Another Dawn

Chapter One

The sun rises on another glorious day in feudal Japan. The birds are singing their lovely morning song above the campsite of our group of heroes. Above the site in a tree watching the group as they pack up and start to prepare breakfast, a Inu Hanyou named Inuyasha, with long silver hair, golden eyes, clad in red and two silver triangular ears perched atop his head twitching wildly at all the sounds made below. The group hustles about rolling up their bedrolls and packing their miscellaneous items away for the long journey ahead. On one side of a roaring fire, a young female taijiya named Sango, with long chocolate black hair pulled back into a neat pony tail and an equally young monk named Miroku, with black hair tied back into a small pony tail wearing purple monks robes were busy packing their things from the night before. While Just beyond the fire there also was a small Kitsune demon child playing with a twin tail fire neko

On the other side of the fire, a young girl with long black hair and chocolate brown eyes was busy preparing breakfast for the group her name was Kagome Higurashi. She however stood out from the group most due to her strange clothes… a short green skirt, which happened to be a school uniform from a completely different era. She was of course from the future. Modern day Tokyo Japan. She just happened to stumble across this time in a freak incident, which to her now proved to be destiny. You see her family happened to own the shrine known to most as the Higurashi shrine. There she lived with her mother, her brother Souta, and her grandfather. She was used to abnormalities for the most part. After all her family was far from normal. But on her fifteenth birthday she never would have expected to be pulled into the well that was on her shrine grounds, and most certainly never expected to land in feudal Japan. Ya, her life was just a bit more complicated now… between fighting demons to trying to pass her math test… she couldn't even begin to think which was worse.

'Well at least I have a great group of friends' she thought as she stirred the now boiling pot.

"Oi, wench hurry up with breakfast!" she heard from the tree.

The young monk turned to the girl by the fire " so lady Kagome what is for breakfast this lovely morning" he asked while his cursed hand inched closed toward an unsuspecting demon slayer. Five seconds later a resounding slap was heard followed by the usual " PERVERT" from Sango.

Kagome sighed as she grabbed the bowls. "Unfortunately guys… its Ramen… again. I ran out of oatmeal and almost all of my other supplies about two days ago."

Inuyasha hopped out of his tree to grab his bowl from Kagome.

"You… slurp... Make it..Gulp sound like a bad thing." He said as he polished off his breakfast in less than a minute.

"It may not be so bad for you" she sighed "but other grow quite tired of ramen rather quickly." Kagome huffed.

She finished handing out the rest of the food to the others and sat down with her own bowl in hand. She just sat there staring at it for a while. Not really hungry but not wanting to waist what little she did have.

Not more than three feet away, Inuyasha sat eyeing her bowl, hoping that she would give it up.

"Umm Kagome…" he asked with a slight wine in his voice.

She glanced over at Inuyasha and had to try to stifle her laughter. He was sitting there with large puppy eyes acting like he hadn't just eaten a whole bowl of ramen already. She sighed "Yes Inuyasha?" she asked pretending not to know what the Inu really wanted.

"Aa.. Are you going to eat that?" he asked with a bit more whine.

She sighed again. "No.. I suppose not.. why? Do you want it?" she asked in a teasing voice while waving it under his nose. She giggled 'he is just too cute sometimes.' She sighed and handed it to him. 'Its hard to believe sometimes that he used to be an outcast.' She thought. She let out yet another sigh, which this time caught the attention of the Hanyou.

"Oi! Wench will you stop all that sighing! What has gotten into you this morning?" he asked with a slight hint of concern. He really hated it when she did things like that. To him sighing usually meant sadness and with sadness came tears and he just HATED when she cried.

"There isn't anything wrong Inuyasha. Really there isn't. It's just that… I was thinking. Perhaps… Maybe.." she started adding a bit of pleading to her voice.

'Oh no… here it comes' he thought.

'Well here it goes' she thought. " Maybe I should go back to my time to get supplies. I mean we all could use a bit of a break. I mean we have been searching for the shards for like three weeks now and my supplies are exhausted and I only have enough ramen left for lunch. Not to mention I need a good bath and…" before she could continue on with her ranting Inuyasha interrupted.

" I suppose your right." He sighed trying to look to eager.

"But Inuyasha I really… WHAT? Well that was easy. Hmm…" 'maybe I should give him my ramen more often' she thought.

With that decided they all headed back towards the well. It was gonna be at least half a days walk. Meanwhile not too far from the group a young girl was running from a group of wolves. 'I really don't want to hurt them. Their leader might be really angry with me if I did…'she thought in a panic. 'Why are they chasing me anyway.. What did I do to them…' "SOMEBODY HELP ME!" She screamed as one of the wolves nipped at her heals. 'If I don't get away from them soon…' she thought 'there may be no hope for my sister.'

Inuyasha suddenly stopped walking almost instantly followed by Kagome and the others.

"What is it, Inuyasha?" she asked as she moved to stand next to him.

" I thought I heard someone scream for help." He said as his ears moved in circles trying to pick up any sounds nearby. He sniffed the air but couldn't detect anyone nearby. He was just about to start walking again… shrugging it off… when suddenly from down wind her heard a loud screech.

"EEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKK. Get them off of me. Somebody help me please. I don't want to be dog food!" she screamed.

Inuyasha and the rest took off at top speed toward the sound of the screams. All the while she was running away while the wolves nipped at her heals. Constantly gaining and closing the distance between them. She was just about to jump into a tree when a root grabbed her by the ankle and she tripped toppling over. Not wanting to loose this opportunity for dinner they pounced on her.

"IRON REVER SOUL STEALER" she heard a shout and saw the wolves go flying off of her. She looked around and saw the wolves getting back to their feet and start snarling at something. She then whipped her head around to see whom they were growling at. There standing with his hand on the hilt of a sword stood a man in red.

"Inuyasha don't kill those wolves!" she heard a girl shout.

"And why not wench. They were trying to kill the girl!" He snapped about ready to swing the tetsuiga.

" Those are Kouga's Wolves!" She shouted back.

Inuyasha charged at the wolves succeeding in scaring them off.

"Why should I give a shit about 'Kouga's Wolves' ?" Inuyasha snickered.

Kagome ignored his comment and ran over to the girl. She just sat there with a bewildered look on her face.

"Umm hello" Kagome waved her hand in front of the girl. "earth to girl. Come in" she said with a smile.

The girl shook out of her daze and looked at Kagome. "Oh.. sorry… I umm" she wandered off as she stared down at the ground. "umm thank you… for saving me…" she said to the group. " but umm how did you get rid of them so easily?" She asked.

Sango stepped forward. "oh those wolves know Kagome. They know not to hurt her or anyone she protects." Sango interjected.

"really and how do they know her?" the girl asked a bit confused.

Kagome blushed and this time Miroku stepped forward to put in his vast knowledge on the situation. " You see," he started as he stepped closer to the young girl, " The leader of the wolf tribe, Kouga, has come to believe that Kagome is to be his woman err mate.. I believe is the term."

Kagome's blush grew darker at the finish of the sentence while the girl and Sango stifled their laughter at Kagome's growing blush and Inuyasha more aggravated state.

"Kagome is not Kouga's Woman" He shouted finally unable to contain his rage.

"then she is yours?" The curious girl asked.

If possible, Kagome's blush grew brighter and the start of a blush could be seen on inuyasha's face as well.

"well umm… no she ain't my woman. Why would I want some one as useless as she is." He shouted and almost instantly regretted it.

" So I'm useless am I!" She shouted. " Inuyasha." She said sweetly, causing him to wince at what he knew was about to come. "SIT BOY! SIT SIT SIT SIT SIT SIT BOY!" she shouted. The girl snickered. ' serves him right she thought.'

Kagome then turned to the girl with a smile on her face. "So what is your name and how on earth did you come across Kouga's wolves?" she asked politely.

"Oh… my name is Shiko." She said

"Why do you smell like cat?" Inuyasha huffed.

"Inuyasha don't make me say IT again." Kagome said with a glare as she helped Shiko to her feet. " Please continue. Don't mind him. He's all bark and no bite."

"Well you see, I live just north of here, just below the snowy mountains. I had left my home, my tribe, in pursuit of an evil being. All I had was a note and scent but not much else. You see this evil, Kid napped my younger sister, Kohaku. Kinda strange name for a girl I know.. but that's what my mothers dyeing wish was so.. ya. Enyway. I had lost the scent long ago and ended up getting lost. With there being nothing but humans around they kinda drowned out the scent… no offence."

"I don't understand.. Are you not human?" Kagome asked.

"no" she said as she waved her hand around her body causing a wind and before their eyes she changed into a Neko Youkai. She was dressed in a fighting Kimono of blue with pink Sakura petals decorating it. At her side she had a Dagger adorned with vines that curved up the base and stopped where the metal began. The vines seemed to glow green. " I am, as you can see a Neko. I am also princess of my tribe and next in line to inherit the throne."

"I thought I smelled Cat." Inuyasha growled. Kagome shot him a death glare and turned back to Shiko. The group stood in awe at the neko in front of them. " Wow. I love your kimono." Kagome smiled. "really? My mother made it for me before she died. It's made of a special silk that acts like armer. It takes a lot of force to get through this." She said matter of factly.

"Mind if I try?" Inuyasha growled out as he placed his hand on the hilt of his sword. Shiko Jumped back into a fighting stance and readied her claws.

"don't make me purify your doggy ass!" she hissed out. As she made to grab her dagger.

"Stop it you two!" Kagome shouted. Then she turned to Shiko. " what did you mean when you said Purify?" she asked slightly confused. " I thought demons couldn't purify. That only Mikos could." She said puzzled.

" Well for the most part that is true. You see, for demons pure energy could kill them because of their blood. As for me, My tribe has been blessed by a powerful miko long ago with the power to purify. The only thing is, since no one can out do Mother Nature, we were given special weapons that could purify any demon. We are a special tribe that exterminates evil demons. Much like the Taijiya." She told them

"wow. I did not know purifying power could be forged into a weapon." Sango gasped. Shiko drew her dagger for them to examine. " may I see it." She asked. Shiko handed it to her for a closer look. " wow who could forge such a weapon? It is practically flawless." The others just stared in awe at the masterpiece of a weapon.

"feh. Do you think such a puny weapon could help you in a battle?" Inuyasha sneered. " It is no where near as powerful as my tetsaiga." He huffed.

" YOU MUTT have not seen nearly all that this weapon is capable of. It was forged by the great Totosai, along with many other of the weapons that my tribe holds dear. Do not mock his work."

" did you say Totosai? He also forged the Tetsaiga and its brother sword Tensaiga. We know of his genius." Miroku said.

"Is the dog always so rude and quick to jump to conclusions?" Shiko snapped in Inuyasha direction.

"Always!" piped up the young Kitsune child who up until now had been off playing with Kirara the two tail. He simply could not pass up the chance to insult Inuyasha. And was growing more and more curious about the auburn haired neko. Perhaps it was the two cat like ears atop her head, who knows.

"One thing I don't understand Cat. Is Why the hell were you running from wolves if you are as strong as you say you are?" Inuyasha Jeered.

"Do you ever give it a rest. Jeez. I really don't like Dogs and I really don't like wolves.. and most of all.. I really really don't like to hurt animals. I mean besides all the snarling the wolves were sort of cute… I just don't like how canines smell…"

As Shiko finished her sentence every one in the group sweat dropped and had a shocked look on their face.

"You don't like dogs but you thought the wolves were cute even when they wanted to kill you?" Inuyasha asked in disbelief

" well umm ya. He he"

the group started walking toward the well again this time with a new group member. They all took turns introducing them selves to each other and giving their stories.

Meanwhile:

In a dark room a girl sat in a corner sobbing when a door was heard creaking open. She jumped at the sound and turned to glare at whomever would disturb her.

"ha ha ha ha" a voice laughed as it approached the young girl who was now trying to control her sobs. "well my dear child I do hope you are enjoying your stay. After all you may be hear for a while."

"My family will never give you what you want. They don't bargain with evil ya know." The young girl spat.

" I trust, that in time I will have all I have ever dreamed of and more. Your kingdom as my own included. Either way you shall die and I will take pleasure in killing you myself. But until then I shall have fun with what I have. Ha ha ha ha ha" he laughed as his dark shadow fell over the girl and all you could hear for miles were her piercing screams.