A/N: Sorry I took so long to update! See the end of this chapter for a list of my reviewers so far (I love you all!) and notes about this chapter and story in general.

Golden Fire
Chapter 8: Soil and Clay

On the second day, everything was back to normal. Well, as normal as it can be travelling with five youkai, four humans, one hanyou and a demon cat. Considering that most of us were travelling with former enemies, it was really going well. Yuki and Sesshoumaru hadn't mentioned the fight from the previous day. He even asked to see her "metal contraption" and questioned Yuki about modern era weapons for hours. Kouga and Inuyasha finally backed off of each other, and Miroku was helping take care of Shippou and Rin, instead of groping Sango. In short, everyone was getting along.

I knew it was too good to last.

Slowly, the others seemed to sense it too. Yuki, Sesshoumaru, Kouga and Inuyasha constantly circled the rest of us. They sniffed and watched and slipped away to check on any tiny thing out of place. We were deep into a forest. It had seemed less sinister four days ago. Now it was dark and eerie. Finally, a clearing opened out before us.

We stepped cautiously in. Kouga led the way and I could see his back tensing as he crossed. Yuki took her place behind us. I heard a whisper of fabric and knew that she had drawn her gun. Sesshoumaru and Inuyasha had drawn their swords. I held my bow lightly, ready to spring into position. Jaken guarded Rin and Shippou in the center of the group. Kirara prowled and wove through our legs.

I silently wondered how we all knew that this clearing spelled death. What was it that gave the air such an oppressive, troublesome feel?

"Oh!" A small cry escaped from Yuki's lips, as if she tripped. I spun around and noticed her guns lying on the ground. Her arms hung limply at her sides. She looked surprised and slightly annoyed. I almost gave her a harsh whisper to hurry and stay with the group.

Then, I noticed the blood on her leather jacket. It flowed down both of her arms and I realized she had been shot twice. Her left shoulder and her right elbow. The blood was dark and thick and moving rapidly. Trying to raise her arms, she growled softly in desperation. She couldn't use her arms now.

I raised my bow and looked around wildly for Black Death. Of course it was him. Who else could hurt Yuki like this? With bullets? Everyone began to mimic me; they spun around, looking for the culprit.

"Over there," Yuki whispered, using her eyes to point to the trees directly to our left. With that, she slowly lowered herself to her knees and bowed her head. I could see that she felt useless now.

He came out looking the same as the day at the well. The black cloth enveloped his body, even the hands that gripped his katana. Behind him, Naraku's poison insects permeated the air. I felt a jolt and realized that youkai surrounded us. Their auras were filled with hate and envy. Kouga's aura came into focus as he placed himself back to back with me. "Don't worry," he murmured, "We will face this together, Kagome."

I rolled my eyes and drew back my bowstring. Black Death walked purposefully into the clearing and I could see his eyes crinkled in amusement. Youkai eyes glowed all around the edge of the clearing. Without a word from either side, Black Death attacked Inuyasha.

The battle was brief. Sesshoumaru immediately sliced up several of the surrounding youkai with the help of Kouga, Sango and myself. Miroku kept the poison insects at bay with his wards and staff, simultaneously protecting a prone Yuki. But they kept coming. They flowed into the clearing. Inuyasha had only exchanged a few blows with Black Death when it became clear that we were outnumbered.

Black Death suddenly jumped back, just in time to avoid a purified arrow hitting the ground where he had been. The battle seemed to freeze around us as we stared at the glowing arrow.

Kikyo stepped out of the forest. I don't think I'd ever been so happy to see Inuyasha's old love. Her pale face still harbored anger and resentment, but right now, it was directed at Black Death. "Leave." She had whispered it, but the word reached across the clearing. Youkai and insects alike were moving away. Black Death alone remained.

He straightened and hissed at Kikyo. "This isn't over, miko." I almost dropped my bow in shock to hear him speak. His voice grated our ears. "He shall have all your lives."

Someone growled (or was it all of us?) as he backed away. We watched him move back into the trees, not even thinking of stopping him. We all knew that we would kill him someday soon. Just not today.

The air became light. It was once again the clearing I remembered from a few days beforehand.

Inuyasha advanced towards Kikyo. "Why are you here?"

"I was following that man. Obviously, he works for Naraku." She looked at us, as if that explained everything that had just happened.

"Why did you save us?" I asked. Kikyo had tried to kill us before. She had also saved us before. We never knew where we stood with her and I wanted to be clear. I could see a question forming in Inuyasha's eyes. I just wanted to feel safe before he asked her.

"It was the right thing to do," she answered. "Naraku is my enemy and you are fighting him. However, this is not a defeat, only a setback. Next time, he will be prepared to deflect my arrows."

"Will you come and help us?" spoke up Inuyasha. I inwardly groaned. He was so predictable.

Kikyo nodded. "Vengeance will be mine, Inuyasha."

Before he could say anything else, I heard a small huff of annoyance. I turned and clapped my hand against my mouth. Yuki still sat on her heels, bleeding from her wounds. "I seem to need a bit of help." She raised her eyebrow at me.

I rushed towards her and tried to inspect the damage, but it was impossible with her jacket. Slowly easing it off her shoulders, I winced to see the holes in her arms. Blood smeared across the crescent moon on her shoulder, but she didn't seem to care that it was exposed to the world now.

"The bullets are still in me," she breathed. I could tell she was trying not to cry out in pain. "You have to dig them out."

I hesitated. "I've never done anything like that before. Hold on." I dove into my bag for bandages, and then noticed someone sitting next to me, in front of Yuki.

Rin clung to his shoulder with silent tears running down her face. "She'll be okay, right, Sesshoumaru-sama? Sesshoumaru-sama will help her?"

We watched in awe, circling around Yuki, as Sesshoumaru gently took her right arm into his hand. His muscles were slowly growing back onto his bone fingers, making them look more disgusting than before, but neither Yuki nor Rin seemed to mind. He lifted his good hand to the hole above her elbow. Quickly, his finger worked its way in, found the bullet and pulled it out. Yuki clenched her jaw but made no sound. He dropped the slug into my hand and repeated the movement with her left shoulder.

I looked at the bloody pieces of metal in my hand. I realized at that moment how much I treasured my friends and how much I would be willing to do to protect them.

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"Well, the jacket's ruined."

"Ye are fortunate that is all ye lost," responded Kaede as she washed Yuki's wounds.

Yuki winced every time the cloth passed over the bullet holes. On the other side of the fire, Sango and I watched. The snow demon glanced at me. "These injuries will take a couple days to heal, Kagome. I am sorry I have delayed you."

"No problem. I need a rest after all that's gone on in the past few days."

"Yes, maybe you girls can work out the romantic issues that seem to be plaguing you," interjected my mother. She, Souta and my grandfather had hired some village men to build them a small house near Kaede's and she was constantly running to and from the work site. When I argued that the house was unnecessary, she had scolded me for thinking that they could take advantage of Kaede for so long. "Besides," she had pointed out, "now you'll have another place to stay in this era."

Right now, however, she just looked at us hopefully. I buried my head into my hands while Sango laughed softly. "I don't think our love lives are going to improve anytime soon, Mrs. Higurashi."

"Nonsense. I remember thinking that when Kagome's father . . . Kagome? Where are you going?"

I had stood up and walked to the doorway. "Just out for a second," I told her.

A few yards from Kaede's door, I noticed Shippou, Souta and Rin playing. Sesshoumaru was cleaning youkai blood from Tokijin and I knew he was protecting them. I stopped in front of him. "Yuki says that she can't leave for a couple days. But she seems to be healing fine."

Cold amber eyes glanced at me. "Why should I, Sesshoumaru, care about what happens to the girl?"

I answered his look with a cold glare of my own. "Well, after you cut her up in your stupid little duel, she got shot twice. Considering she's doing you a favor and releasing you from a marriage contract, you would think you'd be more concerned about her health."

"Her death would also release me from the contract," he replied, "since she leaves no female heir. As for the duel, I took it easy on her."

After a few seconds of a shocked stare, I realized that he was serious. Or he had tricked himself into believing he was serious.

"She knows about my restraint in the fight, if that is what you are apprehensive about."

"Then she's a pretty good actress," I spat.

"You have no idea, Kagome." He looked towards the children as they shrieked in joy. I raised my eyebrows. I hadn't realized he knew my name.

He didn't continue, so I decided to give up and walk back into the hut.

Sango and Yuki were eating some stew of Kaede's. I went in search of a bowl for myself. As I looked, I noticed Yuki's duffel bag that was full of extra guns and ammunition in the corner. I turned to the youkai. "Will you teach me to shoot a gun?"

She didn't even look at me. "No."

"Why not?" I was indignant.

"I will not teach you. My reasons are my own."

"Please tell me." Now I was just curious. "I just want to be able to protect the people I love. And even those that I don't. I would even protect Jaken! Well, maybe." I tried to put a light spin on the conversation that had so suddenly spiraled downwards. It didn't work.

Yuki finally turned to look at me. "You don't understand, miko." It was the first time she had ever called me a priestess. "I fear that you will become like me."

"You protect us. You fight for what you believe in. I only wish I was as strong as you!"

She hesitated. "You are much stronger than I ever can be, Kagome. You have true courage. You don't live for self-preservation like I do."

I scoffed. "Really? And what do you call what you did for me? You risked your life for us." I picked up one of the guns in the bag and placed it into her hand. It couldn't, or wouldn't, close around the firearm. "Things have changed. You have changed. Help me protect everyone from my mistake of shattering the jewel."

Yuki frowned. "You are wrong. I have not changed. But, very well. Bring the gun and meet me outside in twenty minutes."

A/N: Yuki really has bad luck, doesn't she? But that's a good thing - I don't want Mary Sues! Anyway, I'll get to the real reason for this note. I know lots of you don't like Kikyo. Neither do I, really. But I've heard and read that she really starts helping in later episodes and is on friendly terms (not friends, just friendly) with Kagome. So in order to make everyone happy, I'll make her (in general) a good guy. But she won't show up much. She's just going to be there to provide lots of heartache for poor Inuyasha. Another side note - I like Jaken. I don't know why, but he amuses me. So there won't be lots of Jaken bashing, since even Sesshoumaru rarely does more than glare at him. For Jaken haters, he won't be in here much either.

Well, since we're here, I should thank all my wonderful reviewers!!!

sunshine, Kyd Fizziks, Atlanta-avalon1.1, Gennie Kag's and Sess's Child, *Good*looking*man*, meagan, sesshoumarupeace, kagome, TwilightSakura, InuLover12, LPDramaBabe, Siriusly Serious, Sango'n'Miroku4ever, itzjustme

Thank you all so much (especially those of you who reviewed more than once *wink wink nudge nudge*)