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CHAPTER 3- INUYASHA, KARI, AND SESSHOUMARU

THE NEXT DAY: DAWN

"Kari, you need to get up, it's time for us to go." Kagome shook Kari to wake her.

"I'm up, just let me get dressed and I will be ready to go. "Kari got up and rubbed the sleep out of her eyes.

"Just hurry up, InuYasha is cranky, he keeps mumbling something to himself, and I have yet to figure out what it is. Mom made us some breakfast to go."

Kari got out of the bed and dressed herself in a pair of jeans, a black t-shirt, and a pair of hiking boots. When she was dressed, she headed into the kitchen, with Kagome, and sat at the table. Inuyasha was grumbling about something, but Kari didn't care. He looked up from his bowl of ramen long enough to say "It's about time you got down here, if you had been any longer, I would have left you two here."

"Don't worry, Kari, I wouldn't have let him leave without you, all I have to do is say 'Sit boy" and.." Kagome said and there was a scream and crash from InuYasha.

Kari looked over at where InuYasha was sitting and saw him lying face first on the floor. "That's a handy little tool you got there. How does it work?" Kari asked.

Kagome didn't listen to her, she was to busy apologizing to InuYasha. Kari really didn't appreciate being ignored and all, but just shrugged it aside.

InuYasha just got up and gave Kagome a dirty look, and said "Now that we are all awake, we can go now, and no but's about it!" He seemed to be really angry with Kagome for making him "Sit". Kari didn't blame him for being mad at her, Kagome should have known better if she knew that it would happen. Kagome shouldn't be so careless around her friends. Of course, Kari said none of this, learning long ago the wisdom of being silent. She just got up and followed InuYasha out to the bone-eaters well.

When they got out there, Kari and Kagome got their bags from Kagome's mom, and said their goodbyes to everyone. "So, how do we do this?" Kari asked, edging over to the wall of the well, looking in it. It was really dark, and smelled like mildew and mold. No surprises there, it was an abandoned well. When well's dried out, they usually smelled kinda funny.

It was Kagome that answered her. "We just jump in, so put your pack on and hold my hand." Kari complied with what Kagome told her to do, and held her hand. She felt more than just a little silly holding her cousin's hand next to a dry well. Suddenly, InuYasha grabbed her and Kagome's packs and jumped into the well. The amount of strength that it would take to just lift one person and pack made Kari pause, but two? He definitely was part demon.

As they were going down the well, a pinkish-purple light came from all around them. Kari was afraid that they were going to hit the bottom of the well to hard, but they gently landed of the floor. Kari heard birds and looked up. There was nothing impeding her view of the blue sky. It was so beautiful, to see the sky, clean of smog and smoke. She took a deep breath of the fresh air and sighed.

InuYasha looked at her funny, but she just said "You have to admit that it's nice to breath clean air."

"Yeah, I was kinda getting tired of all the foreign smells in your time. There's just to many if you just breath deep." He replied, grabbing their packs again and jumping out of the well.

"So that's all there is to it, huh?" you turned to Kagome and took off your pack.

"All there is to it? How can you say that? I was scarred shitless when I first came through that damned thing!" Kagome screamed, taking off her own pack as well, sitting on the edge of the well.

"You had a centipede after you the first time you went through, though. You had right to be afraid, but when there isn't anything after you, the well doesn't seem so bad."InuYasha said, looking around the expectantly.

"You also didn't live in fear as I had to, either." Kari muttered under her breath so that Kagome didn't hear her. InuYasha did though and gave her a funny look that said, "What do you mean by that?"

"Kagome! InuYasha! You're back!" Called a voice. Kari looked around for the source, but ended up having to look down to see who called. It was a kid with a fox tail, so she knew that this must be Shippo. Following Shippo were Miroku, Kaede, Sango, and Kelala. They all looked happy to see the return of their friends, and went over and gave Kagome hugs.

It was Miroku that first noticed Kari standing there, looking on. "Well, who is this lovely lady with you, Kagome? She must be of royal birth to have such poise, grace, and beauty. It is a

pleasure to meet you, fair lady." He said, grabbing her hands and kneeling before her like a vassal to his liege lord. Kari took a look at him and decided though he was handsome, he just wasn't her type.

InuYasha heard what Miroku was saying and walked over to pull him off Kari. "Miroku, you foolish monk, that is Kagome's cousin, which means hands off of her. She no doubt loathes lecherous men like yourself, throwing themselves all over her. So leave the poor girl alone, and don't ask the damn question that you ask every other beautiful woman. I'm sure that all you would get out of it is another slap." He said.

Sango and Kagome finally noticed that Miroku was harassing Kari and came over and said, "Yeah, Miroku, you would more than likely get slapped more than once with Kari. She takes shit from no one, so watch out."

"Thank, oh dear cousin, for telling that lovely detail about myself. I think that if anyone is going to get slapped, it's going to be you!" Kari yelled and lunged for Kagome.

"Hey! I didn't do anything wrong! I was just telling them the truth. You don't take shit from anyone, and ...DAMNIT!" Kagome was fast, but Kari got her down on the ground and started to wrestle her.

Kagome got herself on top of Kari, and gasped, looking into her cousin's eyes. "Kari," She said, "Your eyes are purple! Why did they change?"

Kari screamed and got out from under Kagome and ran into the forest. She kept on running and crying the whole way. She ran like a demon, there was no stopping her, and she had the agility of a demon, as well as the speed. She only stopped when she got to a creek and couldn't go any further. There was no way to cross, it was to deep, and Kari was afraid of deep water.

If you haven't already guessed, Kari is part demon, Cat demon to be exact. Her father was the last full demon left on the earth before he died. He told Kari about her heritage just before he died, and she had told no one. Her mother knew, and that was why she despised her daughter and ex-husband.

Kari stared into the water for a long time before she stopped crying. She heard a sound off to her left, but thought nothing of it. That is, until a little girl ran out of a bush, chasing what looked like a green toad.

"Rin! Stop right now, I don't want to play tag with you!" Said the little green toad.

"But Jaken, I want to play with you! Come on, please?" yelled the little girl at the toad.

A man with silver hair and purple face markings came after them. "Jaken, play with Rin, or I will be forced to kill you." he said with no emotion whatsoever.

By this time, Kari had jumped into a tree and hidden in the highest branches. She didn't want to get in the middle of this.

"But Lord Sesshoumaru! I do not like to degrade myself playing these ridiculously human games!" The toad screamed, still running from the girl.

"Wait, I smell something." Sesshoumaru said. He moved directly under the tree that Kari was in and looked up at her. "A human," He said, "A human spying on the great Lord Sesshoumaru." He sniffed the air again and paused. "Not a human, but not a demon. Ahh, I see now, you a hanyou, are you not? Dear little kitty."

Both the toad and girl stopped running when Sesshoumaru started talking to Kari. "Come down little kitty, I won't hurt you, yet."

Kari saw no other choice, so she jumped out of the tree and landed on her feet in front of the tall guy. "I wasn't spying on you, I was just thinking here when those two interrupted my thought process. The only thing I could think of doing was hiding." She said, pointing at Rin and Jaken.

"I see, that was ingenious on your part then. Tell me, though, why is it that you must come out here to think, surely you have friends and family that you could be with right now, though I abore the very thoughts of such for myself." He said.

"I do, but I believe that I might have scared them to the point that they may be willing to rip my head off. Particularly my cousin, Kagome." Kari replied easily, walking over to the creek again.

"Kagome? I know of only one mortal with that name, and she runs around with my half-breed brother, InuYasha."

"They are one and the same then. I know InuYasha. She and him brought me to this era."

"But they are not with you now? How very odd indeed." he turned from Kari to bark orders at Rin and Jaken.

The next thing Kari knew, she was knocked out by someone's fist.