed that it was not him. In fact, he had no seeming recollection of her either. He had acted completely aloof—more so than his usual dose. So that made her wonder, if that was not Inuyasha, then who exactly was it? She could not have made up something so real, something so tangible like that. Not in that way. Plus to mention that she had misplaced her coin purse when she ran away and then he returned it. A figment of the imagination couldn't do that.

"So I wonder, maybe…" her heart sunk a bit as a thought crossed her mind. "Maybe he's related to Inuyasha. It's possible that he might not have made it to this era, but any progeny he would have would have made it. What, is it silly to think that he would have waited for me to return? I mean it's unlikely but…"

She felt the gentle chill of tears along the corners of her eyes and she commanded herself to stop. It was absolutely ridiculous for her to cry over something like that. If it was a descendant of Inuyasha, then she should be happy. A part of his legacy was able to live on after him. Although again that did raise the question as to why this person did not recognize her. Inuyasha had known her time well enough for him to be able to advise any future offspring of her whereabouts and who she was. So why hadn't there been any connection between her and him?

"Ugh, this is so confusing," she sighed, tilting her head back to rest on the cool glass of a window.

"We will be approaching Koto juncture," the announcer stated.

With a slow exhale, Kagome stood and hauled her backpack from her lap to her shoulders in a swift motion. The moment the train stopped, she was off and away, eager to get away from the traffic of people. From the train station she could see the bay where she would take the ferry. Reaching into her jacket pocket, she pulled out her coin purse and made her way down the streets and through town to reach the docks. It didn't take her long to reach her destination where gulls cried and waves slapped the side of the harbor while boats bobbed up and down, water lapping at their sides. Pulling up to the a little booth, she handed in her fare in exchange for a ticket. She noticed the line of people moving at the ferry, and she ran, hoping she could make it in time before she would have to wait another half hour for the boat to return. Just as the harbor master was closing off the last of people to join, she ran up to him.

"Excuse me, excuse me!" She cried out, her ticket in hand waving frantically. Wait!

He looked from his watch to her, before tapping his foot impatiently. His furry brows lifted and he gave her an expression that said, 'hurry up'. She could have hugged him in relief. The little miko rushed to him, holding her hand out. With a sharp inhale, he ripped the ticket snub off her pass and allowed her onto the boat. The miko bowed gratefully before rushing on to board to find a good seat.

Her stomach pitched a bit but she forced herself to keep her food down. It wasn't often that she could get motion sick. However, the stench coming from Tokyo's bay made her rethink this whole trip to Chiba. Shaking her head, Kagome knew that this was something that she had to do. At least to regain a little sanity in her life.

When the ferry docked, she waited patiently in line to leave. Once she was off and on solid land. She began her walk to Inage Seaside Park. The grassy knolls just before the sand that met the water was just where she wanted to be. That was her spot. From the time that she had been banned up to today, she had visited the beach in the Chiba prefecture a total of four times, this time being the fifth. For some reason, the miko found comfort in the rolling, gentle waves and the cry of seabirds overhead.

By the end of the hour, Kagome had made it to the sea park. A few people were there, however she was the only person around her particular area. Both to the left and to the right, in the distance she could see shadows of people dancing and playing along the sand.

A wistful smile crossed her face and she could not help but think of Shippou. Her little kit. She missed him. For the umpteenth time she shook her head and sat down on the grass. While flattening her skirt neatly on her lap, she gasped as a sensation of discomfort shot up from the back of her thigh. Rearranging the way she sat, she reached under lap and searched for what had poked her. She was surprised when she withdrew an old lighter that someone had abandoned. With disgust, she turned the item over in her fingers, wondering why someone would just trash the beach like that with the very flammable piece of plastic. Still, with a small ounce of curiosity to see if it still work, she turned the dial with her thumb. A half surprised gasp escaped her when the flame jumped out violently and nipped at her fingertips. With a yelp, she dropped the lighter. Panic settled through her stomach as she realized a small smolder had started on the grass. She leaned down and began to blow on the tiny flame, it wasn't very big, but with how dry the grass was, it would spread in a moment.

Wisps of steam and smoke wafted and the threat was gone.

Resting her head in the palm of hand with an exasperated exhale, she wondered if she would find any peace here. It wasn't until that thought crossed her head that she felt as though she were being watched.

Please don't let it be an officer, I promise that wasn't my lighter, she begged, her head turning slightly to look.

"Woman, what did you do?" A man demanded.

The girl sniffed, wiping the back of her hands on her skirt. "I'm sorry, what?"

She turned to look at the owner of the voice.

Both of them found themselves taken aback.

She stopped. Her mouth gaping slightly as the breath rushed from her chest. She couldn't believe it.

The Inu stood before her, his golden eyes narrowed and his dark brow furrowed. His once long hair had been cut close to his skull although it seemed more proper and businesslike than short—but his bangs still covered his forehead in that familiar way. In his hand was a clutched bouquet of flowers. Those seemed to starkly contrast the fine pressed blue button down he wore as well as the black trowsers he sported. Those were definitely something she had not expected to ever see him wear. But the thing that surprised her the most was the fact that the markings that had once proudly adorned his skin were gone. Was this just like earlier? Her ghosts haunting her so that she couldn't tell the imaginary from reality.

"Sesshomaru?" she gasped, her tone incredulous.

"You are the woman who trapezed around the country side with my idiot hanyou brother," he realized.

"I don't know about 'trapezed', but sheesh," Kagome tilted her head to the side. "How on earth did you find me?"

I didn't. He blinked, not answering.

With a small smile she looked at the flowers in his hands. "Those are pretty."

"It's buckwheat," he answered, still staring at her.

"Buckwheat, they say that means lovers," she joked before realizing that with him, that was a very bad idea. She fidgeted. "Er. It's good to know you're still around, you know. I'm sure if everyone were still—"

He dropped the flowers by her side and turned around walking away.

"Hey, jerk!" she called after him, "I was talking! At least excused yourself."

"Do not summon me again," he stated flatly, his voice monotone as he continued to walk away from her. "This one is not a dog for your beck and call."

"You could have at least said goodbye!" she called after him. "And I did not summon you!"

In a swirl of lilac smoke, he disappeared, as if he had never been there to begin with. The only sign that he had was the flowers lying abandoned in the grass. Kagome frowned, before she reacted, tears of joy starting to spill from her eyes. She was not alone.

A/N: Thank you to everyone who left a review! I loved reading them:)

Hope you enjoyed this chapter, and I'll see you around for the next one (finally we've got some development:O) Arigato and takk fyrir!