I. Sammlung

gathering, collecting; collection.

"Well, that's a truly disgusting smell."

Nodding, Inu Yasha watched as Kagome regained her feet; one of the blasts from the demon's death throes had knocked her flat, and tendrils of dark smoke still writhed angrily from the ground around them. "Yeah. But I got the shard."

Grass and brush had been burned away to scorched earth in a fairly large circle around them, but Kagome had learned long ago that there were benefits to wielding her bow from near a boulder. Its shelter had saved her during the worst moments of their confrontation with the overgrown demon.

"I saw. Now, where did my bag go to? Ah." She picked her way halfway around the back of the boulder and retrieved the worn backpack. Unbuckling the top flap, she reached in to retrieve the small vial that held the collected work of their quest. Shiny fragments of the Shikon Jewel tinkled against the glass as she held it up. "I wonder how many more pieces there are?"

He shrugged. "Dunno. I keep thinking we've found lots of it, but every time you let some demon eat 'em all and the pieces join together, we've got less than I think we have."

"Hey! The last time it was your fault, not mine!"

"Was not."

"Was too."

"Was not!"

Kagome smiled. "Some things never change."

The stubborn set of Inu Yasha's mouth shifted into a small smile. "No, I guess not. Here." He walked toward her, holding out the recently acquired fragment, obviously intending to give it to her to put with the rest.

"But some things do. How long has it been since I had to pester you to hand over fragments that we'd gathered, hmm?"

The half-demon shrugged. "Dunno. Guess it's been a while. It does make things easier when they're all in one place, and since you're as stubborn as a mule and you didn't want me to carry 'em..." He dropped the shard into her palm and she glanced at it before reaching for the vial's stopper.

They both paused as they noticed a weak flash of light from the vial. "Inu Yasha, did you see that?"

He frowned, reaching to take the shard back. "Yeah. Wait... now open the vial."

Kagome nodded and unstoppered the small bottle. As soon as the cork was clear, the Jewel pieces within began giving off shiny bursts of brightly colored light. She narrowed her eyes against the growing brightness, squinting to get a better view.

Inu Yasha's eyes narrowed, concentrating on the vial. "Wha..." He stopped suddenly as the shard on his palm began to glow, then took a step back. The light faded. "Hey, it's never done that before."

Kagome looked up, startled. The fragments in her vial had sent a kaleidoscope of color refracting through the glass. She lifted it for a better look. "Weird. Try it again."

Inu Yasha stepped slowly forward, holding the shard between his clawed fingertips carefully. The first flash of light was barely noticeable, but as he got closer, the flashes from both the shard and Kagome's vial intensified. He closed his fist around the shard, and the light from the vial dimmed. "Maybe I should carry this one."

Kagome nervously stoppered the vial, then looked up at him. "All right. I have a drawstring bag that could hold it safe." She sifted through her pack again, and reached out to hand the small bag to him.

He wrapped the shard carefully so that multiple layers of the fabric would have to be cut against its sharp edges before it could come free, and tied the drawstrings snugly. He hung the bag around his neck and tucked it under his clothing.

Kagome had been silent, her forehead wrinkled in thought. She lifted her vial again, carefully considered the shards within, and looked back to Inu Yasha. "You don't suppose..."

"Nah." Inu Yasha shook his head. "There's prob'ly just something strange about this fragment."

"Right." Kagome nodded hesitantly.

"Yeah."

"Even though that flash felt really, really weird."

They both paused, then Inu Yasha spoke. "If this were the last piece..."

"Would we know? I mean, without actually fusing it back together somehow?"

Their gazes locked.

"I don't know..."

"Neither do I."

"I mean, I expected that the last pieces would be held by really powerful demons, and most of them we've found lately have been like that..."

"But this guy wasn't so tough, really..."

They looked at one another in silence for a moment, then both spoke at once.

"Kaede would..."

"Let's go back to..."

Neither finished voicing their thoughts; instead, they gathered up their things and left. Only the blackened circle behind them marked their battle, and the last wisps of smoke coiled upward as the putrid scent of the demon's end dispersed on the afternoon breeze.