InuYasha Fan Fiction ❯ Unattainable ❯ Resolve ( Chapter 2 )

[ Y - Young Adult: Not suitable for readers under 16 ]

AN: I suddenly noticed that I'm missing responses. If I've missed you here or before in the past, I'm really sorry and I didn't mean to! (Well since this is the first chapter of this particular story, I've nothing to worry about so far… but still, if I've missed you here, I sincerely apologize!)

By the way, the ages I'm using here are the official ones. See them at (without the spaces, naturally):

h t t p : / / f u r i n k a n . c o m / i y c o m p a n i o n / m i s c / i n d e x . h t m l

And of course Furinkan itself is a great web page…

NOW to responses:

Moonlit Showers aka InuKag Fan: Heh… Kagome's been through quite lot, hasn't she? And that was only the first chapter! Let's see what sorts of terrible things I can do to her this time…. But not really.

InvictusCanisDeus: Thanks! I agree; this is the best start off that I've done so far, and I think one of the most original. (Or at least, I'm hoping so…)

NewSalemWitch: Thank you! I agree (about the beginning). I'm glad that I compromised Inuyasha's personality with the fact that he decided to lead them well; I wasn't sure if it worked out. Thanks for the spelling tip!

~ME: I tried in this story to alter my writing style a bit, actually. I'm glad that it worked out! Thank you!

InuKagluver91: Why, thank you!

BaBeeCinaMon: Thank you, and I'm glad that you enjoy it!

FFchick: Thanks! It actually came about when I was thinking about the connection between Kagome's time and Sengoku Jidai: where did all the demons go…? That's always made me wonder… and well, this came out of it!

Inu Kaiba: Thank you! I've been trying to keep everyone in character. (Sango can give me problems sometimes, but since she hasn't appeared yet…) I'm glad that you like the plot so far!

MizSiren: Thanks!

rin sama1989: I was pretty worried about keeping them all in character, I'll admit. I'm glad that I did a good job! I hope that the update wasn't too long of a wait; our internet service actually went down on the day that I finished this thing… I was very upset.

Disclaimer: Not mine! Hers! Rumiko Takahashi's and affiliates'!

Unattainable

Chapter Two: Resolve

"Come on!" Inuyasha nudged the sleeping girl with his toe. "Get a move on!" Yellow eyes gleamed with impatience as Kagome mumbled something incoherent and tried to fall back asleep against the tree.

"I want to be at the camp today, not in three years!" he snapped as Kagome stood up and rubbed her eyes. "And at the rate you're going at, it's going to take that long!"

Kagome yawned and looked at him. "How long?" She waved at Shippo, who scrambled out of the tree- he'd decided to play lookout- and landed comfortably on the hanyou's shoulder.

Inuyasha flinched. "What do you think I am?" he asked the kitsune irritably as they started off again. "Just your handy packhorse, huh?"

Shippo nodded solemnly in agreement. "And our guide," he added.

"Not for long," the hanyou grumbled and glanced at Kagome, but didn't make the kitsune get off. "Hurry up! You're lagging behind."

Shippo glanced pityingly at the human girl. She hadn't gotten much rest at all in the past day. Her eyes were half-lidded and her feet dragged on the leaf-scattered dank earth.

A brown shoe caught on a root and Kagome stumbled into a tree. With a groan, she pushed away from the trunk and rubbed her nose, glaring at Inuyasha with fury in her brown eyes. She tried to remind herself that he was doing them a service by leading them through the forest, but it didn't help.

"Can we please take a break?" she asked tersely, her clipped tone barely remaining civil. Shippo winced, knowing that this was going to result in a big argument.

Inuyasha whirled around irritably. "We just rested! We haven't been walking even five minutes and you're already complaining! What a spoiled little-"

"I slept five minutes under a tree!" Kagome snapped back. "That's not a break! Unlike you, I'm human. I have to sleep at some point, something which I haven't done in ages!"

Amber eyes were equally belligerent. "You just said yourself that you were sleeping five minutes ago! So what are you complaining about? If we stopped every time you got a little tired, we'd never get anywhere!"

"I said that I only slept five minutes! In the last day, I've slept less than four hours and I've been chased by monsters, then attacked by you! I've been walking for hours, and scared out of my wits! I need a break! Now!" And with that, the black-haired girl sat down on the ground and leaned up against a tree, her eyes already fluttering shut.

"Oh, give me a break!" Inuyasha retorted. "You attacked me! You invaded my cave and you slept there!" He turned and glared at the black-haired girl. "So get up! We're going to keep-" he frowned incredulously and looked at Shippo. "Is she asleep?"

The ginger-haired kitsune shrugged carelessly, emerald eyes wide and sincere. "Looks like it." The exhausted schoolgirl remained comatose as she reclined against the tree.

Inuyasha stared at her angrily for a moment, then sighed huffily. "Looks like we'll be here a while," he grumbled to Shippo and sat down, arms folded across his chest.

(\ /)

(•. •)

(><)

Blinking sleepy brown eyes, Kagome found herself staring up at the foliage above. With a yawn, she sat up and stretched sore muscles.

"Well, look who finally decided to get up," Inuyasha commented sourly, amber eyes glinting in the orange light of the fire he was tending. He prodded at it with a stick. "You slept for most of the day," he informed her pointedly and glanced up at a small patch of dark sky above that shone through the trees.

"Good," Kagome replied contentedly. "I feel much better." But she really needed a shower now… and a change of clothes, and a hairbrush. She glanced at Inuyasha. There was no point in telling him that. He wouldn't care in the slightest.

"What are you staring at?" The white-haired boy interrupted her train of thought, his golden eyes staring challengingly at her. Kagome looked away, unnerved.

"You know, Inuyasha," Shippo commented from his perch in a tree, "you could try to be a bit more friendly. You're gonna be stuck with us for another few days." The kitsune scrambled down the tree's trunk and fell to the forest floor with a thump.

"Unfortunately," Inuyasha grumbled and poked at the fire again. The flames flickered and leaped as he rearranged the branches. None of them spoke for a while, and the soft murmuring of the fire filled the awkward silence.

"Um…" Kagome broke the silence and cleared her throat nervously. "Won't the fire attract demons, or something?" She flinched as a twig snapped somewhere in the forest beyond the range of the dancing orange flames.

Inuyasha paused mockingly to consider. "Let me think…" he said sarcastically. "Yes." He shifted in his seat and added some more wood to the fire.

"What?" Kagome demanded incredulously. "Are you trying to get us killed?" Her voice rose steadily louder until she was yelling at him. "We're all gonna get eaten! How stupid can you be?"

Amber eyes glared belligerently into brown as he growled a reply. "You're the stupid one if you think that I'd be weak enough to get killed by one of them," he spat. "They know well enough to stay away from me." The two of them glared daggers.

Shippo looked between the two of them nervously, then piped up. "What about food?" The kitsune looked plaintively at Inuyasha.

The hanyou looked away from Kagome and fixed his angry gaze on the ginger-haired kitsune. "What do you expect me to do?" he demanded. "I never said that I'd feed you."

"How mean!" Kagome exclaimed in Shippo's defense. "He's just a kid, and neither of us have been in a situation like this! You could try to be a bit more friendly, you know!"

"I'm doing you a favor already!" Inuyasha bellowed back. "I'm saving your sorry asses and getting you back home! I'm using my time to help you!" He waved a clawed finger in the black-haired girl's face.

"It won't matter if we die of starvation!" Kagome retorted and shoved his finger away from her face. Both of them glared, furious. The fire popped and cackled in the background.

It was Inuyasha who finally gave in. "Fine," he grumbled and turned away. "But don't expect me to wait on you hand and foot, princess!" Without waiting for a scathing reply from Kagome, he rushed away, a dark red blur in a maze of dark tree trunks and whispering leaves.

White ears twitched as he glared into the darkness. Evening wasn't the best time to hunt. For a moment, he considered going back with nothing. But that wouldn't help his already-injured pride. "Hah." There, in the brush…

A clawed hand shot out and grabbed and handful of indignant squawking feathers. The bird struggled furiously in his grasp for a moment before Inuyasha deftly snapped its neck. That was one. A few minutes later, and he had another handful of bird. With a small smug smile on his face, he stepped around a bush and headed back to camp.

It was the strange sounds coming from Kagome and Shippo's direction that first made him uneasy. Then, white ears twitching, he caught the sound of screams. "Shit." He dashed off through the dark, dodging bushes and tree trunks. As he got closer, he realized that the screams were indeed Kagome's, but they were more angry than frightened.

"… stupid! I don't care if you are hungry, I refuse to come down and get eaten. You can howl all you want at me! I don't care, and I'm up to here with all these attacks! Go away!"

The hanyou snorted incredulously. Like that was going to stop a rampaging demon…

"Who says I want to eat you? Do I look like a demon to you? Look, miss, I don't know why you're so upset with me, but I'm just passing through! I just want directions!"

"It's a trick!" Kagome cried shrilly from the clearing. "You're disguised! There's all sorts of demons in these woods!"

Inuyasha slowed to a trot and stepped into the firelight. He stared up into the branches of the tree that Kagome was perched in. "This is worse than looking after a baby," he complained to her. "I leave for just five minutes, and you somehow manage to get yourself in trouble."

"I'm not going to eat her!" The dark-haired man whirled on Inuyasha. "Look, I just want directions to-" he stopped abruptly and stared at Inuyasha's ears. "Demon!" Clumsily, he pulled out a sword and haphazardly waved it about in the air. "Stay away!"

Dropping the two dead birds by the fire, Inuyasha rolled his eyes and folded his arms across his chest. "What are you doing?" He glared pointedly at the young man.

"Stay back, I tell you!" Reflected firelight danced across the polished edge of the blade. "I'll stab you!"

"That's nice." In a flash, the sword fell to the ground with a thump. Inuyasha stepped on the hilt and continued to stare at the young man. "Whaddaya want?"

"Don't worry, he's not gonna kill ya," Shippo chirped from the dark branches of the tree. "He's leading us to an outpost, or something."

The man gulped nervously. "Oh, if that's the case…" he took a deep breath. "Can you tell me where Kotada is?"

"That way a lot." Inuyasha waved a hand vaguely, red sleeve flapping. "But Tomejii's closer, that way." He pointed again. "Now scram."

"Th-thank you, sir!" Inuyasha lifted his foot off of the sword and the young man scrambled to pick it up. Without a backward glance, he disappeared into the darkening night, crashing through bushes and hacking at the vegetation.

Kagome scrambled down from the tree, nursing a scrape on her arm and a bruised knee. "I didn't know that there were cities in the Border," she commented and caught Shippo as the kitsune tumbled out of the tree.

"There's a lot you don't know about the Border," Inuyasha grumbled in return. "For instance, you seem to think that the whole place is infested with demons." He picked up the birds and held them out towards Kagome.

She looked at the two offerings gingerly. "But isn't it? In the time I've been here, I've seen three demons, and it's only been a day. Am I supposed to eat that raw?" She held the limp bodies by the tips of her fingers.

"Stupid," Inuyasha snorted. "You pull the feathers off and cook 'em on a stick. Or you could put 'em in clay and bake 'em. You don't lose the juices that way." With a defeated sigh, he took the birds from Kagome and started pulling out feathers; it was too dry for mud. "And there aren't as many demons as you seem to think," he informed her. "Sure, there's a lot, but not as many as humans."

Kagome looked across the dancing fire towards the dog-demon in surprise. "I didn't know that anyone lived here at all," she admitted. "Of course," she added, "all I've heard are rumors and little things on TV."

"No wonder." With a frustrated growl, he wrestled a few more feathers off of one of the birds. "There's way more demons on the other side of the Border." He pulled out another handful of feathers.

"Here." Kagome grabbed the other bird with a dubious expression on her face. With a grimace, she started to pull feathers out. "What do you mean, the other side of the Border? I thought that the only demons there where the ones from the Embassy."

"It's called the 'Border', remember?" Inuyasha watched with mild amusement as Kagome pulled out a handful of feathers and made a face. "There's two sides of it; the human, and the demon."

"I was born on the demon side," Shippo added. "But I don't remember much about it. I lived in the Embassy most of the time." He picked up a feather and twirled it through his fingers.

"How old are you, Shippo?" Kagome inquired as she continued to pull feathers. It wasn't so bad, once you got used to it, once she reminded herself that it was what some people must do for a job.

"I'm seven." By this time, the ginger-haired kitsune hand a large pile of feathers to play with. He threw them up in the air and the downy mass drifted slowly back down, some of them onto the fire.

"Brat! Don't do that!" Inuyasha put one hand over his nose. "Feathers stink when you put them in fire, you idiot!" He wiped watering eyes. "Gods! What a stench!" He

bopped the kitsune over the head, just for good measure.

"Well, sorry," Shippo griped and took a seat next to Kagome. As the smell began to disperse, the ginger-haired demon asked the same of Kagome; "How old are you?"

"I just turned fifteen," Kagome replied forlornly. "My birthday was five days ago." It seemed like ages, though, and so distant. Vaguely, she wondered guiltily how her family was. She hoped that they weren't completely messed up, and the mob hadn't targeted them.

"What about you, Inuyasha?" Shippo looked curiously at the hanyou as he pulled the last few feathers from his bird. "How old are you?"

The hanyou's face remained impassive in the flickering orange glow from the fire as it hissed and popped. "Does it matter?" he retorted levelly and tossed another branch onto the fire.

"If it doesn't, then why don't you wanna tell me?" Shippo challenged archly, a small smug smile on his face as he settled himself in Kagome's lap.

Inuyasha sighed. "Fifteen," he grumbled finally, and wrestled the bird onto a stick. He held it over the fire and glared at Shippo. "Happy now?" he snarled.

"You're fifteen?" Kagome squeaked in surprise. "But… you were part of the Embassy! Wouldn't you hafta be older, or something? And you live out here all alone, don't you?" She sat back, clearly impressed as she continued to pull feathers. "Wow!"

Inuyasha shrugged uncomfortably. "It's not a big deal, or anything. All I did at the Embassy was sit around and look pretty. They just needed a poster boy." It came out more as a snarl than anything else.

"…Oh," Kagome stammered. After a few more minutes dedicated to plucking feathers, she held out her bird. "Is this okay?" At this point, she wasn't sure if she really wanted to eat it…

"Looks fine to me," Inuyasha replied as he stared into the fire.

"Do I get one?" Shippo inquired hopefully, watching as Inuyasha's bird started to turn a nice golden brown. Inuyasha waved his bird at Shippo and indicated that it was his.

"Hey," the black-haired girl asked cautiously. "Aren't you supposed to drain the blood first?" She poked at her own bird, which she hadn't yet put on a stick.

"If you know so much about this, then why don't you do it yourself and quit asking me?" He pulled his bird away from the fire and poked at it with one claw, cutting a small neat slice on the side. He held it upside down and let blood drip from the bird.

Kagome winced. "Ew! You're supposed to drain it before you put it over the fire, too!" She shook her head. "Haven't you ever done this before?" Shippo scrambled out of her lap and looked at the half-roasted bird disdainfully.

"Well, it's your food, you make it!" Inuyasha tossed the roast to Shippo and stomped away into the dark.

The kitsune held the stick dubiously. With a wary sniff at the partially-roasted bird, he finally put it back over the fire. "Well, it's food," he said with a sigh. This, the kitsune decided, was going to be a very long three days indeed.

(\ /)

(0.0)

(><)

Humans, Inuyasha realized grumpily, slept a lot. Amber eyes glanced down at the prone figure of the girl that he was escorting to Matachi, the outpost closest to the human side. Conveniently, it was also one of the few places in which no one tried to chase him away.

But it wasn't just Kagome, it was Shippo, too. Down below, he ginger-haired kitsune mumbled something in his sleep, small fists clenched in the grey predawn light. White ears twitched and caught the softly uttered words; "Mama… Papa…"

The hanyou winced and turned away, feeling almost guilty to be listening. He sighed and stared up at a small patch of sky overhead. Well, they'd slept long enough. Time to get a move on.

Kagome woke to find something poking her shoulder. At first, her mind still clouded in sleep, she mumbled, "Souta, go bother someone else." Vaguely, she rolled to the other side and shivered in the cold.

"Wake up! I'm not 'Souta', you idiot," Inuyasha informed her, his voice laced with exasperation as he poked her again.

Kagome sat up drearily and rubbed her eyes. With a humongous yawn, the black-haired girl stood up and stretched. "Brr, it's cold," she commented and picked Shippo.

"It won't be if you start moving." Without waiting to see if she was following, the white-haired hanyou set off at a brisk pace.

"What a slave driver," Kagome murmured to Shippo. The sleepy kitsune nodded emphatically in agreement.

"I'm doing you a favor, you know," Inuyasha called from farther ahead. "You could be a bit more grateful."

"I forgot about his doggie ears." Kagome skirted a tree trunk and hopped over a bush. Already, she was breathing pretty heavily, and she was starting to warm up nicely. If it had just been walking, she would've been fine going through the forest for hours. But she had to walk over fallen branches, jump over bushes, climb over rocks.

It only took about twenty minutes before Kagome was exhausted. "Hey!" Inuyasha's voice rang out from behind a large number of tree trunks. "What are you doing? Get a move on!"

"She's tired!" Shippo protested. "She is only human, after all." Brown eyes glanced at emerald green gratefully, and Shippo grinned.

Inuyasha grumbled something in reply as he headed back towards them. He stopped in front of Kagome, arms crossed over his chest as he regarded the panting schoolgirl skeptically. After a few moments, he sighed resignedly and, before Kagome knew what was happening, he grabbed her wrist and swung her over onto his back.

"Ow!" Kagome winced and rubbed the injured joint gingerly. "Wh-what are you doing?" she stammered, an embarrassed flush heating her face against the cool mid-morning air.

"I'm hurrying up." Inuyasha leaped a bush with ease and kept running. "You were taking too long," he explained, as if it was the most natural thing in the world. Hopefully, their trip would be cut down by half this way, though he did feel rather like a packhorse.

_|__|_

(•.•)

--( • )--

(____)

The white-haired hanyou skidded to a stop in an empty clearing. "Get off." He leaned over so it would be easier for Kagome to do so. Shippo simply leaped from his shoulder.

Kagome scrambled off eagerly and started around their surroundings with curiosity. "I can't believe you ran like that for so long!" she called from one side of the clearing as she poked at an old fire pit. "Do other people stay here, too?"

Inuyasha shrugged. "Sometimes. It's a sort of campground." He sat down cross-legged on the ground among the leaves and twigs.

"Is it lunch now?" Shippo wandered his way, picking up small sticks and twigs as he went. He hand a small bundle by the time that he'd reached Inuyasha.

Unwilling to admit that he was actually tired from carrying the two of them, Inuyasha nodded. "Yeah." An idea struck him. "But this time, you're finding it."

Shippo blanched. "B-but, I've never hunted anything before…!" he stammered, his little bundle of "firewood" forgotten.

"So now's a good time to start, don'cha think?" Inuyasha yawned. He hadn't gotten much sleep himself for quite a while… A nap sounded like a good idea.

Shippo glared at the hanyou for a moment, then marched off, his nose in the air. "Fine! I'll show you, dog-boy!" On the other side of the clearing, Kagome snorted and tried not to laugh.

"Dog-boy?" Inuyasha echoed incredulously. "Some way to treat someone who's just carried you five miles!" A scowl on his face, Inuyasha hopped into a tree and hoped that Shippo would get trampled by a deer. Dog-boy… now that brought back memories… But he still hadn't decided if they were good memories or bad.

Kagome glanced at the white-haired boy in the tree. He really was fifteen, wasn't he? No one older would act like that… she hoped. She smiled unhappily and the nagging voice that had been bothering her incessantly rose to the surface of her mind. What was her family doing right now?

"Ha!" Shippo swaggered into the clearing, proudly holding three dead birds in his arms. "I got three, Inuyasha!" He placed his trophies next to his bundle of sticks and grinned at the half demon.

Inuyasha opened one lazy amber eye. "That's nice," he remarked with a yawn. "Now all ya hafta do is pluck and roast 'em." The eye shut and, to all appearances, he fell asleep.

With a small bit of grumbling, Shippo sat down on the ground with a crunch of leaves, bushy tail twitching in agitation. "Fine then. You just won't get any!" Up in the tree, a white ear twitched, and a small smug smile curled at the corners of Inuyasha's mouth.

"Here, Shippo, I'll help." Kagome dusted off her skirt- not that it helped; she was just as filthy as before- and plopped herself down next to the kitsune with a small sigh. The black-haired girl picked up a bird and started to pull out feathers. "How'd you catch them so quickly?" She glanced at Shippo, impressed.

Shippo paused for a moment. He stood up and leaned in towards Kagome's ear. "They're transformed acorns," he whispered softly so that Inuyasha wouldn't hear. "But don't tell dog-boy, okay?"

Kagome nodded, a small grin on her face. "By the way, why do you call him that?" She continued to pluck at the acorn's feathers. "Hm. 'Dog-boy'."

Shippo sat down again and tugged half-heartedly at the feathers, eyes downcast. "I heard someone call him that at the Embassy." Memories filtered through his mind. His parents…

Kagome noticed and patted him comfortingly on the head, a sad look in her eyes. "I'm sorry. I didn't mean to bring it up." That's right, she thought. Shippo's parents are gone… "If I were you," she added, "I'd probably be bawling me eyes out. You're very strong." She smiled encouragingly, hoping that he'd feel a bit better.

"There hasn't been any time to cry," Shippo explained as he stared hard at the acorn in his lap. "And… at least I didn't see it, right?" He tossed a handful of feathers onto the ground. "And I'm still alive."

Kagome had nothing to say to that. The poor kid had just lost both parents and had been hurled into a rough existence. And he was seven years old. "I'm sure that your parents would be proud of you," she hazarded.

Kagome was rewarded with a weak smile from the ginger-haired child. "Thanks." They pulled feathers in silence for a while. "What about you?" Shippo asked after a few minutes of quiet inflection. "You got chased by that mob because of me… won't your family be blacklisted?"

Kagome shook her head. "Nah, if we would be, then we already have been. My dad was killed, too. At least, that what we think. He disappeared three years ago when he went out after dark." She shook her dark head wearily. There was no chance that he was still alive, but that didn't stop her wondering. Even now, three years later. Often, she was kept up late at night, staring up at the dark ceiling, shrouded in the restless silence that came with the dark, wondering. What had happened? Her mind would run through impossible scenarios; had he miraculously escaped, and was in hiding? Maybe they'd thought that he was dead and hit him on the head with a pipe, and now he had amnesia. Maybe he'd fallen over the cliff, just like she had, and was wandering around the Border… In some ways, that painful, fleeting hope was worse than actually knowing that he was gone forever.

(\ /)

(•. •)

(><)

After another day, Kagome finally worked up the courage to ask Inuyasha, "Could we stop somewhere so that I could bathe?" By this time, she felt absolutely disgusting; her clothes needed to be changed, her hair needed to be washed and brushed, and she felt like she was had grimy dust for skin.

Inuyasha glanced at her and nodded tactfully. "We'll find a stream; the river's a bit dangerous, and a lot colder."

Kagome grinned with relief. "Thank you," she replied gratefully. She clambered familiarly onto Inuyasha's back, and he took off. It was funny how much a day had changed them both; only yesterday, he probably would've ranted on and on about wasting time and superfluous feminine habits. Inuyasha had finally stopped referring to her only as "you idiot". Now, she was "you idiot", "you", and very rarely, her actual name, "Kagome". Well, it was an improvement, though they still didn't get along all the time.

"There's a stream coming up," the hanyou informed her brusquely. "Um…" How could he phrase this without getting his on the head with a rock? "Are you thinking of washing your clothes, too?"

Kagome nodded. "That would be a good idea," she admitted. The air lifted her hair from the back of her neck as trees blurred by, blending into one brown-green blur as Inuyasha ran.

Well, obviously… "Then whatcha gonna wear?" Shippo piped up from Inuyasha's shoulder, green eyes wide and sincere. "You're clothes'll be all wet and stuff."

"You can have my haori," Inuyasha grumbled gruffly as he leaped over a fallen tree, bare feet pounding the hard packed earth.

"Are you sure that it'll be enough?" Kagome dubiously fingered the strange fabric beneath her grubby fingers.

"I think so." Inuyasha skidded to a halt, a dusty cloud of leaves and dirt billowing out behind him. "The stream's that way."

Kagome slid off of his back eagerly. "Oh, to be clean!" she exclaimed exultingly.

"Don't get too excited. It's cold." Inuyasha deftly pulled off his haori and handed it to the eager schoolgirl.

"I don't care! I just can't wait to get all this grime off." She scrambled down the hillside in a shower of dirt, leaves and twigs that didn't improve the condition of her socks and shoes. She stopped abruptly and turned. "And no peeking, Inuyasha!"

"I'm not tempted!" the irate hanyou hollered back. He snorted and shook his head, his back obstinately towards her.

"Oh, Shippo, you might wanna come, too." Kagome glanced at the kitsune with a critical eye. "You can't be much cleaner than me."

"Comin'!" The ginger-haired bounced cheerfully after her. "See ya, Dog-boy!"

"Quit calling me that, Brat!" Inuyasha retorted harshly, amber eyes smoldering with anger at the smaller demon.

"'Kay, Dog-boy!" Shippo didn't know what it meant and he didn't particularly care. All he knew was that it annoyed the hanyou, and that in and of itself was reason enough for him.

"Shippo, stop teasing Inuyasha," Kagome told the kitsune condescendingly. The pair disappeared from sight behind a small copse of trees. The stream burbled just below that. Carefully, she hung the half-demon's haori on a tree branch and removed her shoes before plunging recklessly into the stream, fully clothed. They did need to be washed, after all. "Wow, this looks pretty deep." But the water was calm; it would be safe to bathe in.

"Ah!" She yelped; the water was freezing! "This must be ice melt," she complained to Shippo. "It's so c-cold!" She wrapped her arms around herself in a futile attempt to maintain warmth.

With a great show of caution, Shippo dipped one footpaw the edge of the water. He nodded gravely. "I think you're right. Maybe I'll just sit out," he decided.

Kagome glowered at him. "That's not fair!"

Shippo smiled superiorly at the half-frozen girl. "Well, it's your own fault for jumping in like that. I'm not going to freeze in there."

"Oh really?" Before Shippo got the chance to inquire as to what she meant, Kagome shoved cold water in his direction and thoroughly drenched the shocked kitsune.

"H-hey!" The ginger-haired boy spluttered indignantly. That was more of something that he'd expect from Inuyasha, not kind-hearted, sweet Kagome. "That's not fair!"

"Life's not fair," Kagome countered with a friendly grin as she wrung out her sopping green shirt.

"Fine!" With a swirl of leaves and blue foxfire, Shipp the Big Pink Bubble crashed into the stream and sent a giant icy wave at Kagome.

"Eek!" Kagome was swamped and submerged by the wave. Tendrils of black hair swirled into her face and brown eyes blinked in the crystal clear water of the "stream". The bottom fell into shimmering aquamarine depths of at least eight feet in the middle, where she'd been swept out to. It was another world; strangely silent and coldly tinged blue. She grinned delightedly. There were little flashes of silver fish darting back and forth at the bottom.

Shippo's anxious face appeared in her view, and the kitsune tugged her arm towards the surface. Obediently, Kagome rose to the surface with him. They both gasped for air. "Waah! I'm so sorry Kagome!" the kitsune wailed. "I didn't mean to do that! Are you okay?"

Kagome laughed breathlessly. "It's okay, Shippo! I was just looking at the bottom. It's so clear, have you seen? And there's little fish on the bottom!"

Shippo's emerald eyes light with interest. "Really? Where?" He dove back under and Kagome pointed the small crowd out on the bottom. He grinned and bubbled came out from his mouth. They surfaced. "Cool!" Shippo paused, a frown of concentration on his face.

In a puff of foxfire, Shippo was a fish. Kagome giggled. A very odd-looking fish, with long floppy orange fins and a purple spotted body. Big eyes bulged from a goofy face. "Wow, Shippo."

"What's so funny?" Shippo the Fish demanded. "I've never been a fish before," he told her defensively. When Kagome merely giggled, he dove down below, deliberately splashing her in the process.

Kagome submerged herself and watched as the outrageous "fish" approached the tiny flashes of silver. She wasn't surprised when they all darted away. The strange fish rose lazily to the surface and made a face at her.

Kagome giggled and bubbles rose through the clear cold water. She and the fish swam towards the shore where it water was shallower. They stopped where Kagome could stand. Shippo became himself again in a puff of smoke. Kagome grinned and shoved another wave at him.

"What was that for?" Shippo hollered unhappily.

"I was just getting you back for hitting me with that giant wave. Truce?" She started to wring out her socks and winced when the water that came out was a dirty brown color.

"Never!" Shippo splashed her back with a mischievous grin. "Ha!"

(\ /)

(0.0)

(><)

"How long does it take to take a bath?" Inuyasha questioned the surrounding trees and bushes. "It's probably been an hour by now, and I'm not over exaggerating," he grumbled unhappily and traced dusty circles in the dirt with one claw.

A twig cracked down below and a fuzzy white ear twitched in response. Looking slightly embarrassed, Kagome clambered over the ledge, clad only in his haori and carrying her other clothes under one arm. "I heard that," the black-haired girl warned. "And I'll have you know that my hair was a mess."

"Women. Always messing with their hair," Inuyasha commented and stood up. "How long do you think it'll take for those clothes to dry?" he asked hurriedly when Kagome developed a certain frown that he now knew meant trouble.

"Not too long, if Shippo makes a fire and I put them over it." She glanced at the sodden Kitsune. His tail was a straggly sodden mess.

"Just don't burn them," Inuyasha warned. Kagome was the type of person who would do that by accident. "I want my haori back when you're done."

"I was wondering about that." Kagome looked at him curiously as Shippo started to gather twigs enthusiastically. "Why do you wear such old-fashioned clothes?"

Inuyasha shrugged grimly, amber eyes unreadable under a troubled frown. "I didn't have time to pack, and this was what I was wearing when I left."

From the bright light of interest shining in the schoolgirl's brown eyes, Inuyasha realized that she had a number of follow-up questions in mind. "Did you get chased out? What happened? What did you do?"

"You're too nosy for your own good," the hanyou replied cryptically. He turned away. "It's getting dark anyway. We could camp out around here for the night. We should reach Toroshi tomorrow morning," he said heavily, his expression grim.

"It's not that dark at all," Shippo argued. "It must be about four; it won't be dark for another two hours." He glanced at the grim hanyou quizzically.

"It'll take a while for Kagome's clothes to dry, and by that time it won't be worth the trip." And without any explanation, he hopped into a nearby tree where he was hidden from view by the thick foliage beneath.

_|__|_

(•.•)

--( • )--

(____)

Her short, curly hair swayed gently in the cool breeze. Mrs. Higurashi watched the dark, empty streets below. Dingy orange streetlamps lit small, grubby patches of sidewalk and abandoned asphalt like miniature dying suns. To Mrs. Higurashi, it was one of the most despairing and sorrowful, lonely sights in the world. It stank of fear and darkness, harsh reality and cold uncaring where it was each to his own, every man and woman for him or herself.

Sorrowful brown eyes widened in revelation as the distant echoes of a brief struggle reached her ears across the eerily silent landscape. It hadn't always been like this, she recalled. Just five years ago, the streets at this time were bustling and filled with laughter. Street vendors and restaurants filled the crisp night air with the hiss of hot oil and enticing smells. Bright, neon lights lit up shop windows and happy chatter spilled out into the streets.

How had things gotten so bad? Night used to be a happy, carefree time, a blur of brightly colored lights and happy talk rather than a silent, tense time where everyone stayed inside and didn't talk about the desperate cries for help that rang out through the silence every so often. Guilt made her twinge as she recalled the times that she'd just pretended not to hear anything.

The moon hung high in the velvety midnight blue sky, a great white disk above the crowded city. It shed a mercifully pale white light onto dark rooftops, rather than the harsh orange from the streetlamps. A soft breeze stirred the plain white curtain on the open window as Mrs. Higurashi wiped a watering eye. First, she lost her husband. Now her daughter.

And it wasn't just the mob's fault; if people opened their doors and helped others rather than being ruled by fear and repressed by intimidation, these murders wouldn't happen. It was just as much those that didn't care, that ignored those in need; everyone was a precious family member to someone else, someone who'd be mourned and grieved over. It was time that people started to help eachother. Mrs. Higurashi sighed and closed the window quietly. She paused and glanced out one more time before drawing the curtains.

Ignoring the problem wasn't going to make it go away; so far, it had only gotten worse. Next time someone ran by her house seeking refuge, she'd let them in. Maybe she would talk to some friends, and actually address the issue and violate the unspoken taboo. It was dangerous, but so was anything truly worth fighting for. She would not be ruled by fear any longer.

(\ /)

(•. •)

(><)

AN: Well, there ya go. I know; the chapter's a lot shorter than usual, but I realized that if I try to stretch it out and make in a certain number of pages -twenty, actually- it doesn't improve the story at all; in fact, it sometimes makes it worse, and it drags on the plot. So from now on, the chapters will be from fifteen to twenty pages long, going by Microsoft Word, rather than twenty every single time. Sorry if anyone's unhappy with that; I just want to vamp up the quality a bit. Quality over quantity and such.

Questions, comments, complaints, ect, please tell me! Criticism and such is much appreciated, and definitely helpful!

Thanks for reading!