Back to the Past
“You okay, Inuyasha?” Kagome looked up at Inuyasha, whom was sitting on his favorite branch of the Goshinboku. “You’ve been acting weird ever since we left the cavern.” Kagome leaned on the sacred tree, sighing. “What a day...” When Inuyasha didn’t reply, Kagome kept on talking. “Eh, Inuyasha, I promised Haruko-chan to tell her everything about our adventure… would you mind? Of course I won’t mention the whole thing with you and Kikyo…”

“It’s alright, Kagome.” Inuyasha jumped down. He stood face to face with Kagome, but it didn’t seem like he was talking to her directly. “Are you cold? Fall’s here, you should dress more warmly you know.”

Kagome smiled. “Since when did you start to care so much?”

Instead of replying, Inuyasha looked down at the ground instead. His eyes were droopy, he looked tired, very tired.

“Inuyasha… are you alright?” Kagome asked with concern. She took a step forward, but was afraid to touch him.

Inuyasha inhaled deeply. Then he smiled, genuinely, and looked directly into Kagome’s eyes. “I was just… thinking about my mother.”

Kagome gasped silently. “Inuyasha’s okaasan? Why now?”

Inuyasha turned around and began to walk, Kagome followed behind. The battle from three days before damaged the area around the Goshinboku, but it seemed like Sango cleaned up the youkai body parts pretty nicely.

“Before, I forced myself to forget everything of my past. All I could remember was my family’s faces, and that I want to become a full youkai. But after the battle… it all came back to me.” He snorted. “Keh, it seems pretty crazy, ne?”

“Not at all, it’s your suppressed memories; we have a psychological term for that in my time.”

Inuyasha blinked blankly, not sure what “psychological” means. But he didn’t ask because he didn’t want to seem ignorant. “Anyway, I remembered a lot during my battle that bastard Damedaru.”

Kagome nodded, “you mean that inu-youkai that melted because he took in miko blood?”

“Yup, I remember everything now.” Inuyasha looked up to the night sky and gazed upon the almost disappeared moon. “Damedaru… killed my mother.”

Kagome’s heart suddenly leaped at Inuyasha’s confession. Then as she took a look at Inuyasha’s face, her heart almost broke into pieces. No wonder he wanted to rip Damedaru apart. “Inuyasha…” Still facing his profile, Kagome walked up to him and put her hands on his shoulders. She felt him quiver a bit to her touch. She laid her head on his back, and tried to comfort him with silence. But that’s not all the surprise Inuyasha had for Kagome.

“He also tried to kill me.” Inuyasha put his right hand on Kagome’s left hand and squeezed it a little bit, assuring her that he was okay.

“Maybe you’ll feel better if you tell me the whole story.” Kagome tried to hide her fears when Inuyasha told her he almost died as a child. But the past can’t be changed, for now the only thing she can do is listening and be a friend to him.

“All the members of the inu noble family are somewhat related. Sesshomaru’s mother was father’s niece, but the blood connection was distant. Damedaru was actually more related to us. He was father’s second cousin.

“Long ago, when there was still just one lord, the lord’s subject would divide themselves into groups, form secret societies and pacts. Strong groups would use their power to squeeze out the lesser groups, and give the empty, enrich positions to their own relatives. Yugumi, Damedaru, Jinozumo, and Megira were all blood related, so they all had a connection with Sesshomaru’s mother, the queen, and that made them the group with the strongest influence.

“When Sesshomaru’s mother died, and my human mother, who was only a servant, was put on the queen’s throne, Yugumi and them were restless. What was even worse for their positions was my birth. Even though Sesshomaru was without a doubt the future lord, his introvert nature made it impossible for Yugumi and them to bond with him. And Sesshomaru never had a liking for being lord, my father was ready to name me the crown prince.”

“So Yugumi and his group saw you as an obstacle.” Kagome whispered. The story wasn’t hard to catch on. She had learned about the noble caste system when she studied Chinese history in class. Power hungry nobles used everything to get what they wanted. “So they…”

Inuyasha continued with his narrative. “One day my father took Sesshomaru out hunting, along with his bodyguards. It was supposed to be Sesshomaru’s first real hunt. I wasn’t old enough to go, so I remained at the palace with my mother. Everyday mother had a habit of cooking some snack for me after lunch, and that day was no different. But the servants were always the ones to bring the snack into my room, where my mother would watch me practice calligraphy.

“That day, I was around eight, I didn’t eat much lunch, so I was hungry for mother’s desserts. When the servant brought them in, I practically jumped at them. I remember distinctively that the servant looked strange, but both me and mother dismissed it because we though she was new. I picked up one of my mother’s cake, but it was too hot and I burnt my hand. Although my skin healed right away, mother wouldn’t let me eat until they were cooled.” Inuyasha was shivering all over; his voice was cracking up too. Kagome squeezed his shoulders as hard as she can, and leaned closer to his body, signaling to him that she was there for him.

“She eventually picked one up and took a bite herself to make sure that they were no longer hot. Then she smiled and handed one to me. As soon as I bit into one… mother collapsed.” Inuyasha’s shoulders trembled. He dug his claws deep into his palm, holding back the tears that were about to leak out. “The poison had no affect on me. It turned out that Damedaru disguised himself as the servant that brought in the dessert, and that it was he who plotted the whole thing. The objective was to kill me, but my mother died instead. But because of Damedaru’s influence and his relationship with Yugumi, he was only exiled for forty years.”

Kagome couldn’t help herself anymore. “Inuyasha…” She cried out. She lowered her arms and wrapped them around Inuyasha’s waist. She dug her head into Inuyasha’s spine, he could feel her tears penetrating his kimono.

“Why are you crying?” Inuyasha sniffled. He cupped his own hands over Kagome’s. In truth, he appreciates her being there, comforting him. But his disdainful nature wouldn’t let him show it.

“Gomen, Inuyasha, gomen! I shouldn’t have made you talk about something like this.” Kagome hugged him so tightly that Inuyasha’s chest wound almost opened up again, Inuyasha groaned a little at the pressure. At the sound of his groan, Kagome released him and asked with concern. “What’s wrong? Is your wound hurting again?”

Inuyasha finally turned to look at her. The two stared at each other for a long time in silence. Then in a flash, without any sound, or controlled thought behind it, Inuyasha took Kagome into his arms. He lowered his head to smell her hair, taking in her scent, which always relaxed him.

“I’ll always be here, Kagome.” Inuyasha whispered. If his mouth wasn’t right next to her ears, she wouldn’t have heard him.

Kagome was a little shocked, “what… what do you mean?”

“That question you asked me while we were in the tunnel… that’s my answer, Kagome,” Inuyasha allowed his cheek to touch hers. “I’ll always be here for you.”

In the mist of the sad story Inuyasha just told her, she couldn’t help but feel happy all of a sudden. She laid her head on his shoulder, and allowed herself to cry some more. After a few moment, she decided to change the mood a little.

“You know, Inuyasha, you’re starting to talk in a really weird manner.”

“Huh? What do you mean?”

“Well, you’re actually using good grammar now, and big words.”

Inuyasha pushed her away with fake anger. “Keh, what’s that suppose to mean? I was a prince, ya know, I had four years of education, although I forgot a lot…” He scratched his head again, couldn’t remember what his point was.

Kagome laughed at him and dived into his arms once again, which made both of them blush.

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

“What took you guys so long?” Sango whispered as Inuyasha and Kagome walked in, hand in hand. She kept her voice down because Shippo, Kirara, Rin, and Kaede were already asleep. Inuyasha and Kagome’s entrance didn’t go unnoticed. Miroku coldn’t help but smirk at the sight of them holding hands. Sesshomaru was off to somewhere. And perhaps it was only for a second, but Kagome could swear that Haruko flinched at the sight of them being so close. The miko-in-training was off in a corner by herself, still sewing Rin’s kimono. When Sango’s attention turned to their hands as well, the two quickly separated.

“Well, I’m going to sleep now, today was a long day.” Sango’s not lying. Although the others did a lot of fighting, Sango had to be in charge of all the cooking and cleaning up. When she was about to get up, Miroku slid his hand over her behind. Sango immediately slapped him.

“Just because my Hiraikotsu is gone doesn’t mean I don’t have anything to defend myself with against a pervert like you.” Sango hissed.

“Where’s your Hiraikotsu, Sango-chan?” Kagome cut in.

“Sesshomaru took it out for repair.” Miroku said it in a monotonous tone, but it didn’t conceal the fact that he was a little jealous.

“That’s so unlike him.” Kagome pondered.

“Don’t know what he’s up to these days.” Inuyasha thought aloud, scratching his chin in the process.

“Well,” Sango yawned, “you guys can stay here and figure it out, but I have to rest. Oyasumi.”

Everyone said “oyasumi” and Sango unrolled a futon next to Kirara.

“Hmm, I think I should sleep too.” Kagome muttered, “Gonna have to go home first thing tomorrow.”

“Where do you live, Kagome-sama?” Haruko asked absentmindedly, still concentrating on her sewing.

Everyone froze at Haruko’s question. Kagome knew it was already hard enough to have to tell her the story of Naraku. But the fact that she comes from 500 years from the future is just a bit too much.

“Umm… well…” Kagome panicked. What’s a good way to tell her the truth without having her freak out on us?

“The other side of the well.” Inuyasha said with disinterest. It seemed like he didn’t think it was a big deal.

“Well? Is the well a borderline between two villages?” Haruko asked again.

“Umm… well…” Kagome took a big breath, “if I tell you, Haruko-san, promise me that you won’t freak out.”

Although she’s not very sure what “freak out” mean, Haruko nodded anyway.

“Well… the well is a connection between now, the Sengoku Jidai, and the time where I live in… 500 years into the future.” Kagome paused to wait on Haruko’s reaction.

“Oh! Now I understand.” Haruko exclaimed.

“Uh… understand what?” Kagome looked at Haruko’s expression, which remained surprisingly stable.

“I always wanted to ask you why your clothing is so strange.” Haruko also noticed Kagome’s amazed look. “Why do you look so surprised, Kagome-sama?”

“Umm… I thought you’d think it’s strange.” Kagome stuttered.

Inuyasha cut in. “With all the spells and magic in this time period, why would anyone be surprised at this?” He crossed his arms.

“And since the Goshinboku is a time tree, it’s quite obvious that the well, which was made out of the Goshinboku’s branches, should be a connection with another time.” Miroku joined the conversation as well. “None of us were actually surprised at this, Kagome-sama.”

“Gee, don’t I feel special now.” Kagome said sarcastically. What she considered to be amazing is just another trip under the sun for these people.

“Although I would give anything to see what it’s like 500 years later.” Haruko murmured to herself.

“Sorry, wench, only me and Kagome can go through.” Kagome grinned now that Inuyasha’s bad grammar has returned. All traces of his royalty disappeared as suddenly as it came.

Haruko sighed disappointedly. “Anoo… Kagome-sama, now can you tell me the story of your adventures?” Haruko just remembered Kagome’s promise earlier, and decided to drill for the answer.

Miroku cocked his eyebrow, apparently Kagome didn’t tell him about this decision. Kagome noticed the stare, so she turned to Miroku for permission.

“Miroku, since Haruko-san is going to be with us for a while, I was wondering if we should let her know about our past.” Kagome said it in a soft and apologetic tone.

Miroku smiled charmingly. “I don’t have a problem. But Kagome-sama, you might want to ask Sango first if you’re going to say anything that concerns her.”

Kagome nodded understandingly. Everyone in the hut has a story connected with Naraku; the story wouldn’t be complete without any one of them. So she can’t say anything yet while Sango is asleep.

Haruko could barely contain her excitement. Seven days have passed since she left home. And for seven days she has held back all her questions and curiosity. It’s not an easy task for someone who has always gotten what she asked for, since she was so appraised by the villagers back home.

“Oi, Kagome, let’s wait until we come back. It’s getting pretty late.” Inuyasha started to shove Kagome into a futon. “Don’t you need sleep if you wanna pass those exams of yours?”

Inuyasha’s thoughtfulness surprised everyone. Normally he didn’t give a crap about Kagome’s tests. So to show her appreciation, Kagome could not refuse his command. “Haruko-san, can you wait?”

Haruko’s heart dropped again. “Oh, sure…”

“Oyasumi, minasan!”

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