Yu Yu Hakusho Fan Fiction / InuYasha Fan Fiction ❯ Love Can Purify the Coldest Flame ❯ In the past... ( Chapter 1 )

Title: Love Can Purify the Coldest Flame

Author: Alexis - mezzomonkey@earthlink.net

Pairings: eventual Inuyasha+Kagome; eventual Hiei+Kurama; Miroku+Sango; Yuusuke+Keiko

Rating: let's just say R to play things safe, yes?

Warnings: hmm…crossover, AU, shounen ai/yaoi, het, potential bad language, some degree of violence, fangirly Japanese, corny jokes, sap, angst of the romantic nature, blah blah blah.

Disclaimer: Don't own them, this has been thoroughly established already. Our little discussions on this are getting tedious, ne?

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

The thieves' camp was nestled in a grove of trees between two villages. The sounds of their carousing and revelry interrupted the peaceful calm of the forest. A small boy, probably only five years old with crimson eyes glowing in the light of the fire, stared hungrily while the others ate. He finally gave into the cravings of his stomach and tried to snatch a piece of meat from the roast the whole camp was sharing. As he was about to bring it to his lips, it was smacked from his hands. He was then grabbed by the throat and held aloft by the leader of the band of thieves, an evil man named Onigumo.

"Boy, you dare to take without permission? I tell you what to do, when to sleep, eat, steal. I found you, I own you!" The child's malevolent eyes burned with crimson fire, and didn't even flinch as a numbing blow struck his left cheek. At this, Onigumo was incensed. "Is that so? Well then, I know how to make you scream in fear of me! I know how to make you obey my will!"

It seemed that something deep inside the child snapped. Whereas before he was perfectly still, enduring the yelling and punishment, he was now trembling with a rage ready to consume the both of them. The child was no longer able to control his youki, as he had been all this time with the humans, and it responded to his fury, igniting the object of his rancor into a fiery ball. He then darted off with remarkable speed, to escape the repercussions of the other thieves.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*Fifty Years Later*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

"Inuyasha! OSUWARI!" yelled Kagome, as Inuyasha slammed face-first into the ground with a loud, disgruntled "AARRRGGGHHH!!!" Shippo, who had been Inuyasha's intended object of torture for eating the last bag of potato chips, was now sitting on Kagome's shoulder, his tail twitching in amusement. Sango and Miroku, who were sitting on the other side of the fire, chuckled at this all-too-familiar sight.

"Houshi-sama, do you think he will ever learn?"

"No my dear Sango, I do not think so. I believe Kagome-sama said, `You cannot teach an old dog new tricks'."

At that, all the people situated around the fire laughed, except for one pissed off inu-hanyou, who after prying himself from the ground just crossed his arms over his chest and let out an annoyed "Feh".

As a three-quarter moon raised high in the night sky, Kagome started to feel restless. Getting up slowly, so as to not let a certain perverted monk see anything he shouldn't, she then smoothed her skirt and gave a smile to her companions. "I'm going to go for a stroll down by the water; I'll be back in a little while."

With that, she slung her bow and quiver of arrows across her back, and set out in the direction of the stream they had camped by. Reaching her destination, she stretched out in the sweet grass along the banks, and stared up at the stars.

It's amazing how different things look when you're used to seeing the stars through a haze of centuries of pollution. The night sky is so beautiful here, like millions of diamonds glittering in a black velvet background.

Kagome's thoughts then started to drift towards a certain grumpy hanyou, and she frowned. He always seemed to have that effect on her mood lately. Yes, he was a friend, and a cherished one at that, but the thought of the time she spent hoping for his attention to waver from her past incarnation really hurt. It pained her to think that she wasn't even worthy of the attention or love that an effigy of dirt and bones received.

Looking into the reflective surface of the stream, she stared at herself, cursing her likeness to Kikyou. "It's just not fair! I'll never be seen as myself, only as a poor substitute. There's nobody else for me, not here or at home." She sniffled for a second, and then firmed her resolve. She had promised herself that she wouldn't shed any more tears over her predicament.

Kagome flopped over onto her back again, and then realized that she was no longer alone; she felt the presence of a demon. Grabbing her bow, she then began to nock an arrow and point it in the direction in which she sensed the demon presence. With courage she didn't feel, she stood and called out "I know you're up there, you might as well come out and tell me what you want!"

Suddenly a dark shape, moving faster than her eyes could see, materialized in front of her. She found herself looking into bright crimson eyes set in a handsome face, framed by black spiky hair offset by a white starburst. He was approximately her height, and was dressed all in black, a katana belted to his waist.

"Hn. I do not seek your jewel ningen; you need not fear me taking it." At hearing his rich baritone voice state this, Kagome was more than a little shocked. She had never met a demon, besides Sesshoumaru, who did not want to possess the Shikon no Tama.

Her face had to have been reflecting the surprise she felt, for the next words out of his mouth were, "And please, close your mouth. You look like a fish gasping for air." He then crossed his arms over his chest, as he watched her snap her mouth shut, a rosy tint coloring her cheeks.

She then lowered her bow, placing the arrow back in her quiver, and looked at the stranger inquisitively. "Who are you? And if you don't want the jewel, then why are you here?"

My name, the stranger thought. It's been a long time since anyone has asked my name. "Hiei." At this Kagome was slightly surprised, thinking at first that he didn't exactly seem like a mountain, but then she rethought her opinion. "It suits you."

It was now Hiei's turn to be taken aback. Usually whenever he told someone his name, they would remark about how his small stature did not live up to his namesake mountain. Feeling quite awkward, and not knowing what else to say, he simply uttered a non-committal "Hn".

Kagome rolled her eyes at that, it's just like Inuyasha and his "feh" as a response to anything. "So why are you here? Since you say you're not interested in the jewel, I will trust you on that. So there must be another reason."

"It would serve you better to be less trusting. I am here, though, because I seek vengeance on a man. He was known as Onigumo, and is now better known as the demon, Naraku. I know that you too hunt him and fight against him."

At this response, Kagome smiled. Well then, it is always nice to have another comrade-in-arms against Naraku. "It is nice to know that we are not the only ones who fight against the evil he has caused." She then thought about what he said, and was confused. "Wait, you called him Onigumo. How did you know that? You can't possibly be old enough to have known him back then."

At this Hiei smirked, "Actually, yes I am old enough. I am approximately fifty-six years old now, so yes, although I was young I did know that evil creature as Onigumo. I have been trying to finish the job I started way back then, and kill him."

"Well then, why don't you come back to camp with me, and you can meet the others with whom I travel. Besides, I've been gone awhile, and if I don't return soon a certain cranky hanyou-" At this she was cut off by a loud yell of "KAGOME!!!"

Inuyasha then ran into the scene, clearly irritated. He grabbed Kagome's wrist and started pulling her back to camp. "Oi, wench, what are you doing wandering about alone?" At this, a black blur came up to him and he felt the point of a sword being pressed into his neck. "If you know what's good for you, you won't call her that again. Now release her wrist, before I leave you with permanent damage."

Inuyasha growled in malcontent, but also released Kagome's wrist. "And who is this? Are we picking up strays again?" Hiei bristled at this, "I'm sure you'd know all about strays, dog-boy." The two of them glared at each other in stony silence, Inuyasha feeling superior because of his height in comparison to the other demon.

Kagome sighed, "Inuyasha, this is Hiei." At this, Inuyasha snorted and looked away, which made Kagome glare at him. "He's seeking revenge against Naraku, so I invited him to join our group."

Inuyasha whipped his head around, golden eyes molten with anger. "No. Don't you think I have enough people to protect in battle? You're certainly not any help, always needing to be rescued. And now you want to bring another", his eyes slid derisively over Hiei's form, "child for me to baby-sit!"

Hiei drew his katana, and was ready to show the hanyou that he was indeed no child, and needed nobody's protection, when he heard Kagome speak. "OSUWARI!!!" Inuyasha slammed into the ground with incredible force, spitting out colorful curses on the way down. To this, Hiei merely said "hn" but inside was wondering how this ningen had the power to do such a thing.

"Hiei, come on follow me. I promise you that my other friends are much nicer than this one," and she offered him a brilliant smile. Hiei shrugged and followed her towards camp. They were then greeted by a scream of "HENTAI!!!" followed by the loud crack of hand meeting face. Hiei couldn't help but wince at the sound of the blow, thanking the Gods that he wasn't on the receiving end of that slap. Kagome was remarkably unfazed by these very commonplace acts, and walked up to her companions, when she was promptly knocked over by a fast-moving ball of fluff.

Landing on her back, she giggled and cuddled the ball of fluff closer to her. "Hello Shippo, did you miss me?" "Yes `kaachan, of course I did! You left me to Inuyasha's grumbling and Miroku being, well…Miroku!" answered the kitsune child. At the word "'kaachan" Hiei felt his indifferent mask slip for a moment, betraying his shock. `Kaachan? But she's a ningen, and he's a full-blooded kitsune. Hiei finally noticed the other two ningens, who were currently looking at him with a great deal of curiosity.

"Oh! How rude of me! Hiei, these are my friends Sango and Miroku. And this adorable fluffball is my adopted kit, Shippo. Everyone, this is Hiei. He too has a very long-standing grudge against Naraku." At this, Sango and Miroku nodded and smiled, uttering sounds of welcome.

As Kagome busied herself with dinner preparations, and with keeping Shippo away from the candy inside her bag, Hiei took the opportunity to look around at his surroundings and the people in them. Finally as dinner was ready, Inuyasha came back to camp grumbling about baka wenches and rosaries. As everyone ate their requisite dinner of ramen, Hiei was shocked at how good this strange food was. "I have never had such food before in all my travels. Where does it come from?"

At this Kagome looked slightly flustered and looked at her companions. "It is umm…from my village. Most have not heard of it," at least not in this time, Kagome finished the sentence in her mind. She was not quite ready to tell this stranger her secret. She felt safe with him, but she wasn't sure what he would think of her tale. He'd probably think I was a raving lunatic.

As the now slightly-larger group was getting ready to go to sleep, Kagome turned to their newest compatriot. "Do you need blankets or anything? You didn't have a pack or anything, and I don't want you to get cold." Hiei just looked at her with a slight smirk, and then hopped up into the tree overlooking the spot she had arranged for herself to sleep in. Inuyasha growled, because he had intended to sleep in that very same tree, before the usurper stole his spot. As Inuyasha stalked away to find another tree, Kagome smiled up at Hiei and whispered "good night", before rolling over and falling asleep herself.

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

The next day dawned bright and sunny, eliciting a groan from Kagome, who was awakened from a very pleasant dream about a bubble bath and oden back in her own time. She rolled over and buried her face in her pillow, only to have a hyperactive kitsune jump on her back. "Oof! Shippo! Okay, okay, I'm up!"

With a reluctant stretch, she got up and got ready to start her day. Miroku and Sango were bickering as usual, Shippo was playing with his top, Inuyasha was still in his tree, and Hiei…was nowhere to be found. Frowning slightly, Kagome continued in her task of making everyone breakfast, and then while everyone else was eating, she wandered off in search of their new friend.

Walking through the woods for quite some time, she finally came across the familiar demon. He had taken off his haori and was in the middle of a series of complicated katas with his sword, sweat glistening on his chest in the early morning sunlight. She couldn't help but think, wow…even if he doesn't quite compare with Inuyasha, and just leaned against a tree to watch his graceful yet deadly motions.

Hiei sensed her presence before she even entered the clearing, but continued until he finished his kata. Finally he finished, sheathed his sword, and turned to Kagome. He wasn't even breathing heavily, in spite of his exertions. He raised his eyebrow in silent question, which caused Kagome to blush.

"I came to tell you that breakfast is ready. You probably worked up quite an appetite after all that exercise," she finished with a grin. Hiei nodded almost imperceptibly, and grabbed his haori, draping it over his shoulder. The two walked back to camp in silence.

The sight of the pair walking back together elicited different reactions from their fellow travelers. Miroku, taking in Hiei's lack of shirt and Kagome's faint blush, smiled a very perverted smile and chuckled. Sango blushed slightly, and then averted her eyes. Shippo, sensing Inuyasha's temper flaring, started to laugh uncontrollably and roll on the floor, which caused Kagome to look rather puzzled. Finally, Inuyasha couldn't keep a grip on his anger anymore and approached Hiei, drawing himself up to his full height in an attempt to intimidate the smaller youkai. "Put your clothes on, nobody here wants to see you half-naked!" To this, Hiei merely walked away with a "hn", making no move to put the haori back on. Sango and Kagome, who had both been admiring his sculpted torso, blushed and went off to the far side of camp before anyone else noticed their embarrassment.

With averted eyes, Kagome went to Hiei and brought him a bowl of rice and fish, before returning to where Sango was waiting for her. She then received a subtle elbow to the ribs, along with a questioning glance, which Kagome answered with a barely imperceptible shake of her head. Inuyasha found himself wondering what the two silly wenches were up to now.

Sango, who had already finished her breakfast, thought it was high time she got some answers from Kagome. "I'm going to bathe, would you like to join me Kagome?" She looked at the other girl, her eyes begging her to come along. Kagome smiled at her and nodded her head, going to her backpack to get their bathing supplies.

The pair walked down to the stream in companionable silence, and finally reached an area where the stream created a small pool that was perfect for bathing. Undressing, they both sunk down into the water and reveled in the feel of it against their skin. Kagome's eyes were closed at the sensation, and when she opened them back up she saw Sango regarding her with a serious look on her face.

"Kagome, are you all right? Something seems to have been bothering you of late. You know that you can talk to me about anything, right?" She looked worried, and bit her lower lip.

Kagome sighed, "I've been thinking a lot lately. I've missed out on a good portion of my life by coming here." Before Sango could cut in with the apologies brimming in her eyes, Kagome continued.

"I do not regret this, because it has brought me the dearest friends I could ever hope to have in my life. All I do regret is being the reflection of a woman that Inuyasha loves. It has been almost a year, but I don't think he'll ever be able to fully separate me from Kikyo, no matter how much I wish he could. Perhaps if there was more of me contained in this face, and less of her, things would have worked out differently. And yes, I know that he cares about me, and he always will, as I will always care for him. I just don't know how much longer I can let myself to live on hope that he will eventually recognize me for me, and not just a reincarnation." She then looked down, her hand trailing absently through the water. "I want to be happy…I deserve to be happy. We all do, which is why I am trying so hard to find Naraku and beat him. He has caused so much pain and anguish, not only to us four, but also many others that we have no idea of."

Sango finally interrupted Kagome's confession, "You're right, and you do deserve to be happy, more so than any other person I know. You gave up your entire life to be here with us, traveling all over, fighting demons that even a year ago, you didn't know really existed. I know that we will get through all of this, together. And I know that you will find your own happiness, not only here," she tapped her head, "but also here," she said, moving her hand from her head and placing it over her heart.

Kagome smiled, and a solitary tear escaped to glisten like a diamond on her cheek. "Thank you, sometimes I don't know what I would do without you. You help me keep my sanity, which is a hard thing to do when you're around Inuyasha and Miroku all the time." The pair chuckled lightly at this, both knowing the chaos those two could raise without the least effort on their parts.

Kagome then frowned, a dark cloud settling in her eyes. Sango looked at her, the expression in her face wordlessly asking what was wrong. "I'm going to have to go home soon. I don't know what to tell Hiei. I feel that I can trust him, but I'm scared to confide my secret to him. Demons were hard enough for me to grasp, how hard will it be for him to understand the concept of a time-traveling human?"

Sango thought about this for a second, and then spoke. "Tell him you're going to visit your village, and that you have to go by yourself. Explain that you will return soon, and have him meet you somewhere when you will be coming back. He seems to be rather prideful, so be careful how you put things, so as to not have an argument."

At this Kagome laughed ruefully, "Yes, I'll already have enough of an argument on my hands from Inuyasha when I tell him I won't be back for 5 days. I don't need to have another one with Hiei. Sango, you're always able to put things in prospective and make everything make sense."

Now it was Sango's turn to look down, "Not always."

Kagome eyed her sharply, and then sighed. "Miroku does love you; he just doesn't know how to show it. I think he's afraid. You should know better than anyone that although Miroku thinks he knows women, he's never had feelings for one like this. And frankly, he has no idea what to do besides being his normal, perverted self. I know things will work out in the end for you two; things that are meant to be always do."

Sango looked up at her, a radiant smile gracing her mouth, but her cheeks shone with the trails of spent tears. Kagome smiled back, and attempted to lift the reflective mood that had befallen the two friends. "Enough of this pity party; let's have some fun!" She then proceeded to splash Sango with a huge wall of water created by her hand. Sango shrieked as she got drenched and retaliated.

The sounds of shrieking and splashing reached the camp. If it wasn't also mingled with laughter, feminine taunting and playful cries of revenge, there would have been trouble as the three men left behind in the camp would have been tearing out towards the stream. Instead it was only Miroku who was trying to sneak towards the sounds of splashing and laughter, in an attempt to see the two women without them noticing. As he was grabbed from behind and tossed on the floor, he was surprised to see Hiei and not Inuyasha standing over him with his sword drawn.

"And where do you think you're going?" Hiei glowered at the stupid ningen monk.

Miroku grinned sheepishly and waved his right hand as if to dismiss his earlier plans. "I was merely going to check on Lady Sango and Lady Kagome to make sure they weren't in need of any assistance."

Hiei growled at that, blood-red eyes cold enough to freeze Miroku in place. "If I believed that for one second, I would let you go. But if there had been any hint of them needing any help, I would have already been there faster than you could blink. Now does my continued presence here answer your question to their needing your assistance?" Miroku merely nodded, not wanting to provoke the small demon any further. Hiei just stalked away with a muttered, "baka ningen!"

Finally the sounds of splashing died down, and a few minutes later the girls reappeared in the camp. Sango, having taken what Kagome said down at the stream to heart, turned and smiled at Miroku. "Houshi-sama, you didn't peep on us once! I'm very proud of your restraint." Miroku at least had the decency to look abashed, the tips of his ears turning red.

Hiei just snorted at her comment, which caused Kagome to walk up to him, a questioning look filling her chocolate-brown eyes. He just turned and started walking away, to a place out of earshot of the other two, meaning for Kagome to follow him. Then with an amused glint in his eyes, he spoke, "He didn't go `peep', as you say, on you because he was stopped from following his inclinations."

At this Kagome smiled, "I knew Inuyasha must have had something to do with Miroku staying away from us, he always tries to sneak up on us while we're bathing." Kagome then felt a cold glare settle on her. She looked up to see Hiei's bloodstained eyes fixed on her.

"Did I say the hanyou stopped him? Baka, I haven't even seen him since breakfast, so how would he have done anything?"

"Ara…I…umm…I'm sorry," Kagome sputtered. "He always tries to stop Miroku; I just assumed…I didn't know…" She looked down at her hands, which were knotted together; a physical show of her anxiety within.

"Yamero, there is no need for such ningen emotions to be overtaking you. Your affections for the hanyou are obvious, but are they worth it? Nothing is worth the pain of loss and abandonment," Hiei interjected coldly.

His eyes glittered like frozen garnets in the morning sunlight. Kagome just stared at them in an attempt to gather her thoughts, and swallowed hard. "Inuyasha will always be my friend, as well as my companion for the duration of my mission. I do love him, and I fear I always will. I have realized that we were not meant to be, but I still cherish the camaraderie that we share. I was hoping that you and I could also become friends."

To this request, he merely replied "hn" before blurring and disappearing, in a burst of speed too quick for the human eye. Kagome frowned, and then turned back towards camp.

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

The group had been traveling for a few days now, slowly making their way back towards Kaede's village. Kagome and Hiei were talking again, but were not as close as they had been before their argument, which pleased Inuyasha greatly.

Setting up camp for the night, they would be arriving back in Kaede's village the following day. Kagome went to Hiei to explain to him that she would be going back to her "village", for a while, not relishing the fight she would be having with Inuyasha over the same subject.

"Ano, Hiei? Can I talk to you about something?" Kagome was staring at the pine needles covering the forest floor. Ever since her argument with Hiei, things hadn't been the same between them, and she didn't know how to clear up the uncomfortable tension that now resided between them.

Hiei just looked at her in a way that told her that he was listening. "I have to go back to my village tomorrow, and I'll be gone for five days. I was hoping you would meet me back in Kaede's village when I return." Kagome felt quite silly for requesting this of the fire demon.

"Why?"

Kagome's head shot up at his question, one of the few times he'd actually spoken to her since their falling-out the other day. "Why? I have to see my family, and get more supplies. I also need to see about some…training. I'm usually not gone for so long when I go home, but I don't think that I could do everything I need to get accomplished before then."

"Fine," and then he flitted off to the treetop, to settle in for the night. Kagome sighed, and turned back to the fire, preparing herself for the argument she was sure to get from Inuyasha as soon as he came back from getting water for the evening meal of ramen.

Finally, as the rest of the group was finishing up their suppers, Kagome cleared her throat. Inuyasha rolled his eyes, and looked at Kagome's slightly flushed face. "What?"

"Etou…ano sa(1)…I have to go home tomorrow." Kagome then looked down at her hands, knowing that they would be arguing soon enough.

"For how long?"

Kagome looked at him, and said in a very small voice,"…five days?" She then looked back down at her hands, waiting for him to blow up at her.

"Fine. Don't be late." He then got up and jumped into his tree, leaving everyone except Hiei in a state of shock.

"Shinjirarenai(2), he actually didn't fight you about it!" Miroku said this, still dumbfounded. He was incapable of comprehending the reason why Inuyasha was acting so peculiar.

Sango started giggling, soon joined in by Shippo and Kagome at the look on Miroku's face, and the sheer incongruity of the situation.

Everyone finally calmed down and went to sleep, since tomorrow they would be traveling to the well so Kagome could go home.

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

The group traveled all of the next day to reach Kaede's village, which is where Inuyasha and Kagome left the others to go to the well. Kagome smiled at Inuyasha before climbing into the well, and waved cheerfully. "Bye Inuyasha! I'll see you in 5 days, and I'll be sure to bring back plenty of ramen, and more potato chips, so Shippo doesn't eat all of them!"

"Feh," Inuyasha replied. "Don't get yourself into any trouble while I'm not around to protect you."

Kagome's smile grew larger at that admission, that's practically him saying he cares about me! And with that she jumped into the well, the blue light enveloping her on her trip to present-day Japan.

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

Etou…ano sa - uhhh…listen up

Shinjirarenai - I can't believe it