Disclaimer: I don't own Inuyasha.

The Gathering

Part the Second

Visionary

Kagome was worried about Inuyasha. He had seemed distant since their encounter with Kikyou. She couldn't exactly blame him, but it was still discomforting to see him like that. It was like he was avoiding them, which was probably true. He had a lot on his mind; he probably just needed some time alone. They all had a lot on their minds. Miroku's Wind Tunnel was growing larger by the day-he didn't have much time left, apparently. Sango was growing restless in her desire to save her brother and Kagome? She just wanted to help her friends. The upcoming of The Gathering had her worried too. Inuyasha seemed to be purposefully avoiding her. It scared her, almost. Something was definitely bothering him, and she was determined to find out what. Something was bothering her too. Inuyasha would never have gone to Kikyou or Sesshoumaru if he had thought they could win on their own. Something was up. She had to find out what. Carefully, she walked up to where he was sitting under a large fresh blooming Sakura tree. She was going to confront him about this, one way or the other. Squatting down next to him, she did just that.

"Inuyasha," Kagome looked at him with concern. "Do you honestly think that asking Kikyou and Sesshoumaru to join alliance with you was a wise thing to do?"

"What choice do we have?" He leaned back against the tree and stared up, green light flickering upon both of them. "They are strong. We need their strength." A pause before, "Kagome," he changed the topic, "things are going to get really messy for a while around here and…" he paused, looking determinedly up at the tree top. "I don't want you to get hurt so…" Reaching out he grabbed the Shikon Jewel from around her neck, yanking gently and breaking the chain. "I want you to go home. Study for one of your mock tests or something. Just…" He avoided her gaze as she stared at him in shock. "Just go home."

He received no reply. No SIT, no berating, nothing. Finally he heard the rustling of clothing and heard her footsteps dying away. He half wanted her to hit him with her backpack or any number of things to show she was still there. But she did not. She was gone. He wasn't even sure she would come back.

"I'm sorry." He whispered to no one. "So sorry."

He sat there in silence for two hours after that. Until Sango and Miroku's talking interrupted his brooding. They were talking about him. Himself and Kagome and what had just transpired. He snorted as he listened to them. What fools, what idiots, they were. Talking about him like they thought he couldn't hear. They knew perfectly well that he could. A human could hear their loud babbling. He certainly was able to.

"I can't believe he told her to leave." Sango was saying. "Again." She added. "Why would he do that? Doesn't he care what happens to her?"

"I think that's why he's doing this." Miroku murmured slowly. "Not because he doesn't care about her, but because he does. He doesn't want her to get hurt in all this."

"Brilliant deduction, Sherlock." Inuyasha muttered sarcastically under his breath. "Absolutely genius."

He did not listen any more. Rising to his feet, he started off in any direction. He didn't care where he ended up, just as long as it was far away. Emotions were swirling haywire just under the surface and he needed this time alone. Alone to think-or brood, whichever. Had he just made the right decision? To send Kagome away? Was it…wrong to care for her? When he had just asked Kikyou to join them was it still wrong to care for Kagome as he had once cared for his priestess? Heh. He still thought of her as his own. She had never been his. Where were these absurdities coming from? These irrationalities were starting to grate on his last nerve. There had to be a way to work out some of his frustrations. As he walked he had not noticed that his feet had carried him back to Kaede's village. Where all this mess had started, he noted only somewhat bitterly. And there, mere feet in front of him, she stood. Looking with mild curiosity at him, his priestess watched. Waiting, he guessed, to see what he would do. But he did nothing. He stood there, stalk still and silent. He would not throw her guard off as she stood with such patients.

"This is twice in two days that you had returned to this place, Inuyasha." Kikyou announced when he made no move. "Why?"

"Because…" He hesitated. As though he did not want to answer-or did not know how-he hesitated before responding to her query. "Because I need to be here."

"Your judgement is as poor as ever, Inuyasha." His priestess scoffed coldly, meeting his eyes-her gaze mocking. "This village needs you no more than I do. Your instincts lie to you now as much as ever."

"Maybe your instincts are the ones that are lying." He suggested softly, as though he were only half trying to allow her to hear him. It was then that it happened. He snapped, bursting out into a speech he had long since wanted to utter. "Kikyou!" He shouted at her. "I can't hate you! I've tried, but I just can't."

"Really, Inuyasha?" Her gaze softened and for a moment she looked like she had in her former life. She took a few steps toward him, just enough so that she could touch him. They had not been far to begin with. "That's very interesting." She commented, her expression suddenly snapping back into its former glare. And in the blink of an eye she had her arrow out, and pointed at him, ready to attack. "Because I have no trouble hating you." Then she relaxed. Loosening her arrow, so that it was cocked; yet at the moment no threat she continued, even as she turned to walk away from him. "I shall hold you well to your promise. The minute this is all over, I shall drag you down with me to the farthest pits of hell."

Kikyou walked away from him, yet Inuyasha stood still where he was. He did not move for a long time, and when he did it was only to turn and look at the old younger sister of his priestess. Kaede stood not too far away from him, eyeing him curiously. A twinge of annoyance was drowned out by exhaustion, confusion, anger, but above all-a weary sense of wishing to simply sleep. Sleep for the rest of eternity. If it were not for his desire to protect his companions he would take Kikyou up on her offer for death right then. And so he returned Kaede's stare evenly, lacking the bitter spite that he usually had in his gaze toward her. Neither of them spoke, and after a while he heard Sango calling for him to please return for food. And they both dispersed, back to their appointed task of guard. But even as Inuyasha left the village to rejoin his companions he could feel a pair of dark hatred filled eyes on him. But still he remained silent. Even mere moments after he had sent her away-as he sat there eating the food she had brought for them-Inuyasha regretted sending Kagome back home. Not for the first time he missed her. And not for the first time, his desire for her safety prevented him from fulfilling his own wishes and retrieving her. So he sat and ate in silence. For as much as he wished to see her cheerful face, he would not put her in that danger. Not this time.

+++

Sesshoumaru was arguing with himself again. He stood in the middle of a room in his home-the door shut against Rin or Jaken or any who would disturb him right then. The room had many books and scrolls that held the legends and folklore that his father had told him in his childhood. His father had read from these archives when he was a child, and he in turn had done the same for Inuyasha. Now he turned to these documents again. But even as his hand hovered over the scroll containing the chronicle of The Gathering that he had relayed to Inuyasha in their youth, he hesitated-deep in a self-contained battle within his own mind. He was not doing this for Inuyasha, he tried to convince himself. He was doing this for Rin alone. And yet there was that slight nagging in the back of his mind. He did not want to help his brother, he mentally insisted. He did not want that half-breed alive to taint their bloodline. Yet even as he slowly lowered his hand and gripped the scroll, he couldn't help doubt himself. Unrolling the key to both history and future he read what the anal held.

Herein lye the tale of legend of The Gathering. A demonic tradition as old as time herself. For once every four-century on the fifth month during the turning of the cycle the demons shall gather to carry out His orders-

Sesshoumaru halted and reread that line again. For once every four-century on the fifth month during the turning of the cycle? His brother was in far over his head if he deemed himself powerful enough to fight off a hoard of His demons during the turning of the cycle. Sesshoumaru was painfully aware of his brother's change patterns from when they were children and he knew what the new moon brought. That cursed night when the lunar cycle damned Inuyasha to human form. This was just perfect. He did not want his brother alive, yet he wanted to kill him himself. Not have the calendar and a bunch of demons do it for him.

"You've caught a lucky break, little brother." Sesshoumaru murmured to no one. "I shall help only because I want your death for myself."

+++

Inuyasha did not know what to do by this point. They were still a fair bit from battle, and he was growing restless in his waiting. This peaceful time couldn't help but remind him of the calm before the storm. And even as he sat up in his tree, his eyes darting from side to side-surveillance of the area around-he was practically choking on the demonic aura surrounding them. It was awful and putrid as it entered his nostrils and passed through his lungs. It wouldn't be much longer then, he could tell. Suddenly a familiar scent reached his nose and he sniffed the air curiously. Half frowning, he stared resolutely forward.

"Who seeks whom now, Kikyou?" He asked, the slightest traces of amusement lingering in his tone.

The priestess did not reply. She stood silently, looking at him. Then, after the longest of pauses, she opened her mouth to speak. And the words she uttered shocked him to no end. And the tone even more so.

"I would not need to if you had not left."

Was that pity? Begging? Perhaps…fear? No. Not from her. Never from her. None of these things could come from Lady Kikyou. For as strong as he had thought his mother in his years as a pup, Kikyou was ten fold that strength. Both physically and emotionally, which was one of the reasons that Inuyasha had sought her out when he had first sensed the coming of The Gathering. He trusted his life to her as well as his death. She would defend and deliver both to him in due time. And so he responded, his tone even and guarded.

"You told me that you didn't need me."

"I lied."

Delirious. She had to be delirious. It was the only possibility. There was no other.

Was there?

"You…lied?" He repeated questioningly. Had he truly heard correctly?

"Yes." She nodded at him, her expression unreadable. "On the day I was resurrected, I told you that my soul could not move from the point of hatred." She explained, her eyes shadowed by her bangs. "But what I didn't tell you was that it also could not move from the love we shared in that life." She looked up at him suddenly. He felt sure he was dreaming when he looked at her and saw honest tears in her eyes. "Inuyasha, I must have you! I must have you in order to re-enter the afterlife."

"You'll have me." He told her flatly. "When all this is over." He added. "And I am allowed to die." He paused and looked away from her. "Then you'll have me." He was shocked to feel the tingling, stinging sensation behind his eyes of building tears. "Then I'll be yours."

"And yet, you do not seem pleased about this." It was her turn to frown. And even as she gazed upon him and her eyes were wide with curiosity deep down, in the deepest pits of her soul, she knew why. She knew why he would-no could-never be happy with her. "It's her!" She realized and spoke the words aloud. "That-that girl!" Anger flared deep within her. And with every fibre of her self she felt hatred. Hatred for the girl from the future. The girl called Kagome Higurashi.

"Kikyou?" He cocked his head curiously to the left, eyes sparkling with that suppressed desire for knowledge and understanding.

"I…I hate her." The priestess's voice sounded surprised. Her eyes widened after the verbal confession. "I hate her!" She repeated more forcefully this time. "That filthy bitch!" She yelled enraged. "I hate her! Hate her! I…I…" She trailed off, meeting his eyes. They were unreadable, yet not quite emotionless. And then he uttered the one word that sent her reeling.

"Why?"

He dared to ask why? Why she hated the whore who had stolen her Inuyasha? Why she despised that copycat girl? How dare he ask her that? How dare he? Was it so much to have loathing toward someone instinctively? But she knew his answer to that question, and so she shouted something that would…not so much replace those words as substitute for them.

"She stole you!" She felt shocked when tears filled her eyes. "She…she came and took you away." They were burning with emotions not relinquished. Her eyes burned with the angry tears and slowly they leaked over the edges of her eyes and will power. "Inuyasha…" She growled, her slight form shaking with the tremors that came with crying. "I hate you both so much!" She realized. "And so I shall take you down with me just as I swore!"

To be continued…

Next chapter teaser-

Kagome felt shell-shocked as she stepped past her grandfather, once again drenched in saké. Her heart felt shattered and she didn't know why. Inuyasha was not the type to get to close and she had known that from the beginning. He had sent her home for her own good. But still her knees trembled and gave way as she collapsed, terrified tears running down her face. Inuyasha had her jewel shards. And he had promised to die with Kikyou when all this was over. What if he died during the battle? Would she…never see him again? She didn't know when it had happened but at some point she had fallen in love with that obnoxious half-breed. She felt Souta trying to pull her up through her hazy mind-her sweet, thoughtful little brother-but made no effort to help him. What had that damned half demon done to her?

Next time- Here today, gone tomorrow