Chapter 1: Please Help us!
"Arh Kagome! Where is this jewel shard supposed to be!?" Inuyasha whined, him, Kagome and Shippo had been travailing for three days now because Kagome said she sensed a jewel shard nearby.
"It's not my fault Inuyasha! You're the one stopping every five minutes to look for Ramen in my bag!" Kagome responded, stopping and huffing while crossing her arms.
"I can't help it if I get hungry wench!" Inuyasha shot back.
"Here we go again." Shippo quietly mumbled to himself.
"Inuyasha! Sit boy!" Kagome commanded, seconds later Inuyasha was embedded in the ground face first.
"Why you! What ya do that ..." Inuyasha stopped mid sentence as his ears had perked up. He closed his eyes and listened, his adorable puppy ears swivelling on his head, soon Shippo begun to do the same trying to pick up whatever Inuyasha could hear.
"Inuyasha?" Kagome softly asked looking at the hanyou with concern.
"I hear crying." Inuyasha spoke. "Coming from over there." Inuyasha pointed to a misty forest not far in the distance but far enough for it to take the rest of day to get there.
"I can hear it too Kagome." Shippo said hopping on Kagome's shoulder. "In the forest of the Nekita."
"Forest of the Nekita?" Kagome repeated, she had never heard of such a place in her time.
"Yer, it said to have once been the home of a tribe of fearsome yet peaceful neko youkai, but nobody as seen that tribe in over fifty years." Shippo informed.
"Where do you suppose they went?" Kagome asked placing her finger to her lips in thought.
"Keh. Nobody knows so we might as well just leave it." Inuyasha suggested, insensitive as always.
"Wait Inuyasha I sense the jewel shard is in that forest!" Kagome informed.
"Well why didn't you say that earlier!" Inuyasha complained in his usual cocky way.
"Inuyasha maybe we should make camp and sent off in search of the jewel tomorrow?" Kagome suggested.
"It is getting dark." Shippo added.
"Fine." Inuyasha agreed. "But we setting off first thing in the morning!" As Inuyasha jumped into a nearby tree he thought about the Nekita tribe for he had met one of them before, over fifty years ago.
As everyone fell asleep they were unaware that they were being watched.
The next morning.
Kagome stretched out of her sleeping bag, satisfied with a good night's sleep, the sun was just beginning to rise, bathing Japan in it's warm glow. Inuyasha was still asleep in his tree and Kagome couldn't help but notice he looked so peaceful when he slept and let a small smile rise to her lips.
As the morning went by everyone quickly set of into the Forest of the Nekita and soon everyone noticed a problem. "I can't see!" Kagome stated.
"Me neither." Shippo agreed, it was true the fog was so thick you could slice it with Inuyasha's sword.
"Stop whinin' all we need to do is find whatever demon has the jewel shard, take it and leave." Inuyasha spoke.
Suddenly Kagome screamed and was gone. "KAGOME!" Inuyasha yelled only to hear no response, Shippo managed to find the hanyou's shoulder and buried himself in it.
"Inuyasha where'd Kagome go?" Shippo asked.
Making no move to remove the small fox Inuyasha started to yell. "Come out ya filthy demons and give me back Kagome!" Out of the mist you could many different pairs of eyes, they all glowed demonically and most of them were different colours, some were green and yellow, others blue or red.
"Leave now, you are not welcome here!" One of the many eyes told Inuyasha and Shippo.
"Keh. I'm not going anywhere until you give back Kagome!" Inuyasha vowed.
"She is needed, you are not, leave!" The same voice ordered again.
"Hey Inuyasha." Shippo whispered. "They smell like cats." Inuyasha sniffed up and true he did smell cats but no Kagome the fog was so thick it was messing with Inuyasha's nose.
"Oh yer what you need her for?" Inuyasha inquired.
Inuyasha received no answer and the eyes disappeared into the fog. "Hey get back here!" Inuyasha commanded wildly swinging around Tessaiga. "KAGOME!" Inuyasha roared.
In the middle of the forest.
"Ow." Kagome mumbled as she was dropped on the ground, Kagome looked around and found she was surrounded by nekomata's and bakeneko's all looking at her hopefully, she also noticed she was in a village, it was completely made out of wood and stank of rotten mildew due to the intense fog. A huge cat began to walk towards her and Kagome felt no fear, this giant beast seemed gentle, he walked proudly over to her, he was white all over with a few grey tufts as a sign of his old age and glowing purple eyes, the closer he got the more human like he became, old and wise were the only words to describe him with and yet gentle.
"We are sorry for this Miko but we are in need of help." The giant neko spoke his eyes radiating kindness.
"What is it?" Kagome asked, she sensed no danger and confused as to why a giant clan of demons would want a humans help.
"We need someone strong to help us save our leader, she has been locked away in this never ending fog for over fifty years and everything we seem to try doesn't work, she is the only person who can lead us but she is trapped." The neko spoke again.
"Trapped where?" Kagome asked.
"In her own depression." A different neko spoke this time, she was jet black with emerald jade eyes.
"Kayla do not interrupt our elder!" Another neko demanded.
"It is quite alright Sozan. That is right, our leader the powerful peacemaker Miyake died over fifty years ago along with his mate Katsuura, this lead their child to become deeply depressed, that is why out forest is surrounded in fog, it is because she is upset and cannot figure out why they left her." The elder informed.
"How sad." Kagome said out loud.
"Indeed, we have tried ourselves to free her from her own prison but unfortunately she is too strong for us, we are beaten every time we seek to free her. Nobody here is strong enough for her, we sensed your power when you entered our forest, please Miko would you be willing to help us?" The elder asked.
"Please help." A baby neko asked nuzzling Kagome's hand, this one was a blond colour and had red eyes.
"But what about Inuyasha?" Kagome asked. "And Shippo!"
"They are your friends, are they not?" The elder asked.
"Yes." Kagome answered.
"Then they will help to, that is if you are willing." The elder told Kagome.
'Wow for a bunch of demons they sure are nice!' Kagome thought. 'I can't say no, they need their leader back and I can help, I will!' "I'll do it. I'll help you get your leader back."
The neko's roared in happiness and took turns to nuzzle their new hero which Kagome giggled at. Once they had all finished the elder spoke again. "You are free to stay here or we will take you back to your friends."
"I wish to go back to my friends." Kagome said smiling, these youkai were truly nice.
"As you wish, Kiba. Please escort the Miko back to her friends." The elder commanded.
"Yes Elder. Please follow me." The cat named Kiba told Kagome who blindly followed.
Back with Inuyasha.
"Inuyasha face it! You can't get through the fog!" Shippo told the stubborn hanyou, he had tried twelve times to get thought the fog and each time he ended up back where he started.
"Shut-up runt!" Inuyasha ordered.
"Inuyasha!" Kagome called from the fog.
"Huh. Kagome." Inuyasha whispered his dog ears twitching at the sound of her voice.
"Inuyasha!" Kagome called again stepping out of the thick fog followed by Kiba.
"Kagome!" Both Inuyasha and Shippo yelled running up to their friend, Inuyasha stopped when her caught a whiff of her, she reeked of cats.
"Where did you go Kagome?" Shippo asked after receiving a hug.
"She was with us Kitsune and she has also agreed to help us." Kiba informed.
"Guys this is Kiba." Kagome introduced.
"Kagome why the hell is there a flea-bitten moggy following you? And why do you reek of cats?" Inuyasha asked while covering his nose from the stench.
Kagome huffed. "Kiba isn't a flea-bitten moggy Inuyasha, he was kind enough to lead me out of the forest and I smell like cats because the Tribe of Nekita needed my help."
"Why do they need your help Kagome?" Shippo asked.
"There leader is in some sort of trouble and they asked me if I could help and I said yes." Kagome replied.
"Why the hell did you agree to help them!" Inuyasha growled towering over Kagome.
"Because Inuyasha they are in trouble and we have to help!" Kagome argued.
"Oh no we don't! I never agreed to help!" Inuyasha shot back.
"Are they always like this?" Kiba asked Shippo who had retreated to the ground.
"Yep." Shippo replied.
After a while of explaining Inuyasha finally agreed after being reminded that there was still a jewel shard in the forest somewhere and if they helped to rise the fog they could find it a lot more easily, Shippo was happy to go anywhere with Kagome and Kiba stayed so that in he could escort them through the fog.
'NekitaKariba, I always told you your heart was too big.'