InuYasha Fan Fiction ❯ A Love Nearly Forgotten ❯ Unknown Destination ( Chapter 2 )

Disclaimer: I do not own Inuyasha. That is all that needs to be said.

A Love Nearly Forgotten

Ch. 2

Sesshomaru looked around the small camp, his eyes lingering for a moment over the small girl, Rin. He had not wanted her to come on this journey, and had ordered his servant, Jaken, to stay in the lair with her, but she would not have it. She cried for what seemed like forever, not wanting to be alone with `the smelly toad' for three weeks. In the end, Sesshomaru gave in and allowed the little girl come along. He still did not know what compelled him to please her as he did, but that was part of the reason he was here was it not?

The southern part of his lands was their destination, a portion of his lands that he usually omitted from his patrols. He knew no other lord would attempt to claim it, in fact as far as he knew the land had been practically given to his father, for no other demon wished to claim the sacred place that lay there. Sesshomaru himself did not particularly enjoy the air the ancient land held, but there was something there…something very important to him. It was for that reason he traveled there more than he wished.

It had been nearly five years since his last visit, and for some reason he felt he needed to return. "Yes, all the answers lie there," he whispered to himself, for she was there. She would have all the answers. Rin, Tetsusaiga, and his bastard half brother, it would all be clear. He knew it would be so.

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"Why now? Why? After so long…Why did that stupid dream have to come back?!" Inuyasha growled, his fist punching the large boulder he had perched himself upon. The dream played itself over and over again in his head, and he was beginning to get a headache. `How long has it been?' He thought to himself. Inuyasha tried to remember. `They stopped…yes that was when…When they stopped… when I met Kikyo…' His eyes fell behind his bangs as the thought came to him, the thought that it had been Kikyo who healed his broken and lonely heart. Kikyo had come into his life, the young woman who was just as lonely as he was.

The dreams he had known for so long slowly began to stop, being replaced by wonderful dreams of Kikyo, and after her death…when the spell placed upon him had been broken…nightmares… horrible nightmares of when Kikyo had killed him plagued his mind. Now they had returned, the dreams that followed him for one hundred years.

`Schala… ' came a voice from the deepest part of his mind.

`No… stop… I don't want to think… ' Inuyasha clasped his hands over his ears in an attempt to block the sound, but it would not be silenced.

`It is all your fault! If you had only been stronger!' The voice came again in a harsh tone.

`No! Stop it!'

`If you had only been stronger!' It repeated, louder than before.

"You're right," Inuyasha whispered to himself, giving in to the voices accusations. "That is why I will find the rest of the jewel fragments…I'll never be weak again…but…why… why do I have to go there again? When I left…it was supposed to be for good." He looked up at the sky, and knew that morning would come soon. He needed to return to camp.

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"What's wrong Kagome?" Shippou turned to his friend, worried that something was wrong. "Why'd you stop?"

"It's…it's nothing. I just… I just don't like it here," Kagome replied nervously, jogging up the path in an attempt to catch up to her friends. Something didn't feel right, and it got worse the further they went.

"We are dangerously close to Sesshomaru's territory Kagome, perhaps that is why you feel uneasy," Miroku offered.

Kagome cast a hopeful look to the monk, "Maybe you're right, he gives me the creeps!"

"Do you sense anything yet Kagome?" Sango asked, she did not like it here either. Demons were everywhere, and she was surprised that they had only been attacked once that day.

It had been a large snake demon, one which was very intent upon getting the jewel. It didn't take long, with all of them fighting together the demon didn't last, and soon they had been on their way again.

"No, not yet Sango." Kagome answered. She hoped something would come up soon. She really hated being here, and besides there's a test next week at school!

"We'll just keep going until she does sense something," Inuyasha said quietly. It had been the first thing he had said all day, other than a sigh every ten minutes and a `Feh' earlier that day when Kagome had brought up the way he had been acting last night.

`He actually said something,' Kagome thought to herself, `and he was kind of nice about it too…now I KNOW there's something wrong.' She hurried up the path to the hanyou's side, "umm…"

"WHAT!?!" Inuyasha jumped back when he noticed that Kagome had been staring at him so closely.

"What's wrong with you!?" Kagome yelled, annoyed with the change in her friend over the past week.

"I TOLD you I'm FINE! Why don't you mind your own business bitch!"

"Oswari!"

"Owwww that hurt!" Inuyasha yelled, his face bright red with anger. He was not in the mood for this.

"I hope it did, maybe it knocked some sense into you! When will you learn that we are your friends, and if you don't tell us what's wrong we can't help!" she said as she stomped her foot. "After that demon attacked back at Kaede's village you've been acting strange! You don't say anything, you sigh CONSTANTLY, and you yell and scream in your sleep, which by the way wakes EVERYONE up! Then you run off in the middle of the night, and you expect us to believe that there is nothing wrong!"

"And there IS nothing wrong!" Inuyasha screamed back, still attempting to pry himself from the ground. "Maybe there's something wrong with YOU! Did you ever think of that bitch?"

"Oswari!"

"Agh!"

"Kagome, please, maybe Inuyasha needs some time before he can tell us what is bothering him," Miroku said, attempting to ease the tension in the group. "Why don't we just let him be for a little longer," he said walking to Kagome's side and placing a hand on her shoulder.

"Don't you touch her!" Inuyasha yelled, the spell just wearing off, as he leapt up and brought his elbow down on the monk's head.

"That was a good sign," Kagome said, laughing. "At least he's not completely out of it. Hey, where did Sango and Kirara go?"

"Huh? I don't know, they were here a moment ago," Miroku said as he picked himself off of the ground and rubbed the knot on the top of his head. He looked around for his friend. "Shippou's gone too."

"Hey guys!" The little fox kit came bounding up the path ahead of them, "Me, Sango and Kirara went on ahead, and we found a village! They were having some demon trouble, so Sango and Kirara stayed behind to take care of that. They sent me back to get you guys, if you're done arguing that is."

"We weren't arguing!" Inuyasha yelled as he tried to grab the kit by his tail.

"EEP! Kagome help me!"

"Inuyasha stop! Leave Shippou alone!" Kagome snapped, "Ok, now where is this village Shippou?"

"Come on! This way!" The kit cried as he bounded up the path again. "If Sango can get rid of the demon, the village elder says he'll give us a place to stay for the night!"

Their destination was a small, run down village deep in the forest. It was quite a distance from the main road, and it might not have been found if Shippou's demon ears had not heard the distressed cries of the villagers.

When the rest of the group arrived, they found their friend in trouble. The demon problem the village had was a family of very large badger demons, and two of them were on Sango.

"Inuyasha help Sango!" Kagome yelled as she grabbed the bow from her back and fitted it with an arrow.

"I know that!" Inuyasha unsheathed the Tetsusaiga and leaped toward the demons, killing the one that held Sango in its claws.

"Thanks Inuyasha! We need to be quick, there are three more running around somewhere. Not including the one that is left here" Sango said, slightly out of breath.

"It's ok, Kagome and I have things here, you go find the others before anyone gets hurt." Miroku said as he attacked the badger with his staff. An arrow came flying by his head and caught the creature in the forehead, sending it to the ground. "Thanks Kagome."

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After all the demons had been found and exterminated, the village elder offered the group a room for the night. No one in the village, the elder included, seemed happy with the idea of housing demons, but the elder would not go back on his word. The group was given the room that he had promised, along with a meal. Baths were also offered to Sango and Kagome, who accepted excitedly.

"Ahh, this feels soo good Sango. It's been so long since I've had a warm bath, ohh the spring last night was so cold!" Kagome closed her eyes as she was in utter bliss.

"I know what you mean, this is great. What's better is that we don't have to worry about Miroku spying on us!" Sango exclaimed, sinking deeper into the warm bath water.

Kagome laughed, "You're right!"

"Speaking of Miroku, I wonder what the boys are up to? Hah, Miroku is probably out flirting with any girl he can find!"

"Yea, and Inuyasha is probably in a corner somewhere sulking again." Kagome crossed her arms, "I wish he'd just tell us, it's like he doesn't trust us like he doesn't trust me!"

"Now Kagome, I'm sure he trusts us. I think he just needs more time to figure it out for himself, then he'll tell us all we want to know."

"You really think so?"

"Yep"

"Thanks Sango, but if he doesn't come to his senses soon I'll have to `oswari' him again"

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"Finally some quiet," Inuyasha said as he settled himself in a corner of the small room they had been given. The boards at his back creaked and moaned at his weight. "Feh, it would have been just as good to have stayed outside. This old thing feels like it could collapse any minute." Inuyasha snorted. He was not one who enjoyed being indoors, or sleeping on the floor for that matter. A tree war far more comfortable in his opinion, but the others had insisted that they stay.

Aside from the sleeping kit opposite him, he was alone. Miroku and Kirara had gone out to rid the town of `evil spirits' and the girls were having their bath. `Aren't they clean enough already? They just took a bath last night. Feh, stupid females and their obsession with being clean… she had been like that ` Oh no not again… Feh, it's been over a hundred years now… but I guess a part of me still misses her.' Inuyasha thought as he closed his eyes allowing his mind to take over. Memories of long ago came flooding back to him.

~Flashback~

"Inuyasha?" A giggling voice asked.

"Huh?" A female face was staring at him, her green eyes slightly hidden by a matted mass of raven hair… it was… oh I know those eyes…

"Inuyasha? Are you awake? Its morning already, and I'd like to go take a bath so you can let me go now!"

"No, I'm not awake so you're going to have to stay here for awhile. Besides didn't you just do that bath thing last night?"

"No! Inuyasha, I've already been here for an hour! If you don't let me go right now I'll…" the female's sentence was cut off by Inuyasha's mouth coming down on her own.

`I remember this' he thought to himself. He remembered this morning. This was the morning after…

"Inuyasha!"

~End Flashback~

"Inuyasha!"

`What the hell?'

"You baka, wake up!" It was Kagome, and she didn't seem happy. "Inuyasha! Wake up already, geez you went to sleep before anyone else and now your sleeping later than the rest of us? Are you ok?" She asked her face flushed with anger. His odd behavior was grating on her last nerve.

"Huh? What? Morning already... seems like I just sat down... sorry." Inuyasha rubbed his eyes and stood.

"Was that weird or what? He didn't yell or anything at her. Is he getting stranger by the day or is it just me?" Sango whispered to Miroku, who seemed just as puzzled as she was.

"Yep," was all the monk could get out before the elder interrupted them as he entered the room.

"Well now, I suppose it is time to bid you farewell. Tell me, to where are you traveling?"

"We are continuing southwest, and that's all we're going to say old man," Inuyasha said gruffly.

"Ah..umm southwest you say? What sort of business do you have there? You are aware of the territory you will cross?" The elder seemed worried; he did not need these strangers disturbing the spirits that inhabit the forests beyond his village.

"Yes, this is the demon Sesshomaru's land is it not?" Miroku asked, confused by the elder's tone.

"That is not what concerns me, even the demon Sessshomaru does not venture far into those lands."

"Tell me elder, what is there that frightens you so?" Miroku asked, they needed to know what they might face so they may be prepared.

"Ah, so you do not know? The path in which you will take passes directly between two forests. One, the dark forest of the ancient Vampires, and the other is the mystic forest of the Elves."

"Aww come-on! Everyone knows Vampires and Elves are nothing but old fairy tales!" Shippou squealed. "My parents used to tell me those old stories so I'd go to sleep at night."

"Be quiet Shippou!" Inuyasha barked, "Listen to what this old geezer has to say, he's telling the truth."

"Yes I do speak the truth, although both races seemed to have disappeared nearly three hundred years ago, their spirits still wander their lands. If you stray too far off course, you may find yourself in a great deal of trouble." The elder said as he stood to leave, "Now that I have warned you of the dangers I will not have your deaths weighing upon my conscience." With that he turned and left the room.

"Feh, Now that he is finished yapping we can leave." Inuyasha said as he walked from the room, "Are you guys coming or not?"

"Coming!" Kagome chirped as she motioned for the others to follow. She had to admit that the thought of dealing with the spirits of two ancient races did not sit well with her, but Inuyasha was determined to find the jewel shards and he wasn't going to leave any stone unturned.

"Umm guys are you sure about this? I mean I'm not exactly thrilled about being eaten by Vampire ghosts!" Shippou squeaked as he jumped onto Kagome's shoulder.

"Don't worry about it, they won't bother with us." Inuyasha barked back.

"How do you know Inuyasha? I don't think a sword is going to help much with ghosts!" The little kit said, hiding himself as much as he could under Kagome's hair so Inuyasha wouldn't be able to hurt him.

"Trust me I know OK!" Inuyasha yelled over his shoulder as he began walking up the path.

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