InuYasha Fan Fiction ❯ Once Upon a Time ❯ Flip Side ( Chapter 2 )

Disclaimer: I only own Yuriko (and who the heck is she, anyway?). I won’t give up hope, though.

  2. Flip Side  

Kagome opened her eyes to darkness, a pounding headache, a harsh metallic smell, and something sticky covering her hands, face, and clothes. Feeling around in the darkness, she found what felt like a bundle of fabric saturated with the same kind of material that soaked her own clothes. Groping around, her fingers brushed silky hair splattered with the same substance. She followed the long hair back to its source. Not liking the cold, clammy fell of his skin, she felt around for a pulse. It took her a few minutes to locate the faint, erratic beat, as the first aid training she’d had in school hadn’t really prepared her for this kind of situation.

Kagome sat back on her heels and tried to think of the best course of action. No matter how hard she thought, only one answer came to her: get help. Although unwilling to leave Inuyasha there, she realized that she’d never be able to get him out of the well without assistance.

Stripping off the light jacket she wore, she covered him carefully, whispering, “I’ll be back soon with help.”

The answer was faint, more an exhalation than an actual word. “Kagome….”

Without waiting any longer, she scrambled up the ladder and across the courtyard to the house. A quick check of the interior showed that nobody was home. She was momentarily indignant until she remembered that there was no reason why anybody would expect her to return so much earlier than usual. Obviously, she would have to provide any help by herself. Going through the house, she gathered blankets, a big flashlight, extra first aid supplies from the kitchen, and bottles of water. Leaving a note for her family, she headed back outside.

As she dragged the bundle, wrapped in one of the blankets, across the courtyard, Kagome heard a woman’s voice calling her. “You, girl!”

Hoping that this might be some kind of help, Kagome left her bundle behind and hurried to the gate. The woman standing there seemed to be in early middle age. Her hair was a striking silver somehow at odds with her flawless, unlined skin, and her eyes were a light, almost golden, brown. The woman scrutinized her closely. “You don’t look badly hurt. Where did all this blood come from?” Her eyes widened in surprise. “You were attacked by a youkai?”

That question made up Kagome’s mind for her. “I’m okay, I think--just a bump on the head and some bruises. But my friend is really hurt. Can you help us?”

At the woman’s nod, Kagome swung the gate open. “Hurry, girl! Your friend is in danger--that youkai’s claws were poisoned!”

Kagome led her to the well, hardly noticing when the strange woman grabbed the bundle of supplies in one hand and followed. Stopping at the side of the well, Kagome gestured at the opening. “He’s down there. I couldn’t get him out.”

The woman climbed over the side of the well. “Wait here. Your friend is still alive, but may not be for long.” She leaped to the bottom of the well, ignoring the ladder.

Although it seemed like much longer, the woman reappeared in less than a minute, a limp form slung over her shoulder. As she laid her burden down, she asked, “How did you two come to be attacked by a youkai? And what,” she asked, “Were you doing down in that well?”

Kagome sat on the floor, trying to keep the unconscious Inuyasha from moving around too much. “It’s a long story. This isn’t an ordinary well--it’s actually a doorway to the Sengoku Jidai. That’s where we were attacked. I got hit on the head and must have blacked out. When I woke up, we were down there.”

While Kagome had been talking, the woman had been examining Inuyasha’s wounds. As she worked, she kept up a running inventory of the injuries she found: broken ribs, bruises, a gaping wound running from his left shoulder across his chest, all compounded by massive blood loss and the effects of the youkai venom. “Maybe you should call an ambulance.”

Kagome dismissed the suggestion out of hand. “No. He wouldn’t understand waking up alone in a strange place. Can we keep him alive here until morning?”

The woman’s eyes narrowed. “He is more than he seems. Is that why you’re only concerned about his surviving until morning?”

Although she was worried half out of her mind, Kagome was suddenly suspicious. Still, the strange woman was helping. “It’s not my story to tell.”

The woman opened up the bundle of supplies with a nod of approval. The girl had done well--she seemed to have some experience in caring for that friend of hers despite his lack of scars indicating old injuries. “Help me make him as comfortable as we can. Then I’ll go and get some herbs I have that may help.”

They spread a couple of the blankets on the floor next to the well. The woman had Kagome sit leaning against the structure, then she carefully moved the injured boy so that he was half-lying with his head and uninjured right shoulder resting in her lap. At Kagome’s horrified expression as the blood once again began to flow from the reopened wound, the woman explained, “It’s a sort of trade-off. Losing the additional blood will weaken him slightly further, but the flow of blood will help to flush more of the youkai’s poison from the wound.” She placed what bandaging materials she had in the bundle of supplies over the open cut, reserving a couple of the gauze pads to use as compresses, then tucked the last few blankets around the pair. “He must be kept warm. He will start to sweat from the poison--this is actually a good thing, so don’t worry about that. He may become delirious and try to move. Whatever happens, you must keep him down and quiet if there is any hope for him to survive.” Then she was gone.

Kagome studied her charge closely. He no longer seemed strange to her in his natural state. Even his monthly human form had become familiar and comfortable. She looked at his injuries and shuddered, realizing that he had been wounded trying to protect her. She dragged her eyes away from the red-tinted bandage to see two brown eyes looking back at her. “We always seem to end up this way,” he whispered.

She blinked rapidly--she knew how he hated to see women cry. “I’ve noticed.”

He took a deep breath, then flinched at the pain in his shattered ribs. “You’re not hurt?”

She shook her head. “Just a headache and some bruises. How do you feel?”

“This little scratch? It’s nothing.” As familiar as the words were, his fragile tone frightened her. Even this little bit of conversation had exhausted him. “So tired….” he mumbled.

She smoothed his damp hair. “Then get some rest.”

“Kagome….”

“I’m right here, Inuyasha.”

He moved restlessly, the youkai’s poison working deeper. “Stay with me, Kagome. Don’t go.” Uncertain of exactly what he had meant in his disoriented state, she said nothing. Her touch seemed to quiet him, so she stroked his forehead, noticing how hot his skin had become. “Kagome…I need….” He fell silent again as he lost consciousness.

It had been a very short conversation, but it had left her with a lot to think about. She couldn’t understand why he thought that she might leave him in this state. But, she wondered, was that really what he had said? She had no doubt that she had heard the correct words, but Inuyasha was not particularly gifted with language. Also, in his fully alert state he was rude and abrasive, and could never bring himself to speak of intensely personal matters--at least, not directly.

On one occasion, she had been trapped on her home side of the well. Inuyasha had managed to communicate with her through the Goshinboku in the center of her home shrine. He had even admitted to her then that he had needed her, although she was never entirely sure if he’d meant that personally or because of the part she would play in the battle once she returned. Also, when he’d been ill, badly hurt, or tired beyond words he sometimes let his guard down enough to reveal hints of the kindness deep at the core of his being. He had even confessed that he’d lied when he said that he found her scent disgusting. Even when he’d stolen the pieces of the Shikon they had collected and pushed her into the well he had done so in order to keep her away from a situation that, in his opinion, had grown far too dangerous for an admittedly frail human. When he’d fought his half-brother, a powerful youkai, for the sword that was his father’s legacy, it had been his willingness to protect her that had finally allowed him to control the weapon. And the way Inuyasha behaved around Kouga, the leader of the wolf youkai in the region--!

Was it possible that the hanyou felt the same way she did? And even if he did, was there anything that they could do about it?

“Kagome?”

The girl looked up at the sound of the voice she wanted to hear above almost all others. “Mama?”

The woman came forward. “Kagome, what’s going--” She stopped suddenly at the sight of her only daughter and a total stranger wrapped in blankets on the wooden floor of the well house. Though she had never seen the boy before, there was something about his sleeping face that made her feel protective.

“Mama, can you help us? He’s really hurt.”

Pulling back a corner of the blankets, she gasped when she saw the blood-soaked bandages. “We have to get him to the hospital, Kagome. This is way beyond basic first aid.” Taking a closer look at the unconscious boy, she recognized his very unusual clothing. “Kagome, how can this be?”

“He’s hanyou, Mama--his mother was human. Every few weeks he loses all of his youkai strength and becomes completely human. This,” she said, gesturing as well as she could with one hand, “Is all my fault. I thought he would be safer if we spent the night here. A youkai attacked us when we were nearly at the well. He got hurt trying to protect me.”

“All the more reason to get him medical attention. Kagome, that wound is bad enough, but there could be other injuries that we know nothing about.”

The girl thought hard. “It might help for now, but he’ll change back to his normal self at dawn. He’ll start to heal then--very fast. I don’t know what will happen if he wakes up by himself in a strange place.”

Although the woman had never seen Inuyasha lose control, she had no doubt that he was capable of creating tremendous havoc if provoked. She nodded slowly. “So what can we do?”

A strange woman’s voice came from behind her. “We can do exactly what we have been doing.” She set down the canvas bag she carried and began to remove a variety of containers. “What is his condition, Kagome?”

Startled that the woman knew her name, the girl forced her curiosity away--this was a serious matter. “He’s been mostly quiet. He seems to be having chills in spite of the fever and sweating. The bleeding has stopped, but I think that the broken ribs cause him pain when he breathes.”

The woman opened a container filled with a warm liquid. “Can you wake him enough to drink this?”

Bending low, Kagome whispered his name and was rewarded by half-open eyes. As the girl held the drink for him, the strange woman said, “Drink this. For pain.”

Hearing an unfamiliar voice, his attention shifted immediately to the stranger. “Who--?”

The woman brought out a paste made from dried herbs and a little water. She spread the substance carefully over the open wound, making sure it coated all the surfaces. “This will neutralize the youkai’s poison, Inuyasha. And then I will explain.”

Kagome looked at her suspiciously. “How do you know our names? How did you guess that we were attacked by a youkai? Who are you?”

The woman smiled. “You can call me Yuriko--it’s one of the names I’ve used over the years. I knew who you were because your story is well known in my family. I knew that you had been attacked by a youkai because I could smell it.” She smoothed down her hair to reveal a pair of tiny, silver-furred ears at the top of her head. “I also am hanyou, of the dog family.”

“How…do you know us?”

She turned to the wounded boy. “I know you because we are kin--Uncle.” She quickly gave instructions for the administration of the rest of the medicines, then turned to the door. “We’ll meet again,” she said, and left.

The woman’s departure created a long, uncomfortable silence. There were a lot of questions just dying to be asked, but it was decided by an unspoken agreement that this was probably not the best time to do so.

As the night wore on, Kagome administered the medicines left in her possession as needed. Her mother, who went into the house to care for the rest of the family, reappeared at intervals to bring her daughter food and moral support. Inuyasha regained partial consciousness at times, but would quiet instantly at the sound of her voice or her touch.

Kagome slept, a few minutes at a time, her left arm resting lightly on his chest so that she would know instantly if he stirred. It was a measure of exactly how stressful the night had been that she could sleep at all. Her thoughts were swirling with questions about Yuriko, worry about Inuyasha, and her own sense of guilt at having contributed to his wounds.

She was confident that he would recover completely from his injuries, and that he would not blame her--he had, after all, agreed to the plan. She could no longer imagine her life without him in it, and that also worried her a little. Because of her involvement in the affairs of his world, she had been growing increasingly isolated from school, her old friends, and even her family.

She still wondered about Yuriko. Even though the woman had called Inuyasha “Uncle,” Kagome didn’t see how that could be possible. Inuyasha’s brother Sesshoumaru harbored an intense dislike for humans, and would certainly never permit himself to become involved with one of those “worthless creatures.” On the other hand, the last couple of times she had seen him, Sesshoumaru had been traveling with a young human girl.

Or maybe, she thought, Inuyasha had another brother or sister she knew nothing about. After all, it was only after they had been traveling together for some weeks that she had learned about his human mother. Even now, so much later, she only knew a few details about the woman: she died long ago, she had been very beautiful, she had taught Inuyasha how to make her medicines, and--until Kagome’s arrival--she had been the only person to ever cry for her strange hanyou son.

Anyway, there didn’t seem much point in speculating. He would let additional information drop whenever he was comfortable enough to do so. Kagome studied his sleeping face again, amazed that a person whose life was so violent could look so peaceful, even for a while. He stirred, breathing deeply. “Kagome?”

Looking into his yes for any signs of distress, she asked, “How do you feel?”

He tried to shrug, then thought better of it. “I think the medicines are helping a little. What about you? You’ve been sitting in this one spot for a long time now.”

She shook her head. “I can move a little, and you’re not very heavy.” She took a deep breath and continued, “I’m sorry about all this--we should never have tried to make it to the well so close to sunset. It’s my fault you got hurt.”

His tone was sarcastic, and she finally allowed herself to really believe that he would survive the night. “Baka! That youkai wasn’t coming after me--it went straight for the Shikon shards you’re carrying. If we hadn’t made for the well, it would have tracked you to the village. How many people there would have been hurt before it was killed?”

She realized then that Inuyasha was right. Even though the youkai had been relatively weak, there were few trained fighters left in the village because the wars had pulled most of the young men away from home. A direct confrontation would have certainly resulted in a number of casualties before the creature was destroyed. “Maybe. In any case, I don’t suppose there’s much point in worrying about it now.” Although she didn’t want to worry him, she thought that something to think about other than his injuries could only do him good. “When do you think you’ll be ready to start after Naraku?”

“We’ll leave tomorrow, probably a little later than we planned.”

All the worry and guilt over his wounds turned instantly to fury. “Are you out of your mind?” she roared. “You nearly died tonight, and you’re talking about running right back out into the--”

His voice softened, something she hadn’t expected. “Kagome,” he murmured, “I’m not like you--I heal much faster. We won’t be fighting Naraku tomorrow. I think I’ll be up to walking for a few hours.”

“Maybe we can also make an early camp for the night.”

Although it galled him to be told what to do, he knew that his injuries would heal much more completely if he restricted his activities for a few days. Besides, it would take them longer than that to get outside the relatively safe area near the village. “Maybe,” he agreed.

“Souta!” Kagome motioned to her brother to approach. Six years her junior, Souta had formed an instant bond with the hanyou, even going so far as asking him how to talk to a girl he liked at school. “You’re supposed to be in bed.”

“I couldn’t sleep. Mama said you came back but that you wouldn’t be coming inside.” He clearly wanted to ask more, but was restraining his curiosity.

Inuyasha decided to explain at least part of what must have seemed incredibly strange. “You know I’m not like you and Kagome. Sometimes I lose my special abilities for a while. We were on our way back here when a youkai attacked your sister. I got her away, but got a little scratched up. It’s better if I don’t move around too much before daybreak.”

Souta’s eyes were wide. “How long will you stay this way?”

Kagome could see that the talk was tiring her patient. “Just for tonight, Souta--he’ll be back to his usual self in the morning. Now,” she said, “Go back to bed. You have school tomorrow.”

Even though Inuyasha’s hanyou senses were dulled by the change, his hearing was still acute enough to detect the boy’s whispered, “Cool!”

Kagome smiled at the hanyou-turned-human. “That was a kind thing you did--explaining it to him. He likes you, you know. I think he even worries about you a little, even though he’s sure you can handle anything.”

Inuyasha shook his head, something he hadn’t been able to do a few hours earlier. “I haven’t met many people like him.”

She had no answer. She had seen firsthand how hanyou children were treated in his world. Most human people considered hanyous to be inherently evil. Privately, Kagome thought that it was more likely that a lot of them were pushed past the breaking point by the mistreatment they received at the hands of ignorant villagers. Fortunately, not all of them turned into twisted monsters like Naraku. In one seaside village, a child named Shiori used her hanyou abilities to protect the villagers who had tormented and ostracized her and her mother from her youkai grandfather. The huge Jinenji, who lived with his elderly mother and grew medicinal herbs was, despite his appearance, a shy and gentle creature. And then there was Inuyasha himself….

As a product of the present day, when people were usually judged on their own merits rather than on the identity of their ancestors, she was disturbed by the attitudes of the people living in the world in which she spent so much of her life. Still, she couldn’t bring herself to think of this as an inherent defect in humanity. After all, even the people living near Jinenji had finally banded together to help the hanyou and his mother rebuild their lives once they learned that he wasn’t responsible for the attacks on the villagers.

Kagome knew that she could never hope to make all the humans embrace the hanyous among them. Just maybe, though, she might be able to change a mind here or there. Wouldn’t that be worth the effort?

She saw that Inuyasha had lapsed not into unconsciousness or delirium but into normal sleep. Kagome stifled a yawn, secure in her belief that he would indeed recover completely. Of course, keeping him quiet enough so that he wouldn’t reinjure himself was going to be no fun at all.

It was shortly past daybreak when the hanyou opened his eyes and looked around. Because of the nature of his wounds he had little memory of the precise events of the night before. If past occurrences were any indication, his memory would clear up rapidly as he regained his full strength.

Realizing exactly what he had been using as a pillow he sat up, feeling a twinge in the newly-sealed cut across his chest and shoulder. He saw Kagome slumped against the well and thought for a brief moment that she might also have been injured. Breathing deeply, he could detect no hint of either blood or illness in her scent. Listening carefully, he could hear that the girl’s breathing was deep and regular. Clearly, she suffered from nothing more than simple exhaustion.

Reaching out with his uninjured right arm, Inuyasha eased the girl into a somewhat more comfortable position leaning against his shoulder. When she didn’t even stir, he decided that she must be even more tired than he thought. Straining to remember last night, he didn’t think that he had seen her sleep at all. He had some vague memories of being given medicines on a number of occasions and could reach no conclusion but that she had sat up all night caring for him.

Listening intently, Inuyasha heard light footsteps outside. A few moments later the doors leading to the courtyard opened. The boy gave the hanyou an appraising look. “You look a lot better today. I guess Kagome was right.”

Inuyasha carefully extricated his arm so as not to disturb her, then stood up. He swayed slightly, not yet fully recovered from blood loss. “Souta, can you open doors for me?” At the boy’s nod, he bent down and easily lifted the girl, amazed that so much power and force of will could reside in such a slight frame.

Carrying the blankets, Souta led them into the house. When their mother looked up from preparing breakfast, Inuyasha explained, “Kagome has had a hard night. She needs to sleep before we can go home.”

The woman followed, watching as he placed her carefully on her bed and pulled the thick quilt up over her. As he prepared to assume his customary position at her bedside, the woman took a close look at his torn, blood-soaked clothing. “I think we have a spare robe, if you wouldn’t mind: I can probably get your clothes cleaned and repaired before Kagome wakes up.”

He looked at her in surprise--it had been a very long time since he had had anybody to worry about his welfare. He was just stating to get used to that kind of consideration from the other members of the group hunting Naraku, but he was still confused on those rare occasions when near-strangers treated him like family.

Kagome awoke late in the afternoon. Opening her eyes, she wondered briefly how she had ended up in her own bed. She was not entirely surprised to see the hanyou sitting cross-legged on the floor, his sword resting against his shoulder, looking very much like his old self. “How are you feeling?”

“It’s about time you got up. Were you planning to sleep all day?”

That answer, more than anything else he could have said, convinced her that he was well on the road to recovery. “Do I have time for a hot bath and something to eat before we go?”

Inuyasha made a show of looking out to the west. “Take your time. There’s no point in going back tonight. Besides, we’re leaving on the last leg of our journey. You may as well have one last comfortable night before we track down Naraku and finish off that bastard once and for all.”

She understood that he was giving her a significant gift. His burning hatred for Naraku, the self-created hanyou who had murdered the woman that Inuyasha had loved more than fifty years ago, was the driving force in his life. Until the matter was resolved one way or the other, Kagome knew that he would never be able to move beyond the death of Kikyou no matter how he might come to feel for anyone else.

After a long hot soak Kagome felt much more like herself. She was thoroughly relaxed as she sat down to dinner. Although she dearly loved all her friends in the other world, she often missed mealtimes with her family. That Inuyasha was also present only added to her happiness at the moment.

She had forgotten just how much fun a meal with her family could be. Even after the food was eaten and the dishes cleared away, the lively conversation continued. The hanyou had always wondered about the differences between his world and this one. “Only a small part of this place was here in my time. When was the rest built?”

Kagome’s mother shook her head. “We don’t really know. We don’t have any kind of actual records--just some old family legends.”

Kagome looked at her grandfather, who had been tending the shrine since long before she was born. “Jiichan, can you tell us?”

The old man didn’t know what to say at first: he did not often get asked to relate stories of the Higurashi shrine’s past. He closed his eyes for a few seconds to order his thoughts, then began. “The shrine was built to honor the powerful miko who started our family. Nobody now remembers her name or knows exactly where she came from, or even where she was trained, but there was obviously something strange about that training. In addition to protecting the community, she also married and had a family, and this did not diminish her power. One of her sons--who married a daughter of a highly-respected Buddhist holy man--was the founder of the Higurashi family.”

Inuyasha was skeptical. “Impossible! Mikos don’t have families.”

Of the group around the table, only Kagome understood what was upsetting the hanyou. Perhaps if Kikyou had been permitted to marry, she might never have found her way to the Sengoku Jidai in the first place. “Inuyasha,” she whispered, “Let him finish.”

The old man was really warming up to the task. “A lot of people through the years thought that this miko cursed herself by choosing to marry. The family legends say that their village seemed to attract large numbers of youkai and hanyous.” His voice turned ominous. “There were even rumors that some of the early Higurashi had youkai blood!”

Watching his granddaughter shudder, the old man was pleased--for once, one of the old family legends seemed to be getting a little respect. Suddenly, Kagome stood up. “I’m still a little tired. I think I’ll go to sleep now.”

The silver-haired hanyou followed, puzzled. The girl went to bed without a word, turning away from her self-appointed guardian. Unable to sleep, she lay still a long time, thinking about what her grandfather had said. She hadn’t expected to learn her future in the old man’s story. She could feel hot tears escaping from under her closed eyelids and could hardly breathe around the lump that had appeared in her throat. She buried her face in her pillow and tried not to think about it.

A miko who chose to marry and produced children with youkai blood? That could only be Kikyou. Somehow, she decided, Kikyou would one day be restored to her original state instead of the cold half-life in which she now existed. Apparently, she would eventually learn to accept the beautiful hanyou as he was instead of insisting that he become human before she would allow him to be with her. Maybe, she thought, this was what Inuyasha would do with the completed Shikon no Tama. She knew that he had long since abandoned his desire to make himself a full youkai, but had not been able to figure out what he might instead choose to do with it.

In any case, she thought, she had committed herself to both the search for the remaining Shikon shards and the defeat of Naraku. She would see them through to the end, and then--

Then, she decided, she would return home and try to forget that any of this had ever happened.

Inuyasha was confused. Not only did her ragged breathing tell him that she was still very much awake, but the pillow was totally inadequate to muffle the sounds of her distress. Though he tried, he couldn’t see what it was in that old story that had upset her. Granted that there were some very odd things in the story--some of Kagome’s ancestors may have been part youkai?--but it was only an old legend after all.

He didn’t really know what to make of the content of the story. Although he had not known many of them, he had never heard of a miko being willing to give up her power and responsibilities for the more limited role of caring for a single family. And he very much doubted that even the most powerful miko to ever live would be equal to both tasks.

The hanyou stared straight ahead, desperately trying to block out the sounds coming from behind him. Inuyasha hated being helpless, and nothing made him feel more helpless than crying women. He couldn’t for the life of him imagine what might be wrong with the girl: despite a somewhat rocky beginning, she had turned out to be a satisfactory traveling companion and quite a good fighter when it became necessary. Even her archery skills had improved dramatically. Even more valuable to the group, however, was her natural ability as a peacemaker. She had managed to enlist the help of humans they had encountered in their travels on a number of occasions with her negotiating skills.

He stood and moved silently to the window. Unfortunately, this did nothing to free him from the distracting noises coming from across the room. Damn, he thought, it was going to be a long night. Well, he decided, there wasn’t much point in standing around doing nothing at all.

Not much looking forward to what he expected to happen, he moved back to the girl’s bedside, deliberately making enough noise so that she would know exactly where he was. “Kagome, I know you’re awake. What the hell is going on here?”

“SIT!”

The subduing spell that Kaede had placed on him when he had first revived and attacked Kagome in an attempt to scare her into giving up the Shikon no Tama took effect. The strand of beads around his neck glowed briefly as they drove him face-first into the floor with a resounding crash. When he could once again pry himself up from the floor he wasn’t especially surprised to see that the girl had vanished.

A slow, almost predatory smile crossed his face. Even in the overpowering stink of a modern city, he could follow her scent anywhere. Besides, she hadn’t had time to go far. As he dusted himself off, he realized that there was no real need to track her at all--there was one place she was likely to go if she was feeling bad. Opening the window, he stepped out onto the roof. With a little luck, he might even get there first.

He would have an answer to his question before this night was over.

Kagome climbed over the low fence around the Goshinboku. Unable to see clearly through the tears in her eyes, she tripped over an exposed root and fell flat, knocking the air out of her body. She lay on the ground, gasping for breath, listening for any signs of pursuit. Satisfied that the only sound was the light breeze rustling the holy tree’s leaves, she allowed herself to once again fall into the abyss of self-pity that had opened before her. She leaned against the tree and sobbed bitterly.

“Don’t.”

She looked around in confusion. “Nani--?”

The hanyou dropped out of the tree and stood before her with a hand extended. “I remember what you said the other day--I thought you would come here.” His amber eyes seemed to glow in the darkness. “Won’t you tell me what’s wrong?”

Kagome took the hand and let him help her up. They sat at the base of the tree. “I realized what Jiichan’s story meant, and I guess I was feeling a little sorry for myself.” She lowered her eyes. “I’m sorry I did that back there.”

The hanyou shook his head. “It was only an old story, Kagome. What is there to feel bad about?”

She repeated his gesture. “Don’t you understand? That miko he was talking about--it has to be Kikyou.”

“NANI?”

Kagome’s voice was carefully neutral. “Think about it, Inuyasha. Everybody’s told me how powerful Kikyou was. I know that she wanted you to become human and stay with her. Who else could it be?”

His eyes became shuttered. “Kikyou’s dead. She has no future.”

The girl nodded. “That’s true right now, but couldn’t she be fully restored using the complete Shikon no Tama?”

He considered the matter seriously. “I suppose it’s possible, but it’ll never happen. Kikyou died full of hate. It’s been poisoning her heart. She can never return to what she once was. There is only one way left to help her find peace.”

“But how else could some of the early Higurashi have been part youkai?”

“I don’t know,” he said, ears twitching. “Who knows what’s possible? Now,” he said, “How about going back inside and really getting some sleep? It could be a long time before you can sleep in a comfortable bed again.”

“You know,” she said as they walked back into the house, “If Jiichan’s story is true, it’s a good thing--it means we’re going to win: we’ll beat Naraku and collect the complete Shikon no Tama.”

He didn’t sound as enthusiastic as she expected. “I know.” If her hearing had been as acute as his, she wouldn’t have missed the “But what then?” he uttered under his breath.