A/N: Thanks to reviewers Western White Tiger, Lorien Legacy, Flower of Venus, A Most Sovereign Lady, and Nirvana Slayer for their kind comments in the last chapter. Sorry for the one-week delay on updating. I had other commitments last week, so didn't have time to write a chapter. Thanks for the analysis on Kagome's uniform. It was very helpful and much appreciated. I do find it a little ironic though that a school uniform, which is used to emphasize notions of conformity and not individuality, is used here as a reminder of Kagome's identity. I suppose this may be a bit of a culture gap, as personally speaking, if I were in the same situation I would much rather wear some sort of pendant that defines me as me rather than as part of something else (particularly when this institution strives to bury my sense of self rather than enhance it.) Anyway, here is the next chapter. I am hoping for the full cast to come together by chapter 16 or so...

Disclaimer: I do not own Inuyasha.

A Different Journey

The story of Inuyasha, and the miko he loved who had survived death

Chapter 13

"I told you that kid was up to no good!"

Myouga wouldn't stop saying this since Kagome and he had woken up to find Shippou – and the Shikon shards – missing.

"Maybe he has circumstances?"

"Like what? Circumstances that his sob story is a lie and all he was after was the Shikon shards?"

"And how would he know we were carrying them in the first place?" Kagome sighed. She was done with this argument. "Let's just look for him. He can't have gotten very far."

Myouga sniffed out Shippou's trail and soon led them towards a river. There were sounds of talking further downstream, but Myouga refused to continue forward.

"Is Shippou down there?" Kagome asked.

"Probably. But I have a bad feeling about this."

"I don't know if I can trust you after you told me a child was dangerous."

"This time it's different. Whomever he's talking to, it's somebody very dangerous. Definitely not the kind either of us can handle. We should go get Master Inuyasha first before proceeding."

"But what about the Shikon shards?" Kagome paused. "Now that I notice, there are more shards down there than what we had before. This power…does that mean whomever Shippou is talking to has some Shikon shards of their own?"

"Like I said, this is too dangerous. The Shikon shards can wait. Our lives are more important and they sure won't be coming back if we lose them…Wait, are you even listening!?"

Kagome had ignored Myouga's rant and proceeded downhill with arrow notched on her bow. "And what if Shippou is in danger? Can we just ignore that and leave him be?"

"Who cares about a brat who stole from you? Chances are he's working with the other youkai."

"We won't know until we see it."

Myouga didn't buy Kagome's reasoning. So be it. It wasn't as though he'd be of any use even if he had decided to tag along. Kagome went without him, creeping carefully forward. Just as she thought, Shippou was not chatting idly with his opponent, a big, tall youkai of reptilian features and a mostly bald head. He must be the Manten Shippou had spoken of last night, as he bore two Shikon shards on his forehead. Shippou was on the verge of tears, trying futilely to punch Manten. "How dare you!" he was shouting, "Give me my father back! Give him back to me!"

Kagome's gaze followed Shippou's hand that was stretched forward towards the fox pelt on Manten's waist. Could it be that the pelt was…Kagome did not finish the line of thought. It was too sickening.

Shippou never connected with his target. Manten swiped at him with his arm that was thick as the width of Shippou's head – the impact sent him flying to the ground, the bottle of Shikon shards tumbling out his robes. Manten snickered while Shippou struggled to stand. "What do we have here?" he said, preparing a ball of lightning in his other hand.

"Stop!" Kagome yelled, shooting her arrow. It struck Manten's nose. Not exactly where Kagome was aiming, but it was close enough. "Hit him and my next arrow will find your brain!" She then turned to Shippou. "Shippou, get behind me."

Shippou clambered over to Kagome and Kagome stepped forward to shield him. Manten pulled the arrow out of his nose – his skin was so thick that the arrow had not even jabbed deep enough to draw blood. It had annoyed Manten though. His eyes were now trained on Kagome, his lightning aimed towards her.

"You will regret what you just did, Girl."

He stepped forward. The lightning cackled. Kagome willed her legs to stop shaking – it was not helping her aim, with the arrowhead quivering as though it were a leaf in the wind. "Y-You are not coming closer! I-I won't repeat myself. My next shot will drill through your head…"

Hit the Shikon shards. Hit the Shikon shards. Please hit the Shikon shards, I beg you, Kikyou-san's power!

Kagome was desperate. Why else would she be begging Kikyou, of all people!? But her prayers did little to improve her skills. Her arrow found air above Manten's head and landed far away, leaving Manten unharmed.

Or not.

It was silent for a moment. Manten rubbed his head. Kagome didn't think she had dealt a hit, but Manten's expression was one of anguish. And anger. Any hint of arrogance and humour was gone, replaced by pure fury.

"You…You…You took my hair!"

Lightning did not just blast from Manten's hand, but from every part of his body. Shippou ducked behind a boulder, narrowly evading the attack, but Kagome was not quick enough. She could only shield herself with her bare hands, but even her miko powers were not enough to repel the strike. She was tossed back and hit hard onto a tree. She crumpled like a doll and no matter how much she tried, she succumbed to unconsciousness.

Manten came over to inspect the damage from his rampage. Shippou remained hiding behind the boulder – as much as he wanted to help Kagome, his fear kept him rooted to the spot. It felt like a replay of what had happened to his father, and this made him nearly vomit. He had to clamp his hands over his own mouth to stop himself from screaming.

But Manten did not deal the final blow. He knelt by Kagome's side and instead of clenching her throat, he reached down to stroke her cheek.

"Beautiful…" he noted. Shippou shivered as he watched Manten lick his lips. Manten held Kagome up and dropped her atop his shoulder. He left while carrying her, seemingly having forgotten about Shippou and the Shikon shards.

It was long after Manten had gone with Kagome that Shippou came to. What to do? What to do? It had been his fault that Kagome was kidnapped. She came saving him, only for him to abandon her. He was such a coward. But…but…he couldn't help it, right? This did not make him feel better. He hated himself. He had picked up the Shikon shards again and was staring at them – what was the worth of the shards when he couldn't use them for anything? He had been unable to save his father, and now he had done the same thing for Kagome.

"You filthy kid, what did you do to Kagome!?" A voice sounded behind him. Shippou turned to find Myouga buzzing in the air. He had come to find Kagome after the latter went missing for so long.

"I-I didn't do anything to her!"

"Liar! She came worrying about you and now she's gone. What did you do to her?"

"It was Manten! I tried to fight him off, but he got to Kagome first. I didn't…" The excuses came running out his mouth, but he couldn't continue speaking them. Instead, Shippou turned his head down. "Actually, you are right. Kagome was trying to protect me, but when Manten attacked her, I just hid. I'm a coward."

Myouga settled on a branch. He sighed. "Whatever. It isn't as though I can't see it from your perspective."

"I thought you're gonna laugh at me."

"I ain't one to speak, having left Kagome to her own devices. 'Cause what can we do? We're weak. Even if we lay down our lives we just die without changing anything. But we'd get honour? Ha! Honour ain't worth nothing. So, Son, if what you say is true, it isn't exactly your fault. I would've done the same, hid to save my life. But now that you are alive, what are you gonna do with this life? Have you thought about it?"

"My…life?"

"We're weak, so we can't fight on the frontlines. But what's stopping us from helping from behind? That is our worth. You have to give people reason to protect you. You have to let them know that you'd never truly abandon them. No matter how cowardly we may crawl to preserve our life, we will be valiant in how we live that life. Got it?"

"I-I have to save Kagome."

"That's right."

"But how?"

Myouga flew off the branch and into the sunlight. "We'll find Master Inuyasha. Follow me."

Inuyasha was fed up. Miroku and he had been chasing after the strong youkai he had sensed, but the youkai's trail proved hard to follow. The youkai probably moved often, quickly, and over long distances, perhaps even by air. After finding nothing on the first day, they had settled for the night at a small village on the other side of the mountain they had crossed. Inuyasha did not like villages. He camped on the outskirts while Miroku took advantage of the locals' hospitality. On the next day when Inuyasha went to retrieve him…

"Oh, Fair Maiden, I can tell from your palm that you will bear many healthy children…"

"Really, Houshi-sama? Whose children will they be?"

"Houshi-sama, Houshi-sama, please read my palm too."

Predictably, Miroku was surrounded by young women. His hands came close to their butts.

"What the fuck are you doing…?" Inuyasha grumbled.

"Oh, Inuyasha. Sit. Sit. We're having loads of fun here."

"Fun? We ain't here to have fun!"

"Come on, don't spoil the mood. Youkai-slaying can wait till later."

At this, the maidens squealed. "Houshi-sama is a demon-slayer?"

"That is so cool!"

"Please protect us from the demons too, Houshi-sama."

"Kyaaa…"

Inuyasha was about to burst a vein back there. "What efs. Do whatever the fuck you want. I'm leaving."

He didn't get very far before someone called after him. Was it Miroku begging his forgiveness? Of course not. The lecherous pervert was lost in his sinful fantasies. Like hell he'd be out in the scorching sun chasing after youkai. Then who was it? The voice sounded vaguely familiar.

"Ma…Master Inuyasha!"

Inuyasha clawed at the air to catch the flea, flattening him on his palm. "Ah. It's you again." He then looked towards the ground where a fox-boy was standing. "And who is this midget?"

Shippou puffed his cheeks and crossed his arms indignantly. "Who are you calling a midget, Hanyou."

"What did you say!?"

Inuyasha smashed his fist down at Shippou, who narrowly evaded by transforming himself into a balloon to float upwards. Inuyasha was too fast for him though. He jabbed his other hand forward, popping Shippou's balloon, and as Shippou fell, Inuyasha reversed his hand and rapped his knuckles on Shippou's head.

"Ow! What was that for!?" Shippou snapped. He evoked his fox magic to replace himself with a statue which he smashed atop Inuyasha's hand. He put a charm on the statue so Inuyasha could not remove it.

"You twerp!"

Inuyasha couldn't free himself, but used his other hand to knock Shippou's head again. When Shippou evaded, Inuyasha threw pebbles at him. Shippou cried, "Ow. Stop it. I'm sorry, I won't call you a hanyou again."

"Run your fucking mouth again and I'm gonna pull out your tongue." Inuyasha gave him a glare and made a gesture with his free hand as though his fingers were prongs for pulling out Shippou's tongue. He then turned to Myouga, "So what do you want? Who's this kid?"

"He is Shippou. Kagome and I found him on the mountain when we were looking for you. He was orphaned when his father was killed by the Thunder Brothers."

"Haven't heard of them and don't care," Inuyasha said. Shippou glared at him for that but Inuyasha just stared him head on. "You said Kagome's with you. Where is she?"

"Your woman got kidnapped by Manten. Aren't you gonna save her?" Shippou asked.

"My woman!?" Inuyasha turned his glare towards Myouga. "What the fuck did you tell him?"

"Was I wrong?"

"Of course you are wrong! I have only one…" Inuyasha's voice trailed off. He almost blurted that Kikyou was the only one in his heart, but the sting of what happened fifty years ago came back to him. He knew now that it might well have been deception orchestrated by Naraku, but he still didn't know how to face Kikyou, even if – when – he would finally meet her again. "Nevermind that. Kagome is not my woman, and it sure isn't my fault that she got kidnapped. Oh…so it's this kid, huh? He's at fault for getting her in trouble?"

"I…" Shippou's voice trailed off. He recalled what Myouga had told him, and though it stung his pride, he swallowed it and dropped to his knees in front of Inuyasha. "Yes, it was my fault. I beg you. Please save Kagome!"

Inuyasha's eyes widened – a rare display of surprise. His gape turned to an arrogant, but faintly friendly, smirk. "Whatever. It wasn't as though I would've left her to die anyway." What he left unsaid was the fact that though he considered Kagome stupid and annoying, he had come to view her as a friend. He touched the Tessaiga on his sash. If not for Kagome, he wouldn't have retrieved the sword either.

"Thank you!" Shippou bowed. He came over to lift the statue away from Inuyasha's hand, but hesitated just a moment. "You won't hit me again after I free you, right?"

"Yeah, yeah. Just move that stupid statue. We need to get going if we want to find Kagome by sundown."

Shippou nodded, but right after he removed the statue, Inuyasha knocked him in the head again. Inuyasha snickered. "Serves you right, Midget!"

End of Chapter - reviews appreciated