Future Uncertainties

Chapter 1

Bags and Bets

   

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“Is that everything you need?”

 

“Yeah, I think so.”                                         

 

“What about the ramen?”

 

“I have as much as I can carry, mom! Did you put in my medical supplies?”

 

“Yes.”

 

“My new shoes?”

 

“Yes.”

 

“What about my…”

 

“Yes, Kagome, yes. Everything you asked for is in the bag, although I don’t know how you’re going to carry all that,” added Mrs. Higurashi, as she helped her daughter pack to go to the feudal error for the umpteenth time. She had long since given up any hope of dissuading her daughter from carrying her favorite gigantic yellow sack, but that didn’t mean she couldn’t throw out a random attempt once in a while.

 

Kagome sighed loudly. No matter how many times they went through it, her mother always had to ask. “Mom, I told you. If it gets too heavy, I can always make Inuyasha carry it for me.” And she could too, whether he wanted to or not.

 

“Very well, dear,” Mrs. Higurashi surrendered.

 

“Can I help you pack, sis?” chirped Souta from his position in front of the TV. He was a sweet boy, but he could be rather annoying at times. That and he didn’t have the slightest clue what Kagome meant when she said essentials.

 

“Um, I guess, but only put in what I tell you, ok?”

 

“Ok,” Souta agreed, before promptly heading off up the stairs to find a bunch of things Kagome would surely need. Her hair dryer, slippers, a yo yo, gum, and his toy laser gun were the top priorities on his list.

 

“How long will you be gone this time,” asked Mrs. Higurashi, sobered by the idea of her daughter leaving to head off into the unknown and unsafe world of feudal Japan.

 

Kagome heard the worry in her mother’s voice, and smiled. “Mom,” she said as she patted her on the shoulder, “you don’t have to worry. I’ll be perfectly safe as long as Inuyasha there to protect me.” This is what she always said when she sensed her mother beginning to worry, but Kagome knew that that thought would calm her mother’s nerves, because she wholeheartedly believed in it.

 

Kagome believed it too.

 

By then, Souta had returned from his little scavenger hunt, and began loading his useless and unnecessary junk into her full to the bursting yellow knapsack. He added the hair dryer first.

 

“Souta, what are you doing?”

 

“Helping you pack.”

 

“Helping me pack what, exactly?”

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Souta sighed loudly. “I’m helping you pack the things you’ll need when you go see Inuyasha!” He explained as though her were talking to someone he considered a bit dim.

 

Kagome had noticed this. She snatched the hair dryer out of the bag and put it on the table.

 

“Souta, I don’t need a hair dryer. There isn’t even electricity in the feudal era! What would I plug it?”

 

“Jeez Kagome, I can’t think of everything!” Souta admonished, continuing to add things to the bag.

 

For several more minutes, Souta would add an item to the bag, and Kagome would take it out when he turned away to get another. That was, until Kagome’s grandfather walked in and distracted her. He did not, however, distract Souta, who slipped his favorite ray gun to the bottom of the bag where his sister wouldn’t notice it.

“Kagome, what’s all this? Are you leaving already?” Grandpa asked, as he came toddling into the house.

 

Mrs. Higurashi cut in before Kagome could answer. “Dad, where have you been? I’ve been looking for you all morning to tell you! Kagome has to back to the past to help her friends today.”

 

“What, so soon?” He asked, slightly put out. “Seems like she’s barely been home a day since her last trip.”

 

“Grandpa, I’ve been here two whole weeks without going back! It’s a school holiday, my friends need me, and if I know Inuyasha, he’s pacing outside the well right now wondering when the heck I’m finally going to be back!”

 

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“When the hell is she going to be back?” muttered a very annoyed, red clad hanyou. Inuyasha had been beside the well for over an hour, and Kagome had said she’d be back by then! What could be taking her so long? Inuyasha stopped for a moment to glare down into the dark depths of the well, before resuming his incessant pacing.

 

It was always the same story. Kagome would guilt him into letting her go back to her own time for however long, (well that or sit him when he argued)  and then he’d spend days on end sulking around waiting for her to finally come back, at which point she’d always be laden with that god forsaken yellow bag that she overstuffed and made him carry.

                                                  

This time he had not let her go without a fight, and he could still feel her angry sits in the back of his neck when he turned his head to the side. It was all he could do to keep himself jumping down the well to have it out with her. Two weeks! Two weeks she’d been gone. The nerve of that girl!

 

And, of course, the worst part was he was the only one who was angry about it. Sango, Miroku, and even Shippo had taken to glancing at him and rolling their eyes so often that he had to register surprise that they weren’t stuck permanently pointed at the ceiling. Of course, being alone in anger was nothing new for Inuyasha. When someone was angry as often as Inuyasha was, they had to get used to being the only one fuming from the ears the majority of the time.

 

He ceased his pacing the moment he caught sight of an odd light coming from the well. A very odd, very familiar light. Kagome was back! He stomped over to the side, so determined to giver her a piece of his mind that he reached down and easily lifted her and that stupid backpack  right up and set them both on the ground

 

“Thanks, Inuyasha,” she chimed so happily that his anger ebbed and evaporated like water on a summer day. If any had been left after that, it would have disappeared without a trace the as Kagome wrapped her arms around his stoic form and squeezed gently.

 

Inuyasha only had time to look down at the top of her head before she released him. She wasn’t in the least perturbed the fact that he had been to stunned to respond. It was what she had expected after all.

 

“Um…hi Kagome,” He replied weakly. “Do you, um, need any help with that bag?”

 

Kagome’s smile widened happily. “Sure, if it’s much trouble,” she agreed, handing him the bag.

 

Ok, so maybe she hadn’t forced him to carry it, but she had definitely manipulated him into it. He was sure, although momentarily he forgot to give a damn.

 

“Where is everyone?” Kagome asked, looking around as though expecting them to jump out from behind a tree

 

“They’re back at Kaede’s. I was just out here ‘cause I was tired of them talking to me and all. Its not like I was waiting for you or nuthin’!” Ok, untrue, but he wasn’t about to admit to the fact that he’d been out there the last four days, counting down how long he had to wait until Kagome returned.

 

‘Yeah, sure you weren’t’ thought Kagome. But she smiled. “I know,” she said with a nod. “Come on, lets go say hi to them.”

 

She didn’t wait for his response before trotting happily off in the direction of Kaede’s village, leaving Inuyasha standing alone in a clearing with a very large yellow bag. He sighed loudly. Well, that hadn’t gone quite as he had hoped, but at least they weren’t in another fight. Suddenly, his sore neck was feeling a lot better. With a shrug to himself, he followed Kagome down the slope and off into the trees.

 

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Shippo groaned. Loudly. When nothing happened, he groaned again, although he didn’t really expect much. He’d been at it for nearly an hour, but his moans had yet to stir Miroku and Sango from their conversation. He had long ago stopped listening.

 

“Won’t be long now,” said Miroku, glancing up into the sky. “It’ll be sunset soon, and Kagome will surely be back by then.”

 

“I agree,” nodded Sango. “I bet she’s down by the well right now fighting with Inuyasha. “In fact, I bet they’ll both stomp in here in a minute angry and red-faced.”

 

Miroku shook his head. “I don’t think so. I bet she turns up all perky, and Inuyasha forgets he was even angry at her. I mean, he gets angry so often, he probably has a hard time keeping track.”

 

Sango snorted loudly. “Not a chance. They’ll barge in here screaming at the top of their lungs any moment now.” To add to her point she glanced expectantly at the door.

 

“My dear Sango, truly lovely as you are, I’m afraid we are in my area of expertise here.  You see Sango, Inuyasha, the moment before Kagome arrives, will be fuming to himself, I admit. But the second she comes out of that well, all ills forgotten, he’ll be to happy to see her to start yelling. I bet he’ll come trailing in here after her, carrying her bag like a little puppy dog.”

 

“Oh yeah?” Sango grinned. “I bet you they’ll be fighting.”

 

“Dear Sango, how could you think me a betting man?” Miroku asked, feigning hurt.

 

“Well, why not monk?” she chided back. “You are a lecher.”

 

“You wound me Sango!”

 

She smiled wickedly. “And, somehow, I’m okay with that.”

 

Miroku sat back against the outer wall of Kaede’s hut behind him with a sulky ‘hmph’ that made Sango giggle.

 

“I’ll tell you what monk,” she said. “How about we make a little bet. If I’m right, then you can’t talk to any women for the next week. You can’t ask anyone to bear your child and you can’t grope anyone either. You can still talk to me and Kagome, as long as you refer to us as ‘your majesty’ or ‘your greatness’ when you do.”

 

Miroku, who was sure he was right, had his interest spiked by the deal. “Fine, but if I win, you can’t hit me for the whole week. No matter what I do, no slapping, no punching, kicking, or hitting me over the head with hiraikotsu…”

 

“Ok, deal.”

 

“No wait, I’m not done. You cant ask Shippo, Kirara, or Inuyasha, especially not Inuyasha, to hit me on your behalf either. I think that’s everything. Have we got a deal?”

 

Sango thought for a moment. She didn’t think she was wrong, but she didn’t like the idea of a weak of relentless groping if she was. Then again, she realized with a grin, he said no hitting. He said no kicking. But he hadn’t said a word about throwing, and she had very good aim.

 

“Ok, monk, you’ve got yourself a bet.” She extended a hand which he shook, and then pulled to his lips and kissed with a smirk.

 

“This,” he said, with his own note of wickedness, “Is going to be a fun week.”

 

At that very moment, Kagome ran inside excitedly. “Hi guys,” she squealed excitedly, hugging Sango and even Miroku, then sweeping Shippo into her arms and squeezing him tightly.

 

“Kagome …hi…can’t…breathe,” he gasped.

 

“Oh, sorry,” she said, putting him down. “I just missed you guys so much!”

 

A second later, Inuyasha tromped into the hut, smiling mildly, and set Kagome’s large yellow bag on the floor beside the door before sitting down himself.

 

“This,” smirked Miroku, “is going to be a very fun week.” And with that as warning, he reached behind Sango and grabbed her backside without hesitation. In response, she picked up the empty kettle and threw it at him, clocking him right in the head.

 

“And I’m going to need to go get some rocks,” replied Sango.

 

‘Damn it’ thought Miroku, as Inuyasha and Kagome watched the exchange with equally confused expressions. ‘Throwing, forgot to say no throwing.’ Well, it would still be a fun week, as long as he learned to duck

Future Uncertainties

Chapter 2

Silver Spring

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“Are we there yet?”

 

“No, not yet.”

 

“Are we there yet?”

 

“No.”

 

“Are we there yet?”

 

“No, Shippo, we aren’t there yet,” sighed Kagome for what felt like the hundredth time, but was probably more like the thousandth.

 

“How ‘bout now?”

 

“No, Shippo, I’ll tell you when we get there.”

 

“Now?”

 

“No.”

 

“How about now? Are we there now?”

 

“No, Shippo, and for god’s sake stop asking before Inuyasha blows up!”

 

The child glanced at said Hanyou. His hands were drawn into fists and his fangs bared as he fought to control himself lest he get his face slammed into the dirt road by another one of Kagome’s hated ‘sit’ commands. The look on his face was enough to silence even the chatty little fox demon for a moment.

 

But only for a moment.

 

“Are we th…”

 

“SHIPPO, SHUT THE HELL UP BEFORE I THROW YOU OVER THE NEXT TALL THING I SEE!”

 

Shippo gasped and whimpered slightly. “Mean.”

 

“Oh, I’ll show you mean, you little—“

 

“Inuyasha!” snapped Kagome. Oh no, not again! “SIT!”

 

An extremely frustrated half demon felt his knees buckle as the enchanted rosary around his neck began to pull him towards the ground with an unbelievable force. As hard as he tried to stay standing, and he tried hard, he had only a second before his body was slammed against the dirt road. He didn’t fail to notice that the blow lacked the usual venom. Apparently it wasn’t beyond Kagome to find Shippo a bit annoying at times. Inuyasha just wished she would let him pound the little brat into the ground. That’d show him.

 

“Come along. If we make good time, we should be able to get to the next town before nightfall,” said Miroku, as Sango went over to help Inuyasha up, although he was on his feet again before she could reach him. Miroku was behind her in an instant, and the next thing anyone knew, Sango had pelted the monk with a stone, muttering about perverts and collecting heavy things for ammo. Miroku’s usual reddened check was replaced by a bruise on his forehead, although he still looked softly self-satisfied.

 

It was the story of their lives. Here they were, wandering the county side as they had so many times that Inuyasha and Kagome had both lost count, after yet another rumor of yet another shard. They had believed that Naraku had all but one piece of the jewel, until recently, when Kagome had begun to sense fragments all over. That, coupled with rumors of shards suddenly springing up all over was enough to force the exhausted group back into action.

 

There air around the four fighters was tense, all sharing a single thought. If the jewel shards were suddenly popping up, that meant Naraku had somehow lost them. If the rumors were true, what could have happened to free them from his grasp?

 

Everyone was on edge, though none would admit it. Instead each person was showing their nerves in their own way. Shippo was being more annoying than ever before, deliberately trying to drive Inuyasha to drink, although were he’d get the sake was beyond him. Kagome, while being overly sweet, was always ready to send Inuyasha to eat dirt. He, possibly as a result, was biting everyone heads clean off every chance he got. Miroku groped every girl he came across, which, come to think of it, might not have had anything to do with the stress he was under, while Sango had taken to pelting him with larger and larger items, often catching hard enough to make him black out and they’d need to either stop or put him on Kirara, which Inuyasha, always so annoyed with Kagome, refused to help them do. Sango occasionally worried that she might really hurt him one day and resolved to stop, only to be on the receiving end during one of his lecher moments and have all thoughts of mercy driven from her mind.

 

The journey continued in silence for a while, broken only by Inuyasha’s angry mumbling and Kagome’s sighs as she caught a bit involving her name. still, she ‘sat’ him twice more before night finally fell and the five, realizing that perhaps the town Miroku had mentioned was farther away than they had thought, decided to make camp.

 

As soon as the set up began, Sango and Miroku started fighting about sleeping arrangements, Shippo pulled Inuyasha’s ear, prompting him to attempt to beat the kitsune senseless, Kagome ‘sat’ Inuyasha once for the Shippo thing, and once more just for good measure, and the entire group ended up one gigantic argument, embittered by recent strains between the lot. Although none of them would stop yelling long enough to say it, they all knew one thing.

 

It was going to be a long trip.

 

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“INUYASHA! INUYASHA, WHERE ARE YOU!”

 

He sighed to himself but didn’t answer. After that night’s blow out, he didn’t feel much like talking to Kagome at the moment, or anyone else for that matter. Normally, it was he who had his temper so close to the surface, who burst at the slightest thing. Compared to the other three, Shippo not included, he looked like a tame little puppy. He wasn’t really any gruffer than usual, but the rest of them were practically devouring each other at every turn. He just wanted things to go back to normal.  He didn’t think he could handle hanging around with a group full of people with tempers like his own.

 

“INUYASHA! COME HERE! YOU CANT SULK AROUND IN THE WOODS ALL NIGHT!”

 

Well he’d been managing all right for the last several hours. He didn’t see any reason to return to camp. He was much more comfortable up in the branches of the tall oak where no one could see him or bother him.  The camp was too tense. One more minute in the presence of those raving lunatics and he knew he might do something bad, say, hurl one of them (or all of them) off a cliff. He would regret it later, but the quiet would be nice. He sighed again and leaned more heavily against the tree trunk. Nope. No way. He was staying right there.

 

“INUYASHA GET OVER HERE, IT’S DINNER TIME!”

 

Yeah right like he was going to fall for that one. Uh uh, she was not about to coax him down from that tree. He wasn’t coming down till he was good and ready!

 

“I’M GOING TO SAY IT INUYASHA!”

 

NO! He was up in a tree, for god sakes. That one was going to hurt. She couldn’t! She wouldn’t!

 

Hell yes she would!

 

He really didn’t want to do a face plant for the fifth time that day, so he stood and prepared to jump down the very long way to the ground. At least that way he would land on his feet.

“SIT!”

 

He never had a chance.

  CRASH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! 

God, did those damned beads suck!

 

The next thing Inuyasha knew, he found himself sprawled at the feet of a shocked looking Kagome, his whole body aching as though a giant hammer had been trying to grind him into the ground.  Clearly it hadn’t occurred to her that he might be up high, that it would hurt him to use her word of subjugation. She hadn’t meant any harm by it.

 

That didn’t make him any less mad.

 

“DAMN IT KAGOME!” he shouted as loud as his voice would go with no air in his lungs.

 

“Oooo, sorry Inuyasha. I forgot to check the tree. I didn’t mean for you to fall that far.”

 

“Yeah right. You just wanted to play with the stupid thing for fun.” He said, gesturing to his necklace as he pulled himself up onto his hands and knees.

 

“What do you mean by that,” snapped Kagome, her voice rising as she defended herself. “I only ever use the rosary when I have to!”

 

“LIAR!” yelled Inuyasha right back, on his feet this time. “There’s no way in hell you needed it five times today, or four times yesterday, or thirteen times this week!”

 

“I…I…I didn’t…” Oh, yes she had. She knew there was nothing she could say to that. He had a point. She really didn’t want him to know it, but he had a point. She had been taking out her frustrations the only way she could without directly snapping at her friends, by snapping at the necklace instead. She tried hard to swallow her guilt. It didn’t want to go down.

 

“You did and you know it! You’ve been abusing that thing ever since we heard about shards of the jewel. Everyone is on edge and acting psycho and you’re taking it out on me. Just because I’m not human doesn’t mean that that doesn’t hurt!”

 

“Oh yeah! Well, maybe if you weren’t always in such a mood…”

 

“No, you don’t. No way I’m letting you turn this one around on me. This is all your fault!”

 

“MY FAULT?!”

 

“YES, YOU’RE FAULT!”

 

“Grrrrr,” growled Kagome. “Well you want to know where you can stick your blame?”

 

Apparently he didn’t. He had turned his back on her sometime during her growls, and was walking away in the opposite direction of camp, farther into the woods. She knew she ought to let him cool off, that she shouldn’t follow him, but she couldn’t help it. No way was he getting the last word. She could feel the tears welling behind her eyes, but before she let them out (which had the added bonus of seeming to make Inuyasha feel really guilty even when he hadn’t actually done anything) she had a few choice words for him of the cussing variety.

 

Kagome soon found herself jogging through the woods in an attempt to keep up with Inuyasha’s break neck pace, despite the fact that he seemed to be making no effort to lose her, confident that, if he wandered far enough, she would manage to lose herself without his help. She was determined not to let that happen. She broke into a run to catch up with him, only to lose sight of him completely. Feeling slightly panicked, mostly frustrated, she pelted through the woods were she had last seen his retreating back…

 

Only to run headlong into that same back a moment later.

“What did you go and stop short for! I almost knocked you…”

 

She froze mid hand gesture the moment she saw what she almost knocked him into. Directly before Inuyasha’s feet there appeared to be a spring, though it was unlike any spring Kagome had ever seen. The water didn’t seem to be water at all, but what she assumed was molten silver, though the cold spray coming from where the liquid met the bank felt like water to her. The spring flowed into a small lake, with a water fall right across the banks from herself and Inuyasha. It was that that he appeared to be staring at, and after a minute, she saw why. What she had taken to be a water fall appeared to be more some sort of water climb. Rather than falling over the cliff it flowed to, and obeying the law of gravity, this Spring seemed to have decided that it preferred the upper bank, as it was flowing from the lake up over the ridge 20 feet above it.

 

The hanyou in front of her was staring at it with a slightly open mouth. He couldn’t believe his eyes. Sure, he had heard about the Silver Spring, but he had never really believed it had existed. Who hadn’t heard of the ancient spring said to give anyone who drank from it amazing powers? He glanced behind him at Kagome. Judging by the confused look on her face, she was the answer to that question.

 

The pair of them gaped blankly at the rushing waters. It was Kagome who spoke first.

 

“What…what is that?”

 

“I think it’s the Silver Spring,” Inuyasha answered, his anger forgotten. “I’ve heard of it, but I never thought it was actually real. This is incredible!”

 

“Why?” asked Kagome. “What’s so incredible about this spring? I mean, its cool and all, but it isn’t that amazing.”

 

“That’s just ‘cause you have no idea what you’re looking at, Kagome.”

 

“Ok then, Mr. I-think-I-know-everything, what am I looking at?” said Kagome, her voice falsely sweet enough to make honey want to puke.

 

“This is the Silver Spring.”

 

“Yeah, smart one, I had gotten that. I meant what is so special about this stupid Silver Spring?”

 

“Are you kidding?” gaped Inuyasha, aghast. “I can’t believe you’ve never heard of the Silver Spring.”

 

“Well, I haven’t, so feel free to enlighten me.”

 

Inuyasha, missing the sarcasm completely, finally tore his eyes from the waters to look at her, swallow hard, and nod.

 

“Well, see, there’s this legend. They say that a young lord heard about the water once, a long time ago. He heard that if someone where to drink from the spring where the silver water flows, they would receive amazing powers, making them invincible. So, the lord searched for many years for this spring, depleting the resources of his kingdom completely. Eventually, because of war and no food production, see he had every subject searching non stop instead of growing things or hunting, his entire kingdom perished.”

 

“Wow,” said Kagome, disgusted and taken aback by such unbelievable selfishness.

 

“Yeah, tell me about it. What’s worse is he actually did find the Silver Spring, and drank from it, only to find that the legend was true.”

 

“And that’s worse because…?”

 

“Well, the guy was a self-centered asshole to begin with. Give a guy like that power, and he’ll go mad with it. And that’s exactly what happened. He started fighting every kingdom in his path, and taking over, not honorably, but with trickery and subterfuge. In all, he ended up destroying several kingdoms, eradicating a bunch of clans, and killing thousands of people, and any demons who tried to help, which, though few, were powerful sources of human-demon peace, without whom that peace collapsed.”

 

“Then what happened?” asked Kagome, so absorbed in the horror of the story that she forgot to be sarcastic or mad.

 

“The Lord, who was completely loony by then, began to believe he was invincible, so he started taking stupid risks. Eventually, some smart vassal challenged him to prove it.”

“And…?”

 

“And the Lord Lunatic accepted the challenge, brought the man into the mountains along with any one who rebelled against him to whom he wished to prove himself, and he threw himself off a cliff.”

 

“And…?” Kagome prodded impatiently.

 

“What do you mean and? And the guy went splat. He was invincible, as in unbeatable in battle, not immortal. In minutes he went from ruler of all he could see in any direction to an oversized pancake. Naturally, everyone was overjoyed. But there was a priestess who saw the danger of something like that happening again. She put a spell around this place in order to prevent anyone in search of power entering. In fact, if you are looking for the spring than it is impossible to find it. It only lets us through cause we had no idea about its existence and weren’t looking for it or power. We were just thinking about each other.”

 

Kagome felt a cold breeze stir around her, though oddly enough it didn’t lift her or Inuyasha’s hair or ruffle their clothes, and it seemed to go right through her and stay put somewhere in her stomach. “That’s so cool,” Kagome admired, but Inuyasha shook his head, looking at her oddly. She understood why. There was nothing at all cool about anything like that. That was awful, so why had she said that?

“No, it isn’t. See, that isn’t all the priestess did. She tried to take the power off the water completely, but she couldn’t. All she could manage was to make it so any power gained from the drinking of the silver water is temporary. That, and if the person who gets it uses the power in any way for personal gain, then they lose whatever they posses that is of the most value.”

 

“What, you mean like money?”

 

Inuyasha shrugged, giving her an appraising look. “It varies with each person.  So does the power, come to think of it.”

 

Inuyasha broke off and glared suspiciously at the water as though expecting it to jump up and try to force itself down his throat. Kagome, however, was gazing longingly at it, as though under a spell.

 

“I wonder what it tastes like,” she mused. Inuyasha’s glared snapped to her immediately.

 

“What do you mean? You aren’t considering drinking from it are you?”

 

“And why not?” Although she had heard the words come from her, she couldn’t believe she had said them. Something was very wrong, and she knew it. Still, she couldn’t bring herself to say anything about it,

 

“I don’t believe it, you are thinking about it. Kagome, what has gotten into you? You were never power hungry before.”

 

“Hey,” said Kagome defensively, “I just think it would be nice to be able to protect myself is all. Me and my friends. What about you? You wanted to become full demon so you could be more powerful!”

“I wanted the jewel to increase my own power. You want to steal some power from a stupid spring. It isn’t the same. Besides, it’s too risky, you can lose the most valuable thing you have.”

 

“I wonder what it is I would lose.”

 

“Well, that’s obvious, isn’t it? The most valuable thing you have is the Sacred Jewel, or at least your fragments of it. You wouldn’t risk losing those, would you?”

 

“Of course not!” Kagome exclaimed, but Inuyasha didn’t look relieved, and for good reason, as the next second Kagome added “I wouldn’t use my powers for personal gain.”

 

“Kagome, you can’t be serious!”

 

Kagome hadn’t been when she had mentioned the idea, but the more she defended the theory in her head and to Inuyasha, the more it began to appeal to her, and she especially didn’t like to see Inuyasha, who only wanted the jewel for the same reason, being all high and mighty, telling her it was a bad idea. Where did he come off thinking he knew better than she did?

 

“And what if I am serious?” Kagome challenged him. Inuyasha looked genuinely shocked.

 

“Kagome, you can’t mean it.”

 

“I can if I want to!” Kagome retorted. The hanyou boy gaped at her. He didn’t even look angry, merely stunned.

 

Kagome knew something was wrong. These things she was saying weren’t what she was really thinking. She could feel the voice that was talking and the one inside her head beginning to separate. She realized with a thrill of terror that she wasn’t in control of her body or voice anymore.

 

“What’s happened to you?” he asked her quietly. “The Kagome I know would never risk the jewel and all the lives it could take in the wrong hands just to gain herself a bit of temporary power.”

 

“Well, maybe if I had the power I would be able to protect those people.”

 

“I can protect them Kagome, and I can protect you to. I always protect you, and so does Sango, and Miroku, and even Kirara and Shippo.”

 

“Well, did you ever think,” snapped Kagome viciously, unsure of why she was getting so angry at Inuyasha, when he truly wasn’t saying anything untrue, or even anything she didn’t know, deep down. “Did you think that maybe I want to be able to protect myself for once?”

 

“Kagome, I always protect you, no matter what.”

 

“Oh, well, I’m so sorry to burden you, Inuyasha!”

 

“You know I didn’t mean it like that, just like you know that this is a terrible idea!”

 

“Oh, of course, I had forgotten that all my ideas are terrible ones to you, aren’t they?” screeched Kagome, close to tears. Inuyasha was completely nonplussed, she could see it, and she took some sense of cruel satisfaction from the unease on his face, although she hadn’t the faintest clue why. Her mind was screaming at her to shut up, to walk, no run, as far away from the spring as she could get, but another part wouldn’t allow it. That part simply wanted the pleasure of ripping Inuyasha a new one for no real reason, of watching him scrounge for a way to stop her, and that part wanted to drink that water and maybe use her power on her favorite hanyou, her friend who she loved, just to show him up. That part of her was unfamiliar. The wasn’t her at all, she knew it, but she couldn’t seem to stop.

 

“I never said that!” Inuyasha argued desperately. “This isn’t you, Kagome!”

 

“Ha, as if you know me!” screamed Kagome in a manner so unlike her own, and the part of her being crushed under the cruelties weight recognized the presence as it revealed itself for a moment. Naraku was in her head, and it was him who was doing the talking now. He was losing power fast, but for know it had her completely, and she suddenly feared that it would hurt Inuyasha. She knew in that moment what Naraku planned to do with her, and she knew it was going to be bad.

 

“You aren’t Kagome!” yelled Inuyasha, having seen the flash of something evil behind his friends eyes, and the part of Kagome that was truly her felt a rush of gratitude toward him for recognizing that. “Go away and leave her alone.”

 

Kagome laughed a cold, shrill laugh. “I don’t think so, hanyou scum,” said her voice icily. “You know I honestly didn’t think you’d get it. I never pegged you as brilliant, you know. I must say I am pleasantly surprised. This is much more fun.”

 

“LEAVE KAGOME ALONE!” shouted Inuyasha, but the thing inside her only laughed again.

 

“Not just yet. First, I think I’ll take our girl for a little swim!”

 

With that, Naraku used the last of his power over her to plunge Kagome sideways into the freezing waters of the Silver Spring. Kagome could hear Inuyasha’s cry of “NO!” but could do nothing to respond. Before she regained control of her body, Naraku threw her down under the waters silver depths, opened her mouth, and took a huge gulp of the silver liquid. The second it touched her throat, Kagome knew something horrible had happened. The last she heard of Naraku was a dark chuckle inside her head, and then silence.

                                                 

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Future Uncertainties

Chapter 3

Rescue and Argue

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Kagome struggled as the water closed over her head for the second time, but kept her mouth tightly shut. It was no use, she knew. The damage was done. She could feel the tingle of power begin in her stomach, and spread through her limbs. When it reached her head, sparks erupted in front of her eyes and she found herself unaware of her surroundings. She stopped fighting the water as it attempted to swallow her up. An unnatural feeling of calm engulfed her, and she couldn’t seem to fight it, nor could she fight her need for air much longer. At least, she thought as her vision began to darken, she would die free from the taint of Naraku, as she had felt the presence flee her body the moment she swallowed the magical water.

 

She had all but given up any hope of finding the surface, when she felt something strong and warm wrap around her in a firm embrace. Something, someone, was holding her tightly, pulling her straight in one direction. The arm around her was comforting and she allowed herself to melt into it, giving herself over to death in the arms of whatever creature had captured her.

 

Death, it seemed, wasn’t interested, for a moment later, her head broke the surface of the water. The person holding her was dragging her to the bank on which she had been standing with Inuyasha. Inuyasha was gone. For a terrible moment she wondered where he could have gotten to, but then the oxygen seeped back into her brain and she noticed the red sleeve covering the arm that supported her. He, Inuyasha, had saved her.

                                                                                                                

The magic was sweeping through her leaving a warm tingle in its wake, and Kagome felt sleep begging to come and claim her. Safe in the arms of her favorite half-demon, who clutched her close and held her above the water, she allowed herself to drift away, leaning back into the firm body that supported her. Feeling strangely at ease and unable to worry about the thing that had just occurred, Kagome closed her eyes comfortably and let unconsciousness claim her.

 

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Before he could react, Inuyasha saw Kagome, or the thing using her body like a hand puppet, fall into the water and swallow a considerable amount. She spluttered, her eyes becoming her own momentarily, then, to his horror, went under. Inuyasha didn’t waste time on thought. He threw himself into the water directly where he had seen her go in, and dived under to find her. To his dismay, the water looked as silver underneath as it had from the bank, and Inuyasha couldn’t see a thing, his nose, too, was useless, as he couldn’t smell for Kagome without drowning himself. He relied on his ears, praying the water would allow sound to pass to him.

 

The magical water, it seemed, was listening in on his thoughts, for a moment later he heard a slight whimpering sound about a foot below his outstretched hand. He pushed himself toward the sound, kicking with all his might. His hand brushed fabric and his heart leapt. Kagome! He wrapped his arm tightly around what could only be her waist, although he was blind in the water, completely engulfed in what was as clear as molten silver, and puller the girl against his chest. She offered him no struggle. That scared him.

 

Kicking out as hard as he could, he forced himself toward the surface, thinking only of getting Kagome above it so she could breath. The second they broke the surface, he pulled Kagome bridal style against his chest, using only his legs to get him to shore. When his feet found ground, he took the chance to look down at the girl in his arms. She cuddled herself against him briefly, then, before he could so much as redden in the face, she passed out.

 

Fear gripped him like a vice around his heart. He ran toward the bank and set Kagome down gently. With a hand over her heart and one triangular ear pressed to her lips, he held his own breath for silence and waited. For a moment, he heard nothing and the vice on his heart tightened painfully, but then he felt it. Her heart was beating, and her breath tickled the soft fur of his ear. Inuyasha released his breath so fast he felt light headed, and slumped beside her, keeping his hand against her chest, counting beats. For someone who had nearly drowned, her heart was moving unusually slowly. If he had not seen it for himself, he wouldn’t believe it, but judging by the pace, he would have thought she had simply lay down and fallen asleep on the bank where she was. Inuyasha could feel his own heart, pounding so hard he thought it wanted to escape his chest and see if Kagome was alright for itself.

 

Despite the fact that Kagome was seemingly unharmed, Inuyasha felt no relief. She had swallowed water from the Silver Spring. She had done the unthinkable, and drank the cursed water. Though he knew it wasn’t her who had been pulling the strings, he knew it was she who was going to be affected.

 

Inuyasha wanted to scream. He couldn’t think of a single thing that would help Kagome at all. With one hand below her shoulder blades, and the other under her knees, the hanyou lifted the girls limp form, and, after making sure that her head rested against his chest rather than hanging backwards from her neck, Inuyasha lifted his dearest friend and took off at break neck pace towards the camp. While he ran he realized that the two of them had been gone barely three quarters of an hour, and yet their whole world may have been changed. It amazed him for a brief minute, but he didn’t dwell on it. Instead he focused on keeping his breath even so he could run all the faster to his friends, in the hopes that Miroku or Sango could help.

 

They grew up in the feudal era, just like him, and would know the story. He only hoped they would know something he didn’t.

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Kagome woke feeling warm and dry and unbelievably comfortable. She was lying on a bedroll, probably hers, though it was hard to tell without opening her eyes, which she didn’t feel like doing. She couldn’t imagine why she felt so very tired. Now what had she been doing before going to sleep? She couldn’t seem to remember at all. How strange. There was warmth coming from her far left, and it was crackling peacefully. There was another source of heat to her right, so close she could touch it if she wanted. The heat sighed, and she felt a slightly calloused hand gently stroke her hair, brushing the bangs from her forehead. The hand was shaking slightly. She knew that touch. Inuyasha. He was too far for her liking. She had preferred when she was pulled against his wet chest. No when had that happened.

 

Suddenly, her memories came crashing down on her. The Spring, the story, Naraku, the power, Inuyasha’s daring rescue. Somehow, unable to muster up any worry at the moment, Kagome blearily opened her eyes.  She was back at camp. On the other side of the fire, Miroku and Sango were seated together, Miroku with his staff standing before him and his forehead resting on it so that his fringe blocked his eyes from view, and Sango staring into the fire, though it was clear that she was not really seeing it. Kirara was on her lap, being stroked by Sango’s hand which seemed to be moving of its own accord, without its owners notice. Shippo was coloring quietly. She glanced the other way, toward her right. There, as she had expected, sat Inuyasha beside her, one leg up so his foot was flat on the ground and the other one lying against the dirt, foot underneath his raised knee. His hand was still brushing at her hair with more care and gentleness than someone who didn’t know him well would believe possible. Kagome, however, wasn’t surprised at all. His eyes were averted from her face, staring at the dirt near his foot, features clouded with worry. He hadn’t noticed her wakefulness yet. Without thinking Kagome raised her right hand and tenderly brushed the back of her fingers along the smooth and defined line of his jaw, making him jump and pull his hand away from her, until he registered that she was awake.

 

“Kagome,” he exclaimed, kneeling by her side so fast that she couldn’t make out his movements.

 

“Hey there, dog boy,” Kagome answered, reaching dazedly for his face again. He made no move to stop her as she ran her hand up and down his jaw, drawing a thumb across his cheek below his eye, enjoying the softness against the pad of her finger.

 

“Kagome! You’re awake. How are you feeling? Are you all right?” he asked, his voice strained by worry, and she felt another rush of tenderness toward him that she couldn’t really explain.

 

“I’m just fine, sweet thing. How ‘bout you?” she said back, her words slurred slightly.

 

“Do you remember what happened?” he asked her urgently, trying hard to ignore the feeling of her hand as it slid down the side of his throat, reaching his collar bone and sliding a finger so gently across it that she may have been checking for dust.

 

“Sure do. I got all wet, and you saved me. I’m all dry now, though. Good job,” she commended. The worry in Inuyasha’s eyes became more pronounced. He glanced up at Sango, who was watching avidly with the monk now, pleading silently for her help. the slayer obliged her stricken friend, rising and kneeling next to the half-demon.

 

“Is something wrong with her?” he asked, trying to maintain perfect calm and failing beautifully as Kagome dragged her hand down his chest to the waist of his pants and he gulped.

 

“It’s ok, Inuyasha. She’s just a little dazed by the rush of Magic. She should be herself in no time. Think of it as an intoxication. It’ll wear off after a while.” Inuyasha nodded, but the worry didn’t fade from his eyes as they returned to Kagome’s face.

 

“Aww, don’t you worry, pretty boy. S’all good up in here, a’ite?” Kagome giggled gently at herself. “Such nice ears,” she added, spotting the patches of fur atop Inuyasha’s head. “I want to play with them. Can I?” Without waiting for an answer, Kagome reached up. Smiling sleepily, and grabbed gently at one of the ears, rolling it around between her fingertips. Inuyasha tried hard not to gasp, his worry turning to nervousness as he glanced up at Sango, trying to suppress a shudder as the girls finger slipped into his ear and tickled it gently. He gaped at Sango, slightly frightened. She looked sympathetic, and mercifully refrained from commenting.

 

This continued for a good hour as Kagome sat up and slowly returned to normal. By the end of that time, she was behaving like herself once more, speaking coherently as the discussed the results of her little drink. It failed no one’s notice that, though she did eventually stop rubbing Inuyasha’s ears and stroking his throat, she never stopped touching him. In the end she was sitting beside him, leaning against his shoulder, a hand absently on his knee. Kagome didn’t seem to notice it, so Inuyasha pretended not to, though his gaze drifted to it every few minutes, often followed by a hard swallow.

“So I’m definitely going to have some sort of power than?” Kagome was asking Miroku, who was by far the most knowledgeable about spells and the most well read on the subject.

 

“I’m afraid there is no doubt of that. Unfortunately, we don’t know what dictates how your power is chosen, so we must be very careful.”

 

“What do you mean, Miroku? Why must we be so careful?” Sango asked.

 

Miroku sighed heavily, looking worried, and the group could tell that the nerves were genuine as it didn’t seem to occur to the lecher that Sango was less than a foot away and an easy target for a bottom rub, and instead rubbed his lecherous hand against his own forehead, as though it was paining him. Sango moved closer seemingly subconsciously.

 

“Are you feeling all right, Monk?” Sango asked worriedly.

 

“Not to worry, my dear Sango, I am fine, though your care for me is greatly appreciated.” He flashed her a dazzling, lecherous smile and closed the small gap between them.

 

“Hey, lecher, you were talking about Kagome. Why is it that we need to worry huh?” Inuyasha demanded, placing a hand protectively on said girls shoulder.

 

“Well, her power may not, unfortunately, mirror her personality,” Miroku sighed unhappily.

 

“Meaning what, exactly?” snapped Inuyasha.

 

“Well, my friend, we all know that Kagome is a gentle person who wants only to help people and protect them. It is possible that the power she receives will be one that helps her to do just that. However, magic also has a very ironic sense of humor some of the time. As such, it is very possible that whatever ‘gift’ she is lent by the silver waters will be of use only for destruction and chaos,” he said resignedly.

 

“But I thought that good magic like the waters usually is meant only to help people, not hurt,” said Kagome nervously. She didn’t like the idea of being dangerous.

 

“Well, yes, true good magic would never cause something so unfair as forcing someone like you to do harm. The water’s, on the other hand, are no longer true good magic. Indeed, they began that way, but the spell of the priestess, though meant well, was tainted by her anger at the lord and her fear of the Spring. Her spell, therefore, had the unexpected and unintentional side effect of causing that water’s magic to become impure,” Miroku finished and sighed

 

 The group looked uneasily around at each other. Kagome was the first to speak.

 

“So you mean that, cause of this power, I could end up hurting you guys?”

 

“It is a possibility, I’m afraid.”

 

Silence.

 

“Well then you have to leave,” Kagome said finally.

 

“Kagome,” said Sango, shocked, “What do you mean?”

 

“If I’m a danger to you, then you should all be away from me until I know what this power is, and if its dangerous, get rid of it.”

 

“Kagome, there is something I don’t think you understand,” argued Miroku. “There is no way to tell how long it will take for the power to fade. It could be days, weeks, or even years.”

 

“Oh,” said Kagome, clearly depressed. “Wait, does that mean it isn’t safe me to go home or anything, cause I have a test in a week, and if I miss it…”

 

Inuyasha cut her off angrily. “Test! A test! After all that, almost getting killed by Naraku, and possibly becoming a huge danger to your friends, you’re worried about a stupid test?! Are you freakin’ mental?”

 

Kagome was quiet and subdued. She could understand Inuyasha’s reaction of course, but that only got her worrying again. When she finally spoke, it was with an air of resignation.

 

“Then we are going to have to separate to protect you guys from me, at least ‘till I know what it is I can do.”

“But Kagome…” Sango cut in, but Kagome silenced her with a wave of her hand.

 

“I’m not going to have you all be put in danger ‘cause of me. Go away from me before something happens. Go to Kaede and see if there’s some way to block powers or something.”

 

“Kagome, be reasonable, we shouldn’t just…” Miroku argued, only to be cut off by an angry Kagome.

 

“Guys, so you know, I’m not asking you. I’m telling you.”

 

“But what if a demon shows up?”

 

“I’m not useless, you know,” Kagome huffed, crossing her arms in front of her chest.

“I can fight for myself just fine.”

 

“Feh,” snorted Inuyasha, crossing his own arms, hands buried in the opposite sleeves. “Yeah, right. As if you’d last a day alone. I’m not going anywhere.”

 

“But Inuyasha, if something happened to you…”

 

“I can take care of myself, wench, and I ain’t leaving. Miroku and Sango can go to Kaede on there own, and take Shippo with them.”

 

“But I want to stay with Kagome!” protested the tiny kitsune.

 

“Shippo, Inuyasha’s just saying that to protect you, and he isn’t staying.”

 

“I’m saying that ‘cause the runt annoys me, and I am too staying.”

 

“No, Inuyasha, sweet as that is, you aren’t,” Kagome argued.

 

“Yes, I am too.”

 

“No you’re not.”

 

“I am.”

 

“Are not!”

 

“Am too!”

 

“Are not!”

 

“Try and stop me wench,” laughed Inuyasha bitterly. Kagome opened her mouth to deliver a biting retort, only to be stopped by Miroku.

 

“Enough, ENOUGH! You two,” Miroku calmed them, raising his voice uncharacteristically. “If Inuyasha is going to stay with you, then we can compromise. Sango and I will go and see Kaede…”

 

“And Shippo,” added Inuyasha.

 

“Hey!”

 

“Yes, and Shippo, as well. We will go and find out what we can do, and Inuyasha can protect you while we’re away. Agreed Sango?”

 

Sango looked considerably happier, appeased by the thought that Kagome would still be protected by Inuyasha, who she’d trusted with her own life many times. “I’m alright with that, monk.”

 

“Well, I’m not!” said Kagome angrily. “I still don’t know what my power is going to be. What if I should end up hurting him?”

 

“Feh, as if you could,” laughed Inuyasha arrogantly and with more than a touch of his trademark, irritating self assurance.

 

“Well, maybe I’ll just s-i-t you into leaving. I could, you know,” retorted Kagome, her desperation being fast replaced by annoyance.

 

“You could try, wench, but I ain’t leavin’ no matter how much you sit me and that’s final.” With that said, Inuyasha spun himself around, turning his back on the discussion, as though that finalized everything.

 

As far and Miroku and Sango were concerned, it seemed it had.

 

“Very well,” Miroku said, nodding, satisfied by the conclusion. “I would prefer to wait until morning to begin the journey, but as dawn is but an hour or so away, I believe we should set out now, and on Kirara. That should shorten the journey.”

 

“Wait just a minute!” Kagome demanded. “What about Inuyasha? What if he stays and I hurt him or something?”

 

Inuyasha answered her with a ‘Feh’ but didn’t turn around.

 

“I don’t think you need to worry Kagome,” Sango comforted her. “Inuyasha is powerful. I’m sure that, whatever should happen, he’ll be strong enough to deal with it. Besides, I seriously doubt any one of us could get him to leave if he was truly determined not to. At least not without injuring him, and the last thing we need is to have him out of commission at a time like this.”

 

“I…guess so,” Kagome reluctantly agreed, glancing worriedly at the hanyou, who still had his back to her. When she turned back around, Miroku had already stood up, followed immediately by Sango.

 

“Kirara,” the slayer called, but she didn’t need to continue, as the cat had clearly been listening in, and transformed immediately into her larger form, positioning herself in front of the pair.

 

“We should be back in a few days if all goes well,” Miroku said to Kagome, scooping up the wiggling and grunting kitsune. Then, turning to Inuyasha, he continued, “If you should discover Kagome’s power before then, and it is not, in fact, dangerous, then head towards the village and meet up with us.”

 

Inuyasha, who had turned around to face the monk addressing him, nodded once, and then inclined his head towards Sango by way of a goodbye.

 

“I don’t like this,” said Kagome, but she found herself ignored, as Miroku swung himself onto Kirara’s back, positioning himself behind the slayer so he could hold onto her waist with on hand and the wriggling Shippo in the other.

 

“Hey, hold on,” shouted Kagome. “Doesn’t anyone care what I think about this?”

 

“No,” answered Miroku and Inuyasha together, causing Sango to stifle a giggle behind her hand. She then waved at her shocked friend on the ground, and took off before Kagome could think of a reply.

 

Kagome huffed for a moment after her friend’s disappearance into the slowly lightening sky. Then she looked back at Inuyasha, who was watching her warily, as though expecting her to jump him or demand his lunch money.

 

“Inuyasha,” started Kagome, fully ready to argue it out with him. She found herself interrupted.

 

“It’s still really early and you’ve had a rough night. You should probably get some more sleep while you can.”

That said, he launched himself from sitting position into a tree and vanished into the leafy covering, leaving Kagome with her mouth slightly open in shock.

 

Surrendering to exhaustion, Kagome settled down on her bedroll once again, knowing instinctively that, though she couldn’t see Inuyasha, he was watching her from his perch.

 

“You know, you really ought to get some sleep too,” she muttered groggily as a heaviness came over her eyelids.

 

Inuyasha, in his tree, ‘fehed’ to himself, knowing full well that he wasn’t going to get any rest that night at all, not with his nerves wound as they were. He opened his mouth to give Kagome some excuse, only to find her eyes closed and her breathing slowed by sleep. Sighing, he rested his back against the wide trunk of the tree and watched her, wondering edgily what chaos the next day would bring the pair.

 

He looked at the sun, which seemed to have ceased its assent into the sky somewhere near a range of mountains, and sighed to himself, one thought occupying his mind at that moment.

 

What am I going to do

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I want opinions. Yes, I really am that desperate for attention. Any of you watch Scrubs? Well, if you do, I crave reviews the way J.D. craves hugs. Give me reviews, or I may come to your house, knock on your door, and continue to do so even when you answer it and tell me to go away. So, in conclusion, review!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

I don't own Inuyasha. If I did, I wouldn't need to get reviews to be happy. Instead, I would just look at the sheer number of fanfictions people have written about. If that didn't please me, I would go to the bank and look at how many mangas I have sold to make that much money. If that too failed, I would check out the way the anime still airs on regular channels despite ceasing production, what, 8 years ago? You getting this, Rumiko? You taking notes? These are clear, cheer up methods here, and they are pretty awesome if I do say so myself! But I digress. I don't have things, I think that was the original point.

 

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Future Uncertainties

Chapter 4

The Voice in My Head Says It's True!

 

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When Kagome finally opened her eyes, the sun was slanting onto her at a strange angle. Doing a quick mental examination, she realized it must be late afternoon already. What a waste to a day!

 

Kagome jerked up in her bed roll so fast that Inuyasha jumped. He must have come down from the tree some time earlier when he had been certain she was far gone enough not to hassle him. He was sitting a few feet from her, gazing blankly into the pit where the fire had been. Sometime in the morning it had gone out. Kagome assumed Inuyasha had let because it was warm enough that they didn't need it lit during the day.

 

"Idiot!" she said, annoyed. "Why did you let me sleep all day? What a waste! Ugh." She put her head in her hands, but Inuyasha just snorted.

 

"You have big plans today I don't know about?" he asked, humor in his eyes as he turned them on her. It made it harder to be mad about silly things like oversleeping when he looked like that, so she turned away.

 

"No, of course not. It's just that...well..." She sighed heavily, letting her anger go in a woosh like air escaping from a balloon. "I don't know. It makes me feel like nothing got accomplished."

 

"Well, here's the thing, Kagome," said Inuyasha, sobering completely. "You sort of drowned yesterday, so I figure letting you sleep was a good idea. Not to mention that your magic will be kicking in any time now, so it's not like we can go anywhere fast. We were just gonna sit here all day anyway, so you might as well get some rest out of it."

 

Kagome grew quiet at the mention of the ordeal from the day before. It felt so long ago, and yet so new at the same time. Worry set in.

 

"I really wish you would leave, Inuyasha," Kagome told him in a low, subdued voice.

 

"You don't want me here?" he asked, his voice impassive but his eyes pained. Clearly he was missing the point.

 

"Oh, don't be stupid. I always want you with me, but not if it's going to risk your life!"

 

Inuyasha blushed slightly at her words, but then snorted to dispel her concern. "Oh, that again. Will you get off of that already? You aren't gonna hurt me. You couldn't if you tried."

 

Inuyasha lay down on his back, hands behind his head, as though everything was settled by his ridiculous, overwhelming confidence. She wondered vaguely how someone who had absolutely no confidence that she wasn't going to leave him at any minute, could still be so completely self-assured when it came to the matter of his strength. She sighed, supposed those things don't work alike.

 

She considered ‘sitting' him for a moment for annoying her, but he was already lying on his back, so the best she could do was strangle him. And, she remembered, flashing back to the fight they had had the day before about her abuse of the rosary, the fight he had completely forgotten when she needed him. She really had been going at him a bit much lately. She would rather eat her own leg then tell him, but he was right. She had been using it as an outlet for her anger, taking for granted that his strength would protect him and not even worrying about him as he go his face slammed into the ground repeatedly. She felt a surge of guilt. All the times he had defended her, gotten cut and stabbed and impaled to protect, and still the most constant pain he felt was caused by her directly, by her being too annoyed to deal with him. She remembered a seminar they had given at school about abusive relationships once, and she suddenly didn't like where she stood on the chart. She vowed, then and there, to never, no matter how annoying he got, use the rosary unless he was actually in danger. Unless he had transformed, or he was unaware that he desperately needed to duck, no more rosary. She promised herself.

 

With a sigh, she wondered how long that promise would last.

 

Inuyasha glanced curiously at Kagome. She was sitting, lost in thought, sighing to herself. He wondered vaguely if she knew she did that aloud when she was worried and thinking. He didn't think so. She wouldn't like being transparent. Just then, she looked up and met his eyes, and then looked away, a guilty expression on her face. Suppressing a sigh of his own, Inuyasha realized she must be worrying about him being there with her. He resisted the urge to roll his eyes.

 

"So, we have most of an afternoon and a whole evening to sit around waiting for you to sprout wings or whatever. What should we do ‘till then?" He asked, lightly, trying to ease the heavy mood that was settling over the camp.

 

Kagome pulled out of her reverie, and looked thoughtful for a moment. "I think I would like to find a spring," she told him at last. Inuyasha shot her a nervous look and she added quickly, "I mean a hot spring, so I can wash off. I don't know what else was in that silver water, but after that Naraku thing, I could use a good scrub. Perhaps with some steel wool."

 

Inuyasha nodded, despite the fact that she was pretty sure he had no idea what steel wool was.  He rose to his feet, and then suddenly looked uncertain again.

 

"Are...are you gonna be ok if I leave you for a minute? Or maybe you should come along and we should look together. If something happens while I'm gone...well, alone is just not a good idea for you right now. Especially not until we know what's going on."

 

He stood, body half turned away from her, watching her, seeming torn between honoring her request and leaving her by herself for any length of time. She sighed heavily, getting slowly to her feet.

 

"As long as you are sure we can leave our stuff here, then I will just come with you. Might as well. Then you won't have to make a second trip."

 

"That's not why I..." he started to argue but she waved it off.

 

"I know, I know, but I'm rationalizing being around you when I could maybe kill you accidentally, so give me a second to grab my towel, ok?"

 

"Keh," said Inuyasha, unfamiliar with Freudian coping methods.

 

Once Kagome had gathered her towel, Shampoo, and a change of clothes, Inuyasha knelt so that she could climb on his back, like she usually did. But she hesitated. She didn't like the idea of touching him. She felt contaminated by something horrible, some incurable contagious disease, and touching him felt wrong, like she was risking passing it on, bringing him down with her. Her mind couldn't get around the concept that she could really hurt him, that she could be a danger to him. After naraku's possession and drinking that stupid water, she didn't feel worthy to touch him. She felt tainted. The words in her head seemed familiar in an odd way, then she realized why. Those were all words she had heard people use describing Inuyasha. Tainted, unclean, contaminated. With a sudden sense of guilt, she knew Inuyasha would take her hesitation to touch him a different way. And so, before he could ask what was taking so long, she climbed on his back.

 

As he stood, she immediately felt comforted by the closeness of him, as she always did. She was surprised that little magic power he didn't know he had still worked under those types of circumstances. Mollified, she pressed her right cheek against the left side of his back, listening to the steady, even rhythm of his heart as he ran. She pulled herself closer to him, feeling his warmth like a blanket, and listened as his heart sped slightly in reaction. Smiling to herself, she kept her ear pressed to him the whole journey, all the while letting the sound put her at ease. It made her feel safe and protected. Nothing could hurt her while Inuyasha was there with her. And what's more, it reassured her. He was there, and alive, and healthy, and strong. And she wasn't going to be changing that. Feeling the way his muscles tightened and moved beneath her, hard as stone and yet still limber, reassured her that he was, in fact, very strong. And he would be safe there with her. Maybe the power she got would even let her protect him sometimes. Maybe it didn't have to be a terrible thing. Maybe she could not worry about hurting him, not be terrified of his proximity when she as tainted as she was.

 

Then the ride ended, and Inuyasha put her down gently, and the reassured feeling faded at the loss of his touch. Something about not having his heart beat in her ear, looking at his soft, warm eyes instead as they gazed at her with concern, made him seem suddenly fragile again. She sighed heavily.

 

"We're here," he told her unnecessarily after a moment, when she still made no move toward the water several feet in front of them.

 

"Thanks for the ride," she said sullenly. "Do you mind...giving me a little privacy?"

 

Inuyasha bit down on his lower lip, unhappy with the idea of leaving Kagome unprotected even for privacy reasons...not just from anything that might attack her, but from herself. He was more worried about this power she was getting then he let on, but his worry was for himself. It was for her. What could the power do to her? Could it hurt her? If it accidentally hurt someone else, what would that do to her? It was all very worrisome.

Kagome saw the hesitation in his eyes, and sighed. Now he was being silly. Evil powers or no, there was no way she was undressing in front of him.

 

"Look, you don't have to be out of earshot, ok? Just where you can't see me."

 

Inuyasha was still uneasy with that arrangement, and so suggested an alternative. "How about one of those compromise things you love so much. I will turn my back and swear that you can sit me from now until your time if I peek, but I get to stay here. Deal?"

 

Kagome sighed unhappily, but recognized the best deal she was going to get without a fight, and she didn't feel like fighting with Inuyasha. Somehow that desire was dampened by the crippling fear of killing him. "Fine, deal. Now turn around so I can undress."

 

Inuyasha complied readily, turning his back on her and sitting down right at the edge of the spring, seeming totally relaxed except for the way his right hand lingered on the plain wrapped hilt of the untransformed Tessaiga.

 

With her eyes fixed on Inuyasha's back, Kagome stripped quickly, not so upset to avoid finding the situation embarrassing, and jumped into the water, glad that the thick layer of steam and mist obscuring the top made it impossible to see through, if Inuyasha should be so inclined to try.

 

"I'm in," Kagome told him, beginning to scrub herself off, and dipping her long hair into the water until it was saturated.

 

"I heard," Inuyasha answered.

 

Kagome bathed in silence, wishing she could seriously talk to Inuyasha and tell him how she was feeling, but not believing that she would find comfort in him scoffing at her fears. And so, there was no speech for a quarter of an hour while Kagome washed herself and her hair thoroughly. 

 

The heat from the hot spring was rising up around the edges of the bank, making Inuyasha uncomfortable. After a few minutes of it, he shrugged out of his haori and tossed it off to the side, not needing to turn around to know that Kagome had frozen at his movements.

 

"What are you doing?" she asked suspiciously.

 

"It's a freakin sauna over here. I was gonna pass out," he told her. She didn't answer, but he heard her resume washing.

 

After a few more minutes, Kagome spoke again, her voice so subdued that Inuyasha almost turned to her to watch her face as she spoke but caught himself.

 

"Inuyasha?" she asked, tentatively, as though unsure if he was paying attention.

 

"Yeah?" he replied trying to sound soft and receptive.

 

"What if...what if this power is destructive?"

 

"Don't let what the monk said scare you, Kagome. He had no more reason to believe that than you do. He doesn't know what he's talking about. He's going by myth."

 

"I know," Kagome said quickly. "But it's not impossible that he's right. It may turn out that I turn into something destructive soon."

 

"And what if you do?"

 

Kagome sighed. "Would you leave, then? If I were suddenly killing people? If I were suddenly a monster?"

 

Inuyasha snorted, but when he answered, his voice was subdued, quiet, very unlike his normal gruffness. "No matter what anyone or any magic does to you, Kagome, you could never be a monster. And no, I don't care if everything your eyes touch goes up in flames. I'm not going anywhere." To emphasize his point, he carefully, without turning, reached over and grabbed his haori, waving it over his head for her to see, his tone turning joking. "I'm fire-proof, remember?" He lowered his arm and dropped the garment to the ground again.

 

"Well, what if I told you to leave? What if I didn't want you around anymore," demanded Kagome, her tone cold and biting, deliberately harsh. Inuyasha's ears pressed to his head at the sound of it, in pain no doubt. She was sure similar pain would be on his face if she could see his expression, but she had no choice. She had to know, if she was dangerous, if there was a way to get him to leave, to keep him safe from her if necessary. She already knew there would be no way to do that without hurting him. But better hurt than dead. In a few weeks, months, years, when the power faded, she could apologize and explain. He might never trust her again, but he would live.

 

But Inuyasha shook his head slowly.

 

"Nothing doing, Kagome. Now, you're stuck with me whether you like it or not. I'm not going anywhere until this whole things sorted out. Then, after it goes away, you can tell me to leave you alone and I will. If..." Inuyasha felt his throat close around the words, but he forced it open and didn't allow it to affect the sound. "If that's what you want," he finished.

 

Kagome felt bad again.

 

"That's not what I want, Inuyasha," she admitted grudgingly. "I just...there is no way I could live with myself if I killed you, you know that?" She was getting angry now, frustrated that his thick skull wasn't being penetrated by her intentions. "It would kill me. I couldn't survive it. It's bad enough when I think you might get hurt, or worse, protecting me. But if I was the thing that hurt you, if I was the thing that killed you... I couldn't live with that Inuyasha."

 

To her great annoyance, Inuyasha just snorted again. "If that's what you're really worried about,wench, then you're worrying for nuthin'."

 

Kagome sighed heavily. She was getting nowhere, and all this arguing with Inuyasha was starting to give her a headache. A very bad head ache. She leaned her head into her hands and groaned as the pain grew abruptly, until it felt like the inside of her head was being hollowed out and cleaved open.

 

"Kagome, are you okay?" Inuyasha asked nervously, half turning toward to sound, concern in his voice.

 

"Yeah, I'm okay," Kagome gasped back. "Just a bad head ache. It's...," she stopped and groaned again.

 

"Kagome?" Inuyasha demand again, sounding very upset.

 

The pain in Kagome's head grew, and changed, moving to the back of her eyes and focusing there like it was trying to drill into them from behind. Stars erupted in the darkness beneath her tightly clamped lids. Rather than fade, the spots of light grew, throwing colors in her mind, which expanded into shapes. Blurry images scurried behind her eyes, not in focus enough to tell what they were. She realized she couldn't hear her own groans anymore, couldn't feel her body, aware only of the sights and sounds of the image in her head.

 

By now, Inuyasha was on his feet, standing with his back to Kagome, trying to honor her wishes against his better judgment.

 

"Kagome!" Inuyasha yelled, frightened now.

 

Behind him, Kagome moaned softly. "Inuyasha," she said, her voice fading as she spoke, "help." He heard a splash and jerked around with inhuman speed in time to see black hair disappear under that water. Without a second thought, Inuyasha threw himself into the water after her. The familiarity of the situation was unsettling, but this water, though uncomfortably warm, was clear enough for Inuyasha to make out Kagome's form. He grabbed her tightly, not even noticing that she was still unclothed, and pulled her to the surface with him in seconds. He waded quickly into the shallower area where he could stand and, without even leaving that water, turned Kagome towards him and cupped her face in his hands.

 

"Kagome! Kagome, can you hear me? Kagome, wake up!" she shouted to her, ignoring the way the sudden onset of hot water was making his head spin as he stumbled slightly, all the while holding Kagome. When she didn't respond, he staggered to the bank and grabbed the towel she had brought, wrapping it hastily around her. He shook her gently, talking to her, but she didn't seem to hear him. She was clearly breathing, but wasn't responding to anything around her.

 

Suddenly, her eyes snapped open.

 

-

-

 

"Inuyasha," Kagome tried to call, "help." She couldn't tell if it had worked, couldn't hear her own voice, couldn't feel her mouth move. All she was aware of were the slowly solidifying sounds that encircled her, playing for her behind her eyes. Everything was becoming clearly.

 

Kagome heard a muffled scream, a words she couldn't make out. She could see the vague outlines of huts. There was a roaring somewhere out of her range of vision, and a flash of purple ran by. Suddenly, everything cleared completely. The purple was Miroku, standing before her like he was a foot away, close enough to touch. He was next to her, brandishing his staff at something she couldn't see.

 

"Be gone, demon!" he shouted, reaching over to pull the rosary from his right hand that bore the wind tunnel. But whatever he was fighting saw what he was, and recognized it. A giant claw ripped out of nowhere and bashed Miroku aside, sending him crashing to the ground ten feet away.

 

"Miroku!" Sango screamed, before turning her attention to the beast, anger plain on her face. She lifted her weapon and shouted "Hiraikotsu" as she threw it at the demon. Behind her, where Kagome could not see, she heard the thing screech as the weapon connected, but then it hurled the boomerang back with even greater force, throwing it into Sango, who went flying like Miroku, landing on her back, unconscious. Miroku, to the left, was struggling to get up, but the monster whipped at him again, forcing him back to the ground. Kirara ran in front of Sango's prone form, transforming as she went. She stood protectively blocking the demon slayer from view. Behind Kirara, Kagome recognize the site of the battle with a jolt of terror. It was Kaede's village, where Miroku, Sango, Kirara, and Shippo had gone to wait for Kagome and Inuyasha to come for them. Many of the huts were had fallen, some on fire. Kagome saw Kaede trying to evacuate the village. The air was full of screams of horror and pain.

 

A shadow abruptly hid the sky from view, positioning itself directly over Sango and the demon cat, who Kagome saw had Shippo riding helplessly on her back. Instinctively, Kagome recognized the shadow as a foot. The foot of a very large demon. Directly over Sango, it started down with amazing speed, planning to crush the life out of her, Shippo, and Kirara.

 

There was no chance it wouldn't succeed.

 

-

-

 

All of a sudden, Kagome was aware again. She could feel Inuyasha holding her, hear him calling to her in panic, shaking her gently but urgently. She felt the towel draped over her front and his hands against the bare skin of her back, but she couldn't care.

 

Her eyes focused and she saw Inuyasha's face hovering over her. Her eyes locked on his, as relief flooded them.

 

"Kagome, what happened? Are you all right? What can I do? How do you feel?" He asked several things very fast, but Kagome barely noticed.

 

She knew what power the Silver Spring had given her. She had become a true seer. She had visions. A very small part of her was relieved that she had received something that couldn't hurt the boy holding her as she lay limply in his arms, terror still on his face, mingled with confusion. 

 

But the rest of her as focused on what she had seen. With terrible certainty, she knew that it was a vision of the future, something that would come to pass very soon. She knew without a shadow of a doubt that it would be happening, and she had to get there to stop it. She and Inuyasha had to make sure it didn't occur as she had foreseen it. They had to move fast.

 

"Kagome," asked Inuyasha, not sounding nearly as relieved as he had moments before. "What happened to you? What's going on?"

 

Without answering, Kagome wrenched herself out of his loose grip and rushed over to where she had left her clothes, towel gripped behind her in an attempt at modesty. Inuyasha didn't fight her, and let his arms drop to his sides, rising to his feet.

 

"Kagome..."

 

"No time, I will explain on the way," said Kagome quickly, grabbing her clothes and glancing back at Inuyasha, who reluctantly turned to let her change, keeping an ear carefully perked in her direction. Without double checking that his eyes were averted, Kagome let the towel drop and rushed into her clothes so quickly she nearly tore the skirt and ignored the socks of all together, clamping them into her fist as she stuffed her feet into her shoes.

 

"What do you mean? On the way where?" Inuyasha insisted, too worried to sound angry.

 

"To Kaede's village. We have to get to Miroku and Sango before it's too late."

 

"Too late? Too late for what? What are you talking about?"

 

"I said I will tell you on the way. But we have to go right now!" Without waiting for Inuyasha to turn, she jumped on to his back, clasping her legs tightly around his waist and her arms at his throat.

 

"Kagome..."

 

"Inuyasha, we don't have time! We have to hurry. Please, just trust me and run!"

 

Inuyasha didn't understand what had Kagome so panicked. He didn't like the idea of running of without a clue why or what he was running into. He really didn't like the look on her face, the terror and determination there.

 

But he did trust her with everything he had.

 

He bent to grab his haori, and slung it over Kagome's shoulders behind him. Tucking his hands under her knees, he muttered "hold on" and launched himself forward so quickly that it felt like his eyeballs were still at the spring.

 

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