Chapter 4.

Morning arrives early with the sunshine beaming down on Kaida's face. She clinches her eyes tighter, trying to shut out the light. For the moment, she has forgotten about the raven, about the little annoying imp, and, most of all, about Shoumetsu.

The scent of grass and trees give her peace of mind; the sound of birds chirping feel harmonious. The light breeze raises little goosebumps upon her flesh, but the warmth of the morning sun calms them back down. Just a little bit longer, mother, Kaida groans wistfully, still tired and unaware about where she really is. She rolls over to shield the light from her face.

Then, reality comes rushing back. She isn't the little girl who was sleeping on the hill which was next to her old village where her mother had found her one morning. Mother, she quietly gasps. Was that a memory or just wishful thinking?

She looks around curiously and notices that Jaken it still asleep by the tree, laying almost upside-down with a large bubble blowing from his nose. In the sky, the raven circles above, signaling that they should get moving. Kaida combs out her hair with her fingers and ties it back up. When she's satisfied about her appearance, she walks over to the water to get a drink and splash her face.

She picks up one of the pebbles from the clear liquid and tosses it towards Jaken, hitting him on the top of his head. The bubble bursts from his nose and he jumps up, startled and flailing around. He hollers, "You impudent fool, how dare you throw things at me!"

Kaida just looks at him, virtually emotionless, and says, "Let's go," although on the inside, she is laughing at how amusing he had looked. She walks over to the edge of the canyon and Jaken quickly follows her. Kangee flies down next to them and begins to coast along the high cliff.

The bird makes a low croaking sound at them, telling the odd group to come on. Kaida nods in response and begins to trail behind him with the little green imp grumbling hushed complaints behind her.

After walking along the canyon for awhile, they come the edge of a mountain with a waterfall pouring heavily between the rims. The raven flies across the falling water to the other side of the canyon and perches himself on a large moss-covered boulder.

"You've got to be crazy to follow that bird across there! You will surely fall to your doom!" Jaken exclaims, exasperated.

Kaida sighs, "There is a small ledge just behind the water; we should be able to cross just fine." A smile creeps upon her face as she leans down to Jaken, "unless of course, it's brittle and weak and crumbles beneath our feet. Then yes, we will fall to our doom." She then pats the imp on the head and giving him a big, fake smile, "Although, I highly doubt that."

Jaken cringes at her humor.

She, then, leads him to the back of the waterfall and sure enough, there is a thin ledge that stretches across the siding of the mountain. Kaida examines the ledge carefully to make sure it was safe enough to cross. She presses one foot on the hard, mossy stone to see if it is going to be strong enough to hold their weight; only a few pebbles crumble down below. "It should hold," Kaida says.

Jaken is baffled. He solely believes this human woman is completely mad. No one in their right mind would scale a mountain edge behind a waterfall with very little foot room to get across; at least, not anyone who wasn't signing a death wish, of course.

Kaida looks down at him, "So, do you want the honor of going first? Or do you wish to follow behind for the sake of going your own pace?"

Jaken stutters, "O-of course I would have no problem going first, but seeing as how this is your idea, I will allow you that honor."

The woman shrugs and starts for the ledge. Placing her hands on the cold and damp stone wall, she manages to find some areas along the facing to grip onto for balance. First reaching out to her left, she grabs a hold of an outcrop of rock and then stretches her left foot out, gradually easing her weight on the ledge to find the strong and sturdy points and avoid the weaker ones. She steadily begins to make her way across, feeling around with her foot each time she advances. Jaken cautiously follows, although he doesn't attempt to test the stone beneath his two-toed feet while pushing forward.

About half way across the path, the stone starts to thin out and feel weaker beneath their feet. Rocks crumble from the wall and underneath the slab. The woman slows her pace with Jaken wobbling along beside her, his staff between his arms and feet.

Kaida catches a flash of something out of the corner of her eye. An unknown source zips by from behind. She stills herself and quickly scans behind her for the object that could have went by them, but she finds nothing out of the ordinary. Only the large stream of water falling behind their backs.

Jaken notices the sudden stillness in his companion and inquires, "Why did you stop?"

Kaida doesn't answer. Instead, she focuses on trying to hear what is out there. After a couple of long, silent moments, other than the sound of falling water, she takes a deep breath and continues on. The feeling of unease doesn't fade, though. She has a feeling that something is out there, and it isn't a friendly something, either.

In a matter of seconds after creeping along the ledge again, an object shoots through the waterfall and blasts a hole just to the right of Jaken. Because of the force of the explosion and the fact that the ledge is so small to begin with, Jaken loses his footing and begins to fall down with the water.

Kaida's quick, involuntary reaction barely saves Jaken from an impending death; but as for his Staff of Two-headed…it tumbles down, disappearing into the mists.

"MY STAFF! NOOOOO! I CAN'T LOSE IT! I CAN'T!" Jaken panics, while dangling upside down by his ankle. He thrashes around, making it difficult for Kaida to keep a hold of him. "LET ME GO, YOU STUPID HUMAN! LET ME GO!"

"If I let you go, you'll most likely die from the sharp rocks at the bottom of the falls!" her voice strains as she hollers. She struggles to keep a hold of him, trying not to lose her balance or drop him in the process. "What makes that staff so important that you'd risk your life over a stick?!"

"IT'S NOT A STICK! LORD SESSHOMARU GAVE THAT TO ME!"

"Can't he get you a new one?!"

"Do not INSULT my LORD!" He says, utterly exasperated. "He entrusted me with the Nintoujo so I may serve him! Losing that because of a lowly human, like yourself, will only leave me dishonored! "

Kaida tries to pull him up onto the small ledge while grunting, "I'm sure...that he will understand...that it was a life-or-death situation...and let you get away with it...just this time."

"You ignorant fool! Lord Sesshomaru is a ruthless demon. He does not forgive easy!"

"Well I guess you're just out of luck, then, because I'm not going to let fall to your death." With that, she heaves the little imp back up to the side of the mountain next to her. Looking at the little guy's face, she feels a small tug at her heart. His eyes are all teary and he absolutely looks devastated. She lets out a sigh of defeat and calls out to the raven who had just appeared on the other side of the water. "Kangee! The staff!" She points down to where the thick, two-headed stick had fallen. The raven dives after it. Once he is out of view, Kaida looks back at Jaken and tells him, "You owe me for this."

The imp is truly happy now. "Thank you! Thank you!"

Before Kangee could come back with the drenched, wooden staff, another explosion occurs next to Kaida; this time sending her and Jaken off of the ledge and into the falling waters. Fortunately, the two don't get separate. Kaida grabs a hold of the back of the little imp's brown kimono as they are thrown off the ledge and repositions herself between him and the whitewater, pulling the demon in close to her. Closing her eyes tightly and tucking her knees up, she wraps her arms around the little body for his protection and prepares for the impact down below.

In mid air, they stop falling and are carried up to solid ground. Her feet are placed down gently; Kaida opens her eyes and drops the imp onto the ground with a thud.

A man stands next to her with long dark hair put up in a high ponytail, a brown fur headband along with a brown fur pelt, and silver and black armor. His shoulders have fur plates on them as well, and his ears are pointed like a demon's. He stands there looking out into the trees in the distance, as if looking for something, or someone.

"Show yourself," he bellows.

A woman's amused laugh echoes through the trees in response.

The man growls, "Come on out and face me! Or are you scared?"

The voice giggles, "Sorry, wolf boy, but I'm not interested in fighting with you."

He narrows his eyes, "Then what do you want with this woman?"

"That is of no concern to you, wolf. Now off with you!"

"Kouga, watch out!" a red headed girl with pigtails warns as she jumps in front of the man, punching the ground. Leaves lift off the ground and dart at two giant, disgusting, worm-like creatures slithering through the grass. The leaves act as throwing knives, slicing up the pale, grayish bodies.

A large flame bursts out of the trees like a flamethrower and the man, whom the girl had called Kouga, grabs a hold of Kaida and Jaken and jumps out of the way.

As the flames disappear, a woman with long auburn hair and a short red kimono appears. Her beauty is uncanny as she tugs at the thick strands of her hair, twisting a curl, and letting it drop over her chest. Her kimono, with no sleeves, reveals the cleavage of her slightly larger-than-average breasts, giving it sex appeal. Along the edges of the silky robe is wide, golden fabric and the abdomen is decorated a broad, marbled design of gold.

Seeing the woman walking casually towards her and the others brought a familiar sensation of despair in Kaida's heart. She feels as if she knows her from somewhere, but isn't sure from where.

As the woman approaches closer, Kouga and the other woman stand in front of Kaida and Jaken, preparing for a fight. The fiery demoness keeps her bright green eyes on the human the entire time that she advances toward the group. When Kouga and the wolf girl close the distance between them in front of Kaida, the woman lets out an amused laugh and says in a snarky tone, "You foolish pups think you can take on me? I can cook you to a crisp."

Kouga growls, "Ayame, you may want to get back. This demon is dangerous."

The girl with pigtails replies, "No. I'm not going to let you fight her on your own. We're a team." The two then look at each other and give an understanding nod. Ayame then turns her attention to the woman, who is standing only a few feet away from them with one hand on her hip and her weight relaxing on one leg. "Are you responsible for the attacks and the disappearances in the mountains and around here?" she asks.

The woman lifts up her slack hand and examines her long, red nails, then turns her hand out, saying with a very unconvincing tone, "I don't know what you're talking about?"

Kaida acts out on a whim, stepping passed Kouga and Ayame and towards the demoness. "Are you an ally of Shoumetsu?"

The woman switches her attention to Kaida, taken by surprise with her inquiry, "Shoumetsu?"

"Yes," she replies.

The woman smiles, "What makes you think that I may be an ally of his?"

Kaida gulps, "Don't give me that nonsense. Just come out and say it."

She let out a little giggle, "My, aren't you a brave, little girl?" Sauntering towards Kaida, she adds tauntingly, "I wonder how my dear Shoumetsu would feel," she reaches her hand out and gently grabs hold of Kaida's chin, pulling her face closer as she finishes in what is almost a whisper, "if I went ahead and brought him your pretty little head."

Kaida takes a hold of the woman's wrist, adrenaline building up inside her. In a low threatening voice, she says to her, "I don't know who you are or what your purpose is, but I suggest you take your hand off of me."

"I'm surprised that you don't remember who I am; but of course, I'm sure it was a tragic time for you." The woman begins to recall the last encounter they had, "You were only a young child when we found you the first time." She closes her eyes, "….Ahhh such sweet innocence."

Kaida's grip tightens on the woman's wrist; her blood beginning to boil. "Who are you?" she growls.

"My name is Mika. But that's not going to matter to you after Shoumetsu acquires enough magic and spiritual energy to change the world."

"What do you mean by that? Who is this Shoumetsu person you are talking about?" Kouga says from the right of the two women staring each other down.

Mika drops her hand from Kaida's face and gives the man a smug look, "I forgot you were even here, wolf."

"That doesn't answer my question," he says, feeling a bit annoyed; itching for a fight.

"He's one of the most powerful demons around. Much more powerful than that pathetic Naraku from these recent years." She smiles, "No one can defeat him."

A loud, obnoxious voice interrupts, "There is no demon more powerful than that of Lord Sesshomaru! He can destroy that Shoumetsu with ease!"

Everyone turns their attention to Jaken, who seems even less intimidating without his wooden staff. He gulps but holds his composure to the best of his ability while everyone but Kouga stares at the little green imp.

With realization hitting him, the wolf demon hits his fist into his palm and says, "I thought one of you looked familiar. Speaking of, where is Sesshomaru anyway? Aren't you usually tagging along with him and that little human child?"

"Lord Sesshomaru? I've never heard of him," says Mika.

"M'Lord was the one who defeated Naraku and sent him crawling back to Hell!"

"Hmm." Mika reaches out, grabbing Kaida's ponytail, and starts dragging her back towards the forest that she came out of earlier.

"Ahh!" Kaida yelps, trying to pry the demoness's fingers open to no avail.

"Enough talk. I only came for the girl and the rest of you are just boring me." She raises her free hand above her and snaps her fingers, igniting fire from the spark she created. Flames grow and spiral around them until they are completely engulfed in a ball of fire. A moment later, the fire fades out, leaving nothing but a faint smoke.

Jaken grips the sides of his head and wails in anguish as he runs around in circles. "Lord Sesshomaru will surely have my head for this!" Tears spray from his wide eyes, "Whatever will I do?"

"It's not over yet," Kouga says as he and Ayame get into a fighting stance.

"WHAT?!" Jaken looks back into the direction of the forest and spots a group of men staggering out of the forest towards them. The men reek of blood and death; their eyes consumed with hunger and bloodlust.

"Are they human?" Ayame asks, the back of the left hand over her nose to block some of the stench.

Kouga replies, "I believe so. It's a little hard to tell with so much blood in the air."

Two other wolf boys approach on the other side of the canyon where Jaken and Kaida had come from before crossing the waterfall. "Kouga! Ayame! There you are!" says the taller boy with the white mohawk; both of the newcomers trying to catch their breath.

Ayame turns her attention to them, "Ginta. Hakkaku. You guys might want to stay where you are."

Meanwhile, the strange, blood-splattered men advance closer in an unusual way, walking unsteadily across the forest floor and into the clearing. Ginta and Hakkaku grab onto each other, freaked out by the odd sight before them.

"What are they?" the shorter boy with a full head of gray hair and a black patch of hair in the front.

His taller friend replies, "I don't know, Ginta. But they sure are creepy!"

Once the group of men are only a few feet away from the wolf demons and the imp, they stop and evaluate their next victims. The men lift up their bloodied swords and begin charging with precise movement. They act as though there were never weak or staggering in the first place. One man swings his sword at Kouga with a quick motion, missing the wolf demon by a hair.

Although Kouga is fast, he isn't as fast as he used to be when he had the two jewel shards in his possession. He growls at the thought and swings his fist with great force, knocking the man to the ground and the snap of bone breaking. After a moment Kouga's eyes widen with shock as the man starts lifting himself up, face bloodied and his left cheekbone crushed. "What the—"

"Kouga, they won't stay down!" Ayame yells. She is punching and kicking two men who were swinging a knife and a naginata at her.

Kouga opens his fist and flexes his fingers, the Goraishi appearing on his hand. The Goraishi begins glowing yellow as he attacks his enemy and charges after the men attacking his fiancée.

Meanwhile, Mika is still dragging Kaida by her hair, walking inside a ball of fire. When the flames die down and leave traces of smoke around them, the young woman notices that she is no longer outside.

Her surroundings: cool, dark, and damp. The ground beneath her feet is made of thick stone. She stands in a large open room that seems like a basement or dungeon of some sort. At the end of the room, wooden stairs lead up to a trapdoor that is in the ceiling, which is also made of wood.

Above her, faint sounds of footsteps trail across the ceiling, making their way towards the trapdoor. In that moment, Mika yanks Kaida down to the floor by her hair, causing her to yelp in pain and land on her hands and knees. Kaida balls up her fist and turns, getting ready to charge at Mika with as much force as she can muster, when the sound of squeaky metal catches her attention. The trapdoor had opened and someone is now coming down the steps. Then Mika gives her a wicked smile as the footsteps approach her from behind.

"Did you retrieve the woman?" a familiar male voice inquires from behind.

"Hmm…" Mika replies with a proud look on her face.

"Good," the man says. He grabs a hold of the back of Kaida's neck, lifting her up off the floor and turning her to face him. The man in the strange broken mask takes in what he sees with a dark smile in his deep violet eye.

The woman stands there in his grasp, stunned in a moment of fear and shock. She wasn't expecting to already come in contact with him, again; she had questions that needed to be answered and a forgotten past to be remembered. Right now, she had no way of facing this demon on her own. At least, not right now. She needs to get out of here, and soon.

All these thoughts race in her mind as she and Shoumetsu eyes are locked. Before Kaida can snap back to reality, the scenery in the room flashes, as if in a memory. The walls are burning. Flames licking the ceiling. She is surrounded in a room of fire with a hand still gripping a hold of the back of her neck; the same violet eye staring down at her in a mocking way.

"Awaken your power," the man had said in a dark tone.

Awaken my power? Kaida wonders to herself before the image disappears and she is brought back to the present.

Shoumetsu shifts his gaze to his comrade while still holding onto the girl. "Mika."

"Yes, my Lord?" she bows.

"Go find the priestess," he orders.

She bows again, sending a glare at Kaida's back, and then, with the snap of her fingers, she disappears inside a ball of flames.

After a moment of consideration, Shoumetsu releases Kaida's neck and stalks over to the wooden stairs, leading to the trapdoor. Once at the foot of the stairs, he turns his head back to a stunned and confused woman. "You can either stay down here, locked up, or you can join me," he says indifferently.

Kaida is taken aback. "What?"

Looking over his shoulder, he answers, "You can either spend your days locked down here, alone, and be forced to do what I ask of you, or you can come with me of your own free will. Either way, you will do what is required of you."

Furrowing her brows and crossing her arms, she arches her back slightly as she declares, "You can't keep me here."

Shoumetsu smiles behind his caricature mask, "We shall see." With that, he ascends the wooden stairs and disappears on the other side of the door. The sound of metal latching makes it absolute that she is trapped in the basement of wherever she is being held captive.

An hour passes and Kaida finds herself conquered with boredom. There is no way out of the basement but through the door in the ceiling.

Laying on a stone ledge in the opposite side of the room, she sheaths and unsheaths her sword above her, over and over again. It's dark, glossy blade gleaming in the dim light every time it slides half way out.

She sighs, resting her sword across her chest, "...If I can't get out from down here, then I guess I'm going to have to make Shoumetsu think I'm going help him in order to—"

A loud click and unlatching sounds from across the room where the door is; the whining of the metal hinges echo off the stone walls as the door opens to let someone in.

"Speak of the devil," she says in a hushed voice as she sits up and hops off of the ledge. But the figure that descends the steps isn't Shoumetsu. This time it is a young woman, maybe the same age as Kaida, with long, silky blue hair and a gorgeous blue floral kimono. She is carrying a tray with a bowl of white rice and a glass of water. She looks up at Kaida, shock all over her flawless face and ocean blue eyes.

Dropping the tray, leaving it scatter across the stone floor, the woman gasps in surprise and confusion, "Kaname?"

Kaida stands there with perplexity. Who is Kaname? She watches as the bewildered woman approaches her slowly, reaching a hand out to her face and examining her closely with awe.

In a quiet whisper, "You look so much like her…but…" She pauses, observing Kaida's violet-colored eyes; sorrow and hope filling her own. Then the woman gasps, suddenly aware of what she is doing. "I'm sorry!" she says quickly, removing her hand from the girl's face and bowing apologetically. "I don't know what came over me," she says, picking up the spilt bowl of rice and the broken glass cup.

Kaida reaches her hand out to stop her but at the sight of the rice on the floor, her stomach involuntarily growls, reminding her that she hadn't eaten in since the morning before yesterday. The grumbling didn't go unnoticed. The blue-haired woman's eyes shift from the tray to Kaida's stomach. "I'll get you some more. I apologize," she bows and turns to the stairs.

She finally finds her words and stops the woman on the steps. "Wait! Who is Kaname?...And why did you mistaken me for her?"

The woman returns a sad smile, "She was an old friend of mine and you look so much like she did when she was alive…" With that, she continues up the stairs and disappears outside the door, leaving Kaida standing there with a stab of guilt in her heart.

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. Author Notes:

Thank you for reading my story and I am sorry it took so long to get it posted. Finals and all... Anyway. Please message and review what you've read so far and let me know what you think. I'd also like to thank Eclipse89 for helping me out on my story and you guys should give her fanfic a looks-y: Through the Looking Glass. It's quite entertaining.

Can't wait for Sesshomaru to finally show up? Well I have good news for you! Expect to see him in the next chapter! ^_-

Love you guys,

~Gibbous1992