Her fate Their mission

by burnt.rose84

My name is Kaede, and I'm from the future.. I watched my family die, and my only choice is to go back and save them... even if it means sealing my own fate.. I'm more than willing to take that chance...

1. The arrow and the arrival

-1"Did you remember everything you'll need?"
"Yes, yes I'll be fine. I won't need much besides food and my weapon."
"Don't forget, do NOT take that arm band off. It has the scent concealed in it so that no demon will be able to recognize your scent. You will smell like any other full blooded human with it."
"I understand. I'll try to be careful."

A girl picks up a large, yellow backpack and proceeds to walk out of the house that her and another man seem to live in.

The girl had long, jet black hair, with blonde highlights. Her eyes were bright amber-colored, and she was wearing an old kimono outfit that wasn't normally worn any longer. Instead of nails, she had short claws, so they almost looked more like human nails than claws.

Before the girl left, the man grabbed her by the right elbow and said, "You know that I don't approve of this. I was supposed to protect you, not let you do something that could get yourself hurt or worse..."

The girl turned to him and said, "Do you know of any other way? If I do this, I could save more than one life... More than one family... Maybe people wouldn't have to suffer anymore... Maybe all of the killings could be stopped."

The man let go of the girl and turned away saying, "If they were here, they'd tell you not to go. My sister... She wouldn't have wanted you to take this chance..."

"They're not here... that's the problem... if they were, I probably wouldn't have to do this..."

The girl turned and walked out of the house and proceeded to a small, old hut. Before entering the hut, the girl looked around to see if anyone was watching. It was dark, as far as she could see no one was there. She opened the door slowly as it creaked and squeaked loudly. It was, in fact, an old door as it was.

The girl's amber eyes were glued directly onto, what seemed to be, an old, wooden well. She stared at it for a moment and then walked down the rickety stairs until she came to the lip of the well.

"This is the only way... I know what I have to do..."

The girl took out a small box-like item from her pocket and she adjusted some of the knobs and buttons upon it. The well began to light into a blue glow, and then it began to adjust to a bright orange. The girl then put the box back into her pocket and zipped the pocket shut to ensure that she would not lose the box.

"This is it... I have to do this..."

The girl then jumped into the well and the light grew in intensity and then quickly disappeared soon after. The well stood there as it always had and everything was quiet once more. And the girl... was gone...

In the feudal era of Japan, there was an ongoing hunt between six friends. They were on the hunt for the shards of the sacred jewel. We find them now, late at night, in a small, abandoned hut, to keep away predators and the cold night air.

All were asleep, except for one. It seemed InuYasha was having one of those nights where he just couldn't fall asleep. The area that they were in was said to have recently harbored a demon that they are hunting. A demon named Naraku. They had searched for three days straight, following the rumors, but had found nothing. InuYasha was growing exceedingly impatient. But for now, all he could do was waiver his hatred for Naraku and attempt to rest his racing mind.

"InuYasha?" Kagome awoke.
"What is it?" InuYasha asked.
"Can't sleep?" she asked rubbing her tired eyes.
"No, I can't. I can't get over how we've been following all of these rumors about Naraku but we haven't found anything... I think we've been going around in circles and it's starting to get on my nerves."
Kagome understood InuYasha's pain. She knew how badly he wanted to rip into the flesh of Naraku and take revenge for what had happened to him 50 years ago.
"Well we can't very well do anything until we find him. You should try and sleep for now... Wait a minute..."
InuYasha's eyes opened quickly and he set eyes on the girl, "What is it?"
Kagome stood up and said, "I sense the sacred jewel nearby, InuYasha."
InuYasha stood up quickly and the others began to awaken slowly.
"What is it?" Miroku asked.
"The sacred jewel is getting closer. It's definitely Naraku's part of the jewel." Kagome said again.
In just seconds Miroku, Sango, Kirara, and Shippo were up and ready to follow the power of the jewel to Naraku.
InuYasha motioned for Kagome to get on his back as he said, "Where is it Kagome?!"
The girl pointed in an easterly direction and said, "That way! I'm sure of it!"
They all headed off in the direction in which Kagome had pointed. InuYasha's blood was boiling, he was sure that he was ready for a battle to the death with his enemy and nothing was going to stop him this time!

Finally, after following the power of the jewel for a good ten minutes, they came upon a clearing in the middle of the forest, and Naraku was standing right in the middle of it. Almost like he was waiting for them to come to him.

InuYasha landed at the edge of the clearing and let Kagome off of his back.

"Naraku!! I've been looking for you! And here you are!" InuYasha snarled as he placed his hand on the hilt of the Tetsusaiga.

Naraku seemed quiet at first, as though he were concentrating on something in particular. He looked towards Kagome and then to the group, then he looked back to InuYasha and smiled with his greedy grin.

"What the hell are you smiling at? Are you smiling because you know that this is your fate?!"

"InuYasha, you have been busy I see. I have come to see if what was said was true, and apparently it is." Naraku snickered.

InuYasha couldn't have been more confused, "What the hell are you talking about Naraku?!"

The evil demon smiled again and laughed. "You are as unknowingly dimwitted InuYasha."

"Why you..." InuYasha then pulled the sword from it's protective sheath, and brandished the well known sword against his enemy. "You'll die today Naraku!" he said as he ran forward and jumped, ready to swing his sword to cut through Naraku, but the evil demon put up his infamous barrier which knocked the dog demon back and to the ground.

"Your skills are lacking, at best, InuYasha," Naraku chuckled.

InuYasha stood up, "Damn! His barrier seems stronger than it ever has been!"

"InuYasha seems to be having trouble doing this alone. Sango, maybe we could try our hand at it!" Miroku yelled.

"Yeah! Let's go! Kirara!" Sango called for her demon cat friend and the three of them flew towards naraku, Miroku throwing his strongest sutras and preparing his wind tunnel and Sango tossing her Hiraikotsu. The weapons and sutras were thrown back as well as the three who also landed not far from where InuYasha landed.

"I'll get you for this Naraku!" InuYasha shouted.

No one was sure of what to do, Kagome didn't have her arrows on her so she was unable to aid in the fight.

InuYasha wasn't sure what to do, his wind scar and adamant barrage wouldn't be breaking this new barrier anytime soon... He growled in anger.

Just before InuYasha had decided to try his hand at it again, a bright flash of purple flashed past him and cut through Naraku's barrier like a hot knife through butter.

"What was that?!" InuYasha asked himself as he turned to look back at Kagome.

Miroku, Sango and Shippo looked to the girl but she was turned as well.

"A sacred arrow! Who shot that arrow?!" Kagome asked.

"If that wasn't Kagome's arrow, then who's arrow was it?" Sango asked.

"It seems as though someone with extraordinary spiritual powers has shot it. Could it have been Kikyou?" Miroku asked as well.

"It couldn't have been Kikyou!" InuYasha yelled, "It smells of a living human!"

"InuYasha! Whoever it was, they have a shard of the jewel!"

"I'm busy trying to take care of Naraku right now!" InuYasha turned back to where Naraku was and pointed his sword at him once more. "Whoever shot that arrow destroyed Naraku's barrier, and now he's mine!"

Naraku looked annoyed, as though someone had just stolen his thunder. "See you around InuYasha!" Naraku sprayed his miasma cloud all around him, and then he was gone.

"Damn! He got away again!" InuYasha was now even more infuriated since Naraku had taken off. But he sheathed his sword and turned to where the arrow was shot from. As he did this, Miroku and Sango ran up to InuYasha.

"InuYasha!" Miroku yelled as he approached, "Whoever shot that arrow, I sensed a great deal of spiritual power from, as well as the aura of a demon."

"Spiritual powers, AND demonic powers? Something's wrong there. I thought that I smelled a human!"

"Wait a minute, where's Kagome?" Sango asked.

InuYasha turned to see Shippo running at them.

"InuYasha! Sango, Miroku!" Shippo cried out.

"Shippo! Where's Kagome?!" InuYasha asked.

"She ran to find whoever it was who shot the arrow! She thought that maybe it was Kikyo!" Shippo told his story.

"What?! Why would she do something so stupid?!" InuYasha took off and ran towards where the last place where Kagome's smell was.

"What are you doing Kagome?!" InuYasha thought to himself.

Kagome swore that she saw someone who looked... familiar. And whoever they were, they had a shard of the jewel, so it wasn't too hard to chase after them.

"I've got to find out who that was!" Kagome thought to herself as she ran through the wooded area. After running for so long she sensed that the jewel was right on top of her and she couldn't see a thing, being that it was so dark.

"Who's there?! Hello?!!" Kagome yelled. She heard rustling in the trees above as if someone was moving around above her. She felt the shard move as well so she was trying to follow it's quick movements.

"Kagome!!" She heard InuYasha yell from a distance and turned to see if she could see him.

"Inu-!" Kagome was about to yell when she heard someone jump out of a tree and land behind her. She turned quickly to see a girl just a little taller than her standing there looking her in the eyes. There was something so familiar about her. Her eyes... They were the same color as... as...

"Kagome!!" InuYasha was closer now and he could sense that whoever this "thing" was that shot the arrow might be dangerously close to Kagome.

InuYasha landed in front of Kagome, but the person standing there was gone. He could smell the human scent leaving the area fast, and he planned on chasing it, but first he had to attend to Kagome.

"What were you thinking?! If you think for a second that what you did wasn't stupid, you're out of you mind! You could have been hurt and taken away by that demon and I might not have been able to catch up in time!" InuYasha scolded the girl.

"InuYasha! There's something about that girl that I just can't - wait a minute... Did you say that she was a demon?"

"Yeah, All I can smell is human, but Miroku said that he sensed strong spiritual powers and a strong demonic aura. Now come on, get on my back and we'll try to catch up."

Kagome did as he asked and climbed on his back, then he lunged where he could smell the human scent and started to catch up.

"Oh shit! They're right behind me! Something told me that I should have waited to shoot that arrow! Damn! I didn't realize how strongly she'd stick on my case! I better get a move on!"

The girl jumped from tree to tree, hoping that it would be enough to get her farther away from the two. Just as she thought that she had managed to keep out of range from InuYasha and Kagome, she heard the growls of a cat demon in front of her and saw the fast movements of Kirara with Sango, Miroku, and Shippo riding atop of her.

"Stop right there!" Miroku shouted.

The girl lost her footing on the branch of one of the trees that she was stepping on, and she fell from the tree.

"AHHHHHHHHH!" the girl cried out just before she hit her left shoulder to the ground, breaking her arm.

Just before she got up she could smell that InuYasha and Kagome were standing over her and she didn't know if she could get out of this in time to make a clean getaway.

"Who are you?!" The obnoxious voice of InuYasha rang through to the girl as Kirara landed on the other side of her just as she rolled over to try to make a getaway from that direction.

"Calm down InuYasha, it looks as though it's just a girl." Sango stated as she jumped off of Kirara along with Miroku and Shippo.

Without looking up at anyone in the group, the girl saw a little opening and began to crawl up to her feet as quickly as she could.

"Oh no you don't!" InuYasha said as he stepped on her back and held her down.

"I asked you a question! I want you to answer me!" InuYasha gloated.

"Careful InuYasha! She hasn't done anything to harm any of us and she's hurt!" Kagome pointed out as she sat down next to the girl.

"It's okay, we're not going to hurt you, we just didn't know who you were." Kagome tried to comfort the girl.

"Then tell Mutt-faced here to get off of me!" the girl muttered in a painful breath.

InuYasha clenched his teeth and held his fist up in anger as he said, "Why you..."

"InuYasha! Come on! She didn't do anything wrong! Get off of her!" Kagome ordered.

InuYasha stepped off of the girl and she sat up holding her left arm.

"Did you hurt yourself?" Kagome asked the girl.

"I think I broke my arm after your buddies here came out of nowhere and scared the living daylights out of me." The girl said angrily as she finally looked up at everyone.

When she looked up, everyone was taken back after they all gave her a quick going over. Her hair was jet black, except for what seemed like blonde highlights, and her eyes... her eyes were the same as InuYasha's. Bright amber-colored.

"What are you all staring at?!" The girl yelled and shook them all out of their dazed state.

Kagome was the first to speak up, "I'm sorry, it's just that you have this look about you. Like we've met before."

The girl thought to herself "The jig is up!"

The monk pressed forward and bent down to the girl and looked her straight in the eyes. "InuYasha, can you say that you still smell the scent of a pure-blooded human on this girl?"

"I don't know. I'm a little confused. I smell the blood of a human, but it's almost like it's a mask. Like it's covering up the real scent."

Miroku then looked at the girl and said, "InuYasha is a dog demon, and has a very sensitive nose. He said that he could smell a human scent from you but I sense that this is somehow a lie. You also seem to have great spiritual energy and you managed to break the strong barrier from around Naraku. How is it that you managed to do all of this?"

Everyone was looking at the girl now that Miroku had asked her the questions that they were all thinking. The girl was starting to wonder if she had a good way of getting out of this.

"Why do you all think that I have to answer your questions?! I don't know any of you! One minute I think I'm being a kind stranger the next minute the people I've saved are interrogating me! What's your problems anyway?!" The girl finally let out.

Miroku realized that the girl wasn't about to answer any of his questions truthfully so he sighed and stood up. "Well we did cause your fall which broke your arm. You should come with us and Kagome can give you some of her medical supplies."

The girl stood up on her own slowly and said, "I don't need your help, I'm perfectly capable of taking care of myself. THANKS..." The girl looked around and saw her bow and quiver of arrows lying on the ground nearby where she had landed on the ground.

"Now if you don't mind, I have places to be..." The girl grabbed her things and began to walk off.

"Wait!" Kagome called out, "What about your jewel shard?"

The girl stopped and wondered where this was going but knew she had to act this one out, "I don't know what you're talking about..."

"Well you've got a broken arm, and a jewel shard, and you're a human! Don't you think that other demons are going to try to take advantage of that?"

"She's right" Sango chimed in, "You're making yourself a prime target for any demon who's looking for a free jewel shard. Plus I'm sure that Naraku is looking for you since you managed to get through his barrier."

"Yeah!" Shippo added, "It will take weeks for your arm to heal, at least stay with us until then! You could get hurt worse than you are now!"

"Don't be stubborn... Just come with us already... Don't make us drag you along..." InuYasha stated.

Even though the girl didn't want to admit it, they were right. Even though she had disguised her demon powers, it was fruitless. She still might not have had the strength to pull the bow string to shoot an arrow for a few days. Plus she had hidden her bag of food and other things away so that no one could find them until she was ready to get them herself. If she stuck around them for a couple of days it wouldn't hurt anything as long as she left before they noticed.

"Just for a few days then... After that I'm going off on my own. Got it?" The girl let them know what was going to happen.

"Alright then, now let's all go, it's nearly morning and we should get back to the hut to collect our things," Miroku stated.

The seven travelers made their way back to the small hut that the six of them had been rested in previously. Kagome bandaged up some of the scratches on the girl's arm and created a make-shift sling for her broken arm.

"So what's your name?" Shippo asked whimsically.

Without even stopping to think the girl blurted out her name and said, "Kaede".

Once again she had everyone stopping at what they were doing to look at the girl. She then realized what she had done but she had to cover up her tracks.

"Why is it that every time I say or do something I get these daggers in my skull?"

"Well it's just that, we also know someone by that name," Miroku stated.

"It's not like it's an uncommon name or anything... Will you all stop staring at me?!?!" Kaede yelled.

"My, she certainly has a bad attitude," Sango whispered to Miroku, "Yes, she has certain qualities that demons we know also possess..."

Kaede heard what they had said but she didn't want to give herself away anymore than she already had by letting them know that she had heard them.

"So, Kaede, where is it that you learned your spiritual skills from? You must have been practicing them for many years to acquire such a skill," Miroku asked.

"I've learned them from... a great priestess. I lived in a temple and was taught everything about priestess powers and over the years have practiced my hand at them," Kaede responded quickly. Really, she wasn't lying, she really did learn them from a great priestess.

"Oh? What was the name of this great priestess?" Miroku continued to ask the questions that dismayed Kaede and caught the attention of everyone else as they all helped to prepare a lunch, except for InuYasha, who hadn't taken his eyes off of the girl since they had arrived back at the hut. He was studying her in order to make sure that she wasn't a threat.

"Well, no one there called her a name. She preferred to be called nothing more than a priestess. It was her way of showing her respect to the dignity of a servant to the gods and the people." Kaede lied.

There was a moment of awkward silence and then Shippo asked, "Where was this shrine?"

Kaede should have known that they were going to press on with these questions... But she still had to quickly cover her tracks, "Well it's several hundreds of miles away from here. It's been years since I've been there."

Another awkward silence.

Kaede couldn't take it anymore. She was beginning to feel like she was going to be questioned until they knew about every freckle on her body, and every scratch she had ever had.

"Listen, this was a bad idea, I mean, thank you for the medical treatment and all, and for the herbs, but I really shouldn't stay," she said as she walked to the door of the hut.

Before she made it to the door, InuYasha stopped her and said, "You're in no shape to go out there on your own."

Kaede began to become angry, "I don't really think that something like that is for you to decide for me..."

"Fine..." InuYasha said as he picked up her bow and quiver. He took an arrow out of the quiver and walked the girl outside. The others followed.

"Shoot this arrow then, " InuYasha demanded as he handed her the bow and the arrow.

"If you haven't noticed I have a broken arm..." Kaede snarled.

"Then if you can't shoot an arrow, you can't leave here..." InuYasha growled at the girl.

"What the hell does that have to do with anything?!" Kaede yelled.

"If you can't defend yourself, then you shouldn't be out alone. Especially since Naraku has been in the area, it's too dangerous for a human girl to be out on her own, even if she has spiritual powers like yours. If you can't shoot a sacred arrow, you can't defend yourself, " InuYasha scolded.

"For gods sakes! I'm not a child learning how to defend myself, I can do other things besides shoot a dumb arrow!" Kaede whined.

"Fine then..." InuYasha took the bow and arrow and sat them down as the others continued to watch.

"What are you doing now?" Kaede whined again.

"Since you can defend yourself without an arrow, I'm going to attack you. If you can defeat me, you can leave..." InuYasha said as he walked farther away in order to make a running jump.

"InuYasha! You can't be serious! She's injured!" Kagome yelled at the stubborn dog demon.

InuYasha stopped and turned around and started to run at the girl.

Kaede couldn't believe this! He was seriously going to attack her and she had to defend herself without using her demons powers to prove that her spiritual side was strong enough to use in the wilderness. Every moment that she was thinking about what to do, InuYasha got closer and closer and began to ready his claws for an attack. Kaede's mind was racing. Damn! She really should have trained with her spiritual powers more!

InuYasha lunged at the girl as he began to swing his arm and yelled "IRON REAVER-"

"What do I do? What do I do? What do I do?" Kaede's mind raced on and on.

"SOUL STEALER!!!" InuYasha's claws were just inches away from her when she finally yelled, "ALL RIGHT! FINE! I CAN'T USE ANYTHING BUT AN ARROW!"

InuYasha stopped just before his claws even came close to tearing through her flesh. He landed on the ground and took her bow and arrows and handed them to Kaede.

"When you can show me that you can shoot these the same way that you shot that arrow that broke Naraku's barrier, then you can leave. Until then, you're stuck with us, so get used to it!" InuYasha turned and walked back into the hut.

Kaede had a dazed look on her face and the others were unsure if they should do something to comfort the girl or go inside and finish lunch like nothing had just happened.

"What the hell are all of YOU staring at?" Kaede scorned the group.

They all scattered back into the hut saying that they all had different things to do to look inconspicuous about their interest in what had just happened.

It was later that evening that everyone had settled down and were about ready to go to sleep when InuYasha asked, "Hey, where did Kagome and Kaede go off to?"

"Well Kaede left a few minutes ago to go fill a canteen with water from the river, and I think Kagome's been gone for a little while now to bathe," Sango replied.

Being the worrier that he was, InuYasha decided to go check on Kagome.

He now knew where the nearby hot springs were from the hut since they had spent more than a couple of nights there. He walked for just a few minutes when he found the hot springs, and not to his surprise, found Kagome sitting near them fully clothed.

"What are you still doing out here by yourself?" InuYasha asked.

Kagome was a little surprised, but not really. She knew that he'd be out looking for her if she was gone for too long, "I didn't feel well again so I stayed here for a minute to sit down."

InuYasha sat on some of the rocks nearby and said, "Are you sure that you shouldn't go home? You've been sick like this for days now."

"No, I'm fine. I just needed a minute to sit and relax."

"Come on then, I'll carry you back to the hut so you don't have to walk," InuYasha motioned for her to climb on.

"Thanks InuYasha..." Kagome said as she climbed on his back.

They left the hot springs and a few seconds later Kaede appeared where they had once been. She had been listening from afar and she smiled. Sitting down on the rocks in the hot springs, she pulled out a picture from one of her pockets. She smiled even bigger and laughed a little.

The picture was of InuYasha and Kagome, and InuYasha holding a small infant demon who was pulling on his hair, and Kagome and the infant were both smiling while InuYasha looked frustrated.