Summary: One-shot. What would happen if Kagome actually did meet Youko Kurama? Warning: Not particularly happy, and very much lacking in romance.
Disclaimer: I do not own Inuyasha or Yu Yu Hakusho.
A/N: I've been reading a lot of Inuyasha/Yu Yu Hakusho crossovers lately, and something has really been bothering me. Namely, the characterization of Youko Kurama. Youko Kurama is a fox demon, yes—but he is not a very nice one. This is a demon that blinded one of his comrades for disobeying his orders. Which is not a very nice thing to do. So yeah, Kagome is not in for a very pleasant encounter.
Beware the Silver Fox
Kagome shivered as the cold breeze moved across her bare, clammy skin. It had been hot that afternoon. It had been hot for two weeks straight, to be honest. Unbearably hot.
The weather, however, had taken an unexpected turn that evening. And of course, it had to be on first day in a very long time that she actually got the opportunity to bathe.
Shippou was snoozing quietly, floating by lazily on the inflatable ring that she had given him as a present. The sun was dipping under the horizon, and tendrils of light were filtering through the trees, staining the water a rich red-bronze.
She smiled against the cold, and ducked her head into the river, submerging herself entirely. Feeling indulgent, she held her nose and swam onto her back, looking up at the outside world through the liquid haze of the water's skin. It was surreal in way that she seldom got to appreciate outside of life-threatening situations.
She surfaced, her lungs burning with their need for oxygen. The air was crisp and clean—another thing that she often took for granted. But at times like this, when she was freed from her responsibilities for a moment or two, she could truly internalize the untainted beauty of this era. When she could ignore the demons that prowled in the night. When she could forget the bloodshed that was occurring semi-constantly. When she could forget, if only for a second, the feel of her blood rushing past her ears—terror and adrenaline pumping through her veins. The burn of pierced flesh and festering wounds. The ever-present shadow cast by Naraku's tarnished existence.
There was a rustling from the trees, and Kagome could barely make out a flash crossing her vision. She rubbed her eyes, wondering if it had been a trick of the light. But Shippou's snoring had ceased.
She looked around, and found the fox child trembling like a frightened animal. His eyes were wide, his elfin ears twitching slightly. He looked positively terrified.
"Ka-Kagome," he said, his voice quiet and strained. "We need to get out of here."
She felt the hairs on the back of her neck rise. It felt colder, but it had nothing to do with the chilly breeze. There was a sense of wrongness, here. It was shielded well, held taut beneath some invisible force of will. But it was definitely there. And it was definitely sinister.
She picked the demon-child up to cradle him against her chest. "What is it, Shippou-chan?" She asked, trying to keep her voice as level as possible. But she did not bother to keep her voice quite—if there was a demon present, there was a good chance that it could hear her regardless of softly she spoke.
"It's a fox demon," Shippou said, voice muffled from the shelter of her arms. "But it's the silver kind. Papa and me met one once when we went looking for food one day and--" He clung to her more tightly "—and Papa looked so scared. I'd never, ever seen him that scared, not even when the thunder brothers were attacking. And he told me…he told me that if I ever saw a silver fox, I had to run as far away as I could."
Kagome's gaze slid warily across the thick woods that encroached from both sides of the river. "Is he still here?" She asked.
Shippou nodded.
Kagome had left her bow and arrows, along with her clothes and other belongings, on a grassy knoll just above the muddy riverbank. It was a good ten meters away, by her estimation, and she knew that reaching it would be a long shot at best. The demon was undoubtedly faster and stronger than her. And, if he was after the shikon shards, he would be heading straight for her backpack.
But, given the situation, she didn't have much of a choice. She wasn't particularly keen on going down without a fight. The demon's aura was far too malevolent for this encounter to be a friendly one.
She began to swim as quickly as she could to the riverbank, careful to keep Shippou's head above the water. When she reached the shallows she stood up, and, stark naked, ran to where her possessions lay. The squelching of her feet meeting the mud seemed louder than it should have been.
Shippou jumped down from her embrace. She made a hasty grab for her bow.
But it was no longer there.
She looked up slowly, a feeling of dread knotting in her stomach. Gooseflesh prickled to life on her exposed skin.
In front of her stood a magnificent, deadly creature. Poised with inhuman elegance, his silver hair reflecting the ever-fading sunlight. He was ethereal, beautiful, and one of the most frightening things Kagome had ever encountered.
In that moment she knew that she was in heaps of trouble.
He did not move forward, as she had expected him to. Instead, she felt the chill increase even more as his demon energy spiked, just barely breaking his restraint upon it. She felt something cool and leathery encircling her wrists and ankles, and looked down in horror.
He was binding her with vines. They wrapped around her appendages, so tight that they bit painfully into her skin. It was a blatant threat; the vines would cut through if she struggled, probably to the bone.
She fought off her instinctive desire to fight the bondage, but glared at the demon defiantly. This was something she instantly regretted. His eyes, frigid in spite of their warm, golden hue, chilled her to the core. Those eyes reminded her of Inuyasha's aloof and very dangerous half-brother—except they were older, wiser. They held a promise: insolence meant death. There would be no discussion; there would be no compromise.
Kagome averted her gaze from his. She kept very still.
She heard Shippou's labored breathing from behind her. She had forgotten him because of her own terror, she realized, and she was flooded with shame.
"I don't know what you want with me," she said, raising her head slightly. Some primal instinct made her careful not to look him directly in the eyes, as she had mistakenly done before. "But I'm sure that Shippou-chan has nothing to do with it. Please don't hurt him. Just let him go."
The demon's gaze was trained on her, analyzing, calculating. And although he never once looked down to her exposed flesh, she had never before felt so naked.
"Let him go," he said, expression impassive and unchanged, "so that he may contact your companions. Do you take me for a fool, human?"
Her shame increased—she had not even thought of Shippou's escape as a means to summon Inuyasha. This fox was slyer than her—cleverer than her. She was trapped. She hadn't the first clue of how she could possibly get away.
Shippou's petrified noises had ceased. Kagome prayed that he was just unconscious.
"There is something that I want," said the demon. "Something that I am fairly certain you have."
Kagome's eyes darted frantically to her backpack. He was after the shikon shards. He had to be—what else could he possibly want from her?
"The shikon shards aren't here," she lied, hoping against hope that the deception would buy her some time. She wasn't quite sure why she needed more time, but, she reasoned, it certainly couldn't hurt.
"Do not insult me, human." There was the slightest hint of disdain in his tone—barely perceptible, but definitely present. "I seek the whole jewel—mere shards are useless to me. I know that you are its guardian. You will tell me where it is."
"The jewel was broken. There are only shards of it, now. And I don't have them." Kagome wasn't sure what else she could tell him.
"You expect me to believe these lies?" It was not really a question. "Tell me where it is, and I may spare your life."
Please, she thought. Please let Inuyasha realize something was wrong.
"I'm not lying. It isn't here."
The vines around here wrists tightened, splitting open the top layer of skin. She felt pain lance up both of her arms like fire. She screamed.
"I do not wish to repeat myself," said the demon.
She remained silent, and the vines tightened further. She did not cry out this time, but she could not stop the tears of pain that escaped from her eyes. They were hot against the chilled skin of her face.
"Stop…please…" said a small voice from behind her. It was Shippou. Her scream had awoken him. "Please stop hurting Kagome. The-" she heard a sob and a sniffle "-the shards are in the yellow sack."
The demon assessed the kit coldly. He was gone a moment later, moving faster than the human eye could follow. Then he was at her backpack, dumping its contents carelessly onto the muddy ground.
He found the jar containing the shards quickly.
"It seems, " he said, "that you were telling the truth. These are of no value to me." He dropped the jar back onto the earth.
He was gone a second later.
Kagome felt her restraints slacken and wither, falling to the ground as if they had never been anything more than harmless vegetation. She herself collapsed soon after.
Shippou rushed to her side, sniffling helplessly. He was too weak to lift her up.
"Kagome!" She heard Inuyasha call through the trees. "Kagome! I heard you screaming. You'd better not have gone and gotten all scared over a spider or something agai--" He stopped short. He must have smelled the scent of a demon, and her blood mingling with it. It didn't take him long to find her limp form, even though twilight was approaching.
He ran to where she lay near the riverbank, stooping down to lift her into his arms.
"Who did this to you?" He asked roughly, his voice thick with fury.
Kagome gave him a weak smile. "He's gone. There's nothing you can do."
He glared at the bleeding wounds on her wrists. "Like hell there's nothing I can do."
Kagome shook her head. "He's too strong. Even with Tetsusaiga…" Her head began to spin. "…Even with…you couldn't beat him."
"She's losing blood, you idiot!" yelled Shippou, panicking. His voice seemed so far away. "And he poisoned her! We need to get her to the village!"
She was vaguely aware of movement, of the wind rushing past her exposed skin. But she couldn't be sure. All she could see, all she was certain of, was a pair of golden eyes swimming within her mind—ruthless, emotionless golden eyes.
She had to tell Inuyasha—tell him to run away.
"Beware…the silver…fox," she said through her delirium.
She slipped into the black oblivion of unconsciousness, the words still echoing in her mind.
Beware the silver fox.