A storm was approaching. Kagome could tell by the way the air fell stagnant and the wind slowly began to pick up. Not to mention a mass of black clouds began to rumble from the near distance.
"Hey guys, there's a storm coming," Kagome announced.
"We already knew that stupid human!" Jaken squelched.
Koga growled at Jaken as he nonchalantly picked up his pace, putting a few more feet between the wolf demon and himself.
"Well what are we going to do when it hits?" Kagome asked.
"We should probably be looking for shelter," Koga offered, considerate of Kagome's condition.
Sesshoumaru made no attempt to offer his thoughts. Instead, he continued on the path ahead.
A loud clap of thunder sounded from above, and a streak of lightning lit up the sky. Kagome winced and waited for the rain to fall from the dark clouds now hovering above them, but was surprised when none came.
"Huh. That's weird. It's only thunder and lightning," Kagome said.
"Of course! This is a demon's doing! The thunder brothers no less," Jaken huffed.
"The thunder brothers? Who are they?"
"The famous Heten and Monten. They're the only remaining survivors of the thunder demon tribe."
"Thunder demons?"
"Don't you know anything?"
"Uh, not really. I thought we went over this. We don't have demons five hundred years in the future."
"Well, since I must explain it to your puny mind, the thunder brothers are powerful demons who live up in the mountains a few ways away. Known for their radical behavior and taste for women of all kinds, they are extremely dangerous. Of course, not as dangerous as our Lord Sesshoumaru," Jaken blabbed.
"Hmm," Kagome said.
"So what should we do?"
"Keep walking," Sesshoumaru interjected. Kagome nodded and the group continued on.
All of a sudden, Kagome stopped in her tracks.
"I... I can sense something," she said.
"What is it Kagome? Is it a jewel shard?" Koga asked.
"There's only one way to find out," she said, and took off towards the stormy clouds.
"Wait, Kagome!" Koga said, heading after her.
"Those fools won't last two seconds!" Jaken squelched.
"Lord Sesshoumaru, shall we keep moving?"
Sesshoumaru stared after them for a bit and suddenly flew up into the air and after them, leaving Jaken scrambling behind.
"Wait for me lord Sesshoumaru!" Jaken said, grabbing ah un's reigns and disappearing into the forest.
Kagome ran fast and hard after the pulsing feeling of something ahead.
"Kagome!" Koga yelled. He was right at her heels.
"I'm almost there," she said, picking up the pace. She stopped dead in her tracks however as she came to the edge of a clearing. In the clearing were three powerful demons battling each other. Two floated high above in the clouds while one fiery red one shot about the clearing.
"What's going on?" Kagome asked.
"A dispute between that fox demon and the thunder brothers. Best not get involved Kagome," Koga said.
At that moment a stroke of lightning hit the fox demon on the ground.
"Hehehe, got you now kitsune!"
The fox demon fell to the ground, wincing in pain. All of a sudden, a small voice popped up.
"Father!" It cried.
Kagome turned to see an even smaller fox demon come barreling through the tall grass to the larger fox demon.
"Stay back Shippo!" he said.
"Koga, we've got to help!" Kagome yelped.
"This isn't our fight. Us getting involved wouldn't help any. We should just let them sort things out themselves."
"And what? Sit back and watch someone die!? He has a child!"
Kagome quickly turned and ran to the wounded fox demon, pulling out her bow and arrows.
"Don't worry, I'm here to help," she said.
"Stay back human!" The thunder demon shouted. There were two of them altogether, one a humanesque looking boy with a long black braid, the other a huge bulking frog creature of some sort.
"Hiten, say, she's a fair enough looking woman. How about it, can I have her?" the frog-like demon squelched.
"Whatever you want brother, after we skin ourselves a new fox pelt!"
"Run woman, this is of no concern to you," the wounded fox demon said.
"You're hurt. Take your kid and go. I'll handle things from here," Kagome replied.
"Besides. These guys have sacred jewel shards, so this is partially my fault."
Kagome cocked her arrow and aimed at the frog-like one. The demons laughed.
"You think you can defeat us with such a puny weapon woman? Don't be foolish!"
"Go!" Kagome cried, releasing her arrow. The arrow glowed bright pink and hit the demon square in the arm.
"Ah!" he cried out as its arm burst into pink flames. He quickly tore the limb from his body and flung it aside.
"You filthy priestess!" he shouted.
"Kagome!" Koga yelled.
Manten then opened his jaws as a bright light began to form in his mouth. The orb grew larger and larger until it shot from his mouth and right at Kagome. Kagome braced herself for the hit, but never felt it. Instead, she found herself protected by a shimmering yellow barrier with a slightly angry taiyoukai in front of her.
"Sesshoumaru…"
He outstretched his arm and drew a whip of poison from his claws. He whipped it at Manten, slicing him in two almost instantly.
"Brother!" Cried Hiten. He jerked his head to face Sesshoumaru and flew to his brother. He dug his hand into his deceased brother's body and pulled out two jewel shards from it. He then stuck them into his own body and snarled at Sesshoumaru.
"You'll pay for that, scum!" As he yelled, thunder boomed from above and black clouds began to gather more and more, until it was dark as night. The wind, sensing the tension, picked up speed, whipping the trees back and forth.
"Don't worry Kagome, I'll protect you!" Koga declared, stepping in front of Kagome.
Koga charged forward, claws poised at the powered-up thunder demon. He swiped at Hiten, but Hiten vanished, reappeared behind him, and raised his staff to strike. He brought it down on Koga, sending him flying away like a rag doll.
"Koga!" Kagome yelled.
She watched as he hit the ground hard and stopped. She ran towards his side.
"Are you okay?"
"I'll be alright. You just stay back, alright?"
He got up again and joined the fight. Sesshoumaru had already engaged the thunder demon, cracking his whip at him left and right. Hiten was faring well however, dodging attacks and striking back. Hiten was about to land a kick when Koga shot out of nowhere, and knocked him down.
"Do not interfere," Sesshoumaru said.
"Hey, I just saved your butt there. A little gratitude would have been just fine," he replied.
Sesshoumaru glared and shot past Koga, bringing his whip down on top of Hiten, who rolled to the side and avoided the attack which made a huge indent in the ground.
He shot after Hiten, the both of them striking and dodging at a blinding speed until finally, Sesshoumaru twirled his whip and landed a direct blow, slicing Hiten's arm off.
"Gah!" He screamed, clutching the bleeding stump.
"Sesshoumaru, aim for his other arm and forehead! He has jewel shard in there and also in his staff!"
Sesshoumaru rushed Hiten. He lifted his arm up, and lunged, sending his arm straight through his chest. He then extracted the jewel shard from both Hiten's arm, forehead, and weapon.
He walked over to Kagome and placed them into her hands. The tainted shards immediately turned pink, much to Kagome's wonder.
"Thank you," she told him. He simply kept walking.
"I could've taken him, you know," Koga started.
Kagome smiled.
"I'm sure you can," she told him.
Yeah right, she thought.
The fox demon approached the group with his son close in tow, clinging onto the back of his legs. He dropped to his knees in front of Kagome and bowed his head and arms.
"Thank you so much. I am forever in your debt. My son and I both. You saved our lives," he said.
"Oh, I'm not the one you should be thanking, it was Sesshoumaru who really saved you, and Koga who helped. I didn't really do much," she told them.
"Hnn," Sesshoumaru said, turning and beginning to walk away. Jakes sprung out of the bushes with Ah-Un, and stepped in line behind him.
"Looks like it's time to go. Nice meeting you two!" Kagome said, starting after him.
She grabbed Koga and caught up to them. She saw them both waving behind them and smiled. She then looked back down at her hand with jewel shards in them, and gasped.
"Koga, look! The jewel shards! They fused into one."
"Wow. That certainly makes things easier, doesn't it?"
Kagome nodded and continued. She then ran up to Sesshoumaru and fell in line beside him.
"Hey, uh… I just wanted to say thank you for today. For helping those people. And for helping me…," she said.
He didn't say anything back or glance her way, but she smiled knowing that her words did not fall upon deaf ears.
A/N: Well... Sorry for the super long wait! I really procrastinated and kind of forgot about this story... I've been focusing on writing original content and enhancing my writing ability for the future. But, this story is like a part of me somehow, and I really love it. So, I'll keep writing. Thank you for your patience!