InuYasha Fan Fiction ❯ Forgotten Anamnesis ❯ Peace of the Puzzle ( Chapter 3 )

[ X - Adult: No readers under 18. Contains Graphic Adult Themes/Extreme violence. ]

Chapter 3 – Peace of the Puzzle




“It is coming your way Sango, hurry!” Miroku shouted over the ruckus of the youkai's abstruse wailing.

“Hiraikotsu!” the female taijiya shouted in return, in answer to her partner's warning call, as she flung her massive demonic bone boomerang with an ease that should not have been possible for a woman of her stature.

The weapon spun on its axis with tremendous speed and successfully reached its target, cutting into the midsection of the energy-based youkai that towered above her. Miroku's shakujou strapped to Hiraikotsu's surface gave her weapon the spiritual boost it needed to do the energy-youkai some serious harm, and it screamed as the houshi's purifying powers weakened it by a significant amount.

Bright and early that morning Mushin, Miroku, Sango and Kirara had all headed back down the mountain into the affected village below, little Shippou staying behind for safety, kept company by Hachi as soon as the tanuki returned to the temple after giving Mushin a lift so that he could keep up with the houshi and slayer upon Kirara. The villagers hadn't taken too kindly to the newcomers returning to ask more questions and poke their heads around in more places, of course, but aside from a lot more cursing and grumbling nothing had really changed all that much. Since Miroku was more able to defend himself against a human opponent than his aging sensei he had immediately taken it upon himself, armed with a large stack of purifying ofuda he had acquired from Mushin's temple, to immediately begin placing one ofuda upon every villager's home, in both the hope of determining whether or not there was truly any direct demonic interference going on, and also to block it if there were.

Some of the village men who'd noticed what he was doing hadn't take too kindly to Miroku 'disturbing' them in such a way, either, and a few fists had been swung at his head as a result, but the houshi had easily defended himself without seriously injuring any of the villagers. He had even placed an ofuda directly on the men themselves whenever one of them attacked him like that, just as Hachi had told them Mushin had previously done, and just as Mushin had witnessed for himself already, putting the purifying ofuda upon the affected villagers had done nothing but enrage them further, although Miroku did not believe that particular response was in direct correlation to the attacking youkai doing anything new to them. The villagers were not, in fact, completely ignorant to what Miroku and Sango were doing there, and so most of the cursing they'd heard flung their way as they'd investigated was that they were idiots for thinking there was any type of youkai involved in their lives, that the only youkai anywhere near them was that 'damn tanuki' that lived with Mushin, and that maybe he was to blame for whatever was going on – not that they honestly believed anything was out of the ordinary – and that Sango and Miroku, and Mushin too, needed to leave them all the hell alone. Slapping an ofuda on somebody spouting all of that hatred had gotten the result of them pealing it off in disgust and sneering something to the effect of “I told you I wasn't possessed, you fucking moron.”

When nothing had immediately happened to any of the villagers when he'd tried to treat it like a normal possession Miroku had realized quickly enough that they were not dealing with a youkai that was actually feeding negative thoughts into the villagers, but rather, they were in fcat dealing with a force that was somehow or another draining positive thoughts out of them, and therefore there was no youkai influence within them to purify. He'd still believed it would be possible to block this energy-youkai from feeding off of the villagers any more, provided they all obediently wore their ofuda or stayed indoors in their warded houses, but since that would not be easily accomplished Miroku had quickly switched tactics and began meditating, searching within himself for any indication of where this mysterious emotionally based energy drain could be originating from.

That was when Sango had snapped at him out of nowhere, for thinking that just sitting around on his ass could possibly do any good when they had a youkai they had to find and kill.

Startled, Miroku had calmly explained to Sango that he needed to meditate in order to see if he could stretch his senses enough to locate the youkai in question, and then he had proceeded to ask her if she was feeling all right or if she was starting to feel uncharacteristically angry; an indication that perhaps she was beginning to be affected by the youkai herself. Despite the way she'd snapped at him having made that answer seem fairly obvious to the monk, he needed to know how far the damage had gone, and if Sango could realize it for herself or if perhaps a more direct form of mind control was also a factor involved. Fortunately, perhaps thanks in part to their earlier talk with Kagome while en route to Mushin's temple, and in part due to the fact that Sango's taijiya training made her more resilient to demonic spells, instead of being in complete denial and telling Miroku that he was an idiot – as she was about to do – Sango had suddenly gasped as soon as she'd realized how out of character that thought had actually been, hand to her mouth in horrified shock to realize that she was being affected by whatever it was. Before it could get any worse she had immediately agreed to wear one of Miroku's ofuda, and as the hours had ticked by as they'd continued to try to find any sign of the youkai and she'd shown no additional symptoms, and had even gotten better, apologizing to Miroku for her earlier upset, that had been all the confirmation the monk had needed to know that his ofuda would in fact work if only given the chance to.

It was unorthodox, but with such a volatile situation on the precipice of getting much worse, as fist fights continued to break out all around them, neighbor against neighbor, nobody able to listen to reason when asked why they would suddenly turn so hostile towards one another, Sango and Miroku had quickly decided that the situation called for drastic measures. Sending Kirara to quickly retrieve Hachimon, when the tanuki returned – to the isolated area out of sight that they had instructed Kirara to return to – they'd immediately explained to him their plan, and although he was reluctant at first he'd agreed readily enough after realizing it was the only way to save everybody.

With nearly every dwelling within the village baring one of Miroku's ofuda by then, and the monk in possession of more than enough to complete the task, Hachi had transformed himself into a massive, terrifying oni, and had then proceeded to rampage into town. Panicking, most of the villagers had begun to run around screaming, but Miroku and Sango had been able to persuade them to go back home to the safety of their warded houses easily enough, especially after a demonstration by Hachi that he could not breech the wards, reaching for a villager who ran through an open doorway only for his hand to bounce off of an invisible force-field. After several years of living with Mushin in the temple, Hachi knew how to handle himself around purifying wards without getting too seriously injured, and so while it'd made for a good show he was unscathed as a result. Every woman and child and some of the men had all obediently locked themselves indoors after that.

Little Shippou had also come onto the scene right about then, the kitsune having decided he didn't want to just stay at the temple where it was safe if he could do anything to help his friends, and so having eavesdropped on Sango and Miroku explaining their plan to Hachi he hadn't blown their cover, appearing to the villagers as yet another giant monster. Sango and Miroku had recognized him instantly, of course, that bow in his hair a dead giveaway, but the locals had been sufficiently frightened and readily agreed to stay in their shielded houses until given the word it was safe. Uncharacteristically aggressive or not, and whether or not they were still in full denial of there having previously been any youkai attacks happening within their village, they were not yet deranged enough to not run and save themselves when two massive oni were wrecking havoc in their streets.  

Well, some of the village men had taken up arms, prepared to help defend their village, as Sango and Miroku imagined they probably would have done even under normal circumstances and a genuine oni attack, but they had been prepared for such a contingency and knew what to do. Sango had among her many taijiya tablets and capsules in the various secret pockets of her uniform a specific type of smoking pill bomb designed to knock humans unconscious. It had originally been designed for possessed human hosts being controlled by a youkai parasite, but these villagers matched that description closely enough. The smoke bomb would really work just as well against any human and so Miroku and Mushin both had to be careful while Sango wore her taijiya mask. The problem was then getting everybody together, although it hadn't been that much of a problem.

Aware of the backup plan in case villagers joined the fight, Hachi and Shippou worked together to herd everybody where they wanted them. Fortunately none of the villagers possessed any spiritual powers, or decent weaponry, and so their pitchforks and clubs were not that much of a threat to the tanuki and kitsune. With Mushin playing his part, maintaining a barrier in the center of town and urging all of the armed men to come to him for protection, it had only taken a few minutes for all of the would-be soldiers to gather within the safety of Mushin's barrier, and then, flying atop Kirara, Sango had passed overhead and released a handful of her pill bombs – which Mushin had been prepared for and had both lowered his barrier and held his breath in preparation.

In no time the village men were all unconscious, a happenstance they'd make-believed had been a result of the attacking oni, and quickly Miroku had placed a ward on each of the men, who would be out of it for quite some time. Leaving them in the care of the headman's wife and daughter with explicit instructions to not remove the ofuda as they were to treat against the 'youkai attack' that had rendered them unconscious, they had then pretended to defeat Hachi and Shippou, who'd both transformed themselves into mice to scurry away unnoticed before returning to their true forms out of sight of the villagers.

With every local villager blocked from the true attacking youkai, sealed away in warded houses that would prevent any energy-type being from tapping into a mortal's life force, the slayer and two monks had all believed that it was possible their enemy would voluntarily show itself in its rage, which it had done not fifteen minutes later, eliciting new screams from the few villagers who'd dared to peak outside in the brief moment of quiet.

Now Sango and Miroku were facing off against the energy-youkai, but they both had experience dealing with this type of specter and it would not take them too long to defeat it. Mushin helped, flinging several ofuda towards it right after it was weakened by Sango's shakujou-enhanced Hiraikotsu, and as the ofuda made contact and Mushin mumbled a sutra prayer the energy-youkai screamed in agony.

“Everybody get back!” Miroku shouted in that moment, reaching for the sealing beads on his right hand.

Shippou scurried out of the way while Kirara took off with Sango and Hachi grabbed Mushin to make a run for it, just as Miroku opened his kazaana and sucked up the ghost-like emotion-eating youkai. As soon as it was gone the dark jyaki aura that had hung over the entire village immediately dissipated, and everyone sagged in relief to know it was over. The villagers would recover now, with no long-lasting ill effects.

The sun was not quite at its zenith and so it was quickly decided in that moment that everyone would return to Mushin's temple to rest and recuperate while awaiting Kagome and Inuyasha's arrival, which might not be for a few hours yet, depending on how quickly they had been able to deal with that other village's oni problem and also whether or not they could run the distance between villages without coming across any more troublesome youkai along the way. Miroku and Sango were in complete agreement that it would be unwise to head back out, themselves, because then they could easily end up missing their friends, passing by one another, and so the best thing to do would definitely be to stay put, where Kagome and Inuyasha were headed to meet up with them. At least the youkai affecting this village had been successfully taken care of, and so there was no need to worry about that any longer; they could relax. Mushin invited them both to try his latest batch of saké.

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“So ...” Inuyasha spoke up awkwardly, the miko's thoughts mirroring his own.

“Now what do we do?” she asked, her tone of voice worried.

Glancing around them in all directions, nose to the air, Inuyasha determined that they were safe for the time being, no other enemies on the approach that he could tell. Or at least, he didn't think so. It was still a little hard to identify more subtle or distant smells over that blasted flowery crap that still lightly coated the both of them.

“I guess the first thing we should do is get cleaned up.” he stated then, gesturing to the patches of clumped powder still clinging to their bodies. “This crap's gotta be what's fucked with our heads in the first place, so I want it gone anyway, but besides that it's also fucking with my nose.”

Crinkling her own nose a bit at his choice of language, Kagome still had to admit she agreed with her hanyou companion. If it was hindering his demonic sense of smell even a little bit then she definitely agreed that they had to wash it off, and besides, what if its remaining presence was what was keeping their memories from returning?

“You're canine, right?” she asked just for clarification, to which he nodded. She'd figured as much based on his appearance and the way he sniffed at things. It didn't surprise her that he still knew at least that much about himself. After all, she still knew that she was human. Knowing 'what' she was was apparently separated in her mind from knowing 'who' she was, and it was the 'who' part that was missing. “Think you can manage to sniff out a body of water nearby?” she asked hopefully then.

“I didn't notice any while checking for possible threats.” he informed her, and she frowned in thought, before he then added, “Although you've got some water in that pack of yours.”

Her eyes lit up at the reminder of the backpack she wore and she quickly shed both it and her quiver as she knelt on the soft grass, Inuyasha taking a seat beside her.

Unzipping the backpack and digging around inside it, Kagome hoped to find both water and a cloth so that they could rid themselves of at least most of the remaining powder still dusting their skin, hair and clothing, but more than that she also hoped to maybe find something, anything, that could clue her in as to who she was.

“I wish I could at least remember my name.” she murmured aloud, more talking to herself, and Inuyasha's ears lowered a bit at her dejected tone as she pulled out a plastic water bottle and wash cloth from her bag.

“Me too...I can't remember yours or mine.” he stated, reminding her that they were at least in this together.

She offered him a gentle smile at his words before getting to work wiping herself off.

As Inuyasha observed the miko work he thought that her carrying container for water looked funny to him, but yet somehow still familiar at the same time, and he couldn't figure out why that was although he supposed it didn't really matter. Dampening the cloth, he watched as she first did her best to wipe off the front of her body, her hair, face, arms and legs before then handing the small towel to him and turning around, asking softly if he could wipe off her back for her where she couldn't reach. He complied without hesitation, although he would be lying if he said that touching her even in such an innocent place didn't send thrills shooting through his entire body, but he did his best to ignore what he deemed a wholly inappropriate physical response when this was a serious moment and instead kept his mind focused on the task at hand. After he was finished he dampened the rag some more and then proceeded to wipe himself off the best he could in the same fashion as she had, allowing her to get his back as well at the end, which also caused his pulse to quicken though once again he ignored it, along with the way his ears informed him that her heart was also racing.

Once Kagome was done with wiping off his back, mentally cursing herself for feeling so...excited while doing so, she then got a little more water and quickly moved to wipe off both her backpack and quiver of arrows, those items having been coated with the powder as well. Remaining quiet, she hoped that he hadn't noticed just how flustered she'd become from touching him, or having him touch her.

“So, uh...” Inuyasha spoke up after a couple of minutes, deciding to break the awkward silence that had developed between them. He would let her reaction to them touching each other go unmentioned, because if he were to bring it up then he'd also have to confess to her that he'd felt the same way, and he wasn't quite sure if either of them were ready to think about what that meant. There was something far more important he wanted to clear the air about before too much time had passed. “About...how the tengu kept calling me 'Hanyou'...”

That earned the miko's attention, as she paused in what she was doing to blink up at him in surprise.

“You don't think it bothers me that you're a hanyou, do you?” she asked right away at his tone, her words surprising though also tremendously relieving said hanyou. “That means half youkai and half human, right?” she clarified to be sure she understood the word correctly, and he nodded. She shook her head. “Doesn't bother me at all, although...even if you were fully youkai, if I still felt like I could trust you, then you not being part human wouldn't bother me, either.”

“You do feel like you can trust me, huh?” he asked, more confirming what he already knew than expressing amazement of that fact. After all, it was fairly obvious to the both of them by that point that they had each decided to put their trust in each other while facing off against that tengu. “I feel like I can trust you, too.” he added for her benefit without hesitation, adding, “I guess...I guess I just wanted to double-check, 'cause you seemed weird about it the first time he called me that, all tensed up, and the way he'd said it definitely made it sound like it was supposed to be insulting.”

Thinking back on it, Kagome realized what he was referring to and apologized for her emotional reaction unintentionally misleading him, explaining what had really been going on in her head at the time.

“Yeah, he definitely seemed to mean it as an insult, didn't he? Maybe for some reason it just bothered him that you're half human, like he thought it made you a lesser youkai than him, who was pureblooded, although that was clearly not true, since you are way more powerful than he was. But remember, he called me 'Miko' in a kind of insulting way, too, like he just didn't want to call either of us by name, assuming he knew our names. Probably did it on purpose to avoid telling us what they are. I'm sorry if my reaction to his words made you think I'd taken his jibe to heart, though, surprised and put out by the knowledge that you're half and half, but no, it didn't bother me like that at all. I mean, the fact that you're demonic is rather obvious, so to learn you're actually half human, too, I look at it as kind of a good thing, ya know? Though like I said it wouldn't really bother me if you were fully youkai, either, so long as I still felt like I could trust you. But for me, a human, knowing you're half human too, I'm definitely not going to think that's worse than you being full youkai. I...I just got upset because he was addressing you in a threatening way, angry with you for having saved me, which I'd figured made you a greater target, and then there you were standing in front of me, acting like a human...er, sorry...hanyou shield.”

Inhaling slowly, she let out a breath and continued, the look in her eyes sincere.

“Well, him pointing out that you're a hanyou didn't bother me in the slightest, it was just that he was sneering at you. His tone bothered me; I was worried he was about to attack you somehow and I didn't want you getting hurt for having protected me.”

Truly touched by her explanation, he immediately assured her, “I don't mind protecting you. I feel like...like that's what I do. It made me crazy to think of you getting hurt during that battle. I would gladly take a hit in your place to keep you safe.”

Her eyes widened a bit at his words. Sure, she'd already figured out for herself when it had happened that he was willingly trying to protect her, but to hear him just come right out and admit it like that...

“Thank you.” was all she could think of replying with, offering him a soft, warm smile, which caused a light dusting of pink to stain his cheeks. He turned away with a quiet “Keh.” and she giggled at how cute his embarrassment was over her gratitude before getting back to work wiping off her backpack and quiver, the awkwardness of stomach butterflies from having wiped off each other's backs completely forgotten by both of them.

Deciding she didn't want to have anything to do with the dirty wash rag after she was done with it, now that it was caked with the last of whatever magical powder had hindered their memories, Kagome flung it away from them both in that moment to land discarded several feet away. There was still another clean wash cloth inside the backpack she had spotted should they need it later for anything else.

Taking a few deep breaths through his nose, Inuyasha smiled. “Much better.” he stated, before rising to his feet and sniffing around in their general area.  

It wasn't perfect; he could still smell faint traces of the flowery powder that remained in a few nooks and crannies on their bodies, but it was definitely a huge improvement over a few minutes earlier and would do well enough until they could find a spring to properly bathe in. He actually needed to find them some water for two reasons; besides needing to rinse off more thoroughly he'd also noticed how that strange clear bottle of hers was almost empty. There were a few mouthfuls left, but that wouldn't last them for very long. Finding water was definitely top priority.

Digging around in her backpack for a moment longer while her canine companion scented the surrounding area a second time with his newly unencumbered nose, Kagome pulled out the book she had spotted earlier, and somehow recognizing it as a math book her eyes lit up at the realization, hoping it might possibly have the name of the student it belonged to written inside it, which was presumably her. Now that she'd had the chance to more closely scrutinize her outfit she'd realized she was wearing a junior high school uniform, which might explain why she wasn't dressed in miko robes instead, if she were not yet finished with her schooling, although that was only a logical guess, having no recollection whatsoever of ever attending a school of any kind, junior high or otherwise. Even so, she was sure that she must have gone to school at some point in her life, especially since she discovered with relief while flipping through the book that she knew how to read, but as the introductory page told her only that the book was the property of the school itself her shoulders slumped in defeat, realizing she must not have bought the book outright and instead was merely borrowing school property. Sighing, she put the book back away and zipped her bag closed.

 It was befuddling to the miko how she found she still knew and understood certain things, but yet anything that had to do with who she was, specifically, was just completely erased from her mind, or – she hoped – blocked in some way by that tengu's magic. She and her friend would get their memories back eventually, right? Climbing to her feet as well in that moment and hoisting her backpack and quiver back over her shoulders, bow in hand, Kagome followed behind Inuyasha by a few paces as he kind of resembled a bloodhound to her, tracking scents on the ground.

“Smells like nobody else has been here recently at all, it's just us and that fucking tengu.” he explained, gesturing to the trampled and burnt patches of grass all around them where the fighting had taken place.

Frowning in thought, choosing to ignore her companion's perpetually crude language for the time being, Kagome took that moment to glance around them in all directions herself. Proportionally, they were much closer to the western edge of the massive field they stood in, relatively near the base of a wooded mountain slope. In the other direction the valley seemed to go on for miles and miles, a distant mountain range resting probably several hours away, at least. It made much more sense to head west into the nearby woods, then, she quickly decided.

“I guess...I guess until we can think of something better to do we should go that way.” she stated then, pointing towards the nearby trees. “Not like we can just stand around in this field forever.”

“I agree.” her dog-eared companion stated without hesitation.

Sniffing around for a moment longer, as if he were looking for something, it immediately caught her attention as he nodded to himself as if in confirmation of whatever he'd been trying to determine.

Before she could ask what it was he explained himself, stating, “I found our scent trail, and it looks like that's actually the way we came from, heading that way...” He gestured to the far off eastern mountains. “Even though that's the way we were going I've got absolutely no idea why or what's waiting for us when we get there, though, wherever 'there' is, and who knows how far away it is? If we backtrack through where we've already been then maybe we can find something or someone that can help us figure this shit out.”

If he had detected the scent of other humans in the area, perhaps indicating there was a village nearby, then he would have suggested tracking them down instead in the hope of finding people who might be able to help them figure out how to lift the spell, but because there were no scents in the nearby area outside of their own that told the hanyou they were in a fairly secluded area. They were on their own.

“Besides that,” he added then, “the forest means shelter from the sun and other airborne youkai, plus we're also much more likely to find food and water among the trees.”

Kagome nodded her agreement to that last statement, indicating she'd thought of the same thing herself. They didn't have the supplies needed to make the several-hour journey across the open field towards the eastern mountains; they had nothing to eat, and they'd run out of water before they made it to the other side.

At first it wasn't mysterious to Inuyasha that they both knew all that, of course, that the mountain forest equaled streams to replenish their water and game for hunting. Something like that was common knowledge, wasn't it? But as he continued to think about it a moment longer he realized he really was curious about what all he and the miko still knew versus what they did not know. Earlier he hadn't cared, while they'd had a tengu to dispatch, but now that the immediate threat was gone the only real danger that still remained was their vitiated minds, and anything that could possibly help them figure out how to go about hopefully getting their memories back needed to become top priority, now. Perhaps trying to piece together anything they could figure out about themselves would help them jog a memory or two, or at the very least, maybe they could deduce things logically through the process of elimination to help them at least formulate a best guess about themselves.

No time like the present.

“There's one thing I wanna tell you 'bout the scent trail, though.”

“What's that?” Kagome asked, perplexed by his sudden, slightly hesitant tone.

“I...uh...” Clearing his throat nervously, he reminded himself how natural it had felt to feel her hands upon his shoulders and plowed forward. “I actually only smell my feet touching the ground at all once our trail goes off towards the woods, and at a very wide pace, like I was running. I already noticed earlier that we both smell like I carry you around on my back a lot, and this confirms it.”

Kagome felt her cheeks warm a bit at his words, thinking back on her recent excitement from having touched his back, although she immediately tried to argue with herself that it was a foolish reaction to have, under the circumstances. They had clearly been under attack, after all, and so if they'd needed to run fast, faster than her human legs could carry her, then riding on his back actually made perfect sense. The thought of climbing up onto his back in that moment, however, had her cheeks warming even more, and not necessarily from embarrassment, although it would be very embarrassing, indeed, to have to explain herself. How to go about rejecting the idea of riding on his back that way without telling him the real reason why...

The last thing she wanted was for him to actually think she was repulsed by the idea of clinging on him like that; that was the exact opposite of how she really felt about it.

“I mean, uh...well, I don't gotta carry you like that right now...” he suddenly clarified before she could even think of what to say, unaware that her scent was saying it all for her. “I was just sayin'...so ya know, that's all.” he added, trying to ignore the dirty little part of him that longed to feel her body pressed so fully against his own.

“I'm sorry, I'm being silly...” she apologized after a moment, belatedly realizing her flustered state had probably been obvious to his advanced senses. She offered him a sheepish grin, then, her cheeks red from plain embarrassment this time. “I don't know why I'm acting so silly about it. I mean, for all we know, you and I could be...” Shut up! she mentally scolded herself, suddenly stopping herself mid-sentence with wide eyes, what she'd been about to say fairly obvious, much to her mortification. Thankfully, her companion only chuckled at her panicked expression.

Inuyasha's cheeks were a little pink as well, he couldn't help that part considering what they were discussing, but he just found the miko's embarrassment too darn cute to not tease her about it, his own embarrassment be damned.

“Believe me, if I could smell that I wouldn't keep it a secret.” he admitted.

Her face flamed even darker at his words, and he chuckled again, thinking the blush staining her cheeks actually made her look even prettier. How he would love to see her face flushed red for a different reason.

Gah! What's the matter with me? Oh well, at least I'm not the only one ... Inuyasha tried to reason with himself. Still, did he have to be such a horn dog? This was not the time or place!

I guess comedy is one way to defuse the potential awkwardness ... Kagome thought after a moment, unaware of her companion's own inner thoughts on the matter. Chuckling quietly herself, then, she shook her head lightly, exhaling to release the tension.

There was really no reason to be embarrassed, she realized quickly enough. Even though he apparently couldn't smell 'that' – and it was obvious what 'that' was – she could still feel some kind of a connection to this man; something deep from inside her very being told her that he was important to her, and it was clear that he felt the same way. Getting flustered over the notion of riding on his back was just plain silly, especially if it was actually required for rapid transit. Actually, from a squeamish standpoint the idea didn't bother her in the slightest; it had felt so right when she'd gripped his shoulders earlier. It was just the way the idea of being pressed so intimately up against him was making her belly flip-flop that made her nervous about the whole thing, but there was nothing wrong with feeling attracted to the man...right? He was attractive! But that didn't mean she had to act like a flustered schoolgirl over it, either, even though she apparently was a schoolgirl.

Did most schoolgirls carry magic shards of crystal around their necks that attracted rapacious youkai their hanyou companions then had to vanquish with magical swords?

Honestly, she didn't know the answer to that question, although it was really neither here nor there, she supposed. All that really mattered was here and now, and she knew that if she had to ride on his back because they had to jet outta there like a bat out of Hell she wouldn't have a problem with it; she'd tell her hormones to shove it and concentrate on not getting killed by whatever was attacking them. Perhaps it would be wise, though, to avoid hanyou-back-riding in non-life-threatening situations for the time being.

With that last thought in mind, she spoke back up with, “We...uh, we should probably take it slow for now, I mean with the walking!” she blurted as his eyes widened. Clearing her throat, she tried again. “I mean, we should walk slowly, just to make sure you don't lose the trail, and also to make sure we're both more aware of the world around us, ya know? No distractions.”

It was his turn to blush again, only slightly, at what they were both half-ass acknowledging would be a 'distraction', but he had to admit she made a very good point. His nose would've had to be completely broken to miss the spike in her scent at his initial mention of her riding on his back, and if she was going to keep on smelling like that then it would be very distracting, indeed.

“Sure, no problem.” he stated casually then, offering her a brief nod and smile before turning and heading towards the trees, the miko immediately falling into step behind him.

“Guess it's a good thing our scents actually come from these woods and not the other direction, otherwise I guess heading that way would be best, despite our lack of supplies.” Kagome spoke back up after a moment, trying to avoid a potentially awkward silence developing between them after the subject they'd just been tiptoeing around.

Honestly, when she'd first suggested that they should head into the woods she hadn't even thought about trying to locate their tracks, to try and figure out which directly they had originally come from, but she had to admit that retracing their steps was a very good idea. Right now, it was the only lead they had. If they just wandered off in some other random direction they could end up getting themselves totally lost, but if they backtracked and kept to the trail then they were bound to come across somebody at some point. She figured there was no way they could have been all alone out in the wilderness just the two of them for a very long period of time, otherwise why the heck was she wearing her school uniform and carrying around a math book? Civilization had to be around there somewhere, and they would find it. She was just grateful for her demonic companion's canine nose, because she certainly couldn't spot any actual type of tracks in the field and was blindly following his lead, trusting that that his nose knew what it was doing.

“If our scents came from the east I would've probably still tried to find us a source of fresh water in these woods, first, before turning around and backtracking our steps after restocking our supplies.” Inuyasha replied. “We're almost outta water and that's gotta come before anything else.”

Kagome made a nonverbal sound of agreement at that, her mind wandering a bit as she practiced stretching her mental senses. The sudden spike in the hanyou's youki caught her off guard, as he spun around to look at her with startled eyes.

“Is something wrong?” she asked, alarmed.

“I was just gonna to ask you that.”

“Oh...” Her cheeks tinted a light pink again, which he still found totally adorable. “Sorry...I didn't mean to spook you with that flare of reiki. I don't sense any threats or anything, I was just...practicing.”

His eyes immediately softened at her sheepish apology.

“No worries...practicing your senses like that is actually a very good idea.”

He might have thought her blush looked cute, but the smile she was now beaming his way made her look absolutely beautiful. He quickly turned and resumed walking towards the treeline, sniffing at the ground every few minutes to make sure they were still going the right way and that their trail didn't veer off towards the left or right.

Suddenly picking up a stronger whiff of the miko's scent coming from just off to the side a little bit he detoured to investigate and found a thankfully undamaged arrow lying peacefully on the grass.

“Huh...tengu must've been low to the ground and you fired in this direction but missed.” he mumbled half to himself, half to the girl, who gratefully accepted the arrow and added it to the other six remaining in her quiver.

For a brief moment they both wondered if any other arrows she'd fired off had not been destroyed, but swiftly decided they couldn't just aimlessly go searching for reusable arrows that might or might not exist, and even if they did they had no way of knowing how far they could have traveled or in which direction they'd been fired, and so they quickly agreed to just resume heading towards the woods, grateful to have come across at least this one extra one.

Walking in peaceful silence for the next few minutes, the miko keeping step behind him with her senses stretched, Inuyasha kept his own senses on alert as well, his ears swiveling this way and that. The last thing they needed would be to encounter any more youkai trouble while they weren't at their best, although he honestly wasn't too worried about it after that show his sword had put on back with the tengu. But even so, the miko only had seven arrows, and he wanted her to keep those for when she really needed to fire them, which meant their protection rested almost exclusively on his shoulders for the time being.

Not that he minded.

He'd been honest before. Somehow, it just felt...right; it felt natural to him to take on the role of protector where she was concerned. She was so much weaker than he was, after all. Physically speaking, at least. He didn't doubt she could totally kick his ass if they got into a duel of youki versus reiki, but the fact of the matter was she was human and he wasn't, and so she needed things like food and water more desperately than he did, and he could also undoubtedly survive much heavier blows from an attacking enemy than she could. He definitely had to protect her, in almost every way there was, but instead of feeling put out by that realization it still felt perfectly natural to him, as if protecting her day in and day out was something he had already been doing for who knew how long, and it was something he voluntarily chose to do, rather than being forced to, which he imagined even now would probably still make him feel bitter about the whole thing, if that were the case. He supposed that blocked memories or no he probably still liked all of the same things he always used to like, and likewise still hated all of the things he always used to hate, and instead of feeling inconvenienced to have to watch out for this miko his base most inu-youkai instincts actually felt contented by the notion of protecting her. Even beyond that, though, he already knew from personal experience that when danger was near he actually felt like he needed to protect her; the very idea of anything bad happening to this strangely dressed miko chilled him to the bone.

Entering the treeline, Inuyasha tried to shrug off such negative thoughts, like something bad was actually going to happen to her. Yeah right.

Feh, over my dead body ...and I mean that literally.

Taking another sniff of the air he paused, glancing up into the trees with startled eyes.  

“What is it?” Kagome asked as she came up beside him, furrowing her brow at the way he was scanning the treetops. “Another tengu?” she asked nervously.

“No...it's us...” he murmured, confused.

“Huh?”

Shaking his head, he flashed her a silent look that said 'hold on a sec' and then leapt, a straight shot up into the tree they were standing beside. She blinked in startled amazement to see him perform such an awesome feat, which had obviously been easy for him to accomplish, and tilting her head back to catch a spot of red among the highest branches an unexpected sense of  déjà vu came over her at the sight. Then he was falling, only he wasn't falling; he'd jumped. Hoping down out of the tree like it was nothing at all he plummeted a good fifty feet, at least, to land on his feet almost soundlessly and with zero injury.

“That was amazing.” she murmured in awe.

He smirked, unable to help puffing his chest a bit in male pride.

“It gets even more amazing.” he told her, and the expression on her face shifted to anticipation.

“Our scents are up there.” he explained, gauging her reaction as her eyes widened comically before a mildly queasy look started to overcome her.

“Our...scents?” she asked slowly.

His smirk disappeared, instantly replaced with a look of concern.

“You afraid of heights?” he asked her, and not in a teasing or demeaning way.  

“I...” she started to answer, only to pause, her brow furrowing. Then she laughed a bit, the sound hesitant and nervous but also mildly reassuring. “You know, I don't know...maybe I'm not. If you say our scents are both up in that tree then I believe you.” she told him.

“We don't have to take to the trees now, of course.” he wished to assure her right away. “I can still track us from down here 'cause a bit of the scent drifted down, probably with the force of my steps 'cause I had to have been running pretty fast and hard to launch us from tree to tree like that. That makes some of the scent come down; I can still backtrack our trail from the ground.”

“I'm glad you know so much about tracking scents. Must just come natural, what with you being half inu-youkai and all.”

“I guess...” he shrugged in answer, although her words quickly reminded him of what he'd thought about earlier, when he'd first told her about how he could tell from scent that he'd carried her on his back. This was another piece of information about himself; he shouldn't blow it off.

“Actually, yeah, yes. That is good to know.” he stated then, smiling at her. “I know about tracking.” he repeated, stating it proudly as fact. “Maybe it's just an instinctive thing, or maybe it isn't, but I wanna try to keep track of everything we start to realize we know about ourselves. Any kind of clue, ya know?” he said.

She nodded her understanding and agreement. “Then I've got to tell you something.” she added right away, and his ears automatically swiveled forward to hear every word. “While you were up there, when I looked up and could make out your red clothing...that seemed so familiar to me, like I've looked up into trees to see you up in the branches before. I can't say how or when or where or why, but I know I've seen that type of an image before, patches of red from your robes up in the branches of a tall tree.”

“Thank you for telling me that.” he replied with a sincere smile as he started walking again. No point in just standing around.

“That's good to know, too.” he added after a moment. “I actually felt really comfortable while I was up there, and that plus what you just said tells me that there's no way us running through the trees earlier today to leave our scents up there was the first time I'd ever been in a tree like that. Not sure what it was that made me like being in trees so much, but I definitely liked being up there.”

“I don't think it's so mysterious.” Kagome spoke up, keeping in time with his steps. “If I knew my body was tough enough to not be in danger from a fall, I'd probably love the view from up there, myself.”

As they continued walking, Inuyasha constantly sniffing the air to make sure they were still headed in the right direction, they filled the silence with mild, pleasant conversation, trying to help each other put together whatever puzzle pieces they could think of.

Kagome told him how it'd also looked so familiar to her when he'd wielded the transformed katana, and that while she knew she should probably be afraid of him, afraid of this man who was half youkai and clearly possessed so much awesome, destructive power, instead, being afraid of him seemed like such a foreign concept to her that it was almost laughable. Logic should dictate that since she had no idea who he was he could potentially be her enemy, and even if she believed him that he didn't remember a thing about his own past, either, that still didn't rule out the possibility that they had both been trying to kill each other right before losing their memories. But yet, somehow, she just knew that that wasn't true. She hardly knew anything about herself at all, and really, even assuming she was a junior high student was just a guess because of the clothes she was wearing. She only knew three things about herself with finality, and they were that she was a relatively young human female, that she possessed the spiritual powers and archery skills of a miko, and that she could trust this silver-haired inu-hanyou in red with her life.

Inuyasha was truly touched by her words, though he didn't allow her to think that the sentiment was one-sided in its intensity. He quickly explained to the miko how, likewise to her own thoughts on the matter, his inner most animalistic instincts, the thing about him that he could sense from deep within himself that was the most wild part of him, where 'fight or flight' came from, wasn't threatened by her possessing miko powers, either. Even though logic dictated that a youkai and miko probably shouldn't get along, and he couldn't explain why it was that they obviously did, something about her was just so damn familiar and non-threatening that it was clear to him they'd been together like how they were, doing whatever it was they did, for quite some time now. Instead of being wary of her, even in the slightest, he actually felt soothed by her presence; he felt at peace.

As his cheeks tinted pink at that latest statement he also reluctantly confessed that he felt a little embarrassed to admit such things aloud, assuming that maybe he didn't usually like to talk about his feelings, but even so he was willing to put embarrassment aside for the time being because under the circumstances they needed to be completely open and honest with one another, and she readily agreed. How were they supposed to figure anything out about each other or themselves if they didn't share with each other every single thing they could possibly think of? How could they know what was important or what wasn't? No...they couldn't blow any feeling or thought off as insignificant, not under these circumstances.

“We definitely have a mystery on our hands, don't we?” Kagome stated, her tone of voice determined to solve the puzzle. “A miko in school clothes clearly good friends, if not more than just friends, with an insanely powerful inu-hanyou, wandering out and about in the middle of nowhere.”

Inuyasha didn't flush from embarrassment at her willful acknowledgment that the two of them just might be more than friends. He certainly wouldn't object if it were true.

“Of course, we can't forget about those...what did he call them? Jewel shards?” Inuyasha pointed out while they were on the subject, giving the miko walking beside him a sideways glance. “Wonder what that's all about.” he commented, half to her, half to himself.

“I have no idea.” she admitted, reaching up with her right hand to finger the glass bottle hanging around her neck. “They're definitely magical, and powerful, and somehow it's like I can sense their aura, though I'm not sure if that's just a miko thing.”

“Probably...” he replied, adding, “Although, in a way I can sense them too. I can smell them...” He turned his head and sniffed in her direction. “I gotta admit, they actually smell kind of tempting, like some kind of a treat, but magical for the ki instead of sweet for the tongue, if that makes sense.”

“I suppose so.” she acknowledged, releasing the bottle. “I can feel a kind of balance of both youki and reiki from within them, a balance I imagine would shift towards youki if a youkai got a hold of them. They're probably as pure as they are right now because of my reiki helping to keep the youki part of them neutralized.”

“And you can tell this because you can sense it through their aura?” he asked for clarification.

“Yup.”

He stopped walking.

“I want to try something...” he stated, and she raised a curious eyebrow at him. “Trust me.” he added, though there was no need. She did trust him, so whatever he wanted to do, she would let him.

“Let me see the shards.” he asked her then, and hesitating only for a moment, though only because she wasn't sure what he had in mind, not because she actually thought he wanted to steal them away, she then complied, removing the bottle from around her neck and holding it out to him.

“Don't let go of the strap.” he instructed, as he raised his right hand and hesitantly closed his fingers around the bottle.

At first nothing happened, but then they both felt it, a mild surge in power, as a faint but also clearly dark aura started swirling from within the shards themselves. An answering pulse of energy thrummed against Inuyasha's soul and he unconsciously reached for Tessaiga's hilt with his left hand.

“Oh man...these things are just screaming at me to take them and use them...power...so much power...it's like they're talking to me...promising me things...” Inuyasha murmured, his aura pulsing a second time, and he immediately released the bottle, shaking his head as if to remove a mild fog of disorientation. “If I'd have been a bad guy those things probably would've turned black, and me along with 'em.” he stated then, watching in satisfaction as Kagome gripped the bottle, the lavender shards within immediately returning to their previous, pale pink color. She then slipped the bottle back around her neck.

“So the shards themselves actually tried to corrupt you, the youki within them consciously reaching out to you?” she asked, uneasy with that information.

“You don't have to worry about me, but we definitely can't let any other youkai come anywhere near those things. That'd just be asking for trouble.”

Worrying her lower lip, Kagome nodded her agreement, keeping her right hand cupped around the glass bottle for a few minutes as they resumed their walking. A part of her didn't want to be responsible for something so powerful, but she obviously was and so she would take her duty to protect the shards seriously, just as her hanyou companion had vowed to protect her. She was nervous that other bad youkai might show up looking to steal the jewel shards from her, as that tengu had wanted to do, but she did feel confident that her companion would be able to face off against just about any monster that came their way. Especially with that sword of his.

Half an hour or so into their walking Kagome noticed it as the hanyou's ears started swiveling. She could only imagine that his sense of hearing was as superior as his sense of smell, though that didn't stop her from automatically trying to listen for whatever it was he had heard. Not that she was successful, of course, but before she could ask him what it was he'd heard he automatically answered her, sniffing the air a minute before turning to meet her eyes with a relieved glint in his own.

“Water.”

“Oh, good.” she agreed, immediately following as he veered away from the trail he'd been tracking to instead head towards where he could both hear and smell a small mountain stream flowing in the distance. He'd be able to backtrack them back to their original path after they cleaned up and restocked.

The rest of the time walking was spent in companionable silence, Kagome keeping her miko senses stretched while Inuyasha did the same with his own brand of sixth sense. They could both feel the distant hum of multiple forest youkai, little creatures that were clearly getting out of the way as they approached, and for that miko and hanyou were both equally grateful. They really didn't want to get into any more major scuffles if they could avoid it.

Finally coming upon the stream a couple of hours later, a fact that only made Kagome marvel all the more at the strength and range of her companion's heightened senses, she immediately got to work clearing a spot nearby to make a firepit.

“What are you doing?” he asked, curious.

“First things first, we need a fire.” was her answer. “Besides needing to boil the drinking water before filling our plastic bottles with it, if we're gonna soak ourselves in that stream to finally be rid of every last drop of magic dust then I don't know about you, but I for one want a fire to dry myself off by afterwards.”

He nodded his understanding of her logic, not having really thought about it from a human's point of view. He didn't really understand what boiling the water first did as far as making it better for drinking, but he could at least see her point about wanting to dry off by the fire. Again, she was human; he didn't want to risk her getting sick because he'd insisted on making her walk around in the shadowy forest cold and dripping wet.

“You hungry?” he asked her then. “If we're gonna rest here for an hour or two then I may as well see if I can catch us something to eat.”

Her eyes lit up at that, not even having realized she was hungry until he'd said something. Her stomach immediately growled at the notion of food.

Guess I've been a little preoccupied ... she thought, chuckling herself at the sound of the hanyou's light laughter as her stomach answered his question for her.

“Yes, please. That would be wonderful.” she spoke up then, smiling shyly.

“Keh.”

And with that he was gone, although he made sure to stay within hearing and scenting range, which even though it had gone unsaid she somehow automatically knew he would do, and so she wasn't nervous about suddenly being left all alone in the middle of the forest. She immediately got back to work, finding a few stones that helped her line the firepit before then collecting a few good pieces of firewood as well as a large pile of dry brush to use as kindling. While digging around in her bag earlier she'd noticed a book of waterproof matches, so with everything else going on she was glad that she at least didn't have to worry about trying to start a campfire the old fashioned way. It didn't take her long at all to get the blaze going, and then she collected a pot full of water, having realized easily enough what the small metal pot was for when she'd first noticed it, and by the time her companion came back with a skinned and gutted rabbit the first pot of water was already off of the fire and cooling back down. She'd used the remaining clean wash rag as a pot holder to not burn her hand.

“Thank you for doing the dirty work, although I would've been able to handle it.” Kagome stated as she took the cleaned rabbit carcass from him and ran it through, skewering it to cook over the open flame on a spit. “Guess we've done this before, too. Getting the fire going totally came natural.”

“So did hunting and cleaning the rabbit.” he acknowledged, as he watched her carefully pour the still warm but no longer too hot water into her strange looking, and smelling, clear plastic bottles.

“I wish I could think of stuff in advance that I know or don't know, but at least if we get clued in to what we do know after we encounter it then that's still better than nothing, I suppose.” she said while turning the rabbit, and he grunted his agreement.

Once the meat was cooked she put a second pot of water on to boil and then they ate their lunch in relative silence, washing it down with freshly sterilized spring water. Inuyasha was mildly startled, though only for a brief moment, as Kagome handed him the same bottle she'd just taken a drink from, herself, but he quickly realized it was silly to think anything weird of sharing the same water vessel with her and so he gladly took a drink, handing it back to her afterwards. She took another sip, and then once the second pot of water was cool enough she topped that bottle off and filled the others the rest of the way. She had a total of four.

Once that was done, Kagome stood and released a sigh of resignation. She wasn't really looking forward to getting wet, especially since she'd already felt how cold that water was.

“May as well get this over with.” she stated, heading back to the stream and walking right in, shoes and all.

She'd figured there was no point in undressing when her clothing needed to be washed, too, and so doing it this way was much less compromising. She wasn't quite sure just how close she and this male hanyou actually were, but the idea of undressing in front of him had her cheeks flaming. Whether from embarrassment or excitement she wasn't quite sure...probably a bit of both...but so either way, for the time being, it would be best if they both just rinsed off fully clothed to be done with it, without any 'distractions'.

Inuyasha observed as the miko waded into the deepest part of the stream fully clothed, her thoughts on the matter easy enough for him to figure out at the sight, and a part of him knew he had to agree with her silent assessment of the situation. Honestly, his own stomach had been a mess of butterflies as she'd headed for the stream, unsure if he'd been hoping that she would start to disrobe or hoping she wouldn't. While he could tell from scent that they hadn't had sex, either at all or at the very least not very recently, as that was a scent that would eventually fade to the point where he couldn't detect it, that still didn't give him any information as far as the 'why', especially knowing how he seemed to feel about the girl and how she seemed to feel about him in return, and so in a way the miko's earlier words were actually true. For all they knew, they could be...he shook his head, not wanting to think about it, though not because he was bothered by the prospect. Quite the opposite, in fact. He was 'bothered' by it, but in a good way. She was a beautiful young woman, after all, and she clearly meant something to him if his unyielding trust in her and desire to protect her from harm were any indication. Honestly, a part of him would love nothing more than to lose himself in her, but he knew he couldn't let himself think like that. At least not right now. They had a very important mission to complete, after all, the mission of finding out who they were; there was no time for hanky-panky when another ravenous youkai might show up at any given moment after their jewel shards.

The more he thought about it, the more Inuyasha realized that that was probably the reason why they hadn't done anything right there, since they were out there in the wilds and she had those blasted shards of crystal around her neck acting like a beacon for trouble. It was clear that some kind of a close relationship had developed between them, including a physical attraction they obviously both shared, but they'd probably just both decided that they couldn't get too close until after the danger had passed. Or, if they actually already had gotten that close in the past, then they just hadn't done anything recently because of the danger of their current situation. Silently, he cursed the fact that sleeping with her wouldn't mark her with some kind of a 'forever' mark that could clear this matter up for him once and for all.

Of course, thinking about being with the beautiful miko 'like that' immediately gave Inuyasha another reason why he needed to get into the cold water, and he quickly did so in that moment, as Kagome sat back up from where she'd momentarily been lying fully submerged underwater, rapidly scrubbing at herself. As she staggered to shore, shivering and dripping, he passed her with a quick sniff, noting with relief that he could smell none of that magic powder still on her. As she sat down by the fire to warm herself it was his turn to submerge himself fully under the chilly water, a mental sigh of relief washing over him as he felt his developing erection wither and die. Quickly scrubbing at himself, he made sure to fully rid himself of every last spec of that flowery potion, and then rising to his feet, he sloshed back to shore while shaking the water out of his ears.

Kagome turned to look his way as he paused on the bank, her eyes widening in surprise and amusement as he crouched and shook himself like a dog, water droplets flying every which way, and she couldn't suppress a quiet snicker at the sight as he approached her and the fire after that, only sightly damp.

“What?” he asked with a crooked grin, knowing damn well why she was smirking.

“Just jealous...” she spoke up with a hint of a chuckle remaining in her voice. “I would gladly do that too, if I were able.”

“Keh.”

Plopping down by the fire, he remained quiet as the miko continued to dry herself, turning herself every few minutes so that a different side of her body was facing the heat of the flame. Having taken her shoes and socks off, they were laid out near the fire for quicker drying. She didn't want to keep them waiting any longer than necessary, but neither did she want to walk with wet shoes and socks and risk getting a blister.

A few minutes later she decided she was dry enough, and that the light dampness still remaining in her hair and clothing would dry fast enough on its own. While she put her shoes and socks back on Inuyasha grabbed her metal pot and filled it with another batch of water from the stream, dumping it on their campfire to make sure it was properly extinguished. She then packed the small pot back inside her bag alongside everything else, and donning said backpack, as well as her quiver of arrows, her bow clutched tightly in her left hand, they were off.

It wasn't hard for Inuyasha to backtrack their fresh scents, leading them for the two hours it took to get them back to the path they had been walking before veering off towards the stream, and then finding their older scent trail among the trees they immediately resumed retracing their steps from early that morning, the scent trail several hours old by then though still strong enough for him to pick up without any difficulty.

“I wonder where we are.” Kagome murmured more to herself about an hour or so later.

“A forest?” Inuyasha replied, a teasingly sarcastic edge to his voice.

Kagome snorted.

“Duh.” she answered with a roll of her eyes that he didn't see from his place two steps ahead. “But I mean like what district? What prefecture?”

“No idea.” he answered with a shrug, adding, “Although I'm sure we've got to come across a village at some point in time.”

Kagome crinkled her nose in thought for a moment at his use of the word 'village', although as she continued to think about it she realized that it did sound right, after all, like they were in a  somewhat remote area, far away from the big cities, and some part of her knew that. Made sense, she supposed, since come to think of it she didn't actually think there were very many massive fields neighbored by lush forests where the big cities were located. Not that she could really remember the geography of Japan all that well; were there actually any massive fields that hadn't been built up or turned into farmland by then? Well, clearly there were since they had just battled a tengu in one, but as she continued to think about it she realized that they were completely lost; she had absolutely no idea where in the country they were. She didn't even really know for a fact that they were in Japan, although she assumed they were; a logical guess that was most likely correct, though it was still just a guess.

“I don't care if we find a humble fishing village or an elaborate onsen full of American tourists, I just hope whoever we find has a phone I can use.”

Inuyasha stopped, turning around slowly to look at the miko with a cocked eyebrow, his expression puzzled.

“What?” she asked, confused by his bewilderment.

“Some of that didn't make no sense.”

“Huh?”

“American tourists? Phone?” he repeated, bemused.

“Wait...what's so weird about me wanting to use a phone?” she asked in return, totally perplexed by his claim that it made no sense. “I mean sure, I know I have absolutely no idea who to call, really, but so I'd just dial 110 to get the police and explain myself. I'm sure they could help.”

He only continued to blink at her, and then... “But...what's a phone?”

What's a ...is he for real?

Although, she quickly realized, some more rural areas might not have modern day conveniences like telephones. And he was half youkai, so maybe...maybe he didn't really live in the human world? Come to think of it, didn't youkai and humans kind of live separately from one another? She couldn't remember, so she immediately decided to just answer his question, hoping the description would jog at least a partial memory on his part.

“A telephone is a small device that allows us to communicate with another person who's far away who also has that same type of device, that you hold up to your ear and mouth and you can each hear each other's voices and speak back and forth to each other through them.”

At first Inuyasha only continued to look at her like she was crazy, but then slowly a little bit of something that seemed vaguely familiar about what she was describing started to tickle the back of his mind, like he might perhaps know what she was talking about, after all, even though he was absolutely certain he'd never personally used that type of magical object before. Maybe he remembered seeing her use one? Maybe it was a miko thing.

“I think...I think I might know what you mean, but I'm not sure.”

“Huh...guess you must live out in the sticks.” she commented offhandedly, realizing he probably had absolutely no idea what a computer or the Internet was either, then.

While most people had heard of such things even if they lived out in the furthest most simplest regions of the world, that didn't mean everybody actually had such technology and used it for themselves, and right now, with their blocked memories, she knew that the both of them were really only remembering things about the world itself that strongly stood out in their minds as normal and commonplace. So if his simple little village-y home didn't have a telephone in it then it probably made perfect sense that he didn't now know what one was.  

Inuyasha merely shrugged at her comment, not taking offense. To him, he really didn't know all that much about the world at all, outside of what he apparently knew of the forest. Hunting and skinning that rabbit had felt so natural to him that it was easy enough to realize that that was probably how he almost always got his own food, even though he did know that there was such a thing as markets where you could go buy stuff somebody else had prepared. As he thought about it, he didn't know how he knew that, but it was just once again something he chalked up to common knowledge. But listening to the strange things the miko had said, and coupling that with her strange carrying containers for water, and her weird, almost indecent looking clothing – not that he minded the view – Inuyasha was quickly realizing that this girl must have hailed from a different part of society than himself. That was all fine and good, though; it was another clue.

“Guess you and me come from two totally different worlds, huh? I mean, more than just the youkai and miko differences.” he clarified. “There are some things about you that almost seem weird and familiar at the same time, like they are familiar to me now probably 'cause I'm used to 'em from you having 'em, but before then, before you'd first showed me back when we first met or whatever, I'd probably never seen them before in my life. Like those weird clear water bottles you called plastic. I have absolutely no idea what plastic is, but yet I know I've heard that word before and I know I've seen those bottles before. It's really hard to explain.”

“I think I understand.” Kagome told him, putting his mind to ease that he wasn't the only one who was thoroughly confused by feeling seemingly mixed responses to things. “Things are seeming kind of weird to me, too. You talking about villages, that does seem right to me. I can totally picture a simple little village in my mind, with simple little wooden huts. But yet, at the same time, I can totally visualize a bustling city full of concrete skyscrapers. And walking around like this in the forest seems natural, too, and I'm not really all that tired yet and my legs don't hurt, so I must do it a lot, and cooking that rabbit over the fire had seemed so natural that I must have eaten that way plenty of times, yet I also know that in the city people get around in cars or trains or on bikes, and eat in restaurants or buy food in grocery stores to cook in modern-day kitchens...” she trailed off, furrowing her brow as she realized it was almost as if she were remembering things about two completely different types of lifestyles.

“I'm sure I've heard the word 'city' before.” Inuyasha told her after she stopped talking, adding, “And big ol' buildings made of stone and steel going higher than the trees, yeah...that's something I'm sure I've seen before, too.”

She relaxed quite a bit at those words. Okay, so she was probably just from a city, and he a simple, rural village, but now she was in his neck of the woods, literally, in a clearly remote, out of the way part of Japan. How they had met and why they were together she still had absolutely no idea, although she supposed it probably had something to do with her jewel shards. She had absolutely no idea why she was in possession of them, but it was obvious that her possession of them was keeping them pure, and that it would be very bad for an evil youkai to get a hold of them instead. Having possession of the shards also clearly made her a target for said evil youkai. She had woken up to this world under attack by a powerful tengu for that very reason, and this handsome, silver-haired hanyou had quickly proven to be her savior, her knight in flowing red armor. That made at least some of their partnership make sense to her. He was her protector, officially, which explained why it felt so natural and right to him and why he was glad to do it. It wasn't just that they were best friends and he didn't want any harm to come to her for that reason alone, although she was equally sure that they were very good friends now, too, but perhaps their friendship had developed over time as a result of him needing to be her protector because of the jewel shards. The more she thought about it, the more she was sure that that was probably it, and she shared her hypothesis with him in that moment.

Inuyasha readily agreed with Kagome's assessment, smiling as she acknowledged that no matter how their relationship had first started out they were now clearly very good friends; she could feel it in her heart and soul.

“I'm still just bumming that I can't even remember my own stupid name.” she grumbled after a moment, which earned a chuckle from her hanyou protector. “I guess, if you end up needing to call me something to get my attention or whatever, you can just go ahead and call me Miko. I know you won't be meaning it in an insulting way.”

“How about Wench?” he asked with a teasing edge, laughing again at the way she crinkled her nose.

“That one actually sounds worse to me. For some reason, I know I don't like being called that.”

Still chuckling, he lifted his hand in surrender, gesturing that he would relent and not call her Wench if she didn't want him to, despite the fact that he actually felt more partial to that word for some reason.

Heh ...maybe I used to call her that as a nickname before and she didn't like it, and I did it on purpose to rile her up... he hypothesized, amused at the notion. If it had made her cheeks flush red, even if it was from anger and not embarrassment, he could easily see himself doing such a thing; she just looked too damn cute with rosy cheeks. But for right now he wouldn't do anything to push her buttons; it would just be plain stupid to deliberately piss her off when they were in such a dire situation and desperately needed to rely on each other. With that last thought in mind, he quickly got his train of thought back to the conversation at hand.

“I didn't like it when that tengu called me Hanyou, either, though I can't really explain why since I am a hanyou. I guess it's just the idea of being called by what I am instead of who I am, like it makes me less important of a person, so I totally get what you mean about the whole name thing. But it's as good a name as any for the time being, I s'ppose. I know you won't mean it in an insulting way, either.”

“Well it's just the two of us,” Kagome added then, expressing, “so most of the time just a simple 'Hey' will probably be all we need to get each other's attention.”

He nodded at that.

They resumed chitchatting about simple things after that as they continued walking, Kagome trying her hardest to think of what all she could remember about the world itself, just generally speaking, even if she couldn't remember anything about her own life. Like the fact that she was almost definitely a junior high school student even though she couldn't remember ever going or really, exactly, what a classroom even looked like from the inside other than a vague impression of it obviously being a room full of desks with a bunch of students and one teacher up at the front of the room. But everybody knew that, right?

At her mention of it Inuyasha told her that the word 'school' was definitely familiar to him, too, as well as the general concept of what it was after she described it to the best of her ability, although he also didn't have any recollection of ever having gone to school himself. She then told him about the math book in her bag, and stopping for a brief moment to show it to him upon his inquiry he said that yes, it did look sort of familiar to him, as well, although unlike her they both quickly discovered that he actually couldn't read most of what was written inside it. He could understand the Hiragana symbols, but not most of the Kanji ones, and the actual math problems themselves went completely over his head as meaningless gibberish.

Although, truth be told, she didn't really understand most of those equations, either. She did recognize the Arabic-style numerals, which he did not, but as she blanked while reading over the various questions she got the sinking feeling that math was clearly not her strongest subject. Which probably explained why she'd brought that particular book along with her on whatever adventure they were presently embarking on, because she'd needed the extra time to study, although right now worrying about her math skills was honestly the furthest thing from her mind. Screw her schooling, they had a magic spell to reverse! Although, hopefully, if she were actually late for class then maybe her friends or family – she assumed she had to be close to somebody besides this hanyou – would realize she was missing and maybe a search party would be sent out for them. One could only hope.

With her hanyou companion's lower educational level confirming for her their earlier hypothesis that he was from a simple village while she was not, she made sure to assure him that she didn't think he was stupid as a result. Surprisingly, though, he didn't feel bad about himself for his lack of comprehension when it came to reading the Kanji or other foreign symbols in her book, as if not knowing how to read was actually a commonplace  occurrence as far as he was concerned. He was impressed with her, stating aloud that whatever type of lessons she had had that her sensei must be somebody very important, that she must be somebody very important, to have been given such a high education.

 Kagome blushed mildly at his praise, even as it felt kind of funny to her, 'cause to her the ability to read seemed like something that should be commonplace instead of the other way around. She did know that it was something you had to learn in school, though, and so that did confirm for her that she'd had more education than her dog-eared companion, whatever the reason. She supposed that life in a simple farming or fishing village or whatever probably didn't equate to a good education in the public school system.

Things continued on in the same way for a while longer as they continued to chat lightheartedly about this or that until around an hour or so later when a lightly blushing Kagome stated that she needed to use the restroom, even though to her dismay it was obvious there wasn't an official restroom to be found for miles. Inuyasha wasn't really sure what she meant to describe although he did know that rich people had some fancier way of doing their business, and she was apparently well off from her high education, but she quickly stated that she knew she'd obviously just have to make do before disappearing behind some bushes. Inuyasha then decided that he might as well relieve himself as well as he took off in the other direction, chuckling lightly to himself about how even something so natural made the miko blush cutely. But Kagome quickly found that even relieving herself behind the bushes gave her that same sense of déjà vu again, the feeling of familiarity she kept on getting anytime she did something that she then realized she must have done before on a regular basis, and embarrassment aside that helped the miko to deduce that no matter how populous of a city she had originally come from she had definitely now been here in the countryside with this hanyou for quite some time. Why she was actually still wearing her school uniform if she were days, or possibly even weeks away from the city was a bit of a mystery to her, but one she wouldn't waste too much time or energy on trying to solve when she knew she couldn't. Not without gaining more information first. She supposed it was possible that even if she were weeks away from civilization by foot it would still only be a brief few hour trip on the bullet train, so maybe wherever they were, no matter how remote it seemed, it really wasn't that far away from the city when utilizing modern transportation. She quickly decided not to really worry about it all that much; she was sure that those kinds of questions would be answered all in due time, as soon as they came across some other people, and like the hanyou had said, there was bound to be a village around there somewhere.

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As evening crept closer and closer toward sunset Inuyasha finally announced that they should probably stop and make camp for the night, which Kagome immediately agreed to without protest once he assured her that he'd still be able to track their day-old scents the following morning no problem. It was going to be a relatively dry night, definitely bringing no rain with which to wash their scents away, and left on its own Inuyasha felt confident that he could track an unimpaired scent trail up to at least three or four weeks old, if not longer. How or why he knew that he couldn't explain, either, although knowing things they couldn't explain knowing was quickly becoming more and more of a common occurrence. With both of them fully aware of the spell they were under they were pretty much each taking whatever knowledge the other person claimed to have at face value, not questioning it because they knew there would be no point in trying to question it; they couldn't defend their knowledge at all beyond saying “I don't know how I know it, I just do.”

Making camp came easily to the both of them, as Kagome went about getting another fire going while Inuyasha took to the trees, bringing back another skinned and gutted rabbit a little while later. He apologized mildly for the repetition though she waved off his concern, grateful for the simple fact that he was providing them both with something to eat. She in turn provided the drinking water, from one of her bottles, which was a good thing because there were no streams anywhere nearby where they had chosen to make camp, although really that was only because Inuyasha had known they didn't need to worry about it. They had enough water to last them at least a couple of days before they would need to restock again.

Eating their dinner in peaceful silence sitting just a few feet away from each other on the same side of the fire, Kagome to the left of Inuyasha, her mind wandered briefly towards what they would do for sleeping arrangements. Buried down at the very bottom of her backpack was a thin, folded up sleeping bag, clearly designed for only one occupant. While not too luxurious in the cushioning department it would at least keep the dampness of the ground and insects away, so for that she was grateful and definitely planned on using it, but what about her hanyou friend?

Just because he's half inu-youkai doesn't mean he should sleep in the dirt like a dog ... she thought dejectedly.

He immediately noticed her change in mood, of course; with as acutely tuned into her very being as he was it was like he could smell her emotions.

“What's wrong?” he asked her softly, distractedly glancing her way while reaching forward with his right hand to toss the various bones from his half of the rabbit into the fire a few at a time.

“Oh nothing, I just-” she started to say before noticing that his baggy sleeve was draped partially in the fire. “Look out!”

Noticing at her cry that his low reach was unintentionally dragging his baggy sleeve through the flame he quickly yanked his hand back, but then immediately realized there didn't appear to be any damage to his sleeve whatsoever. Experimentally, he deliberately reached back over the fire, then, allowing the fabric of his suikan sleeve to dangle directly over the open flame a second time. Nothing. Then he lowered his arm a bit more, his sleeve fully submerged in the fire by that point, his bare and exposed hand just an inch above the flame, and while he could definitely feel the heat from the fire on his palm he felt no actual pain, indicating that perhaps it wasn't only his clothing that was fire resistant. It didn't really surprise him though that his flesh was tougher than a human's in that regard; the seemingly fire proof clothing, that was definitely more of a surprise, albeit a pleasant one. And his clothing was apparently very fire resistant, if not legitimately fire proof, because he could barely feel any excess heat from the fire on his arm, which was protected by his sleeve. It was as if the robe was absorbing and regulating the heat, allowing him to feel some of the warmth, so he could in fact get warm by a fire were he feeling cold, but it apparently wouldn't allow him to get too overly heated after a certain point, which he knew could theoretically be a life-saving feature.

“Well would you look at that...” he stated with a little bit of humor in his voice, pulling his hand back out to flip it over, examining each side, before reaching for the baggy material of the sleeve with his left hand and giving it a once over. The fabric didn't even feel hot to the touch. “Don't know if this robe has been enchanted or what, but it sure as hell ain't no normal suikan.”

Just one more thing that indicated he was some kind of a warrior, meant to protect the miko against their enemies. If somebody spat out a fireball at them he could safely take the hit for the miko and he would survive it unscathed. In fact, in a very dangerous situation he could probably even allow her to wear the suikan, which would be much larger on her petite form and so she could even drape it over her head if need be, if they suddenly found themselves facing off against something that could breathe fire. It would be better for him to face off against such a thing without the added protection of the suikan if it meant that she could have that protection instead, since her weak human flesh would burn to a crisp whereas his hide was apparently tough enough to handle a little abuse on its own without any issue. But even if he did get hurt, so long as she was okay, then that was all that mattered.

Unaware of the direction his thoughts had wandered, Kagome scooted closer at his thoughtful expression, reaching for his left sleeve with her right hand, which he quietly let her examine, and fingering the material she furrowed her brow in contemplation. She hadn't really thought about it until now but come to think of it it did seem to be different than any of your standard issue kimono fabric options.

“Looks like wool.” she stated after a moment, even as she crinkled her brow in confusion, because kimono just weren't made out of wool. But yet that was what it looked like, like a tightly woven, lightweight sweater.

“Wool?” he questioned, unfamiliar with the word.

“You know, the cotton-like fur of a sheep?” she answered simply, her somewhat questioning tone phrased as if she hoped to jog a memory, or at least a sense of recognition. “It's spun and made into a thick thread that can then be woven? It's a Western thing.”

Drawing a total blank he just shook his head, answering, “Don't know nothin' 'bout clothes makin'. That's women's work. But I do know that I got no idea what a sheep or wool is. My clothes do smell like fur, though, but I got no idea what kind of animal, even though the scent is familiar to me. I just can't place the creature...even though I get the feeling that it's something I did used to know. I guess you're right in part at least. It's probably not this wool stuff, otherwise I'm sure part of me would recognize that word like I've recognized a few other foreign sounding words you've said, but it's definitely something's fur, I guess made in the same way you described.”

Kagome crinkled her nose at his jibe about clothes making being women's work but quickly decided not to take offense. After all, if he was from a rural village then she was sure a lot of the old cultural ideals still held true; tradition and all that. If they actually still made their own clothing instead of buying it in a store then she was sure it almost definitely was exclusively the women who did it, while the men fished or whatever.

Unbeknownst to her, a whimsical smile slowly began creeping its way up her lips. Even though she couldn't actually remember anything about her own life she still felt a sense, an impression, if you will, that living in a big city was crazy and hectic, and the thought of living simplistically in a peaceful village instead definitely appealed to her. Perhaps another reason why she was where she was? She could even believe that maybe she'd left the city first, met this hanyou man first, and then somehow or another they'd gotten tangled up with those stupid jewel shards together after the fact. On the other hand, maybe she had been called in to help his village because they'd needed somebody who could keep the shards pure. There were so many different possible ways it could have gone, although she supposed that if she'd just decided to move there then that still didn't explain her school uniform. And the spare clothing she had packed in her bag? Just pajamas and another school uniform. Why not a pair of jeans? A t-shirt? She sighed. She was happy for her friend, that he was figuring more things out about himself, but the longer she thought about her own dilemma the more she realized she kept hitting road blocks; she definitely had more questions than answers.

Hearing her melancholy sigh and seeing that pretty smile of hers drop from her face, Inuyasha's eyes immediately looked concerned, as he remembered that something had already been bothering the miko prior to them both getting distracted with the sleeve-in-the-fire incident.

“Hey...are you okay? Something was bothering you before, wasn't it?” he asked her quietly, his tone of voice letting her know that whatever was wrong she could talk to him about it.

“Oh yeah, I'm fine, really.” she stated reassuringly, releasing a tired sigh as she remembered what it was she had been thinking about before. “I was just thinking...I have a bedroll in my bag, but...where are you going to sleep?”

He blinked at that, not having even really thought about it. He didn't even know that she had a bedroll for herself and had assumed that they would both be sleeping on the ground.

“Hey if you've got a bedroll use it, don't worry 'bout me.” he assured her right away. “I'm okay in the dirt without anything.”

“Does it feel familiar to you?” she asked then, “Like you've slept in the dirt before?”

Surprised by the question, although he realized it was a perfectly reasonable inquiry, he thought about it for a moment and then realized no, actually, it didn't seem familiar to him, sleeping in the dirt. But that didn't really matter because even if he usually had a bedroll of his own he clearly didn't have it with him now and so he would just have to make do. Not that the idea of sleeping on a bedroll actually felt familiar to him, either, come to think of it...

Tilting his head, he glanced up into a nearby tree.

“Actually...maybe...maybe I sleep up there...” he pointed with a nodding gesture of his head, glancing to a tree on their left, on the other side of the miko.

That surprised Kagome, although as she glanced over her shoulder at the tree in question she immediately realized that it would certainly be better than him being down on the ground in the dirt. And besides that... “Being up there probably gives you a better view of would-be threats in the area, too.” she more or less just blurted out, as if the notion of him being on watch up in a tree suddenly seemed so right it was ridiculous they hadn't thought of it sooner.

“Heh, one more piece of the puzzle locked in place.” he stated with a crooked grin.

“So let's see...I'm from a city, and am apparently a junior high school student, you're from some rural out of the way area, I've got miko powers and am protecting these jewel shards, either by design or happenstance, and you in turn protect me...” Kagome started rambling, just running down through a list of everything they'd figured out so far.

Nodding, Inuyasha chimed in with, “We've clearly been doing it for a while now, since camping out together like this feels so natural and you're so good at making a campfire and know how to roast small game animals on a spit, something you'd said wouldn't be done in the city...”

“It almost seems like something out of a fairytale, you and me with our magical powers, fighting evil beings.” Kagome stated then, her tone of voice mesmerized. “It almost doesn't seem real; a part of me wants to laugh and say 'how ridiculous' but yet I've already seen it with my own two eyes and back when we were fighting that tengu it didn't seem weird or alien at all, like you and me have fought together against other evil youkai before. But how can that be? Because a part of me wants to scoff and say that youkai are just stories. But how can a part of me want to say that there's no such thing as youkai when I'm having a conversation with a hanyou?”

Inuyasha just shrugged, and then offered the possibility, “Maybe you didn't used to know we were real. Maybe wherever you grew up...since it was clearly somewhere different from here, 'cause your clothes and supplies are so weird...maybe it was some special human-only place locked away from the youkai. It wouldn't be hard to do, with miko and houshi wards or barriers, and since you've got miko powers maybe you're from some place with a bunch of reiki users and so since no youkai ever bother you guys it might just be something you don't think about anymore.”

It was Kagome's turn to shrug, unable to tell if his hypothesis seemed right or wrong, although she supposed it was one possible explanation. One of many.

“I guess I'm just jealous. We know so much more about you than we do me.” she stated in a joking tone, hoping to lighten the mood.

Inuyasha snorted.

“How the hell do you figure that?” he asked, his tone of voice amused as well. “Okay sure, I know I'm an inu-hanyou, but you know you're a miko, so that's one for one. I just found out my clothing is apparently enchanted with some kind of youkai magic, just like my sword is, but you already IDed your outfit at first sight to know what it means and where it came from, and you've also got your arrows, so we're still even.”

Thinking about it a moment, Kagome slowly realized that he was right. She had figured out that she was from a city, and he most likely a rural village, but that was still a conclusion made about the both of them, together. Come to think of it, they really didn't know any more about him than they did about her, after all; they didn't know anything about either of their personal backgrounds, their family information, where they were born or where, exactly, they were from. They also didn't know how they'd met, and how, exactly, her jewel shards came into play, but one thing was for certain in the miko's mind, and that was that he meant so much more to her than just merely her protector, and she told him as much in that moment.

Scooting himself closer to her at her words, Inuyasha wrapped his left arm around her shoulders, pulling her in to lean against his body, which she gladly did without hesitation, resting her head on his shoulder. A thrill traveled through the both of them at the intimate contact, but it was a good thrill; it felt so right to hold her like that, and a little familiar, too, like he had in fact done it before.

“This is nice...” Kagome murmured drowsily.

“Yeah...” he agreed, taking in her beautiful, soothing scent. “We might have more questions than answers, but right now I...I feel like I've got all the answers I need right here. The rest of the pieces will fall into place in time. We've got to eventually find a way to reverse the spell, after all, I'm sure it ain't permanent, but right now I honestly ain't all that worried about it.”

Kagome smiled against him, catching him in a lie although she knew it was meant for her benefit.

“We don't really know that it's not permanent, though, but I appreciate you acting so sure about us finding a way to undo it. Hopefully we will.”

“Keh...” he grumbled softly. “If we don't never get our memories back then we'll figure something out, and we'll do it together. No matter what, we're in this together. But I do bet that once we can get back to wherever we were and find someone who knows us that they'll be able to help us out in some way or another. If it really ain't reversible then at least we should finally be able to learn who we are, and we'll just go from there.”

“I can't believe you're not more freaked out about being in the dark about your entire life like that, not even knowing who you are at all. It should be frightening.” she murmured softly.

“Are you scared?” he countered.

“A little...well...actually, no, not really.” she admitted, snuggling against him a little closer, rubbing her cheek on his shoulder. “I'm sure I would be, but I guess maybe it's just because you're with me and we're facing this together. I'm not afraid; no matter what we'll be okay, I do agree with that.” Taking a deep breath, she let it out slowly, relishing in her companion's wild, woodsy scent. She could stay like that forever. “Worst case scenario we'll just settle down in some peaceful village somewhere where you can hunt our meals and I can take up 'women's work'.” she teased. “That doesn't sound too bad to me at all.”

“Me neither.” he murmured gently in reply, before chuckling as a large yawn interrupted whatever it was she was about to say next. “Think it's time you get out that bedroll of yours and get some sleep. I'll keep watch, ain't nothin' gonna sneak up on us during the night.”

“You need your sleep, too.” she argued, separating herself from him even though a part of her hated to give up his comfortable warmth.

He just waved off her concern as she reached for her backpack and got out her pajamas and sleeping bag. While a part of him was kind of tired, he somehow got the distinct impression that he didn't usually sleep all that deeply at night, at least not while they were out in the woods. How could he, when he needed to protect her from wild predators? He would never forgive himself if something crept up on them and caught them unaware during the night because he had allowed himself to fall into a deep sleep while they were out there in the middle of the forest all alone just the two of them.

“Don't worry about me.” he told her then. “I can take quick little naps while still keeping my senses on alert enough that I'll know it if something comes by and snap fully awake in an instant. Another one of those things I can't explain knowing.” he finished with a smirk.

She chuckled lightly at that, deciding of course to take his word for it. Even though a part of her wanted him to get a rich, full night's sleep as well, she could certainly concede that it was dangerous out there just the two of them, and she definitely felt more able to relax and give herself up to her own slumber knowing that he was still on alert and keeping a lookout. Even though the ground was lumpy and the sleeping bag wouldn't offer her much in the way of comfort she somehow still knew that with her hanyou protector watching over her she would have the most peaceful night's sleep she could possibly have, free of worries. She wasn't even worried about getting her memories back any longer. I mean of course that was their goal and they would work towards it vigorously, but she would no longer allow her mind to be plagued by juggling all of the various unknowns and what-ifs around and around in her head when she knew damn well that there was no real way for her to answer any of those questions anyway until after this cursed spell was reversed. It was still important for the two of them to pay attention to whatever little things they happened to discover about themselves or about the world that seemed familiar to them, but it wasn't really like they were on a mission to figure out who they were based solely on whatever clues they could figure out. They just needed to find other people, people who could hopefully point them in the right direction as far as somebody who knew how to remove youkai curses. She would worry about the possibility that the spell was permanent only if and when some magical sage told them so to their faces, but in such a situation then at least she still knew that she wouldn't be going through it alone. With her hanyou guardian by her side the two of them could make it through anything, and would living in a simple little village while keeping her jewel shards away from evil youkai really be such a bad way to live her life?

Smiling again at that last thought, Kagome ducked behind a different tree than the one Inuyasha had leapt up into to change into her pajamas and then after making sure the fire was built up enough to last for quite a while she settled down into her sleeping bag. Earlier that day when she'd first woken up to being attacked, no time to process what was going on and freaking out over the fact that she couldn't remember anything about herself, Kagome had not even contemplated the possibility of actually making peace with what had happened to her, but the way she looked at it now, there was just no point in stressing herself out about it, freaking out and worrying over what she couldn't presently do anything about. Panicking wouldn't bring her memories back; they just needed to stay calm and think rationally and figure out little bits and pieces about the world as they went along until they could hopefully come up with a legitimate plan of attack to get their stolen identities back, and if they couldn't, well...then she was sure she could eventually make peace with that, too. Everything happened for a reason, right?

With that last thought in mind Kagome finally drifted off to sleep, Inuyasha dutifully keeping watch from up above, his sheathed sword in hand for quicker access should he need it. He smiled softly to himself as her breathing and heart rate evened out; he too had come to the conclusion that there was no point in worrying or wondering about this or that. At first he'd been wound tight, ready to explode. He'd wanted to kill something, but then of course he had, that stupid fucking tengu who had been responsible for their situation. So good, he'd gotten his revenge then. Now that the need to destroy something in his frustration had been quenched he was more able to step back and look at the circumstances of their situation. If he had suddenly just up and woken up to a world he knew almost nothing about, realizing he knew absolutely nothing about his life, he probably would have been very freaked out, indeed. Having an obvious enemy had given him the initial focus he'd needed to stay grounded and not totally lose it, needing to put his worries aside to concentrate on fighting that tengu, and he also knew that it had to be helping him tremendously that this miko was in the same situation he was, that he wasn't facing all of this alone. For some reason the notion of facing such troubles alone really bothered him. Maybe he'd used to be all alone in the world before meeting this miko? He had no idea, but he definitely felt calm and at peace in her presence, like no matter what he would be okay just because she was with him, and he absolutely knew that she was the sole reason why he wasn't freaking out about what had happened. He most definitely wanted to get his memories back, absolutely, his and the miko's, but in the meantime it just was what it was. He enjoyed realizing when certain things seemed familiar and was definitely curious about their histories, but it wasn't worth stressing over or getting depressed when they couldn't decide if something seemed familiar or not, which of course probably meant that it wasn't. In a way he actually found it kind of exciting, every time they did discover something about themselves. Like take being up in the tree...he could definitely tell now that that was how he slept probably almost every single night, but he hadn't consciously thought of it beforehand in advance, it was just something they'd randomly stumbled upon right in the moment, and that was how it seemed to keep on working for them. He was looking forward to any new such discoveries they might continue to make while on their journey, but he wouldn't be disappointed if they didn't come. Only time would tell.

With that last thought in mind he allowed himself to slip into a very light doze, resting his body and mind to the best of his ability while still staying on alert. To an outside observer it would look like he had truly fallen asleep, except for the fact that his ears continued to twitch to any little random noise. Nothing would be sneaking up on them this night.