Chapter 6: Kagome's Arrow and Return of a Piece of Soul

"Inuyasha! He's transformed!" I yell; dragging their attention from each other's throats and back to the demon crow ahead of us.

He's doubled in size, his caws are loud and earsplitting; he swoops downward towards a village not too far off. The villagers below are clueless of what is coming their way, they live their lives scattered about with their friends and families as they carry out their everyday chores.

This doesn't stop the demon, his many eyes search the approaching crowd for the tastiest morsel and when he finds his target, his clawed feet stretch outward and open. With ease he snatches a child from his mother's grip and bats his wings back up towards the sky. The child weighs nothing compared to the demon's new strength, and the cries of the boy are hard to hear over the cawing of the demon.

Inuyasha curses under his breath, "I told you! That crow demon feeds on humans!"

"No!" Kagome frowns, "You don't mean…. it's gonna eat him…." Her grip retreats from the bow and returns to Inuyasha's shoulder. I can only stare at her for a second, dumbfounded to her ignorance.

"The weight of the boy will slow him down." The thought of this has Inuyasha's lips curling into a wide grin; he even cracks his fingers loud enough to startle Kagome back to reality. I glance back to the demon and pay closer attention – we are picking up speed like Inuyasha said but just enough that with one single leap we are above him.

"Feel my claws, buzzard!" Inuyasha's muscles tense and stretch beneath me, his arm raises in preparation to slash but we begin to shake midair. Uncomfortable, Kagome tugs on her side of the half demon's back earning a grunt of annoyance from him.

"No, idiot," she shouts in his ear while pulling him to her side again, "save the boy first!"

The sound of Inuyasha's claws cracking again gives away he's not listening. She lets out an angry grunt, eyes narrowed she begins to climb her legs up onto his back, planting her feet solid on his spine as she repositions herself. Her eyes dart straight down for the boy, taking one deep breath she leaps off throwing all the weight back onto my side. She wisps the boy into her arms and out of the demon's grip with pure weight over the demon's strength. Below is a dirt road, it's a long fall but a survivable one.

The demon redirects his attention for Kagome, his sharp beak of a mouth opens showing the rows of razor sharp shark teeth ready to take in its prey. Inuyasha growls, we're shaking left to right from the sudden uneven weight making it difficult for him to aim his claws. He has no choice, if he doesn't attack now Kagome and boy will be caught in a mouth sharp enough to break bones.

Without much thought he swings back his left arm, claws cracking and muscles tensing, he doesn't realize it's the arm I am using to support myself. His claws burn red hot, I can almost feel them on my cheek, and he slices downward at the demon underneath us.

I lose grip with his strike and when his arm swings forward my body slings off. Wind swooshes pass my head and all I see is sky as I fall back first to the world below. The closer I come the more the sound of wind changes to the sound of streaming water. A silent scream leaves my lips, my guts clench and twist, I reach for Inuyasha.

The last thing I see before colliding with the river is Inuyasha reaching back.

Cold water swallows me whole and shows no mercy with its terrible rapids. My body is torn this way and that, rolling me with its currents like a feather during a typhoon. I reach outward in attempt to grab anything to gain control but all I feel is rocks, pebbles and dirt of the river bottom. Nothing is large or strong enough to hold onto. I am losing air quickly.

My body slows abruptly, the water calms. A few feet above me is the surface, I can see the blue sky and the crow demon escaping with Inuyasha nowhere in sight. It's too late. We've lost the jewel. All the fight we've put up with so far is gone just like that and now here I am losing air with a current that won't even let me reach up for my life.

I don't know why I was dropped here during this time period or what my purpose in life was or why I even lack emotions and can't even feel fear for my life or happiness or sadness. I never got to experience a life with a family or found a real home and this is how I am going to die? Drowned in a river in the middle of nowhere watching as a single demon stole what could have been all my answers.

Parts of me want to give in and others want to fight. Up above in the sky something thin zips pass my sight trailing a purple light behind it, it pierces into the escaping demon and when it does a bright white light explodes from the impact shattering hundreds of sparkling beams of light outward. A gigantic ray blasts from the explosion and plummets down towards me and as it does the river water separates from the impact and I fall back first onto the river bed. Not a second later does the light cover my body entirely – every inch of my flesh heats up, it warms and ignites every hollow edge I had within me – I am fitted with a tickling tingling feeling and filled to the brim.

My heart beats loud and clear, waves whoosh off my body for what seems like a few minutes when I am sure it's only a few seconds. And now…

I can feel…Heavy in heart and full inside…I can feel and I feel renewed.

The light dissipates within my skin, being sucked up like a sponge and when the light is all gone the water is set free, crashing hard back against my body and throwing me further downstream with a stronger ripping force than before.

I feel fear…My stomach is kicked and slammed from the currents, my oxygen depletes faster than before and my heart races, I look around for an escape, I want to cry suddenly. I am …afraid. I can feel…being scared…

I tumble through the current, scraping along the bottom like a tumble weed, and then my back hits against something large and hard. I see my last few air bubbles leave my lips and float to the surface…everything goes black.

-Inuyasha POV-

Shit! I can't believe that happened… I don't want to believe it. This pathetic human girl who couldn't even shoot an arrow shattered the jewel! A loud enough growl rolls out of me that is enough to echo throughout the forest.

Sniffing the air again. I find nothing. I was sure she wouldn't be that far away but the current must have dragged her further than I thought. Damn it. I expected to catch her. The water was so damn murky, I couldn't even see her – and then Kagome shot that damned arrow and it shattered the jewel.

But then…It happened. Something I never saw before, and what left Kaeda speechless when we told her.

An aura of some sort, came down and separated the water where Keara was. Just like that – her body was swallowed within the Jewel's light. It seeped into her, lit her body up and made her shine like nothing before. And just like that, she was gone again, buried beneath the shallows of the river where I couldn't see her.

Ever since, I haven't been able to find her scent.

I didn't want Kagome helping me search for her. It was my fault, after all, losing her like that. After seeing the jewel in pieces and only finding a single shard left in the skull of the crow, I knew right then, I was stuck with Kagome and Keara.

It's almost dark, I've been searching for a couple of hours with no trace of her. If only I can find her scent but it is like she just disappeared.

"Keara!" I shout, for the hundredth time. Only the sound of the river and crickets return to me.

Why'd I have to lose the only one that doesn't irritate me! Kagome – with her damn likeness to Kikyo and Kaeda with her knowing everything. Keara was calm. She let me have my moments within the short time we got to spend with each other, and she sure as hell, didn't break the damn Jewel!

"Keara! Where are you, you wretched girl?!"

-Keara's POV-

The war is on-going. I can't question any longer how long before it ends. The single woman amongst legions of demons doesn't look the least bit exhausted. I want to help. I want to stop this war; she's been suffering in for years. I reach out to her, but I am so far away, always out of reach.

"Keara…" She speaks, her voice soft but calm during all the battle.

I struggle to reach further out for her, but she isn't reaching for me. Her face is turned just enough where I can barely see her brown eyes from the side.

"You must find all the shards…Protect them." Her order is clear as day over the ruckus the demons make. "Every shard will return a piece of you." She swings her sword, backing off a hoard of demons and brings it back with a heavy slash, annihilating what seems like hundreds of them in one swoop. "You are the only one who's truly connected with…"

"Keara!" Another voice interrupts her, but the subject can't be found. This voice is familiar though. "Keara!" It repeats; this time clearer than before.

Inuyasha…

Turning my head in the direction of the voice, all I can see is darkness. From my peripherals I notice that the priestess fades away and all around me begins to drift from black to a dreary light. Before she fades completely, she speaks to me once more but it is just a mumble beyond the sound of rushing water.

At my legs, a cold wash rolls over the bruised limbs. My eyes drift open on their own to the sight of darkness once again – but this time – I can see the shapes of trees, bushes and the river. The sound of the water drowns out the fogginess of my mind and crickets play tones that help relax me regardless of all the aches and pain I am feeling.

My body is destroyed. I know this. The sting of cuts is prominent all over my flesh, and it is painful. I'm flat on my belly, lying half in the river shallows while the rest of me is covered in mud from the river bank. This feeling…is like a drowsiness I've never felt. Like I've battled the river for a week. I can hardly remember what happened last except for a bright light.

"Keara!" Inuyasha calls again. His voice is much closer now but I still can't tell exactly which direction he is coming from. Doesn't matter – I don't feel like I can move even if I tried.

"In-…" My throat croaks the second I open it. I clear it as best as I can, but even that causes a ripple of pain throughout my body. "In- …Inuyasha." I swallow, it burns. My voice is barely a whisper. I don't even think a half breed demon can hear me.

This is it. I have to fight. If a priestess can battle for years and years, I can get my ass off this bank to be saved. My arms pathetically shake as I bring them up towards my head. There are cuts all over my hands, none are still bleeding but they still like hell. They wobble as I force my upper half to lean up. "Inu…Inuyasha." I repeat. Lifting myself up was enough to help heighten my voice, but silence still follows.

They hurt. They hurt bad. My arms give in and drop me back down hard against the wet bank. Mud splatters in every direction. Closing my eyes, I take a long, shivery breath and whisper, "help…"

Just as the word leaves my broken lips, a wave much like the one during the centipede attack, pulsates from my body. This upsurge pushes through branches and rustles trees, it spreads outwards in all directions. I know what this means, and I can't help but smile weakly. Somehow, I am safer now.

"Keara?" His voice is so close it's practically in my ear. Rolling my head to my right side, I spot him there on one knee looking over my damaged frame. "Are you okay?"

Raising a single brow, I give him a 'are you serious?' expression.

He frowns, "your scent has changed." Gently he grabs my right arm and helps in lifting me up. At first my legs are unresponsive, and they can't hold my weight, but he's oddly patient as they struggle to return to reality and tremble below me. My fingers grip onto his shirt as if he is life itself, and we both wait until my legs can regain enough strength to walk along with Inuyasha's help.

"What happened?" I ask. The pieces are there but are blocked by a fogginess that makes it difficult for me to remember.

"Kagome broke the Shikon Jewel."

My breath hitches in my throat…"..W…What? S-she?" The last images I remember seeing: the burst of light, the crow demon, it all makes sense now. And god damn I am fucking angry. A heavy shiver runs up my spine, spills into my stomach and acts like venom in my veins. Red colors everything. "I…"

"I'm angry about it too."

My fists twist into Inuyasha's Kimono tightly; I can feel my body shaking in rage. I want to scream, throw my arms up and about and break things. I want to go where she is and smack her so hard across the damn face. We almost died twice over this Jewel; the one damn thing she was trusted with!

"How do you do it?" I ask through gritted teeth.

A look of surprise crosses his face, his amber eyes look at the tiny fists in his kimono, "Do what?"

"Control your anger?" My entire being is pulsating.

He relaxes under my grip but still looks a little confused. Kaede must have explained to him at one moment or another about my emotion-less nature and now I am suddenly feeling up a storm. I don't even have an answer as to why to give him either.

"We need to get you to Kaede before you burst a vein."

The river took me far from Kaede's village and damaged my body so bad that I was taking too long to walk for Inuyasha. He began carrying me after ten minutes of waiting. I was surprised to find my entire body wasn't one big bruise when I cleaned myself off in the river, it's a compilation of minor cuts, scrapes and bruises but nothing compared to what I should be.

I should be dead.

This also surprised Inuyasha, given I don't even have a brain injury that we have noticed. There is also no damage done to my back where I had struck before fainting. I managed to come out almost unscathed and even less so…after that light took me.

Off in the distance we can see Kaede's village, the rice fields glisten from the morning sun and it's beautiful. Inuyasha's forest is calm and still, a little too quiet if you are to ask me. No insects or animals, not even the wind makes any noise at all. When we come closer I'm thrown off by the lack of villagers walking about. The very few I can see appear to be hanging inches off the ground.

A chill runs down my spine.

"Something's not right." Inuyasha mutters.

I nod. I can feel it too.

A glimmer catches my eye, it sparkles above the villagers here and there and the closer we come the more I notice what it is and how…out of place. The few villagers that are hanging are all women and they dangle strangely from thin strings that I am sure couldn't hold their weight unless…it's inhuman.

With only a few feet between us and the hanging woman we can see now that their eyes are hollow and lack pupils. They twist and turn midair towards us revealing the knives and farming scythes in their hands. Inuyasha's grip on me tightens and we both stiffen up when they all face our direction.

"What…" I begin but I am cut off. All at once the women of the village spring at us with their weapons raised high and ready to swing. Inuyasha twists us and leaps out of reach just in time to miss the first wave of women. He gently places me down just as another wave comes speeding our way.

"Do not injure them!" Shouts Kaede.

We spot her crawling out of a hut to our right, her right shoulder is sliced open and blood is trailing behind her. Her warning doesn't help us in this situation.

Inuyasha takes a hold of each rushing woman as they come, tearing them from the air without truly seeing the separating of the host and their string. Each girl falls limp and unconscious once the connection is lost.

Taking this chance, I stand – legs wobbling pathetically as I stumble my way to Kaede. Inuyasha follows at a steady speed, keeping an eye on my back all while protecting me from the group of hovering women.

"Kaede, you witch, what are you up to, all drenched in blood?" Inuyasha comments over his shoulder.

"As tactful as ever, I see…" She glares up at him.

Swoosh…Swoosh…

Glancing back over at the fallen girls, new string connects themselves to the back of their necks. They rise again, new puppets in the same game.

"Why are they after us?" Inuyasha growls out.

"They are all under the power of someone or something." Kaede replies.

"Strings." They both look at me in confusion. "There are strings controlling them." I repeat, pointing at a grouping of strings that are attached to the girls that are hovering towards us now.

"You can see them?" Kaede asks.

I just nod.

"I can take care of this." Inuyasha states, with the brief second before the next wave comes he cracks his fingers and readies himself to make a more permanent end for the approaching woman.

"No! We need Kagome! She has the Jewel!"

I snap a glare back down at Kaede. Really? You gave her the jewel and lost her again! I bite my lip to reframe from screaming at her.

"Hear me now. The village girls are not in their right minds and so do not deserve your claws!" Kaede continues.

"Spare me your higher morality, Kaede! Didn't they almost kill you?" Inuyasha scowls.

"You understand nothing…hear me, Inuyasha, unless you defeat the one who manipulates them from the shadows…" Kaede begins. A single woman is drawn out from the wave and comes jetting in faster than the others, she lifts up a farmer's axe, like a doll being flung through the air, she swoops down towards Inuyasha.

A glistening catches my eyes from the woman's wrist, the string is tight, "There! Cut the hair attached to the girl's wrist!"

"What hair?! I don't see any hair!" He exclaims balling his hands into fists.

She comes at him from the side too quickly, his claws can easily miss his target. At the corner of my eyes I see two other girls raise and plunge at him but these two are weaponless. He's not prepared to battle the three of them and glances around to see who to attack first.

But instead of charging at him as an attack they encircle his body swiftly, a web of strings entangles his body, capturing him and holding his limbs together. The woman with the axe, now close and personal, aims for his head – he breaks free with the flex of his body and leaps out the way just in time to avoid the attack.

He pulls back away from the other fallen villagers, he may have escaped but I can see his arms and legs are still covered with near invisible strings. He growls in irritation. "Is this puppeteer a fool? Even if I can't see the hair I can drag out whoever's at the other end!" Feeling about his body he grabs the tiny threads, gathering them up and using all his strength, he tugs the strings downward.

Kaede and I look about expecting to spot the culprit causing all this hassle, but instead the thread grows and loosens. The hair begins to surround him again. I start to stagger towards him, if he can't see it but I can, I can be of some help but before I can go anywhere Kaede grabs my ankle.

"Do not, the hair may not harm Inuyasha but it will slice ye."

So I am useless?

Inuyasha groans, I look back to see him being lifted by the hairs and swung against a tree. While there the hairs tighten, threatening to tear him apart.

I want to help. I need to help. But if what Kaede says is true I'll cause more of a mess than relieve it.

Inuyasha roars, the sound of cracking follows. The tree Inuyasha is held against is cut into perfect batches where the string has sliced through. He expands his body yet again and rips out from the hairs with a leap but this time, he lands next to us. His neck is pink where the hairs had touched flesh but not a drop of blood comes off of him.

"I looked death in the eye for a moment there." He glides his fingers over the pink of his neck.

Shuffle…Shuffle…Shuffle…

We look behind us at the thicket of the village and see the missing men of the village coming our way. Their eyes are just as hollow, they are carrying larger weapons like pikes and katanas but they are much slower than the woman and are not hanging from threads. They just look possessed.

"A new crew. We won't make any progress at this rate. We have to leave. Keara, help me get Kaede onto my back. Be quick."

He doesn't need to say it twice, he leans down low enough for her to reach and I help her climb on with careful pushes. There isn't enough room for two people on his back with Kaede there, and I'd probably hold them up anyhow. I glance around at the women and the men. The women are the quickest, I can outrun the men and escape the women by heading for the woods. The strings will get tangled in the trees.

"Just go without me, I'll follow behind."

"You're not fast enough, plus you're still weak from earlier." He argues.

The men are approaching quicker now. We don't have time to argue and I have confidence in my escape plan.

"Just go. I can see the hairs coming. Take Kaede to safety and find the jewel. I'll be able to sense where you are by the Shikon shard."

He eyes me, the ambers orbs are almost soft and gentle, I can see it – he knows I'm right but is too stubborn to admit it. "Stay alive, wench." He hesitates briefly, before shooting off into the tree line. From here I can see the strands of hair breaking and falling, losing connection to their puppets while he carelessly leaps onward towards Inuyasha's forest.

The men groan behind me like zombies, they wobble closer and closer. I can't risk standing around here. Focusing all my emotions on gathering strength to run I burst as quickly as I can into the forest line and follow the trail of broken strings.