The Secret Kept

Sorry everyone for the wait


Leaving

By the time Inuyasha returned to camp, the area had been cleared, and the campfire built. Kagome and Sango sat nearest to the flames, talking to each other while watching Shippo play with the wooden sake toy Kagome had gotten him. They both looked up when Inuyasha entered the clearing.

“ Inuyasha, your back.” Kagome jumped up and headed toward the inu hanyou. She was more than ready to make dinner, but she needed water and the fish for that. She wasn’t expecting to see a giant white dog walk out behind him. “ Inuyasha why is there a big inu.”

“ I am no mere inu woman.” Inushiro looked coldly at the miko. He had been sensing her power before he saw her. Her sprit power was great, far greater that the average human ever has.

“You, talk. You’re a youkai.” In the world Kagome had entered you were either, human or some type of youkai.

“ I am not a youkai.”

“You’re a talking inu, but not a demon?” Kagome looked closer at the stranger. “Then what are you?”

Inushiro didn’t answer her, but instead looked around the camp at Inuyasha’s patchwork pack. Along with the miko there was a monk, a young fox demon, and a demon slayer of all things.

“I have to go away for a while.” Inuyasha spoke up, slightly pissed at Inushiro for being rude to Kagome.

“Going, where are we going?” Kagome had picked up quickly on Inuyasha speaking.

“ Not we, me. “

“Will you be leaving us Inuyasha?” Miroku spoke up. More to keep his two friends from getting into the fight he knew was coming.

“That’s what I just said.” The hanyou huffed while moving to the fire to hand over the water, and his catching to Sango.

Shippo had long since stopped playing with his toy to watch the adults talk. He hoped that Inuyasha would eventually say something to warrant being sit. Seeing the powerful hanyou kiss the earth was one of the highlights of his day.

“Where you going Inuyasha?” Shippo asked never taking his eyes from the hanyou. Despite all the young youkai’s boosting he knew very well that Inuyasha was the, alpha male, and primary protector of the pack.

“Away.”

“Yes but where?” This time the question came from Kagome.
“I just have to go away for a while.” The hanyou knew he couldn’t tell any one where he was going. “You guys will have to say here till I get back.”

“Here why can’t we wait in the village?”

“Cause I am not gonna be there to keep demons away from the village.”

“Don’t be silly Inuyasha demons don’t come to the village often.”

“Shows how much you know. The entire area becomes infested the second we’re back.”

“Then how come we never see them?”

“Because I always killed the demons that decide they were going to try for the Sikon Jewel.” Inuyasha looked coldly at Kagome. It was always exasperating to him how little Kagome understood her situation in his world. “Did you think you could walk around with the most desired power in our world and only Naraku would be after it?” Instead of waiting for an answer Inuyasha turn to walk a wide circle around the camp.

He had to moving quickly, setting up a shield around the camp. He increased is own personal sent letting it spread deep into the surrounding area. When he finished fully marking the area he began to feed his youkai into the scent trail.

Sango watched as Inuyasha walked the outer rims of the camp. As a demon slayer she had seen other demons behave like the hanyou did. It was a surprise to learn that Inuyasha was demon enough to create a shield using his scent. “Inuyasha, where are you going?”

“I can’t answer that. You will all have to stay here in my shield until I return. The shield extends to the river so you’ll have water. Stay here until I come back, you’ll be safe here.” It wasn’t the kind of response any of them were expecting from Inuyasha and for Kagome it was an unacceptable one.

Never before had the young miko accepted an order from Inuyasha without and explanation. With purpose and the command of someone used to getting what she wanted. Kagome walked up to Inuyasha, taking hold of the sleeve of his hitatare. “You’re not going anywhere until you tell me what going on Inuyasha,” Kagome curtly pointed out.

Inushiro, who had been watching young Inuyasha’s interaction with the humans, began to growl softly at the impudent women’s action. It had been explained to him before he left that the lord’s companions were human and need to be handled with a measure of tolerance. Whoever, friends or not these humans were too much. To handle a noble of Inuyasha’s height with such flippancy was beyond tolerance. “Lord Inuyasha has already explained that he needs to depart, and since he does not wish to leave you unprotected he has created a shield to hold until his return.” Inushiro’s eyes began to flash with is own irritation, “ Be grateful that the lord has bothered to consider you safety before leaving. By all rites he owes you nothing.” Inushiro barked out his teeth snapping with every word.

Kagome looked again at the great white inu, “Inuyasha who is he?”

Inuyasha shook of the miko’s grip on his sleeve. “His name’s Inushiro,” he answered quickly moving to the edge of the shield where his guide stood waiting. It was going to be nothing but trouble for him if Kagome picked up on Inushiro calling him a lord. “You guys just stay here and wait for me I’m gonna be back in a day or two.”

“But Inuyasha…” Kagome made a run to stop her warrior from leaving, her face smashing into the shield. In a last ditch effort to stop her friend from leaving her behind she shouted out the only words that had ever been able to stop him. “Inuyasha sit.” Those words had always worked before, but this time they failed.

The beads that Inuyasha wore glowed in their downward pull, but instead of slamming the hanyou down to the ground they began to shine brighter than ever before. Inuyasha swung his body around, a great mass of silver white locks passing over his hard eyes meeting Kagome’s expectant ones. Each of the smooth circular beads developed a jagged crack breaking apart, and falling finally to the land never to be used again. Silently she watched Inuyasha and Inushiro disappear into the forest.

Kagome eyes turn finally to the broken bead lying on the forest floor. Ever since she had known Inuyasha the beads had been around the hanyou’s neck binding the two of them together. It seemed to with them gone Inuyasha was no longer bound to her. Inuyasha was no longer hers.

Sango watch her friend. The girl from the future looked broken and lost. “Kagome, are you alright?” She watched as Kagome tore her eyes for the lost beads to look at her, “Kagome?”

“I don’t get it Sango what just happened?” her voice that had early been strong and confident was now more timid than the weakest mouse.

“Inuyasha left Kagome, he’s done it before.”

“But never like this Sango. Did you hear what he was saying? I didn’t even know he had the power to make shields.” Kagome looked expectantly at her friends hoping that they at least might have some answer about what just happened.

Sango didn’t know how to respond to Kagome’s worries, she her self was left a little lost about the previous event. As a demon slayer she knew something about demon society. “Well I know that Inuyasha was a lord, since his brother is Sesshomaru is his brother. Sesshomaru is the Lord of the Western Lands. I can explain thought his sudden ability to create shields.”

“Perhaps there is nothing sudden about it.” Miroku wisely put in. He had been watching the interaction between Inuyasha and Kagome quietly from the side.

“What do you mean it’s not sudden? If Inuyasha could make shields before then why didn’t he make them?” Kagome directed her full attention the young priest.

“Simple, of all of us Inuyasha is the best fighter. Both you and I are able to create shields strong enough to hold through a battle. It’s best for Inuyasha to be fighting than making shields. Making a shield also draws attention, and it’s best not to make one until necessary.” Miroku looked closely at Kagome’s face. He needed to make sure that Kagome grasped the meaning of what he was going to say next. “That Inuyasha created one meant to hold days, means that he won’t be in anyway able to protect us. I believe that what ever Inuyasha will be doing will leave him completely incapacitated,” he paused only to let his words sink in. “Inuyasha has left us the only protection he can give us.”

Miroku had only succeeded in worrying Kagome even more than she had been before. The thought that whatever Inuyasha was doing may be dangerous enough to keep him away was terrifying. Often Inuyasha and her fought back to back. She really didn’t like the idea of Inuyasha fighting when she wasn’t around to help.

She looked back again to where her hanyou had disappeared into the forest foliage, her eyes catching sight of the scattered shards of the broken beads. “But how did the beads beak?”

Miroku looked at what was left of Inuyasha’s beads, “To that I have no answer.” Though he suspected that perhaps their friend had been more powerful than he ever let on.