Disclaimer: Inuyasha does not belong to me. Not yet, anyway. And I would also like to add the fact that this pizza (points to hamburger pizza) is disgusting. I waited twenty minutes for nothing. (shakes head sadly)

A/N: Well, boys and girls, it had appeared that all was lost for 'DA' and I. My muse had seemingly disappeared to a tropical island for vacation. But luckily for me, he forgot his speedo and had to come racing back.

I now have him locked in the basement. What? You really didn't think I was going to let him out in public wearing that hideous speedo, did you?

THANKS SO MUCH FOR THE REVIEWS!!

(passes out cookies and tater tots)

Another loud crashing noise ripped out from behind Kagome and she forcefully ignored both it and the shaking kit on her shoulder. Arranging her fingers into a praying gesture, she lowered her head and closed her eyes, concentrating all of her energy towards the heavily warded box in front of her.

She could feel three separate barriers around the box, and quickly set about trying to nullify them with her own unformed miko powers. She had no clue what she was doing, as usual, but there was something tugging her at the back of her mind, explaining to her what she needed to do in order to get the barriers off.

Without a moment's hesitation, she threw herself wholly into it, falling away from the world and drifting apart into her own spiritual haze.

Flashback

"Keep it normal," it whispered to her out of the corner of it's mouth. Kagome had been horrified to see that it held a random man's face, unfamiliar to her. She could never distinguish him from anyone else now.

"Where are we going?" She finally asked him, breaking the 'no speaking' rule without hesitation. They were striding down a heavily crowded street now, and he wouldn't dare try and hurt her again with an audience that might try and stop him.

"Shrine," it bit out, clearly angry that she had the audacity to speak once again. "The talisman is there."

Passing the street, they walked into a slight clearing before the shrine steps. Kagome felt it place a hand on her upper arm, securing her to him.

"Be warned: there is no speaking permitted past that top step."

Kagome blinked as a disembodied voice reached her ears. She felt a sharp tug on her arm and was forced to turn around with the sorcerer. There, sitting below a tree, sat a very old man dressed in ratty robes, who was busy chewing on a blade of long grass thoughtfully.

"What do you mean?" The imposter voiced aloud.

"Past that top step up there is a barrier," the old man continued, pleased that he now had an audience. "If any voice be heard up there, the entire shrine will be blasted with a purifying energy."

"Why?!" Kagome gasped incredulously. "It's such a beautiful shrine!"

The old man leaned forward in a conspiring manner, as if he were revealing all of his secrets. "The talisman." He said simply.

"What about it?" The sorcerer snapped testily.

"Well now, if a demon be getting in to steal it, it wouldn't know about the no-speaking barrier, now would it?" The old man cackled in glee. "And both the treasure and thief would be blown away." He sighed wistfully.

"You don't like protecting the talisman?" Kagome asked.

"You think I like living in a protected bubble just because of a forsaken talisman?" The old man snapped angrily.

"What if you happened to tell a youkai about it?" Kagome frowned.

"Impossible," the old man shook his head. "It's my job to scan everybody's auras. And yours are both definitely human."

"Well, now," the imposter grinned maliciously. "A very fine job done, old man. We'll be going now," it tugged on her arm and practically dragged her up the stairs. "You will break those barriers and get me the talisman," it ordered forcefully into her ear. "If you do not, I will be forced to hurt you, and then assume your form to kill your friends."

Kagome felt her spirits lighten as the first barrier was waved off of the box. One down, two to go, she thought to herself and closed her eyes once more to begin on the second one.

Another crash roared out from behind her, causing the foundation of the shrine to shake a bit. Locking her legs, she forced herself to keep her ground and felt Shippo dig his claws into her shirt to do the same.

She had never realized how loud Inuyasha's wind scar really was. It ripped through the dead silence and roared loudly in her ears, causing her to wince. Kami only knew how Inuyasha's ears could take such a noise.

Delving further into the layered barriers, Kagome felt her own energy flare up to meet the rising reaction from the box. It was stronger than the first one, she noticed, and staggered under the weight it was placing on her. Pushing it away, she forced herself to nullify the barrier, she felt the second one drop away a moment later.

She took a long, shaky breath and swallowed. Her body swayed from the immense pressure that was being placed on her untrained shoulders. Frowning, she determinedly shook it off.

The sorcerer had threatened to kill both her and her friends if she didn't retrieve the talisman for it. It seemed to have everything planned out, all right. But what it didn't plan on was Kagome's frantically working mind.

The moment it threatened harm upon her friends, Kagome had quickly set her mind to a solution out. There was only one, she found. Luckily for her, it would work. The sorcerer planned on having her cooperation, all right. But it didn't plan on her removing the barriers and using the talisman herself.

If she could get to it and place it on her neck, she could then force the sorcerer to drop all of his illusions. His identity would be revealed and they could get rid of him. Whether he was returned to the present dead or alive, Kagome found that she didn't care.

It shocked her to know that she harbored such feelings inside of her, but the thought of a bleeding Shippo scared her more than anything. If it was between Shippo or the imposter, you could bet the shikon jewel that Kagome would pick Shippo faster than a heartbeat.

Straining under the weight of the last and final barrier, Kagome nearly let out a soft whimper in pain. Stifling it back, she bit her lips together. One sound and this whole place would be blasted to bits.

Kagome felt claw-like tentacles wrap themselves around her body, squeezing her ribs threateningly. It was the barrier, she realized, and quickly set about forcing it back from both her and Shippo.

Wondering fleetingly if a purifying arrow would work on it, she shook her head despairingly. There were none available to her now. She could only rely on her own strength.

The claws reached up and grasped her neck, forcefully this time. Her windpipe was slowly closing up and she panicked, taking in a deep gulp of air just moments before it closed. Shippo twitched beside her and she knew that the barrier had gotten to him, as well.

Praying to all the kami that she could break this quickly, she closed her eyes and tried to remember everything Kaede had taught her, which wasn't much thanks to her own impatient tendencies.

Another crash came out from behind her, followed by a 'whizz'. Just by the sound, Kagome could tell that it was Sango's boomerang bone, and relief flooded through her veins. The battle was three against one now. They could win.

'What the hell?!' Inuyasha raged in his own mind. 'It's three against one, why haven't we won yet?!'

The battle was still going on, and however many times they threw something at the bastard, managed to leap out of the way. It was like he was reading their moves. Or predicting them in some way.

Frowning and clutching Tetsusaiga's handle a little more forcefully now, Inuyasha angrily remembered the night when he finally showed himself.

"How the hell do you know my name? Who's 'they'?" He tightened his grip on the figure's throat, furious.

Smirking, it looked up. "I know all about you and your companions," it said in Kagome's voice.

"What?!" Inuyasha felt his eyes widen.

"Shippo the fox kit. Sango the demon slayer, Miroku the lecherous monk," it's eys widened with glee. "And Kagome," it breathed in wonder.

'Fuck!' Inuyasha thought to himself. It was predicting their moves. It said before that it knew all about them, so it would only make sense that it was reading their moves and dodging them that way.

Watching as Sango's boomerang bone went whizzing past the evasive freak before them, Inuyasha leapt forward angrily, prepared to let loose another wind scar.

Inuyasha had barely gotten out the first syllable of the mental word inside his head when his entire body was thrown backwards, knocked over by a large crash coming from inside the shrine itself.

Barely feeling the impact of his body hitting the unrelenting ground, Inuyasha leapt up to his feet as soon as he had his bearings and went running towards the shrine, desperate to get to his mate before the imposter did.

Luckily for Inuyasha, he noticed out of the corner of his eye that the man's form was still lying on the ground. Keh! Probably winded from the blast.

Letting loose a mental cry of 'Kagome!', Inuyasha leapt inside the doorway and almost immediately froze. Shippo was being held cradled in Kagome's arms, and appeared to be passed out. Kagome herself, although dirty, was perfectly fine. Her clothes were torn in a few places, but it was nothing her uniform hadn't sustained in the past.

'How the hell could she have been in that blast and gotten out alright?' Inuyasha asked himself, frowning. Taking a cautious step forward, Inuyasha waved his hands frantically to get her attention.

Her eyes remained downcast despite his attempts, and he frowned. What the hell was she looking at? Was she all right?

Mate! The youkai snarled, urging him to take another step forward.

'Kagome?' He asked mentally, knowing that it was useless.

Kagome's eyes suddenly jerked up to meet his as if she had heard him. Inuyasha felt himself grow very, very still.

Her eyes were red.

And she was holding the talisman.

Ohhh, the WORST CASE of writer's block, EVER! I got halfway through and FROZE! I had to put this one up, short though it may be, otherwise I'd be going over two days without updating O.o

My muse handed me another story on a silver platter during Astronomy class, but I was like....eh....I really want to finish DA first. And now I can't write it! AHHHH!!

So, I shall wait.... (sigh) It'll come back eventually. In the meantime, here is a filler.....with no words. Think of it as a silent Inuyasha movie. (bends over with laughter) Oh yeah, that'll be the day.

PLEASE REVIEW!