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

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Kagome woke up, her mind going to the last thing she could remember. The explosion. All it did was wish for the oblivion that she had so recently escaped. She heard heavy footsteps, coming up to and into the hut. She didn't bother with the energy of caring. The footsteps came closer, a quiet old voice joining them. It reassured her that she would recover, nobody knew that she was there, etc. Her senses suddenly picked up on the second scent in the room. Knowing it to be the wanderer, betrayer, Inu Yasha, she smiled bitterly, rage beginning to boil within her. Kaeda noticed the expression and began to back off.

"Come to finish me off, Wanderer? Well, you missed your chance." Dropping her blanket, she was in his face in a second, and grabbed the collar of his kimono, lifting him easily off the ground.

"It's a pretty sad example of your kind that even with a clear target to shoot at, you humans fail anyway." She hissed this through clenched teeth and then bared her cat fangs at him.

Inu Yasha, who had been rather calm up to the point of the fangs, was beginning to look slightly nervous. He had seen the enraged pain in her bright green eyes and was afraid that this hanyou was up to the breaking point of violence. He felt that it would be a very bad move to draw out his sword, Tetsuaiga. She brought her mouth up to his ear and whispered harshly in his ear.

"The villagers believe me to be the killer of many a man. Maybe I should confirm those beliefs with you?" Inu Yasha's nervousness soon went into full-blown panic. She laughed hollowly. "Don't worry. I've never wished death for anyone but myself."

She lowered him to the ground and let go of his collar. He suddenly became aware of Kaeda words. She had been pulling on the sleeve of Kagome's robe.

"Don't injure the wanderer, Lady Kagome. The only reason ye be alive is because of this lone mans rescue."

The hanyou's eyes bored into him and narrowed. She bowed low and said sarcastically, "How fortunate I am that you came. Especially as I had finally given into my destruction by your race. You humans really should make up your mind as to whether or not you want to kill this hanyou or not."

She raised her head to look at the reaction of her words. The wanderer seemed to be staring at something. She followed his gaze to the front of her robe, which had fallen open to reveal that which she did not want to reveal. She spun around, pulling the robe tightly about her, grumbling something about filthy minded humans.

"Just returning the favor," he said, returning to the previous conversation before that little interruption.

"Yes, I did rescue you, didn't I?" She sounded as though she had already let the incident slip from her mind. She tapped her chin with one claw. "A bear youkai wasn't it? Yes, the memory is coming back to me now. It was about to eat your unconscious body. Of course, it softened you up by throwing you into trees before that, right?"

He flinched. For some reason it bothered him extremely that she did not think well of his fighting abilities. He tried to save himself.

"I did cut off his paw," he grumbled.

She stopped tapping her chin. "Why, yes, you did do that. And with that sharp sword of yours, no doubt. Good job." Emphasis on the word good, it caused him to envision him as a small child being patted on the head. He clenched his hands in anger, about to retort.

"Now, unless you're going to watch me undress, I suggest you leave," she said haughtily. Inu Yasha was of a half mind to stay, but hurriedly backed out of the hut's doorway, when he saw her lowering the robe, bearing her shoulders.

Now that the man had gone, Kagome gave into a fit of giggles. Kaeda just stared at her as if she were insane. That just started another peal of laughter of which Kagome recovered from breathlessly. "Come," she gestured towards the miko, "Check my injuries and give me the all clear. I want out of this infernal hut."

******

All Kaeda had for something to wear was a miko uniform similar to her own. Kagome protested, feeling it extremely inappropriate for a hanyou to be wearing such a thing. Kaede pestered until she got her way.

"Go on, you can't go around bare to the world. I can't borrow anything else in your size lest I be suspicious." Although Kagome agreed in this, she still felt uncomfortable.

She felt like she was smothered in cloth after all those years of living in just her pants and shirt. She hadn't worn anything like this in… What? 15 years? But a short time for a half-demon that didn't age as others did. She only looked to be 16 or 17.

No one would guess at a glance that she was turning 31 that year as soon as the summer came. She came upon a pond and looked in at her reflection. She hadn't changed physically at all. Her eyes reflected the years, she decided. Wiser and definitely harder.

**

After running away from the hut, Inu returned. Seeing Kagome at the pond he went towards her, a twig snapping in the silence loudly. The hanyou spun, going into a crouch, reaching behind her for her bow and not finding it. Inu Yasha hurriedly stepped back, waving his hands in front of him. She glared at him with suspicion, eyes filled to the brim with it, and he remembered when those eyes had been filled with innocent curiosity. It pained him, somehow, that they were this way.

"Hey, hey. I didn't come to attack you!" He untied his sword and placed it on the ground. He held his arms out to his sides. "See? No weapons." She sniffed and all that came back to her was sincerity. As all demons, she smelt lies and truth as well as other emotions. Satisfied, she straitened and turned back to the pond. He remained where he was, a few feet away from her.

"I must be losing my touch. Even a lesser demon would have heard you, smelt you." He walked towards her, ending up at her side and joining her in the exciting activity of looking into the water.

"Smelt?" He asked.

She looked at him in scorn. "All should know that demons can smell humans miles away. We can even smell individual scents from far away if we have encountered them enough." She snorted. "That usually doesn't happen as we most likely killed the bearer of the scent the first time we meet it."

"We? You count yourself as one of the demons then?"

"Of course! What demon in their right mind would want to be counted as a human?" Though her words were harsh, Inu Yasha sensed a tinge of longing, which confused him. Silence reigned.

"Feh. Is being half human as bad as that?" Inu Yasha suddenly walked away, not waiting far an answer, feeling the hanyou's eyes follow him. He stopped. "By the way," he said, "I found this near your body." He flicked something at her, over his shoulder. She caught the glowing thing easily. "Do you happen to know what it is?"

He heard Kagome gasp and he turned in time to see her expression of awe.

"Why this… This is…" She couldn't seem to finish.

"It happens to be a shard of the Shikon jewel. Not many would recognize it."

"All demons would recognize this. Especially I, with my training…" He looked at her curiously, wondering about that phrase. When she did not elaborate, he went on.

"I have no idea why it would be there but I think that it had something to do with the explosion that happened before I found you."

Kagome frowned. She tucked it into a deep pocket in her miko outfit. "All I can remember is being hit by that miko arrow..." She pressed a hand to her demon healed wound. All that would remain of her brush with death would be a scar. "And then a bright light and a loud sound that hurt my ears."

Her ears twitched with remembered pain. A deeper frown marred her flawless skin, a memory tugging at the front of her mind. She talked to him over her shoulder.

"Are you also the one that pulled the arrow from me?"

Suddenly embarrassed, he shook his head. "No, that was Kaede." Lying, he hoped she wouldn't catch the lie. He sighed, relieved, seeing that she didn't. He didn't want that kiss to be something awkward between them. 'It hadn't meant anything, anyway… Right?' He shivered suddenly.

"Cold?" Kagome questioned. He realized that they had been staring at each other for at least a minute. "I'd forgotten you humans succumbed so easily to the elements. Maybe you should head on inside the hut." She started heading towards the forest.

Feeling the situation start to slip away from him, he panicked a little. He ran after her and stood before her. "Wait! What are you doing?"

"What I had begun to do before I was attacked. Leave." She answered him simply, stepping past him. He stepped in front of her again.

She put her hands on her hips and glared up at him, just now noticing that he was taller than she. "What do you want?" She asked, annoyed.

"Let me go with you!" He suddenly blurted.

Kagome's eyes widened. "Why on earth would you want to do that?" She asked, shocked from her usual sarcastic self.

He searched his mind for a reason. "Ummm…" He latched on the first one that would make any sense to the practical hanyou. "The shards!"

Kagome's eyebrows rose in confusion. "What about them?"

"Why, we have to find them! We can't very well let all those demons suck them up and destroy the countryside as well as kill a lot of people."

She bowed her head and stepped past him, stopping a few feet away. "Why should I care that humans die?" She said emotionlessly.

A breeze whipped by her hair, catching it and lifting it into the air. She sniffed it, catching the smell of children. She heard them. They were playing, loudly, joyous in the fun of a world that they would soon learn was definitely not fun, as soon as the next demon showed up. A tear slipped from her eye. The trees rustled along with the breeze, seeming to call to her, offering solace from her thoughts. False, they were. These thoughts she would never escape from. Unaware of what she was going through, the wanderer continued and she only half-listened as her heart was dragged down into an abyss.

"You seemed to care before." He said quietly. Not getting a response, he tried to get her attention. "You must show responsibility for the jewel." He said more forcefully.

Already having made her decision, she said, "Fine. Gather your supplies and things and I'll meet you down the road a ways. Tomorrow. Let's not let on to the villagers that I am alive. It might make them unhappy. As soon as I leave they'll soon learn what that word means, anyways." She sprung up, bounced off the branch and was gone from sight, leaving no evidence as to her leave taking.

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Having not much money and wary of the suspicious stares cast his way, Inu Yasha did not dawdle. After getting the supplies needed for any journey, he looked around the market, wondering if he should buy something else. Walking by a stall, something shiny caught his eye. Coming towards it, he realized it was a jewelry stall and was about to leave when the small statue that had caught his attention earlier, flashed again. Telling himself a little look wouldn't hurt; he stepped up to the wares to get a closer look.

The statue, he was amused to see, was in the shape of a tiny cat demon. For there were two bushy tails wrapped around the haunches of the cute little thing. It was well crafted for one could almost see the muscles rippling beneath the silver skin. Its tiny emerald eyes glittered up at him, reminding him suddenly of a certain hanyou. Especially with that curious expression, head cocked to one side, which seemed to take stock of him.

"Ahhh, sir, I see you are interested in my wares." The stall owner glanced at what the buyer was looking at, and eagerly looked back at the customer. What the buyer didn't know was that the owner had been trying to get rid of that particular statue for some time now. He hadn't known what had impelled to buy this from the artist, and had been disappointed. The artist, when asked, had said he didn't know what had come over him to make it, either. He had mumbled something about seeing the creature in a dream.

"Only one kind of man would enjoy such a piece as this." The stall owner dissembled.

"What kind of man? Perhaps you would clear that up for me." He said, almost growling.

The owner, suddenly noticed the stares cast at the stranger, and saw the stranger's hand resting on the handle of the sword, and swallowed nervously.

"Why, a great man with fine taste. Perhaps you would like to know the price."

The owner named off a ridiculously high price, which he quickly lowered when he received a look from the wanderer. The bartering went on for ten minutes, each naming reasons why it should be such and such price. Inu Yasha grew tired of this.

"If you can't go any lower than that than I shall have to go elsewhere for business." He stepped away from the stall; a signal meaning the bartering was over.

The owner, seeing his chance of finally getting rid of the cursed thing slipping away, quickly said he agreed to the buyer's price. Spitting in his hand he clasped the wanderers quickly. Inu Yasha felt disgusted, as he hadn't remembered until now how a deal was sealed. He took his prize, and headed out of town, his pockets empty. Wondering why he had bought it, he stopped and looked at it again.

A voice, from behind, startled him greatly and he tucked his prize into his pack.

"Ahhh… I saw it! What is it? A present for a lady-friend?" Miroku had been joking, of course, but when he saw the look on Inu's face, he had to laugh.

"I knew it!" He crowed. "Inu's has a lady friend, Inu's got a lady friend!" He said in an annoying singsong voice.

"Shut up!" Inu Yasha growled. "I do not!"

Miroku ignored him. "So who's the lucky lady, hmmm? Had to have been very beautiful to catch your heart. You're so picky when it comes to girls."

"Compared to you, a desperate man would be considered picky."

Miroku put a hand to his chest. "You wound me deeply, friend." He said and couldn't keep a straight face. He placed an arm around his friend's shoulder.

"Well, is it anyone I know?" No response. "Is she from this village?"

"Kind of." Inu muttered. Miroku stepped away.

"Ha! You admit you have a lady friend!" Inu growled as he realized the trap.

"Well, if she's not beautiful why would you pick her? It wouldn't be because she was good in the sack, hmmm?" He looked at Inu with a knowing gleam in his eye.

Inu Yasha turned a deep shade of red. "No way!! It's NOT that like that at all!!"

Having exploded like a good little bomb, he stomped out of town, and down the road. His stomps gradually grew less in sound as it helped him work off his feelings. Because of all this stomping, he didn't notice the figure walking a ways behind him. Turning, he started to shout at Miroku to go away, but was pounced on from behind.

"Oooff," was all the sound that escaped with his air.

**

Kagome had been waiting for an hour when she sighted the wanderer down the road. It was a dirt path, really. She was impatient and when the wanderer stopped, just below her tree, she was suddenly taken with and impish idea. She dropped from her tree quietly, and advanced upon her victim, grinning with the thought of the scare she was going to give him. That would get him back for the long wait!

**

Miroku, finished with his business in the village, (more like he was banished after trying to sneak into the chief's eldest daughter's room,) followed Inu Yasha's stomping footsteps. Because of all the noise his friend was making, he wasn't noticed until he was about a mile out. Inu Yasha turned to him, annoyance plainly written on his face. Sudden movement to the side of his friend caught Miroku's eye. He watched, horrified as the youkai attacked Inu.

He rushed up and hit the youkai in the head with his staff, causing it to roll away.The youkai came out of the roll, went into a crouch, and pulled out a bow and arrow, letting an arrow fly. It hit the ground before Miroku in a warning he did not heed.

**

Kagome's eyes widened as the crazed human came at her again, with only a staff, after she had given him a warning shot of her bow. Looking towards the still downed wanderer, she made her choice. Her bow taut she aimed for the kill. A shout broke her concentration, causing the fatal blow to become just another lost arrow in the woods. The would-be attacker and the hanyou stared each other down in silence, as Inu Yasha stood up and dusted himself off.

**

Inu walked over to his friend and rested his hand on Miroku's shoulder. "Now before you kill each other, I'd like to introduce you both. This is Kagome. She is a demon and is now my traveling companion. Kagome, this is an old friend. His name is Miroku a.k.a. the lecherous hentai-priest." Miroku grumbled about improper introductions. Inu grinned and turned away.

"So sorry, my Lady Kagome. I didn't know you were the friend of this here ragamuffin." Inu sputtered. "If I may ask one question?" Kagome nodded. Miroku rushed forward and clasped her hands.

(Dun, dun, dunnnn.)

"Will you bear my child?" Miroku asked with all seriousness.

Inu hid a grin, and waited for the show to start. He was disappointed, though.Kagome blinked and actually… blushed? Inu stared at the sight. He'd never seen a demon blush before and she happened to look so pretty doing it… Whoa! Squish that thought, Inu! Inu was further flabbergasted when he heard her reply.

"You would really want a hanyou like me bear your child?"

Miroku, surprised at not getting slapped, took his time thinking about it.

"Why, yes I most certainly would! Your beautiful enough, and being part demon would be an advantage to any offspring I had. I'm trying to kill a certain demon myself, and if I should fail, I will want an heir to continue this quest." Kagome took in his words.

"I'd really have to seriously think about it. Right now is not the correct time of year for things like that, anyway." She said turning away.

Miroku blinked. 'Right time… of year?' They were both shocked out of their little bubble by a spluttering Inu Yasha.

"You're actually considering to… I can't believe you two!!" Inu looked about ready to explode all over again. Miroku's eyes took on a gleam. He turned to Kagome, who was staring at the spluttering Inu. 'I guess I thought he was always serious,' she thought to herself, surprised at his actions.

"Ohhh… So you're the girl." Miroku nodded sagely as if all were clear to him now.Kagome just looked confused.

"Ummm… Girl?" She asked. Miroku went over to the steaming Inu Yasha and nudged him in the ribs.

"Interesting choice, my friend. But understandable, certainly understandable.

The wanderer started turning red, and the hanyou looked at him strangely.

"Shut up! Let's go! Were wasting time just standing and talking and someone may see us." With that, the trio moved onward.

None noticed the movement in the bushes as the spy ran off.

The youkai spy was shoved through the narrow hallway and brought to a thick, but simple door. The ugly, hunched over, but huge youkai knocked on it.

"Come in…" Something hissed from within. The large youkai practically threw the demon inside and quickly shut the door. The small green spy cowered before the great youkai before him. Newly raised through the ranks though his lord was, he was, nevertheless among the strongest youkai's in the four lands.

Some said he even planned to take over the lands of the West, wresting it from the strongest dog demon that had ever lived.

"Lord." He squeaked.

"Report." He heard the harsh whisper.

"The rogue hanyou… she is still alive, my lord."

"Explain." The word came forth in an angry hiss. The spy trembled.

"After the explosion, she was left for dead by the pair hired to kill her. Some wanderer, who brought the hanyou to a willing miko to heal, shortly rescued her. After recovering, the pair left the miko, followed by another man. A brief skirmish between the hanyou and the second man ended with the realization that they were both friends of the wanderer. They banded together and headed in a NE direction, from which I came to you with a report." His voice had wavered every now and then but his lord seemed not to notice.

"Hmmm… NE you said?" A low waspish chuckle came from the dark before him. The lowly frog demon whimpered in fear.

"Return, now, to the trio. I will assign to you a wind shrike. It will carry messages much swifter than your short legs ever would."

"But, my Lord… Wind shrikes like to eat little frog youkai."

"That would be unfortunate for you. I suggest you be careful, then." Obviously a dismissal, the frog demon started crawling away.

"Oh… And Jaken?"

"Yes, Lord?"

"Don't fail. It would be extremely painful for you."

Jaken nodded. He continued his crawl out the door. No one saw the evil smile on the Lord's face.

'I shall get you soon, my little hanyou.'

Bwahahahahaha. What did you think? Who is this evil lord who is spying on Kagome? Any guesses? Of course there aren't any! I've only introduced five characters and you can quickly cross out all of them. What? The lady on the side of the road that Inu Yasha asked for directions from, you say? That's just ridiculous! Until next time!
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