The young hanyou sat in the branch of a tree starring down at the miko below him. His focus was not on her, but the partially complete jewel around her neck. Something that felt like a lost memory trying to escape nagged at the back of his mind. As a child he always felt incomplete, but it never truly bothered him. When he had first heard of the Shikon No Tama a desire he could not explain arose within him. At first he thought it was a need to become a full demon, but upon meeting Kikyo he began to think otherwise. After a series of horrible events, he began to revert back to his original beliefs. Then came this girl, Kikyo’s reincarnation, the girl from the well, the girl from the future, that had restored his own. Many things had happened upon meeting her that he could not explain. Upon the shattering of the jewel, he felt as though a part of himself had burst along with it. He only threw this to the wind, thinking it was disappointment at the chance they would never put it back together again. The most recent and traumatic of all instances happened quite recently in the cave of Midoriko.

They had been in the exterminator village at the time. He had laid upon a roof belonging to a now vacant hut that they had decided to spend the night in. That was when he had sensed it, a need to enter the cave, because something was wrong. As he reached the cave he knew, Kagome’s piece of the jewel had some how made it’s way into cave, then a protective instinct seem to take over and lead him to where he needed to be. He saw everything, and knew that it was him or at least his body acting out the events that had begun to unfold. It was as if he were watching helplessly from within his own head. He came into the main cavern to see the sight before him. He remembered something about the large cat being a former comrade and knew that he needed to slay his archaic enemy. He did not remember pulling out his sword, but he regained control of his body just after it had made the killing blow. He couldn’t quite tell what had happened, he was only aware enough of his surroundings to acknowledge the presence of the monk as he took the shard and left the cave. It had all been quite an unnerving experience. He found himself knowing things that he hadn’t before, but decided to hide as much of it as possible from the rest of the group.

He had been considering all of this as he starred at the shard glowing in the sun’s soft fading light. It was then that Kagome looked up from the book that she had been reading with a heavy sigh. He quickly turned his gaze to the setting sun, he did not want her to think that he was some kind of pervert that enjoyed starring at her. Even though he did sometimes enjoy that particular task. She saw a twitch come from the companion that sat above her. She closed the book knowing that she would never finish it, the plot was thin, and made no sense, on top of that it was boring. She looked to the horizon, it seemed that their companions would not make it back before the next day. Inu Yasha had come back from a shard mission to retrieve her from the well, and this was where they were supposed to meet once Miroku settled his dealings with the head of the village. A chilly breeze rustled its way through the trees, Kagome shivered, and the young man in the tree mentally cursed himself for not taking her sleeping bag from the rest of the group. They weren’t supposed to take this long. He could have carried Kagome on his back and eventually met up with them by now, but she insisted on just waiting for them, and doing her homework in the process. She shivered and dug through the bag. She pulled out her jacket, but it didn’t do much good, then she thought of the only other thing she had.

Inu Yasha looked down at her again, she had pulled out a small piece of cloth folded into a nice square. The name Shippou had been embroidered into the cloth, and a beautiful green bow

held the entire piece together. He saw her hands shake and the hurt and her eyes as she considered using the blanket for her own warmth. It was obviously for the kitsune’s birthday, which he had been reminding everyone of for the last week. His lips spoke before his mind could process what he was saying.