Chapter 4: The Half Demon Inuyasha

"Pay no heed to Inuyasha, child." Kaede commands. She steps between Inuyasha and I as a barrier, "Ye must not let him have it."

All that's left of the warriors from the village rush out of the thicket of the forest with spears and swords in hand, they surround Inuyasha. He watches them impatiently. "I'm gonna give you one last chance to willingly hand over the jewel before I slice your hands off to get it."

"Like hell I will." I spout out confidently; I take a step back to close off the distance from the forest and me.

A low growl echoes from Inuyasha's chest. "I hate having to wait," he pushes off his feet like a freight train towards Kaede and me. I don't hesitate; I turn on my heels and take off full speed in a random direction, having to immediately lower my head the moment I enter the dense forest. I am keenly aware of the footsteps that follow close behind more so than the ache that takes over every inch of my body; it pounds and heats my body like fire.

I take a swift sharp turn just in time to avoid one of Inuyasha's attacks, I hear a tree collide with the forest floor behind me and remind myself that could have been me.

The sound of swooshing can be heard above me, instinctively I skid and duck; Inuyasha has leaped over me and lands a good ten feet ahead of my path with a cocky smirk on his lips. My breathing comes in and out in short, painful pants and my vision is blurring again. I am doing too much to my body especially after the demon attack.

A dozen pair of feet thunder nearby before the villagers, Kagome who can at least walk now, and Kaede comes into view. Some of the brave souls, that have arrows left, shoot at Inuyasha but they all bounce off him like they did with lady centipede but now, they shatter completely. Clearly insulted at their pathetic attacks, Inuyasha bounds forward, using his reddening claws to slice away at two trees above the warriors. Thankfully they scatter just in time before the trees would have landed on them.

His actions tell me something: he's missing hitting them for a reason. He could have ripped them to shreds easier than the Centipede.

"Who do you people think I am? You think you can harm me like I did that centipede." Scoffs the half demon; while he's distracted I slowly take a step back towards a thicker mass of forest – but freeze when I see his ears twitch in my directions. "Don't you dare!" He growls at me, leaping in one fluid motion to land in the tree above me, I stumble back in response.

"I had hoped it wouldn't come to this," Kaede murmurs; she pulls out a strange onyx looking necklace that has a few fang-like beads mixed in, from her robes. How's that supposed to hel-

"Now it's mine!" Inuyasha says, not at all aware of the old priestess behind him. My eyes widen when I see the necklace is no longer being held but instead is floating in midair! The necklace glows brilliantly, a purplish hue as Kaede chants foreign words I've never heard before and just like that sparks of pink and purple lightning shoot from the clasped beads as they fly towards Inuyasha, each bead comes to reposition themselves around his neck as it had appeared before.

"What the…" he says stunned at the sudden appearance of the necklace. He pulls and tugs at the beads with all his strength quickly getting frustrated when they don't come off.

"Quickly, child! The word of subjugation!" Kaede calls out to me.

"What word?"

"It matters not; your word has power to hold his spirit!" I don't have time to mull over it; Inuyasha stops playing with the necklace and turns his attention back on me. I bolt into the thick forest.

The world blurs around me, smearing into a mix of grays and greens as I race as quickly as I can through the forest; I hear nothing behind me, no patting of feet, no leaping through trees. Am I safe? Is he even following me now or still playing with that necklace? I slow down just enough to make out the world behind me, my eyes search the scenery but I don't see Inuyasha, just the villagers, Kagome and Kaede at a distance trying to catch up.

The ground below me crumbles, I halt all movement but it's too late, the soil breaks apart under my feet and I go siding down a very steep but luckily short cliff. I land on the cushion of my butt, the jewel tumbles out from my hand the second I land, like it has its own control, it rolls away across the rickety bridge up ahead.

"Shit…" Ignoring the pain that shoots up my spine I crawl after the jewel, probably looking like a fool while doing it. My green skirt has to be masked in dirt, my white shirt stained with blood and guts, and by morning every inch of me will be covered in bruises but all I aim for is that damned jewel.

A shadow passes over me, sending a chill through me – I hear his malicious laughter before I see him land smoothly up ahead. The bridge doesn't even creak at his weight. He leans down, collecting the jewel as it rolls into his palm just like that. "How can you expect to overpower me when you can't even see where you're going?"

"Sit boy!" Kagome shouts from up above the cliff. Inuyasha yelps, eyes widening, the beads glow bright and somehow, with force unknown, drags him face first into the wooden boards beneath his feet with a loud bang.

The jewel slips from his open palm and rolls right to me, again like its alive, I grab it the moment it is near.

"I can't believe it worked!" Kagome laughs weakly.

I thought Kaede said my word would be the one too-

"What the heck is this thing?!" He demands, yanking at the beads around his neck yet again. Each time he'd raise them to his chin, they glow and pull themselves down magically.

"I'm sorry, Inuyasha, but even ye lack the power to remove it," calls out Kaede whose next to Kagome.

Inuyasha ceases from pulling on his new collar to glare daggers up at Kaede, "We'll see about that, old hag! I'll come up there and finish you off but you look half dead already!"

Kaede closes her eyes and shakes her head. "The word please."

"Sit boy." Kagome says with a smirk.

Inuyasha lets out a high pitch yelp again just before slamming into the bridge once more. This time the bridge wobbles and cracks, I hear the faint sound of a snapping noise and quickly scoot my butt back onto land just in time for the wood to tear from the rope beneath him. He falls into the rushing water below.

My body is throbbing from the exertion I used just within the last hour but with the last bit of strength I have left I crawl over to the edge and look down into the ravine, down below I can see Inuyasha climbing out from the river and onto a boulder. Like a dog, he shakes off the water from his body and clothes.

I want to smile but harbor no emotions for it, instead my body freezes up and the fogginess returns to all corners of my eyes drowning me into a mist of darkness. There is no longer adrenaline coursing through me, my body knows that, it's time to give in. I glance up at Kagome and Kaede just before my vision goes all black…

Strong arms hold me, they feel familiar, like rocks. Oddly this is comforting compared to the cold and blackness I feel that is blankets me. They hold me firmly against – what feels like – a brick wall. Safe…I am safe. And I can just barely make out the voices surrounding me.

"So, what happened to her – I get Kagome – with the wound and all but she looks fine." The presence holding me says. The wall rumbles as he speaks, must be his chest then. His voice is familiar but my mind is so fuzzy I can't process from where I've heard it from.

"From the looks of it, she exerted too much energy. Mistress Centipede did also squeeze ye tightly, she was probably feeling faint before ye chased her. If I don't get these two back to the village I don't know what will happen." A voice that sounded like Kaede breaks through.

Chase me? I scramble to remember but my brain is just as fried as my body feels.

"You humans die every day and there's nothing we can do to stop it." The voice above me responds.

"Ye do not yet understand, nor do I, the odd powers these two have or how they share a destiny with ye. Thank ye for carrying Keara, my horse can only fit two." Kaede says.

"Yeah, whatever." The hold around me tightens and I slip back into the darkness and silence.

Through the black void, the sound of thundering thumping of hammers, wood scraping and moving, horsing naying and people at work fill the silence with noise. I would have mistaken it for my room in my time if it wasn't lacking the sound of cars. But the sounds are a whole lot closer than usual, almost right at my ear if I wasn't mistaken. There are other voices like before, all familiar and clearer; I can recognize them.

"Now that the shikon jewel has appeared again in this world the evil beings who desire its power will soon be flocking here." Kaede states solemnly.

"You mean like monsters?" Kagome asks.

How is she not in my spot? Fainted and unmoving. A light slowly comes to my eyelids warding off the bleak darkness, my entire body aches, not an inch of it is safe from injury caused by the monster from before.

"Not only monsters, but also men, who are sometimes worse. In this Era of war and chaos, the power of the jewel of four souls can make any ambition a reality." Kaede says.

The jewel? My fingers struggle to feel my empty palms – it's gone. The Shikon isn't in my grip. Where is it? I shoot up from my laying position with newfound energy earning a startled squeal from Kagome and an alert growl from Inuyasha, who must have come with us.

They all look at me with shock on their faces but I can only think of one thing right now, "Where is it? Where is the jewel?" I ask almost too urgently for myself. Where did this sudden need to protect it come from? I am not even from this time period.

"I have it," Kagome holds up the jewel and I sigh in relief; I almost felt worried there. Still…a part of me wants to snatch it from Kagome and keep it safe myself.

I lie back down and try to think of anything but stealing, "Okay…sorry for scaring, continue on…"

"You didn't scare me, wench." Inuyasha scoffs; though he was chasing me around to kill me, he's the one sitting closest to me. If I were to reach out to him I'd be able to touch his crossed legs without a problem. Kaede and Kagome sit opposite of him across the fire pit, safe from his reach but not his quick ability.

From where I am laying I can see the torn hole of Kagome's shirt, it's stained with her blood and underneath it, her wound has been dressed till all you can see if white bandage. She does look a little less pale and more…well…alive.

"Inuyasha," Kagome glares at him through the fire, "why do you want the jewel? Why would you need the power, you're strong?" She rolls the jewel like it's just a pretty bead, in the middle of her hand, even from this distance I can see the war brewing in the reflection.

"He's only half demon…."Kaede starts but doesn't get to finish; the sound of wood splitting and cracking booms to my right. Adrenaline pumping again, I look over to see the cause only to find Inuyasha's fist in the floor boards and an angry scowl on his face.

"Old hag, you've been acting awfully familiar since we met! Do you think you know me?!"

"Then ye really don't know?" She eyes him carefully, I see her hand twitching to her bow but she's strong and trying to hold back, "Ye don't know Kaede…the little sister of the woman who enchanted ye?"

"Kaede?" He asks, now a little interested.

"It's been fifty years and some of us grow old." She tries to refresh his memory.

He itches his head with a sharp claw, truly looking as if he's thinking about who she could be. "You…You were that little whelp? Then Kikyo must be even more withered than you!"

"My elder sister is dead," she pauses and we all see the slight twitch of Inuyasha's right eye. "The same day she put the spell on ye."

"The little witch kicked it, eh? Well…" he lays down on his side, his head propped up by a single hand, there is a wide smile growing on his lips. "Nice to hear some good news."

Kagome and I both look between the two, we really have no say on this matter after all. Kaede eyes him while poking at the fire to keep it burning bright, at least she's no longer reaching for the bow.

"I wouldn't start celebrating just yet. There is the matter of reincarnation. Don't ye agree, Kagome?"

Kagome freezes in place, utter shock and confusion on her face. Okay, it seems Kagome may have a place in all this if that's true but what about me? Why was I sent here?

"You're outward likeness, your mystic abilities and the Shikon Jewel hidden within your body. What other answer is there? Ye were born to protect that jewel."

Kaede glances over at me, Kagome's and Inuyasha's eyes follow the leader. "Ye also possess the same spiritual power but lack something deep – what did ye see when ye holds the jewel, child?"

My eyes fall on the jewel once more, Kagome closes her hand over it, preventing me to see its reflection. An urge in me wants to get up and take it from her and I don't know why. Am I being possessed by it or…is it that something deeper?

"A war. A war between a single woman and endless demons; it's odd, it's the same scene I see in my dream every night since before I can remember."

Kaede makes a long and loud 'hm' noise. She closes her eye and really thinks about what I said. "It seems ye may be just as connected with the jewel as Kagome, if not, more so – in some way I may really need to ponder."

I kick a rock from the trail as I venture down through the rice paddies. All Kaede could tell me was that Kagome and I need to stick together – you couldn't find the two un-likest people to be besties to protect a sacred jewel. Kagome's pretty and popular, probably more so in this time period than our own.

Apparently the whole village was listening to our conversation because when we left the hut she was bombarded with people asking questions, giving gifts and even praying to her in the middle of the road. She's some kind of celebrity here. They completely ignore me. I may have been another protector but no reincarnation.

I shift a bag of vegetables and fruits a little higher onto my shoulder; a gift given to Kagome but she handed it off to me; she couldn't hold all the things they were offering especially with her wound. I'd rather take the food anyways. Up ahead I see my destination, a single tree stands near the end of this trail and up on the highest branch sits Inuyasha.

He hasn't tried killing me since last night and from what Kaede had told me, he was the one carrying me. Plus, I oddly feel safer now that he has that necklace on, though; Kagome also gained the gift of controlling him.

I swear if I had emotions it'd be mixed between anger, jealousy and sadness.

When I'm close enough I pull out an apple from the sack and chuck it up at Inuyasha. He shifts a single hand out and catches it without so much as glimpsing. He looks over his shoulder down at me with a raised brow.

"What's all that food?" he asks turning more towards me.

"Just some of the offerings the villagers gave to Kagome. Come down, you must be hungry." I drop the sack below the branch he sits on and take a seat next to it. I couldn't remember the last time I ate, I didn't get time to eat that soup Kaede made the night of the attack and being stuck to a tree for fifty years must build up an appetite.

So silently I wouldn't have noticed if I hadn't been already looking, he lands next to me and takes a seat, crossing his legs and rummaging through the bag immediately.

"Must suck," he mumbles.

"What?" I peer over the rice paddies ahead of us; they border most of the village that has been devastatingly damaged from yesterday. The villagers are still hard at work rebuilding and burying their fallen.

"Being not so important." He eyes me over the bag.

My eyes wander down to the ground, should I be hurt right now? Angry or something? Sure, if I wasn't apathetic I'd be hurt by it but I'm not…I just don't understand all that's going on yet. I shrug to his comment.

He drops the bag in-between us and starts to eat a carrot. "Well thank you." He grumbles out between bites, "You know, for releasing me."

I look up at him with an expression I am sure would express surprise if I could feel it, I guess that is something Kagome doesn't have that I do. I released a demon, I am not sure if one should be proud of that but it's all I have in this world. Of course I had too otherwise I would have died but I don't tell him that. He tried to kill me right after and this is probably the only time I'll be seeing any sign of sensibility. I better not push it. "No problem. Thanks for carrying me back to the village."

"Whatever."

-* Nighttime *-

I have never seen Kaede's hut so dark and eerie. The fire had gone out hours ago when we all decided to go to sleep but I can't seem to just close my eyes and let it all consume me. Kagome and I lie next to one another by the fire pit, using spare pillows and kimono tops as blankets. I can hear the somber snoring of Kaede but Kagome isn't asleep either.

She's been rolling back and forth for about an hour now. She finally rolls towards me and I glance down at her when I notice she's staring. "Do you miss home?" She whispers.

I had been laying on my back staring at the ceiling the whole time thinking about the past few days and not once about home. It's odd when she brings it up – I almost forgot about it but I don't know how to respond to her answer. I never really had a set home, no real family. My most recent family had mention taking me back into the foster program because my counselor bills were too high. That was a week ago…I guess they don't have to worry about it anymore.

"I guess." I lie.

"How can you guess? I know I miss my family: mom, grandpa and even my brother. They must be so worried."

I look out the thin window that lines a single wall, the moon beams through providing at least a little light. I see a shape of a bird sitting on the sill but I can only make out its figure. Kind of looks like a crow – or maybe a raven. It's a little big.

"I don't really have a home."

She's silent. Maybe I shocked her. I turn my head to look at her expression and see her fast asleep. She must be tired.

Tick, tick.

I look back at the window where the sound is coming from. The bird is gone…

-* Next Day *-

The clouds are so white here…The sky so blue. It's still hard to believe I floated down from it like a feather. The white poufs take on no particular shape but that's okay, they are still pretty. Even the grass I'm lying on feels softer than any grass I felt before. So quiet…so peaceful…

"Kagome! Kagome!" I hear Kaede's voice over the rice paddies interrupting the peaceful silence.

I had wandered from the village a half an hour ago to sit under the tree Inuyasha and I sat under the day before and they already lost her? I lean up and onto my elbows, spotting Inuyasha's red outfit through the blur of villagers that are scattering about the village in search for her.

He leaps over them with a single bound and lands perfectly in front of me.

"Have you seen Kagome?"

I shake my head and swiftly get up before he can run off on me. "Let me help find her."

"Fine," he grumbles, he circles himself slowly, nose high up in the air as he sniffs for any sign of her. "Found her scent." He growls. "Stupid girl has the damn jewel on her!"