It has been three very long days since Kagome left the group, she was gone that very hour after our discussion and sent Inuyasha back from the present with a yellow bag full of food, medical supplies, personal care and any history books she had that she was leant from her grandfather. That night, we fed in comfortable silence without the constant questioning of Kagome and slept without fear of her being kidnapped. It was absolutely blissful. I didn't have a problem with Kagome, just her actions, she seemed like a genuinely nice person and I am sure she is. It is just better this way…isn't it? The next day Inuyasha and I left the village to hunt for the rest of the shards and for two days now we've traveled from village to village through thick forests and dirt roads and I have felt absolutely no aura from the jewel anywhere. I'm starting to believe that the only reason why I felt anything to begin with had to do with Kagome being nearby. What if we've made a mistake? Maybe I am the useless one….

I cradle the small vial that holds the shards we've found in the palm of my hand; the glass is cold to the touch but every few seconds a wave of warmth creeps from the inside outward from the shards. Each time the warmth touches my skin a wave of heat rolls through the rest of me, leaving me confused and bewildered.

"It's been three days," Inuyasha groans. When I look up at him, his head rolls back and forth between his shoulders. I clip the vial back onto the chain and string it around my neck for safe keeping. I shoulder the heavy yellow bag and try to smile when he glances back at me. On his left shoulder sits Myoga, who decided to join us on our journey for now, in reality he's done nothing but whine about every little ache and pain or shadow that he feels or sees.

"At least it is nice out." And it is; clear blue skies and a breeze with a soft chill rolls over us occasionally. It feels pleasant against the red pants I wear; their light material is gentle against my wounds. Kagome couldn't offer me any clothes from her own collection, our different sizes would have been to uncomfortable but she was able to bring me a pair of tennis shoes of her mothers. The white shoes against the red pants almost blend in like the socks and sandals normally worn with this garb. I glance down at my feet, as I do, I run right into a wall full of muscle. Inuyasha has stopped dead in his tracks, unaffected of me bumping into his back.

Stepping around him I watch his expression, I've come to learn that I can pretty much read what he is thinking from his facial movements alone. His eyes are concentrated forward but his ears are flickering as if listening. After a second of this his eyes turn towards his left. We are surrounded by trees, traveling mostly through the forest since we suspect demons would be the culprits that'd be using the shards but just beyond where he stares is a small village I can see from here. Between the dirt road and us is a bush line, and sitting behind it is a young man with a small monkey on his shoulder. He seems unaware of our presence and is focused on the villagers on the dirt road next to the village.

"Haven't they taken enough young women away from our village already?" A man from a small crowd says. The group is full of elderly gentlemen and they seem to keep a good distance from a line another group of younger gentlemen on horses and line of young women with rope tied around their wrists. My eyes follow the rope to one of the horses, where on top a man tugs it tight, pulling the girls forward just for his amusement. He smiles a yellow grin and chuckles under his breath, none of the other men seem to care. They tie another young girl up on the back of the line. "Of all the girls summoned to the castle, not one has yet returned…"

I've heard of this happening. Not here, not in this time but from the history books Kagome offered me. Late at night I've been reading while Inuyasha sits in silence. Sometimes he'll dose away and I am left in the darkness with just the fire and a book to keep me company but that doesn't bother me. If I can't sense the shards, I can at least educate myself on what we may be getting ourselves into. It's common though, girls being taken to castles – by bandits or by soldiers. Men are hungry not only for food but for pleasure and most times these young girls are taken and never seen again because they are forced into slavery or prostitution.

Inuyasha leads the way to the boy with the monkey; I follow his movements like a shadow, unsure on exactly what we can do against a group of men who are stealing women. Sure, Inuyasha can beat them without pulling out his sword but he's always admitted to be unbothered by the likes of anything beyond his care.

"I knew it…" the boy whispers under his voice, "So the rumors are true after all." His hands clutch into fists as his tone turns from curious to enrage. He is oblivious to our approach but the tiny white monkey on his shoulder turns his head ever so slowly to us, his wide eyes buggy in an almost creepy cute kind of way.

The group of older gentlemen bundle closer together, mumbling into each other's ears in secrecy, I can just barely hear what they are saying now but I do catch a few words, "Lord…Possessed…Demon."

"Demon?!" Inuyasha starts, frightening the boy that is now inches ahead of us. He doesn't have a moment to react to our sudden intrusion, Inuyasha leans forward with his foot on top of the boy's head, pushing him down head first into the bushes he was hiding behind. Luckily, Inuyasha's outbursts doesn't gain the attention of any of the men or ladies on the path, otherwise I am not sure how they'd respond to the half demon if another is possessed. The monkey frets at his owner's side, hopping on two feet with his hands in the air as he squeaks, his master groans under the half demons' foot, not even able to say a word if he wanted too.

"Inuyasha," I sigh; he glances back at me and I nod to the boy below his feet. The half demon rolls his eyes and lifts his foot, stepping back at my side as he glowers at the people on the road.

"What are they talking about?" He questions the boy; not given him a moment to sit up before pestering him for answers.

The kid sits back up, face red and covered in dirt but thankfully not bleeding. Now that we are close enough I can get a better look at the kid; he's young but not so young – maybe a year younger than me or older? I can't tell exactly since apparently people's ages and how they look are completely different from the present day. Inuyasha for example is in the hundreds and he looks eighteen…but then again he's part demon.

"Who are you people?!" the kid wipes his face and grumbles.

"I'm Keara, this is Inuyasha," I start, patting Inuyasha's right shoulder, "Do you mind telling us what's going on?"

The way he looks at us is like we are aliens from outer space, "You don't know?" He arranges himself into a cross legged seated position, and observes us with wide eyes. When we don't respond, he continues, "they've been sending girls to the palace nearby but they never return. They just disappear."

No returns? The line of girls beyond the bushes all have their heads down, inexplicable sorrow on their faces like they know their own ending. The ropes on their wrists are so tight I can see the flesh turn to pink right before my eyes from where I am standing. As sick as it is…this was normal during this time period. Plenty of greedy men with power would take the innocence of women and even young boys, at least those were the claims history channels told and not so much the school books. Even outside of Japan, this was a norm. One countess took around 600 young girls just to bleed them dry for her own personal youth.

"They've been summoned. I need to get to the palace; they have a friend of mine." He continues, putting emphasis on the word need. The surprise that filled his eyes is now drowned by the same amount of sorrow as the girls in the line.

"It has to be a demon." Inuyasha retorts, "It's no wonder none of them have returned."

A demon? I look up at him with a raising brow. Does he not realize humans can do this as well? But then…I glance back at the girls and the human soldiers. If it were for a human, there would most likely be more soldiers, spouting lies about taxes or schooling, and not the lack of reasoning on taking them. Just being summoned? If it is true, these girls are being sent to their doom and no one is doing anything about it. No one realizes just where those girls are going and what to. No one is helping them.

This isn't right…I won't let this continue. No more innocent lives will be sacrificed to a demon if I know about it. Without another word being said, I shrug off the heavy yellow back pack and it makes a loud thud when it lands on the ground behind me. I climb over the bushes separating us from the crowd and race for the soldiers.

I hear Inuyasha behind me, shouting, "Hey, where are you going?" But I refuse to look back, afraid that I will change my mind. I don't plan on fighting them, I know I will lose, but I am caught – with the jewel still on me – it'd force Inuyasha to come for it. If there is a demon controlling this situation, he'll feel incline to kill it. One less problem in the world, and several saved souls.

"One was trying to escape!" Shouts the man on the horse. The horse fights beneath him, lifting to its hind legs and kicking its front as the men on the ground start after me.

"Oh, no you –."

Inuyasha begins. I shoot a glance in his direction, hoping that my expression plays right on my face for him to stop. His mouth shuts, his amber eyes wide, and his nails digging into palms as he fights to keep from going after the guards.

The second I am in arms reach, the two soldiers' hands claw at my white top and drag me towards the line of girls. Their innocent eyes watch me with surprise; I don't even think they thought they could escape. One man snatches both my wrists, his hands rough with my skin as he darts the rope around my wrists. He pulls tight, squeezing my flesh between the bristles of the rope. It hurts so much that I have to shut my eyes and bite my tongue from giving into scream. Maybe I shouldn't have done this…

"Let's get going before they think of some other brilliant plan." That said, the man on the horse kicks the beast beneath him and forces us all forward into a tug of war line. Some of the girls are too weak to walk the speed required, their feet drag on the ground kicking pebbles all over. I take one final glance back at Inuyasha, his fists drip with blood and his teeth are tight behind his lips. He's angry.

'Come find me.' I mouth, the words never leaving my mouth so the men don't see him, but I make sure to pronounce it enough in hopes he can read them. He nods once…

It is an hour after night fall when we reach the palace. Along the way, we've had to slow due to a few of the girls collapsing and their bodies dragging. The man on the horse stopped, and the two others, butted the girls' unconscious with the back of their swords. They threw their bodies like limp sacks of flour onto the back of the horse and we were forced to continue on a slower rate so the rest of us could keep up pace. They obviously want us alive otherwise they wouldn't waste their time.

My feet throb within my white shoes, my wrists are blistered and bleeding. I can't imagine what the others must be feeling. They have no shoes on, and after an hour or two of walking, I started noticing blood patches on the dirt as I walked. The worse feeling of all – is that odd twisting that I felt when I was first taken away from Inuyasha the day I arrived in the Feudal Era. The farther and farther I was chased away, the worse the twisting got. It was breathable then…But now; I am finding it hard to use my lungs. The twist is mid-way in my chest, coming from no single organ but from all of them at once. I don't understand.

Why didn't I feel this when I was in the present? Why did this only occur after I saw him for the first time? And what does it mean?

The palace looms in the darkness, a foreboding structure with few fire lit lamps decorating the walls and showing us how towering it is. The building has to be at least 3-4 stories, impressive for what I've seen so far in this era. The walls are white but still so dark against the navy blue to black sky behind it. As we pass through the gate entering the palace's court yard, I immediately noticed that all the men, except for the ones leading us, are sleeping up against the walls, trees and statues. They snore with their arms hugging their spears and swords against their chests. The three seem completely un-phased, as if this is a normal occurrence.

We come up to the palace doors, their ornately decorated wood creaks open to an eerie quietness beyond and as they open I feel it….

A dark and severe demonic aura that covers the light sensation of the sacred jewel beneath it. Inuyasha was right…It is a demon…and it has a shard. The aura isn't as powerful as Sesshomaru, but it is stronger than all the demons we've faced so far.

The girls ahead of me start to whimper the closer we come to the palace's open doors, a cold chill hits our broken flesh as we walk up the two steps onto the deck that follows along the palace walls. Once on the deck, the horse rears off to the side and the rope is dropped from the saddle. The two men both grab at the end and tug us forward into the interior of the palace which is far darker than the outside.

"Come on!" They yell, tugging us like cattle. The man on the horse slides off one side and begins to drag body after body of the girls who are unconscious and drops their limp bodies on the deck with hollow thumps.

"You let her go!" The sound of feet thumping on the wooden deck comes from our right. Inuyasha bounds towards us, sword unsheathed and battle ready. The horse screams, kicking its feet before rushing down the steps and disappearing into the court yard. The men drop the rope, their force no longer keeping the line forward as some of the girls almost fall backwards from the slack. Now that they are distracted, I push the ropes off my wrists as they loosen. Skin peels off with the rough fabric, and blood starts to drip down my hands once again.

The men shout and yell, as their swords collide with Inuyasha but fail. Their metal splits and breaks, leaving them falling back on their butts before turning to their sides and crawling away as fearful as the girls were when they were forced into the line to begin with.

The girls are unmoving, eyes wide and in shock as they watch the men run away and as Inuyasha approaches us. "Go, go now!" I scream at them, not at all sure if there were more soldiers within the palace that may come. My voice causes them to shutter, they awaken from their shocking fear and also push off the ropes before rushing back through the gates to the outside world.

"That was a really stupid thing you did." Inuyasha says, sheathing his sword and crossing his arms.

"I had to do something," I reply, rubbing my wrists instinctively and accidently spreading the blood while doing so. I wipe the thick liquid onto my red pants, "You were right, there is a demon here and there is also a shard of the jewel."

"You do know we could have come here together?"

"Hey! Wait for me!" Shouts the boy from earlier. He's racing towards us from the other end of the deck where Inuyasha had come from. His little monkey holding on for dear life on his shoulder.

I glance at him with a raised brow and then back to Inuyasha, "let's face it, you wouldn't have come."

Without another word from him I head into the cold, dark entrance of the palace. "What does that mean?!" He grumbles from behind me, following close in suit.

The palace is larger than it looked from the outside. It seems to have hundreds of rooms most of which are empty and others full of elegant fixtures, royal silks, tea cups, pillows, weapons, scrolls and more. Each step takes me back in time to a period I keep forgetting I am lost in but it's a world I also feel the most comfortable.

Nobunaga is a few yards ahead of us, ripping open the sliding doors and plummeting in each room like a bullet from a pistol. He hasn't thought twice on the possibility that a guard could pop out of any of these rooms or that the very demon, holding this place hostage could be behind one. But it is strange. Since the entrance of the palace, all we've seen of guards, were ones that were lying about the floors or sitting against walls, all appearing as if they were sleeping, hugging their weapons like teddy bears. Its unnerving.

"Thank you - for following me." I mutter out, finally feeling the very heavy emotion of guilt. Since I started to receive parts of my soul back, emotions have come at me in ways I've never felt before. I was apathetic, hollow with nothing but grey, white and black tunes to color my world and now - rainbows of colors living up my life. I've never felt guilty before.

I don't need to look up at Inuyasha to tell that he's watching me. My fingers run along my swollen and open wounds nervously under his gaze. "Whatever," he says at first, "when I defeat this guy, we have to get some herbs for those wounds. You're still bleeding all over the place."

It seems like ever since I've arrived here I've gotten hurt. I still have yellow bruises since the first day.

"Princess?!" Nobunaga shouts. Up ahead, he's slung open another door but this time, he pauses. From here I can see his eyes are wide and his mouth has dropped. We've found who we were looking for. He finally snaps out of his in shock state, and rushes in. Inuyasha and I keep to our pace, unless we hear screams of 'demon.' Coming from the room, then we are not needed.

When we finally reach the room, we keep outside in the hall and watch from the open view. On the ground lies a beautiful young woman wearing quite a few kimonos, suggesting she's of royalty. the top kimono is ornately decorated with yellow flowers upon a regal red silk. Her large brown eyes are not as surprised as Nobunaga but at the same time, bewildered. A softness only from learning discipline and control - I'm sure.

"Princess Tsuyu! You remember me?"

The princess smiles, her entire face brightens up when she does, softening the features she has even more so than before. "Of course I do. I'll never forget. You and I were friends as children and you were always so very kind."

Nobunaga blushes, fiddling with his fingers nervously as his monkey mocks his master's actions. "I just thought you wouldn't remember a lowly vassal like me."

"I remember everything. How you'd slip and fall in the pond, how I'd laugh and laugh when you fell in horse dung."

The boy's face goes from glowing with excitement to complete embarrassment. Only a few uncomfortable sounds leave him, as the princess giggles in reminisce.

"Pathetic." Inuyasha mutters beside me.

"Oh, like you haven't been in love..."I sarcastic reply, rolling my eyes. Kicking off the wall, I was leaning on, I step towards the entrance and pop my head in. "Quick question, your royal-ness - how'd you end up here?"

There has to be an explanation for all the young girls' disappearances and the demonic aura that seeps from the entire palace walls. Let's not include the fact that the jewel is somewhere in this castle and I need to find it before another demon comes running in.

"It was shortly after I came here as his bride that my Lord-husband began to act strangely. He'd fallen into the garden pond, and ran a terrible fever. It was as though he had become a different person."

Pond, fever? I've heard of illnesses changing people's moods - and I would love to just believe it was that. That this man is just sick. I sigh - but that's not the case. The demonic aura is getting stronger the longer we wait here.

"You must return to Kai! Your father, whose so far away from here, has heard of the Lord's derangement. It was his wish i come, that you might be returned to him."

"My father's orders?"

"Even if he had not ordered it, I would somehow have come." Nobunaga becomes fierce in his words, lifting up a fist as he spoke with readiness in his eyes.

Creaaaakkkk. Creakkk...

The wood planks creak and groan underneath weight behind us, I glance over my shoulder down the hall to spot a large figure coming our way. It wears a dark kimono, with faint hints of colors and decorations I can't quite pick up from this distance but what I can spot was the wrapping of white bandages that covers the entire head of the creature.

It's not human. A demonic aura comes off this beast, and its the very aura that I've been sensing.

"I thought I heard something." It is male, voice cracking much like Myoga's but with something a little different. Like a croaking, behind the words.

"Yeah, it took ya long enough." Inuyasha replies.

The beast opens a hole between the bandages, and out comes a long pink whip like substance that shoots out at Inuyasha with incredible speed. But Inuyasha is quicker, he has his claws out and ready to attack. With a single leap he ends the distance between them and slices at the bandages with such precision that the beast's face is free from marks and only the bandages end up in shreds.

The demon falls back with a loud thump, a croaking exits his mouth and echoes down the hall. In place of what the bandages were hiding is a green and white frog head the size of what a normal frog's head would be if it were the size of a human man. Big red round eyes stare at us with rage.

I shudder at its appearance, I absolutely find frogs and toads disgusting and slimy - I hate anything that is slimy - even wet hair on the tubs tile when showering bothers, me a bit. Not that I wouldn't clean it, it just has me gagging a little.

Nobunaga and the Princess step out next to me, both with stunned expressions.

"M'Lord?" The princess mumbles out, the next thing I know, she faints into Nobunaga's arms and he holds her close.

"Princess, don't worry, I have you!"

"Keara..." A familiar voice calls to me, the one I've been hearing...The woman in my dreams and woman I hear when a shard is close. "Keara..." She sings again. There is no denying the presence of a shard - I sensed it the moment I came close to the palace, but if I am hearing her voice, the jewel is closer than it appears. Squinting my eyes, I focus in on the demon ahead of us, only spotting a faint purplish glow when the toad starts to sit up from the ground. It brightens the more he stands, cornering in at his right shoulder.

"He has a shard, right shoulder."

The very words put a grin on Inuyasha's face, he cracks his fingers by clenching them. "Lord Inuyasha!" Shouts another familiar voice. Long has he been quiet if he's been here but I'm sure this is his first appearance since I didn't notice Myoga on Inuyasha's necklace before. "He's the ninety-ninth toad of the ninety-ninth generation. He's stronger than he looks."

"He's just a toad..." I mumble, shuttering again as I glance over the demon. God, he's ugly. "He's no god."

Inuyasha chuckles and nods, "She's right Myoga, one good punch should do it."

"Oh no, no, no, no, no, no." Myoga repeats, leaping from Inuyasha's beaded necklace to my shoulder. He buries himself behind strands of my dark hair and peers out only to watch as Inuyasha leaps forward again for his attack.

The demon cranes his head back, shutting his mouth tight. His cheeks bloat, filling up with what seems like air and at its peak, right before Inuyasha is about to come down, he shoots his head forward and opens his mouth, releasing a purple smog that fumigates the entire hallway.

It's enough to throw Inuyasha back from him, and reach my nose in the matter of seconds. It burns the hairs in my nose, and smells foul and disgusting, curdling the acid in my stomach like rotten milk. I cover my mouth with the sleeve of my white miko shirt, and stumble back. The smog, sticks to my skin like someone else's sweat. Even through the sleeve the gas seeps, catching in my throat and tickling it till I start coughing.

"We have to get out of here, Keara, run!" Myoga yells into my ear.

No. I shake my head and glance through the smog to spot Inuyasha on the ground coughing. I start forward for him but as I do the toad demon passes by him and heads in our direction. Beside me Nobunaga sits on the ground, his arm firm around the princess as another covers his face.

Nobunaga reaches for a sword that was well hidden at his side, but just as the sword unsheathes, the pink projectile shoots from the toad's mouth - now realizing its the tongue of the demon - it penetrates Nobunaga's shoulder. The force slides him a good distance, forcing him to release Tsuyu as she tumbles to the floor. The tongue retreats and the toad quickly picks up the princess and slings her over his shoulder like a rag doll.

"Hey!" I shout, throwing my hands up in a fighting stance, my fists clench will dry blood crusted all over. "Let her go!"

He glances at me from the corner of his eyes, a wicked smile forming on his face. What is he smiling about? I ask myself. The smog thickens, seeping down my throat and into my chest where it becomes unbearable to breathe. I inhale deeply, accidently inhaling more fumes than I intended. I fall back onto my butt, covering my mouth once again as the image around me blurs. Shit. Myoga was right.

The wooden floor creaks, loud at first and as the seconds pass, it quietens.

"Keara, stay here!" Inuyasha shouts. Following after his comment I hear the softer patting of running feet on the wooden floor; the floor boards don't creak under his weight. There is a crash and the sound of the foot patting disappears.

"Princess!" Nobunaga shouts. A groan follows after; he must be in pain. I look up in the direction of his voice just barely seeing a foggy figure in the background of the blurriness. From the looks of it, he's still down for the count.

The air is clearing up, the once smoggy thickness of the air is less than before and the smell has dissipated. I hesitantly remove my hands from my face and breathe in small and slow. My lungs are still burning but it's not from the intake. Unable to see properly, I struggle to crawl towards Nobunaga's figure, reaching out for him as I approach and gently using his left hand as a guide the rest of the way.

"We have to save the princess," he starts.

"Inuyasha has this..." My voice is much quieter than I anticipated it to be. Clearing my voice, I start again, this time I can tell my voice will be more normal, "Your shoulder is hurt, you running after her might prove failure."

"But..."

"Listen. I know you love her, it's not hard to tell, but you can't go just risking yourself without thinking. We need to let Inuyasha do this. Now I will help you walk and you can be my eyes until I get my vision back."

"We're right behind him," Nobunaga says. We've been walking for a few minutes now, following Inuyasha destructive trail. Nobunaga leans on me like a crunch while I fail to see a foot ahead of me. The longer I've remained outside the better my vision has gotten but not enough to lead myself. He tells me to step, and I step. My foot meets another wooden surface, we've been mostly outside since our adventure.

"Sealed like toad spawn just as the rumors said. Young women kept in egg-sacs until their souls ripen, then eaten. With the power of the jewel-shard and the young lord's position. No one could oppose him." Myoga says at my ear.

Ahead of me I can see blurs of colors. First Inuyasha's red outfit and his silver white hair. He's not too far ahead of us, and beyond him orb-like structures that are blue and green masses.

Suddenly, I'm not as heavy as I was before, Nobunaga slips out of my arm and is off in the distance, mixing with the colors ahead of me. I hear multiple footsteps all rushing somewhere, from the mixing of blurs, I am assuming towards the enemy.

"Poison gas!" Inuyasha shouts.

"Shit!" I spit out, quickly tumbling backwards out the only exit I know about. I summersault down the one step up to the wooden surface and fall back onto my back. My head slams into the dirt below. An aching pain snuffs out all other senses. My eyes shut tight and I hold my breath to prevent a groan of pain. All I can hear is a loud ringing.

"Ke-Keara!" Myoga's voice penetrates through the ringing. Inside my head feels dizzy, I feel like I am going to vomit. The ringing dies down slowly, but my lunch is coming up quickly. Rolling out my side I wait for the bile and what I last ate, to rise up to my mouth but nothing comes. Opening my eyes, my vision is lopsided but no longer blurry.

I see everything. Pebbles, each individual dirt. I've never been so happy to see... But I am ...so... fucking... angry. A hot energy curls up in the pit of my being, the edges of my vision burns red, my fists clench into the dirt at my sides.

"Keara? Ar-... Are you okay?" Myoga shakes.

I stand up, feeling the fumes of rage drip from me. I have no idea why I am angry... but I want to hurt...Twisting back towards the building, I can now see the two boys fighting the toad demon inside. Orbs large enough to hold live humans inside, do as their size commands; human girls are naked, unconsciously trapped in what looks like egg sacs. I walk up the single step, and doing so I notice that sliding doors beside me are forced open until they creak and break at their ends. The screens fly off in pieces, and I don't bother looking.

Ahead of me, both men turn towards me. Their eyes wide. Tetsaiga is in its strongest form, prepped to kill but yet the demon is still alive. From my peripherals, Myoga leaps from my shoulder and towards Inuyasha.

"Keara...?" Inuyasha mumbles.

The way he says my names pumps me with adrenaline. It turns into fuel for my rage. The demon has fallen from their battle, his back against one of the large sacs. He has fear in his eyes but not for me, they are turned towards Inuyasha.

"I don't want to die! Come to me! I need souls!" He shouts cowardly.

Some of the girls in the sacs quiver and shake, trembling until their eyes shoot open and are empty and white.

"No..." I hiss. The toad demon's eyes turn to me and then up at the sacs. The girls are still quivering and shaking but from his sudden confused expression I can tell they are not doing as commanded. I don't know what is stopping them and I don't care. I approach him slowly, with each step I've noticed, anything surrounding me is being pushed or thrown at some sort of distance. Is this the power I felt when battling Sesshomaru in that dark world?

Once I am close enough I snatch the toad's bloaty neck, his skin is sweaty and slimy enough my fingers and a part of me - one stuck deep inside and under all this anger, wants to gag. His eyes turn back to me, and in their reflection I see myself - but it's not me...Like a ghost covering me in a near invisible aura, is another woman.

She has long wavy black hair, and intense caramel brown eyes. Upon our forehead is a four pointed cross or star...she is beautiful but fierce, subtle but strong. I've seen her before. In my dreams. She's pushing me forward. The clutches of my hand tightens and tightens around his jugular, until I can almost feel the other ends.

He's unable to breathe, limbs kicking and fighting but unable to reach me due to whatever force has pushed everything away.

Beyond him, in the sac he leans against I see Princess Tsuyu. Her eyes are just as wide as his but not full of fear...instead... worry and panic. She watches the demon...with that... worried expression.

... The Lord is possessed.

'Do it... believe it...believe in our power.' The woman exclaims. Just then the shard in his shoulder glows brighter than ever before. 'Purify him.' She commands.

"Yes ma'am." I growl, I focus all my intent - all my rage on the demon I hold. Doing so, the feeling of the force singles him out. A burst of purplish pink rays shoots out from the hand that holds him. It envelopes him, popping out the shard and flying it towards my feet. The rays don't stop - as they continue to cover his entire being the body enough my grip seizures reverting back into a human male form while what is left in my hand is that of a smaller frog-like wisp. I clench my fist entirely and it evaporates in my hand as if it never existed to begin with.

The man falls unconscious below me, much smaller than the demon had made him turn out be. The sacs all around us burst like jelly orbs, green and blue goo rains down, comforting the landing of all the sleeping victims. And as they land, all the anger and rage I feel, seeps from me leaving me standing with an apathy I... haven't quite felt.

"Keara..." Inuyasha says again, this time, it's with a tone...so much softer than I've ever heard.

I twist back towards them. Nobunaga makes a run for the princess now behind me. Passing me by as if I was nothing to begin with. And there...stands Inuyasha, Tetsaiga back in its sheathe and the half demon staring at me with the warmest expression I've seen from anyone.

Through the apathy, warmth hugs my heart, a smile tugs at my lips. "Inu..."

Everything...goes black and all I feel is the air passing right through me.

Chirp...Chirp.

Birds. They are singing a lovely tune. It is much nicer to hear than the war cry of demons and the sight of a battle forming in my head. All there is, is light. Struggling, I force open my eyes and I am greeted by a blue sky with white clouds passing by. The smell of fresh air, grass and the sight of leaves fluttering above.

"You're awake."

Craning my head back, I earn a stinging pain that runs along my spine from the back of my head. A groan rolls through me. Deciding to roll onto my side so I can look up without moving my head, I spot Inuyasha sitting there against a tree. His arms are crossed as are his legs, in his lap lies his faithful sword. Though not as warm, his eyes are still soft as they examine me.

I must have fainted after what happened...all I remember was that demon in my hand...that woman who ...who... whatever she did. And then...all the girls falling to the ground. "Are they safe? Princess Tsuyu? The girls? Nobunaga?"

"They are all safe," Inuyasha nods his head to his right and I follow his direction to see Nobunaga sitting not too far from us. His back is towards us and his little monkey sits on top of his head. "They idjit...He went out of his way to save the princess and ended up also saving his only romantic rival."

"That's me all right. Amari Nobunaga, world's biggest idjit and fool."

Bringing myself up to sit down fully, I notice there is a blue blanket beneath me and all of our belongings at my side. Off beyond the cliffs edge far to my left I can see the palace. It looks more elegant now...free almost. No more demon aura coming from that monster of a fortress.

"You are an idjit but you also saved a lotta lives."

Nobunaga turns his head towards us and smiles, nodding confidently. "You know what? That cheers me up." He takes a stand, using a long stick that I didn't see by his side before this to use to walk. He starts forward, somehow oblivious to the cliffs edge.

"Idjit..." Is all Inuyasha says before the boy plummets off the cliff. There is a landing sound not to soon after, reassuring me the fall wasn't that much of a drop.

"Keara..." I look back to Inuyasha. He's holding out his left hand, its clenched shut but as I peer at it, he slowly opens it to relieve the shard that the toad demon had in his shoulder. "I don't know what happened to you, but...what I do know, they are safe with you. For now."

His words are touching...He's never been this nice. We've gotten along so far but never have we tried to really...communicate and express anything other than casual allies. I reach for the shard, taking the tiny thing with two fingers and lightly feeling along Inuyasha warm palm as I pull away. My fingers tingle, it runs up my arm sending goosebumps all over.

"Thank you..."

He nods and drops his hand back into his lap...and I smile, finally feeling as if I have earned...a friend.

"Somebody...hel... help me."