Spring Dawning:
Chapter I




Inuyasha breathed in deeply as he came to the top of the hill. The sky was a perfect blue and there wasn't a cloud to be seen. The breeze brought the vague smells of flowers, trees, and small animals to his nose as it whipped his long hair back from his face. There was a storm coming. He could smell it. And it was coming right at them. His white ears twitched as he caught the sounds of Shippou and Kagome behind him. They were both breathing hard and Kagome was dripping with sweat.

"Come on you weaklings!" he shouted. "It's just a little hill!"

"More like...a...small...mountain." Kagome gasped out as she finally came to the top and flopped down among the tall sweet grass. Shippou appeared right behind her, looking just as tired. He staggered over to Inuyasha's feet and fell down.

"What now?" he wheezed.

"Huh!" Inuyasha snorted. "Rest, for you. Stay with Kagome while I go scout ahead." Without waiting for Shippou's answer he bounded off, his red clothes a bright spot against the sun-warmed grass. Shippou pulled himself over to Kagome and crouched by her elbow.

"Inuyasha...scouting...ahead," he panted.

Kagome nodded and then put her arm over her eyes, shading them from the bright sun. Shippou burrowed into the fragrant grass and curled up into a ball. Within minutes both of them were asleep.

And that was how Inuyasha found them when he came back about an hour later. As he looked down at Kagome his face softened and his golden eyes took on a warm glow. Tenderly he reached down and brushed a strand of her shining raven hair off her forehead. She shifted in her sleep, murmuring something Inuyasha's couldn't quite catch. Realizing what he had done, he yanked his hand back fast.

"Humans," he snorted. Then he sat down on the other side of the hill and ate an apple he had dug out of Kagome's pack. As he stared at the mountains in the distance his eyes got a faraway look in them and he let his thoughts drift. "Wonder how long it'll take us to find all the Shikon Shards? We have been searching for over 3 months already. And what do we have to show for it? Not even half the jewel!...........At least Kagome seems happy. She seems to enjoy our search and all its little 'adventures'... Humans. They're so weak and helpless.........Kagome--" Here his mouth twitched upwards in a half-smile and he allowed a small sigh to echo in his throat. His thoughts, however, were interrupted at this point, when someone sat down beside him. Inuyasha looked over at the small form of Shippou and grunted.

"What do you want?! Can't you see I'm thinking here!"

"Well that's a change!" Shippou shot back, his violet eyes flashing. "I just wanted to know where we are going and what we are going to do next!"

Inuyasha took a swipe at his head, but the little fox-demon ducked nimbly.

"Inuyasha!"

"Huh?" He half-turned and as Kagome's voice sounded behind him.

"Leave poor Shippou alone! You have to stop beating him up just because he's smaller then you!"

"Kagome, I..." he started, standing up.

"SIT BOY!!!" she shouted.

Inuyasha sat down hard, hitting his leg on a rock in the process.

"Ow!" he yelped, his voice shrill with shock. "Stop doing that!"

Kagome heaved an exasperated sigh and grabbed her pack from where it had fallen.

"Come on, let's go," she said.

"Yeah!" snapped Inuyasha. "Let's go!" "Stupid girl," he thought to himself. "always does that for no reason. I get more bruises from her, without her ever touching me then I get from fighting 20 youkai at once! Sometimes I wonder why I l-" He shook his head, cutting off his thoughts before they went into the shadowed realms where his deepest, darkest thoughts and desires dwelled. Kagome, with Shippou on her shoulder, was already halfway down the hill. He leaped after them, his hand automatically going to rest on the hilt of the Tetsusaiga at his side. Running ahead, the wind blowing crisply in his face, he suddenly stopped. The scent of a storm was getting stronger.

"What is it?" Kagome asked, jogging up behind him.

He glanced over at her. Her hair was mussed from the wind and her eyes, such a deep intense color, looking at him expectantly while her long lashes occasionally flitted across them. As he looked at her, something inside of him, long forgotten, stirred and he felt a calm, a sense of belonging, as he had never felt before.

"Inuyasha?" Kagome prompted. "Why was he looking at me so strangely," she wondered. "Is there something wrong with me? With him? What is going on?"

Inuyasha snapped back to reality with a harsh jolt. "Oh, um...there's a storm coming."

"But how can that be?!" Kagome protested. "There's not a cloud in the sky!"

"I can smell it," he told her.

Shippou hopped off Kagome's shoulder and onto a stump beside her. His pink nose twitched and her rubbed it with a small furry paw. "Geez," he complained, "why didn't I smell it before?! There's a huge storm coming!"

"I told you so, Kagome," Inuyasha sneered, looking across the many hills that stretched in front of them. The sun was slowly sinking lower in the sky and the shadows were lengthening. The world was awash in gold-red fire and on the horizon a faint, dark brooding line could be seen. The mountains, still a ways off in the distance, were topped with flame and their steep slopes shimmered. Inuyasha breathed in again, filling his lungs as full as he could with the fresh spring air. The storm was fast approaching. But wait, he could smell something else now to. Very faint but definitely there, humans. He could never mix up that smell with anything else.

"Good, there's a village nearby," he thought to himself. "Hopefully we'll be able to get there before the storm hits." "Come on," he said aloud. "Kagome, get on my back. There's a village nearby. I just hope I can run fast enough to reach it before the storm."

Kagome scooped up Shippou and put him on her shoulder, where he promptly proceeded to dig his small, but sharp claws into her shirt. Kagome stepped towards Inuyasha and he hoisted her up onto his back and set off. Shippou grabbed Kagome's hair, digging his back claws even deeper in, almost piercing her skin, as he tried not to fall off. Kagome just watched, breathless, as the golden-tinted hills blurred by and the grass rippled where Inuyasha past. She then looked ahead, to the horizon and quickly shut her eyes. For the storm was now almost upon them.

~~~



Inuyasha, barely winded by his run through the hills, finally skidded to a halt outside the outskirts of a village. He let Kagome and Shippou off, then trotted towards a small shed behind one of the houses. The sky was dark now, a sickly shade of green, covering the last rays of the gorgeous spring sunset. The village was small, surrounded by several tall trees, with small, well-tilled fields scattered throughout. It looked pretty safe. But Kagome knew from experience never to judge something by its appearance. Shippou tugged at her hand and they followed. He shoved open the door and peered inside. It was empty. There was a small hole in one of the walls and the flooring in one corner was missing.

"But, it's better then nothing," Kagome thought with a sigh.

"SHIPPOU! STOP THAT!"

She shook her head as she stepped inside and closed the rickety wooden door behind her. This was going to be a long night.

~~~



"What the...?!" Inuyasha exclaimed, jumping up.

"Huh?" Kagome sat up and rubbed her eye. "What is it?"

"Listen..." he whispered.

Kagome closed her eyes and quieted her mind. CRACK! The thunder rolled outside and the rain plinked softly on the thatched roof. She heard the quiet, easy breathing of Shippou, nestled beside her in her sleeping bag, dreaming the innocent dreams of young ones. She heard the wind whip a branch against the wooden walls howl hiss through a small hole near Inuyasha's foot.

"It's just the storm. I though you were braver then that, Inuyasha! Go back to sleep," she said, her voice thick with disgust at his seeming lack of courage. And she lay back down, yanked the sleeping bag over her shoulders and closed her eyes once more.

'Eeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee'

She sat up. The high-pitched keening wail grew louder, and she unconsciously winced. "What was that?" she whispered.

"I don't know," Inuyasha said sarcastically. "Maybe it was the storm." He lepta across the room, his hair flying behind him and flung open the door. "I don't know what that was," he said again, raising his voice over the wind and rain "But I intend to find out." With that he loosened the Tetsusaiga in its sheath was gone.

"Wait!" Kagome cried after him. "I'm coming too!" She grabbed her bow and slipping her shoes on, followed him out the door into the stormy night.

Immediately she wished she hadn't. The wind and the rain hit her like a smack in the face. The path at her feet was now a miniature river, with the water swirling furiously by, while more water ran off the roof in waterfalls to join it. She was soaked in a matter of seconds. Her hair and all her clothes were plastered to her and her shoes squelched every time she set foot on the swampy ground. Inuyasha, though just as wet, seemed unfazed by any of this, and was already far ahead of her, rushing towards the eerie wail. She shivered and hurried after him, watching the red spot in front of her as it bounced from tree to ground and back again. Suddenly he stopped.

"What now?" she wondered. She splashed through the puddles and ran up to him. He motioned her back and lept forward, drawing the Tetsusaiga as he did so. Inuyasha cried something Kagome couldn't hear and charged forward.

The Tetsusaiga hummed in his grip as Inuyasha ran towards the other demon on the other side of the small field. Only one thought entered his mind, one thought was now controlling his very being: Kill Naraku. It had struck him that this was Naraku when he had first reached the clearing, and was the reason for his sudden stop. Inuyasha snarled as he drew near to Naraku.

At the sight of him, hair flying, clothes drenched and swords drawn, he just sneered and drew his own sword. The rain streamed off Inuyasha's hair, running down his drenched clothes and adding to the small ponds at his feet. Naraku laughed again, that eerie sounding noise ringing through the night. Kagome dropped her bow as she clamped her hands over her ears. Inuyasha snarled as he lept for Naraku's throat.

"Oh, be careful, Inuyasha! Be careful!" Kagome thought. She looked up at the two soaking half-demons and shuddered. Naraku was blocking very furious blow Inuyasha hurled at him easily. Inuyasha, fueled by his hatred and anger, began to swing at Naraku with renewed fury. He managed to penetrate Naraku's defenses long enough to slash his cheek. The blood dripped down from the side of his enemy's face and mingling with the rain, pooled beneath his feet. But Naraku never faltered, his deep red eyes spitting fire and his sword flashing in the intermittent lightning.

"So you have a sword now, you pathetic excuse for a demon!" Inuyasha growled.

Naraku half-smiled as he blocked another one of Inuyasha's fierce slashes. "Oh yes," he said smoothly, blocking another one of Inuyasha's attacks. "I figured since everyone else had one I would get one to, so as not to be out of style."

Suddenly he switched from defensive to offensive, slashing at Inuyasha and driving him back. Inuyasha, though slightly tired, blocked and dodged, trying to stay away form the weaving blade. Soon, however, he was covered in small nicks and cuts where the keen blade had scored, and his breathing was harsh. By now he had been driven back almost to where Kagome stood, under a tall, dripping oak, watching.

"Inuyasha!" he heard her cry.

Naraku glanced up at Kagome and Inuyasha used his moment of distraction to his advantage. The Tetsusaiga swished in his grip and scored. blood poured from Naraku's side, spilling onto Inuyasha, the ground, and his slightly lowered sword. Naraku screamed an unearthly scream and brought his sword down over Inuyasha's head. Inuyasha rolled to the side, but not fast enough. Naraku's sword carved a long wound down his left side, from his chest to his knee. Inuyasha shrieked in pain as he fell to the ground, unconscious.

Kagome snatched up her muddy bow and fitted an arrow to it, aiming straight for Naraku's heart, if he even had one. But he swayed slightly , then began to run, clutching his side. Dark red blood slipped between his fingers, leaving a ribbon of crimson on the swampy ground. Kagome loosed her arrow at the retreating figure of Naraku, hitting him in the back of his right shoulder. He wailed aloud in new pain, his voice rising to a screech, but kept running. Kagome toyed with the idea of running after him and trying to finish him off, but one glance at Inuyasha killed that notion.

He lay on the ground, blood and water intermingling beneath his crumpled form, staining his clothes and his hair. Kagome knelt down in the mud beside him, her knees sinking in about two inches, and gently pried the blood-slicked fingers away from his wound. At the sharp intake of her breath Inuyasha's golden eyes fluttered open.

He weakly swatted her hand away. "I'm fine," he wheezed. "Really."

He tried to stand but groaned and fell back down as a fresh wave of blood gushed from his side. Kagome her eyes full of sympathy reached down and put her are around his shoulders.

"Stand up," she ordered him. "Let me help you."

His right hand limply gripped the Tetsusaiga as Kagome helped him to his feet. He tried to sheath it and failed, his face going even paler as he moaned in pain. Eventually Kagome had to help, guiding his hand, the metal ringing dully as it slid inside. She slowly walked back towards the shed, supporting Inuyasha the whole way, worrying to herself about the nasty looking gouge in his side. Hoping he would make it through. Her bow lay forgotten by the tree.

END CHAPTER 1