July 12

We got back from our journey today and it was interesting, to say the least. I'm eager to write about everything that happened but it's late so I might finish the rest of it tomorrow.

Anyway, on the day we left, Myoga met us at our house as he was going to show us how to get to the demon tree Bokuseno. As always, I rode on Inuyasha's back and Myoga settled himself on top of Inuyasha's head nestled in his hair.

"You'd better not run off on us this time, Myoga," Inuyasha said to him.

"Yeah, we need you. You can't run away if something seems dangerous."

"Of course not! When have I ever done that?"

"Hmm, well let's see," Inuyasha said. "There was the time…"

"Alright, you don't need to remind me!" Myoga said. "I can't help it. I'm always one for self-preservation."

"Self-preservation or not, you're the one who dragged us out here so if you run away I'm going to be really pissed," Inuyasha said. "Kagome, are you okay back there?"

"Don't worry, I'm fine," I said as I kissed his cheek.

"Good, but if you need to rest, let me know."

"So Myoga, Bokuseno was a friend of Inuyasha's father?" I asked after a while of travel.

"Yes. Bokuseno is an ancient tree demon. He started out as a normal tree but later gained his demon powers. He was an advisor to Master Toga and often gave him great wisdom."

"So that's why Inuyasha's father entrusted the gem to Bokuseno?"

"Yes, he wouldn't have given it to anyone else. It's been kept safe for all of these years but now it's becoming difficult for even Bokuseno to contain it. Which is why we must retrieve it as soon as possible. I'm sure he'll have plenty of wisdom to give to you two once we see him."

"I don't care about the wisdom," Inuyasha said. "Let's just get the gem and return it as soon as we can."

"You would be wise to listen to what Bokuseno has to say, Master Inuyasha," Myoga said. "He holds 2,000 years worth of knowledge and it will surely help you with returning the gem."

Eventually, we arrived at the forest where Bokuseno lived. As we got deeper into it, I looked at every tree we passed wondering if it was the ancient tree demon but all of them seemed like regular trees.

"It's this one right here," Myoga said pointing to a particularly large tree.

Inuyasha put me down and we walked towards it. All of a sudden he stopped walking and glanced down when he saw that the tetsusaiga's sheath was shaking. "What's going on?"

"The wood used to make the tetsusaiga's sheath came from Bokuseno," Myoga explained. "It must sense that we are near and is happy to be home."

We continued towards the tree but other than its size it didn't look any different than the other trees in the forest.

"Um, hello?" I said, feeling kind of silly to be talking to a tree. "Bokuseno?"

I jumped back a little bit as the front of the tree morphed into a face.

"Inuyasha, the son of the great dog demon, I've been expecting you. And this must be your wife, Kagome."

"Pleasure to meet you," I replied, surprised that he already knew my name.

"Myoga has told me much about the two of you. I've met Sesshomaru before so I was eager to meet Lord Toga's younger son."

"When did you meet Sesshomaru?" Inuyasha asked.

"I had the opportunity to talk with him about four years ago. He came inquiring about the tetsusaiga. I trust the sword has been useful to you, Inuyasha?"

The sheath was still shaking a bit and Inuyasha put his hand on it to stop it. "Definitely," he said. "So where's this gem we're supposed to be returning?"

Bokuseno chuckled a bit. "Myoga did mention that you were very to the point." Then one of his roots slithered up out of the ground and clutching a bright red gemstone that was about as big as my hand. "Take this."

Inuyasha took the gem and we both stared at it with fascination.

"Returning the sacred gem was a task that Lord Toga was eager to complete. I was delighted when he came to me and explained his realization of what the power of the jewel does to people. I told him his knowledge of that is what truly makes him a great demon. At the time he gave it to me, he told me to never entrust it to Sesshomaru unless he showed a significant change of heart. Be wary of the gem as you carry it, Inuyasha. Its power can overwhelm even the most stable minds."

"I'm not interested in the gem's power," Inuyasha replied as he tucked the gem away into his robe. "I haven't got any use for it."

"Told you," Myoga said to Bokuseno.

"Yes, I see. Lord Toga was right. Inuyasha is certainly worthy to handle the gem."

"So where exactly are we supposed to take this thing?" Inuyasha asked.

"You will take it to the ancient temple of the inu yokai in the west," Bokuseno said. "There you will place it at the heart of the temple where it will be sealed away for the rest of eternity."

"Ancient temple, got it."

"Be warned. As you travel, the gem will give off an aura of great power. Many demons will sense it and try to steal it. You must never relinquish it. The gem in the hands of the wrong person could have devastating consequences."

"You don't have to worry about that. We've got plenty of experience with protecting powerful objects," Inuyasha said, referring to the shikon jewel.

"Definitely," I agreed. But then I remembered that we did allow the jewel to get stolen and shattered into a ton of shards scattered all over the land and they fell into the hands of a powerful, evil demon. That probably wouldn't happen with this one.

Inuyasha took my hand again. "Are you ready, love?"

"Yes, let's go. Thank you Bokuseno."

"Be well, all of you," Bokuseno said to us. "I know you will be able to do this."

I got on Inuyasha's back and Myoga rode in his hair again this time directing us on how to get to the temple. Eventually, it was starting to get late though and we would need to find somewhere to stay for the night.

As we went on we passed by a village. "Maybe we could stay there for the night," I suggested. I was also sending something about the village. "There seems to be a demon here. Maybe if we get rid of it we can get into a really nice inn."

"You sound like Miroku, baby," Inuyasha said with a laugh.

"Whether she sounds like the monk or not, I like the idea of having a nice, warm place to stay," Myoga said.

So we went to the village and were directed to the headman. I said I sensed a demon lurking around their inn (which I actually did. Unlike Miroku, I wasn't making this up). Inuyasha and I worked together to get rid of the demon and we were given a very nice room to stay in for the night.

As we were settling into bed for the night, Inuyasha put his arm around me and kissed me. "How are you feeling, Kagome?"

"I feel fine," I replied. "A little tired, I guess, but I'm okay."

"I've been worried about this trip being too strenuous for you."

I took his face in my hands and kissed him. "Thank you for caring about me so much, honey. I promise I feel fine. And if we run into any ferocious demons on the way to the temple tomorrow, I'll leave them to you."

"Good, I'll be right by your side to protect you as always."

"But now that we've got some downtime, I think this would be a good time to relax, don't you?" I said with a hint of seduction in my voice as I ran my fingers down his chest.

He pulled me in for a kiss; much deeper and full of desire for me this time. A second later he was on top of me and I couldn't help but let out a soft moan. "I think that's a great idea," he said before diving in for another kiss.

Needless to say, we ended up having such a fun night that I could barely walk the next morning.

After breakfast, we met up with Myoga again and set off towards the ancient inu yokai temple again.

"Something's coming," Inuyasha said. "I smell a demon around here."

"Oh no…" Myoga said wearily.

All of a sudden, a huge reptilian demon appeared out of the trees and its red eyes zeroed in on us. "You have the ancient Inu yokai gem!" it said.

"Yeah, and if you want it you've got to go through me!" Inuyasha said as he pulled out his sword.

"Master Inuyasha, please…" Myoga begged.

The demon charged at us and Myoga screamed as Inuyasha ran straight towards the demon, jumped into the air, and used his wind scar to get rid of the demon.

That wasn't the last demon we encountered though. Soon we ran into two spider demons who also wanted the gem. As Inuyasha used the wind scar on one of them, the other one was coming at us from the other direction. I shot it with an arrow and that one was dead as well.

We continued to fight demons along our way to the temple. I let Inuyasha take most of them to ease his worries about me but I fought quite a few of them as well. As always, it was thrilling to be fighting alongside my husband.

After fighting another demon we continued on our journey but then we realized it had gotten awfully quiet.

"Is Myoga still there?"

I looked into the hair on top of Inuyasha's head where Myoga had been hiding before. "Inuyasha, he's gone!"

"Damn, that stupid flea!" Inuyasha explained in frustration. "I should have known he would run off."

"He'll have to come back eventually."

"I hope so…"

We were cut off when another demon appeared in front of us. He looked human for the most part except for his large black wings. He appeared to be some kind of crow demon. In addition, he had black hair tied into a low ponytail, red eyes, purple and black markings on his face, and wore black robes.

"You have it! I can sense it, the ancient Inu yokai gemstone."

Inuyasha whipped out his tetsusaiga again. "So what if we do? It's not yours to take!"

"We'll see about that. At last, after many years of trying to obtain it, I have come face to face once again with the gem and I will not let it slip out of my hands again. Hand it over or I shall take it by force!"

"I guess you'll have to use force!" Inuyasha shot his wind scar at the demon but then he did something we weren't expecting. It duplicated itself. The two forms did a 7-10 split and the wind scar went between them.

Inuyasha and I gasped.

"What the hell?" Inuyasha said.

"You will never defeat me. Hand over the gem or you will die."

"Nice try!"

Inuyasha continued to fight him as I held onto him tightly. Then the demon hit him particularly hard sending him flying backward. My hands slipped and I ended up being thrown to the ground.

"Kagome!" Inuyasha exclaimed. He tried to run over to me but one of the halves of the demon got in front of him. Meanwhile, the other one flew over to me at full speed. I used my hand to put up a barrier of spiritual energy which sent the demon backward until it landed on the ground.

Then the two halves merged and the demon pulled out another trick. "You will give me the gem."

A dark miasma emitted from it and crept towards us. It smelled terrible. Even worse, I was starting to feel faint. I fell to my knees coughing. "Inuyasha…"

As my vision became blurry, I could just see that the miasma was getting to him as well. He was trying to come towards me and reached out to me but he soon fell to the ground as well. The worry in his eyes was the last thing I saw before everything went black.