The Neko could sense it. The Shikon no tama. She could feel it calling out to her. But she was stuck. She opened her eyes. Where was she?
The bark of an oak tree was surrounding her body. She panicked and cursed the gods who made her so claughsterphobic. She writhed around trying to to find a moist soft spot in the wood. 'There!' she thought. She pushed on the wood. It didn't give. She pushed it again. Still didn't open. 'Wait,' she thought. She contracted her claws and shlashed through the bark. Light suddenly filled the hollow oak. She blinked trying to ajust her eyes.

"Where am I?" she said aloud and yawned.
She then felt a soft breeze flowing across her body and shivered. She looked down and gasped. She was completely naked!
She squealed.
'Shit,' she thought 'Where are my clothes?!'

So she decided to search for appropriate articles of clothing.
Suddenly, she heard splashing and decided to investigate. When she came to her destination; which turned out to be a hot spring, she saw two humans doing some very intimate actions. She quickly turned away but something caught her eye. A pile of clothing lay just a few feet away from the hot spring. She didn't want to get any closer, but she didn't want to stay naked. Her mind weighed the options and the ladder won out. She crept toward the pile of clothes and tried to ignore the human female making sounds of extreme pleasure. She groaned inwardly and prayed that the humans wouldn't see her stealing their clothing.
She quickly grabbed the clothing and ran as fast as her legs would carry her, which was pretty fast. She quickly put on the clothing and looked down at herself.
"Much better." the Neko woman said to herself.

Her clothing consisted of a light green toga with a silver belt and dark brown pants and sandals. 'I probably look like a mess right now' she thought as she went in search of a stream. When she came upon one, she looked at herself. Her light long brown hair was covered in sap and bark. She groaned. Her cat ears were covered in sap and leaves. 'That is going to take hours to get out' she thought. She took in the rest of her reflection. Her dark green feline eyes stared back at her. Her dirt covered pale skin looked wet and dewy in the morning sun.
Suddenly she heard a rustling behind her and quickly turned around. A wave of pain coursed through her body, starting at her stomach. She pulled up her toga to reveal a large shiny pinkish scar. 'How did that happen?' Suddenly she remembered. It was from that battle. The battle with her best and only friend over the Shikon no tama. She winced at the memory. 'No, I won't think about that right now.' She turned her attention back to the stream.
She curled her tail where she could see it. It to was covered in sap. She sighed, slipped her clothes off and touched her tip of her toe to the water. 'It's either this or tasting sap for the next month' at the time, the ladder sounded much more preferable, but she told herself to be brave and jumped.
She screamed underwater and pushed her head above the surface and jumped out. 'Sap it is' she thought. She then shook herself off and started to clean herself. Grabbing some water in her hands she dumped it onto her scalp and scrubbed. She managed to get the majority of the sap out of her hair, ears, and tail before she was completely frozen.
She then braided her hair and found string in the pants pocket and quickly tied her hair. She then got up and set off for the nearest village.

•*^.^*•*^.^*•*^.^*•

When she got to a village, it was nearly sun down. She walked along the streets and suddenly smelled something she thought had abandoned her forever. 'FISH!' she thought as she rushed toward the smell.
"Fish! Fish! Only 3 bronze coins! Fish! Rock-bottom prices!"
She checked the pants pockets. No money. 'Of course the pockets would have string, but no money.' She cursed the gods once again for putting her in a horrible situation.
"Hey there, pretty lady. Looking for some quick cash." said a raspy voice behind her. She looked, and there was an old lady standing behind her. Her white hair(or what little there was) hung pitifully on her scalp. Her wrinkled beady black eyes were starring up at her. Her wrinkled hands were clasped together as she said, "I'll give you 3 silver shillings for some of your hair."

The Neko woman was startled. She'd heard a stupid myth that Neko hair could help spin straw into gold, but her mother had told her that it had just been a reason for humans to hunt Nekos. Though she honestly couldn't think of a reason why she should correct this woman if she was paying her 3 silver pieces for a couple strands.
"Sure. I don't see why not." she said.
The woman took out a knife and cut a piece off.
"Thank you for the service my dear girl" the old woman said as she gave the Neko 3 silver pieces cheering, "I'm a rich woman!"

The Neko smiled and shook her head. She walked over to the fish merchant, gave him a silver piece and got two fishes.
She walked over and sat on the edge of the street, sat down and started eating. Suddenly she heard arguing from a little while off and the word sit was shouted which caused a soft shake in the ground. She wrapped up her fish and decided to investigate. She came across a strange looking young girl standing angrily with her fists on her hips and a young man with white hair, dog ears and a red pelt covering. 'That seems eerily firmiliar.' she thought. The young man looked up and her heart stopped. It was him. Her best and only friend from when she was 10 up until she was 18 years old. She couldn't believe it! His golden-honey eyes looked up angrily at the girl, who looked and smelled very firmiliar.
"What was that for, Kagome!?" the young man said. Suddenly he noticed the Neko. "What're you looking at?!" he all but shouted. She looked up at him, her green eyes shone from the tears.
"You." the Neko woman said. His golden eyes widened. "You."

"Inuyasha."
"Sheala."