OK, Disclaimer. I own nothing, I know nothing about writing. This could be a bad acid trip or the works of Shakespeare. Heh, who knows what that crazy guy writes anyway!

I'm running through the forest with my shiny sword at my side. Since I don't have a big monster dog form its just a katana….with a lot of extras! It doesn't turn into a huge fang but it doesn't need to. I think I'll be able to pull off a Kaze no kaza….ah I'll call it a wind scar since I still think in English. Anyway the destructive power is pretty cool. Coupled with my Hiten Mitsurugi Ryuu makes me a lean mean fighting machine….well for all of the three or so real fights I've been in. I guess demons shy away from Master Hiko. Can't say I blame them when I see him go to work. Ugh, man some sights I could have lived without seeing…Also its healing powers are better than I thought. Totosei said I could resurrect someone who's been dead for about three days. I don't have the power for anything more. And needless to say if I can raise the dead I can heal pretty much any wound with it. Though if the wound is magical it gets trickier and depends on my power. Well, every day and in every way I get better and better mwahaha…..damn I miss those pink panther movies…OW! I smack my neck.

"Dammit Myoga, can you quit the damn vampire routine? Also how far from the village are we?"

After recovering from being in a deep horizontal base he answered "Three days away Master Tomasaru. Why such a hurry? The village will still be there when we get there"

"I'm not too sure about that. I got a baaaaaad feeling." In truth I did. The whole reason I put myself through this was to make sure Yasha had a good shot at happiness. So far I've been way less than adequate. Mom still died, Inuyasha still hates humans…..well not if he's having his thing with Kikyo but if that goes bust…..well best not to get into any more depressing thoughts. I just speed up my running. I really don't want to get there too late.

Two days later.

OK, its evening and I've been running for close to a day. Man my feet are killing me. I guess shoes with arch support are a few centuries away. The smell of smoke hits my nose and I break into the fastest run I've ever attempted. God dammit, I'm too late! I reach a village clearing and I get a birds eye view of my brother getting pinned to the God Tree. I see Kikyo's bow string still vibrating as she falls. Ah shit. I got to clean this FUBARed mess up. Prevention is a whole lot easier than clean up. I run to Kikyo's side. I figure I heal her, she can just undo the spell she put on Yasha, we all talk and get things cleared away.

A villager shouts "IT'S INUYASHA!" I turn toward the tree and see he's still pinned. Then I remember we are twins and wince at myself. But still, I try not to look exactly like him. I personally like blue better than red and wear a blue kimono. No real blue fire rats but I prefer not to get hit then to bleed all over the place. I see Kikyo try to rise and a little girl with an eye patch, Kaede I think, glaring at me and trying to help her sister. I know how you feel kid. I draw my sword and try to get myself in the correct mindset. It's easy to swing your sword and cut people up. VERRRRY hard to use it to heal great big claw marks making a person bleed to death. Finally I see the little trolls with chains and cut them up real good. The effect was instantaneous. She sat up and pointed her bow and arrow at me. I gulped. I've seen what those purifying arrows could do in both Kagome's hands and hers. Unlike Kagome, I don't see much sympathy. I guess that's to be expected since I look like her supposed murderer. I jump back to get some space.

Waving my hands I say "Hey hey HEY! I just saved your life! The least you can do is not try to kill me. I just want to talk. I want to know why you pinned my brother like a damn ornament to that tree!"

Kikyo's bow never wavered. "Brother? You are brother to that…..SLIME! That filthy lying deceitful hanyou? He tried to kill me and steal the Shikon no Tama. I stopped him with my dying breath."

OK, I knew who really killed her, or tried to. But I couldn't say it was that thief you were helping turned demon. So when in doubt, bend the truth a whole lot. Its not lying, just not being truthful! I sniffed the air. "Well, I dunno who cut you up but it wasn't my brother. The smell is way off and it smells….repugnant, nasty. Definitely not the scent I am getting from him on that tree."

She snarled and the bow string went tighter. SHIT. I did not want to play dodge the arrow with her. Yasha knew her way better and he's on that tree. "You lie just as your damned brother! He betrayed me! Betrayed everything we spoke to each other about! He's the worst kind of demon there is!"

I was about to correct her when I heard a chuckle and caught a scent. It sorta smelled like what was on Kikyo. Damn, I guess I wasn't lying as much as I thought. He dark hair flowed in the wind and he had the most demonic red eyes I've seen in all my travels. What got me real worried was that he had the jewel that laid at my brother's feet. Oh shit.

Still laughing he addressed his audience. "Ah Kikyo, I see my wound hasn't put you into a grave as I thought. Pity. All that anger you have would have made the jewel…..exquisite. All that darkness and hate. And you thought you were in love!"

Oh gods I wanted to pound this guy! He just got my brother and his soon to be wife killed then was gloating on the fact he got them to destroy one another. On the bright side Kikyo switched her aim. Guess the guy trying to steal the jewel is the bigger threat. Thank god for sense of duty.

"What do you mean demon? Are you in league with Inuyasha?"

Smiling darkly he answered "In league with that pathetic excuse for a half demon, no. In fact I am the one you should thank for killing him. Really, where were those miko powers when I snuck up to you in his form? You believed so easily he was capable of such a heinous act. And he believed you betrayed him, got him to lower his guard." As he spoke the jewel was getting darker. Crap the evil slimy aura he radiates is just being sucked into the jewel.

Continuing "You two were pathetic. Great priestess, heh what a joke. I am however grateful to you for the jewel and I will enjoy defiling it. As I do, I'd like you to remember that this is all your fault, Kikyo!"

With that and tears streaming from her eyes she released her arrow. Pink is not a manly color but I could FEEL the power burning at my skin as it passed by. Well, if anyone deserved to be nuked by that arrow it's Naraku. However just as it was about to impact the jewel flared and created a shield. The arrow didn't even phase him! Then his form just wavered and disappeared. Damn, even his scent was gone. I looked at Kikyo. She was on the ground, panting. I turned and looked at my brother, pinned to the tree and asleep. I can only shake my head and wonder how the hell I screwed this all up so BAD!

The villagers were giving me distrustful stares and some were still looking from Inuyasha's still form and me. Kikyo looked like she was out on her feet and Keade was engrossed with helping her sister. This night was a complete bust. I turned to Keade and raised my voice. "Get Kikyo inside and have her rest. I'll be back in the late morning to talk about this." I didn't wait for an answer just bound into the forest. I looked around for Myoga. I lost him when I ran full speed when I smelled the smoke. Damn bug has a danger sense better than spiderman. Looking around for an hour I gave up and jumped into a tree for some sleep. I am going to have a busy day tomorrow.

I woke up as soon as the first rays of the morning hit me. Damn I am hoping all of last night was a bad dream. But I still smell the faint odor of smoke and blood. Jumping down from the tree I make my way to the village. I figure Kikyo can pull that arrow out. We find Myoga and he tells us how to get the Teisiaga and we kick some ass. I really wish whatever god is listening to me to stop shredding what little plans I have into confetti.

As I get closer to the village I head to the God Tree. I see I'm not the only visitor. Kikyo is standing in front of Inuyasha with a sad look in her eyes. I know its not really her fault and all but I am glad she's feeling pain for what she did. If she knew Yasha at ALL, she'd know he wouldn't do what she thought he did. She turned toward me with bow in hand. I raise my hands in a show of good faith.

"You already shot one of my family, lets not try two for two, ok?"

I see more pain flash in her sad eyes before she lowers her bow. She turns back toward Inuyasha and speaks to me while looking at him. "What is your name?"

She is being kind of rude but I can understand her stress and all. "Tomasaru. In case you missed the resmblence, I'm Yasha's younger brother"

Still not moving from her place "Yasha?"

"Yeah, Inuyasha, called him that since we were kids. Not to rush you or anything, but can you pull that thing out and release him? I think we know he didn't do what you thought he did."

I see her shoulders shake. She seems to be trying to talk but no words are coming out. I'm a sucker for beautiful women in distress. Of course once they see me they go running. Have I mentioned how a lot of Japanese in this period are racist bastards? Well I didn't want to hug her, god knows how awkward that would be. Me looking like Yasha and everything, so I just put my hand on her shoulder in silent support.

"I I I…..can't release him" My hand tightened for an instant before relaxing. I asked why not.

"The spell I used….it it was everything I had. I put everything I had into it to make sure he was sealed. The spell is too strong now. Too powerful. And I am still not as strong as I was. If I try, I could, could kill him!"

I looked at the woman desperately trying to hold back sobs and look up to see my brother blissfully unaware of what was going on around him while sealed. Well, this was his chosen mate. May as well cheer her up. Besides, I know he'll get released. Even if I have to go to every miko in Japan to do it for a hundred years.

"Relax Kikyo. He's still alive, just sealed. With rest your powers will come back. Then you can free him."

She stopped crying and felt a chill. Man, I wish I knew what I said wrong cause I am tired of tasting my ankle.

She said in a strong voice "I don't have time to rest. I must chase after that demon and reclaim the Shikon no Tama!"

Man, what a stubborn woman. "OK, and how are you going to do that? You can barely walk, your powers are exhausted and you can't undo your own spells!"

Her pose just got straighter and she turned to look at me finally. "I will do it because it is my duty. I am the priestess of the jewel. It is my duty to reclaim it and purify it."

Damn Damn DAMN! She's serious. And if she dies Kagome will probably still be born but without having the jewel inside her. Without the jewel she can't go through the well! Not to mention Naraku now has the jewel fifty years sooner than he should. Man I hate clean ups…..

"I'll go with you. Before you say no just know the only way to stop me is to put an arrow into me. My brother is stuck on that tree until you release him. You'll die without your full powers. You die, he's stuck as lawn furniture, so I'm going with you!" I crossed my arms. All I need to do is say feh and I'm the spitting image of my brother.

Kikyo obviously was having flashbacks of him cause her eyes got a whole lot softer. Man being resurrected as a clay woman really F-ed her up. She was never like this in the anime with her soul eaters hanging around.

She packed a few essentials while I waited outside the village. I look too much like my brother and after last night I doubt they'd be warm and friendly to me. I see Kikyo making her way toward me. All her physical injuries are gone, but I can tell she's got tons of them inside. Well so do me and Yasha, builds character if nothing else. She walks up to me and looks at me. Damn. I hate direct stares. Makes me think she's looking right into me. After fidgeting for a few seconds she starts walking further down the road. I just follow. I don't know what to say so better to say nothing. Not like I had much socializing in either of my childhoods.

After two days of walking I guess even Kikyo wanted to have some conversation. We were still a day away from another village to see if there was some info on Naraku so might as well kill some time.

"You are much different than your brother"

"Yup. We are like fire and ice. Night and day. Pinky and the Brain"

She looked a bit confused by that last one but didn't comment. I figured I may as well get the low down on my brother's relationship with her so I asked how they met. She smiled fondly as she spoke of nailing him to a tree with her arrows. What stopped her from planting a killing blow in him was his eyes. Sad eyes seeing far too much pain than their years should. That stuck a cord with her since her own childhood was lonely as well. After learning about her potential at a young age she was groomed to be a priestess. Unfortunately that killed her childhood and she basically lived for duty and never had any fun. When she met Inuyasha, she said she had fun. She enjoyed their meetings together. Enjoyed their talks and even their "battles". Even when they were supposedly fighting they never really went all out to kill.

Our talks got me thinking. The anime never really got into depth with Kikyo. She was just the creepy bitch of the anime. No one knew what made her tick and no one really cared. I was so focused on helping Inuyasha that I didn't take into account that there was an entire WORLD of people that were going to take it in the ass in fifty years. Kikyo being a main one. I looked at my sword hung at my side. I called it the sword that protects. I really should live up to what I say. I am going to use this sword not only to protect Yasha, but everyone else. "This sword swung in my name is swung for the people" my master always told me. I've been concentrating on swinging it for one person when I should have thought of others. Damn depressing deep thoughts. Well, I'll just take things as they come. Speaking of which I am smelling something really nasty coming.

"Hey Kikyo, you sensing anything?"

"I feel something faint, but that's all, why?" She turned to look at me curiously.

"Cause I am smelling something right nasty." Just then a group of five men stepped out of the bushes and another four appeared behind us.

I hold my nose "Damn, that's what it was. Guys take a bath in between robberies or something!"

The lead man had a bunch of scars and not so many teeth leered at Kikyo and said, "Shut up boy. We want all your possessions, including this pretty little thing here. She'll be fun for a few nights hey boys!" His groups of ugly cavemen grunted in agreement. Kikyo was reaching for her bow when I stopped her.

"You need to rest yourself remember. I'll take care of them, only humans" With that I grin and place my hand on my katana. I can't wait to try this baby out. I performed a few katas with it but haven't really drawn it in a fight. I blur as I swung my sword the dull edge out of the sheath and hit the four guys behind us. I actually hit three with the sword but the other got hit with the air pressure of releasing the sword from the sheath so fast. I got that idea from Ninja scroll. After seeing their buddies taken out in less than a second the rest of the bandits in front of us showed their intelligence and rushed toward Kikyo. Gathering a bit of power I unleashed a Kuu Ha Zan. It's a move I saw in Star Ocean EX and it can be non fatal. It gathers up wind just like a wind scar only instead of cutting through the wind scar and releasing all that excess energy it just swuirls the energy around my sword and releases it. Its like an air boulder. Or bowling ball as it scatters the bandits like bowling pins.

Sighing I sheath my sword and start shifting through the bandits pockets. Curious Kikyo asked me what I was doing. Shrugging I said "Getting some money. I know you have some but its better to have too much than too little. It's the least these guys can do after troubling us and making those rude comments about you." And I grinned. Man, that was fun. And easy, too easy. No wonder humans die real easy in the series.

As if reading my thoughts Kikyo asked "Why are they all still alive? You could have easily killed them". Man she said that so matter of fact. Also with a faint hint of surprise.

"They are only human. This beating should teach them to go into a different line of work. If I see them again I may have to do something more permanent. But I don't like to kill, especially weak people." It was true. The series was violent and you saw death on every other episode but its totally different when you see someone lying in a pool of their own blood. Looking at you, silently staring at the cause of their death. Its something I never thought about in the beginning of the wish that I think I should have. Sight of dead people still get me sick and I've seen some nasty stuff traveling with Master Hiko.

Kikyo just looked at me in contemplation before turning and continuing on her way. I sigh and follow. This is a really boring adventure so far.

When we get to the village I try not to vomit as I look around the carnage. I had to think something like boring….

There were dead bodies everywhere. Also…pieces…of people. They were torn apart. I've seen worse while training, but not by much. Kikyo looks angry and I can guess why. This stinks of Naraku. His style, hell his scent is all over the place as if mocking us. Kikyo was moving around the village trying to find him. Sensing people's auras and energies is her forte I guess. It looks like she has given up and was heading out of the village. I catch up and ask her "What about the villagers".

She glared at me. I mean it was a cold death glare! "What about them?"

OK, she's pissed so am I, but leaving a whole village slaughtered to be pecked at by vultures wasn't my thing. This wasn't the first time I had to bury a whole bunch of dead people but Kikyo doesn't even seem to be thinking about that!

"What do you mean what about them? We have to give them burials!"

She looked angry and impatient. I think all that's been going on has affected her more than I thought. "They don't matter, we have to find that demon and recover the jewel. We can't waste time here!" She turned to walk but I grab her arm. I can see now how she became the creepy bitch in the series. A whole lot of anger and resentment and no one to turn to. I'm not letting her go down that road.

"Wait a minute. Waste time? These people were slaughtered. They deserve burials. N…that demon is probably long gone by now." I hope she didn't notice my almost slip of the tongue. So far Naraku hasn't told us his name is Naraku.

Thankfully, she seems angry enough to ignore my slip and my whole argument. "I don't care what you do, I'm going after him!" She tried to shake my arm off but I hold firm.

"At what cost? Hate to tell you this but even if you find him you aren't strong enough yet to break his barrier. Not to mention even if you do break his barrier and get the jewel there's no way you'd be able to purify it like this. I mean look at yourself, you are ready to walk over the corpses he leaves behind without a thought to them to chase after the jewel. You are turning into something you used to protect the jewel from!" Ok, a bit harsh but the torrent of energy she hit me with felt worse. I feel to the ground smoking and she was limping away. She tired herself out after that one little….damn maybe not so little…jolt of energy? She's going to die if she goes out there. With a feeling of impending doom I knew what I had to do. Getting up and running as fast as I could I gave her a chop to the back of the neck. She fell like a ton of bricks and I made sure to catch her before she fell to the ground. Checking her pulse I found it strong and sighed in relief.

I went to the village, found some rope and tied her to a tree. I tied her sitting down and wrapped the rope around the tree as many times as possible. I needed to make sure she stayed put while I buried the dead and we needed a long chat. Man, who ever said the road to hell was paved with good intentions sure knew what he was talking about…..

OK, I think I'll end this chapter here. I don't have any real set plan. The chapters are flowing like urine after all you can drink night at the bar……ok maybe not the best way to put my writing style :)