InuYasha Fan Fiction ❯ Long Awaited Reunion ❯ Awakening ( Chapter 1 )

Disclaimer: I don't own Inuyasha, bla, bla, bla, you get the point.

Chapter 1: Awakening

"Mou, Inuyasha! What's your problem this morning? Just because you're grumpy doesn't mean you can take it out on us!"

These were the opinions of a very pissed off Kagome, who along with Sango, Miroku, Shippou, and Kirara, had been rudely awakened and hurried along all morning by a very cranky Inuyasha.

After the nightmare that he'd had the previous night, Inuyasha hadn't been able to fall back to sleep. Despite the fact that he had managed to calm himself down, he just couldn't drift off again, thus resulting in his less then cheery mood that morning. At the crack of dawn he had decided that he'd had enough, and if he couldn't sleep, neither would his comrades.

"Keh!! Shut-up wench! I'll do whatever the hell I feel like. Besides, if I had left you alone you would have slept the day away, and I wanted to get going early so we could find that Shikon shard that's rumoured to be around here."

"So what?! You didn't have to be so rude and demanding when you woke us up did you? And what gave you the idea that you could call me wench, you big jerk?! Osuwari!!!"

All that could be heard from the angry hanyou were a very long string of muffled curses, as yet another argument had been won by Kagome with that one little word that forced Inuyasha into an instant face-plant and made him eat a considerable amount of dirt.

Kagome simply walked around Inuyasha's fallen form and continued on her way, not giving him a second glance.

As the spell started to wear off and Inuyasha slowly regained the ability to stand up, he unconsciously sniffed the air, as he often did out of habit. But as he started sniffing, he caught wind of something very strange. It was a vaguely familiar smell, but something that he could not place. The fact that he couldn't remember this scent was starting to bother him. Kagome was the first to notice him falling behind the group.

"Hey, Inuyasha? Is something wrong?" She had a worried expression on her face as she walked back to stand beside him. "Did you catch the scent of something?" she questioned him nervously when she saw the serious expression on his face.

"I do smell something," he replied, "But it doesn't smell like an enemy. I don't know what it is, but for some reason I know that I've smelled it before, I just can't place it. It's really weird."

He started to wander around the clearing that they were standing in, sniffing as he went, trying to get an idea as to which direction the smell was coming from. He finally stopped when he came to the edge of the dense forest at the far side of the clearing.

"It's definitely coming from somewhere in there," he told the group, who were following him around curiously.

"Do you really think that we should go and see what it is Inuyasha?" questioned Miroku,

"I mean, if it doesn't smell dangerous then it really doesn't concern us does it?" Inuyasha looked at the monk, contemplating his suggestion.

"It may not smell dangerous, but it sure smells strange. I want to go and figure why this scent seems so damn familiar to me. It's driving me crazy not being able to figure this out!" Inuyasha was obviously starting to become frustrated in his current lapse in memory, and the more he took in that scent, the more he wanted to go a find out what it's source was.

"What if it only smells harmless, but is really a trap? It's a possibility isn't it?" Sango was now taking the opportunity to voice her concerns to her friends.

"Sango does make a valid point Inuyasha. It could very well be a trap..." Kagome started to say as trailed off a bit as she walked closer to Inuyasha and the edge of the forest. She had begun to feel a very familiar tugging sensation as she drew neared to the forest, and she knew exactly what it meant.

"Kagome, you okay?" Inuyasha said as he looked down at her questioningly. She had a very worried look on her face and he was starting to get concerned.

"I sense jewel shards coming from inside the forest," she replied, "It's pretty faint but from here I can sense some jewel shards, although I can't tell how many yet."

"Well, I guess that settles it. We're going in," Inuyasha stated.

'And I'm definitely gonna find out what that scent is coming from,' he thought.

"I guess there's no arguing with you now that the jewel is involved. We'd better get going," Miroku sighed as he went to join the rest of the group. And with that, they headed off into the thick forest.

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Naraku was sitting on the grass in front of the tree which Inu was pinned to. He was looking into Kanna's mirror and was very pleased when he saw the group of shard hunters had taken the bait and were heading towards him at that very moment. As soon as they had entered the forest, he had waved Kanna away and then just sat there with his thoughts.

His plan had already been set into motion. He had went to great lengths to make sure that his scent was hidden from the inu-hanyou's sensitive nose, but that Inukigo's scent made it's way to him.

He turned slightly to regard the female inu-hanyou pinned to the tree beside him and smirked. By the time the sun set, Inuyasha would be close enough to his sister that it would trigger the release of the spell that kept her in eternal sleep. At that time, his plan would really be well underway. Naraku stood up to get a better look at the sleeping hanyou and started to smile evilly.

'Soon, my dear Inukigo,' he thought to himself, 'Soon you will finally be reunited with your brother, but it won't be the kind of reunion that you nor he expects!'

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~* ~*~*~*~*~*~

It had been a long day and the group of shard hunters finally decided to make camp for the night. They had made good time that day, and Inuyasha and Kagome was sure that they would reach their goal sometime around mid-afternoon the next day judging from how both the weird smell and the pull from the Shikon shards had gotten progressively stronger over the course of the day. Inuyasha was still rather frustrated with himself. Never before had he ever had such difficultly distinguishing a smell! It had become more familiar to him as it had gotten stronger, but he still couldn't remember why. 'Dammit!!' he swore inwardly.

The group had already finished their meal for the evening, and now everyone was just sitting around thinking about what they might encounter the next day. Not long after that everyone decided that they should get some rest for the day ahead. Miroku and Sango were not far away from each other, although Sango was just out of groping range and Miroku was sporting a bright red hand print on his face after a little incident just before they decided to turn in. Kagome and Shippou were sharing Kagome's sleeping bag, and Inuyasha was in his usual spot - a tree in which he had a clear view of the entire group.

He liked being able to keep an eye on his friends while they were asleep, especially Kagome.

'Kagome,' he thought to himself, 'She hasn't fallen asleep yet, and she seems restless about something.'

After confirming that the rest of his friends were indeed sleeping, Inuyasha silently jumped from the tree he was in and slowly walked over to where Kagome was lying on the ground. He was very careful not to make a sound so Miroku and Sango didn't wake up and see his concern over Kagome.

'The last thing I need right now is that baka houshi making fun of me and getting hentai ideas in his head,' he thought to himself as he stopped just behind Kagome.

"Ooi, Kagome," he said softly, "Daijoubou ka? You should be asleep by now."

Kagome rolled over to look at him as he knelt down closer to her.

"Yeah, I'm ok," she began, "But I have this weird, unsettling feeling. Like something bad is going to happen tomorrow when we find whatever it is we're looking for." She sighed loudly. "Guess I sound pretty stupid, huh?"

"No, you don't sound stupid," he replied, "It isn't stupid to trust you're instincts. If it makes you feel any better I'm having the same feeling."

"Arigatou, Inuyasha." she said with a smile on her face.

"I-It's no big deal," he stuttered as a small blush crept across his face. He was glad that it was dark so she couldn't see how embarrassed he was, "Just try to get some sleep now ok? You're going to need to be rested if our bad feelings turn out to be justified."

"Hai. Oh, and Inuyasha,"

"Yeah?" he said as he walked back to his tree.

"You make sure to get some sleep too. I know you didn't sleep well last night."

"Why do you say that?" he grumbled.

"It's pretty obvious, seeing as you were so grumpy all day."

He just stared at her for a second, and then gave a good natured "Keh!" as he jumped into the tree.

Kagome let out a small giggle and called after him, "Goodnight, Inuyasha."

"Goodnight, Kagome," he replied with a smile on his face.

And with that they both drifted off to sleep.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~ *~*~

As the last members of the shard hunting group went to sleep, not far away, deep in the forest someone else was just beginning to stir. What was remarkable about this event was that this particular someone hadn't so much as twitched for the last 50 years.

Naraku looked up at the hanyou that was still pinned to the tree and smirked when she started to show signs of life.

"She will wake soon," he said to himself. "I should leave before her senses return to her. If she catches me here now the entire plan could be ruined," With that he darted off into the darkness of the forest.

Moments later, the hanyou's nose and ears started to twitch, and then without warning she started awake with a small yelp. She was breathing heavily, and as she calmed herself she took in her surroundings.

"Where am I? What's going on?" she said out loud, a little panicked. She then remembered exactly what was happening.

"Wait, if I'm awake, then that means..." she trailed off for a second before she could finally voice her thoughts, "That means that Inuyasha is awake again, and that he's not far away. I'll finally get to see my brother again," she said happily, but not too loudly, for fear that there may be someone around who would decide that she would be easy prey, pinned to the tree as she was. She decided that she would just smile to herself, and happily wait until Inuyasha found her and helped her get unsealed from the tree.

In the shadows, Naraku smirked to himself. Soon, he would put the next step of his plan into action.