Disclaimer: I do not own any of the copyrighted material contained herein. They are the rightful property of their respective creators and associated companies. I make no money off of this fanfic whatsoever. I write for fun and for the enjoyment of all those who like reading my stories.

Note: Sorry if this is a bit shorter than you'd like but I felt it was better to make it all quality then introduce unnecessary quantity.

A Castle Gate, Thirty Minutes Later, Kikyo's P.O.V

"I hope you don't think you're just going to be able to walk in there just like that, mutt," came a frigid female voice as the miko and daiyoukai came to a stop in front one of the main gates.

Looking up to the top of the wall that surrounded the main castle, she saw one of the panther demons and, judging from her appearance, a higher ranked one at that. Looking to the sides, she was somewhat surprised to see no lesser demons preparing to ambush them but figured that this woman must believe herself to be strong enough to defeat them without help.

Or perhaps the point of this confrontation is not to defeat us but rather to delay us. She thought as she remembered the primary goal of the cat demons in Japan.

A fact that Alexander appeared to be aware of as he resumed taking steps towards the gate, presumably with the intention of forcing a confrontation so the woman could be removed as an obstacle sooner rather than later. A wise move for, the longer they spent talking, the more time the rest of the cats to accomplish their objective. While it was possibly that one of the other groups opposing the panther demons might make it through in time to prevent the resurrection of the supreme leader, she did not believe it wise to take chances.

And neither did Alexander it would seem.

"As if you could stop me, you giant hairball." Xander stated in a passable imitation of Sesshomaru's normally glacial tone of voice.

"My, my, my! It sounds like someone's gotten a little too sure of themselves after his battle with Shuran." Spoke the cat commander with some warning in her words, "While I may care for my comrade like a brother, he's all brute force and very little strategy. I, on the other hand, am a much more balanced fighter. HAH!"

With that exclamation the panther commander sent a blast of flowing ice towards Alexander but, instead of evading it as she'd expected him to, he merely raised his right hand with the palm aimed at the oncoming attack. It took her less than a second for her to realize what he intended and allowed herself a small grin as a stream of crimson mist shot out from the inu daiyoukai's palm. The two forces collided and, while a stalemate did exist for a second or two, the decaying effects of the mist quickly broke that impasse as it broke down the ice so quick that the attack might as well have been air. As a result the crimson mist emitted by Xander's right hand cut through the ice blast of the cat commander so fast it was a compliment to the female's skill that she was able to evade it in time.

"What was that? I've never seen a mutt do that before!" exclaimed by the panther commander, who looked somewhat shocked up this unforeseen turn of events.

"It is a technique that has only recently been developed within Lord Sesshomaru's lands." Alexander explained as he lowered his right arm back to his side, "He will be most pleased that it was proven so effective. Then again he may consider an attack of yours to be a poor test of the technique's full capabilities."

"Why you little pup!" The cat commander snarled with great anger before forming a spear out of ice and charging Xander's position.

While she might have been a bit worried since the young daiyoukai did not possess a weapon of his own, he proved up to the task of making do with what he had. Speed to evade and youki strengthened claws to attack, the two exchanged blows in such a way that they almost seemed to be dancing. In the end though a bloody cut to the panther demon commander's upper arm proved to be enough to cause her to withdraw to her former perch atop the castle's wall.

"You'll pay for that, you mangy mutt! For every drop of blood I lose you will lose seven!" The female cat demon vowed before she leapt out of sight.

"She couldn't be a little more specific with that?" she heard Alexander mutter as she approached him, "Math is not my best subject!"

"Whatever her mistake, we should pursue her swiftly." She said as she began to walk past him, "If her intent was to delay us then the only reason she would retreat would be if she had succeeded in her goal."

"True. I just hope that the inside of this castle doesn't turn out to be a maze or something because a sharp nose isn't going to be much help if there're hidden doors and stuff." Xander said as he strode up next to her before scooping her up into his arms.

With that he leapt over the wall, landed on the other side and then began to run at moderate daiyoukai speed, presumably following the scent of the panther demon they'd just encountered. While she was tempted to make a comment about possessing two perfectly working legs and the fact that he need not carry her, she decided to remain silent. Speed was what was required now and, while she was capable of moving swifter than any human woman, she had no hope of matching a daiyoukai running this fast.

As they ran through the various structures that made up the castle, she began to wonder if her weapon-in-the-making was truly on the right trail or not. It looked to her as though he knew not where to find his prey and that should not have been possible given how keen the nose of an inu daiyoukai was, according to her memories. Indeed InuYasha's sense of smell was quite keen since he'd never failed to find her when they had still been… close.

"Is something the matter, Alexander?" she asked in her usual composed manner, "You seem to be a bit lost."

"Damn cats have been all over this place, including Touran. Even with her bleeding from the scratch I gave her, it's not easy picking out the most recent trail." Xander replied taking a few more obvious sniffs to emphasize this.

"Then perhaps you should seek out a scent of someone less likely to have spent a great deal of time here." She suggested as the idea continued to take form in her mind, "Given that InuYasha is here, the panther demons have likely stolen something or someone from him. That would imply either the shards of the Shikon jewel he possessed or Kagome. Look for one of them instead."

"Makes sense." He replied before exiting the building they'd been in and taking in the scents in the open air.

After a few seconds he was off again and seemed to be heading to the farthest edge of the castle's interior. If the layout of this castle was like some of the others she had been to, there would be a sizeable courtyard there and that would be ideal for a resurrection ceremony. Alexander thought so as well it seemed as he picked up the pace by quite a bit causing the scenery to begin to blur alongside them.

As they closed on their destination, three pieces of movement caught her eye and, once she'd identified them, she began to reconsider a suspicion she'd had after Xander's battle with Shuran. To the left was Lord Sesshomaru, who was the midst of hopping over the wall encircling the courtyard that was the destination. That he would arrive ahead of them would imply that which ever Panther commander had opposed him had been singularly ineffective in delaying him at all. The second piece of movement came, predictably, in the form of InuYasha and his allies, including the ones who'd been saved by Alexander less than an hour ago. While his comment had been vague, one possible interpretation could be that the young daiyoukai knew something of the events to come and somehow the youkai exterminator and monk played valued roles in those events. She knew a far more reasonable interpretation was that Sesshomaru's pupil thought they'd be of use in the battle against Naraku and didn't want them to be slain before that day arrived.

Nevertheless, she could not help but feel as though the more fantastic possibility was in fact the more accurate of the two.

The final spot of movement was the wolf youkai prince Koga, along with two of his subordinates, who were making their way to the eastern edge of the courtyard. This would make for a tense situation, given Alexander's current feelings towards the okami youkai and she would likely have to remind him at least once of their true purpose in the castle. She could only hope that Koga would have the sense not to provoke Xander for, if the fool did, a fight between the two would be sure to follow.

It only took a few moments for the two of them to reach the top of the wall that surrounded the courtyard and once they had he set her down. A look was all that was needed for her to know he wanted her to now seek the perfect spot to fire her arrows from and so she did as he wished. All the while though she would evaluate her future weapon and see if his lessons with Sesshomaru had made him stronger than before.

She hoped so.

For both their sakes she hoped so.

The Courtyard of the Panther Divas' Castle, Sesshomaru's P.O.V

Foolish arrogance. Sesshomaru thought as his eyes showed his enemies out in the open before the corpse of their dead leader, or perhaps something else.

Drawing the Tokijin, he leapt forth and brought it down in an overhead swing but, instead of continuing on its course all the way to the ground, it encountered something that could not be seen beforehand. Gold and crimson energy appeared in thin air, flowed away from the point where his sword struck an invisible wall before forcing him backwards to the spot he'd initially leapt from.

A barrier. He thought after a moment's consideration.

As far as he knew, neither Touran nor any of her comrades possessed the power to create such an obstacle and that left only that which he had at first viewed only as a husk. Could the efforts of the panther youkai have progressed this far already? Possibly. However in the end it mattered little, only adding one more foe he would have to slay before the threat to his lands was extinguished for good.

"Soon, our master will be resurrected." Touran said from her place before an alter erected before the large corpse, "Sesshomaru, you and that pup that follows you will die this night."

He was about to correct her when light from the full moon above broke through the parting clouds and the first signs of true life began to emerge from the dead body of Touran's leader. Noises akin to a waking giant emerged from the formerly deceased body and trickles of youki became perceivable to his senses. Still it was nothing he could not cope with once he destroyed the barrier for, while he was willing to concede that the former cat general was reviving, he was still weak. It would take little effort on his part to send the necrotic fool bad into the afterlife where he belonged.

However, as he watched the body of the giant panther demon reach down to the alter that lay before it, he saw three glowing shards that he immediately determined belonged to the notorious jewel of four souls. He realized immediately that Touran and her kin no doubt intended for the power residing in those fragments to make up for any shortcomings their ceremony might possess. As the corpse ate the shards, he mentally began to predict how much of an increase in power the large foe would receive. In living youkai, a single shard was reported to increase their power roughly five fold, so three of them would increase youki levels to fifteen times that which the panther general's body had been producing before consuming the shards.

A significant increase but still not something he needed to be concerned about for that put the giant barely above his half-breed brother in terms of power.

"Give me blood… flesh… and a soul!" spoke the deep voice of the corpse as a blue glow overtook the body and green light lit up the eyes.

It would seem that the resurrection ceremony requires that the target replenish that which has been lost in the years since it was slain. He thought as he saw the mound of dirt next to the platform and immediately identified it as a holding area for the live sacrifices, No doubt Touran and her comrades intend to sacrifice the ningen villagers that once lived here.

Almost immediately the mountain of dirt exploded outwards, revealing a group of ningen, including the one that InuYasha travelled with, trapped behind a barrier composed of both youki as well as air. It was no doubt designed to keep the humans in but not keep the reanimated corpse out when it decided to devour them. Whether they died or not was of no concern to him, save in that it would strengthen his foe enough to become troublesome rather than a swift kill. Deciding the time to act decisively before the giant cat general was fully restored, he was about to unleash the power of Tokijin on the barrier when a voice known to him broke the silence.

"Kagome!" Came the cry of the wolf youkai prince Koga as the fool leapt into the air, no doubt to dramatically arrive at the ningen woman's side.

However, even with the jewel shards embedded in the wolf's legs, the cave-dwelling prince lacked the strength needed to break through and so was unceremoniously flung to the ground.

"Hahahahahaha! As if you could break the supreme master's barrier!" Touran said mockingly as she stood up along with her comrades, "Not even a daiyoukai of Sesshomaru's reputation could break through!"

"You can stay there and watch the sacrificial lambs being devoured if you like." Shunran said with amusement at the failure of the okami prince.

With rickety sounds of unused muscles and rickety bones the panther general reached for the first handful of ningen flesh that would restore it to full health. However, before the giant could complete his act, a foul sound filled the air heralding the arrival of his hanyou half-brother who came charging in as emotional as ever with the empowered Tessaiga held over his head. However it was as he felt the youki begin to gather about the blade that he saw something he had not anticipated.

The blade of his father's sword was glowing blood red.

What is happening? The color of the Tessaiga is-! He thought with some minor surprise as his sibling launched his attack.

His surprise only rose when he watched as the barriers, both the larger one he had struck as well as the smaller one surrounding the ningen, were torn asunder by the youki attack generated by InuYasha. This caught the attention of virtually everyone in the area but only he had the presence of mind to keep his emotions to himself. Ignoring his witless half-brother's grandstanding, he turned his head slightly to take in the remainder of the new arrivals that included Alexander as well as the undead miko who had been with them at the entrance to the village. Taking a moment to survey the young pup's appearance, he was pleased to see no signs of damage on the boy's clothing or any other sign of injury. While he had dismissed the young one's plan initially, it looked as though it had served him well in minimizing his confrontations with the cat youkai. He doubted that the boy had been able to avoid fighting entirely as he was sure that one of Touran's comrades or perhaps the ice element expert herself would have been there to greet him at one of the gates to the castle proper.

Alexander has learned his lessons well to come this far in such an unblemished state. He thought as he mentally reviewed the training schedule he had in his mind, I will have to proceed to the more advanced techniques once this conflict is over.

Turning his attention back to the scene unfolding before him, he peripherally heard Jakken prattle on about matters which were either irrelevant or plainly obvious. Seeing the wolf youkai Koga shamelessly treat the ningen girl as his mate only lowered his opinion of the fool but decided to leave the amoral idiot's fate in the hands of his student. He had little doubt that Alexander would seize the first chance that presented itself to attack the wolf prince, whether it was physically or verbally, and he would not intervene until it began to reflect poorly upon him. For while his connection to the boy had been clarified for all in his lands to know, the connection of teacher and student was almost as important as father and son. It would not do for others to see the young one as a hot tempered youkai enslaved to his emotions and possessing no regard for honor and etiquette.

That was a role fit only for his hanyou half-wit half-brother, InuYasha.

"Give me blood!" bellowed the barely living corpse as it reached for the ningen.

His fool of a brother failed to dodge in time and, while the ningen woman was carried to safety by Koga, InuYasha was seemingly crushed beneath the giant hand. It was only moments later when his sibling managed to reduce the shame being brought to their family by destroying the hand that had been used to attack him in one swing of his sword. All brute force and no finesse but, then again, this was InuYasha doing the deed so he knew that to expect more would be foolish.

With the great panther general momentarily distracted, the ningen woman whom his half-brother followed chose to lead the now-freed sacrifices to safety. Did the little girl really think that she could lead the rest of her kind present this night to safety without any sort of opposition? Touran was quick to show InuYasha's wench just how wrong she was as the panther commander ordered her subordinates to block the escape route. Thus it was with some surprise that the woman found the one flaw in panther youkai's plan: in order to revive their leader, the sacrifices had to be alive and in relatively good condition. With their options so limited the cats found themselves helpless as the combined onslaught of InuYasha's friends and Koga's group tore through them like the sharpest of blades.

With that matter attending to itself, he turned his focus back to the great cat general, who was being humiliated by an inu hanyou. With a single swing of Tessaiga, the barely living giant was knocked to the ground, being far too weak to withstand such a pitiful blow. It looked as though what strength the sacred jewel shards provided the lumbering giant was barely enough for basic movement and nowhere near enough for true combat.

"Give me blood…a soul…" groaned the pathetic giant cat as it was too weak to move at the moment.

"Please wait just a bit longer." Touran pleaded with her half resurrected master, "I will present you with the head of our despised enemy's son!"

Foolish woman. Her leader is but a pale shadow of what he once was. He thought with contempt at the blue haired woman's actions, She should have used the resources from this venture to strengthen herself rather than try to revive what was once dead.

"Keh! I don't care who he is but you can't use human blood and flesh to resurrect him!" declare InuYasha raising the Tessaiga in preperation for another assault.

"Well, you're going to be the first!" declared Touran with on hand on the hilt of her katana.

"Come at me and you'll become fodder for Tessaiga!" his half-brother declared with unwarranted confidence.

Looking at this sight, he was reminded of the battle that was fought years ago when the panther youkai tribe came from the mainland to invade his lands. He had been victorious but the loss of troops on his side had been great and the sword his father had gifted him with had been utterly useless in battle. Indeed, because of the Tenseiga's shortcomings, it had only been a victory because the enemy had fled and he would have preferred to have been the winner because he had utterly wiped out the enemy. It frustrated him to no end that his father had chosen to give the fang he desired to his witless half-brother, who wielded it more like a club than a true sword. Would that it would be as easy as taking the katana from InuYasha to make it his own but, due to the enchantments on it, even if he did seize it he would be unable to use it properly.

What could father have been thinking? He thought as he watched his brother pinned to the ground by youkai Shuran.

Finally reaching the limit of what he could tolerate in terms of InuYasha's incompetence in battle, he leapt forward and, after drawing the Tokijin, unleashed a blast of youki that cast all his enemies to the ground. Walking up to his sibling, he could tell that the hanyou would not be happy at this indirect rescue but it mattered not to him. His only concern had been to put an end to the shame the half-breed's performance was bringing to their family.

The rest was merely a side-effect and nothing more.

"W-what?" gasped InuYasha before he sat up to glare at his older sibling, "What're you doing?"

"Stay down, InuYasha." He said as more of an order than a request, "They are my prey."

"No way!" InuYasha predictably responded as he got to his feet, "You stay out of this!"

He dares to command me! He thought as anger rose in his mind.

With the desire in mind to show the mutt his place he surged forth, youki making the Tokijin glow, and with the intent of delivering an overhead slash attacked his half-brother.

The battle was joined.

All else could wait.

The Top of the Wall Surrounding the Courtyard, Same Time, Xander's P.O.V

I can never get over the fact that even with this sort of thing happens every time they meet none of the baddies ever manage to take advantage of this chance to take them both out. He thought as he watched the two brothers go at it.

Indeed, with the way the two were so focused on each other, all it would have taken would have been two precision shots to the head to take them both out. Hell! If he asked Kikyo to do it, her sacred arrows could probably do the job without too much trouble. Then again, he had to remember that what he remembered of the InuYasha universe was directly from an Anime show where the hanyou was the hero and no company would kill off the hero before they'd milked the series for all it was worth. The same went with Sesshomaru, given how popular the ice prince was with fans who liked the ice cold badass aura the Lord of the Western Lands gave off.

However, in this world, he knew in this world things could very well turn out differently since he seriously doubted that whatever higher beings were running the show cared about who lived or died whatsoever.

Surveying the sights, he could see that things were pretty much going to end the way they had in the series since he could already see Touran and her buddies preparing to launch a joint attack. Behind them their lord and master was sitting up and would likely soon make his move to drain the life force of his subordinates to finish the restoration of his body. What didn't fit with the anime episodes he fondly remembered was the fact that a significant group of cat demons were breaking off from the force trying to corral the human sacrifices and were heading towards the two battling inu youkai. Were they looking to make names for themselves by helping their superiors? Possibly, but they were setting themselves up for disappointment. Even fighting each other, both sons of the great dog general Inutaisho would easily be able to swat aside their attacks.

Still…

The whole goal of this mess was to make the Panther youkai tribe go back to China on a more positive note so that they don't come back in the future. While the nameless warriors might not look like much ,if too many of them died then that might be enough incentive to provoke another seven generations of bad luck for Sesshomaru. Therefore, with only a little hesitation, he leapt from his perch and placed himself in their path with a 'do not even think about fighting me' look on his face.

"Do yourselves a favor." He said in his best impersonation of Sesshomaru's voice, "Turn around. Walk away."

For a moment it looked like the group might actually do it since they didn't look crazy about the idea of fighting someone who looked like Lord Sesshomaru. However their fears about what their superiors might do to them if they didn't follow standing orders regarding inu youkai turned out to be stronger as they all launched themselves at him in one big cat pile attack. Using the speed and reflexes he'd honed through sparring with the Lord of the Western Lands, he easily managed to kick, punch and throw his opponents around without seriously harming anything other than their pride. It was fairly easy but then that was to be expected, considering that compared to Sesshomaru, these grunts barely counted as flies. By the time the last of them hit the ground, the feeling of gathering power caught his attention causing him to turn and see that the four of the panther demon tribe were about ready to fire off their joint attack.

Too bad it wouldn't happen.

With savagery one could only expect from something dead desperately wanting to live again, the great pather youkai general lashed out at his subordinates, successfully hitting three of them. Only Touran managed to evade the proverbial knife in the back and that was because her head had been in just right position to see the attack coming in time to duck. Like a teenager sucking up a slushie on a hot Summer day, the cat general drew in the released elemental energy from the four dead or dying subordinates. The light show it was giving off had apparently been enough to stop the fight between InuYasha and Sesshomaru, but just like in the Anime episode, that didn't matter much as the giant hairball underwent a serious make over. Like hitting rewind on a VCR, he watched as the moving corpse changed into a more alive-looking being until there was no sign at all that it had once been deceased.

While InuYasha was gasping at the fact that the cat general had killed three of its subordinates, neither he nor Sesshomaru suffered a similar reaction. He knew it was going to happen because of the Anime series while Sesshomaru simply didn't care about what happened to the cat commanders. A little cold but when it came to fighting an opposing army worrying about your enemy's well being was counter productive at best.

"You there… the two sons of Inutaisho." Spoke the cat general in a booming voice, "You and your kinsman will be the next to die!"

So nice to be included in his dinner plans! He thought sarcastically as he prepared himself for the fight to come.

He knew that the key to winning this entire fight was the Tenseiga so all he'd do was buy as much time as he could until the sword clued in its master on what needed to be done.

"Keep dreaming, furball!" InuYasha declared as the cat general attacked him with one hand, only to miss.

Sesshomaru was quick to take advantage of the opening provided by delivering a solid youki hit with the Tokijin, only to be knocked back by a blind backhand. InuYasha was the next to attack with the Wind Scar technique but, while it apparently hurt the giant feline, the damage was minimal from what he could see. Deciding it was his turn, he took advantage of the lingering smoke obscuring the giant hairball's vision to deliver three precise blows with his mastered youki whip. Leaving bloody lines across the cat's face, he had only a moment to feel satisfied by the attack before being forced to do some quick evading. Landing a fair distance away, he had to frown in as he watched the wounds he'd created close up fast and then dodge the feline's claws as they were launched from the giant's fingertips. While large and impressive, they were easy to evade but the lightning blasts that followed were a bit more difficulty to deal with. Fortunately, neither InuYasha nor Sesshomaru were content to be spectators in this battle so, once they got involved the firepower the cat was unleashing got divided up between the three of them.

Unfortunately, while evading wasn't too hard, getting in close enough to do serious damage and making it stick was proving to be quite a bit harder. Without a sword of his own, he had to rely on his youki whip and the glancing blows he was able to manage with his claws because anything more than that was impossible thanks to the feline's expert use of his horns. Other than knock him back a handful of times, he didn't get hurt any but then again he was fighting with the intention of buying time rather than dealing the killing blow himself. As he landed back on the ground one more time, he turned his head and saw Sesshomaru crouched on the ground, looking decidedly unsettled as well as perhaps a little miffed. Considering how well the youkai Lord kept his emotions in check, that likely meant that the daiyoukai was half a step away from being seriously pissed off.

Looks like it's time for the big finale. He thought as he withdrew a little further under the pretense of evading incoming fire.

Watching as InuYasha was knocked to the ground, he watched with quite a bit of respect as Lord Sesshomaru leapt into the air with Tenseiga in hand. With a slash that would be almost invisible to normal human eyes, the daiyoukai delivered a blow to the cat general's head as he passed by in front of the youkai. Landing with the utmost in grace and refinement, the ice prince sheathed the gift from his father no doubt considering the battle over now.

"What's that sword?" asked the cat general looking as though it was unharmed, "It won't work, kid! Its blade is too dull. Hahahahahaha!"

He had to smile as the energy began to exit out of the giant cat youkai and the look of utter shock crossed its face. Like steam blue light began to rise out of the panther general as he dropped to its knees as his legs no longer possessed enough strength to allow him to stand.

"I'm losing…I'm losing…" the cat general gasped as though struggling to keep the youki inside of him.

"I believe the word you're looking for is 'power' fleabag." He said unable to resist adding in his two cents.

Just like before when the feline was absorbing the power, his body rapidly shriveled back into its corpse-like state. One swing of the Tessaiga by InuYasha a few seconds later sent the giant cat onto its back, unable to move and once the Sacred Jewel shards were removed, the last of the life energy in the body disappeared. That only left the three panther youkai commanders and they soon began to revive as the Tenseiga's power returned their energy to them along with their lives. It only took them a little while to regain their senses and, with Jakken filling them in on the circumstances of their resurrection, it looked like this little adventure was at an end.

Looking about the immediate area, he soon found Kikyo standing in one of the abandoned and somewhat run down guard towers with bow in hand. He hadn't seen or heard any arrows cutting through the air so either he needed his ears checked or she hadn't seen any reason to get involved in the battle. Deciding that the time had come to hook up with her and leave with Sesshomaru, he looked her right in the eye and then jerked his head back the way they came to indicate it was time to go. She nodded once before disappearing from sight, after which he fell in behind Sesshomaru, who was already on his way out of the castle, leaving Jakken behind utterly clueless.

The toad youkai would catch up soon enough.

A Room in the Liberated Village, An Hour Later, Sango's P.O.V

He saved me. She thought as she looked out the window at the stars hanging in the sky, He saved me and I didn't even thank him.

Ever since she'd turned in for the night, she had thought about the one event that stood out to her with regards to their battle against the panther demon tribe. She, Miroku, Shippou and Kirara had been flying over the burning village trying to find InuYasha so that they could regroup when they thought they saw him standing out in the open. They had been too far away to be sure but since the size was about right and it didn't make any sense for an enemy to be standing around doing nothing they'd begun to move towards the person.

Then he had appeared and attacked the person who they'd thought was InuYasha.

She'd had no trouble identifying him since there were few who had a head of long white hair and dressed in white clothes. The clincher though had been the sheer speed and power that Alexander had exhibited in defeating the panther commander Shuran. She had begun to direct Kirara towards the battling duo when one of the female panther youkai intervened and stopped the fight in its tracks. When the two panther demons left and Alexander hadn't pursued Miroku had suggested that they resume their search for InuYasha, since the young daiyoukai didn't need their help anymore. However, as time went by and things got serious, her mind kept going over what had happened and only one thing could be said for certain. If Alexander hadn't attacked Shuran when he had, she and her friends would have walked right into an attack and, given how potent a lightning attack the large cat demon was capable of, she wasn't sure they would have survived. It would have all depended on whether or not the youkai had intended to take them prisoner or simply kill them so that they wouldn't interfere with their plans.

She doubted that either Miroku or Shipou had figured out just how close to death they'd possibly come.

She herself hadn't worked it out until about an hour after the fighting had ended but had put it at the back of her mind until just a few minutes ago, since she didn't want to spoil the celebration the villagers had put together to enjoy their newfound freedom. Over and over she went through it in her mind and, while she knew that she was probably imagining things, her romantic side couldn't help but think Alexander had intervened specifically because she had been in danger. Ever since she'd had her discussion with Kaede, the theme of her daydreams had involved her and Alexander encountering each other in a variety of different ways. It was much more fun than imagining all the different ways Miroku would somehow become less of a lecherous asshole and more the sort of person she'd wanted him to be. The only question she had yet to find an answer to was just how far she planned on taking these feelings that were developing within her concerning the young daiyoukai. Was she content on merely using him as material for her fantasies? Or did she want to work towards making him something more?

Knock-Knock.

Turning the door, she watched it open a bit to reveal Kagome in her usual sleep wear with a friendly smile on her face.

"Kagome? What are you still doing up?" she asked, a bit surprised that the girl from a future time was visiting her at this hour.

"Well you seemed a little distracted near the end of the feast so I thought I'd see if anything was bothering you." Kagome replied before looking questioningly at the floor just inside the doorway, "Can I come in?"

"Sure. I'm sorry if I worried you." She said patting a spot by her side, "Have a seat."

Smiling the young woman she had come to see as a sister of the heart entered the room and took the seat offered to her. Once Kagome was comfortable, she began to wonder exactly how she should respond to her friend's inquiry. She hadn't been aware that her thoughts had been given away so much and hoped that only the teenage girl before her had really taken notice.

"So what were you thinking about?" Kagome asked, implying that her interest was greater than originally thought.

"Well… I guess I was thinking about Alexander. Before we met up at the rear castle courtyard, he managed to stop one of the panther youkai from attacking while we were in the air on Kirara." She replied, trying to be honest yet conservative with her response, "We thought the cat was InuYasha. I don't want to think about what would have happened if he hadn't been there."

"I guess you were lucky that he was there to help." Kagome said after taking in the answer to her question.

"Yeah…lucky…" she commented, wondering if it was truly that or perhaps something more.

"What? You think he knew that you guys needed help before anything happened?" Kagome asked with some surprise at the possibility.

At first she had wanted to say no, that her suspicion had been that Alexander had been there to specifically save her, but when she took a moment to think about it, she wondered if it was true. It had been a large village and the odds of someone just encountering another by choice were bad enough that locating someone by chance was even worse. However, if Alexander had been looking for her by choice rather than by chance, she had to wonder what his reasons for doing so were. They barely knew one another and, if he had known she'd be in trouble, that meant he had known of the panther youkai's intentions beforehand. How had he known?

"I don't know. Maybe? But how could he?" she asked as she tried to come up with an answer herself.

"Maybe he's a Seer, someone who gets visions of the future, maybe that's how he knew." Kagome suggested, sounding confident in her answer, "I saw it once in a movie."

Not the most reliable source. She thought remembering Kagome-chan's description of the plays of the future, But I have heard of people who claim to be able to see the future. Never actually met one but, considering the life I lead, I suppose it's possible.

"If he could see the future, though, then why didn't he stop the entire thing sooner?" Kagome asked as a new question rose up in her mind.

"Maybe he didn't see everything? Only bits and pieces?" she asked, proposing a possible answer to her friend's question.

"Maybe." Kagome said sounding like she didn't have a better explanation.

It was as she was reviewing everything she'd seen him do earlier that his ability to know what would happen gained strength. For most of the fight he had remained on the sidelines, watching, but when the group of cat youkai moved to interfere in the fight between InuYasha and Sesshomaru, he blocked their path. Indeed when she reviewed his moves, she saw that he had pulled his punches with those he fought and only acted to keep them from interfering with Sesshomaru and InuYasha. Did Alexander know that the older daiyoukai would have the key to ending the fight? The more she thought about it, the more mysterious and strangely alluring the young inu youkai appeared in her mind.

"You like him don't you?" Kagome asked with a playful tone of voice.

That snapped her out of her thoughts in a flash as she turned to her friend and felt a little fear at the 'cat facing the cornered mouse' look on the girl's face. On instinct alone she placed herself on the defensive but this turned out to be the wrong thing to do because a look of victory appeared on her friend's face.

"You DO!" Kagome exclaimed with a wide smile that looked genuinely happy for her.

Blushing a bit in embarrassment she didn't know what she should say.

"I…guess…maybe?" she stated with some uncertainty in her voice.

They spent the next two hours talking it over and by the time Kagome went back to her room all she had managed to confirm was that it was more than a passing fancy she felt Alexander.

What was she going to do about it?

That was going to take a whole lot more thinking before an answer would come.

A Clearing a Few Days South of Kobe, Around Noon the Next Day

There really wasn't anything special about the clearing when you got right down to it. There were hundreds like it in Japan alone and so many more if you took the entire world into account. About the only thing worthy of note was that an hour's walk from the clearing there was a shrine that often served as a sanctuary for passing soldiers so that they could tend to the wounded. Aside from that, there was nothing that would mark it as unique or special.

In an instant, though, that changed in a way none of the locals could have predicted.

In a flash of light a swirling pool of light grew into existence and did not stop until it had reached a diameter of four feet. It hung in the air like a mass of sunlight and for a time it looked like nothing more would happen but that changed fifteen seconds later when two diamond-shaped stones emerged from the pool. They floated as though the laws of gravity had no hold over them but once they completed exiting the pool they dropped to the ground as though gravity was getting its divine retribution against them. Buried three quarters of the way into the dirt they were and, once they stopped moving down, they began to glow a nice sea blue. As if by magic pillars began to rise up out of them, higher and higher, with no clue being given as to where the extra mass was coming from. The pillars looked vaguely Roman in their appearance and, as they reached the six foot mark, they appeared to reach out to one another before coming together to fuse into one solid piece. Indeed it looked as though the entire thing had been carved out of a single piece of stone rather than two individual pieces.

A few seconds after it finished the pool began to float towards it as though it was a piece of metal being attracted to a powerful magnet. The moment the stone arch and the pool of light touched one another they joined together with nothing more than a ripple in the pool to show for it. Peace reigned for a minute before much larger ripples revealed that the pool was more than a fancy light shot. It was in fact a method of travel as was proven when three people exited through it to arrive in the clearing looking a little disoriented but otherwise okay. As soon as the last of them exited, the energy that filled every corner of the arch shrunk to the size of your average person's head before simply hovering in the middle oblivious to everything around it.

"Well, that was… unpleasant." The oldest of the group said as he took a moment to reset his glasses higher on his nose.

"Considering the primitive nature of your trans-dimensional portal, I am amazed we survived transit at all." Spoke one of the women with streaks of bright blue in her hair.

"We didn't have much choice." Spoke the redhead as she glanced about the clearing, "The connection between our dimension and this one was getting weaker. If we'd waited any longer we wouldn't have been able to get here at all."

"Quite. Not let us finish securing the connection so we can begin warding the clearing." Spoke the older one before he slipped off the backpack he'd been carrying.

"I hope Xander's alright," muttered the redhead as she began to set out objects and ingredients on the ground.

"I'm sure he's fine, Willow. You said yourself that of the two of you Xander was far more knowledgeable about the show this dimension is based on," reassured the older man as he began to look through a large book.

"Knowledge of another dimension is hardly enough to ensure survival, Rupert Giles." Spoke the blue haired woman as she looked around as though she could see more than most.

"Perhaps, Illyria, but his odds are certainly greater with the knowledge then they would be without it." Giles said as he found the page he was looking for.

"The knowledge would only have kept him alive for a short time." Illyria said without looking at him even once, "Given that we do not know what, if any, time difference exists between our native dimension and this one, years could very well have passed since your friend arrived."

"Yeah, or just an hour or two could have gone by!" Willow snapped in response to the less than optimistic appraisal of things, "We won't know until we look around. Now unless you have something positive to say shut up!"

This only caused the former ruler of Vahla ha'nesh to glare at her for a moment before resuming her appraisal of the area using her enhanced senses. The new dimension appeared to fascinate her even more so than when she had only viewed it through Rosenberg's mirror device and it was certainly more interesting to her than watching the two humans working. Indeed, it held her interest so much that had Willow Rosenberg and Rupert Giles been paying more attention they might have suspected that she might wish to stay once their goal had been achieved.

What they did not know, could not see, was that something much more profound had started to happen to the transformed Old One the moment she entered this dimension.

Something that would change her fate greatly in ways none could have foreseen.

Throne Room, A Castle Shrouded in a Purple Fog, Geographic Location in Japan Unknown

It was in a less than gentle manner that two small forms were thrown to the floor in front of the raised platform upon which the throne sat but that was of relatively small concern to the ones being thrown.

Indeed, when one took into consideration everything that had happened to them in the last week, the momentary discomfort of their landing seconds ago mattered little. It had been a week ago that they'd been in their new home and had truly begun to put the horrors they'd witnessed in the village of their birth behind them.

They had been happy that night in Kobe but it was not to last.

It had started out with waking up on the middle of the night, an odd sound disturbing their slumber, and when one had gone to investigate the other tentatively followed out of fear of being left alone. It had not been until they had reached the dining room that they had seen the first signs of life in the form of the voices of the adults calling to them. The voices sounded odd but it was unmistakably the voices of their Aunt and Uncle so they did not heed the warnings in their hearts that bade them do not listen. Instead they followed the callings of their relatives out of their home and towards the middle of the dirt path that lay before it where they could see the source of their summons. However it was as they came to within ten feet that they saw something that would tear open old wounds that had only recently closed.

What stood before them was not their Aunt and Uncle but rather their corpses, for all over their bodies were wounds any one of which could have brought them into death's cold embrace.

Indeed the vacant eyes looking down at them held no life whatsoever and, with the spell of deception broken, both bodies fell to the ground as cruel laughter filled the air. Both of the children looked up and saw a woman floating in mid-air on a giant feather looking down at them with inhuman red eyes and sharp pointed ears. The brother and sister tried to flee, tried to hide, but whether it be places of man or places of beasts none could protect them from the woman as she pursued them relentlessly. In the end the ground beneath their feet was blown apart and the stones hit both their heads hard enough to render them unconscious.

For days on end they were taken by the youkai woman through the air with no way to escape save to their deaths should they choose to jump and plummet to the ground. By the time they first saw the castle enshrouded in unnatural mist, they were greatly weakened by the journey as they had only been given minimal food and water by the demonness.

Now…now they were deep in the castle both frightened and so very tired.

At the sound of one of the doors to the throne room opening, the two children turned their heads towards it and saw someone that looked both normal and yet inhuman at the same time. Dressed in clothes more expensive than those worn even by the wealthiest person they had ever seen was a young man. However, when they looked into his eyes, the children found them to be just as red as the woman who had brought them to this horrid place. Yet unlike the woman who acted out of a sense of amusement and duty this man had a look in his eyes that spoke of something…greater.

Something…DARKER.

"Hello, children. Welcome to your future."