**Note: this takes place during the collecting of the Jewel shards**



Prologue

Kagome rode through a quaint villiage, ignoring the gazes that followed
her on her bike. People dodged her path as she tried her best to keep up with Inu Yasha's
pase without tiring herself out.

"Would you hurry it up already!" she heard Inu Yasha yell from further up;
she chose to ignore him.

'What's the rush?' she thought to herself. It wasn't like they had found any other
jewel shards in a while, let alone hear about any demons possessing them. It didn't really
matter to her; she thought at least. Kagome caught herself staring at Inu Yasha and
thinking about his near obsessinon with becoming a full demon. Did he really want it that
much? Or was what he

"What are you looking at?!" Inu Yasha asked flatly, his face directly in hers,
"What's with the funny look?!"

That shook Kagome out of her thoughts and brought a faint tinit to her
cheeks, letting a come back escape from her lips, "I was just thinking about how pushy you
can be..."

"Why you...!"Inu Yasha stopped as if not wanting to continue this fight and muttered
below his breath "yea, whatever."

Kagome didn't feel like fighting with him either right now. It would only complicate
things more. Instead she just stared down at Shippo sleeping in her basket, triying her best to
advert her gaze.

**********************************

Kagome and Inu Yasha reached a small town by dusk. Kagome was relieved to finally
be able to rest the night in the safety of the town area, but something was wrong. There were
hardly any women here. 'How strange' Kagome thought to herself. Inu Yasha looked back at
her for a moment than started jumping away.

"Hey! Where are you going?!" Kagome yelled after him. "Don't forget we're here too,
ya know!"

"Just stay put!" he yelled back " I'm gonna find a place to camp!"

Kagome shivered as the darkness started to overwhelm her. She couldn't help feeling like
she was being watched. She peered around.

"What do you see?" Shippo asked curiously "is he back yet? Do you see him?"

"No, I don't see him anywhere." Kagome siged, but she wasn't even looking for Inu Yasha
at this point;She was looking for whatever was out there.

S uddenly Kagome was felt like she was being lifted up. She looked down and realized that
a black snake-like shadow had coiled around her waist. Then one slivered around her neck and she
barely got the chance to scream as she was pulled into the darkness.

"Kagome...!" Shippo yelled after her " Fox fire!!"

But he was already to late.....