A/N: All right...this is not the sequel to Don't Cry for Me. This is a different story all together, but I'm hoping you guys like it! Please review and let me know what you think!

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Where You Are
Chapter One: A Tale of Two Lovers

After a recent run-in with Naraku, Inuyasha was especially determined to track the elusive hanyou down. Unfortunately for the rest of them, Inuyasha had forgotten about the fact that most of his fellow shard hunting companions were human...and therefore, tired.

Two of the three humans, the demon slayer and the monk, rode on the back of Kirara and followed closely behind Inuyasha, who was steadily increasing his speed, despite the fact that he had yet to catch Naraku's scent. The third human, the shard-detecting priestess Kagome, lagged behind the others.

Kagome dragged herself along sluggishly. She didn't even have her characteristically overstuffed yellow back pack, but she was tired and her skin was unusually clammy. She hadn't felt very well since she had returned from the future the previous day, but she was not about to reveal that information to Inuyasha. The stubborn hanyou would have no pity...especially while in his current state of mind. He would merely see her sickness as a weakness.

When Inuyasha realized that his favorite miko's scent was farther off than he liked it to be, he stopped and turned to the others, who still sat comfortably on the back of the demon cat Kirara.

"What in the world has happened to Kagome?" Inuyasha demanded.

Sango pointed. "She's walking back there..."

"She refused to ride on Kirara..." Miroku explained quietly.

"Why?" Inuyasha allowed his eyebrow to rise slightly.

The annoyed hanyou back-tracked slightly until he finally found the exhausted miko. She had stopped walking completely, and was now leaning up against a tree with her head between her legs. Inuyasha's look of annoyance quickly changed to one of confusion and concern. Raising his nose to the air, he took a deep breath and frowned.

"Are you all right? You seem sick to me..." he smirked to her.

Kagome shook her head. "I'm fine, Inuyasha. I'm just tired."

"You are a really bad liar, Kagome. If you were not feeling good, why in the world did you not just ride on Kirara with the others, hmm? How come you decided to try and walk, when you are obviously in no shape to be up?" he groaned in annoyance, and bent over slightly. "Get on my back, Kagome..."

"Inuyasha?" Miroku asked.

He turned to them and nodded. "We are going to stop at the next village for the night, all right? Kagome needs to rest. It is no good to keep traveling if one of us isn't functioning right."

Sango sighed. "We could have told you that..." she whispered.

The next village came into their sight only a few minutes later. It was small, but for one night, it would suit them well. By the time they arrived there, Kagome was already fast asleep on Inuyasha's back, and the rest of the group had finally decided to walk.

Inuyasha scoffed to himself. "Stupid girl..." he snapped. I hope she's going to be all right, he thought to himself.

As they reached the outskirts of the village, Miroku cleared his throat and stepped ahead of the others. The village elder was fast approaching them.

"What business have you here?" the old man demanded of them.

"We would like to request lodging in your village tonight." Miroku told him. "Our friend is ill, and she needs a warm place to sleep off her sickness. My companions and I are not going to be any trouble at all..."

The man blinked. "Three of your so-called companions are demons, monk..." he coughed. "You expect me to believe that three demons will cause no trouble in my village?"

Miroku's eyes widened. "Not all demons are bad, kind sir. As I've told you, my companions and I will be no trouble to you...we are merely concerned about getting our sick friend of ours a warm place to sleep. I hope you can understand?" he asked.

The old man seemed to be considering this for quite some time. Finally, he nodded positively. "All right. You may stay the night. If you go forward, on the outskirts of the village is an empty two bedroom hut. You and your friends may sleep there if you wish. No one inhabits the house now..." his eyes seemed suddenly distant as he said this.

Sango swallowed hard. "May I ask why?" she whispered.

"Why what?"

"Why..." Sango repeated, "why is the house empty?"

The man looked straight at the ground. "The story is a sad one," he admitted. "Several years ago, a young couple lived in the house. They were...well, there was none like them in the village...none I had ever seen that were so in love..." the man explained, and Sango's eyes grew wide with interest. "One day," the man continued, "a group of bandits came into the village and raided several of our homes. When they got to the young couple, the leader was so infatuated with the young woman Manami, he had her lover Koji killed in front of the entire village. After that, when Manami still refused to submit to him, he had her killed as well." The man paused as if he was letting the information sink in. He sighed deeply. "It is said that the house is still haunted by the ghosts of the two lovers...although I have never seen them myself..."

Shippo yelped. "What? Ghosts? Inuyasha..." he stammered.

The man waved a hand in apology. "Do not worry, young fox. It is merely a tale...it is meant to scare the village children..."

"So, the two..." began Sango.

"No," the man coughed. "That part was true..."

"I see..."

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Miroku glanced around. "I don't see anything wrong with this place..." he commented.

"That's because there isn't..." Inuyasha snapped.

"But the old man said..." Shippo began.

"I don't want to hear anything about any ghosts," Inuyasha snapped, gently lying Kagome down. "I say you all just get some sleep so that we can get going again tomorrow. I wouldn't have stopped at all if Kagome had not gotten sick..."

"That's sweet, Inuyasha..." Sango grinned.

"Don't think too much of it, Sango..." Inuyasha warned.

Sango blinked. "All right..." She laid down, yawning. "Good night, Inuyasha..."

After all of his friends were sleeping soundly, Inuyasha still sat up as he usually did, keeping constant vigil over the others. Glancing over, he saw Kagome shiver. Groaning, he removed his red fire rat robe and gently covered her with it. Getting back to his 'post', he frowned when he realized that he could see his own breath, despite their being inside. This was definitely odd...especially considering the time of year. Outside, it was warm...so why did the temperature seem so different inside?

Turning over in her sleep, Kagome yelped. "Inuyasha...is that you?..." she whispered, all the while not even opening her eyes.

"Kagome?" Inuyasha blinked in confusion. "What's wrong?"

Kagome only groaned. Still apparently sleeping soundly, she had no reply for him.

Shrugging, Inuyasha leaned back up against the wall of the house and took a deep breath. It was nearly daylight when the hanyou finally unintentionally drifted off to sleep. His sleep was dreamless, and he did not wake up until he was shaken awake by Sango.

"Inuyasha!" she yelled in his ear. "Wake up!"

"Huh?" he groaned. "I'm not asleep!" he growled.

Sango shook her head. "Yes you were, and Kagome still hasn't woke up yet! Did she wake up at all last night? Do you think she's all right? If she is still sick, I don't think it would be a very good idea for us to keep traveling...maybe we should take a little break until we know she is going to be all right?" she suggested.

Suddenly, as if waiting for Sango's cue, Kagome rose slowly and yawned, throwing her arms over her head. "Good...morning...everyone!" she smiled.

Inuyasha's eyebrow rose. "Kagome? How are you feeling?"

Kagome thought about this. "Actually...Inuyasha...I think that I need to talk to you. It's important..."

"Why? What is it?" he asked curiously.

Kagome blushed slightly, and looked away. "I had a...I had a nightmare Inuyasha..." she revealed.

"You want to talk to me about a nightmare?" he smirked. "Honestly, Kagome! Come on! It was a dream!"

"I want to hear all about it..." Miroku interrupted him.

Kagome looked up for a moment and sighed deeply. "It was...we were in...this village," she told them. "And there were...these two people...a young man and woman...they were lovers. I think they lived in this house..." she added, looking around in worry.

Miroku looked suddenly interested. "Kagome...how did you know that they were lovers?" he asked.

Yet another blush crept onto her cheeks. "I...well...never mind that!" she snapped lazily. "I wasn't done yet." Clearing her throat loudly, she continued. "It...it was weird. I could have sworn..." she paused. "The man...he looked so much like Inuyasha...and the woman...I thought she could have been my twin..." Kagome stammered. "They were in their house, and then a group of bandits attacked the village..."

At this, Inuyasha gasped and leaned forward with interest.

"The man...the bandits killed him in front of the entire village. I heard the woman screaming, 'No, don't hurt him! Koji!'...after he was dead, the woman, Manami...she refused to submit to their leader...so he had her killed as well. I..." Kagome's eyes teared up. "I don't know why...but it scared me. Almost like I was there. Like it was me or something...even though I knew that it wasn't..."

All the while that Kagome was telling her friends about her nightmare, Inuyasha grew more and more pale. By the time Kagome was done with her tale, Inuyasha was bent over at nearly a forty-five degree angle, his eyes wide, staring at Kagome.

"You...you had a dream about it? That was...it was the exact same thing that the old man was telling us about last night..." he blinked in disbelief. "I mean...I knew it was true...but...that...it doesn't make a lot of sense..."

"Maybe Lady Kagome was channeling the energy of this house?" suggested Miroku as he stared at the young priestess. "It is possible, you know. Lady Kagome's spiritual powers are very strong..."

"But it...it scared me..." Kagome repeated.

Inuyasha nodded lightly. "I know, Kagome." he whispered. "Don't worry, we are going to leave this place today...as long as you are feeling up to it?" he added, almost as an afterthought.

Kagome took a deep breath. "I...I feel all right. I definitely agree about the whole 'leave this place' idea, though...I don't feel comfortable here..."

"All right, then. We're gone." Inuyasha promised.

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That night, the group found themselves far from any village, and sleeping under the stars as they had done thousands of times before. Kagome and Sango curled up into their sleeping bags. Shippo snuggled himself comfortably into Kagome's arms, and Kirara slept with Sango as she usually did. Inuyasha, uncharacteristic of what he usually did, slept under a nearby tree instead of in it.

Kagome blinked. "Inuyasha...what are you doing? Isn't that uncomfortable?" Kagome asked, her eyebrow rising slightly.

"Keh," Inuyasha smirked. "It's not like I sleep that much anyway," he crossed his arms and leaned his back up against the tree trunk.

"Whatever, Inuyasha..." Kagome turned away. "I was just concerned."

"Don't be," he snapped. He didn't mean it to sound harsh, but it had, and he regretted it slightly.

"Good night, Inuyasha..." Kagome yawned.

After about an hour or so, Inuyasha relaxed. Kagome, Sango, Miroku, Shippo, and Kirara were all sleeping soundly, and everything around them was silent, save the far-away sounds of a small stream. Inuyasha sighed deeply, allowing his shoulders to slump slightly. What he had told Kagome was right. Usually, he didn't sleep when he was in the feudal era. In fact...the only time he slept good was when he was safely in Kagome's time. However, this night was different. He could already feel his eyelids growing heavy with sleep, and soon, he gave in to the urge to close them...

His dreams were strange. He tossed slightly in his sleep, only to jerk himself awake sometime shortly before sunrise. Rubbing his eyes, he looked around groggily. Everyone was still where they had been, sleeping soundly. Except...

Inuyasha took a deep breath. Where was Kagome? He could just barely detect her scent. It was as though she had gotten up in the middle of the night and left without her scent alerting him. He jumped up quickly.

"Kagome?" he whispered, his voice dripping with worry. "Where are you? Come out..." he called. "This isn't funny! Where did you go?"

He felt a hand on his shoulder and jumped for a second time. Wheeling around, he found himself staring face to face with none other than Kagome. He had her arm gripped tightly in his hand, and dropped it promptly when he realized it was her.

"Where were you?" he demanded. "You know better than to get up in the middle of the night and just walk off like that!" He stopped a moment, as if giving her time to process this, and then continued. "Don't ever do that again, all right? You scared the hell out of..."

Inuyasha was stopped mid-sentence when Kagome leaned forward and kissed him forcefully on the lips. His eyes widened as Kagome interlaced her fingers with his own.

He pulled back. "Kagome...what are you doing?" he hissed in her ear.

Kagome leaned forward again, but Inuyasha held out his hand to stop her. "What is wrong with you, Kagome? You've never acted like this before..." Inuyasha stammered nervously.

"You act like you don't enjoy it..." Kagome whispered in his ear, her breath hitting his neck.

He shivered. "Damn it, Kagome, I..."

"Kagome...? Inuyasha...?" Just Inuyasha's luck...the lecherous monk had to be the one to wake up and witness Kagome's sudden display of affection.

A blush rose into Inuyasha's cheeks. "Miroku..." he pushed Kagome back. "It wasn't me. I swear. I don't know what has gotten into her..."

"Calm down, Koji..." Kagome smiled playfully. "You've never been shy like this before. Why the change in heart?"

Inuyasha jumped to a standing position, and Miroku's eyebrow rose in interest.

He glanced at his hanyou friend. "Did you just hear that?" he asked.

"Yeah," Inuyasha nodded. "She just called me Koji. What is that supposed to mean?"

Miroku scratched his head for a moment. "That means I do not think that this is Kagome anymore..." Miroku deduced. "What were their names? From the old man's story? Koji and Manami?" Miroku thought out loud.

"Yes?" Kagome grinned. "What is it? Is something wrong?"

Inuyasha shook his head. "Damn it!" he cursed. "Manami?" he repeated.

She looked at him.

"Where is Kagome?" he demanded as he towered over her.

"Kagome?" she blinked. "Hmm...was that her name?"

"Yes, it was! Now what the hell happened? How did all this happen? And where in the hell is Kagome? I want Kagome back right now!" he yelled at her.

She jerked back slightly. "Well, I'm sorry...but I can't do that."

It was Miroku's turn to do a double-take. "Excuse me?"

"I can not bring her back. It isn't that easy to do, you know. Besides, I don't want to go back yet..."

Inuyasha's face was getting redder by the second. "I don't care what you want to do! I want Kagome back!"

"Calm down, Koji. Everything is going to be fine..." she promised, running her fingers down his arm.

He jerked it back. "I am not Koji!" he yelled in irritation.

"Of course you are..." she nodded positively. Or at least you will be soon enough...

Inuyasha began to pace. "How?" he whispered as he stopped. "How do I get Kagome back? What do I have to do?"

Kagome smiled. "Go back to my village. You are sure to find the answers to your questions there..." Koji and I will be together again soon.

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A/N: I hope you guys liked this one! Please review and let me know what you think! Thanks for all your support thus far!