Ooh! My first Inuyasha fanfic! ... I'm nervous! Well… let's see how it goes!
Chapter 1: The Familiar Girl
The river water reflected Kagome's dirt-covered face. She sighed then rinsed her face off in the water. "I need to take a break…." She said to herself.
Inuyasha appeared in the waters reflection behind Kagome, "It can't be that bad! Bear it just awhile longer."
Kagome lifted herself off the ground and turned around to face him directly, "Look, I don't know about you, but I like to stay clean! Just because we're fighting demons day after day, doesn't mean that I need to be covered in dirt from head to toe!"
"It's not my fault this place reeks of demons!" Inuyasha began again. Miroku, Sango, and Shippo all sighed in unison.
"They're at it again…." Shippo stated as he sat on Miroku's shoulder.
"This is getting quite old…." Miroku declared.
"You said it!" Sango added.
They all sat under a large tree with green leaves and cherry blossoms falling down upon them. Inuyasha and Kagome continued on with their argument. Miroku, Sango, and Shippo finished off with another sigh. "Well if that's how you feel then—" Kagome froze. She felt a strange feeling in her body, like something was wrong.
"What's this feeling…?" Kagome whispered.
"Are you alright?" Inuyasha asked, but before Kagome could answer, a sudden, dreadful, unknown shriek filled the air.
"Let's go!" Kagome said, jumping onto Inuyasha's back, "There's something wrong. I just know it!"
Miroku, Sango, and Shippo all jumped on Kirara as she followed Kagome and Inuyasha, who were starting to leave their sight.
"The scream came from that direction! Whatever it was, it should be right past these bushes!" Kagome pointed to a few plants ahead.
"Alright, then, let's go!" Inuyasha said as he carried Kagome on his back, passing many trees and bushes. Kagome could feel Inuyasha picking up his pace quite a bit, forcing her to cling to him tighter.
Inuyasha leapt right through the bushes and into the light. He and Kagome stood and stared at some sort of snake demon. It had its tail wrapped around something. Suddenly, Kagome started feeling a terrible pain in her ribcage. She tried to hide and ignore it the best she could, but it was becoming harder and harder for her to breathe.
"It's crushing that kid!" Inuyasha exclaimed.
He set Kagome down on her feet as she clenched the sharp pain and raced toward the demon that threatened to devour the small girl. Inuyasha unsheathed his claws and struck at the snake's face. It howled and released the child that it held in its grasp. Luckily, Inuyasha caught the girl before she hit the ground. She seemed to be unconscious.
"Here," Inuyasha handed the child over to Kagome and then raced toward the demon again.
As she set the resting child down on the ground, Kagome realized that the pain she was experiencing in her chest had completely disappeared. Suddenly, the bushes behind Kagome rustled and out popped Kirara and the others.
"Took you long enough!" Inuyasha exclaimed as he dodged the snakes tail that attempted to crush him into the ground.
"Hm… a snake demon… we could dispose of this one easily," Miroku said, and turned to Kagome, "Kagome, care to do the honors?"
Kagome nodded as she pulled out one of her arrows and took her bow in hand. She pulled the arrow back and released. It hit the snake demon right in the center of its forehead. The demon wheeled back in pain and let out a loud screech before it erupted into ash.
"Keh," Inuyasha said as her cracked his knuckles, "That was easy!" He rushed over to Kagome and the others. He stopped and realized that all of them were watching as Kagome cradled the small girl in her arms, paying no mind to Inuyasha or the others.
'This can't be…' Kagome thought, 'Maybe I'm just imagining it… but…'
"Kagome, that girl looks a lot like you... only younger!" Shippo said looking at the small child and back at Kagome.
"Could she be a distant relative of yours?" Sango asked.
"Yes!" Kagome said, "That's probably it…!"
Kagome wasn't sure if that was true herself, but it sure did make more sense. She swept the young girl's bangs back so that she could see her face. The second Kagome did that, the girl jumped awake, and startled.
"Hey, look she's awake," Inuyasha said walking up to the young girl.
The girl gasped and leaned into Kagome for security. When the child looked up and saw that it was Kagome she was leaning into, she fell back on the grass.
"Don't be scared…." Kagome said offering her hand to the girl.
The girl just looked confused and scared. She looked around at the group, and then there was a change of expression on her face. She didn't look afraid anymore; in fact, she looked… curious. She stood up, not noticing the many pairs of eyes following her. She walked over to Inuyasha and motioned him to come lower. Inuyasha bent down to play along and, to everyone's shock, the girl started petting his dog ears.
"Hey, what are you doing?!" Inuyasha asked rudely as his lifted his head again.
"Your ears… I wanted to pet them…." she said bluntly.
Inuyasha dropped his angered expression and turned to Kagome, "Wow, Kagome, not only does she look like you, but she acts like you, too."
Okay, this is my first Inuyasha story… hope you like it so far! Just don't forget to REVIEW!