Chapter Eight

The dog demon napped in the highest branches of the Goshinboku tree. It was about mid morning and there seemed to be rain in the forecast if the looming clouds had anything to say. He yawned in a lazy manner and idly played with the ward beads. They clanked softly like squirrel bones in a bag. The random thought of rodent bones lead to a thought of rodent meat and a stout grumble in the half-demon's stomach. It had been months since he'd had any squirrel, especially since Kagome's ramen noodles were so much better. Because he'd thought of the girl he slipped a glance at the well, out of habit, and not really expecting to see any movement.

It almost knocked him from his perch to see a shadow emerge from the well, climbing haphazardly up the vine ladder that grew into the dark. The distance did not hinder InuYasha in the least and he immediately recognized that the person coming out of the well was certainly not Kagome. There was more build to this person, more height too, and when the shadows parted and sunlight shown down, there was a flash of blond waves as hair. InuYasha had recently seen another with such hair.

Coming down out of the tree, the half-demon silently stalked the man from behind. He was defiantly the one that'd been with Kagome that morning a week ago. InuYasha smiled to himself, as the familiar demon rage he'd had to work hard to control all week came back, but this time he let it flow into his being, inciting long-dormant blood lust. His prey walked on, in the general direction of the village, completely oblivious to his upcoming demise.

Taking long, solid strides, InuYasha charged into the man's back, knocking him flat. Jumping aside incase the human could actually fight he balanced on a nearby fallen log. His claws throbbed with desire to sink into the man as he gingerly regained his feet. Looking about wildly for what had hit him, a pair of blue eyes met and seemed to recognize a pair of amber ones.

Drawing himself upright, the man dusted his hands together before speaking. "InuYasha, I presume."

The half-demon's eyebrows cocked in a smug expression. "So you think you know me, bastard?" He had to admit though that he'd never expected Kagome to careless enough to give out such private information. He'd thought she might keep it all secret, in order to divert attention from her situation, but since this man knew him, it would be fun to test how much more he'd been told.

Without giving warning, InuYasha launched himself into the air, heading straight towards the human man. Giving him no time to properly escape, the dog demon raked his claws through space at the body before him. The man dodged rather nimbly but not enough to avoid being caught in the arm by the demon's deadly swipe. InuYasha completed his motion, tearing up the round in a set of parallel ribbons, and creating a sound similar to oxen stampeding. The force of his strike shook the forest floor slightly.

Rounding on the man, who now had stumbled back, holding his bleeding arm tightly, near a tree, InuYasha stood his full height and approached slowly.

"The first time I saw you near her I thought you'd pinned her to the tree with an arrow," he said. "It made me want to kill you."

The man's eyes widened, a twinkle of fear finally entering the angry glare that had not left the man's face since InuYasha's first strike. The half-demon continued his slow walk, calm and seemingly composed. He began cracking his knuckles and clicking his claws together, creating a sharpening sound.

"But then you had to go and touch her. That was your first mistake, human." InuYasha quickened over to the man, grabbing him by his shirtfront and launching him through the air. He flew head over heals and landed heavily near the well. Slowly pushing himself up with his good arm, the human looked at the well, perhaps ten feet away, then back over his shoulder to InuYasha.

"You'd never make it." The dog demon paused and let a toothy, evil smile cross his face," plus I can follow."

The man's eyes narrowed, anger obviously taking hold in his mind. InuYasha could smell it.

With more speed that InuYasha had thought to credit him with, the human dove out of his direct line of sight, rolling in the bushes and emerging with a fallen tree branch in his hand. The wound on his other arm now bled freely but seemed to have clotted somewhat.

Though unsure what to make of it, InuYasha was certainly glad for the challenge. He had to admit that killing the guy when he'd never had a chance to defend himself probably wouldn't have been any fun. He had just taken a solid fighting stance when…

"SIT"

InuYasha recognized the forces that pushed him to the ground and his mind cursed silently at the woman who was in control of those forces. Truly it was the old witch that had been the original cause of his problem, but the way Kagome wielded the powerful demon ward, made it hard for him to blame anyone else. Scrambling frantically on the ground, InuYasha felt the anger and fire in his blood seep away. He pushed hopelessly against the magic, more interested in seeing what was going on than in destroying his opponent anymore. However, when he spotted Kagome, the human man slumped in her arms, he began to reconsider his decision.

Miroku strode up behind InuYasha, coming to squat near the dog demon's head.

"Perhaps not the smartest move, InuYasha." An irate growl was his only answer. "At any rate, who is he?"

"He's the bastard I saw Kagome with; the human man I told you about."

The priest's eyebrows rose in curiosity and he stood to go and investigate the new arrival. Behind him InuYasha flailed on the ground in an attempt to rise.

"I'll be okay, it's just a scratch," the man was saying when Miroku reached them.

Still not quite sure, Kagome fretted a moment more over Hojo's arm before asking her questions. "What happened? Did he just attack you without warning?" Hojo nodded in reply then turned to greet Miroku, relieved that someone else was human.

"Hello. I'm Hojo." He smiled pleasantly to the priest, amazed that the well had appeared to work in transporting him into the past. The other man, too, appeared amazed at the new arrival.

Motioning over his shoulder to the dog demon, Miroku cleared his voice before speaking. "He said you're from Lady Kagome's country. That you came through the well?" When the man nodded, Miroku allowed a small smile to ease his features, so this is Kagome's choice… "I am Miroku, and that back there is InuYasha."

"Yes, we've already met." He winced as Kagome used her handkerchief to bind the wound.

Hojo was once again holding his arm when Kagome helped him to his feet. When the trio turned to return to the village, they found their path blocked by InuYasha, who had finally recovered from Kagome's 'SIT'.

"Isn't anyone interested in what he's doing here?" the half-demon snarled.

Miroku shrugged and Kagome glared, but Hojo just took a step forward, meeting the other's gaze eye to eye. The stalemate lasted a few seconds only before Hojo turned and approached Kagome. Releasing his injury for a moment, he grasped her hand confident that she would twine her fingers with his.

"I came to find you, to ask you something."

Kagome blushed and InuYasha raged. Miroku merely began walking, an amused and slightly jovial expression on his face. As he passed InuYasha the half-demon scoffed at him, "something funny, priest."

Pausing for a moment to regard his sour looking friends, he said, "yes, very funny in fact. But I don't expect you would understand." With that said he continued back to the village.

After a moment Kagome followed, leading Hojo by his hand. They seemed to give InuYasha a little distance when passing him and easily caught up to Miroku where he waited on the forest edge. The half-demon did not follow.