{I am back!

Updates are gonna be real slow cause I'm behind on draft editing and motivation's coming in short burst from time to time, but we're moving along!

Thank you for all your support, I really appreciate everyone that left comments and/or kudos!

You guys are great motivation!

Please enjoy the story, this is the longest chapter yet!

I do plan on keeping similar lengths for the following chapters!}

Summary;

In the Land of Demons, there is a special well that was rumored to grant any wish. When Naruto finds it, he makes a wish that will bring him to a place where danger hides behind every corner and where he will find love and acceptance.

Disclaimer; I don't own Naruto or Inuyasha.

I adopted this story from StormFox02, along with their other 7 stories.. I am rewriting this story into my own, so it's not just a continuation, although some of their other stories will be.

I own only the continued story idea and any OC's that appear.

All rights and credit goes to the rightful owners.

All my stories will be cross posted on Wattpad, , and Archive of Our Own, under the same user name!

Warning; not beta read, yaoi, harem, character bashing, slight Kagome bashing, slight angst, pining, rivalry, morally gray Orochimaru, he's still a bad guy; just not as bad towards Naruto, morally gray Kabuto

Paring; Naruto x Inuyasha, Sesshomaru, Hiten

"Sweet" - Speech

'Yo' - Thought

[Sup] - Author Note/Me rambling

"Gaki.." - Bijuu in Naru's head

"Lala" - Singing

"Iron Reaper, Soul Stealer" - Demonic Attacks/Jutsu

What happened! - Dreams/Flashbacks

Chapter 3 ~ A Fight for Our Lives

Last Time~

Deep in the forest, still stuck to the tree, the body of the silver haired boy with dog ears was pulsing with restless energy. After several moments, his body stopped pulsing and the boy seemed to wake from his forced slumber.

"I smell it, the blood of the woman who killed me.. and it's coming closer." He reached for the arrow on his chest and winced in pain as it released some sacred energy.

"Guess I'll just have to wait then.." He settled back against the tree, knowing it wouldn't be long.

'I wonder if she'll be there..'

Naruto was almost at the site where he could remember the dog-eared boy being, unfortunately with the centipede still chasing him.

'That boy was close to the well. If I head in his direction, I can find where it is! I just hope the demon doesn't attack him. In his current situation, he isn't fit to fight... Maybe I should send a clone his way to get him out of there.' Naruto's eye gave a minute twitch as he thought of something that could make freeing the silver haired cutie a bit of a problem, 'With any luck, he won't actually be a criminal..'

"The Jewel, give it to me!" The demon yelled behind him, breaking his slowly wandering thought process. Jiraiya had always complained about his subpar attention span, especially during serious situations. Considering it was never really a problem with Kabuto-Nii, Naruto had honestly thought it was just because of how boring the man's teaching practices tended to be.

It's probably a bit of both.

"Just because you ask me, doesn't mean I'll give it to you!.. I don't even know where it is!" Quickly setting Kagome back on the ground with instructions to run for the tree boy, then hopefully towards the elusive well, Naruto turned to throw another explosive kunai alongside a poison sendon. The resulting explosion stunned the monster long enough for Naruto to put some more distance between them.

The woman once again charged him and he jumped to avoid her but didn't account for her surging upwards to get to him. With no other option, Naruto planted his foot in her face and used her head as a springboard again. With a triumphant cry, Naruto took off after Kagome.

It didn't take long for him to come across the two other teens. Kagome had climbed up until she was standing eye to eye with the other boy.

"Hello, Kikyo. I see you've made a couple new friends. Playing with bugs now, are we?" The boy said, his eyes trained solely on Kagome.

Naruto looked up at him, his brain taking a second to compute the fact that the boy was completely conscious and seemingly in no pain.

"How are you awake, or even alive, right now? That arrow looks like it's struck your heart or close enough to it?" Naruto asked, honestly confused, and concerned, at the medical anomaly. The boy stared blankly at him for a moment, then turned to sneer at Kagome. 'Ah, I'm being ignored! How rude..'

"Why are you taking so long to kill it? Just do her like ya' did me. You look pretty dumb there, Kikyo. The Kikyo I know wouldn't waste her time." Kagome scowled, clearly pissed off.

Naruto, on the other hand, was trying valiantly not to laugh while also keeping an eye on their surroundings. 'She's here, I know it.. She hasn't shown herself yet, so she's probably trying to regenerate first..'

"Are you blind or something? I am not this Kikyo person, and I don't know you. I'm…" Naruto's head swiveled to look behind them as the other boy looked up, Kagome's words cut off at the other's sudden actions.

"She's here." the boy said with finality.

Naruto jumped out of the way as the centipede flew in from above. He was about to punch it when two arrows with ropes hit the monster's side and started pulling. Naruto looked to his right to see that the villagers had come to help them.

"I can't believe they actually followed us." Naruto mumbled as the villagers fired more arrows to bring her away from the mortal children.

"You're pathetic, Kikyo." The silver haired boy taunted again.

"I. am not. Kikyo! My name is Kagome! Ka-go-me!" Kagome enunciated, her anger at the situation reaching higher and higher levels. 'I just want to go home!'

"And I'm saying ya gotta be her, cause if yer not there's no way you could smell so…" Inuyasha paused, leaning forward as much as the arrow embedded in his chest would allow, to sniff her a little more. "Huh? Yer not her..."

"That's what I've been trying to tell ya!"

"Yer right, Kikyo was cuter.. Way cuter.." Inuyasha responded, causing both Naruto and Kagome to twitch for different reasons. 'Does he really think that's important right now?' / 'Why, this little..!'

"Either way, her name is Kagome, I'm Naruto, and we need to duck!" Naruto said, yanking Kagome down as the centipede flew over them. With a screech, she crashed into a few trees before attempting to attack them again. Naruto and Kagome split up from each other, Naruto noticeably faster than the other.

Mistress Centipede immediately took off after Kagome, easier prey. Trying to help, Naruto went to attack the demon's side only for her to use her tail to force him towards Inuyasha. She quickly wrapps the boys up in an attempt to crush them both to death.

Thinking quickly, Naruto straddles the silver dog boy and applies chakra to his hands as he stuck them to the tree on either side of the others face, forcing him to be an inch away from Inuyasha, who freaked at having the blond so close to his face and the blond's waist around his own.

"Hey, get off of me! I'm not a horse!" This prompted Naruto into glaring at Inuyasha with such ferocity that he was momentarily stunned into silence.

"Will you shut up! Can't you see it's an emergency? I'm too busy to deal with your bullshit right now!"

"Inuyasha has revived!" Some villagers announce in fright as Kaede finally arrives at the scene.

'How can that be? The seal should have held forever.' She thought as she looked between Naruto and Kagome.

The centipede started pulling harder.

"Give me the Sacred Jewel!"

At this, Inuyasha frowned in thought. 'Sacred Jewel?'

The centipede then opened her mouth and was about to attack Naruto when he lifted his hand. He was expelling chakra to perform a rasengan, but stared in shock as he felt a different form of energy being expelled.

He watched in shock as an orange hue was expelled from his hands, pushing the centipede away. 'This feeling, it's the same thing I felt when I combined my chakra with Shion's a few years back... Could some of her spirit energy have been transferred to me?.. But that's impossible, the amount I just used was more than what she could have safely given me.. And it's been so long since then, there's no way it hung around in my system like that without a replenishing source.'

The strangeness of the revelation made him lose his concentration and he dropped to the ground landing crouched on his feet. He watched as the centipede's humanoid arms collapsed around him. Naruto inspected his hand.

"I see, so that was spiritual energy that I used before to repel that demon.. The question is, why does it feel like it's mine and not Shion's..?" Naruto watched as her limbs seemed to slowly disintegrate like before, 'Maybe her own spiritual power unlocked... mine?'

Kaede and the villagers stared in awe at the blond boy.

Naruto then felt something coming from his side. He looked down and saw an orangish-red hue emanating from his jacket. 'What is this? Is it the seal? But it's coming from my side and not my stomach..?'

Naruto was again too distracted to see the centipede rush towards him. He felt it bite into him as he was suddenly propelled into the air. He watched as his blood and a jewel, light orange that faded into a darker red center, was expelled from his body.

'Is that what they were talking about? The.. Sacred Jewel was... inside me? But.. how?' Still mid air, he quickly grabbed onto it and sealed the jewel away into his senbon wrist seal, ensuring no other truly knew where the jewel had disappeared to.

Naruto landed hard on the other side of the clearing near Inuyasha, his side bleeding sluggishly from the bite. 'Damn it! I almost forgot centipedes are poisonous.. Somehow I doubt I'll be able to harvest her venom gland, Kabu-nii would be so disappointed..'

Both demons were noticeably confused when they couldn't sense the jewels' presence anymore…

Or at least, not nearly as intensely. Not enough to pinpoint its location.

"No! Where is it? Where is it?!" Mistress Centipede screeched, frantically searching for the missing jewel on the ground. "You damned brat, give it to me!"

With everyone and the demon distracted, Kagome attempts to make a dash for their original target, the well. Unfortunately, Mistress Centipede takes notice of her escape attempt and acts quickly.

She latches onto the girl's side and harshly shakes her a few times before throwing the poor girl head first into a tree, knocking her unconscious.

Thanks to the bite in her side a small unassuming orb flies out, similar to the one Naruto expelled but bluish purple in color (1). It lands before Naruto and Inuyasha.

"The jewel, quick!" Naruto turned to look at Inuyasha in confusion just as the centipede surrounded the tree with its body and then constricted, forcing Naruto to once again be pressed against Inuyasha's chest.

They both looked on as the centipede stared at them.

"I heard some half demon spawn was after Sacred Jewel. It's you isn't it?"

Naruto looked up at Inuyasha. 'Half-Demon? Then this boy is a dog demon and human hybrid... Incredible! Does this place really have humanoid demons living around?.. Though it still begs the question as to where I am and if the Kyuubi (or any of the other bijuu for that matter) truly are demons, since no one here seems to think I'm a demon either.'

Inuyasha smirked at the bug demon.

"Don't group me with these worthless, weak ningens! (2)" He said, sending a rather pointed look at Naruto, "Half's all I need to kick your scaly hide. Anything more than that would be a waste of my time." he said, cockily.

"... Well, this was interesting." Both the demons and the humans in the area froze in shock as the Naruto pressed to Inuyasha's chest poofed into smoke. "Now I have an idea of what's really going on." A voice said from the centipede's right. She cried out in pain as she was kicked in the face with a chakra reinforced leg.

The kick knocked her head back, but her body was still attached to the tree. Naruto performed some hand seals much to the confusion of the humans and Inuyasha. They watched as his hands gained a soft blue tint and proceeded to cut through the demon's flesh around the tree, almost as if he was cutting through soft butter.

The centipede screamed as she was cut down to size. She quickly let go of the tree to salvage what remained of her body, glaring at Naruto all the while.

"You pathetic ningen! How dare you attack me?" It was then the jewel still sitting on the forest floor caught her eye. She was about to snag it when she felt one of Naruto's kunai in her hide. She was about to say another snide remark when she felt all her muscles spasm and she fell inert to the ground.

Inuyasha, Kaede, and the villagers stared in shock wanting to know what strange magic he'd used when Mistress Centipede twitchingly managed to lift her torso up again.

"What…did you…do to me…ningen?" The demon panted in anger and pain. Naruto smirked.

"I noticed the serum in the senbons wasn't working too well, so I injected you with a special serum of my own creation." He lifted up the arm he had taken from the well, making her eyes widen. "You see, when I have the genetic material of an organic being, it is easy for me to combine their DNA into this specific concoction." Naruto held out a tiny bottle containing a clear liquid. "When this potion is finally finished, I can inject it into the original body causing whoever is injected with it to suffer muscular atrophy, destroying your muscles. Though, I am impressed you can still move.. Guess the dosage wasn't high enough."

With a shrug, Naruto pocketed the vile and dropped the arm. He then turned to Inuyasha.

"A word of advice, I resent being called weak." Inuyasha stared in wonder at this boy, who also smelled strangely.. appetising?, turned back to the enraged centipede who was slowly collecting herself. "Don't even get me started on the word worthless.."

"You think your little potion will work on me, ningen?" She spat, using the remainder of her strength to charge at him.

Naruto smiled as he held out his hand, a Rasengan forming, much to the continuous surprise of the rest of the people in the forest. Naruto concentrated a little more as he called upon the spiritual energy he'd felt before.

There, before their eyes, the strange blue energy became tinted with pastel orange. Inuyasha and Kaede were shocked as they could sense an unusually similar spiritual energy to what Kikyo had possessed.

Naruto stared calmly at the approaching beast.

"I think I now have a better sense of this world." With that, he launched himself at the centipede who came towards him with her jaws open. He plunged the Spiritual Rasengan into her mouth, making her scream as she was both purified and ripped apart.

When they saw Mistress Centipede evaporate completely, until not even her bones remained, the villagers cheered in triumph.

Naruto picked up the fallen jewel and created a couple shadow clones (further shocking those around him) to check on Kagome as Kaede got off her horse and walked towards him.

"Ye are full of surprises, aren't ye?" This earned her a slightly strained smile.

"I have been told that quite often actually." His face became serious as he turned to a struggling Inuyasha, still attached to the tree.

"What are you going to do about him?" Kaede and the villagers followed his line of sight only to frown at the struggling dog hanyo.

"Kill him!" One villager shouted and Naruto felt shock and disgust go down his spine.

"Kill the demon!" Inuyasha growled as he saw some brave villagers begin to approach him.

"For Kikyo-sama!" The villagers were forced to stop as Naruto had placed himself in front of Inuyasha, facing the villagers with his head bowed. Kaede stood in front of the villagers, looking at Naruto in confusion.

"Naruto-kun?" Naruto looked up and Kaede was shocked to see so much sadness in such a young boy. 'How can such a young child live with such great sadness?'

"I apologize, Kaede-sama, but I cannot allow you to harm him. Not if the only reason they seek retribution is because he was born a half-demon." Kaede and her villagemen looked confused while Inuyasha looked surprised. It was unusual to say the least, the only people who had ever shown concern for his well being were his mother and Kikyo. "In my eyes, being born different, a demon, full or even just half, should never be deemed a punishable crime."

Kaede tried to reason with the compassionate boy. (3)

"Nay, child. Once the arrow is removed, then Inuyasha will be free to kill us all."

Naruto looked at Kaede in silence before speaking up.

"... Remember when I talked to you about my village, and how even there I was different?" Kaede was confused at the change of subject but nodded. "Well, my hair and eye color is not the only reason why I am different." Naruto looked up and closed his eyes while taking a deep breath. Many were shocked to see his eyes turned a crimson red when he looked back at them, the pupil slit like a cat…

Or like a demon.

Some villagemen raised their weapons, while many backed away with fearful faces. Kaede was the only one who didn't move. Inuyasha, who couldn't see Naruto's eyes, merely stared in confusion at the fear of the humans.

Kaede looked like she was beginning to understand the enigma that stood before her.

Naruto continued speaking.

"You see.. I am a prison. On the day of my birth, a great and powerful evil attacked our village. Not being able to defeat it, the leader of the village decided to seal it within the only human infant that was born that day… into me." The humans looked horrified and even Inuyasha looked a little disgusted. "The leader, who was beloved by my village, did not survive.. And my village…" Naruto felt his eyes prickle with tears as his words became stuck in his throat.

He couldn't continue, he doubted he'd ever truly be able to..

Kaede stepped forward.

"Is that where ye's great abilities come from? Are ye channelling the beast?" Naruto shook his head in the negative, willing his eyes to dry.

"No, my people have learned to utilize their inner chakra (4). Then they use said chakra to perform fantastic feats.. Like what you've seen me do here." Kaede nodded at his words, her clansmen seeming to calm down the longer the blond spoke. "With this energy my people can do many things. From climbing walls without their hands, to walking on water, to increasing their physical strength. Most can even control the elements like fire, wind, and water... There are even a rare few who have the power to completely control demons," at this Inuyasha flinched, feeling sick just thinking of such a horrible power, "and as I've said, some can seal them away."

"I see…" Kaede nodded sagely, "Then ye must be incredibly powerful to hold back such malevolence."

Naruto stared in shock as his eyes became blue again. Of all the responses he was expecting, this was not one of them.

Kaede smiled.

"I suspected there was something different about ye. I sensed great malice in ye, yet it was not ye who was creating it. I was confused, yet now I see that ye are a powerful container to a powerful creature." Naruto gave a wobbly smile at her words.

The villagers lowered their weapons, the fear in their eyes being replaced with guilt, pity, and..

And acceptance.

'Real acceptance... That.. That's a first..'

As Naruto took a second to dry his teary eyes, his clones dispersed. He quickly worked through the sudden influx of information as he moved to personally check on his new patient.

"Ah, do you have a cart? Kagome sustained a head injury, but it's not serious. She has a concussion but as long as she takes it easy for a few days and gets plenty of rest, she'll be fine.. Oh, we'll need some hay to use as a cushion too!" (5) He asked Kaede and her men. After a quick debate, a couple of the villagers hopped on their horses to retrieve a cart from the village.

Kaede had asked about his own injury which he'd told her that he'd already cleaned and wrapped it back when they were distracted with Mistress Centipede.

Naruto was surprised when several other villagemen seemed unafraid to stand next to him, and even ask questions, while they waited.

'Being accepted is.. strange, but.. I wouldn't mind staying here if people are this kind, despite knowing about Kurama…' Naruto's smile dimmed a little, 'It's too bad.. I'll have to return, soon.. Doesn't mean I can't enjoy myself while I have the chance!'

After the men returned with the hay-filled cart, Naruto helped them carefully load up Kagome so that she would be comfortable and safe from extra injury.

Kaede and Naruto watched the villagers slowly make their way back to the village with the sleeping girl. After they watched them make it out of sight, one of the remaining villagers turned to Kaede and Naruto with a quizzical look.

"Lady Kaede, what are we going to do with him?" He motioned towards Inuyasha, who was quietly struggling, unsuccessfully, to yank out the arrow still stuck in his chest.

Kaede glanced at Naruto for a second before sighing and taking out a beaded necklace. 'I never thought it'd come to this..' She held them as she prayed and they glowed a bright pink, which seemed to tinge slightly orange, before the beads launched themselves at Inuyasha.

Panicking, he tried to move away, wincing as the arrow pulsed in warning. Unable to escape their path, Inuyasha braced himself as the beaded necklace reformed around his neck and did… nothing. After several moments of everyone staring at the trapped dog demon, and the half demon staring back, Inuyasha growled.

"The heck are these? What did you do, you stupid hag?" Naruto looked up at him, unimpressed.

"You know, it's not smart to insult the ones that are trying to help you.." Inuyasha scoffed, rolling his eyes.

"Yeah, like I need your help." Naruto stared blankly at him for several seconds, then sighed as he turned to Kaede.

"Now what?"

"Ye must remove the arrow from his chest. Though that might be a difficult task, my sister was powerful. Don't ye worry about him, the beads will keep him in check."

Inuyasha growled, a scathing retort on the tip of his tongue, but stiffened as the blond jumped and stood on the tree he was stuck to. Surprised, he was about to ask how he did it, before gritting his teeth as he remembered what Naruto had said mere minutes ago. Inuyasha watched as Naruto carefully studied the arrow.

"Hmm, it seems to contain spiritual energy-"

"Duh.." Inuyasha interrupted, causing Naruto to glare at him before continuing.

"-but I think I might be able to remove it by sending some of my own spiritual energy in reverse." Naruto gently laid a hand on Inuyasha's chest just as he grabbed the arrow and started pulling while carefully injecting his spiritual energy into the arrow. "Now, hold still.."

The crowd watched in awe as Naruto successfully removed the arrow. Naruto was more than a little surprised when the arrow completely disintegrated into nothing in his hand.

Honestly, that seemed to happen quite often here.

"It's gone.. My sister's spell has really vanished.." Kaede exclaimed quietly in shock. She'd convinced herself some time ago that her sister's spell was unbreakable, and therefore had believed Naruto would not be able to reverse it.

Inuyasha smirked as he jumped to the ground, stretching his muscles and cracking his knuckles.

Naruto jumped off the tree and landed near Kaede who then approached the blond until she was right in front of him.

"May I see the Jewel?"

Naruto shrugged before handing her the brightly colored jewel. Kaede studied it for a bit, seeing it was truly the Sacred Jewel that had been destroyed with the body of her dear older sister. She looked back up at the blond boy.

"And the other?"

This time Naruto was more reluctant to even bring out the jewel, let alone hand it over. Several moments passed before Naruto carefully unsealed the reddish orange jewel from his wrist and placed it gently in Kaede's empty and waiting hand.

She studied this one as well, turning it over a few times and probing it with her own spirit energy.

The reddish orange jewel, which had departed from Naruto's body, was rather strange. She could feel that it too, like the jewel before it, had been crafted with spiritual energy. However this one, unlike Shikon jewel which was made entirely of spiritual energy, seemed to be a mix of energies.

She wouldn't call the jewel tainted, it didn't give off a malicious or dark feeling like the Shikon no Tama would if it was tainted. The jewel was just… different than the other. It was as strange as the boy that possessed it.

But she could also tell that it was no less powerful.

Deep down, Kaede knew that the red jewel could do just as much (possibly even more) damage if in the wrong hands as the Shikon Jewel.

She placed the two jewels into one hand, watching as the two different yet extremely similar emergys interacted with each other. After several more moments passed, she nodded then held out the reddish orange jewel to Naruto, who looked at her outstretched hand in confusion.

Seeing his expression Kaede motioned for him to take the jewel, simply saying, "Though I know not why nor how there are two, I know that only ye may possess this jewel. Just as only Kagome may possess this Sacred Jewel." She said, carefully lifting the hand that still possessed the original Sacred Jewel.

Naruto accepted her words with a small bow and took the jewel back, only to stare at it in confusion.

"I can pretty much understand that I should be responsible for it since it came from my body.. But won't this jewel attract demons as well?.." Naruto turned as he sensed Inuyasha approaching with an aura of malicious intent.

Inuyasha grinned as he flexed his claws.

"Exactly! Ningens can't use it, so why bother to keepin' it? I don't know why there's two, but I don't really care!" the more he talked, the more his grin turned into a malicious smirk, "I'll tell you what, if you hand both jewels over right now, I won't have to start sharpening my claws on you!"

He showed off his already extremely sharp claws, causing one of the men to scowl.

"I knew it! Once he got free, he would try to kill us all!" Naruto rolled his eyes while Kaede quickly pressed the second Sacred Jewel into his hand for safe keeping.

'Oh, honestly! You help a guy out and he threatens to kill you…' Naruto groaned pitifully, using his free hand to rub at his sore side. 'My side is what's killing me, I can't believe I forgot centipede's were poisonous! Just my luck their demonic counterparts would be too.. luckily I'm not as perceptible to it as others, thanks to Kurama...' Just then, Inuyasha charged at Naruto and Kaede, claws outstretched. 'Doesn't make this any less irritating..'

"Iron Reaver, Soul Stealer!" Inuyasha shouted as yellow yoki formed around his claws and launched out as an aerial attack.

Naruto merely latched onto Kaede and jumped out of the way. His eyes widened as he saw the claws left a large scar on the earth.

'Well.. that technique is nothing to scoff at!'

As he landed, Kaede turned to him with panic in her eyes.

"Quickly, child! You must use the word of subjugation." Naruto gave her a quizzical look.

"Subjugation? What word? What do you mean by subjugation?" Kaede calmed herself while shaking her head.

"Matters not, your word has power to hold his spirit."

Naruto started running in order to guide Inuyasha away from the powerless villagers.

'Power to hold his spirit, huh?' He wondered what word he could use. He remembered some of the words the Inuzuka Clan used to control and discipline their dogs... Inuyasha sure did have the attributes of a dog, acted like a misbehaving one too..

"Huh, you can't get away!" Inuyasha charged once more.

Naruto looked at him and used the first word that came to his mind.

"Inuyasha! Heel!"

The moment he said the word, the necklace lit up bright orange as Inuyasha felt the pressure around his neck build until he fell to the floor.

"What the hell is this? What's happening!?" He looked up at Kaede, his surprise turning to anger, "You!"

He tried to charge once more but Naruto just called out a single word, "Heel!" making Inuyasha fall back to the ground.

Naruto approached the downed Inuyasha with a grin and his palms on his hips.

"Well, well, well! What do you know? It actually works~." He said in a sing-song voice.

Inuyasha sat up, irritated.

"What the heck is this thing!?" He yelled as he tried taking it off. Every attempt failed as the beads started glowing in resistance.

Kaede spoke up, stifling a small smile.

"I'm sorry Inuyasha, but even you lack the power to remove it."

At this, Inuyasha growled, still failing to remove the seemingly simple piece of jewelry.

"We'll see about that! I'd come over there and finish you off, if ya didn't look half dead already.."

Kaede's expression turned irritated, her eye twitching, though she willed it not too.

"The word please?" Naruto grinned, almost giddily saying.

"Heel, boy~."

Inuyasha couldn't stop himself from slamming into the ground.

"Well then, shall we head home?" Kaede asked pleasantly. Naruto agreed readly, his smile waning ever so slightly as he cast a glance at the downed dog boy.

Inuyasha only groaned in irritation.

Inuyasha stared moodily at the back of the little blond menace.

"My, child, you are quite good at this." Kaede complimented Naruto, who was grinding dried herbs and mixing up powders and creams for medicine.

Kagome, Kaede, and Inuyasha had been quite surprised to wake up that morning to the blond grinding away. Especially since Kaede was certain that there was nowhere in the village that the boy could have gotten all the herbs and equipment from. Naruto also hadn't arrived with a bag big enough for what he had. They each silently assumed that he had another seal somewhere on his body, or possibly even in the bag that he'd arrived with, like with his special weapons. And by all means, they weren't wrong.

A few days had passed since the arrival of Naruto and Kagome, as well as Inuyasha's reawakening. Kagome, though better, still wasn't feeling well. Naruto had decided to make medicine for both her and those of Kaede's village.

"Thank you! I had an excellent teacher.." Was the quiet response from the blond. He seemed to be focusing strongly on his work.

"Oh? And who might this teacher be?" Kaede asked, curiosity clear in her tone. Naruto paused what he was doing for just a second before starting up again as if the question had never been asked. For a second Inuyasha thought he wasn't going to answer.

But he did.

"It doesn't matter, I'll probably never see him again.." The blond said in a monotone voice.

"Ah… How is your side?" Kaede started in an attempt to change the subject.

"It's much better, I rebandaged it and took some medication to counteract the poison I was injected with." And wasn't that something, the boy was quite skilled in multiple areas!

"And the clothes, they seem to fit you well." At this, Inuyasha snorted.

Kaede had been generous enough to allow Naruto, Kagome, and Inuyasha to stay in her hut for the time being. Naruto had gone down to the river for a quick but cold bath, luckily he was used to such things, and needed something to change into.

Unfortunately, Naruto was quite petite for a male. The clothing for the adult males of the village were a bit too baggy while the ones made up for the adolescent boys were too small. Naruto's own clothes, which were damaged from the centipede attack, were in desperate need of repair. And while Naruto had a spare change of clothes, they really weren't good for blending in with the current setting. Kaede had kindly given the petite blond a change of clothes, they just happened to be a smaller pair of miko (6) clothing she had from her younger days until more appropriate garments could be acquired.

Due to her head injury, Kagome wasn't permitted to leave the hut until Naruto gave her a clean bill of health. He didn't want her to accidentally injure herself anymore than she already was, especially since word of her being the reincarnation of Kikyo had spread through the village like wildfire.

At the moment, Kaede was sitting with her back to the door, Inuyasha was lounging to her right, and Kagome resting to her left. Naruto was sitting directly across from the older woman with his back facing them.

"Yeah, he looks like a girl!" Inuyasha shouted, eyeing the back of the blond who didn't seem to hear his outburst at all. "... gross.." Inuyasha mumbled to himself. This, however, seemed to make Naruto freeze in place, his back straightening.

Kaede and Inuyasha waited for Naruto to say the 'magic words' and have Inuyasha whimpering on the floor in pain.

From their viewpoint, Naruto appeared to be raising his arms in front of himself. After a short moment a sudden puff of smoke overtook Naruto's form, scaring the shit out of Kaede and Inuyasha.

Once the smoke cleared, they stared at Naruto's back once again.

Something was... off.

Well, something other than the fact that he now had long, flowing blond hair that was pulled back in a low ponytail.

Unperturbed, Naruto immediately went back to working so Kaede and Inuyasha continued to simply watch him from behind. Then, after about 20 minutes, Naruto cleaned up his tools, stood up, and turned around. What they saw nearly gave them both a heart attack.

There stood Naruto, wearing a priestess outfit. That wasn't a huge problem. The problem was that Naruto was now a female and not a male.

Inuyasha could do nothing but stare at him… her?

"Oh, dear heavens, Naruto what happened to you?" Kaede asked, eyeing the once boy.

"Do you remember what I told you about my 'world' and our abilities?" Naruto asked, smiling kindly.

"... Yes, yes I do. So, is this one of your special abilities?" Kaede answered before asking, taking her seat again. She didn't remember standing up.

"'Special abilities'?" Inuyasha asked. His eyes were wide and he was now standing as well, looking back and forth between Kaede and Naruto almost frantically.

"Oh yeah, that's right, you weren't there for the first discussion and you were too busy sulking for the second..("I wasn't sulking!") Well, long story short, I'm not from here. Where I'm from there is only a small section of our world where demons still roam… Even then, they're extremely scarce… Anyway, in my world, most people utilize an energy called chakra, which we are all born with, that allows them to perform fantastic feets otherwise thought impossible. As I said before, some can control the elements, walk on water, punch through solid stone walls, and.. Well, we can do a lot." as he, or-um she, spoke, Naruto began to section off small bits of herbs, powders, and creams. Expertly, she evenly packed them into smaller containers, all while simultaneously unsealing a kettle and boiling some water she'd filtered for an herbal tea.

Kagome's body had to heal on its own, but that didn't mean he'd leave her to suffer. A pain killing tea was more than acceptable in his opinion. It would also help Kaede with any aches and pains she may have from old age. Naruto smiled softly as he continued speaking, this time a little quieter, as if she were divulging a secret.

"For instance, the herbs I'm using I grew myself with the aid of chakra. Because of this, their properties are a little more pronounced than other herbs would be.." just as she finished speaking the kettle began to whistle. With surprising familiarity, Naruto began steeping the tea and portioning it out for everyone. The temporary female passed Kaede and Inuyasha a tea cup, then proceeded to gently wake Kagome for her portion.

The tea wasn't the tastiest thing, but Kaede almost immediately noticed a difference in her body. The usual aches and pains that came with aging seemed to melt away with every sip.

If this was also a perk of having the kind blond around, she definitely wasn't going to oppose his company.

Inuyasha took his time sniffing and inspecting his cup of tea. He waited and watched as the humans drank their fill, seeming to sigh in satisfaction once their cups were empty.

"It won't taste as good once it's cooled down.. And that's saying something!" Naruto told the weary boy as he tucked Kagome back into bed. Honestly, the blond almost looked like a caring mother.

With a huff, Inuyasha finally took a sip of the tea. It wasn't bad, but it definitely wasn't good.

"Ugh- what is this?" The last time he'd had tea, Kikyo had made it for him. That stuff had almost been sickly sweet. This tea was the complete opposite! It was bitter with a strange aftertaste.

"It's an herbal blend my Baa-chan likes to drink while she works, since she's not allowed to drink alcohol during that time." she explained, taking a sip of the strange tasting tea herself. It was a strange mixture with an even stranger ingredient list. Tsunade herself drank the stuff purely for the benefits they rendered, not for the flavor.

"Well what's in it?" Inuyasha questioned as he downed the rest of the cup in one go, then passed it to Naruto for cleaning and storage. The flavor was… strange, but he could surprisingly feel it working. Most yokai (7) and hanyo (8) were immune to mortal herbs, medicine, and poison (at least when it came to what was considered a normal dosage). This stuff definitely had a calming effect Inuyasha wasn't expecting to feel.

'Okay, so chakra infused medicinal herbs do have an effect on both the humans and hanyo's of this realm.. With the centipede, potent poisons also worked. However, from what I've heard she was a lower grade of demon and I doubt anything of a lower dosage would have had any real effect... Interesting, I wonder how they affect higher grade demons..' (9)

"Do you really want to know?" Naruto asked as she cleaned her tea set. The other occupants of the hut were a little confused to see the blond roll out a scroll on the ground, neatly stacking everything into organized piles on top of the paper. Kagome gaped, Kaede raised a brow, and Inuyasha flinched when Naruto placed his hand on the paper only for everything atop it to disappear in a puff of smoke.

Well, that was a handy skill. Made shit easier to carry too, they'd bet.

"Y-yeah, I wanna know.." Inuyasha exclaimed, eye twitching as he glanced from the blond to the sealing scroll beside him, currently her.

"Hmm.." Naruto thought for a few seconds as she rerolled her sealing scroll and put it away, then she snorted. "As you wish, it's made with vervain, all spice, sage, rosemary.."

"Oh.." Inuyasha commented, Kaede and Kagome seemed to relax even more. And then the blond continued, "As well as ginger and horseradish." Kaede and Kagome's faces went from relaxed contentment to alarmed confusion in less than a second while Inuyasha sputtered, choking on his words.

"H-horseradish!?" Kagome exclaimed incredulously.

"Well, yeah.. Horseradish is great for sinus and congestion relief. It works especially well with clearing the nasal passage and relieving sinus headaches! (10)" the blond said matter-of-factly. "I didn't use a lot, just enough so that the effects are noticeable.." Naruto said, giving them an innocent look.

"..."

"It did work.." Kaede said, relaxing again. Drinking a tea made of horseradish wasn't something she would have thought of for pain relief. Leave it to the blond to come up with such surprising, yet useful, things.

"That's true.." Kagome agreed, relaxing back into her palat of pillows and blankets. That was another thing Naruto had sealed away. The day after the centipede attack the blond had been left alone while Kaeda had been helping Kagome bathe, and Inuyasha was off sulking in solitude. Honestly it was a nice surprise for them to return to, he'd had enough futons for all of them and plenty of extra padding for Kagome. Everything he has is nice and soft and fluffy. 'I'm starting to think he's got an entire house or department store sealed away..'

Naruto just smiled, puffing back into a male.

"-nd, I'm just saying, give it up! It's not like ya need it!" was easily heard from the outside of Kaede's hut. "Just give me the jewel, then go home!"

As it turned out, Inuyasha and Kagome did not get along with each other.

At all.

'They fight like cats and dogs..' Naruto thought, smothering a laugh at his inner thoughts.

While Kagome spent her time resting in Kaede's hut, Naruto had requested a tour around the village. He wanted to interact with the kind villagers of this world a little more before his side healed up all the way, and he no longer had a valid reason to stay. It really didn't take much to prevent Kurama from accelerating the healing process, simply choking off the majority of the leakage that coursed through his chakra coils. If he was questioned about the speed of his recovery he could just tell Tsunade that the Bijuu was being uncooperative.

They were half way through the tour when a couple of the village children had called them back to the hut in question. The argument was easy to hear by passers-by and the villagers, still a little unsettled with Inuyasha's presence, were fearful of Kagome's safety.

"If you wanna hold onto it and get killed by some other demon, then be my guest! I'll just sit back and enjoy the show before killing them and taking the jewel, anyway!" Inuyasha taunted, even from afar the malicious grin was easy to hear in his voice. Naruto and Kaede had just entered the hut in time for Kagome's heated response.

"Fine then, why don't you just sit th-!" Kagome's words cut off abruptly as Inuyasha's necklace reacted to her words, well word, lighting up a bright pink and forcing the dog-eared boy face first into the ground much like it did with Naruto's "heel" command.

"Ugh!" Inuyasha cried out with surprise and pain.

"Whoopsy.."

"Well, that's a surprise.." Naruto said as he and Kaede fully entered the hut.

"Two words of subjugation.. Just as there are two Sacred Jewels… How strange."

"Tsk, tsk, poor pup! Leave my patient alone~." Naruto said playfully, doing his best to stifle his chuckles. Inuyasha shot him an embarrassed glare.

"Sh-shut up!"

A full week has passed since Naruto and Kagome had landed in this new land, and the time has unfortunately come.

Naruto has fully healed, and is heading back to Konoha.

Naruto, Kagome, and the entirety of Kaede's village had come to wish the blond goodbye from their realm. Inuyasha was sitting (hiding) in a tree not far away.

"Well, I guess this is it.. Kagome, I don't want you going through here for the next couple days. I don't want you to accidentally land wrong and hurt your head even worse. I'm giving you some of the pain-killer tea from before." As he spoke, the little blond handed Kagome a pack of the tea, then a second, much larger pack to Kaede, "This pack is for you, Kaede! I don't know if I'll be able to bring you more, so use it sparingly. Keep it safe in a dry, dark place so it doesn't spoil. Since it was grown with chakra, it'll last longer than regular tea. Um, lets see..."

Naruto unsealed then passed a few decent sized boxes to the village men standing closest to him. After making sure they had a good grip, he passed a small leather bound book to one of the village women that had expressed an interest in being a medic.

"These are medical grade herbs, powders, and creams. I also gave you some seeds so you'll be able to grow more. Although the ones you grow won't be chakra infused, that's okay cause they'll still work! This book will help guide you through proper care of the plants as well as what herbs pair well with each other and which don' 's also several medical remedies and recipes. It'll take a lot of practice and dedication, but it's a start!"

Kaede stepped forward.

"Ye are welcome here anytime, Naruto. This village and its people would be more than happy to take ye in if ever ye need a home." Kaede's words made Naruto's chest warm. And looking out over the faces of the villagers, he could see she wasn't the only one that held such sentiment.

As Kaede spoke, several of the village children had started latching onto his legs, their eyes sad and tearfilled. Naruto rubbed their backs in a soothing manner with a small, sad smile, "Hey, shh, it's okay.."

"Naruto-sama, do you really have to go?"

"Why are you leaving!?"

"Can't you stay!?"

"Naruto-sama, when are you coming back?" By this point, the children and several adults had started crying.

In their eyes, Naruto was a god sent angel. During his stay with them, the blond had worked hard in repaying the villagers for their hospitality (after their initial meeting, of course) by helping them to better cultivate their land and hunt bigger and better game to feed the village. He'd even tutored a few of the village girls in the basics of medicine making and administration.

But what endured him most to them, was his attitude towards the children of the village.

The village was poor and the adults constantly busy, there wasn't much the children could do except get in the way or get themselves in trouble.

Naruto had changed that, he'd taken the children and put them to work in such a way that they felt included and helpful to their village. He'd inspired the children to be responsible without making them feel overworked or overlooked.

"Oh, come on guys! You're gonna make me start crying!" Naruto lowered himself to be at their level, whipping whatever tears he could from their weeping faces. "It's alright, you'll all be fine! Remember what I told you, you are the future of this village! Always do your best, stand tall, pull your weight to help out, and you'll make it proud!"

Quickly whipping his eyes, Naruto moves to hop up onto the rim of the wishing well.

"You can do this, I believe in you!"

Naruto stared down into the dark foreboding depths of the well, then turned back to toss a cheery smile over his shoulder at the kind people he was leaving behind.

"I hate saying goodbye, so don't think of it that way, cause I'm gonna miss you guys too..."

With that said, Naruto takes a deep breath and jumps into the well.

He shouted one last thing before he disappeared into it's dark depths, journeying back to the other side.

"That goes for you too, Inuyasha!"

1: At first I thought the Shikon no Tama was a pink jewel, but after a bit of research, I found out that "shikon" translates to "bluish purple", so that's the color I'm gonna use for Kagome's Sacred Jewel. Her spiritual energy is what appears to be pink. You'll find out what Naruto's jewel is called soon.

2: Ningen means human, I'm using it as a derogatory term that demons use to be mean.. {It's not actually used in that way in real life, I just am for the sake of my story!}

3: I honestly despise this sentence and what it represents. There is no correct reasoning for harming or killing someone or something just because it exists and is different from you..

There are punishable crimes and there are things people deem a crime to make themselves feel better, and to me the latter is wrong on every level.

4: I've never had a concussion before, so I don't know the proper procedure to treat it, and trying to do research renders conflicting results..

5: This will be expanded on in later chapters.

6: I'm referring to the hakama and hakui. Besides calling them miko outfits, I don't know what else they're called.. Sorry if I offend, please let me know if I'm honestly wrong and I'll go back and fix it.

7: Yokai is the word the Inuyasha franchise uses to mean "full demon".

8: Hanyo is the word the Inuyasha franchise uses to mean "half demon".

9: Naruto was raised by Orochimaru and Kabuto to a degree, and he's a ninja, of course he'd think this!

10: This is true, horseradish can be used to alleviate sinus pain and headaches. You can use the leaves in tea and the root for a sauce, it works well either way. If you decide to try this, keep in mind a little goes a long way, that stuff is potent!

[Heel vs Sit.. Okay be honest, does anyone else feel like Kagome using her "Sit Boy" almost every episode was like.. domestic abuse? Or just abuse of power?

I mean, sure, I've got friends that piss me off to the point I sometimes wanna hit them, but I don't just bash their heads into the ground every thirty seconds or when I feel it suits my needs.

Thank you for reading!]