DiScLaImEr: I-don't-own-Inuyasha-even-a-fool-who-had-lost-his-five-senses-could-figure-that-out-you-idiot-so-why-do-I-have-to-write-this-each-and-every-time??!!
ABOUT THE FIC: All right! Noodals is back again with yet another fic~! This, I suppose, is a semi-AU fic because it takes place in the past and Inuyasha is a demon and stuff but Kagome isn't from the future.
For all of you Shippo fans out there: I'm gonna throw Shippo in this fic too!
So. This is my first fic in the past and also my first fic with Shippo. I really hope you enjoy this fic as much or even more than my others (assuming that you've read another one of mine ^^).
Thanks a lot and please enjoy~!
-Noodals
=^.^=
To be a Hanyou:
The girl passed through the forest with speed. It was dusk and already the nocturnal youkai were stirring and preparing for a nightly hunt. She needed to find a place to stay and her stomach was constantly reminding her how empty it and her pack was.
'Hm...I think there's only a loaf of stale bread in my pack at the moment. It would definitely be good to stock up on rice and fish.' She thought to herself, as her stomach rumbled. 'I could wake the forest with my stomach if I don't get real food into it.'
A bush quite near to her suddenly rustled. Her instincts made her move out of the way and her feet rushed her 15 feet away and then spun her around so that she could face the opponent. Subconsciously, she felt her right hand finger one of the eight daggers sheathed in a sash that was pinned from her left shoulder to her right hip.
"Who's there?" She said cautiously as her right hand pulled out one of the knives. Or maybe an arrow would be better. She had always counted on her aim with a bow and arrow more than with a throwing knife.
'To late to change now,' she thought as the youkai lunged at her from the bush. The teenaged girl sent a burst of strange power to the knife as she hurtled it towards the animal flying towards her. It died it instantly.
As she walked over to retrieve her short knife, she looked over the animal. It looked like a common badger youkai. Not very tasty to eat. It was still small because it was only early summer and so it was probably learning how to hunt.
The girl pulled the knife from its small body and looked for a suitable leaf that would wipe off a large portion of the blood.
'Wait a minute.' She stopped to think for a second. 'It was learning how to hunt, which probably means its mother is near by to teach it.'
She plucked a leaf from a nearby plant so that she could wipe the blood from the knife before placing it back into its sheath. She would clean it properly later. She needed to get out of there now before the badger baby's mother came after her. And badger mothers are vicious.
Suddenly there was a soft snarl from maybe 20 yards behind her.
'Shit.'
The girl took off as she ran the leaf along both sides of the knife and then pocketed it in its sheath. There was a growl and then scraping claws as the badger mother took the chase to avenge its cub's death.
At that instant, like several instances before, the girl really, really wished she had learned how to use a sword. She even just wished that she had a sword on her. It would just be too easy to whip out a sword and spin around, cutting the animal in half as it pounced into the air to attack.
'No such luck.'
And her luck just got worse.
She tripped.
And with a brutal, PMSing badger mother behind her, that was probably the last thing in the world, that she wanted to do.
When her foot hit the stray root, her body automatically curled up into a ball and 'rolled' into the fall, just the way her father had taught her to so many years ago. She continued into the roll to maybe have it easier getting herself back up again but as her arm stuck out for balance, the badger attacked it, causing it to bleed.
The teenaged girl snatched the longest dagger in her sash and stabbed at the spot she thought the animal was. She was instantly rewarded with a howl from the creature and it unfortunately only attacked her more.
Her left arm, that wouldn't stop bleeding, reached for a second blade and so with two hands holding two knives, the girl attacked the shrieking youkai with as much vengeance as she was being attacked with.
The girl would have loved to let the badger go because she wasn't all that partial to killing things but at this moment it was a 'kill or be killed' situation.
Finally, the badger lay dead.
The young woman didn't have much time. Any minute, youkai would be showing up and would start following the scent of her freshly flowing blood.
After plucking another leaf for her blades, she sprinted towards the smell of smoke from the cooking fires from a village up ahead.
Cooking fires...
FOOD~!
Her sprint plowed her past the edge of the forest and through rice fields. Her feet didn't slow down until she was in front of a hut that looked like it belonged to the priestess. The teenaged girl knocked lightly on the doorjamb and waited for only a short period of time before a withered old lady pulled back the straw mat door to admit her in.
"Kikyo? Is it you?" the lady asked with slight disbelief. "Did you find the Shikon no tama already?"
"Er..." Kagome wondered who this Kikyo person was, but more importantly, she wondered when this old lady was going to help her with her bleeding arm. It was really starting to get painful.
"Eh? You...you aren't Kikyo??"
"No...I don't believe I am..."
"......"
"My name is Kagome and I would really appreciate it if you could give me herbs to bind my arm before it gets infected. I appear to be out."
"Oh. Of course. Why don't I do it for you instead."
"Thank you."
'For finally catching my drift.' Kagome thought.
The lady led her in and sat her by the fire as she prepared a poultice for the wounds on her left arm.
"My name is Kaede. My older sister Kikyo was the priestess of this village a long time ago." The old woman explained.
"What happened?"
"She died...50 years ago. But there was an ogress named Urasue, who revived her body but her soul did not return to it. The only reason would be because it was already reincarnated into another body."
"Why would an ogress want your sister?" Kagome furrowed her eyebrows in confusion. 'And why are you telling so much about you to me??'
"Because Kikyo is the miko who was trusted to care for the jewel called the Shikon no Tama. Urasue wanted it to obviously become stronger."
This grabbed Kagome's attention.
"Shikon no tama, eh? I've heard of it and I'm looking for it too. Why? BECAUSE I CAN SENSE IT EVERYWHERE I GO!!! And it's DRIVING ME NUTS!!!!" Kagome punched the floor with her good arm.
"Hm...you can sense it, can you? You know, it is very possible that you could be my undead sister's reincarnation. She could always sense where the jewel was and you look very much like her."
"Un...dead....O.O" Kagome shuddered.
"She doesn't look like a mummy or anything!! Actually, she only looks a few years older than you, Kagome." Kaede glared.
"How? You said that she was your older sister. Wouldn't she be...older than you?"
"I know I'm 75 or something (I lost count about 20 years ago ^.^), but Kikyo died when she was only a few years older than you and was only resurrected about one and a half years ago. She started out with...an old friend to look for the jewel last year. She comes home maybe once a month to check on the village. I think that the only reason that her partner that she is traveling with is still traveling with her, is because he doesn't know that eventually she will be forced to give it to Urasue." Kaede applied the herb mixture to Kagome's bleeding arm.
"Partner? There to protect her or something?" Kagome asked while wincing as the poultice stung her cuts and also while eyeing the pot of something bubbling on the stove.
"Yes, but do not underestimate my sister's power. She is very good with a bow." Kaede finished wrapping the bandage.
"Hey, is there anything to eat in that pot?" Kagome asked, ignoring the last sentence.
Kaede smiled as she spooned the soupy liquid into two bowls.
"So why do you want the Shikon no Tama?" The old lady asked.
Kagome thought for a minute.
"I don't want it to fall into the wrong hands. I would hate to see a youkai swallow it. It would almost be unstoppable."
"True. Do you really think that it should be used? By any hanyou or youkai?"
"I don't really know. I'm really suspicious about where it came from. No one seems to be able to tell me."
"I hear there is a village deep in the mountains...it may be a myth but when you find it, you might want to look around there."
Kagome nodded in response as she sipped the warm, good tasting soup.
After moving on to more pleasant talk, Kaede offered Kagome to spend the night in her hut. Kagome agreed and lay out on the futon and went to sleep.
* * *
Then following morning, Kagome woke with the sun and started to smell the aroma of food wafting from the pot on the stove. Kaede was nowhere around so Kagome found a bowl and spooned out her breakfast.
Yum!
She then began to hunt around for the old woman so that she could restock her pack with food and medical supplies and then be on her way. She was afraid that the person with the Jewel would move on and she would lose track of it.
"Do not take my sister lightly, Kagome." The old lady's voice sounded from behind her.
Kagome turned around and found Kaede holding up her pack, fully restocked.
"I think it may be her partner that I'm more worried about. If he's there to protect her and she's already strong..."
"Yes, Inuyasha is very strong too. Much stronger than Kikyo. Should you meet them, use this." Kaede passed Kagome...something of importance, let's just say...
Kagome nodded and placed it into the V-neck opening of her clothing. She had seen one of these before and knew how to use it.
"Thank you very much for your kind hospitality." Kagome bowed.
"Anytime. Come back and visit sometime!"
As Kagome left the village, she thought about the undead priestess, Kikyo.
'I have the feeling that our paths will meet...very soon perhaps.' She thought.
And she continued with her day of tracking the Jewel.
* * *
Midday
"Kikyo...This blood...it smells like yours!"
"Like mine used to, you mean." She replied dryly. 'I wonder if I could use the Shikon no Tama to become alive again...' she thought.
The hanyou ignored her. Two carcasses of badger youkai and blood that smelt of his beloved undead miko. Near the village.
"The old woman had better have an answer..." he said out loud.
And Kikyo followed.
* * *
"She looked just like me and was tracking the Shikon no Tama?" Kikyo repeated what her 'younger' sister had just told her.
"By sensing it. She is skilled too, with weapons."
"What weapons did she carry, old hag?"
Kaede sniffed in annoyance at Inuyasha's manners.
"I won't tell you if you plan on killing her over the jewel."
Inuyasha rolled his eyes at her ignorance.
"We want the Jewel. It's not like I'm going to kill her if she doesn't have it, but if she does... If she wants to die for it instead of handing it over then fine. I'll have to kill her. I want-that-jewel."
"That's what I thought."
"Keh."
"Tell us which direction she went in, Kaede." Kikyo demanded politely.
"I don't know exactly." Kaede answered and then turned to Inuyasha who was about to remind her how useless she was, "but I'm sure your 'fabulous' tracking skills should catch her, Inuyasha."
"Fine." Inuyasha sniffed haughtily. "Let's go, Kikyo."
"Don't you want lunch, Inuyasha?" Kaede reminded him of food.
But not even that would stop the hanyou from going after the Jewel that another girl could possibly get first.
"I'll hunt later."
And with that, he left.
He tossed Kikyo on his back and then followed the semi-fresh scent of the young teen.
3 hours later...
"Inuyasha!" Kikyo exclaimed.
"What."
"I can sense the Jewel!!"
"And this is news...?"
The Miko 'papped' him on the head.
"It's very strong. Stronger than before."
"Hmm. That girl's scent is much stronger too... It smells of you."
"What I USED to smell like, right? Or does she smell of clay?"
"She doesn't smell of clay. It brings back so many memories, Kikyo...good memories."
Kikyo smiled (OMG~! (Earth breaking news...) KIKYO SMILED!!! O.o).
Suddenly, "That's her! Inuyasha, that's the girl!"
"I can tell. She has a strong scent that matches the one we've been following."
"Sneak up?"
Inuyasha nodded.
* * *
The sky was rosy-pink, as Kagome opened up her pack a snatched something to eat as she kept going. The atmosphere around her seemed to be pulsing.
'There must be quite a bit of youkai around. No sleep for me tonight.' She thought and then sighed outwardly.
As she finished the ball of rice she had been eating, she sensed something coming towards her at a strong speed and then it stopped and slowed.
It was unexplainable. She seemed to have been able to sense youkai and such but now she sensed something like a youkai...and it seemed something else was with that youkai. She'd never felt anything like it. And they were pathetically attempting to creep around her. She pulled one of the knives out of her sash. The youkai's presence was to her left.
"Youkai, come out. I sense your presence and if you don't believe me, then you can find out how deadly my aim is."
Nothing.
Kagome snorted.
She turned to her right.
"I don't know what you are, but come on out."
'She can sense us?' Kikyo thought from her hiding place. 'I'M the only miko around! She doesn't belong here.'
"Must I pin the two of you to trees so that I can find out who you are, or are you going to come out and be civilized?" Kagome's voice sounded annoyed.
Kikyo stepped from behind the tree and stepped through a bush to the small clearing.
Inuyasha followed the same suit.
When Kagome and Kikyo made eye contact, Kagome and Kikyo both felt the presence of the Shikon no Tama stronger than before.
"YOU!!" Kagome and Kikyo both pointed accusing fingers at each other. "YOU HAVE IT!!!"
Inuyasha cleared the clearing in one jump, over to Kikyo's side.
"She has the Shikon no Tama?" he asked her.
Kikyo walked across to where Kagome was. She put her hand on Kagome's left hip. When her hand came in contact with it, there was a bright flash that issued from beneath the skin. Kagome's eyes widened in shock when Kikyo took her hand away from the clothing. Kagome untucked her shirt from her baggy pants to look at the skin. There was a purple-pink gleam. Under her skin.
"I have the Shikon no Tama? ME???"
"Why on earth would YOU have it?" Kikyo looked disgusted.
"That would be why I could sense it. Everywhere I went..." she muttered.
"Give us the Jewel." Kikyo demanded coldly.
"It's mine." Kagome said stubbornly. "It's in my body."
"I can fix that." Inuyasha cracked his knuckles.
"Inuyasha," Kikyo placed a restraining arm in front of him, "Let me take her."
Kikyo notched an arrow to her bow. Kagome did the same after putting away her knife.
It was a stand-off in the middle of the woods. Both were waiting for the other to make the first move.
Kikyo grew impatient and let her arrow fly. Kagome cart wheeled her legs in the air and then let her arrow fly while she was upside-down. It imbedded itself into Kikyo's pant leg, pinning her to a tree behind her. Inuyasha lunged at Kagome. The teenaged girl drew one of the daggers and slashed at Inuyasha's arm. He was a youkai: he would heal easily.
"Stay out of this!" Kagome yelled at him.
"Fat chance, wench!" He replied as he readied for his next attack.
"I don't have time for you!" Kagome snarled as she reached into the V-neck of her shirt and took out the item that Kaede had given her. It was a rosary. She accurately flung it around his neck, catching him by surprise.
"What the-?"
"Sit!"
BAM!
"WHAT THE BLOODY HELL IS THIS GOD DAMN THING???"
"I've subdueded you."
"WHAT??? YOU subdued ME?? DON'T MAKE ME LAUGH!!"
"HAHAHAHA!" Kagome mocked.
Inuyasha stared, "I said don't make ME laugh."
"So laugh already! SIT!"
WHAM!
"Or do you not feel like laughing?" she mocked.
Inuyasha glared at her from his position on the ground.
Suddenly, an arrow flew towards Kagome's hip and pierced the skin. Kagome screamed in pain as the Jewel was forced out of her body. Kikyo had managed to reload her bow and fire it with her leg pinned to the tree.
"IT'S MINE~!!!!" Inuyasha leapt up from the ground as his body ceased from being numb.
"SIT!" Kagome screamed as she too, lunged for the Jewel, even though her bleeding hip was throbbing horribly.
Kikyo managed to finally pull the arrow from her pant leg and then notched it to her bow.
"Give me the Shikon no Tama." Her voice was deadly calm, and coated in frost.
Kagome looked from the Jewel to Kikyo.
"No." she said and then she ran. Figuring that she could run faster than Kikyo, even though her hip wouldn't stop bleeding, she grabbed her pack and charged off into the woods.
The youkai, Inuyasha, leapt up and then tossed Kikyo onto his back and took after the fleeing girl.
"SIT!!!" he heard and Kikyo screamed when his body smashed to the ground.
"F-f-f-fuck..." he said while gritting his teeth as his ribs groaned.
"I'll go after her, Inuyasha." Kikyo said.
"And leave me here??" he said in disbelief.
"What can you do if you're stuck on the ground?"
Suddenly they heard a distant 'SIT' and Inuyasha's body went numb all over again before he could get up.
"See?" Kikyo proved her point.
Inuyasha momentarily started acting like a fish, with his mouth bobbing up and down as if he was trying to say something but couldn't quite figure out what he wanted to say. Not only that, but he was testing the mobility of his body and he was about to spring up again when a distant 'SIT' reached his ears. And he was once again, motionless.
Kikyo started to run after the girl, who was distancing herself between her attackers quite well.
* * *
Kagome's breath was getting short. After running for an hour, losing quite a bit more blood, and occasionally tossing a couple of 'SIT's over her shoulder, she was getting tired. There was a village up ahead! She could take refuge there for the night.
Waitaminute...
This was Kaede's village.
Oh well.
Kagome made her way to the old woman's hut again and knocked on the doorjamb.
"Eh? Kikyo? ...Oh! It's you again! Back so soon?"
"I have the Shikon no Tama."
"Well congratulations, child! Come in and tell me how you got it! While you're at it, I'll fix your hip, too."
Kagome entered and sat down while the ancient priestess bound more herbs to her body, "It was in my body."
"Really? Well it makes sense!"
"It does?"
"Certainly! It further proves that you are my sister's reincarnation!"
"..."
"How did you find it?"
"Well....your sister shot it out of me with an arrow...hence the wound."
"Of course, child. So my sister shot you with an arrow to force it out?"
"Yup. And now she and her 'body guard' youkai are both on my trail."
"Youkai? Inuyasha's not a youkai!"
"He...he isn't? But....he can't be...he's too strong to be..."
"A hanyou? No he's not too strong at all! He comes from a very strong family. Well bred. He had a wonderful mother from what I hear, too."
Kagome lapsed into silence. Hanyou...keh. All that fuss and fear that it could be a youkai and it was just a bloody hanyou.
As she lay down to sleep in the old woman's hut, she felt the presence of the miko. And then the hanyou's.
'No sleep tonight,' she thought for the second time that day, as she placed a hand on her sash that was but a foot away from her sleeping position.
Probably not as good as my other fics but...whatever...review please!
=^.^=
ABOUT THE FIC: All right! Noodals is back again with yet another fic~! This, I suppose, is a semi-AU fic because it takes place in the past and Inuyasha is a demon and stuff but Kagome isn't from the future.
For all of you Shippo fans out there: I'm gonna throw Shippo in this fic too!
So. This is my first fic in the past and also my first fic with Shippo. I really hope you enjoy this fic as much or even more than my others (assuming that you've read another one of mine ^^).
Thanks a lot and please enjoy~!
-Noodals
=^.^=
To be a Hanyou:
The girl passed through the forest with speed. It was dusk and already the nocturnal youkai were stirring and preparing for a nightly hunt. She needed to find a place to stay and her stomach was constantly reminding her how empty it and her pack was.
'Hm...I think there's only a loaf of stale bread in my pack at the moment. It would definitely be good to stock up on rice and fish.' She thought to herself, as her stomach rumbled. 'I could wake the forest with my stomach if I don't get real food into it.'
A bush quite near to her suddenly rustled. Her instincts made her move out of the way and her feet rushed her 15 feet away and then spun her around so that she could face the opponent. Subconsciously, she felt her right hand finger one of the eight daggers sheathed in a sash that was pinned from her left shoulder to her right hip.
"Who's there?" She said cautiously as her right hand pulled out one of the knives. Or maybe an arrow would be better. She had always counted on her aim with a bow and arrow more than with a throwing knife.
'To late to change now,' she thought as the youkai lunged at her from the bush. The teenaged girl sent a burst of strange power to the knife as she hurtled it towards the animal flying towards her. It died it instantly.
As she walked over to retrieve her short knife, she looked over the animal. It looked like a common badger youkai. Not very tasty to eat. It was still small because it was only early summer and so it was probably learning how to hunt.
The girl pulled the knife from its small body and looked for a suitable leaf that would wipe off a large portion of the blood.
'Wait a minute.' She stopped to think for a second. 'It was learning how to hunt, which probably means its mother is near by to teach it.'
She plucked a leaf from a nearby plant so that she could wipe the blood from the knife before placing it back into its sheath. She would clean it properly later. She needed to get out of there now before the badger baby's mother came after her. And badger mothers are vicious.
Suddenly there was a soft snarl from maybe 20 yards behind her.
'Shit.'
The girl took off as she ran the leaf along both sides of the knife and then pocketed it in its sheath. There was a growl and then scraping claws as the badger mother took the chase to avenge its cub's death.
At that instant, like several instances before, the girl really, really wished she had learned how to use a sword. She even just wished that she had a sword on her. It would just be too easy to whip out a sword and spin around, cutting the animal in half as it pounced into the air to attack.
'No such luck.'
And her luck just got worse.
She tripped.
And with a brutal, PMSing badger mother behind her, that was probably the last thing in the world, that she wanted to do.
When her foot hit the stray root, her body automatically curled up into a ball and 'rolled' into the fall, just the way her father had taught her to so many years ago. She continued into the roll to maybe have it easier getting herself back up again but as her arm stuck out for balance, the badger attacked it, causing it to bleed.
The teenaged girl snatched the longest dagger in her sash and stabbed at the spot she thought the animal was. She was instantly rewarded with a howl from the creature and it unfortunately only attacked her more.
Her left arm, that wouldn't stop bleeding, reached for a second blade and so with two hands holding two knives, the girl attacked the shrieking youkai with as much vengeance as she was being attacked with.
The girl would have loved to let the badger go because she wasn't all that partial to killing things but at this moment it was a 'kill or be killed' situation.
Finally, the badger lay dead.
The young woman didn't have much time. Any minute, youkai would be showing up and would start following the scent of her freshly flowing blood.
After plucking another leaf for her blades, she sprinted towards the smell of smoke from the cooking fires from a village up ahead.
Cooking fires...
FOOD~!
Her sprint plowed her past the edge of the forest and through rice fields. Her feet didn't slow down until she was in front of a hut that looked like it belonged to the priestess. The teenaged girl knocked lightly on the doorjamb and waited for only a short period of time before a withered old lady pulled back the straw mat door to admit her in.
"Kikyo? Is it you?" the lady asked with slight disbelief. "Did you find the Shikon no tama already?"
"Er..." Kagome wondered who this Kikyo person was, but more importantly, she wondered when this old lady was going to help her with her bleeding arm. It was really starting to get painful.
"Eh? You...you aren't Kikyo??"
"No...I don't believe I am..."
"......"
"My name is Kagome and I would really appreciate it if you could give me herbs to bind my arm before it gets infected. I appear to be out."
"Oh. Of course. Why don't I do it for you instead."
"Thank you."
'For finally catching my drift.' Kagome thought.
The lady led her in and sat her by the fire as she prepared a poultice for the wounds on her left arm.
"My name is Kaede. My older sister Kikyo was the priestess of this village a long time ago." The old woman explained.
"What happened?"
"She died...50 years ago. But there was an ogress named Urasue, who revived her body but her soul did not return to it. The only reason would be because it was already reincarnated into another body."
"Why would an ogress want your sister?" Kagome furrowed her eyebrows in confusion. 'And why are you telling so much about you to me??'
"Because Kikyo is the miko who was trusted to care for the jewel called the Shikon no Tama. Urasue wanted it to obviously become stronger."
This grabbed Kagome's attention.
"Shikon no tama, eh? I've heard of it and I'm looking for it too. Why? BECAUSE I CAN SENSE IT EVERYWHERE I GO!!! And it's DRIVING ME NUTS!!!!" Kagome punched the floor with her good arm.
"Hm...you can sense it, can you? You know, it is very possible that you could be my undead sister's reincarnation. She could always sense where the jewel was and you look very much like her."
"Un...dead....O.O" Kagome shuddered.
"She doesn't look like a mummy or anything!! Actually, she only looks a few years older than you, Kagome." Kaede glared.
"How? You said that she was your older sister. Wouldn't she be...older than you?"
"I know I'm 75 or something (I lost count about 20 years ago ^.^), but Kikyo died when she was only a few years older than you and was only resurrected about one and a half years ago. She started out with...an old friend to look for the jewel last year. She comes home maybe once a month to check on the village. I think that the only reason that her partner that she is traveling with is still traveling with her, is because he doesn't know that eventually she will be forced to give it to Urasue." Kaede applied the herb mixture to Kagome's bleeding arm.
"Partner? There to protect her or something?" Kagome asked while wincing as the poultice stung her cuts and also while eyeing the pot of something bubbling on the stove.
"Yes, but do not underestimate my sister's power. She is very good with a bow." Kaede finished wrapping the bandage.
"Hey, is there anything to eat in that pot?" Kagome asked, ignoring the last sentence.
Kaede smiled as she spooned the soupy liquid into two bowls.
"So why do you want the Shikon no Tama?" The old lady asked.
Kagome thought for a minute.
"I don't want it to fall into the wrong hands. I would hate to see a youkai swallow it. It would almost be unstoppable."
"True. Do you really think that it should be used? By any hanyou or youkai?"
"I don't really know. I'm really suspicious about where it came from. No one seems to be able to tell me."
"I hear there is a village deep in the mountains...it may be a myth but when you find it, you might want to look around there."
Kagome nodded in response as she sipped the warm, good tasting soup.
After moving on to more pleasant talk, Kaede offered Kagome to spend the night in her hut. Kagome agreed and lay out on the futon and went to sleep.
* * *
Then following morning, Kagome woke with the sun and started to smell the aroma of food wafting from the pot on the stove. Kaede was nowhere around so Kagome found a bowl and spooned out her breakfast.
Yum!
She then began to hunt around for the old woman so that she could restock her pack with food and medical supplies and then be on her way. She was afraid that the person with the Jewel would move on and she would lose track of it.
"Do not take my sister lightly, Kagome." The old lady's voice sounded from behind her.
Kagome turned around and found Kaede holding up her pack, fully restocked.
"I think it may be her partner that I'm more worried about. If he's there to protect her and she's already strong..."
"Yes, Inuyasha is very strong too. Much stronger than Kikyo. Should you meet them, use this." Kaede passed Kagome...something of importance, let's just say...
Kagome nodded and placed it into the V-neck opening of her clothing. She had seen one of these before and knew how to use it.
"Thank you very much for your kind hospitality." Kagome bowed.
"Anytime. Come back and visit sometime!"
As Kagome left the village, she thought about the undead priestess, Kikyo.
'I have the feeling that our paths will meet...very soon perhaps.' She thought.
And she continued with her day of tracking the Jewel.
* * *
Midday
"Kikyo...This blood...it smells like yours!"
"Like mine used to, you mean." She replied dryly. 'I wonder if I could use the Shikon no Tama to become alive again...' she thought.
The hanyou ignored her. Two carcasses of badger youkai and blood that smelt of his beloved undead miko. Near the village.
"The old woman had better have an answer..." he said out loud.
And Kikyo followed.
* * *
"She looked just like me and was tracking the Shikon no Tama?" Kikyo repeated what her 'younger' sister had just told her.
"By sensing it. She is skilled too, with weapons."
"What weapons did she carry, old hag?"
Kaede sniffed in annoyance at Inuyasha's manners.
"I won't tell you if you plan on killing her over the jewel."
Inuyasha rolled his eyes at her ignorance.
"We want the Jewel. It's not like I'm going to kill her if she doesn't have it, but if she does... If she wants to die for it instead of handing it over then fine. I'll have to kill her. I want-that-jewel."
"That's what I thought."
"Keh."
"Tell us which direction she went in, Kaede." Kikyo demanded politely.
"I don't know exactly." Kaede answered and then turned to Inuyasha who was about to remind her how useless she was, "but I'm sure your 'fabulous' tracking skills should catch her, Inuyasha."
"Fine." Inuyasha sniffed haughtily. "Let's go, Kikyo."
"Don't you want lunch, Inuyasha?" Kaede reminded him of food.
But not even that would stop the hanyou from going after the Jewel that another girl could possibly get first.
"I'll hunt later."
And with that, he left.
He tossed Kikyo on his back and then followed the semi-fresh scent of the young teen.
3 hours later...
"Inuyasha!" Kikyo exclaimed.
"What."
"I can sense the Jewel!!"
"And this is news...?"
The Miko 'papped' him on the head.
"It's very strong. Stronger than before."
"Hmm. That girl's scent is much stronger too... It smells of you."
"What I USED to smell like, right? Or does she smell of clay?"
"She doesn't smell of clay. It brings back so many memories, Kikyo...good memories."
Kikyo smiled (OMG~! (Earth breaking news...) KIKYO SMILED!!! O.o).
Suddenly, "That's her! Inuyasha, that's the girl!"
"I can tell. She has a strong scent that matches the one we've been following."
"Sneak up?"
Inuyasha nodded.
* * *
The sky was rosy-pink, as Kagome opened up her pack a snatched something to eat as she kept going. The atmosphere around her seemed to be pulsing.
'There must be quite a bit of youkai around. No sleep for me tonight.' She thought and then sighed outwardly.
As she finished the ball of rice she had been eating, she sensed something coming towards her at a strong speed and then it stopped and slowed.
It was unexplainable. She seemed to have been able to sense youkai and such but now she sensed something like a youkai...and it seemed something else was with that youkai. She'd never felt anything like it. And they were pathetically attempting to creep around her. She pulled one of the knives out of her sash. The youkai's presence was to her left.
"Youkai, come out. I sense your presence and if you don't believe me, then you can find out how deadly my aim is."
Nothing.
Kagome snorted.
She turned to her right.
"I don't know what you are, but come on out."
'She can sense us?' Kikyo thought from her hiding place. 'I'M the only miko around! She doesn't belong here.'
"Must I pin the two of you to trees so that I can find out who you are, or are you going to come out and be civilized?" Kagome's voice sounded annoyed.
Kikyo stepped from behind the tree and stepped through a bush to the small clearing.
Inuyasha followed the same suit.
When Kagome and Kikyo made eye contact, Kagome and Kikyo both felt the presence of the Shikon no Tama stronger than before.
"YOU!!" Kagome and Kikyo both pointed accusing fingers at each other. "YOU HAVE IT!!!"
Inuyasha cleared the clearing in one jump, over to Kikyo's side.
"She has the Shikon no Tama?" he asked her.
Kikyo walked across to where Kagome was. She put her hand on Kagome's left hip. When her hand came in contact with it, there was a bright flash that issued from beneath the skin. Kagome's eyes widened in shock when Kikyo took her hand away from the clothing. Kagome untucked her shirt from her baggy pants to look at the skin. There was a purple-pink gleam. Under her skin.
"I have the Shikon no Tama? ME???"
"Why on earth would YOU have it?" Kikyo looked disgusted.
"That would be why I could sense it. Everywhere I went..." she muttered.
"Give us the Jewel." Kikyo demanded coldly.
"It's mine." Kagome said stubbornly. "It's in my body."
"I can fix that." Inuyasha cracked his knuckles.
"Inuyasha," Kikyo placed a restraining arm in front of him, "Let me take her."
Kikyo notched an arrow to her bow. Kagome did the same after putting away her knife.
It was a stand-off in the middle of the woods. Both were waiting for the other to make the first move.
Kikyo grew impatient and let her arrow fly. Kagome cart wheeled her legs in the air and then let her arrow fly while she was upside-down. It imbedded itself into Kikyo's pant leg, pinning her to a tree behind her. Inuyasha lunged at Kagome. The teenaged girl drew one of the daggers and slashed at Inuyasha's arm. He was a youkai: he would heal easily.
"Stay out of this!" Kagome yelled at him.
"Fat chance, wench!" He replied as he readied for his next attack.
"I don't have time for you!" Kagome snarled as she reached into the V-neck of her shirt and took out the item that Kaede had given her. It was a rosary. She accurately flung it around his neck, catching him by surprise.
"What the-?"
"Sit!"
BAM!
"WHAT THE BLOODY HELL IS THIS GOD DAMN THING???"
"I've subdueded you."
"WHAT??? YOU subdued ME?? DON'T MAKE ME LAUGH!!"
"HAHAHAHA!" Kagome mocked.
Inuyasha stared, "I said don't make ME laugh."
"So laugh already! SIT!"
WHAM!
"Or do you not feel like laughing?" she mocked.
Inuyasha glared at her from his position on the ground.
Suddenly, an arrow flew towards Kagome's hip and pierced the skin. Kagome screamed in pain as the Jewel was forced out of her body. Kikyo had managed to reload her bow and fire it with her leg pinned to the tree.
"IT'S MINE~!!!!" Inuyasha leapt up from the ground as his body ceased from being numb.
"SIT!" Kagome screamed as she too, lunged for the Jewel, even though her bleeding hip was throbbing horribly.
Kikyo managed to finally pull the arrow from her pant leg and then notched it to her bow.
"Give me the Shikon no Tama." Her voice was deadly calm, and coated in frost.
Kagome looked from the Jewel to Kikyo.
"No." she said and then she ran. Figuring that she could run faster than Kikyo, even though her hip wouldn't stop bleeding, she grabbed her pack and charged off into the woods.
The youkai, Inuyasha, leapt up and then tossed Kikyo onto his back and took after the fleeing girl.
"SIT!!!" he heard and Kikyo screamed when his body smashed to the ground.
"F-f-f-fuck..." he said while gritting his teeth as his ribs groaned.
"I'll go after her, Inuyasha." Kikyo said.
"And leave me here??" he said in disbelief.
"What can you do if you're stuck on the ground?"
Suddenly they heard a distant 'SIT' and Inuyasha's body went numb all over again before he could get up.
"See?" Kikyo proved her point.
Inuyasha momentarily started acting like a fish, with his mouth bobbing up and down as if he was trying to say something but couldn't quite figure out what he wanted to say. Not only that, but he was testing the mobility of his body and he was about to spring up again when a distant 'SIT' reached his ears. And he was once again, motionless.
Kikyo started to run after the girl, who was distancing herself between her attackers quite well.
* * *
Kagome's breath was getting short. After running for an hour, losing quite a bit more blood, and occasionally tossing a couple of 'SIT's over her shoulder, she was getting tired. There was a village up ahead! She could take refuge there for the night.
Waitaminute...
This was Kaede's village.
Oh well.
Kagome made her way to the old woman's hut again and knocked on the doorjamb.
"Eh? Kikyo? ...Oh! It's you again! Back so soon?"
"I have the Shikon no Tama."
"Well congratulations, child! Come in and tell me how you got it! While you're at it, I'll fix your hip, too."
Kagome entered and sat down while the ancient priestess bound more herbs to her body, "It was in my body."
"Really? Well it makes sense!"
"It does?"
"Certainly! It further proves that you are my sister's reincarnation!"
"..."
"How did you find it?"
"Well....your sister shot it out of me with an arrow...hence the wound."
"Of course, child. So my sister shot you with an arrow to force it out?"
"Yup. And now she and her 'body guard' youkai are both on my trail."
"Youkai? Inuyasha's not a youkai!"
"He...he isn't? But....he can't be...he's too strong to be..."
"A hanyou? No he's not too strong at all! He comes from a very strong family. Well bred. He had a wonderful mother from what I hear, too."
Kagome lapsed into silence. Hanyou...keh. All that fuss and fear that it could be a youkai and it was just a bloody hanyou.
As she lay down to sleep in the old woman's hut, she felt the presence of the miko. And then the hanyou's.
'No sleep tonight,' she thought for the second time that day, as she placed a hand on her sash that was but a foot away from her sleeping position.
Probably not as good as my other fics but...whatever...review please!
=^.^=