Chapter 9

Meanwhile, in the forest of Inuyasha, three friends sit together beside an old well, in memory of a dear loved one.

In response to a heavy and depressed sigh, a small fox demon exhales, "Inuyasha, do you think she'll ever be able to come back? You just aren't yourself without Kagome around."

"Shut up, Shippo," the silver-haired half-demon barks. "Anyway, she's probably happier, now that she isn't facing dangerous demons every day."

"It's been two years since Naraku was defeated and yet it still doesn't seem right without her fighting by our side," the monk adds, his eyes closed and hand in front of his face as he says a quiet prayer.

"Yeah, I know," says Inuyasha. "Miroku, how are those so-called exorcisms going, by the way?" he asks, changing the subject.

The monk gives a guilty smile, "Oh, you know. Got to make money getting rid of demons now that Sango and I have a family."

Shippo and Inuyasha share an unconvinced expression. "Yeah, we know what you are doing."

"What?" Miroku laughs nervously.

Inuyasha catches a familiar scent in the breeze and lifts his golden eyes up to the sky. "That scent," he says aloud.

"Who is it?" Miroku asks, standing up and looking in the same direction, trying to find who his friend is talking about.

Shippo hops on top of Inuyasha's head. "Isn't that Sesshomaru?" he asks, pointing out the silhouette of someone flying through the sky towards the village.

"Remember that woman I was telling you about the other day?" Inuyasha asks.

"The woman you said you saved from a strange demon?" Shippo responds.

"Yeah. She's with him," he confirms.

"Well, then," Miroku chimes in, "let us introduce ourselves to our new guest!"

Shippo narrows his eyes at the monk, "You are married. Don't be getting any ideas, Miroku."

Miroku chuckles, "You have nothing to worry about, my dear friend. I am a loyal husband. My heart belongs to Sango and Sango only," he finishes with his right hand over his chest.

"Whatever. Come on, let's go," Inuyasha says while heading to the village. His two comrades follow behind, whispering among themselves, wondering why Sesshomaru is bringing a human to the village, what kind of person the woman is, and whether or not she can be trusted.

Once the group enters the village, people were already talking about a strange woman arriving with the demon, Sesshomaru.

"Did you hear? Sesshomaru brought a woman to the village," someone tells another.

"Do you think they are lovers?" a lady replies in a whisper.

An additional group of commoners have their own suspicions about the new arrival.

"Do you think she's human?" a man asks.

"I bet she's a demon. Have you seen her eyes? They are violet. No human has violet eyes," an older man states.

"Wow," Miroku gasps, "she sure is getting all the attention."

"Yeah." Inuyasha spots his brother in front of Kaede's house and hurries over there to see what all the fuss is about, his friends trailing close behind.

"Sesshomaru, what's going on?" he asks, searching for the woman.

Sesshomaru, looking as annoyed as ever, replies with his own question. "What do you want, Inuyasha?

"That wo—." The half-demon gets cut off by a cheerful greeting.

"Lord Sesshomaru! You're back!" a young girl calls out, running up to her favorite demon.

"Rin." He says, uninterested in his half-breed brother.

After noticing that Jaken isn't with Sesshomaru and determining that the woman isn't with him either, Inuyasha sniffs the air, trying to find her whereabouts. She couldn't have gotten far.

"Jaken, I don't need a babysitter. I can walk around on my own," Kaida groans, annoyed with the imp for volunteering to keep an eye on her.

"From what has happened recently, you will be safer with me as your bodyguard than to have you get into trouble on your own. Besides" he adds, "I saw that look you had as soon as we arrived here at the village."

Kaida's pace falters, the guilt written on her face. Damn him. She continues to walk ahead of him, not letting him see her expression. "What look?"

Jaken smiles, proud of his companion's reaction. This is a rare moment for him. "You were going to try and leave the village the first chance you had."

"I still can. It's not like you could really stop me, anyway."

"Lord Sesshomaru specifically told you not to leave the village. If you disobey his orders, you will be severely punished!" Jaken warns.

"Hmph. And what about you?" She glances at the imp behind her, smiling mischievously.

"What do you mean? What about me?" he says defensively.

"I mean, you are the one who told him that you will keep an eye on me. Whatever happens to me falls back onto you. So…"

Jaken's face pales, realizing what she was saying. "You wouldn't!"

Kaida starts giggling, amused by the panic in the demon's voice. Too easy. "Fortunately for you, I am indebted to you for saving me back there in that forest. So, no. I wouldn't."

Jaken lets out a relieved sigh and begins to say something before getting cut off by a familiar voice.

"Hey, it's you again," a man says.

Kaida and her demon companion stop walking and turn around to see a young man in a fiery red kimono with silver hair and dog ears leaning against a tree with his arms crossed.

"It's you! Uh, I'm sorry. What is your name again?" Kaida asks, surprised to see him.

In that moment, a small fox demon jumps up onto the man's shoulder and looks at her with curiosity. "Hey, Inuyasha, is this the woman you were talking about?"

"Yeah," the dog demon murmurs. "Looks like you've been causing a lot of trouble since we last met," he addresses Kaida casually.

Automatically on guard, she replies, "What do you mean?"

"Your clothing is all torn up and you have blood all over you," he says, gesturing to her body.

"Oh," the woman sighs, "it's nothing. Most of the wounds were minor enough to heal already."

Jaken interrupts, "How can all your wounds be healed already when it happened not that long ago?!"

"What?" Inuyasha and Shippo say in unison.

Kaida glares at the imp, "You and your big mouth."

"What happened?" Inuyasha inquires.

The woman turns away, "That is none of your concern…I shouldn't be here anyway," she says, walking along the village border.

"What do you mean?" the little fox child asks.

A man pops out of the bushes behind the group, followed by a young woman with a small two-tailed cat in her arms. "Sorry about that. Sango stopped me and wanted to come along," the man says. When he catches a glimpse of the woman walking away, he can't help himself. "Wow, you are a beauty. I can see why Sesshomaru would even take an interest in you."

"Miroku!" the woman, referred to as Sango, growls angrily, refraining from punching him in the face.

"Now, now, Sango. I was only saying," the monk cowers from the jealous female, holding his hands out in front of him.

Kaida watches the show before her with curiosity. "I'm sorry," she says, before getting interrupted by a jealous, little demon.

"Lord Sesshomaru would never lower himself to be seduced by a mere human."

"What?!" Kaida gets on the defensive, "I would never try such a thing! Besides, he's a demon," she finishes, crossing her arms.

The small feline in the woman's arms jumps down and wanders to the embarrassed girl, sniffing at her feet.

"What is it, Kirara?" Sango asks.

The two-tailed cat meows in response and then suddenly jumps back and growls.

The confused woman takes a step away, nervous by the feline's reaction. She scrunches her eyebrows together, wondering what could have triggered the aggressive behavior. The cat seemed so sweet just a second ago. Then she notices something slithering pass her feet.

Jumping away from the creature, Kaida gets a good look of what the tail belongs to. A dark, two-toned snake skids over the dead leaves on the ground next to everyone's feet. "Thank god, it was only a snake," the girl sighs in relief.

"That's not just any snake," Sango responds, quickly.

Jaken waddles forward, saying, "I'll handle this!" He quickly catches up to the reptile and raises his staff. Then he pierces the creature's head, leaving it to disintegrate into the breeze. The little imp stands proudly after destroying the weak demon, feeling invincible.

Miroku notices the distressed expression in Kaida's eyes in response to Sango's comment about the snake. "Minor demons like that occasionally come to the village. You don't have anything to worry about here," he reassures her. The woman's demeanor relaxes a little and she simply responds, "I see." An awkward silence fills the air, so Kaida decides to ask what has been bothering her since the group appeared. "Why are all of you here?"

"What do you mean?" Inuyasha says with a blank expression on his face.

"Yeah," the small fox child chimes.

The woman's face flushes with slight embarrassment, "It's just… very few people choose to acquaint themselves with me. And those who do… well…" She looks away, feeling ashamed.

"Well, what?" Miroku encourages her to continue.

Kaida hesitates to answer the monk's question, but then exhales deeply and closes her eyes. "They die."

The gang of interspecific beings gasp in unison.

Shippo trembles, "A-a-are you c-c-cursed?!"

The woman turns around, trailing off with a heavy weight on her shoulders.

Inuyasha's understanding voice stops her in her tracks. "It's that demon who was after you, isn't it." When she glances back at him from over her shoulder, he continues, "You know we can protect you."

"You can protect me? The ones who need protection are all of you." Kaida turns away, her voice barely audible to the human ear, "It's only a matter of time before they find out that I'm here, placing a target on the village."

A young, excited voice of a girl comes from the trees behind Inuyasha and his friends, "Will I be able to go with you on another adventure, soon, Lord Sesshomaru?"

"No, Rin," he responds.

The child moans with disappointment as she follows him out of the trees, "but you know I will be okay with Master Jaken and Ah-Un."

Sesshomaru looks down at the dark haired girl with high authority in his golden eyes, like a father scolding his daughter without the use of words.

Rin looks away, knowing that he had his mind set, and sees a strange woman with violet eyes and long, tangled, black hair. Her kimono has small slits all over the fabric with dried blood and dirt. The young girl looks up to Sesshomaru and asks curiously, "Is that her, Lord Sesshomaru?" Before the demon could answer her question, Rin takes it upon herself to approach the stranger before her. "Hi," she smiles politely, "my name is Rin. What is yours?"

Kaida takes a step back, startled by the friendliness of the child. "Um. Uh, Kaida," she stumbles over her words, "it's Kaida."

"Kaida?" the young girl says thoughtfully to herself. "That's a pretty name." A bright, warming smile fills the girl's face as she compliments the flushed woman.

"Oh, uh, thank you. That is sweet of you," the woman blushes.

"Kaida." Her whole body stiffens to the sound of Sesshomaru's deep voice saying her name. His cold eyes meet the her stunned ones and says "Let's go."

Before she had time to react, the young girl grabs a hold of Kaida's arm, dragging her towards the tall, silver-haired demon. "Come on!" she says excitedly.

The woman's tired mind can't keep up; everything is happening so fast. As Rin drags her back into the village, following Sesshomaru, she boasts about how magnificent her Lord Sesshomaru is. How he is so powerful that no one can defeat him. Jaken, who is now stalking beside them would nod occasionally and add his own tales of the "Great Lord Sesshomaru".

As his two loyal companions talk highly of him, the demon seems to pay no attention to them, keeping his eyes focused ahead of him until they meet a small hut. "The priestess wishes to see you," he finally speaks, his eyes now fixed on the outsider.

Kaida widens eyes, pleading for Sesshomaru to let her go, wishing that she had never asked to stay with him in the first place.

Tugging on her arm reminds Kaida that Rin still had a firm grip. "Come on, Kaida. Don't be afraid. Priestess Kaede is very nice."

"But I—."

Before she could finish protesting, an old woman exits the straw door. "So ye must be the young woman that I've been hearing about," the priestess assumes. "I am Kaede, the priestess of this village.

Kaida stiffens, seeing the large woman smile at her. The old maiden wears a black katana guard over her right eye, a white kimono shirt, and red hakama pants. "I'm sorry if I'm imposing," the young woman bows quickly, ashamed. "I will leave immediately, if that is what you wish."

The old woman reassures, "Nonsense, child. Ye may stay here as long as ye wish. I was told that ye are being pursued by a powerful demon, is that right?"

Kaida gasps, "If you are aware of this, then you must know that my being here will only put you and your people in great danger." The old woman's face becomes solemn as she continues, "Every village and town that I have stayed at, over a period of time, has been destroyed by demons, bandits, and samurai. Your home will only be targeted next."

The aged priestess closes her eyes and takes a deep breath before smiling to the concerned woman, "My dear, ye need not worry about this poor old village. For we are capable of fending off many evils. Sesshomaru and Inuyasha are very powerful and have protected this village from ominous foes. We also have a young demon slayer and a monk who reside here as well."

"What if it isn't enough?" Kaida sighs.

"Ye are too young to worry about such things. Why don't ye come in; ye look exhausted."

The truth is: she is extremely exhausted. Kaida glances questioningly to Sesshomaru, who nods to her with approval before turning away and walking off, Jaken following close behind. Rin, then, trails after the dark-haired woman and enters the house.

"Are ye hungry? I have stew made," Kaede offers.

Kaida tries to decline the offer, but her stomach rumbles in disagreement.

"Rin, dear, please fill a bowl for our guest," the priestess smiles warmly.

"Okay!" the young girl says cheerfully.

As Rin scavengers for a bowl and fills it up with fresh stew, Kaede heads to the back of the hut, "Let me give ye a change of clothes. I will clean your kimono for ye and sew up those tears."

"You don't have to do that, Lady Kaede." Kaida says, feeling guilty for the old woman's hospitality.

"Kaida, when you finish eating, I will show you where the lake is," Rin changes the subject. "You can bathe there and we can get to know each other better, if that is okay with you."

Unable to control her facial reactions, a blush fills her face. The young girl smiles sweetly with her bold, brown eyes. How can I tell her no? She's so young and innocent. Kaida's thoughts convince her to take on the child's offer, "Okay."

"Looks like ye have made a new friend, already," Kaede chuckles, amused with the charming effects of the young ten year old.

The old woman hands Kaida a pair of clean clothes and the two girls smile in response, finishing supper and then heading to the lake shortly after.

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. Author's Notes:

Hey guys! It's about that time for school to start back up again and one of my classes are going to be a fast track class so I may not have to time be on my story as much as I have. So if it takes awhile for me to post the next chapter, don't fret. I'll get to it when I can. I'm going to post one more chapter for you guys, ending the day within the story. The next chapter is very important because it occurs during this one.

Anyway, I hope everyone had a great New Years! Mine was pretty laid back. I'd also like to thank Eclipse89 and AhMunnaEeChoo for helping me with the grammar. You all help make this possible. And a Huge thanks to all my readers and everyone who has reviewed my story. You all encourage me to continue writing and are what make my writing fun instead of a chore. Keep up the great work! To the Next Chapter!