Yu Yu Hakusho Fan Fiction / InuYasha Fan Fiction ❯ Entering Another Realm ❯ Regained Memory – Onward Home ( Chapter 17 )

Disclaimer: I don't own YYH or Inuyasha!

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Regained Memory - Onward Home

"Weak? Hardly," Youko smoothly replied while gently depositing Kagome on her own two feet. A brief flicker of confusion crossed Sesshoumaru's face, almost undetectable to the naked eye.

"There's something different," Sesshoumaru mused aloud, causing a small smirk to splay across the kitsune's lips. "This Sesshoumaru demands to know why you left ten years ago." he stated so suddenly that it caused Youko to blink his eyes. Sesshoumaru had never been one to be so…random.

"Ten years?" Youko repeated before getting a glassy look in his molten gold eyes. "Right, I left…" he murmured after a few seconds of silence. "I think I left because of an arranged marriage." he finally replied, earning a cross look from Kagome. "But as you can see, I didn't want that marriage." he quickly assured, causing Sesshoumaru to slightly raise one of his perfectly sculpted eyebrows.

"Damn, what is your relation to that bastard, bastard!" Inuyasha growled, hating to be ignored.

"If I may add, you are the ONLY bastard here." Youko replied. "But to answer your question, Sesshoumaru and I have been rivals as long as I could remember. We are equally matched in everything…looks, talent, skill, and position, well, except, of course, I had much more charm than he did and he had much more…seriousness than I had."

"I believe a rematch for our skills are in order."

"I would say for your better interest to not ask for this." Youko replied, knowing he had 300 years of more experience than his rival. He would have been worried about running into the younger version of himself (not that his appearance changed much), had he not remembered that he had set off across the world in order to escape the ritual that would bond him to one particular, annoying demon.

"Are you saying this Sesshoumaru is weak?" he growled. After a few more words were exchanged between the long-time rivals, a fight broke out. Inuyasha yelled from the sidelines for all he was worth, claiming that he was the only privileged one to kill both Sesshoumaru and Youko. Now Kagome was positive the hanyou was disillusioned….

With her attention diverted, Kagome was caught be surprise when Sesshoumaru's sword, the Toujikin, sent a wave of demonic energy towards her after being deflected by Youko. "Kagome, watch out!" cried several voices, excluding Sesshoumaru. At the last second, Kagome emitted a blue light before being literally tossed several yards across camp and into a large boulder.

Within seconds, Youko had her cradled to his body. He released a sigh of relief when she slowly opened one of her eyes. "Thankfully Lady Kagome's miko energy protected her!" Miroku praised aloud, his eyes glowing with relief. He had feared this would have been the end for his friend and traveling companion. Surely Sango would have been devastated if she ever found that Kagome was killed.

Sesshoumaru honorably waited for Youko to finish talking to his lover, though he did not approve of the choice of his mate. "Will you watch it next time?!?" Kagome yelled as soon as she regained the use of her extremely sore limbs. A furious glint was in her eyes, which had been calm only minutes before. "Sesshoumaru, can't you watch where you wave that metal stick of yours?!?"

"Human, it is a sword." Sesshoumaru growled while trying to keep his anger in check. Kagome was beyond furious to be reasoned with. Next, without stopping for a breath, she turned to Youko.

"And YOU, how many times do I have to tell you?!? Don't fight in the middle of the camp!" she screamed, before taking a few, large gulps of air.

"This is the first time you have told me that." Youko pointed out, an annoyed look on his face. "I can't say I miss the old you. It was certainly better for my health when you didn't have your memories." he murmured under his breath after realizing that Kagome had regained all her memories…sadly. He had hoped she would have at least forgotten how to verbally abuse his sensitive ears.

"And YOU!" she pointed an accusing finger at the confused Inuyasha. He couldn't full comprehend what had caused Kagome to change from the quiet, obedient girl to the loud-mouthed, annoying one he knew all to well. "Why didn't you do anything?" There she went; she was accusing HIM again for not saving her. "You just sat there and watched me get blown to pieces?" she yelled at the top of her lungs, purposely leaving out one important detail - Inuyasha couldn't have reached her in time even if he had tried.

"Damn it wench, at least you were quieter before!" he yelled back. "Are you stupid? I can't move that fast! I can't scream watch out and teleport there to save your butt!" But of course, Kagome wasn't paying any attention to his reasoning.

"Sit boy!" she commanded before taking deep breaths to calm her racing heart. A minute of complete silence passed. "Eh, by any chance, did I just scream at Sesshoumaru?" Kagome nervously asked. Inuyasha (who had dug himself out of his hole and cursed under his breath the whole time) and Miroku nodded their heads in unison, causing Kagome to gulp. "Oh, look at the time!" she suddenly cried, glancing at the dark night. "I got to go visit my mom, brother, and grandpa! See you guys in a about month! Come on Youko, let's go!" she called over her back while inching towards the forest.

"We will finish this in 300 years from now." Youko announced to Sesshoumaru, causing him to narrow his eyes. With a small smirk, he easily released Miroku from his prison. This was followed almost immediately by Tetsusaiga dropping on Inuyasha's skull with a loud bang. "Don't kill yourself now, mutt, with a blade larger and evidently more powerful than you." Inuyasha scowled as he lifted Tetsusaiga off the ground and was fully prepared to challenge Youko. Much to his dismay, the kitsune had already grabbed Kagome and was quickly bounding with incredible speed towards Kaeda's village.

Sesshoumaru was about to pursue his rival when Inuyasha brandished his demon fang. "Keh Sesshoumaru, your fight is with me! I'm going to kick your ass and then that stupid fox's!"

"Big goals for a puny hanyou," Sesshoumaru stated, non-amused.

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"Damn that toddler!" Yusuke growled while wrapping his arms around himself. "Sending us to investigate some stupid dry well in the middle of a freezing night!" he grumbled to himself. "Why couldn't he send the spirit intelligences or even investigate himself? No, but it's Yusuke do this…Yusuke do that…IN THE MIDDLE OF THE NIGHT!"

"You will wake the humans," Hiei's warning voice reached his ears.

"Are we there yet?" Kuwabara whined, lagging behind as usual. Hiei landed gracefully in front of Yusuke and pointed north. "I don't want to go to the South Pole…" Kuwabara muttered.

"Buffoon, that's north." Hiei growled; his patience was thinning. Any amount of time spent with the stupid idiot gave him an unnecessary headache. He still couldn't understand how his sister could actually smile at him. It was disgusting, not that he was blaming Yukina. To him, his sister was perfect. But the human, Kuwabara, was a whole different story.

"And we're investigating a shine." Yusuke butted in before Kuwabara could whine that he wasn't dressed warm enough for the North Pole. "How far is it?"

"Next block down," Hiei replied. Silently, they followed the black blur that was Hiei, once again. It was earlier on that day when Koenma said he might have an inkling of a clue as where the portal might be located in. And guess who got the job of investigating? Of course, the honor went solely toYusuke and his happy rag-tag, mix-matched group, which probably hated each other's guts (aka Kuwabara and Hiei).

"Stupid Koenma!" he growled the whole way before stopping before a long trail of stairs. Kuwabara's eyes grew wide before he slumped to the floor. "Damn it, it's like that old hag's torture house! Come on Kuwabara, let's get going. I doubt the shrine's going to walk to us."

"What if I don't want too?"

"I don't want to either!" Yusuke yelled in an aggravated tone. "But for Kurama's sake, we HAVE to!" After that reminder, Kuwabara stood up and nodded his head in determination.

"I almost forgot," he admitted before charging up the set of stairs with renewed vigor. "I, KUWBARA KAZUMA, THE STRONGEST MAN ON EARTH, WILL SAVE KURAMA!" he declared, causing Yusuke slapped his forehead before slowly trudging up the stairs with tired legs and half-open eyes. Maybe he could retire early…

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"Why do you want to go home?" Youko asked after a few minutes of silence.

"I want you to meet my mother." Kagome replied. "After all, I believe my mother should meet….."

"Hm?" Youko asked, giving her half his attention. No matter how much he wanted to look at her, he couldn't. He did have his limits…If he looked, he'd probably crash into the next tree.

"Meetmyfuturemate." Kagome stated in a blur. Youko understood the meaning, which was delightful in itself, but he just had to hear her say it again.

"What was that?" he asked.

"I want me my mom to meet my future mate." she said, slightly slower this time.

"I didn't quite catch that last part," Youko stated with a serious voice. A crimson blush crossed Kagome's cheeks.

"I said, FUTURE MATE!" she yelled, knowing that was all he had wanted to hear.

"What about Inuyasha?" Youko asked, knowing he had to know her feelings towards the hanyou.

"What about him?" Kagome asked in confusion. "Oh, don't worry about him. He'll be fine." she assured. "After all, he has Kikyou, right? Sango has Miroku and Shippo has Kirara."

"That was very thoughtful of you." Youko snorted, causing Kagome to tweak his ears in a playful manner. A low rumble erupted from the kitsune's throat. Before Kagome could comment on his cute appendages, they had landed right in front of the old, bone-eater's well.

"Here we are again…I wonder if mama and grandpa got older or if Souta is taller now." she mused to herself. "Come on, jump in!" she quickly urged when a wave of homesickness crashed over her. How long had it been since she last went home? It certainly felt like an eternity had passed! Complying with her wishes, Youko gracefully leapt into the well before being enveloped with a blue glow.

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Meanwhile, on the other side of the well, Yusuke and his companions had finally reached the top of the stairs. Yusuke and Kuwabara collapsed on top of each other in the middle of the courtyard. Passers-by (if there were any) would have mistaken it for a couple of gay lovers in a passionate moment. "That was even longer than the hag's stairway!" Yusuke gasped, leaning his forehead heavily against Kuwabara's.

"Pathetic," Hiei snorted, earning an indignant cry from Kuwabara. Kuwabara was about to start a full blown argument right in the middle of the courtyard in unknown territory when Hiei suddenly turned to face the well house. Kuwabara's onslaught was cut short by Yusuke's foot in his mouth, which had successfully stopped the orange-topped teen's flow of words.

"What is it?!?" he cried after shoving Yusuke's foot out of his mouth. "And that was disgusting! Your shoes tasted like rotten eggs covered in animal droppings!" he cried.

"Sh," Yusuke shushed, before Kuwabara suddenly tumbled backwards from an invisible force.

"Youki and a LOT of it!" Kuwabara cried with wide eyes.

"I think we have found our answer." Yusuke murmured while cracking his knuckles. "Let's get this over with and save Kurama!"

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TBC

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I apologize for the late update (even if it was only a day). I'm really sick with a terrible ear infections and a runny nose. If my friend ever found I wasn't resting, I'd never hear the end of it….speaking of which…I hope she isn't reading this…