Disclaimer: I don't own any of them. None of the Inuyasha co belongs to me.
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"Where is this place?" Kagome asked.
"This is the center of the forest where most spirits dwell." Inuyasha whispered intelligibly to her.
"Where was that light coming from? This isn't right. I can't believe there are spirits dwelling in this friendly forest." She whispered.
Sempfrey's ears twitched and she turned toward an aura that was as strong as the forest itself. Kagome raised her bow and put and arrow to it. "Come out coward! Show me who is spying!" she yelled.
The bushes rustled and a large stone flew out, hitting Sempfrey in the chest. She yelped and jumped to the side. Kagome soothingly rubbed her chest with her foot and started at the bushes.
Kagome growled and let her arrow fly. The blue aura made the arrow fly lightening fast. It hit the tree. She cursed under her breath and unraveled the white strip of cloth which was wrapped around her middle finger and wrist. She tied it on one of her arrows and put her bow over her head. She put the arrow between her fingers and blew on it sending waves of blue energy to cut up the bush where the rustling came from. There came a scream and the smell of human overpowered Inuyasha's nose. He jumped out o the trees and walked farther away, covering his nose.
"He was human turned youkai! He's back into his human form." he called over to her.
"What?! How is that possible?!" she yelled back as she slid off of Sempfrey and ran over to the bush. She pulled out a man and lied him down. He had a wound on his arm from the blue blades Kagome had thrown at him. She put pressure on the wounds, making it stop bleeding, and the wound automatically closed up.
"Kagome-sama! I am sorry; I didn't know it was you." The man pleaded.
"Have we met?" she asked.
"I am Nobuyaga. And no, we haven't met before." He replied.
"Eh?" she had this surprised look on her face which made Inuyasha start creaking up. "Shut up." She growled.
"You are very powerful. You have closed up my wound in a matter of seconds. With that I am eternally grateful." He said. He grasped his finger and it started to glow. He placed it on her forehead and the power once inside of him flowed into her. With the last ounce that left his body he started to disappear too.
"He was an apparition, needing to get rid of his human energy. The man wanted to give it to someone worthy." She said quietly.
Inuyasha turned and crossed his arms. "This man wasn't normal. Not you're even more abnormal then before." Eh remarked.
"What was that?" she growled. She shook her head and walked over other elk. She rubbed the place where the stone had hit her and smiled. She pulled the elk along and pushed her. The elk started off blindly into the forest. Kagome looked around the clearing and smiled. She then ran after Sempfrey. She jumped onto her back and pulled her bow off from her around her neck. She pulled the old string off because it was becoming limp and quickly re-strung it. She bit off the extra string and put the bow over her shoulder.
Inuyasha quietly followed the fast elk and watched every movement the woman made. The elk slowed when they came to a lake.
"Hmm…I'll go in and see if it's shallow enough for you to walk through, okay Sempfrey?" she asked the elk.
The elk stopped and let Kagome slide off. She walked over to the lake and turned toward Inuyasha. "You turn around. I'm going to take my hakama off. I don't want you to see my underwear. (Yes, I'm saying they have underwear because I think it would be improper to saw her private areas.)" She said to him.
She blushed and snorted. "Like I would want to see an ugly girl like you without pants on." He lied.
"Whatever." She growled. He turned around and she untied her hakama. She slipped it off and waded in the crystal blue water. She walked out and when she came to a certain point the ground underneath her dropped. She fell down the hill and went under with a smothered yelp.
She surfaced and started to pant. "O_kay_. It's deep_here." She panted. She swam back to shore and quickly pulled her hakama on. She then shook out her haori after she took it off and put it back on, dry as if she handed just fell down about a six feet under.
"I guess I'll need to find an alternate route." She said to him.
She and Sempfrey walked around the edges all the way around. After about thirty minutes of walking they finally made it to the other side. While they were walking, with Inuyasha by her side for once, she stopped dead in her tracks. Sempfrey looked at the miko and stopped with her.
"What the hell are you doing, woman?" Inuyasha growled.
"Shhh…is that the spirit of the forest?" she asked him.
Inuyasha squinted at the place where she was looking at stepped back. "Yes. I think I might need to leave." He whispered.
"Wha?! Why?!" she cried.
"The spirit doesn't like youkai's, even if I'm a Hanyou." He said in a shaky voice. He had a very frightened look on his face. He turned but was stopped by Kagome.
"Please…don't. Please stay here." She pleaded. "I'll tell him not to kill you."
The spirit was a tall white being. It looked human enough, his clothing, almost the same as Inuyasha's, and his hair the only color on him, black. His hair was long, straight, and black. His eyes were a greenish color. He had pearly white skin and all white clothing.
He turned and looked at the miko and the Hanyou who was struggling to get out of the black haired girl to release him. The spirit smiled and Kagome and Inuyasha froze.
Kagome slowly turned her head. She let go of the hanyou's arm and looked at the spirit. "Uh…Are you the Spirit of the Forest?!" she yelled over to him.
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"Where's Kagome-sama?" one of the villagers whispered to Sango.
"She went into the forest to investigate something." Sango said back. She was holding onto the strap of Hiraikutsu and scanning the outskirts of the village.
She heard the thumps of Sempfrey, pounding down the path toward her.
Kagome slid off Sempfrey's back while she was in mid gallop and grabbed her reigns. "You can go to sleep now girl." She said to her elk. The elk rubbed her face against her mistress's cheek and ran back into the forest. Her arm felt like it was run over by a hundred horses. It was wrapped in a sacred cloth which the spirit of the forest had given her. She shivered when she remembered what the spirit had said:
This mark, or more like ability, will help you in the future. You are the only one who will properly be able to wield the…
"Kagome? Are you alright?" Sango asked.
"Yeah. Sorry." She said, snapping out of her flashback and smiling at her best friend.
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Well…How'd you like it? I'm keeping what happened to her in the forest a secret for a while. Any way, please review!
Remember to tune in to the next chapter:
*The Ability Under the Cloth*
Preview:
"Why are you wearing that cloth?" Sango asked.
"I have no idea what's under it." Kagome replied.
"Shall we look?" Sango asked slyly.
"No, we shant." Kagome replied and picked up her bow and arrows and left the clearing.
She turned a corner nad slumped next to a tree. She looked at the cloth and remembered what the spirit had said.
You are the only one who will properly be able to wield the…
