"Please come in." Taroshi said cordially as he invited his visitors into his hut.
"So what have you got for us?" Inu-Yasha asked impatiently, clearly annoyed at the attention Taroshi had been paying Kagome.
Shippo whispered in his ear, "Kagome said he reminds her of this boy she knows from her time."
Taroshi ignored the glare Inu-Yasha sent him and went about digging something out from the ground. He pulled out a small box and handed it to Kagome but Inu-Yasha snatched it first.
"Inu-Yasha! What are you doing?" Kagome said as she tried to pull it out of Inu-Yasha's grasp. He was trying to open the box. "Dammit! It won't open!" he growled.
Taroshi nodded, and saed apologetically, "That's a box designed by my late aunt. She put a spell on it to make sure no one can open it without a kep."
"So where's the key?" Shippo asked.
Kagome thought *This is wrong. I don't feel anything*.
Taroshi took the box back, "A demon stole it from my aunt and then killed her. Fortunately I was able to take the box away with me and I found my way here, hoping the demon would..."
He was interrupted by a loud crash and the roof began to cave in. A booming voice outside growled, "Hand me the jewels or I'll squash everyone of you to death."
Inu-Yasha leapt up to support the roof. *Argh. I don't know how long I can long this for* The other three looked on with worry as the roof closed in on them.
"My lord, it's no use! You have to try something else," Myoga cried, jumping up and down on Inu-Yasha's shoulder. Suddenly, he let go and a split second later, swung the Tetsusaiga through the roof. Debris started falling into the hut, and he ran to pull Kagome out of the way just as a large piece of the roof fell done.
A cloud of dirt rose, leaving everyone coughing. Inu-Yasha pushed the aforementioned piece of roof off him, only to find himself looking at a rather large demon outside.
"It's...it's him," Taroshi stuttered.
"Give me the jewel!" the demon snarled again.
"In your dreams, demon! What make you think you have any right to anything of mine?" Inu-Yasha yelled as he prepared to strike again.
The demon only laughed, "As you wish, you lousy dog!" And he blew out a pull of smoke.
"What the..." Inu-Yasha managed to say before everything went dark.
***
Shippo opened his eyes and say up. Everything was quiet, which only made him more suspicious. He looked around and to his horror, Kagome and Inu-Yasha were gone. He tried to remember what had happened but the last thing he could remember was Inu-Yasha killing Sagoshi. *Where the hell am I* He called out, "Kagome! Inu-Yasha! Where are you?"
Suddenly he found himself lifted off the ground. He came face to fae with Hiten and Manten, the Thunder Brothers. *Funny that, I thought they were dead*
"Well, little brother. Look what we've found." Manten laughed, "Why Hiten, it's that little fox. Now be a good little boy and hand us the jewels."
*The jewels?* Shippo looked down and sure enough there was the large Shikon jewel, in his complete form. *Huh?* He looked back up, only to see his father's pelt wrapped around Manten's waist.
"You're admiring my pelt, huh? Well, why don't you ask your father for one. I believe he had one just like it," Manten laughed again.
Suddenly the Thunder Brothers were no more. Shippo looked up to see Inu-Yasha picking up the Shikon jewel they had left behind. "Inu-Yasha!" he said happily. Imagine his shock when the half demon snarled, and pointed the Tetsusaiga at him. "What?" He then spotted Kagome behind Inu-Yasha. "Kagome! Help me!"
Kagome laughed, but it was a sound which sent shivers done Shippo's spine. It had lost every bit of its usual warmth and cheerfulness, and was no cold and hard. "Oh look. It's a little fox. Can I play with him before you kill him?" she asked coyly.
Shippo shuddered. *This can't be Kagome!* He tried to back away and he yelped as Inu-Yasha planted his sword just inches from his head. "Why are you doing this? Don't you remember me? I'm Shippo!" The name didn't seem to cause any reaction from Kagome or Inu-Yasha.
"Just let me finish him off. This is getting annoying," Inu-Yasha said, bored. He pulled Kagome into his arms and kissed her passionately. If Shippo hadn't realised something was wrong, he would now. Anyhow, he took this chance to scamper off, hoping their passionate display would buy him some time.
Inu-Yasha broke off their kiss. "Damn, looks like that kitsune is gone." He pulled Kagome onto his back and they took off after Shippo.
***
As they raced through the forest in silence, Kagome found herself growing more and more tired. It HAD been a long day after all. "Inu-Yasha?" she spoke up.
"Yeah?" he stopped, helping Kagome down gently.
"You think...maybe we can stop for awhile. I'm tired."
Inu-Yasha and Kagome sat down in the shade, leaning against each other. *This must be heaven* she thought to herself, and her heart started pumping faster as Inu-Yasha put one arm around her. She turned her eyes upwards to look into his, and on his face was a smile which she had seldom seen. Without a word, he pulled her closer to him in a tight embrace.
Then Kagome felt a sharp pain in her back. Horrified as she realised what had happened, she looked up at Inu-Yasha, who sneered. He pulled his claws out of Kagome who collapsed onto the ground on her side. He stood there fingering the Shikon jewel which Kagome wore around her neck.
"But...why?" she asked weakly, feeling the blood flowing out from her cuts, as well as the tears on her cheeks. For some reason, they were making her face itchy.
Inu-Yasha laughed, "Because you make me feel HUMAN. I don't want that! I'm a demon, not some pansy-boy like Hojo."
Kagome's immediate thought was *Huh? How does he know Hojo?* and she tried to remember whether she had ever said anything about Hojo in front of Inu-Yasha. She was brought back into the present as Inu-Yasha cracked his knuckles, clearly ready to strike again.
*No! This has to be a dream* Kagome pleaded silently as Inu-Yasha raised his hand to slash down on her...
***
As his claws tore into the flesh, blood spurted out all over the place. He looked arond for more victims. He laughed as he leapt off, with the Shikon jewel in his hand. "Hahaha, this is only what you deserve! Just like I deserve the Jewel of Four Souls!" *With this, I can become a true human*
Suddenly a voice spoke out from nowhere, "Inu-Yasha!" He quickly turned around only to find an arrow going into his body. "Ki-Kikyo!" He tried to move to her but found himself pinned to a tree.
There stood the priestess, bow in hand, look of hatred on her face, blood staining her clothes. "How dare you!" She picked up the Shikon jewel Inu-Yasha had dropped. "The jewel...for such a thing...How dare you betray me!" Inu-Yasha started to say something but the spell took its effect and he fell unconscious.
***
"Kagome! Please! You have to wake up," Myoga the flea said after he elicited no response from her even after sucking her blood. He sighed and tried again. This time she stirred slightly, and he cried, "Kagome!"
"No, it's a dream," Kagome was muttering. "It's a dream." Then quite suddenly, she decided to brush the tears from her cheek. *I'm not going to let him see how much he hurt me* But her hand closed on Myoga and she jerked away. "What? Where am I?" she glanced around. She couldn't see Inu-Yasha and Shippo, or Taroshi and that ugly demon for that matter. She looked at her hand and see Myoga half-squashed, lying on it. "Oh! I'm so sorry!" she apologised.
Myoga jumped onto her shoulder and said urgently, "Kagome, we have to save the other two. I can't wake them."
Kagome asked, "Where are they?"
"Just outside." He continued, "That must have been one of those dream demons. His potion causes people to dream of being betrayed by the ones they love and trust.
"That's why we have to wake them. If the dream ends, to the people, it becomes reality. Then the demon would feed on the bitter soul, draining their energy from them."
"Oh no!" Kagome remembered how close she was to being killed and judged that the others must be reaching that stage as well. She rushed outside. "You try to wake Shippo, I'll get Inu-Yasha."
***
"Inu-Yasha!"
He sat up quite suddenly, still shuddering from the dream. *Thank god it's just a dream. I don't think I can stand any more of them. They're driving me insane*
"Inu-Yasha!" the voice called out again.
This time he turned around and could not see anyone. He stood up, and tried to sniff out whoever was there.
"Inu-Yasha!"
This time he caught sight of a shadow but not before he saw the arrow straight at him. He tried to jump out of the way, but was too late. Once again, he found himself paralysed against the tree. *Hell, not this again*
As if on cue, he started to stammer, "Ki-Kikyo?" Then his eyes began to get really large.
"No, it's Kagome," she replied with a look of confusion on her face (imagine being in a play when someone said the wrong line). Inu-Yasha was just as confused. It was indeed Kagome standing in front of him, bow in hand, clothes stained with blood.
*No way, this is the wrong dream* he half-joked to himself. He tried to move, then cursed himself for forgetting about the spell.
"It's no use struggling, Inu-Yasha," Kagome said. She sighed as she picked up the Shikon jewel from the ground. "How dare you...the jewel...for such a thing." Then she looked at him with a look of pure hatred on her face.
"Why are you doing this, Kagome?" Inu-Yasha asked gently, though taken aback by her expression.
"Because you came back." Inu-Yasha blinked a couple of times as Kagome slowly morphed into Kikyo. "I killed you, but you came back. I'm not going to let that happen again. Not going to let you ruin that girl's life, like you did mine!" To his horror, Kikyo picked up the Tetsusaiga which sprang to life at once. *I? Ruin Kagome's life*
"Die, Inu-Yasha!" Kikyo yelled, as she brought the sword down on Inu-Yasha's head. He closed his eyes as he waited for the final blow. *It's over. I'm sorry, Kagome* he wondered whether he would have the chance to ever tell her that...
"Kagome...I love you," he whispered. Suddenly everything went dark.
***
"Kagome..."
"Inu-Yasha! Can you hear me?" Someone was shaking him. He snapped his eyes open to see Kagome crying next to him. "Hey," he touched her arm.
Kagome looked up and to his surprise, she threw her arms around him. "Inu-Yasha! You're okay!" she said, tears still running down her face.
"Feh, don't be silly," Inu-Yasha pushed her away lightly, embarrassed, then he jumped up. "So what happened to that Taroshi?" he asked as he was approached by Shippo, with Myoga on his shoulder.
"Shippo!" Kagome said as she hugged the kitsune. "Are you okay?" she asked gently.
Shippo nodded then asked, "Who was sthat demon?"
Myoga then repeated what he had told Kagome earlier, and he added, "How I don't understand is how it can understand your fears and insecurities in such a short time."
"He must have had an accomplice..." Kagome gasped, "Taroshi!"
Myoga took awhile to ponder over that and agreed, "That would expain his absense. But how are we to defeat such a demon?"
"Does he have a shard of the jewel?" Inu-Yasha nudged Kagome. She nodded, "Well, the demon does. At the back of its head." And with that, Inu-Yasha stalked off before the others could say anything. They followed him in silence.
***
*Betrayed by the ones they love and trust huh* Inu-Yasha thought as he led the others towards the demon. He could not understand why Kikyo had not killed him. *She would have had more than enough time. Plus, the arrow would still have killed me...*
The others followed about 10 m behind him, as he had clearly indicated he did not want to talk to any of them. Shippo finally spoke up, "Kagome, what was your dream about?"
Kagome blushed and replied with a questino for Myoga, "Hey, how come you weren't affected?"
"I was on my Lord's shoulder and none of the potion reached me. But then my Lord fell on me and I was knocked out."
Shippo looked down at the ground sheepishly, "You know, Kagome. You were trying to kill me."
Kagome looked at Shippo in surprise. "Oh Shippo, I'm so sorry!"
"It's okay Kagome! It wasn't you. Plus it wasn't just you," Shippo gestured at Inu-Yasha, then indicated to Kagome to keep quiet about it.
She whispered, "Him? But why?"
Shippo grinned self consciously, "I dunno. I guess it's just the both of you have been looking after me for so long, I just...don't know." He broke off, as memories of his parents made his eyes flood with silent tears.
"I understand, Shippo," Kagome picked him up to give him a hug. *I wonder what HE dreamt about...* staring at Inu-Yasha. Shippo echoed her thoughts aloud.
"It's none of your business!" Inu-Yasha called out grouchily. Kagome and Shippo both giggled at his reaction, the tension broken.
"Kagome," Myoga said, very softly, "my Lord once said he is plagued by the scene at THAT village..." he trailed off, not wanting to say anymore, fearing Inu-Yasha's anger.
Kagome felt her break break as her subconscious told her *he still loves Kikyo...after all these years...* and the group once again felt silent, each of them deep in thought.