Chapter Two, a bath gone wrong

Kagome couldn't shake the feeling that someone was watching her. She knew it was silly of her to keep looking over her shoulder, after all if anyone was nearby InuYasha would sense them wouldn't he? After catching herself look over her shoulder for about the fifth time that day Kagome squared her shoulders determined to stop being paranoid and rigidly faced her eyes forward. All she needed was for InuYasha to comment on her being afraid of her own shadow. It really wouldn't be surprising given that he thought she was incompetent and mostly helpless. Little did the young miko know that she really should be following her instincts this time.

The early spring morning was very pleasant if a bit cold still so early in the season. The sky was clear and air was crisp as the shard hunters made there way through the slightly damp forest. They were heading south following a rumor of a shikon shard as was their usual routine. Everyone was still tired because InuYasha had forced them out of bed at nearly six am but no one complained. All of the shard hunters were used to InuYasha's antics by now and besides they all felt a strong desire to complete the jewel as well and wouldn't have slept much more anyway.

After three years together the group was like a family. They had spent a very long time with only each other as company and so by now they had all saved or been saved from certain death by each other so many times that an absolute shining trust existed within the tight knit group. As the days wore on the group was all painfully aware of Miroku's growing kazanna and so they found it within themselves to work that much harder in search of the shinkon shards and Naraku. They all knew the final battle would not be long in coming and were silently wondering if it would come soon enough. None of them dared voice this fear out loud however, because in a way they were all afraid voicing it would somehow make it true. Besides they didn't want to let despair take them. In a way this was why Kagome was so vital to their mission. She may not be very strong (though she certainly wasn't as weak as she had been) but she was the one that kept them cheerful. If it wasn't for Kagome positive attitude the group would almost certainly have fallen apart long ago once each member fell into the despair of their own situation. Once the members went their separate ways they would have made easy targets for Naraku. Their strength came from a team effort.

Kagome had been contemplating if there was a way she could train her miko powers more when suddenly she froze in place and looked to the west a distinct look on her face of intense concentration.

"Oi wen... KaGoMe," InuYasha caught his error after remembering the previous days painful lesson, "You sense something?" the hanyou inquired as each group member readied their weapons for a possible fight. All of them had picked up immediately on Kagome's abrupt change in attitude. Any fatigue quickly left their bodies as the adrenalin started to pump through their veins.

"I think...." Kagome trailed off with a far off look in her eyes, "Yes, there is definitely a shard coming our way. It feels strong there might be more then one. Shippo please stand back ok?" Kagome nodded towards the near by bushes as she readied her bow and arrows. As Shippo bounded to the bushes to hide, Kagome readied herself to the back of the group to make better use of her long range weapon. The rest of the group readied themselves in front of her in a formation that was completely automatic after so many battles together over the years. Then they waited...

They did not have to wait long as about five minutes later a crash could be heard as something large made its way through the dense forest towards the small clearing in which the group resided. Once the demon emerged Kagome had to choke down the urge to scream.

'I hate bugs why does it have to be a bug?' Kagome thought miserably to herself, 'And worse it's a disgusting centipede demon.' She had always hated centipedes but after mistress centipede that hatred had turned to a deep seeded disgust. Why did they have to have so many creepy crawly legs? And there segmented bodies were so odd, truly there was nothing as icky as a centipede. Kagome quickly composed herself once (mister centipede) as she dubbed him spoke.

"Hand over the Shikon no Tama puny mortals and maybe I will make your deaths quick when I eat you." The creature roared in a high pitch whiney voice. Really not a very intimidating voice if it wasn't for it belonging to a creature the size of a feudal era hut with venom dripping from its fangs. If Kagome had just 500 yen for each time a demon coupled a threat on her life with a demand for the Tama she would be a very rich priestess.

Kagome decided to completely ignore the ridiculous demand as it wasn't very original and instead she focused on the objective, locating the shikon shards. As she looked at the demon she noticed three spots in her miko vision light up on the demons body. 'Three shards in one day this really is a good day.' The priestess thought to herself.

"Inuyasha he has three shards one in his forehead one on his first set of hands and one on his butt." Kagome yelled over to the hanyou as she readied her bow.

InuYasha smiled wickedly at the news and his eyes filled with a sadistic glee over killing this stupid youkai. " I hope your ready to die you ugly beast." InuYasha stated as he grabbed Tetsusaiga and lunged.

The Centipede dodged the first attack deftly as only one enhanced with shards can and swung its tail out knocking the monk and exterminator down and a few feet away just as is made its way to Kagome in hopes of obtaining the shards. InuYasha quickly rebounded to make a swipe at the demon again causing it to be detracted and fight him though doing little damage as his claws grated on the demons armor. Kagome was about to make a shot at the thing while the head was distracted when the tail came up behind her and slammed into her back side hard. Kagome flew threw the air and landed near Shippo's hiding place, only lightly injured, dropping her arrows as she went. As Kagome stood up she noticed the demon once again turning to face her, she was just about to dodge when she heard InuYasha's attack.

"Wind Scar!" InuYasha shouted as he brought the blade down. The creature let loose one ear shattering squeal as it was reduced to tennis ball sized hunks of flesh and blood. Kagome screamed as little bits of demon flesh rained down on her body dowsing both her and Shippo's bodies in blood and gore.

Kagome simply stood there for a moment in shock, bits of centipede all over her. After a minute she preceded to move about in a dazed fashion and picked up the shards from the corpse as well as her equally disgusting fox kit. Then she walked strait up to InuYasha with the scariest look on her face he had ever seen and uttered three words.

"Hot! Springs! Now!"

InuYasha despite usually being quite dense could take a hint. Especially when he was certain he would be sat all the way to hell if he didn't. InuYasha wisely kept his mouth shut grabbed the irate priestess and her bag along with the kit in her arms and ran full speed to the nearest hot springs leaving the rest of the group behind. He then left the dazed priestess next to the water telling her he and the others would stop and wait for her a mile up the path. He then ran as fast as he could away from the suddenly terrifying priestess. Had he truly been a dog his tail would have been seen securely tucked between his legs.

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At first Kagome stared at the water almost unsure what to do. Her mind had retreated for a time to help her cope with the massive amounts of gore that surrounded her. Sure she had seen many battles and undescribable horrors during her three years in the feudal era but no amount of seeing such things could prepare the young priestess for being drenched in dead flesh and blood. Kagome staring at the water was snapped out of her daze as she felt a small tug on her hand. As Kagome looked down she was greeted with the concerned eyes of her very filthy kit and that was enough to set her off. Truly no one had ever been as enthusiastic for a bath as Kagome was that day. Kagome scrubbed herself over and over again until her whole body was pink and then she proceeded to do the same with Shippo. Kagome probably would have stayed in the water for a long time except after she had finished scrubbing she noticed bits of the "stuff" that was on her floating in the water and so she decided it was officially cleaner out of the bath then in. Kagome quickly changed and headed off to camp. Little did she know that she would never arrive.

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Youko had been watching the group since yesterday only leaving long enough to procure a small den he could take Shippo to once he stole the kit away and killed the murdering bitch. He knew in the back of his mind that he had no definite proof that she had killed his uncle but he wasn't about to give a miko -someone who killed youkai for no other reason then them being youkai- the benefit of the doubt. Besides he had seen a miko arrow near the outside of the den as well as evidence of foxfire that could only have come from Shippo's dad. It seemed to Youko that the miko had most likely injured his uncle who had tried to defend himself with foxfire. Later his uncle had fled to the safety of the den to die. There were no remains so maybe after being injured he had been followed and thus left the den to protect Shippo and been purified. It would explain why there was so much blood, why there were no remains and why there was evidence of a miko doing battle in the general vicinity and the foxfire. Three years had passed so as Youko was no dog he couldn't pick up any useful scents anymore but he was very confident he had the story correct given the evidence.

Youko had seen the miko witch subdue the hanyou the day before and today he had seen the whole group tense when all she had done was halted for a second and then they proceeded to follow her commands quickly as if afraid of her. She had even ordered his little cousin who seemed to run away from her as fast as he possibly could. Youko could not hear them as he had to stay far away lest the dog scent him but Youko was confident that the priestess commanded this group and did so with fear.

Once the group finished killing the centipede demon Youko saw the perfect chance. The miko was now alone, except for his cousin, unarmed, and her subordinates were too far away to hear if she screamed. Youko smirked as he saw the priestess exit the bath. Under different circumstances he would enjoy seeing a beautiful onna naked outside the hot springs but today such thoughts quickly left his mind as he thought up different ways he could torture her. Youko finally decided what he would do to her to make her scream. He followed closely after her and once she had started walking away fully dressed now he decided to strike.

Youko lashed out with his rose wip at the unsuspecting priestess. He was shocked to see her mostly dodge and turn to face him a look of surprise on her face as her shoulder started to drip blood. Youko smirked as he saw the blood and let his eyes look the miko up and down for the first time seeing her at close range. Youko then let his gaze fall on his cousin who was currently in her arms looking terrified. Youko's eyes suddenly turned red as he saw the fear in his cousins eyes. The thought never once occurred to the enraged demon that his cousins fear was directed to himself and not the priestess. He then spoke.

"Give me the kit priestess, this is your only chance to not die the most painful death I can give you." Youko growled out while watching the miko.

Her reactions were strange was the thought in the back of his enraged mind as he noticed fear and then anger wash over the face of the priestess. She then held the kit closer to her before speaking.

"I would sooner die then hand him over to you demon." The angry priestess shouted at him. She then let go of his cousin and shouted "Run!" As she blocked his cousin from his view with her body.

Youko smirked evilly as he herd the priestesses answer. She had practically given him permission to tear her apart. He pulled out a seed and prepared himself to kill the evil priestess as his cousin ran away. He swore to himself that his cousin would never run in fear from this woman again.

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I hoped everyone liked the chapter and I hope all the questions people had are answered. The next chapter will be the battle. Special thanks to willowsnap, SweetDarkSilence, I am catlord, Wings of Tears, c breez, merlyn1382, LuLuCrazeD, Nyuka, Cyrus, foxgoddes07 and Trinity the Kistune Kunoichi for reviewing. The reviewes were very encouraging and I will try to update every week. Please review and thank you for reading.