Chapter 1

Dea Mariella

Inuyasha woke up with a start. Something was wrong. He immediately checked the surrounding area for a malign presence. But no, everything was as it should be; Kagome curled in her "saleeping bagu", the kit next to her, the Taijiya sleeping just out of reach of the houshi, everything relatively peaceful. The "pack" was safe. He sat back in his tree, reassured.

It was a beautiful, calm spring day; almost an hour to the dawn, Inuyasha noted. But the nagging feeling of wrongness persisted. It tickled the back of his mind as to the problem, but he drew no conclusions. With a heavy sigh, Inuyasha gave it up for lost.

Then jumped; as upon reaching the forest floor, the smell hit him. This was not home! Not that he considered anyplace home, per se, but this was not a familiar scent. Their own scents had only been in the area a few hours; with no trail leading to it.

This overwhelmed the poor hanyou; he had not had much occasion to use his brain, so it was overworked now. He reasoned that is was close enough to morning; the others could wake now. With a quick jump, he was out of the tree and beside Kagome.

"Oi, wench. Wake up. Something funny's happening."

Kagome's first instinct was to snuggle back in bed and inform the speaker that without five more minutes, there would be bloodshed. But the words hit her brain. Inuyasha admitted something was wrong? She was up in a flash. She could see the hanyou waking Miroku and Sango. Now she started to get worried.

After a quick mental conference, she determined the best course of action would be to start breakfast. If there truly was a problem, they would all feel better with food in them. She bustled off to start the fire.

Miroku awoke to the sounds of "Oi, bouzo, get up" and a rough push. He obligingly opened his eyes and sat up. Inuyasha was directly in front of him; his waker. Miroku opened his mouth to say something, but the hanyou had already moved on to Sango.

Looking across the campsite, Miroku was that Kagome was awake as well. Noting the time of day, he figured that the matter must indeed be urgent. In a seemingly casual glance (much practiced though!), he gave his token half-smile at the now-awake slayer; albeit a very muddled and sleepy slayer. His hand itched, and Miroku found it necessary to distance himself. A few brief prayers would be in order for this morning. Who knew what was to come in the day ahead? As he moved just out of earshot, he thought 'A little prayer never hurt…'

With this thought in mind, he continued ambling into the woods a step.

'Loud voice…?…"Get up"…no…' It was here, that conditioning took over. Having obeyed orders all of her life, Sango opened her eyes to see the purple ones of the houshi staring at her. He smiled, and walked away. Confused, Sango turned to see the rude interrupter of her sleep examining Miroku's wards on the campsite. She frowned sleepily. What was wrong?

Movement caught her eye; Kagome was fixing breakfast. 'Ah, I can help!'

With that goal in mind, the Taijiya made her way across the camp.

A sudden rush of cold air roused Shippou. The small kitsune snuggled into the body next to him…to discover it missing. He woke up completely. Kagome had left!

No, there she was, making breakfast with Sango. There was something odd about the scene, but his still-muddled mind couldn't place it. Miroku was praying just out of earshot, the girls were cooking, Inuyasha was jumping around the edges of the camp like a demented chicken…that can hop into trees 20 feet in the air…

The time! It was still dark! Something was up, and he was bound to know why. So he stove to do it Shippou-style: he whined.

"Inuyasha, why are we up so early? It's your fault isn't it! You made Kagome get up! Why did you have to…"

'Okay, one more to check. Where is it?' As Inuyasha gazed around the campsite for the remaining ofuda, he was aware of the curious subtle and not-so-subtle glances from his companions. 'Feh! Like I care what they do or don't thing about me!'

He then spied the last of the protective scrolls, and sped over to check it's power. Still working. There goes his only reason as to why they were not where they were before. He finally gave in to the stares of the pack. Giving the kit a good bop on the head, he headed over towards the fire, and gestured to all to gather. When they were all sitting silently, waiting for his announcement, he began.

"I don't know what to tell you, except that we are not where we were last night."

And then all hell broke loose.

A.N. Whatcha think? Huh? r/r please!!!!!

Dea-chan