Haruhi woke up and expected to still have an Inuyasha to cuddle into… not that she would ever admit she was enjoying it! She looked around and saw that Inuyasha wasn't even there… but the fire was just dying down so he must've been there recently. She yawned, rubbing her eyes to make sure she really was awake.

The entire night flashed back to her… Naraku's dirty hand on her neck… She growled from deep inside her chest as she thought about that stupid idiot even breathing the same air as herself. She remembered the red figure… who she assumed was Inuyasha, running his sword through him. She had to admit that she was jealous that she wasn't the one to destroy that stupid puppet.

She attempted to stand. She brushed off her white and black kimono as she glanced around the forest. Where could Inuyasha have gone? She wanted to leave, and keep going on her quest to defeat Naraku… but she did owe it to Inuyasha to give him a thank you. Haruhi leapt up the tree, scanning over the tree tops for any sign of him… none… She sighed and climbed back down, she was a little bit pissed that he would leave so suddenly. She kicked some dirt over the dying embers to make sure they wouldn't cause a forest fire and then sniffed at the air, trying to detect Inuyasha's scent. He was close… She sniffed again and started to run swiftly through the trees, dodging them elegantly. If you were watching from afar you wouldn't see her… but instead just see the leaves falling from the trees from being disturbed by the sudden motion.

She sniffed again, she was getting close. She came through a clearing, where Inuyasha had his back to her… he was talking to someone… She ducked behind a tree quickly to observe what was happening. There was a lady there… it was like a deathly pale Kagome… She had a bad feeling about this… He looked like he was stuck in some sort of trance as he followed her farther into the forest. Haruhi rolled her eyes, cursing herself for being so nosy… and yet she followed them deeper and deeper into the forest.

She was trying desperately to be quiet… although she really didn't think Inuyasha would notice her, he was too infatuated with the girl who looked like Kagome. She focused in on her… the strange woman was wearing a traditional miko garb and she had little soul collectors flying around her. She smelled of funeral soil…

Haruhi was so focused on the pair in front of her she didn't notice the man creeping up behind her. The man grabbed her from behind and started to run away with her slung over his back. "Ah!?" Haruhi sputtered, confused by the sudden movement. She looked at Inuyasha, who hadn't noticed… Oh gods… "Inuyasha!!!" She screamed, hoping to break him from his trance… to no avail. "Men…" she muttered before taking one last shot at waking Inuyasha up, "INUYASHA SNAP OUT OF IT!" He finally averted his gaze off of the strange woman and on to her. His emotions would've been very comical if she wasn't in such dire need of help.

Inuyasha's face changed from annoyance, to surprise, to anger. "KOGA! BRING HER BACK!" Yelled Inuyasha as Haruhi managed to elbow the man he called Kouga in the side. Inuyasha left the lady there as he flitted over the tree tops after them. "Kougaaaaaaaaaa!"

"Let me go you freak!" Haruhi sputtered. No matter how much she twisted and turned he wouldn't let her go! She tried to bite him… but that didn't work, he had too good a hold on her. She growled from annoyance, this was far too much for her taste. "Hey Inuyasha, any time would be nice."

"Gr, it's harder than it looks." growled Inuyasha loud enough for her to hear. She saw some other demons go to attack Inuyasha… she didn't want to admit it but their forces combined didn't seem like it would sway Inuyasha in the slightest. She saw him yelling at them and they ran away. Thought so… But, in the amount of time Inuyasha had taken in sparing their lives, she and Koga had rounded a bend and were nowhere to be seen, gaining immense speed as time went on. Soon she was just plain old bored with the ride… she wasn't really worried or anything… she'd escaped more dire situations.

Finally he came to a stop, setting her down harshly on the ground as he stared at her for a moment. He had long black hair tied up in a pony tail, and she could smell that he was a wolf demon. She glared up at him from her awkward position on the ground. Standing up, she brushed herself off, "Well, it's been a blast, but I have to go."

Koga jumped in front of her, "Not so fast… so you're Inuyasha's newest girl?" Anger boiled inside of Haruhi as he referred to her as some sort of property of Inuyasha.

"No I'm not!" She growled, pushing past him. He just grabbed her and threw her back on the ground. "You know, that's awful annoying, how about you stop it?"

He ignored her sarcasm as he continued, "Hm… you're very different than Kagome… very, very different." He walked around her, scrutinizing every little detail about her, from the white hair, purple eyes and jewel shard in her forehead. His eyes brightened, "A jewel shard! How lucky of me!" He grinned as he reached towards her.

"Wah!?" stuttered Haruhi, only then realizing what he meant. Haruhi yelped as she yelled, "Get your filthy hands away from me!" She bit his hand as it advanced towards her for a second time.

"Arg!" growled Koga as he attempted for a third time, a fourth time, and continuously from then on. She just kept on dodging him. Again and again, even with his jewel shards she was faster. "Fine! We will do this the hard way!"

He grabbed her roughly by the wrists as he started again with running. "Again with the running, don't you do anything else!?" grumbled Haruhi. She made herself not complain the entire way… which would only make things worse. She glanced up at the sky… and she started to panic. It was the fifth day of the month… . Tonight was the night she would turn into a human! She tried to control her breathing so that Koga wouldn't notice anything wrong. Crap… Thought Haruhi. The finally arrived to wherever they were going just as the sun was leaving the sky. He threw her to the ground, again. Haruhi decided to play it cool… no point in telling him her weakness!

A bunch of other, yet considerably weaker, wolf demons surrounded her. Haruhi gave them all a look of annoyance as she sat there on the ground, being scrutinized, once again. She couldn't help but huff a little bit. Could you blame her? She had been nearly killed twice, and now she was kidnapped. Great…

Koga instructed his men to help him… with what Haruhi couldn't make out… she just knew that it had to do with the jewel shard. She tried to keep her heartbeat slow… but it fluttered nervously in her chest. She covered it by scowling a bit, under the constant watch of the pack.

"Okay…" announced Koga, walking towards her. "Now, we just want the jewel shard, no harm done. If you give us that, we will even be kind enough to let you go." He seemed to be proud of himself for being that nice… What a dummy.

"I don't think so. I'm afraid you'll just have to accept defeat." muttered Haruhi, standing up, ready to fight for her life once again. Her eyes flickered to the sun which was just dipping underneath the mountains… Where was Inuyasha? She hated herself for wondering it… but he managed to show up when she needed him most…

"Hm… you're not going to make this easy for us are you?" growled Koga, ready to fight her for it. She wasn't sure whether she could take on the whole pack… but if she managed to take him down… maybe she'd have a chance?

It was too late though, the last rays of sunshine hid themselves for the night. Haruhi's hair started to slowly change from the glossy white to a dull brown and her purple eyes changed into deep green ones. Her body looked a bit tinier, if that was possible, and she shrank against the edge of the mountain, begging for a miracle. Any miracle.

Koga was taken by surprise as she turned into a human before his eyes. "Y-you're a half demon?" He sputtered. The only answer he got was a death glare from Haruhi. He grinned happily as he advanced towards her quickly. "Then this won't be nearly as hard."

She ducked under his reaching hands, narrowly escaping him. He grabbed her by the shoulders and forced her back up. She spat in his face and clawed desperately at his arms, not giving up just yet. He held her head in place and she hissed at him from the back of her throat, even as a human she was a little bit scary… He placed his fingertips on the jewel shard, tugging lightly…

She screamed a blood curdling scream as the jewel shard was loosened on her head. The pain was burning into her skull… a searing pain that made every other sense in her body close down, only focusing on the pain. Koga hesitated before placing his fingertips back on the jewel… one more tug and she'd be gone forever. No… No… NO! I can't die yet! Thought Haruhi blindly.

She was dropped to the ground and she heard Inuyasha… She had never been so happy to hear him in her entire life. She stood up shakily and grabbed a branch, ignoring the pain that plagued each step she took. She swung the stick, threatening any of the other demons to take another step closer to her. No one seemed to want to chance their life like that, so she was safe for a moment.

She could hear Inuyasha and Koga arguing as Koga dodged all of Inuyasha's attacks. She stumbled over to Inuyasha and grabbed onto his red kimono just before he lunged again. "Can we go now?" begged Haruhi, clutching at her head. Inuyasha's eyes shot from Koga to Haruhi, debating what to do. Haruhi seemed to be in pretty bad shape… but that mangy wolf was getting on his nerves a lot lately… this was his chance… He swallowed his pride and nodded. (For once in his life.) He yelled a string of cuss words at Koga who stood there dumbfounded that Inuyasha would give up on fighting him for a girl!

They walked for a moment, until they were distanced far enough away from Koga and his pack. "Hop on my back." ordered Inuyasha.

Haruhi looked at him like he was kidding. "You can't be serious." Inuyasha just rolled his eyes and flipped her on his back either way… it was odd… usually Kagome was the one on his back…. Not anyone else. It was strange. "Inuyasha?" mumbled Haruhi, who was really disillusioned. Inuyasha grunted in response. "Why do you always seem to save me? Are you a guardian angel or something?" It sounded like she was talking in her sleep.

Inuyasha tried not to laugh at that accusation… him? A guardian angel? Riiiight. "What in the world would make you think that!? Dumb wench."

"It's just because… in any other circumstances I would already have been dead… but you keep on saving me." Haruhi's breath tickled his ear as she spoke sleepily. "Who were you talking to this morning?"

Inuyasha's breath stopped momentarily at the mention of Kikyo. "Just an old friend…" he muttered, keeping his temper down. If she had been healthy he would've told her to keep her own business to herself.

"Why do you hang around with someone who's dead? Aren't they just cheating death?"

Inuyasha got defensive. "You're cheating death too, you know!? You should've died long ago! Don't make me regret saving you!"

Haruhi didn't really react, she just continued. "I know…" She yawned, "but… if I weren't alive…who would you be chasing after?"

"I don't know if that's a good thing or a bad thing…" muttered Inuyasha, continuing on the treck, keeping tabs on how far they were from the camp they made last night.

"Hm… I dunno… hey… why did you come and save me the first time?"

Inuyasha's ears flattened on his head as he asked, "Which first time? The time I didn't kill you or the Naraku time." It was pitiful he had to count the ways she had been in danger.

"Hm… both…"

"Well… you started to cry when I was about to kill you… and I guess I didn't know how to handle it… Big mistake on my part." he muttered to himself. "And the second time, well… I could smell your blood in the air."

"What about the others? Aren't you worried?"

"Yeah… but they shouldn't get into too much trouble at Kaede's village… not a lot goes on there anymore…"

"I bet Kagome misses you…" he didn't really know how to respond to that… I mean, here he was, holding a different girl, protecting a different girl… he wasn't sure how it was possible… but he might've just gotten himself into a love square… He wouldn't admit it though… I mean, he was supposed to kill Naraku and then everything would be fine again. How could he be dumb enough to let relationships cloud his judgment!?