This story fits in reasonably early in the series...a few months after Kikyou tries to drag Inuyasha down to Hell with her.

This just came to me rather randomly, and I hope you like it. Whatever your thoughts, let me know with a review.

Thank you for reading. =)

Disclaimer: I don't own Inuyasha.

A Rather Rough Day

Chapter One

Inuyasha was not in a good mood. In fact, he was feeling lousy. The day had been a catastrophe, moving from one disastrous situation to another.

They had spent the night in Kaede's village and Kagome was in her house. Miroku, Sango and Shippou were happy to be back in the village, regaling Kaede with tales of their adventures on the road, but Inuyasha could stand only so much of small talk. He soon left the little hut to seat himself comfortably in the tallest boughs of Goshinboku.

As the night wore on, Inuyasha had bouts of fitful sleep; his mind was plaguing him with dreams of his mother, which merged into dreams with Kikyou, Kagome, and Naraku in them.

He couldn't remember what he saw, but every time he jerked awake, drenched in a cold sweat, he could recall flashes of their faces. He could see fear etched into his mother's features, her face aglow from the half light thrown by torches held by shrieking villagers, the fire of hatred in the eyes of the same villagers who hunted them down.

He could then see snatches of myriad expressions on Kikyou and Kagome's faces, with Naraku's sickening chuckle echoing in the background.

Needless to say, he was most irritable by the time dawn rolled by. Not even the streaks of pink on sky, barely visible through Goshinboku's foliage and the dappled streams of sunlight filtering through could make him feel better about the morning.

He was most anxious to get on the road and even by about seven in the morning there was no sign of Kagome.

She returned late from her world on the other end of the Well, almost at nine, and this had put him on edge. He had spent most of the morning pacing up and down, a vein pulsing dangerously in his forehead. He resented the others for simply being able to lounge around Kaede's hut, not caring that Kagome was late. How they could just sit there is good faith was beyond him. He knew better. Kagome didn't really want to be there with them, in the Sengoku Jidai, and she sat and lingered as long as possible in her world. He knew.

When she finally came up, lugging that useless yellow bag (Which he ended up carrying most of the time. True, he offered to carry it, but it was only because it slowed her down to an unbearable crawl. And that wasn't the point anyway.), and a guilty smile on her face, he snarled at her and the rest of them to get their asses on the road. He ignored the indignant expressions on Miroku, Sango and Shippou's faces and the rather hurt look on Kagome's face and stubbornly began heading out of the village, without a word to Kaede or anybody else.

He was silent and sullen on the road as well and nobody could say anything to draw him out. He even rebuffed Kagome's repeated attempts at conversation and turned his head to the other side.

When they stopped for lunch, he walked away and sat atop some tree, refusing to eat. Kagome came behind him again, offering up Ramen. She said that he didn't even have to join them, that he could eat atop the tree. This too he ignored; poisonous thoughts swirling in his head. He was sure this was all pity from Kagome, as well as a poor attempt to make up for traitorous thoughts of hating having to come with them. Hah! See if he cared. He needed no wench's attempts to assuage her own conscience.

As she walked away from the tree, dejected, he felt the spike of sadness pervade her scent, laced with confusion. A small voice at the back of his head made him feel a little guilty, but he decided to ignore it. He could hear the others' whispers, wondering at his rotten mood and pathetic behaviour.

Petulancy overtook him and he decided that they were all fools no different from every single rotten human he had ever had the misfortune of meeting. He was restless, he moved from branch to branch, unable to get comfortable in one position, the roughness of the boughs simply reminding him of his dream, and intensifying feelings of unease.

They got back on the road relatively fast, nobody wanting to provoke the already seething hanyou. Kagome tried holding out an olive branch one last time, tentatively sidling up to him and asking whether everything was alright. But when all he did was snarl at her that he was just fine, she stalked away and walked next to Sango, who held her hand tightly as tears welled in her eyes.

Inuyasha's nose twitched at salty tang of the air, but he could not bring himself to apologise. The sun beat upon his face, setting his skin on fire and splitting his head with an ache that refused to dull. So all he did was glare back at Miroku, Sango and Shippou who were all fixing their own versions of the death-glare on him.

At twilight, the group was begging exhaustion and after a shouting between Inuyasha and Miroku and Sango about visibility and the dangers of travelling at night, he groused about "fucking weak humans" and was about slink away, when a glow of light caught the corner of his eyes.

His head turned at the same time as Miroku and Sango. Sango's lips thinned and she resumed clearing bedding space with unwonted venom in her movements and Miroku shook his head, and resolutely fixed his eyes on the wood he was splintering to start a fire.

Kagome saw the Shini-Dama-Chuu a moment later than everybody else, and when she did, her face closed up and she too busied herself in her bag, getting things they didn't really need, and putting them back in.

Inuyasha's eyes travelled from the Shini-Dama-Chuu, to Miroku, Sango, Shippou and Kirara playing in the corner, and finally rested on Kagome, who refused to look up and meet his eyes. She usually responded with a low "Go,", or waved him away, or gave some sign, but this time, she kept her eyes trained on her bag. Couldn't blame her, he knew.

He felt sick at heart for treating Kagome this way. He regretted his harsh words from before and needed her comforting presence and soothingly distracting, optimistic banter. He needed all his companions; his friends.

Feeling the weight of the world on his back, Inuyasha's shoulders sagged as he slowly shuffled behind the luminous soul-stealers.