InuYasha Fan Fiction ❯ Dream Quest ❯ Chapter 1 ( Chapter 1 )

Inuyasha took a deep breath then let it out before wiping the sweat off his brow. It had been a long journey and an even longer, hard-fought battle once the journey had been completed but he knew that it was worth it. He smirked at the smoldering pile of ash before him. Naraku was finally dead. It had been a collaborative effort - Sesshomaru and Kouga had finally joined forces with them a few years before - but it was now done and over with. Things could go back to the way they were supposed to be.

Or could they? Inuyasha frowned as he sheathed the Tetsusaiga and reached for the nearly complete Shikon no Tama. Now that the quest was over, what would happen? So much had changed. He now belonged somewhere and he didn't have to become a full youkai to do so. Though he and Sesshomaru still may not have liked each other, they respected each other and what the other had to offer. Inuyasha had even been able to learn a little bit more about his father from the older youkai, which was more than what he had learned from Myouga. They'd come to terms and had stopped fighting. Hell, he'd even come to terms that stupid wolf and they'd been rivals. They'd forged a strange family somehow, learning how to compliment their strengths with their weaknesses.

Things hadn't changed for just him, either. His friends had experienced changes as well, but not all of them had been for the better. Sango had become withdrawn, sullen after Naraku had finally released Kohaku from his grasp. The boy didn't even survive a week. That had been two years ago, after Kagome had left for her own time and took Shippou, and a few of the jewel shards, with her. Her leaving had caught everyone off-guard, including Sango. Why she'd left and hadn't returned, no one knew and all thought it had been strange for her to do so. But nothing could change what had happened. The miko had left and took Shippou with her. That was that. Kagome's absence still hurt but the pain had dulled to a mere, annoying ache.

Her loss had been nowhere near as devastating as Miroku's had been. The monk had died within the last year, having committed seppuku. The wind tunnel would have destroyed Edo if he hadn't. With Miroku gone, that had left him, Sango, and Kirara from their original group. Kouga and Sesshomaru filled the voids left by Kagome and Miroku after that, Sesshomaru having lost Rin and Kouga the remainder of his pack. Of course, that had been before Kagome had left and Miroku's death.

'So much loss, so much devastation . . . if only we could put it to an end . . .'

Inuyasha sighed as he held the crimson, nearly corrupt orb in his fingers. There wasn't anything for it. Without the shards that Kagome had, the jewel would never be complete . . . the jewel would never be destroyed. Slowly, he turned to face his companions as they tended to their wounds.

“Let's go,” he murmured. “We're done here.”

Tucking the jewel into his haori, Inuyasha strode towards his companions, his family, unaware of the faint pulsing that was starting to come from the Shikon jewel.