Finally! Well, first off let me apologize for taking so long to update. Last week and my weekend turned out to be nothing short of frantic. Family matters plus school work seriously hinder writing.
Second, I want to thank those who took the time to review the last chapter. (Thank You Anime Princess, Kagomes Kit, and xXkUmiKoXx!) Those comments were very much appreciated! ^_^

Now then, this chapter for some reason was hard to end. I already knew what I wanted to happen, but wasn't quite sure where to break it off, so I hope it turned out alright and not too rushed at the end. ~_~

Oh, and I guess I forgot to mention this before, so I'll say it now and be done with it: I do not own neither Inuyasha nor Yu Yu Hakusho. Seriously. If I did, my favorite characters would get more screen time. Is this disclaimer even necessary? I mean, this site is called FanFiction for a reason, right? Oh well. Better safe than sorry I guess.

And can someone please tell me how to keep extra space before and after a line break? It's driving me crazy!

Any who, here is the next chapter!

Chapter 2: They Meet

"Sit boy!" shouted a very loud, very irritated, Kagome. 'Honestly! He's such a…such a-grrrr!' She had no comparison for the dense male that was now struggling to climb out of his own hole in the ground.

"Hey! What the hell was that for?" The silver haired half dog demon was now on his feet, his face two inches from hers. Both were glaring daggers at the other.

"That, Inuyasha, was for calling me ugly!" Kagome huffed and turned her back on the totally clueless dog demon. Truthfully, their argument could have been about anything, seeing as they all tended to have the same outcome; Inuyasha on the ground and an angry Kagome storming off. Anyone who knew them was used to it by now. So, it came as no surprise that this was the scene that greeted the rest of the angry duo's companions when they came to welcome Kagome back from her trip beyond the well.

"Welcome back Kagome!" chorused Sango and Shippo, the fox kit's being more of an exclamation as he jumped into the miko's arms. Miroku nodded his agreement, paying more attention to what the strange girl was wearing. She had traded her usual green and white school uniform for a slightly longer deep blue skirt and a plain white tank-top, a yellow jacket tied around her waist. Present day, this outfit would have been perfectly ordinary, however back in the Feudal Era; the tank was revealing a lot of skin. Kagome knew better, but considering it was the middle of summer and the temperatures were god-knows how high, she threw modesty out the window and packed the lightest clothes she had.

The lecherous monk, who thought that the outfit brought out her feminine curves, was having a hard time not saying so and an even harder time keeping his eyes off her (according to his time period) nearly exposed chest. He managed to look the girl in the eyes long enough to question what the hanyou said to incur her wrath.

"Well you see, I decided to wear lighter clothes 'cuz of the heat, and then when he saw"-she pointed at Inuyasha's face, making him even angrier-"he was all like 'Kagome you should cover up more, no one wants to see you that exposed!" now the dog eared man's face was flush with embarrassment instead of rage.

"Wh-w-what! That's not what I meant you stupid girl!" He spluttered for a moment, his usual arsenal of crude remarks empty. Mentally kicking himself he headed off into the woods before he made the miko any angrier. He didn't think he could take another 'sit'.

"Where are you going Inuyasha?" Miroku called after him but his only reply was a half growl. Somehow, the monk seemed to understand what that meant and shouted out to the quickly fading half demon "We'll be waiting in the village!"

Kagome fumed as she watched the red clad male stalk off. Insults were racing through her mind. 'Why can't he just be nice for once?'

She turned and beckoned to her friends as she headed down the hill to Kaede's village.

~-*X*-~

"In certain trying circumstances, urgent circumstances, desperate circumstances, profanity furnishes a relief denied even to prayer." ~Mark Twain

~-*X*-~ ~-*X*-~

Kurama stepped out of the portal and looked about. He found himself standing in knee-high grass with various wild flowers surrounding him. The scenery was really quite calming. Rolling hills suggested that he was in a valley somewhere and the soft trickle of a stream could be heard nearby. A gentle breeze was blowing, tugging at his hair and swishing the tall grass, making it appear to have waves. The position of the sun told him it was about noon, and mid-summer at that. The demon world didn't really have seasons, or even a sun for that matter, more like territories where the weather was always constant, but some places could be found where the climate changes every now and then. It was almost too calm for him. Standing out in the open like this, he felt like he should be expecting an attack any minute now. And would have been too, if he were still in Makai.

The portals to and from the two worlds were hidden fairly well and only a few youkai knew of their locations. Spirit World did its best to keep too many demons from crossing over and terrorizing the humans, but many of the stronger demons knew how to slip by undetected. He happened to be one of them. 'They really should do something about their security, it was unbelievably easy to sneak by the guards.' The sudo space between Makai and Ningenkai was vast and Reikai simply didn't have enough soldiers to fill the space. All one had to do was find a large gap in the middle of two patrol units and silently run through when they weren't looking. He moved so fast that even if they had been looking, they wouldn't have seen anything. But it seemed Spirit World was finally getting smarter was indeed formulating a solution to their problem. He had overheard one of the patrol troupes discussing a barrier that was in the works. 'That could be troublesome in the future.' He'd have to look into that matter some time soon.

Youko Kurama had only set foot in the human realm once before, a very long time ago. He had known some youkai who traveled back and forth and had at one point grown curious. He researched everything about the place and its inhabitants before making the departure himself, but was still surprised at how different the realm was from his own. For one, the sky was blue and clouds were white. And there was a giant ball of fire lighting up the world. It was almost blinding how bright the place was. Another shocker was the lack of technological development. Granted, some parts of the makai were pretty prehistoric, but at least all the populated areas had electricity! He couldn't blame them though; the human race was such a young species after all. Demons have been around much longer and had more time to advance.

There were many breeds of youkai that existed only in the Human Realm, separate and unknowing of their true home and origins. He was disappointed to find that the demons here were mostly all weaklings, not to mention only a handful were actually capable of speech. He figured it was due to the environment; the human realm was simply not as dangerous so demons never had a reason to get stronger. The need to fight for survival was less and the smaller population made it easy. Compared to the true horrors and beasts of Makai, the creatures here were no more than petty insects. Kurama mentally chided himself for thinking that way. There were a few youkai here worth acknowledging.

He knew of the dragon youkai, though he wasn't sure if they were still around. Last time they'd spoken, Ryukotsusei was heading west, to the main continent where mountains were much taller and the land was more spacious. He'd also had the pleasure of meeting a powerful dog youkai that was very hospitable at the time. Though, Ryukostusei didn't know about that particular meeting due to the fact that there seemed to be some bad blood between the two. He wondered if his old acquaintances were still around, or even alive. It would be helpful if they were as he would be able to get more information on the Jewel of Four Souls and Naraku.

Reaching out with his senses, the youko found that the area had changed considerably since he was here last. The scent of humans was much thicker and it seemed there were some stronger youkai not too far off. Only c-class in Reikai terms but still better than the pitiful d-class that were abundant last time. Suddenly his nose picked up a foul stench. 'What in the three worlds is that?' His only comparison to the awful smell would be the swamp demons in Trucido Valley.

Deciding that standing around was getting him nowhere, he took off in a blur of silver towards the strange scent. As he neared the forest line, he realized that another scent was mixed in with the first one. He couldn't quite place it, it didn't smell bad, per se, but he felt rather than smelled that something was off.

The smelly thing, whatever it was, suddenly changed directions and Kurama realized that it must be a demon of some sort. And it was fast. Veering to the right the fox demon picked up his pace and gave chase. It only took another minute of running at full speed before he caught up with the thing. And he wished he hadn't. It was not a demon, but a human. A dead human. It seemed to be a rotting animated corpse and if that wasn't bad enough the already putrid scent of death was mixed in with some kind of demonic miasma, which also smelled terrible and explained why he didn't recognize the scent immediately.

Kurama decided the last time he visited that nothing smelled worse than dead humans. Demon corpses he was used to. In makai, the air was charged with demonic energy (not a lot, just enough to smell like home to a demon) and already polluted with the scent of death, so dead things didn't smell that out of the ordinary over there. But here, the human realm, the air was devoid of all those smells and one didn't feel power radiating off the land. It was crisp and fresh and clean. Rotting human flesh in general was a whole lot worse than rotting demons, at least to him. The clean air and his sharp sense of smell, being canine, made it even worse. Yes, he had made up his mind that there was nothing worse than the smell of dead humans. Nothing.

This was worse.

'Ew.' That along with a string of curses in various languages was what occupied his mind when the corpse unsheathed a katana and lunged for him.

~-*X*-~

"In a minute there is time for decisions and revisions which a minute will reverse." ~T.S. Eliot

~-*X*-~ ~-*X*-~

Kagome was kneeling down by the stream that ran along Kaede's village when her miko powers flared and signaled the familiar feeling of a jewel shard nearby.

Inuyasha had come back a little while ago and Kagome was no longer angry with the half demon. The 'forgive and forget' rule set in place and things returned to normal. Well, as normal as things with a perverted monk, a fiery demon slayer, a half dog demon, a fox demon kit and a girl from the future with inherent priestess abilities all together in one group ever got. Miroku and Sango were talking with Kaede in her hut, the old priestess serving a pot of stew while they thought up possible locations for Naraku's new hiding place. Kagome knew that the monk was actually pretty wise and could be serious when he needed to be. She still kept her ears open for the inevitable 'smack!' that was sure to come any minute. Inuyasha was nearby, sitting on a rock while Shippo splashed in the water not two feet away.

She stood and faced the general direction of where the shard was. In the background a "Hey!" could be heard, followed by "Waah! I'm sorry Inuyasha! Kagome help meee!" She whirled around and saw a soaking wet Inuyasha holding an equally sopping Shippo by the tail. She held back her laughter at their facial expressions and announced her discovery, her own face turning serious.

"Come on guys, I sense a shard close by." And with that she ran off to go retrieve Sango and Miroku. Inuyasha spared no time in following, dropping Shippo who landed in the river with a splash.

"Hey~ Wait for me!" the kit yelped, scrambling out of the water.

When Kagome reached Kaede's hut, her two friends were waiting for her, grim faced. Miroku said he sensed something unholy coming closer to the village but stopped just inside the Inuyasha's forest. Sango had already changed into her slayer outfit and was now sitting on Kirara, ready to go, the fire cat ready to leap into the at air any second. Once she explained the presence of a jewel shard, the group made the connection and took off, Miroku jumping onto the giant feline behind Sango and Kagome, with a fox kit perched on her shoulder, giving directions from her position on Inuyasha's back.

They were nearly a mile from the village and well into Inuyasha's forest, not too far away from the sacred tree that held the half demon for fifty years, when Inuyasha suddenly skidded to a stop. The girl on his back made a sound of protest and Shippo squeaked loudly in his ear. The half breed heard a rush of wind behind him and knew that Kirara had touched down with Sango and Miroku.

Kagome poked her head out from behind her carrier's shoulder, ready to demand an explanation for the sudden stop but became silent when she saw what her companions were looking at.

There, in a small clearing just ahead, stood a white figure. At first she thought 'Sesshoumaru?' but noticed the lack of fur and armor. Something within her stirred and all of a sudden every drop of self preservation instinct she possessed was screaming at her to run. But it was too late now. Her lungs seemed to fail her and she would have sworn her heart gave out if she couldn't hear it pounding in her ears. Her hand clenched and held onto the red fabric of Inuyasha's sleeve. A breeze swept through the area and the figure, she was now positive it was a demon, looked up.

In that moment chocolate brown eyes met liquid gold.

~o~o~o~

Alrighty, so I did edit this chapter, but I'm probably going to have to go back and edit again some time in the near future, and the last chapter too. It took me longer than I expected to get this up but at least it's like over 1,000 words longer than chapter 1. ^_^ Hopefully I wont take more than a week to get the next chapter out, but it all depends on whether or not my teachers show mercy and lighten the homework load.

I'm open to editing remarks, please, if you see an error, let me know and I will fix it! Also, I seem to be having difficulties with sticking to the English words for the human world/realm, demon world/realm, half demon and so on. I prefer watching both series in Japanese with subs, but I have also read both manga's and watched the episodes in English. Most readers can hopefully figure out what I mean when I use Reikai, Ningenkai, and Makai, but if it's too confusing or just plain annoying, let me know and I'll stick to English words only.

Reviews are nice and encouraging!

-Jen