He's so rude...

An attractive young woman wanders a darkened and scuffed dirt path, the canopy of deciduous trees above her casting shadows across the girl dressed in a modern day seifuku. The articles of clothing she wore far more revealing than anything the women of this era dared dress in as they obviously grabbed far more attention than this girl desired as two middle-aged farmers strode by her on the opposite side of the confining path with hoes tossed over their shoulders, leering at her desirable hips and exposed fine legs with looks of lust teeming in their gazes. For once this girl named Kagome wished she had not used the binding spell on her half-youkai friend's rosary and stormed off after he had insulted her cuisine talents...again.

'Maybe I was a bit too harsh but still if he doesn't like it he doesn't have to eat it or insult me like that...' The young girl had been brooding about this since she entered this deceptively calm forest many hours ago and perhaps, she thought, that she should turn back to the campsite where her friends were undoubtedly waiting anxiously for her return.

'What if Inuyasha is still upset though?' Kagome thought as she stopped her sauntering and turned to look back down the path, one of the farmers that had passed her had obviously been watching her bosom sway as she walked by because his head snapped forward once again once she made eye contact with him. Kagome grasped the ordinary short bow slung over her shoulder, drawing some comfort that she had brought along her weapons into the forest as she watched the two men disappear behind a bend in the path, the youngest one of them trying to sneak glimpses of her.

The young woman sighed.

She knew she would never have attacked those men if they came at her even if they were youkai hidden beneath a human's mask, she could never bring herself to slaughter another human being even if they did act like animals.

"Maybe I should be glad Inuyasha didn't follow me, he surely would have knocked those men unconscious. He can be so jealous sometimes..." Kagome mumbled under her breath as an annoyed expression crossed her delicate face, the sound of her voice louder to her ears in this quiet forest than it naturally should be. Come to mention not a single chirp of a bird or scramble of a terrified forest creature had been heard in a long while and it seemed the modern day time traveler had only just come to realize this, her heart thrusting against her rib cage as she slowly fell into panic.

'Oh no, I didn't get lost did I?! No no...Calm down, Kagome. It's a straight forward path, just follow where the men went and you will be back at the entrance in no time.' The girl reached up and planted her empty palm against her chest, willing her terrified heart to slow only for it to nearly burst through her blouse as a blood-curdling scream reached her, the sound of a man in agony.

It took only a split second for Kagome to rush down the path and reach the bend where the men had vanished, her scuffed loafers skidding across the cool trail as she came to a halt and peered around the steep slope that had blocked her view of the conjoining path. Her once curious and worried expression dissolve into one of true terror.

A youkai, a true beast of horror, towered above every living creature in it's proximity.

It crouched like an ape though it's massive hands laid flat against the terrain due to the gargantuan tapered claws that clung to every one of it's ten fingers, it's scale covered back brushing against the canopy of thick branches high above.

Kagome watched on in shock as one of the village men was snapped in half by the colossal jagged teeth that hung from the flat face of the incredible beast, the man's life blood spraying across the troll creature's facial features before half of the corpse of the farmer dropped with an audible thud in front of his younger companion.

'How did I not sense this incredible youki? It's almost suffocating!' Kagome's mind flew and for a small moment in time she thought she might run away as the colossus had not yet noticed her presence but her senses returned to her and not a moment too soon as the troll's gnarled hand was reached for the last retreating villager, Kagome's free hand grasping the feathered quills of one of her arrows and drawing it free of her quiver to lay it across the string of her readied bow and with a great effort she pulled back on the string. The wood of her bow creaked with the force of the girl's pull as she took a stance, her presence now revealed to the beast as she stepped out from her hiding place with the sharpened stone point of her arrowhead aimed at the beast's head and yet it the creature seemed to have a gnarled grin spread over it's face. An ordinary mortal weapon would not be able to pierce the beast's thick skin.

Kagome ignored the troll's misplaced confidence as her eyes were far too busy scanning over the enormous, searching the familiar glow of a Shikon fragment but not a single one could be seen.

"How can that be?" She wondered aloud. "He's absolutely massive! No creature could naturally be that size!"

"What the hell are you waiting for?!" The man on the ground screamed at her, his eyes clouded by absolute terror. "Shoot him already!"

A sound similar to that as thunder rumbled through the forest. The troll's laughter.

Just then one it's clawed hands careened toward the girl but it seemed the beast was much too slow due to his size as a light glow engulfed Kagome's arrow and loud snap of her bow's string sent a massive form of energy spiraling toward the young woman's target.

The village man watched in awe as the arrow plunged into the troll's forehead before an earsplitting scream collided with the serenity of the surrounding forest and colossus' head burst, bits of the upper half of it's body felling trees as the carcass crashed into them.

Kagome grasped the man's hand before he could react to this phenomenon and/or be crushed beneath the corpse of the giant and, as he was still on the ground, scrambled hurriedly to keep pace with the unique young woman who he had leered at only several minutes ago and who could still not help but glance at her bosom.

Once Kagome deemed they were far enough away from the calamity the felled giant's corpse created she skidded to a halt, the exhausted man behind her nearly crashing into her, his palms and forehead creased with sweat and his throat ragged as he gasped for air.

"Are you alright?" Kagome questioned with a worried glaze to her eyes as she leaned down to examine the keeled over man, herself not nearly as tired as him since the young woman was used to making a break for it.

"Y-Yes." The man said, his hands now on his knees as he continued to take deep breaths of air.

"What in the world was that creature?" He asked, looking up into the pretty face of his rescuer who smiled kindly down at him despite having just ripped apart a massive cave troll with a single arrow.

"Some form of youkai, I think. It didn't seem like any type of oni I've ever seen but it's teeth were very similar." Kagome responded, now dropping onto the ground into her usual sitting position with her fine legs tucked under her before reaching into the pocket of her skirt and pulling out a delicate white cloth.

"Here." She offered the cloth to the man, her innocent gaze completely trusting.

"T-Thank you, Young Miss." The village man gratefully accepted the piece of fabric and wiped it across his brows, managing only to get some of the blood and dirt spread across his face.

"I'm sorry about your friend...Who was he?" Kagome questioned, her gaze turning saddened as she began to pity the man. If only she had arrived sooner, she could have saved both of the villagers.

The man sighed, using the cloth to wipe the back of his neck free of sweat before his arm came to dangle across his propped up knee.

"My older brother. Our village to the north is suffering from a drought and so we were tasked with traveling farther south to find a more reliable water source as we are the only ones in the village capable of making the journey but it now seems as if I will not be able to make it alone." The young man sighed and looked back toward the massive amount of sunlight that now shined on the path behind them due to so many trees falling before the great weight of the troll's carcass and then returned his gaze to the woman before him.

"I should return to my village. You should come with me, Miss..." He rose to his feet, offering his hand to Kagome who gladly accepted the offer of being helped to her feet but the young man did not release his grasp on the miko's pale hand even after she had regained her footing.

"I'm sorry but I can't." Kagome stated, a feeling of dread springing to life inside of her as she gently tugged at the tight grasp of the man.

"Please, Miss. You are quite beautiful and one as delicate as you should not stay any longer in this dreadful place. I would be a good husband to you!" The man said this almost out of the blue and it seemed to shock and confuse the young lady. What more the village man even seemed to be leaning down to place his lips upon her's as if to seduce her.

"What? No! Stop!" Kagome panicked as she tore her hand away from the man's sweaty palm and placed both hand on his chest, pushing him away with a great amount of strength despite her size compared to the man's.

The man stumbled back, an angry glare crossing over his face. As he regained his balance he immediately started to stomp back over to the young miko, his hands clenched into fists as he strode toward her. Kagome matched the man's pace as she stumbled backwards down the path before she turned and sprinted off in the direction that man had originated from, her legs nimble and her gait long as her anxious heart pushed her along. Far behind her she had started to hear the man chase her before his exhausted slowed him down and he took off one of his filthy sandals and threw it in her direction in a fit of rage.

"Fine! I hope a youkai takes your head you stupid bitch!" Why he suddenly turned on her after she had just saved him or why he had no sympathy toward his own brother's death she knew not.

She just kept running even as dusk formed a shadow that ran beside her step for step.