[ T - Teen: Not suitable for readers under 13 ]

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*Hanyou-> half-demon. *Miko-> Priestess, a protector of village she resides in. *Youkai-> Full-demon of any kind

Eyes darting around the clearing, the hanyou assured herself there was no one in sight. Her ears twitched above her head. She gave a few test sniffs making sure there wasn't anything dangerous within smelling distance. The wind shifted to bring her the smell of the nearby village. Other than a few rabbits, which she'd dine on later, there was nothing suspicious. Dropping down from her branch, she left the shadow of the trees. Sunlight hit her harshly, and she stopped to become accustomed to it.

Her hair, reaching almost to her feet, was a rich dark crème. An asset when compared against the many forests of which she came from. Her features were sharp, yet softened by human blood. Her eyes, squinted from the sun, were a light, almost golden, green. Her clothes were practical. Nothing loose or hanging to get caught by a branch when leaping to the next one. Right now, for she changed with the landscape, she wore soft, brown, leather boots with swaths of dark green cloth wrapped around them. Moss colored pants, poofing out slightly, were tucked into them. Her shirt was form fitting, definitely not reflecting the times but a smarter decision than the usual wide kimono sleeves. A bow was slung across her back and a quiver of arrows also.

Smiling into the warm sun, she went forward to the stream, bending and scooping up a handful of water. Sighing, she sat back on her haunches, relaxing. Certainly a rare thing for her. Now what would make this a perfect day? A long soak in the Hot Springs, of course!! Even though she was part cat demon she had no fear of the water. She did have the insane urge to be clean all the time, though. She eagerly stood up with a grin and headed in the direction of the nearest one, about a mile away from the village she watched over. A crash, in the vicinity of the road to her right, caused her to go into a crouch from which she scented the air. She nearly coughed from the stench of a youkai.

"Damn! How did it get so close with out me smelling it?" Thinking quickly, she ascertained the reason. Must have just woken up from the long winter.

"Late sleeper, huh?" She heard another crash and saw a tree fall. "And a grumpy one, at that." She sprinted and leaped to a branch, gouging the bark as she grabbed a handhold. 'So much for that long soak.' Making her way quickly and quietly, she was almost there when a sound in the distance made her heart miss a beat. A scream, a mix of anger and pain, and most definitely human. Her speed increased.

************************************************************* ************************** The wanderer continued on his long journey through the forest. That morning he had decided that today was the day to leave the warm comfy lodging of his cave. After packing, he had only left the scraps of a fire. He carried and left with everything he owned. He had traveled for only a short hour before he heard noises behind him. He assumed it was a messenger but assuming had always got him into trouble. His memories brought a slight smile to his face. The was that one time…

His reminisces were soon cut short by bone-rattling roar behind him. His violet eyes went wide and he dropped down and rolled to the side, his pack flying into the woods. Just in time to miss the claws aimed to slice him in half. Too late, he realized. That comfy cave he had made his lodging in had also been this ones cave. 'Damn! He must of followed my scent!'

The claws of what appeared to be a bear youkai, continued on past where he was a moment before, and sunk into the tree behind him. It's red eyes blinked in stupid confusion. The wanderer grinned. This would be easier than he thought. A thought too soon for the bear demon let out a roar and pulled out his claws, bringing the tree down. As the tree bore down on him he had no choice but to dodge roll towards the road.

Not fast enough, for the demons claws caught up with him, slashing his back and sending him towards a tree. Slamming into it, he let out nothing but a pained grunt, sliding towards the ground. He pulled himself up quickly, and yelled out in pained rage. He slid his sword, Tetsuaiga, out and lunged towards the demon. He managed to slice through a paw, before he was knocked to the head, and flung against another tree. However, he did not rise from this one.

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When she reached them, she took stock of the scene quickly. The victim, a human male lay across the road, unconscious at the base of a tree. The demon, of the bear variety, was walking towards the victim, clutching its bleeding paw. She grinned. Pulling her bow taut, she called out.

"Awwww…. Your tasty treat not agreeing with you, huh?" It swung towards her, giving her the shot she needed. ^Twang^ the arrow wobbled after impact. The bear demons eyes crossed, trying to see the object of its pain. It was it's last living action, however. It's next action, quite normal for a creature in it's condition, (dead), was to fall face forward, into the ground causing the arrow only to jam deeper into its skull and what little brains he had were most definitely scrambled.

She leaped down. Walking towards the now very dead demon, shaking her head in mock sympathy, she said, "Tut, tut, tut. That's what you get for trying to eat humans. I'll never understand you creatures." A groan brought her to the victim's side. He tried to move and she laid her hand lightly on his shoulder.

"Don't move." She said softly. "That wouldn't help those gashes at all." Taking the swaths of cloth from her boots, she quickly wrapped them around his wounds. He gasped in pain as she tightened the knot.

"There now, no harm done. You'll be better in next to no time." She laughed lightly. She knew that he had barely escaped with his life.

"Turn me over." He growled. She smiled. Yes, this one would be just fine. She assisted him and leaned back, giving him his space. His hair fell away from his features as he leaned against the tree. He grimaced, eyes closed, so she had time to examine his features. Very fine bone structure for a human. Long black hair, very thick. A length of it framed his face in on both sides. The girls probably went wild for all that hair, even though the face and body beneath it was nothing to scoff at. His eyes opened revealing dark, violet eyes and she stepped back, almost sadly. This would be the unpleasant part. Memories of past occasions flashed before her eyes. 'Get away from me…'

She shut down her thoughts and turned away. She retrieved her arrow from the corpse, and glanced back. The man's eyes followed her actions and she wondered what his pain-hazed eyes were telling him. He had a strange expression on his face. She called out to him.

"The villagers will soon be here to take care of you. I'm sure that by now, they've gathered enough courage to come and see about all the commotion." She readied herself to jump.

"Wait…" He called out softly. She tensed. "What's your name?"

She turned her head slightly. "It's… Kagome. I'm sure the villagers will tell you all about me and my evil ways once they get here."

She jumped; reaching the branch she had left just a little time before. As she sped away, though, she still heard his reply."I'm Inu Yasha…" he said before he gave up consciousness.

He fingered the swath of green fabric. The white cloth, wrapped tightly around his middle, had replaced this… 'Get those filthy things off of him. She probably poisoned them.' Pains as the wrappings were pulled off of him roughly. 'Gently, you don't want to injure him further do you?' A kind old voice said. 'Yes, Kaeda-sama.' The unwrapping continued with far less pain. Gasps were heard as the last of it was taken away. 'Ohhhh… she did you up good didn't she, boy?' A rough voice said. The old voice returned, saying something. Results being that the room emptied. An old face appeared before him, and fingers were pressed against his forehead. "You're lucky. I just wish…' Sigh. 'That you would understand this when you woke up.'

He had very vague memories of what had happened to him. But he knew one thing. He clenched the cloth. She definitely was not any of the things that they said of her. He looked out the window of the hut, towards the forest.

"If ye be thinking you can go after her, wanderer, you'll be sorely disappointed. No ones been able to find her. Not for lack of all those cowards trying. Pah, they'd run as soon as they found her. And if they did it would not be because of any skill they possessed."

"What do you want?" He growled out, as the old miko continued into the room.

"I came to change ye bandages. All you're moving about has made you bleed through." He allowed her to dress his wounds in silence. As she walked out she paused.

"I'd take it as a kindness if you'd leave her alone. She's been through a lot and ye would be good not to pester her with any assumed indignities."

"I'd never said I would go after her, you old hag. Mind your own business. I'll be leaving today." She made as if to refuse. "Nothing you say will change my mind."

"Very well."

He removed his clothing from his returned pack and proceeded to dress, taking into account his wounds. He shoved the green fabric into his pack. His mind was jumbled with thoughts. He tightened his belt around him with a grimace, but eyes set with determination. He'd continue on as though nothing had happened. He was behind his nonexistent schedule. Grabbing the sheathed Tetsuaiga, and tucking it into his belt, he left the hut.

******************************************************************* *******************

People whispered around him, pointing, and he lightly rested his hand on the handle of Tetsuaiga. This only increased their whisperings. He glared ahead, ignoring them as best he could.

"Feh." 'Fools,' Inu Yasha thought.

He glanced at a group of men hovering in a group around the entrance of the village. One man saw him and called out. "Hey, why don't you join us? We are readying ourselves for a battle with the hanyou. It shouldn't be too hard, especially with man like you. You killed that bear youkai real good." Inu Yasha eyes bore into the man. The villager glanced away. "Never mind…" He mumbled.

As Inu Yasha walked further away, his sharp ears caught the phrases, 'call for a miko' and 'hire a youkai exterminator'. His blood heated up with the violence he would like to cause them for their ignorance. Reaching the fields of the village, he gave up to his conscience and stopped to speak to a female villager tending them.

"Hey lady!" She glanced up from her work. "Come here." She came closer, but not close enough for a private conversation. He growled. "I only want to ask a question. Do you know of anywhere I may find the hanyou?" Standing up, the lady wiped her brow of sweat, looking him up and down in suspicion.

"Aye," she said slowly, "Other than the forest, there are rumors that you may find her at the hot springs. It's down the path, a mile or so. There is a sign. It shouldn't be too hard to find.""Thanks." He headed towards that direction, wondering what he was getting himself into.

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Kagome sighed as she sank into the hot springs, letting her aches slip away. Letting her mind drift, emotional aches came to the fore and she let them be released in the only way she could. Not one to cry, however, her claws dug into her arm. The pain helped in a way tears never would.

"Hello? Anyone here?" Kagome tensed, slipping out of the water towards her clothes. Her hanyou hearing heard his grumbling. "This is ridiculous. I can't believe I came here to someone who probably doesn't even need any help anyway." He sighed in frustration.

She looked him over. A gray kimono, shortened to mid thigh, had replaced the former shreds of cloth. A sword was attached to a leather belt, strapped to his waist.

He cut a fine figure as she watched him curiously from the safety of the shadows.

"Kagome!!" He yelled. "If you're even here, which I doubt, I just wanted you to know…"

"What?"

He spun around in defense. Now that he could clearly see her, free of the pain haze, he almost gasped at her beauty. Her skin was damp and rosy from the hot springs. Her ears twitched and he had the insane urge to touch them. 'Beauty, Inu Yasha? You've gone daft or something. Especially about the ears. Tell her what you came to say and get it over with.'

Kagome observed the emotions that passed across his face. Surprise, what seemed like… wonder? And anger. She tensed at this last one and started to move back into the shadow of the woods. Anxiety crossed his face and she paused on the verge of flight. She wondered at her actions. She had never appeared before anyone else when they came in search of her. 'Probably because they came in search of a fight.' She glanced away at that thought. Inu Yasha spoke.

"I came to tell you something." Kagome looked startled, as if she hadn't remember that he was still there. Inu Yasha seemed confused as to what he was about to say next. He just ended up staring at her. She stepped closer to him and he could almost feel the words.

"Please, continue." She breathed. Kagome felt strange. This was the closest she'd ever been in a long time to a human male that wasn't injured. 'Such a long time…'The smells that assaulted her confused her to no end. Usually, all she smelt was blood. Though there was that, too. 'From the battle. He seemed to recover alright, at least enough to come searching for her.'

He blinked and inhaled. The smell of the forest radiated from her. "Uhh…" He looked away to get his bearings. Those golden green eyes confused him. He suddenly remembered what he had come to say.

"The villagers… they plan to-

An arrow whizzed past his ear and into Kagome's shoulder, knocking her back a step. Her surprised eyes reflected shock at the attack and… betrayal?

She hissed in pain. "You bastard! You tricked me!" She seemed to want to say more but another arrow whizzed by entering the tree beside her. Voices shouted in the distance. She glared once more at him before she seemed to melt into the forest.

**************************************************************** **********************

"I'm glad you two could make it. I've needed your services for some time but I felt that, without enough evidence, that you wouldn't understand the seriousness of this situation. We've been threatened by a certain female hanyou. She attacks any who happens to pass within her notice. Since she resides in the forest, or somewhere thereabouts, that usually extends to most of the people traveling on that road. Until recently, nothing could be done to catch or even figure out if she was even in the forest." He looked at the two capable women before him.

"We've managed to injure her, causing a trail of blood and gouge marks on the trees. I feel that we may have her on the run. You," he pointed at the exterminator, "are to find and kill her. You," he said a little bit more respectively, "are to banish her soul to hell where it belongs." He spread out his arms as if to say it was as simple as that.

The demon exterminator, Sango, raised an eyebrow up at the miko beside her.

"Why has your miko not taken care of this herself?" Sango asked.

The chief looked at the ceiling, allowing them to think he was uncomfortable about the subject.

"Unfortunately, in her old age, she has weakened so much that she has not the slightest will to even stop the attacks." His eyes then found sudden interest with his feet.

Kikyo nodded once. "You can leave your worries with us."**

The pair headed out to the hot springs. Sango found the place formerly described and found the drops of blood. She shared a look with the miko.

"Let's begin."

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Kagome cursed as she yanked the arrow out of her shoulder. "Damn all humans!" Always causing her pain, always hurting her where it would hurt her the worst. She shut down on that line of thought. Back to reality. Not needing to wrap her wounds (her demon blood took care of that) she went to where she kept her supplies, buried beneath the roots of a tree. She stood up and glanced around, feeling the pain of loss. Such a peaceful forest. She could never return. Even with her departure, they would always remember her. She'd pack up tonight and leave on the morrow. It was not safe here anymore. She'd left a trail. The hanyou gathered what she thought she would need until she could reach her next destination. Hey maybe, she'd even visit-

"Stop right there, demon." Her shoulders tightened and then fell with despair. Sango heard her murmur something. "What was that, demon?"

The hanyou turned slowly. There, standing in some sunlight, was a young woman, clutching a large bone boomerang.

"I said I give up. I don't really know what I was thinking. Try to live in peace with the humans? Try to protect them from their own weaknesses?" She made a violent slashing motion with her claws. "Ridiculous. I should have listened to those more experienced than I when it came to humans. Go ahead. Finish me off. I'm tired of giving and giving and having nothing returned to me other than hate." She shouted towards the end and her face was turned up to Sango's, arms wide, inviting attack. Seeing the bitter tears and extreme pain in the hanyou's eyes, she felt the hold on her weapon loosen and her tense muscles begin to slack.

The miko felt no such reservation. She let her arrow fly true, hitting the hanyou in the side, under the arm. An explosion brightened the clearing, leaving the pair slightly blinded. Still watching, Sango could vaguely see pieces of something flying into the distance like shooting stars. They retreated back, only to be blown away about 50 feet, falling into the underbrush. When all sound returned to normal, they looked back to see total destruction. Their faces paled to see the destruction ended just a few inches from their feet.

Standing up they stared. Eventually, the miko spoke up.

"Our goal is accomplished. Let us return." With that she turned, walking gracefully away. Sango looked back, biting her lip. The last expression of the now dead hanyou haunted her. Her spine tingled as she turned her back on the desolate scene.

"This place is cursed." She hurried away from it.

********************************************

After leaving in the confusion, Inu Yasha continued on the road. He felt horrible. His wounds were causing all kinds of pains, and now his peace was shattered. The look of betrayal on Kagome's face seemed to haunt him at every turn in the road. He stopped and went to the side of the road to figure this out. He had met her, been saved by her and then… she had gotten hurt. 'After all she has done for me. I repaid her by being indifferent to her pain.' He stared into the sky and sighed. 'I have to find her, make sure she's all right, explain to her.' Feeling that this was the right decision he headed towards the hot springs. From there he could try to find her trail.

An explosion shook the ground beneath his feet and he steadied himself against a tree. There! His eyes widened. Against the darkening sky, shards of light raced across the country. One such light flew towards him and embedded itself into the tree beside him. Taking a belt knife from his boot, he whittled it out. It pulsed in his hands, and he felt his tiredness slip away to be replaced by new vigor. He gasped. Even he knew the legends. He took the pouch around his neck and slipped the shard inside.

Staring into the distance, he felt chilled to the bones. Suddenly he ran with all speed in the direction of that light. "Wait for me, Kagome!!" He shouted into the wind, hoping against hope that he wouldn't be too late.

Inu Yasha gasped in air, as his eyes widened at the destruction. Within a 50 foot radius of the center was a crater. All trees, bushes, grass; even dirt had been burnt away to reveal scorched slabs of bedrock at the bottom. He realized, sadly, that no one could have survived this. But his guts were insistent that, indeed, someone had. His violet eyes searched hopelessly for any sign of anything alive. His eyes caught movement. There! He slid down the slope of the crater, wanting to rush, but not daring to do so in the failing light.

Upon reaching the center he looked into the hole. Light pulsed. Ahhh, that's what he had seen. Another shard. Looking into the hole, a pulse from the shard lit up the scene. There, curved around her arrow wound, was Kagome. His eyes squinted in concentration. Hadn't she been shot in the shoulder, not her side? As he got closer he almost cried out in relief. She was alive!!

As details became clear, he also noticed that all her clothes had been singed off of her. He blushed, but told his mind to shut up about things like that. He carefully wrapped his hand around her wrist and dragged her up and placed her potato sack style onto his shoulder. He made his way back, almost falling a few times but making it to the top all the same. Laying her down gently, he tried to rouse her.

"Kagome, wake up. I have to pull this arrow out of you." He shook his head at her and glanced away. "If you had been human, you'd be dead right now."

"If I'd been human, I would have died long ago." Startled, he turned back to her.

"He, he, he." She laughed without humor, and with quite a lot of pain. "I'm still alive and kicking. No need to get so surprised about it." She gasped this last part out in pain as she tried to rise. The arrow pulsed when she did that. She looked at it. "Damn miko arrow!"

Her eyes narrowed and she pursed her lips, also grimacing in pain from the burning sensation of the arrow. "I'll need you to pull it out. I can't. I'm half demon." She said, as if in defeat. His hands reached towards the arrow and she flinched before he even got close. He hesitated. "Go on," she growled out between clenched teeth.

"Allow me to do a trick? It's said to perhaps relieve some of the stress during a situation of this kind."

"Do as you damn well please! Just get that cursed thing out of me!" He nodded and took a deep breath. He grabbed hold of the arrow, and bending forward he kissed Kagome. Kagome, startled, allowed this to happen completely forgetting the situation. Which, of course, was the whole point. Kissing down across her jaw line to her ear, he whispered, "This is going to hurt."

"Wha-?" He pulled the offending arrow out as fast as he could but it seemed to hold on to the flesh. All the while Kagome shrieked in agony, until finally he got it out, and finally, too, she passed out.

***

Having wrapped her battered body in his kimono, he decided not to risk further injury, rather then being discovered. Obviously, whoever had done this had left her for dead. Though her skin felt hot, she shivered uncontrollably. However, he was not a healer of any kind and he became overwhelmingly worried when she began to have delusions. She kept calling him Sessho; asking, begging him not to leave, oh please, return to her.

He decided to risk going to the old hags hut and asking for help. He thanked the gods that it was on the outer edge of the village. He could hear drunken men, boasting loudly about things that hadn't happened and would probably never happen.

Kagome struggled a moment from her position on his back, then rested her chin on his shoulder putting her lips to his ear.

"Where are you taking us Sessho? You know we're not to do anything before the ceremony." Her voice, decidedly husky, dropped even lower on the word anything.

He gulped and sped faster. Reaching the old miko's home, he called out as loudly as he dared for the old miko. A candle was lit and light showed through the cracks in the door. The old lady seemed surprised to see him.

"What do you want?" He turned slightly, allowing her to see his burden. She gasped. "Oh, child, hurry in! I can see that we haven't much time." Laying his burden gently before the stove, he leaned against it. Relieved of his duties for the moment, and having all confidence in the old bag as she bustled about, he slipped off into dreamland.

**********************************************************

Across the room Inu Yasha gazed at Kagome's prone form. His face was blank, as he pondered his feelings concerning the small hanyou. Unconscious for three days, he had begun to worry. When he had asked the old hag about it, she had replied, "Miko poison."

"Since when do they have a poison?"

"Their powers, being completely pure, and the demons of course, being evil, caused a chain reaction. Not to the good health of the demons obviously. Full demons are dead by this time. I'm afraid that the only thing keeping her alive is her human half fighting off the poison." She sighed, disheartened. "I know not which will succeed. One for life, the other, death." He was left with the questions that even she could not answer. They plagued him in his own mind.

Leaving them behind, he went on to sift through the emotions that seemed to roam rampant when it came to Kagome. What he recognized was a sense of responsibility for her plight. If she had not been shot by that villager's arrow in the first place, the demon exterminator would not have found a trail to go by. Seeing that, he understood the base of underlying concern he had for her welfare.

In the midst of these thoughts, his body was on autopilot. He physically saw the old miko walk in and check the hanyou for temperature. She then checked the bandages of which she approved of. It was so routine that he even let her walk by him. What abruptly brought him out of his thought was the old miko not continuing past him.

"What?" He grumbled.

"She is fully healed. I suggest ye get some rest even as she does. Ye'll not know what will happen on the next horizon."

"Feh," was all he said. She stepped and then paused right before heading out.

"Oh, yes. Before I forget, some priest has entered the village and asks after you. I think what he said his name was… Miroku." The wanderer grinned.

"So the lecher is here, is he? I guess I'll pay him a visit." He looked down at himself.

"I'll go and wash a layer of dirt off of me. You," he said, pointing, "must promise that if she wakens, you'll tell me immediately."

"What will I tell her that will keep her here if she wishes to leave?"

"I'm sure you'll come up with something, you old hag." The aged miko 'hmphed' as he stepped out of the hut, causing him to leave the hut with a grin.

******************************************************

Miroku sighed deeply. He'd been here for hours. Nary a sign of Inu Yasha or any cute girls to court. His wandering gaze caught on something and he told himself he had thought too soon. There, carrying a basket of herbs, was the most beautiful woman he he'd ever seen. At least that day, anyway. She had long black hair, reaching her waist, pulled back into a ponytail. Her unique features and the way she held herself in complete confidence seemed to draw him as if to a moth to a flame. Of course, he didn't notice the weapons she carried.

He sidled up to her side, pretending to look at the wares. Finally, he was close enough to catch her hands, knocking the herbs to the ground. Startled, she turned wide eyes towards him.

"Wha--?"

"Will you bear my child?"

The girl just stared and began to turn red. He lifted his hand up to her breast and caressed it, as if this would make what he had proposed a better offer.

He didn't know what hit him, (at least the third time, anyway.) First, she slapped him, with more strength than a normal person would have, saying, "That was for that ridiculous question!" Then she punched him in the stomach. He bent over, all the air flying out of his lungs. "That was for the feel up, you hentai!"

Then, stepping back, she pulled out what appeared be a huge boomerang made of bone. 'Where had that come from?' he asked himself as he looked up, and flinched, as he knew what would happen next, but was unable to move from lack of air. 'Whack' As he flew back into a stall, completely destroying it, he heard her words in incredulity.

"And that was for the herbs. They're ruined!! It took me all day to gather them."

Strapping her boomerang to her back, Sango stooped down to gather what few herbs had escaped the disturbance. Not very many. Sango sighed tiredly and then growled in frustration. The people suddenly found errands to go on, far away from her. 'I'll have to gather more again tomorrow.' Finished, she headed to her accommodations hurriedly, as she could sense people staring at her for some reason. 'What ARE they looking at?' She wondered.

******************************************************

This is where Inu Yasha found Miroku, apologizing to the stall owner profusely. His friend, priestly robes and all, was not clumsy. So, judging from the destruction, all this could equal up to only one thing: Girl trouble.

A long whistle broke into Miroku's apologies. "Back to your old tricks again, eh, Miroku?" Giving one last bow of apology to the stall owner, Miroku turned and walked towards Inu Yasha. Miroku smiled at his old friend, perfect teeth bright.

"Nothing to go back to as I never left them." Miroku slapped his hand on Inu Yasha's back in greeting. "Good to finally catch up to you, Inu Yasha." Inu Yasha looked at him, lifting one eyebrow.

"Finally catch up to me? How long have you been after me?"

Miroku ducked his head in embarrassment. "Shortly after you left, Inu Yasha, I gained my priesthood. But…"

"Buuuttt… What, Miroku?"

"I was innocent!! They found me in one of the maiden priestess's quarters. I told them I had heard screaming and rushed to the scene…"

"Annnnd??" Inu Yasha was becoming impatient with this drawing out the story.

"Well... They were bathing and I just decided that they needed protection, in case, any demons came after them."

"Even though that place is covered in demon wards and full of ten full-fledged Priests and miko's experienced in the very art of destroying an array of demons and spirits? Hmmm, is that it?" Inu Yasha said, suspicious.

"Ummm… Yes?" Miroku said, turning red.

"I can't believe you, Miroku!! You ruined any chance of further study just to ogle at pretty girls in the bathing area? You are such a hentai idiot!!" Miroku turned his head, exposing the growing bruise on his right cheek.

"Whooooah… She got you especially well, did she not?" Miroku turned back, grinning sheepishly, touching his cheek.

"Yes, well, I'm afraid I took off more than I could chew with that one. I didn't notice the weapon on her back..."

"Probably because you weren't looking at her back."

Miroku ignored the comment, continuing, "Which would have given me the clue that she was a fighter." Miroku frowned in thought.

"What?" Inu asked.

"I was thinking..." 'Must be a painful experience,' Inu Yasha thought, and snickered aloud.

"The lady seemed to take the most offense at the destruction of her herbs than at my behavior." Hope dawned into Miroku's eyes, giving him a slightly fevered appearance. "Maybe I have a better chance with her than I thought?" His eyes darted in the direction he thought he had seen her go. He sprinted away, waving back to Inu Yasha, and calling out, "See you later, Inu." Miroku soon disappeared from sight.

Inu Yasha shook his head and chuckled. 'That lecherous priest will never change and I don't think the world would be the same if he did.' He smiled and looked up at the sky. He felt better and more refreshed after his visit with his old friend. It was a brief taste of the normal life he had left in favor of this one, two years ago. 'Ahhh… two years ago almost to the day.'

Inu Yasha stood over the graves of his parents, trying to ignore the whispers around him. "They say this happened because they joined even though she was betrothed to another." One woman said to the other, beneath her hand. "Yes, we all expected it to happen. I wonder why they were buried in such high-ranking spots? They are nothing but- "Shhh… Do not insult the dead over their graves. That's just as if you were asking them to curse you." The 2nd woman turned pale with fear. "Do you think they would?""Who knows? They were such an odd pair. I'm almost glad they have left us on this plane. They gave me the creeps though they looked happy enough." Inu Yasha bunched his eyes shut, tears leaking through them. He turned and suddenly shouted at the villagers gathered around him and the graves. "Yes! Yes! They were happy in spite of the way you treated them! They were happy through all the years of spiteful gossip that you subjected them to! Though you shunned them, they lived a happy life from which you were excluded!" He clenched his fists, drained from his outburst. Turning, he stared back into the graves, back as strait as he could make it. He heard the rustling and shuffling of feet but he did not look back. He sensed his friend, Miroku, beside him and felt a hand placed on his shoulder. They stayed that way Inu Yasha didn't know how long, standing there oblivious to the spring rains starting and falling, soaking him. He left the next day.

Inu Yasha stood, cold, though the sun shone brightly upon him. He was almost relieved when the old miko, Kaeda, ran up to him. "Come quickly! The hanyou, Kagome, is wakening!" She huffed out. He nodded and hurried to the hut of the miko's. He was glad to leave behind the memories on his past life.

**

They found her, still on the mat on the floor, and wrapped up in the blanket, staring down at her hands, as if in a trance. Kaeda went in, while Inu Yasha hesitated in the doorway, suddenly feeling out of place. He watched on as the old miko started talking in low tones to Kagome.

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