Another chapter, yeah! Anyways, thank you to those who reviewed! I appreciate it A LOT! Special thanks to pruningshears- um, you kind of read my mind there…but shhh, don't tell! ^_~

And, as always, I don't own Inu Yasha

Shadows

Chapter 21: Friend or Foe

The wind whipped around them as Kagura's feather landed lightly before them. As she stepped from it, it became smaller again and she placed it in her hair.

Miroku and Sango kept their fighting stances, waiting to see what their enemy would do. Why would she come all the way out here? Was Naraku making his move already?

Inu Yasha tore out of the hut and, upon reaching them, held out the transformed tetsuiga, shouting, "Kagura! What the hell do you want?"

Kagura glanced from each of them; not exactly sure of what to say, "I am not here to fight you."

Kagome stepped from the hut in time to hear her words. 'She isn't here to fight?' Her thoughts quickly drifted back to the few memories she had when she was captured by Naraku. Kagura had refused to carry out Naraku's wishes, and had been punished for it. She also remembered distinctly Kagura being the one to stop her assault on Inu Yasha and helping them hold off Kanna. "Kagura!" She called over to the auburn haired girl.

Kagura looked away from her stare-down with Inu Yasha to look at Kagome. She watched as she took a step closer in her direction, and three more people exited the hut- an older woman and two younger ones. 'Well, great, the whole groups here!' she thought sarcastically to herself.

Reaching forward, Kagome hesitantly put a hand on to Inu Yasha's shoulder, trying to stop him form attacking. "Inu Yasha, let's hear her out…please?"

"Hmph, Why should I?" Inu Yasha asked back, never removing his eyes from his opponent.

"Because, she already said she wasn't here to hurt us! And, she has helped us before."

"How do you know this isn't a part of Naraku's scheme, to pull us into her trust, and then get us when we're vulnerable?"

"This is not one of his schemes! Here!" Kagura pulled a small jar from inside her kimono and held it out for them to see, "This is the jar that held my heart, which Naraku held to keep me under his control! But now I have it back, so there is no longer a reason to serve him any further."

"He created you though," Miroku called to her, "Isn't that reason to continue to serve him?"

Kagura frowned in disgust and she almost spat the next words, "He created me, that is it. He was nothing to me but an owner."

There was a moment of tense silence, and then Kagome stepped forward, in front of Inu Yasha, and looked at Kagura. With the things she had been taught by her 'mother' now, she could sense auras, and tell if they were lying or not. One look at Kagura's, and she knew that she was telling the truth. Turning towards Inu Yasha, she said, "She's telling the truth."

A little surprised, Inu Yasha kept his sword pointed towards Kagura, "What? How do you know?"

"I can read her aura now…she's not lying, or else I could see it."

Kaede, from behind them, nodded in agreement, "She is right, Inu Yasha. Her aura shows she speaks the truth."

Upon hearing the two miko's words, Sango and Miroku lowered their weapons and watched as Inu Yasha continued to give in.

"How can you both just trust her so easily? What if she somehow learned how to change her aura, so you don't know if she's lying or not?"

Kagome frowned at him, but before she could retort back, Kagura answered him for her, "I am not asking for you to trust me, Inu Yasha. I know that we have been enemies for too long for that. But, I have come to let you be aware of two things."

Kagome turned back towards the wind demon and questioned, "What is that, Kagura?"

"The first is that you should be aware that Naraku can watch your every move if he so wishes. My older sister's mirror, besides having the ability to suck in souls, also doubles as a viewing glass, allowing Naraku to see what is happening in other places."

Kagome nodded at the information, "Thank you for letting us know."

"You spoke of two things, Kagura. What was the other one?" Sango asked her, still wary of her.

"The other is that, when the time comes, I will help you as much as I can against Naraku. I cannot say I will be of that much help, since it is from him that I am created, but I will try. Until then, I will take my leave from you." With that, she pulled a feather from her hair.

"Wait! Kagura, you can stay here, with us." Kagome called to her, ignoring the noise of disbelief that had just come from Inu Yasha's direction.

Kagura smiled at her, although there was sadness in her eyes. "Thank you for trusting me, Kagome, but it is better that I do not travel with you. Even though I am free from Naraku's care, I am still a creation of his. He knows where I am at all times, and I don't want to pull him closer to your group." Throwing the feather to the ground, it transformed into a larger one that she jumped on to. "When the time comes, I will come back." The feather lifted up from the ground, and with that went speeding into the now nights sky.

"Hey, wench! What the hell was with you protecting her?"

Kagome turned around and glared at Inu Yasha, who in turn, also glared at her, "In case you don't remember, Inu Yasha, she was the one who tried to help us when I was captured by Naraku!"

Inu Yasha's eyes narrowed a little, "And you're forgetting that she works for him!"

Kagome threw her arms up, exasperated, "I already told you! Her aura said that she was telling the truth! She no longer works for him!"

Inu Yasha snorted and put the tetsuiga back into its sheath. Then, crossing his arms, he looked at her again, "I can't believe you'd fall for that!"

"Inu Yasha," Kaede called out and everyone turned to look at the older miko, "One cannot change their aura unless they have high spiritual powers, more than I'm sure Kagura possesses. I, as Kagome, believe she was speaking the truth."

Looking at the others, and seeing their nods in agreement, Inu Yasha snorted again and stormed into the hut, muttering along the way, "Fine, you guys can believe whatever the hell you want!"

Sango sighed and replaced hirakotsu on her back. "Well, this has been quite an eventful evening."

Miroku nodded in agreement. The two met eyes momentarily, before Sango looked away, blushing slightly, and Miroku walked quickly to enter the hut.

Kagome, having not missed their little show, walked over to Sango, "What was that all about?"

Still blushing, Sango stammered a little, "I, uh, I'll tell you tomorrow!" She practically ran into the hut, away from the conversation.

Kagome sighed and walked towards the hut, where Kaede and Shippo had just entered as well. Before walking in, however, Souta stopped her. "Kagome…who was that lady? How did you know her?"

Kagome smiled down at her little brother and patted the top of his head, "Just someone we know, Souta. She has helped me before, that's all."

With a small "oh" Souta followed Kagome into the hut, to have hopefully a peaceful night's sleep.

*~*~*

"How was it that she was able to escape this place?"

Kanna answered with her usual indifferent voice, "I do not know, Master Naraku."

Frowning to himself, he thought over what had happened. He had not sensed her escape, let alone steal back her heart. It was as if she had somehow cast a spell over the castle. But he knew that that wasn't possible for her. So who had done it?

Turning back towards his offspring, he motioned for her to come closer, "Show me where she is right now, Kanna."

Nodding slightly, she held her mirror for him to view. In it, he saw Kagura speaking with Inu Yasha and his group. "She is a traitor. Not very surprising, of course." He watched as she flew off away from the group.

'She will pay for this betrayal' he thought to himself, clenching his fist.

*~*~*

The next morning came too quickly for the group. It was the day of the first new moon, and they had to get everything ready for their journey that was about to begin.

Inu Yasha grumbled as he watched from his spot in the hut as everyone gathered up their things. "Why the hell do we have to leave tonight of all nights!"

Miroku sighed, "I know you are not very comfortable on this night, Inu Yasha, but we have to follow what the vision said! And it clearly meant to leave on the night of the new moon."

"And how exactly can we be sure that that was a trap somehow set up?"

Sango looked up from the bag she was packing, "I don't think that Naraku would now be using visions for his traps. That seems too much unlike him."

"Well, it could be anyone's then!"

Kaede stirred the lunch she was making and sighed, "Inu Yasha, let me assure you that not just anyone can make some one see a vision. It would have to be someone strong enough in spiritual power. A holy person; a demon could not just conjure one up."

"Well, whatever. I still don't like it." He crossed his arms defiantly.

"I have to agree with Inu Yasha." Kagome spoke up from half-way within her large yellow bag. Pulling out of it, she sighed. "I don't know how comfortable I am about traveling at night, and starting out on the new moon too. Who knows what could be out there?"

Miroku stepped closer to her, "Well, Lady Kagome, if you are scared of the dark, I will protect-"

Before he could finish the sentence, Sango had already smacked him on the back of the head. "Kagome-chan, would you like to go to the hot springs before we leave? I want to try out my new shampoo!"

"Sure!" and off the two girls set, leaving Inu Yasha to glare at the houshi on the ground, Kaede making lunch, and Shippo and Souta playing a game of cards he had brought with him.

*~*~*

"So…Sango-chan, what did happen last night between you and Miroku?" Kagome asked as she washed the shampoo out of her hair.

"Wh-what do you mean?" She asked, trying to sound innocent. 'Damn, she remembered!' her brain yelled.

"Well…last night you were blushing when you looked at him and you did say you'd tell me today…"

Sango sighed, "He- asked me if I would be wife after we defeat Naraku."

Kagome gasped and started grinning crazily, "Oh! That's great! What did you say?"

Sango blushed and whispered, "I said yes…"

Kagome cheered while Sango blushed deeper. "Then what happened?"

"Well, he was about to kiss me…but that's when Kagura showed up."

Kagome smiled at her friend, "I'm so happy for you!" As she worked conditioner into her hair, her mind began to think of all sorts of possibilities, like how she could make it so that the two of them were somehow left alone on the journey, so that they could have some 'alone time'. Rinsing her hair out, she noticed that Sango was no longer in the water, but was standing next to it, dressing.

"Sango-chan?"

Sango kneeled over by her and handed her a towel. "I sensed something nearby. I think we should get back as quickly as possible to the others."

Nodding in agreement, Kagome took the towel and quickly dried herself off, getting dressed in her jeans and a sweater. As they headed back to the village, they heard a shout coming from it, causing them to start running towards the voice.

Coming out towards Kaede's hut, they were both surprised to find Inu Yasha and Miroku facing another person. As they neared, Kagome saw from her face that she was obviously at least part demon. Her hair was white like Inu Yasha's but had black strips all the way through it. Her ears, which were black and on the top of her head, looked slightly like Inu Yasha's but were more pointed, like a cat's. She also had ice blue eyes and a black streak running along each cheekbone. What surprised Kagome the most was the fact that she was wearing dark blue miko robes.

The woman saw them approach, and turned towards them, pointing. "Higurashi, Kagome? Which one are you?"

Kagome stopped in her tracks. The woman…was looking for her? Did she want the shards or what? "Um…" She looked at the others.

Of course, this was a dead giveaway to the fact that she was Kagome. The woman took another step towards her, "Higurashi, Kagome, I challenge you!"

Well, that's it for now *sigh* most of this chapter took awhile to write. But, now that I'm to a part where I know what I'm doing, maybe it'll go faster? Hmmm….maybe.

Reviews are VERY welcome! ^_^