Kagome carefully handed Inuyasha his bowl of ramen, which Inuyasha paid no mind to Kagome's cautiousness and snatched the bowl out of her hands. He took a quick sip of the hot broth, grabbed his chopsticks from beside him, and went to town on the hot noodles. All day the group of six had traveled slowly through the chilly fall weather. And as the orange sun began to sink behind the hills they decided to rest for the night. Sango handed Miroku his bowl of noodles and then poured hot water into her bowl. Kagome served noodles to Shippo as well who was bouncing with joy. Kirara had gone off on her own to hunt for dinner.

"Ok!" Inuyasha broke the peaceful silence as he wiped his mouth away with his sleeve. "Why are we going to a stupid village four days of a walk away just to see a damn sword!"

"Because it's not normal Inuyasha. It's been causing the village problems and they can't get rid of it." Kagome replied as she stirred her noodles.

"Just take it to a sword smith so they can melt it! C'mon how hard is that!" He retorted.

Kagome sighed tiredly. "You never listen Inuyasha. If you listened to the gossip you would know the sword can't be removed from it's sheath."

"I don't listen to gossip Kagome, that's a girl's job."

Kagome angrily stared at him and he immediately knew what was going to happen if he didn't fix himself right away. "I mean we listen to gossip too just not as much as girls ok!"

"A sword that cannot be removed from it's sheath most probably has a barrier surrounding it," Miroku said. "It could be a demonic sword... someone is clearly trying to keep this sword locked away."

"It would make sense. If what villagers say is true, this thing most likely is demonic," Sango added.

"Then what are we going to do with it?" Inuyasha asked.

"Well," Kagome began to say, sounding uncertain, "I thought we would try to get rid it for them."

Inuyasha shook his head and shoved noodles into his mouth. He washed it down with the remainder of the hot soup and once more wiped his mouth with his sleeve. "Kagome, you need to learn to stop helping people so much."

She huffed in response, "Excuse me! If I didn't help people I probably wouldn't have helped you when you were pinned to a tree!"

"True." Inuyasha simply shrugged and laid back onto the cool grass. He crossed his arms behind his head and crossed one leg over his other leg. "I'm gonna get some shut eye so don't bother me!"

"Good night, Inuyasha." Kagome said softly, but he simply grunted in response.

Inuyasha was clearly tired as he had fallen asleep within ten minutes. Kagome was happy that Inuyasha was finally getting some much needed rest after Naraku was killed. Ever since his death, Inuyasha seemed more at peace with himself and life. She could understand, after all no one had to be on tipy-toes all the time. Miroku and Sango were next to fall asleep along with Shippo cuddling up to Kirara once she had returned from her hunt. Kagome on the other hand was having trouble falling asleep. She could feel a very strong demonic presence, yet it was slight at the same time. She hoped this would not be coming from the sword but she had a feeling it was. Nonetheless, time passed and the feeling had not gone away. She was agitated at this point and stood up to take a walk in the cool night air. "Oh!" She quickly mumbled to herself and walked back to camp to fetch her bow and arrow. She most certainly didn't want to go into the night alone without any protection. With her weapon in hand she began to her walk into the forest again.

With more time passing and with her prancing in the forest nothing was easing her discomfort. In fact it had gotten worse. Dread, anger, and sadness were beginning to set in. She was relentlessly fidgeting with the string on her bow. A headache was beginning and her chest was feeling too heavy to continue breathing. Why on earth was she feeling like this? Had she gotten food poisoning from the food? Could this be the sword's aura affecting her? It couldn't be as this village was still a good two days away. Suddenly leafs on the floor began to break. Kagome could only hear them break and crack as loudly as if a glass vase was shattered on the floor. Over and over these noises bothered and were aching in her ears. That's when she finally noticed that she was not alone and quickly positioned an arrow onto her bow. She pulled back and pointed in all directions, trying find the source of the terrible noise ringing in her ears. Without warning two cold hands wrapped around her head and tightly covered her ears. Kagome screamed and dropped her weapon and clawed at the cold hands. She tried wriggling herself out of the hold but the hands held her firmly in place.

"Stop."

The whisper in her ears froze her entire body. Her breathing was raged with force and she felt sweat covering her forehead. "You are a strong Miko but you are a weak human," the whisper continued, "ignore the sword. You can feel its aura and you can hear it talk to you. Drown out all you feel that is dread."

Kagome squeezed her eyes shut and ignored all the dread she was feeling. Slowly she could feel her chest lighten up again and the cold night air made her shiver. Her heighten hearing quickly died away and she could hear nothing but empty ringing. But, she still felt that faint dread from before. The cold hands unwrapped away from her ears and she brought her arms up against her chest. She had to admit that she felt as if she had just ran a marathon twice.

"Tell me you are not going to retrieve that sword, Miko." A man much taller than her and Inuyasha walked in front of her and stood there silently. He was dressed in all black with a red sash around his waist. His eyes were a beautiful orange-reddish color that glowed in the dark. His hair was black and unusually short, cleanly swept to one side. He was quite tall and slender, yet had a perfect built upper body.

Kagome blinked multiple times, trying to register who was the man in front of her. He kinda looked like...a cat? "Um who are you? I know you're a demon..." He didn't seem dangerous like most demons she sees. He seemed rather calm, almost too calm. His aura was more peaceful rather than demonic. This would explain why she couldn't feel him sooner.

He tilted his head slightly to one side and shot a grin at her. "Oh I'm just a cat roaming out at night. I'm Raion by the way."

"A demon cat! Wow I've never seen another demon cat other than Kirara! But you're human, I-I mean you look human!"

He chuckled at her. He was happy to know that the distraction kept her from listening to the damn sword. "Yes, I'm a Bakeneko-"

Kagome muffled a laugh with her hands. He glared at her. "Don't you dare." He said.

She burst out with her laughter. "I'm sorry," she said in between laughs, "I thought a Bakeneko liked to go out at night and dance with a napkin on his head."

"I don't do that daily, only on every other night when I get drunk."

By now she was laughing her heart out. Her face was turning red and tears were running down her cheeks. "You look so mighty!" She giggled, "I can never see you as a cat dancing with a napkin on your head!"

"Ha ha ha, yes it's very funny. Now Miko, let's be serious. Why are you going to that village to retrieve that sword?"

Suddenly those words brought back the dread. She went emotionless and stared off into space. "Hey!" He yelled at her, quickly snapping her out of her trance. She shivered again as a cold gust of wind hit her. He bent towards her eye level and said, "You need to stop listening to that sword. It's going to kill you if you don't."

"How can it be the sword when we are so far away? How do you even know about the sword?"

He lifted his hand and pointed to his ear, looking quite saddened and bothered. "Because I can hear it just like you. Not everyone can hear it. But those who can have mostly left this world very quickly with the sword's words embedded in their soul." And only those who have true rage in their heart can hear it...

Kagome felt her own dread this time. He was right in everything he said to her. The sword spoke to her in a trance yet when she comes out of it she forgets what it said. But she can feel it still, faintly hearing it whisper from a far to her. It's almost as if it's beckoning her to come to it. "You best stay away from it Miko. You can't handle that sword what so ever. I can't handle it myself which is why I refuse to get near it."

"Then it's something extremely demonic and powerful isn't it?" She murmured. "Tell me why that sword is so demonic. I am not going to let a whole village die because of some stupid sword! I am going to destroy it no matter what!"

Raion looked on with amazement. Might this truly be the only human who can withstand the power of the sword? It can't be, she gets affected so easily by it. She clearly doesn't know what she's up against with. He sighed at her and said, "Miko, that sword has seen more blood and death in 50 years than in my entire 3000 years alive. The sword by now is more like a demon ready to come alive, except this one won't go out dancing at night with a napkin on it's head."

"Why is the sword so demonic, Raion. Tell me!" She slightly stomped her foot. "Tell me or I'll scream until Inuyasha comes here and makes you tell us what you know. You're telling me things that are just confusing me more."

He chuckled at her stubbornness and her threat. "That sword has been in many battles with a powerful demon who was the only one able to wield it. Have you ever heard about the Battle of the Blood Sisters ?"

Uh-oh...maybe history class does come in handy more than I thought. But who the heck will travel to the past to use this knowledge? Apparently only me! "No I haven't." She said softly and defeated to him.

Raion wrapped his arm around her small shoulders and turned her a bit facing to the northern mountains. "Do you see that mountain? Where the moon slightly seems to fit perfectly when it rises in the u shaped mountain? Roughly 2000 thousands years ago that mountain had a perfect point. That u shape in it was caused when two powerful demoness sisters became wrapped in their own battle for power. There's a cave in there where the sister who died in this battle lays...hoping one day to come out and eat your heart and soul rahhhhh!"

Kagome pushed him away, annoyed by him. "Really! Is that what really happened?!"

"No," he chuckled, "but a sister really does lay there in peace...I hope. Anyway, I saw when a human not too long ago find the cave and steal the sword from the sister." He began to scratch his chin, "I'm surprised she didn't come back from the dead and kill him."

"So, this demonic sword belonged to one of the sisters? Why didn't the other sister take back the sword and destroy it or at least hide it better?"

"See," he turned and began to walk away, "that's an issue she chose not to involve herself in just as I do. The sword holds power beyond this world but it's so problematic, it's not worth having."

"Wait, where are you going?" He wasn't going to leave her hanging with more questions just like that was he?

"I'm going to go catch a mouse or something, even dance a bit with a napkin on my head." He stopped and turned his head to her, "Oh and um, if you choose to go get this sword just know it's a death wish for you and your companions."

With a jump into the trees he was gone. Kagome stood there even more confused than before. He left her with more questions and thinking about it even more she knew he had some kind of involvement in this so called battle. If her calculations are right, he was roughly 1000 thousand years old when this occurred. But how much of it is true? He seemed so sly and crafty that she didn't trust him. Yet he was charming enough to to settle her nerves and drown out the sword. Speaking about the sword, she was starting to feel it or hear it or whatever the heck she felt. She gathered her weapon from the floor and made a run back to camp before she fell into another trance.

When morning came Inuyasha woke up to find Kagome asleep on his chest. Not something unusual to him but also not quite normal. He sat up slightly and immediately spotted her bow in one of her hands and the quiver of arrows slung across her back. His breath got stuck in his throat, what had she heard or seen last night that prompted her to get her bow and fall asleep on him for protection? More importantly why hadn't he heard or felt it? And what was that smell? He picked up a couple strands of her dark brown hair and sniffed it. A cat!

"Kagome," Inuyasha spoke softly, shaking her awake. "Kagome wake up."

She groaned and buried her face into his chest, "Shut up, leave me alone. I'm not talking to you..."

"What," Inuyasha replied confused. "It's me Kagome! I'm Inu-"

"I said shut up!" She screamed and shot her head up and raised her bow into the air, ready to smack him with it. Inuyasha flinched and threw himself back away from the bow. "What the hell Kagome!"

She was breathing with rage as her eyes were bloodshot, staring down at him. Inuyasha felt his heart break a bit, she had the same look on her face as Kikyo did whenever they fought. She was actually uncannily to Kikyo at the moment. "K-Kikyo!?"

Kagome screamed in protest at Miroku tried to pull the bow out of her hand, dragging her through the grass as he did. Miroku had woken up the second Kagome had screamed. Shippo yawned and rubbed the grit out of his eyes. "What's going on?" he asked.

Suddenly the smell of cat was in the air as Inuyasha lifted his nose to smell. "I smell a cat around here!" He stood up and unsheathed his sword. "And not the good kind either."

Miroku managed to take the bow out of Kagome's hands and she went to cover her ears, squeezing her eyes shut. "It won't stop talking to me!" She yelled through her tears as she began to cry. "It's telling me horrible things and it won't stop! Make it stop Inuyasha please!"

Inuyasha lowered his sword and bent towards Kagome on ground. He wrapped her in a hug and squeezed her tight. "Kagome, what's happening? That sword is still too far away, how can you be affected by it? And what the hell is it saying?"

"This isn't good," Sango said as she ran to Kagome and also embraced her. "Shh Kagome it's ok, relax and tell us what's happening."

Kagome sobbed and grabbed onto Inuyasha tighter. "All night that thing has been telling me to kill everyone. It's been showing me things of what it has done...how many souls and blood it contains and the wrath it holds towards everything...it just won't stop..."

"She needs to get away from that sword as far as she can. Now that it's been unearthed no doubt thousands of human and demons will be affected by it. She's a weak human and can't withstand it's calling to her." Raion explained as he walked towards them. He knew this was going to happen to the girl, even at times he felt he was going to go crazy as well. He caught Inuyasha's death glare towards him and he stopped in his steps. He was stepping into a delicate situation and he knew it. "I'm Raion and yes I'm the same cat that you smelled on her. I kind of saved the Miko last night as that sword was driving her to her end."

"You seem to know a lot about the damn sword," Inuyasha snapped at him. "What's it doing to Kagome!"

Raion sighed and slowly walked towards them. He was at most five feet away from them when he heard Inuyasha growl at him. "I mean no harm," Raion said as he held is hands up. He knelt on the ground and tried to catch Kagome's attention. "Kagome," he said, but her face was deeply buried into Inuyasha's chest as she heavily cried. "Kagome," he said louder and she turned to look at him. "Kagome...say Heruhaundo. Say it."

"H-heru-haundo?" She repeated softly and a wave of calmness washed over. The horrible images in her head were gone and she started to hear the morning birds signing. She felt the sun's warmness through her clothes, giving her an amazing sensation of peace. "Inuyasha?" Kagome murmured as she looked up at him and noticed she was in his arms.

"The Hell-hound?" Miroku repeated. "Is that the name of this sword?"

"No," Raion said as he stood up. "That's the name of it's owner. And let's just say that the sword is never pleased when it's being dominated. But it is deadly afraid if it's true owner, Heruhuando. She could make the sword great or she could break it whenever she wanted."

"Raion..." Kagome looked at him and breathed a sigh or relief. "Thank you. I can't hear it anymore."

He nodded his head at her. "For now, Miko, but if you don't distance yourself soon it will most likely get you again."

But Kagome unwrapped herself from Inuyasha's arms and stood up with her hands positioned on her waist. Oh no...was all Raion could think. She is the stupidest human and Miko I've ever met. "I am not going until I destroy that awful thing. You said it's true owner can get rid of it."

"Yes," Raion agreed and crossed his arm over his chest. "But she's been dead for over 2000 years...in a cave...which no one was to find until a stupid human did and exposed the sword again."

"OK, what about her sister? Is she still alive? Can't she control the sword like her sister did?"

"So many questions Miko, you never stop. You would make the most horrible nagging wife ever."

Inuyasha and Miroku laughed clearly agreeing with Raion. On the other hand, Kagome and Sango glared at him. "Inuyasha, SIT!"

Raion gasped as Inuyasha was smacked into the ground, face first, with a spell. He gulped as Kagome's glare was aimed directly at him now. "Look here Missy, only a hell-hound can control that sword OK? There has not been another hell-hound in the family since the first hell-hound died all those years ago. Granted, if you think there must be another hell-hound you're right because she died and her sister was to bear the next hell-hound in the family. I'm telling you honestly, we don't know what happened OK! For over 2000 thousands years the hell-hound spirit has been lost."

"I remember this." Miroku brought his hand up to his chin to think. "My uncle used to tell me about a legend of two powerful sisters who seemed to represent the Day and Night. Unfortunately the sister who represented the night became hungry for power and tried to murder her sister for control over the land and the army. This caused a battle that lasted for days on end until one of the sisters killed the other."

"Well, yes I suppose something of the sort occurred at that time." Raion said.

"So it's not just a fairy-tale?" Sango asked. "My father would tell me that story too, except that the sister who represented the night was the one protecting the land and the sister who represented the day was the one who became hungry for power. In the end the sister of the night was killed."

"Raion, you said 'we' before when you were talking. Who is this 'we'?"

He looked at Kagome and smiled sadly. "Your questions never stop do they Miko?" He took in a deep breath and let it out as he looked straight into her eyes. "I am involved with the Jigoku No Inu family, the family of hell dogs and one hell-hound. Heruhaundo, the night sister, was my best friend growing up. Her sister on the other hand was harder to get along with but none the less we all managed...until the battle broke out." He shut his eyes and reached with one of his hands to hold the side of his head.

Kagome noticed his wincing of pain and walked over slowly to him. "Is...is the sword talking to you?"

"That damn thing is cursed, it takes advantage of any pure hatred or anger it can detect in a living thing. It is hard to say what exactly happened when the sword decides to take advantage." He shook his head and then placed his hands on her shoulders. He squeezed her shoulders tight as said to her. "Miko, another battle is upon us. Remove yourself from here and take your companions far away. Your powers are incredible and you are much more capable of protecting than doggy boy here. I will stay and watch over the sword to make sure it does not cause major damage."

"But the village-"

"The village is done for!" He said sternly. "I will get the sword back into the cave with her. Even in death she is capable of locking the sword away from humans and demons."

She shook off his hands from her. "What if she can't," she said defiantly, "what if that's the reason the sword was found in the first place?"

"Then..." he brushed his hand through his hair and looked up into the blue sky with a slight smile. "The Hell-hound is back to finish the battle."