The summer sun burned. Much too warm for the Lord of the West's preference, but if he held any discomfort from the warm rays he never made it known. Sesshomaru knew that if the heat was strong enough to phase him, then he figured his subordinates would not be faring well in the least.
Turning his attention from the path that lay in front of him, he scanned over his pack. A-Un marched on carrying an exhausted Rin on their back while Jaken trudged along-side them, looking very much the exhausted imp that he was.
Sesshomaru resumed his attention to the front of his pack and decided that after so many hours of travel that the heat would cause more harm than good to continue through now. Sniffing for a nearby spring the young Lord changed his direction toward the north in search of water. This should allow Rin to stay cool. Her weak human body would not be able to handle the exposure of this heat for very long without some type of dehydration befalling her even if the forest provided some type of shading. Humans were very meager creatures indeed.
The group traveled for a few more hours before finding a quiet spring the Lord had been searching for.
"We will rest here." Sesshomaru said as he halted his walk.
At the sound of a break Rin perked up from her spot on A-Un's back and saw the spring that lay before her. Her eyes widened in delight and sprang forth from her perch, all signs of exhaustion clearly disappearing and ran over to the gentle water.
Jaken gave a sigh of relief as he fell back on his bottom and kicked his legs up to rest his sore feet.
"Oh thank goodness. I didn't know how long I was going to be able to keep walking around in this heat." The imp expressed.
Sesshomaru turned to give the lesser demon a side longed glance of indifference. Noticing his master staring at him, Jaken quickly leapt to a kneeling position to give quick and low bows at Sesshomaru's feet.
"Not to say that I am not grateful to be in your company my Lord! I am most grateful! The most grateful that a demon could ever be!" Jaken groveled.
Rin watched her party with a smile on her face and let loose a small giggle. Master Jaken was always very funny when he was so tired. He said the funniest things without meaning to! Rin pranced over to her Lord and Jaken to place her hand on the imp's bowed head.
"Don't worry Master Jaken! Lord Sesshomaru knows that you care for him very much." She smiled at the green yokai.
Jaken swiped away at her hand and jumped back to his feet.
"Away from me, you foolish girl! Of course I care for Lord Sesshomaru, he is of the highest caliber of demon known to man!" Jaken raved on, "It is only common sense that a highly valued member of demons would be waited on by myself. As I am the great Master Jaken – wielder of the Nintojo! Not you silly girl!" Jaken brandished his staff at Rin.
After his speech, Jaken was quickly stuck on the head by a flying pebble that suspiciously came from the same direction of his Lord. The small demon was knocked to his back and released his hold on his two headed staff.
Rin laughed at the antic between her two care-givers.
"But why my Lord?" Jaken pleaded from the floor and watched the world spin from his position.
Sesshomaru once again turned away from his pack and made to move toward the forest. He would need to find something for Rin soon. They had not passed a human village in around a week and as such they were running low on reserves that she would be able to consume. Rin noticed her father figure walking away from the two and made to go up to him.
"Lord Sesshomaru, will you not rest with Master Jaken and I?" The girl asked. Sesshomaru turned toward his charge.
"I will be back." He replied and turned toward Jaken, who still laid on the forest floor. "Jaken."
At the sound of his name the imp bounced back to his feet in salute to his master. "Yes, my Lord!" He quickly responded.
"Watch Rin." With that the Lord of the Western lands disappeared into the forest that lay before them.
With Sesshomaru gone Rin walked over to the steady spring and sat down to dip her feet in the cool water. She would just have to wait for her Lord to come back, until they would ultimately set out again on their search for Naraku.
Elsewhere, a young Japanese girl of around fifteen was getting ready to go to school.
"Mom!" Kagome barreled through her house to find her mom in the kitchen cooking up breakfast, "Have you seen my math book? I've tried looking for it everywhere, but I can't find it and I didn't take it with me last time down the well." Kagome slid her backpack from her shoulder to once again check its contents a second time.
Ms. Higurashi turned toward her daughter and smiled. "Its on top of the bookshelf in the living room sweetie. Right where you left it last time."
A look of realization flashed on Kagome's face as she rushed to the living room for her missing book. Quickly grabbing the offending book she stuffed it into her backpack before heading back into the kitchen to go hug her mother.
"Thanks mom! Okay I'm off to school now! See you later!" Kagome hurried toward the door and ran to school to make it on time.
Kagome walked through the classroom doors with a sigh of relief and checked her wristwatch. "And a whole 10 minutes early. New record." She congratulated herself and walked to her seat.
She had no more than 2 whole minutes to breath before her desk was surrounded by her classmates Yuka and Ayumi. Kagome could feel the sweat drop rolling off the side of her as she realized that being early for class also meant having to see her friends and having them ask her questions about her latest disappearance.
Yuka was the first to speak, "Kagome, I didn't know you were coming to school today. Your grandpa said you had a serious case of the stomach flu a few days ago."
Of course, he would, Kagome thought and let out a mental sigh. That's when Kagome notice the absence of her third friend Eri. She quickly scanned the classroom to see that the girl was not present around the students already in class.
"Hey guys, where's Eri? Kagome asked, glad to now have a way to get the attention off herself.
The two other girls looked around and noticed the absence of their third member. Yuka raised her finger to her chin in a thinking pose.
"You know what? Now that you bring it up she's been acting strange recently. Eri is usually one of the first ones to class and for the past couple of days she hasn't been acting like herself." Yuka pondered out loud.
"You're right," agreed Ayumi, "I wonder what's been up with her. I hope it's nothing serious."
"What do you guys mean? Strange how?" asked Kagome. She really wasn't here all the time, but from what her friends were saying apparently, something funny was going on with the missing girl.
"Well for starters, she's always so tired all the time and never wants to go out. She won't even go to McRonald's with us half the time and her grades are falling!" Yuka complained.
"I'm sure it's probably nothing Yuka." Ayumi tried to placate her friend.
"Well whatever it is I hope she gets her head back on her shoulders before her grades turn to look like Kagome's. Oh, no offense or anything Kagome. I know it's not your fault you're always sick." Yuka voiced.
What the heck?! No offense? How do you not take offense to something like that? Kagome thought irritated by her so called friend.
"Nah, its cool. No worries." Kagome tried to wave her irritation off, but could feel the beginnings of a twitch start to take place.
The friends continued to talk for a few more moments about school before Kagome froze in her seat. From outside her classroom she could feel a powerful demonic aura emanating, almost pulsing in the surrounding area. What the heck was going on? There were no demons in Tokyo!
Kagome slid her eyes toward the front of the classroom and watched as the door slowly began to open. She blinked and silently panicked in her seat. How would she be able to get everyone out of the room if a demon really was here? Did it follow her from the well? Was it Naraku? Had he finally found a way to track her down to her own time?
She let go the breath she didn't realize she was holding in and watched as a figure walked through.
"Eri!" Her two friends called to the person at the door.
Kagome's eyes widened in shock as she realized that it was indeed her friend Eri who was emanating such a strong demonic aura. What the heck was happening? Kagome had known Eri for years and she was positive she was a human the whole time!
Eri scanned the classroom with an empty look in her eyes until they landed on the group. She gave a half-hearted before making her way to them. Kagome exchanged looks with Yuka and Ayumi. Yuki just looked at her with an 'i-told-you-so' find of face before fixing her attention to the formerly missing girl.
"Hey guys." Eri tiredly greeted her friends.
Kagome took in Eri's appearance. She looked tired and sickly in all honesty, but still very much human. So what was causing this dark energy? Kagome focused her energy to finding the source of the demonic power. She closed her eyes in concentration and tried to block out the sound of her talking classmates in the background.
There.
Hanging from Eri's neck was a white pendant that looked to be made from stone. Kagome was sure of it. She could feel demonic waves coming off the piece of jewelry, but where would Eri get something like that?
"Hey Eri?" Kagome interrupted her friend's conversation about the newest café opening nearby.
The girl gave a small "hm" in acknowledgement.
"Where did you get that necklace from? It's super cute." Kagome asked.
"Oh this thing?" Eri fingered the trinket, "My Grandma just came back from a trip to China and she brought the whole family over some souvenirs as presents. She said it's supposed to bring luck to the person who wears it, but honestly I don't really feel all that lucky lately." Eri sighed.
"Did your Grandma say where she found it?" Kagome asked, eager to find out how her friend could be connected to something like that.
Ayumi, Eri and Yuka gave their friend curious looks wondering what was so interesting about the item.
"Uhmmm…. Yeah she said some guy practically gave it away to her for free or something." Eri answered.
"Maybe the reason he was giving it away was because it's actually a talisman that brings bad luck to those who wear it." Humored Yuka.
"Yuka! Don't say something like that! What if you freak her out?" Ayumi chastised.
Yuka held up her hands in defense, "Okay, okay. Jeez I was just joking."
The bell rang signaling that it was time for class and the trio left to their seats. As the day went on Kagome couldn't help, but get ill feelings in regards to the necklace Eri continued to wear. During gym practice Kagome even noticed that Eri was unable to finish her laps around the track that she usually would have done easily. Finally, after much consideration Kagome decided that she would have to get the talisman away from her friend, but how?
It was the end of school and everybody was standing around getting their bags together to start on their way home. Kagome walked up to Eri who was still sitting in her seat. The poor girl looked like she was ready to pass out. 'The tiger talisman is probably somehow draining of her of her life force', Kagome thought.
"Hey Eri." Kagome held up her hand to greet her friend.
"Oh hey Kagome." Eri greeted back halfheartedly and with a sleepy expression.
Before Kagome could say anything else to her, Eri's eyes closed and she began to fall forward onto her desk.
'Oh no!', thought Kagome and she quickly reached over to catch the girl. Kagome noticed this as her opportunity to separate the girl from the demonic trinket and made quick work to unclasp the item from Eri and slip in into her bag without anyone noticing. Soon Ayumi and Yuka were running over to the two.
"Oh my goodness! Is she okay?" asked Ayumi, "Here Kagome let us do it. I know that you're probably still not feeling well."
Yuka and Ayumi quickly moved to fix their friend in an upright position.
'Perfect now I can get this thing away from them.' noted Kagome.
"Hey guys you're right, I'm not feeling that great. I think I'm going to head home." Kagome told her friends and began making her way to the nearest exit. Not waiting for her classmates to say anything Kagome was already on her way out and quickly ran home. She had to get this thing to Kaede so that she could examine the item. She was positive Kaede would know what to do with it. With that thought in mind Kagome pushed her legs harder until she was at the foot of her home.
"Mom I'm back!" Kagome called out before quickly heading up the stairs to grab the things she would need to go back down the well.
Ms. Higurashi peaked her head out from the living up.
"Hello dear, you're back soon. I thought you would have gone to go eat with your friends today after being gone for so long." She said.
Kagome began stuffing her big yellow backpack full of all the items she would need.
"Something happened today at school and I have to head back down the well again." Kagome answered.
Finally having all her items together, Kagome grabbed the demonic necklace from her school bag and slid it into the small pocket in her already full bag. Slinging the pack on her shoulder Kagome went back down the stairs to say goodbye to her Mom.
"I thought you were going to stay for another three or four days at least, honey?" questioned the mother.
"That was the plan, but I have to head back. I think there's something that Kaede can help me with." Explained Kagome, "Can you let Sota know I went back? I promised him we would do homework together, but I'm not going to be able to make it."
Her mother gave her a look of understanding, "I will sweetie and whatever it is please be careful." Ms. Higurashi gave her daughter one final hug before Kagome was out and making her way down the bone eaters well.
A while later Kagome and her group were sitting in Kaede's hut as she tried to explain to them the events that she had seen as well as the demonic energy coming from the jewelry that she held in her palm.
Miroku sat next to Sango and paid serious attention to Kagome's tale. He had to agree that there was a dark energy emitting off whatever that thing was.
After hearing of her observation, Miroku was the first to speak.
"And you said that the item was draining your friend of her energy?" questioned the monk.
"Yeah, it was almost like Eri was being stripped of whatever energy she had and then at the end of the day she just collapsed." Explained the young priestess.
"How do you feel now? You're holding it right now and do you feel like your energy is being sucked away?" Inuyasha interrogated.
"Well I do feel a little more tired than usual that's for sure." Answered Kagome.
"Aye, child. You are correct in your assumptions that this item holds a dark energy, but of what kind I cannot say." Kaede answered.
"Well, I say we just chuck the damn thing into a lake or something and call it a problem solved." Inuyasha stood from his spot.
"We can't do that! What if someone were to accidently find it and the same thing that happened to Eri happens to them!" Kagome argued to the half-demon.
Inuyasha crossed his arms in defiance, "Well Kaede over here doesn't know what else to do with it and neither does Miroku so I say we just chuck the damn thing."
Kagome stood from her spot and argued right back, "Yeah well I'm not going to put anyone else in danger just because you want to be lazy, Inuyasha."
"Lazy! I'm not being lazy! Give me the damn thing and I'll carry it. I'll show you who's lazy." He demanded angrily and grabbed the necklace from Kagome's hands.
As soon as Inuyasha held the talisman in his hands the necklace began to glow a dark purple. The group quickly covered their eyes as a bright light filled the room. Once the light had receded, the group noticed that a figured now stood in the center of their circle and that the talisman was split down the middle.
"What the hell?" muttered Inuyasha.