Scroll 20

"Oh, man! I thought this would happen…" Kagome uttered, as she looked around the well. The only living being she saw, beside herself, was Inuyasha. He was lying face-first in the dirt of the well.

"Why the hell did you do that for?" Inuyasha raged, referring to Kagome pushing him into the well. His voice sounded odd, and Kagome soon found out why; right after he finished talking, he spat out huge clumps of the dark brown earth. He expected her to say sorry or something, but instead got completely ignored.

"Inuyasha, look around you. We're the only ones here. Now foll-"

"Holy shit!" Inuyasha interrupted, "Don't you think I know that? We're the only ones who can pass through the friggin well!"

Kagome had a dumbstruck type of look plastered on her face. "H-how did you know that?" she asked.

"Feh. I'm not as stupid as you assume I am. And when I first held my trusty Tetsusiaga, I got almost all of my memory back," he said cockily, as he twirled his demon sword in his hand.

"Yeah, me too. I remember everything, including what Naraku did to us," Kagome concurred, as she climbed up the healthy green vines that stretched across the well's wall. "And come on…follow me. We have to put whatever Naraku did right."

Inuyasha followed her, and soon they were standing in the infamous Inuyasha Forest. They could recall from memory exactly where the nearest village was, and they quickly made their way to it.

An awesome, yet very troubling spectical was waiting patiently for them to discover it. Not that it could just get up and walk away, but you get the idea.

"Inuyasha…" Kagome gaped, as she stared at the severity of the damage that had been done to the small village. "What happened here?"

"How the hell should I know? I've been trapped in your time for the past while," Inuyasha snapped, as he began to walk toward the village that had been left in ruins.

They looked closer at the village, and saw that the damage was greater than they'd first thought.

Ceiling beams and various sizes of wood were leaning against half-demolished walls. Corpses littered the streets, their blood staining the grass a dark shade of red. Most every building in sight was nothing more than a pile of rubble, and only a few things still sustained the strength to stand. Even then, though, they were mostly destroyed. Not to mention that flames burned willy-nilly, in little semi-controlled places all over the place.

All in all, it looked like a place that had broken under great strain and pressure, and that the people of the village had went through a great deal of pain and suffering. And those who had managed to cling to what little life was still inside of them would surely be scared for life.

The pair was just about to walk into what was left of the village, when they heard the voice of an old lady.

"Inuyasha…Inuyasha…" the voice said weakly. The odd couple followed it to find the person whom was summoning.

They didn't have to follow it far; the voice of the frail old woman led them only a few yards. The person it belonged to turned out to be someone they knew very well.

Hidden under a large pile of leaves, and only the head was visible. She was obviously alive, though only barely; the leaves had served as a sort of cover, and had protected her for the most part. But even so, her blood covered patches of her hide-away.

"K-Kaede!" Kagome stammered, when she recognized the wooden eye patch and excess of wrinkles.

"Kagome…Inuyasha…where have ye been?" she wheezed.

"Kaede, never mind that! You're hurt…we have to get you some help of some kind," Kagome said, as she uncovered the rest of Kaede's body and checked it over for fatal-type wounds. Before she even finished her inspection, the old woman passed out.

"Inuyasha, help me move her, OK? We have to get her someplace safer," Kagome instructed, as she turned to face her partner.

"Feh. Whadaya take me for? I'm nobody's sidekick," the arrogant hanyou retorted, as he pushed past Kagome and effortlessly picked the old woman off the ground.

((Change in time))

Kaede's eyes fluttered open, and she tried to sit up. She failed, for her body had been bashed up pretty severely. So she just lay there in wait for Inuyasha and Kagome to return. They had gone out to find some medical herbs for Kaede's many wounds.

When the two entered the makeshift shelter, a simple lean-to made of burnt wood from the destroyed houses and leaves from the trees, she called out to them.

"Kagome. Inuyasha. Where have ye been?" she repeated calmly, despite the fact that the great pain that had seized her body refused to leave her.

Kagome saw that the old lady was awake, and knew that it would be hard to get her to rest. So she decided to try to find out what had happened while they were gone. "Kaede, that doesn't matter! Please, tell us what happened here," she said, ignoring the old woman's question almost completely and started her own interrogation.

"Where have ye been?" asked Kaede yet again; she wouldn't let up.

"Just answer the damn question, ya old hag!" What the hell happened here?" Inuyasha interrupted. He was getting tired of the useless bickering, and wanted real answers.

"Ah, Inuyasha. Ye have not changed a bit," Kaede sighed, as she finally decided to disregard her own wants to answer their question. "Ye brought about this destruction."

For a few moments Kagome And Inuyasha sat there and gave the old woman whom had brought on this terrible news a continuous dumbstruck stare. In moments, though, they returned to reality, and they needed more answers. This made no sense to them.

"But…Kaede, that's impossible! We were in my time for the longest while. Sango and the others are still there. Naraku wiped our minds and sent us there somehow," Kagome explained franticly.

"Damn straight," Inuyasha concurred in a rude tone of voice.

Kaede sighed. "I could've guessed by the odd clothes ye be wearing, Inuyasha," she said.

"Shut up."

"Here. I shall tell ye the tale," Kaede offered kindly, and began her lengthy story of the destruction that had taken place.

((Change in time))

"So you're tellin' us that we destroyed everything in sight, but ya didn't recognize us?" Inuyasha repeated slowly, in order to let it sink in; all this weirdness was confusing him.

"And you tried your hardest to protect all the villagers by putting up one of your strongest barriers, but we crushed it as if it were a bug under our feet? But I could never do that…" Kagome helped Inuyasha summarize what had happened.

"Yes, that is correct."

"Then what the hell are these…THINGS…that did this?"

Kagome was the first one to try to put the puzzle pieces together, and she got it pretty close when she did. "Naraku! While he had us in his grasp, he must have done something. He must've made look-alikes of us or something," she hypothesized.

"Damn. If you're right, we gotta destroy them so they don't hurt any more random people," Inuyasha fretted, as he started to pace the perimeter of the lean-to.

Up until then the mood had been dark and tense, and Kagome felt that she couldn't live like that for much longer. So she decided to try to lighten the mood a little. "See, Inuyasha. You do care about innocent people," she teased, as she playfully pointed a finger at him and winked.

The nervous half-demon abruptly stopped pacing the room, and his over confident and cocky mood returned to him. "Hell. No. It's just…let's just jet outta here. I almost forget what it's like to obliterate an opponent."

Kagome sighed; her attempt at fun in these dark times had failed miserably. "Fine. Kaede, will you be all right on your own?"

"Yes. Now go do what ye have to do," Kaede answered. She wasn't feeling all too well, but she knew that she had to let them go do their thing. At that point, the fate of the world most likely depended on it.

"OK. Kaede, take care of yourself. We'll come back as soon as we're done," Kagome assured, as she made sure that Kaede had everything she needed.

She was about to say that they were ready to go when Inuyasha pulled her away.

"C'mon, Kagome! Let's just leave the old hag and get on with it! We don't got all day," he growled, as he continued to drag her away.

"Inuyasha…I know you're eager and all, but would it kill you to have some manners?" Kagome sighed.

"Feh."

Kagome didn't bother with fighting him; she knew that she would be no match for his immense strength. So she waited patiently until he dropped her onto the ground a ways away from the hut. Once she was free of his grasp, she let her frustration take over.

She looked into Inuyasha's amber eyes, and he instantaneously knew by the look in hers what was in store for him.

"No, no, no! Please, Kagome. No!" Inuyasha pleaded, though it had absolutely no effect.

"Inuyasha," Kagome started. By the tone of her voice, Inuyasha knew that there was no avoiding his cruel and unusual punishment. This was one thing he wished she didn't remember.

"Kagome, please don't do it!" he begged.

"Inuyasha, be nice. Sit. To Kaede and. Sit. Don't be so rude. Sit. Show some. Sit. Respect," she continued. She wanted to discipline the hanyou a bit more, but she couldn't think of anything else to say. So she said the first and only thing that popped into her mind: "Sit. Sit, sit, sit, sit, sit. Sit, Inuyasha."

((End of Chapter 20))

So, here it is: chapter 20. I suppose there'll only be say, 5 or so chapters left, with a battle and stuff in 'em.

I think I'll be taking a week or two off from writing my fanfictions, seeing as it's spring break soon. It acctually starts next week, but I think I want a bit more of a break. I'll still write if I'm bored out of my mind, but other than that there's not going to be much going on...

That's all for now...stay tuned for chapter 21, coming soon to a website near you!