A/N: Well, it has been awhile, but here's the next part.
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Kagome hummed happily as she stirred the simmering pot of soup in front of her. She had brought back some special ingredients from her time and had volunteered to make dinner for all her friends here. She looked up quickly from the pot to see that Inuyasha was still staring at her.
"What is it Inuyasha?" she finally asked, unwilling to admit that his look was beginning to unnerve her. Inuyasha sniffed the air suspiciously.
"Are you sure you can cook?" Kagome almost hit him with the spoon, but she took a deep breath instead and smiled sweetly at him.
"If you don't want to eat it then you don't have to. I'm sure Miroku will eat your share." Inuyasha's eyes narrowed as he thought about her comment, but then one of his ears twitched and swiveled towards the door. His whole head, and then his body followed. In a flash, he was out the door. Kagome dropped the spoon into the dirt, than ran after him. Unnoticed, Kaede picked up the spoon, wiped it off and took over the job of tending the soup.
"Inuyasha! What is it?" Kagome's shouting brought Miroku, Sango and Shippo running to her side from where they had been tending to the washing. Shippo was sopping wet and had bubbles from the soap in his hair and tail.
Inuyasha had stopped at the edge of the bridge leading to the forest and was staring fixedly into the distant trees. The rest of the group came up beside him. Shippo jumped up on Inuyasha's shoulders, and peered hard into the forest. There was some sort of noise coming from the forest. A thumping? It was definitely coming closer.
"What is that?" asked Kagome, wondering what type of youkai it would be this time.
"It's coming in this direction. We'll see it soon enough," answered Sango. She unsheathed her boomerang and held it at ready.
There was strange rustling in the trees and something pink came into view. The five of them gapped in shock as a pretty little girl in a pink dress skipped lightly out of the forest. Around her neck was wrapped a familiar looking fluffy white tail that trailed out behind her. Attached to the other end of that tail was a body. Inuyasha collapsed into hysterical laughter, but the rest of the group just stood there. Finally, Miroku spoke up, all the while keeping his eyes on the pink creature skipping towards them.
"Inuyasha, if this creature is powerful enough to defeat your brother-" He was cut off.
"Feh. She's just a little girl in a pink dress. How powerful can she be? I'll take care of her right now." He bounded towards the little girl, Shippo still clinging to his back. Kagome watched him go and couldn't help but feel a sense of foreboding. With a sigh, she started after him and the others followed behind.
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Not much Azusa in here, but it had to be written. I promise a lot more of Azusa and her actions in the next chapter.
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