Disclaimer: If I owned Inuyasha, then... well, let's just say I don't own Inuyasha and leave it at that.

"…" – speech

'…' – thoughts

--- - change in scenery or time

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[This chapter is dedicated to everybody who reviewed! Thanks!]

--Previously, on The Sealed Garden:

{Inuyasha slid the door closed. Miroku had given him a lot to think about, and although the visit was unexpected, it certainly hadn't not been profitable. The information he'd gained certainly would help him in confronting the spirit again. He would also get his revenge if he did what Inuyasha hoped he would do.

The evil grin returned.

'He's in for a surprise… especially if Sango sees.'}

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Chapter EIGHT:

The Wind User

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Morning dawned outside his bedroom in a bright display of colour, but Inuyasha paid no attention to it. He was immersed in one of his old textbook- one of the few the hanyou had actually kept from his schooling days. All through the night, he'd checked reference volumes for any clue at all as to the behavior of spirits and their attributes.

And so far, he'd found nothing particularly useful.

'I hate doing this.'

Standing up from his position on the ground, the half-demon stretched, a great yawn breaking his face as his tongue rolled out- similar to the fashion of a dog. Reading textbooks was horribly boring, but some occasions called for it. Unfortunately, this occasion was beyond the help of written text.

It was the morning after Miroku had paid him that visit, and Inuyasha had certainly been thinking about the information that he had been conveyed. One of the more prominent issues was that of him being the heir of the Lord of the Western Lands. How could he be so sure of that? Sure, Tetsusaiga was a formidable sword, and the hanyou was certain that it once belonged to a Lord, and true, his father had been very influential in the world. But if Inuyasha truly was this important figure in the youkai society, then why hadn't he been told?

'Sesshoumaru probably kept it from me,' thought the half-demon, 'of course, he'd want all the title to himself.'

But honestly, did he really care? It had nothing to do with what he was dealing with now, after all. For all he cared, Fluffy could keep everything from him.

The half-demon ran a hand through his hair- a habit he'd picked up from Miroku years ago. Inuyasha walked around his room, stopping by the dresser to take a sip of tea from the cup resting on it.

He stuck out his tongue. "Bleah. Cold." Nevertheless, he downed the entire cup and stretched again before suddenly putting up a burst of speed and running out of the room, grabbing Tetsusaiga from a chair on his way. He ran through the hallway, making a sharp turn along the way and sped out into the yard where he ran a couple of laps around the house.

After the second circle, when his muscles were officially awake, he crossed a small bridge and stopped in the back of the yard, directly in front of the double wooden doors that lead into the garden. The hanyou strapped his 'iron cleaving fang' onto his waist- it got tiring, having to carry it everywhere.

'Time to take up the monk's advice…'

Raising a confident hand, Inuyasha pushed on the door and quietly stepped into the garden before quickly shutting it. The soft chirping of birds and buzzing of various insects greeted him along with that supernatural breeze that seemed to bring and keep fresh air in the garden. The hanyou closed his eyes and drew in a deep breath- he could really get used to this.

A solitary voice broke into the morning calm, "Back again?"

Golden eyes opened, taking in the fact that the miko was standing right in front of him and that he hadn't sensed her approaching. Inuyasha stumbled back in surprise. He'd been sure that he'd at least have been able to smell her.

"Wha-! How'd you do that?"

She laughed, a soft sound that fell pleasantly on dog-ears. "I come and go as I will…" she paused for a moment of thought, "Inuyasha. It's highly unlikely you would be able to sense me coming unless you had a distinct ability to sense and read auras."

Well, at least that eliminated the need for him to go and try to find her. Considering the size of the garden and her spiritual powers, that could have taken forever.

A slightly awkward silence stretched between the two in which they took up staring around the garden and at anything except each other. After a few moments, Kagome gestured towards the shade underneath the largest tree in the entire garden. "Would you like to sit?"

The invitation was unexpected and Inuyasha was surprised at the ease at which she invited him, a half-demon to sit with her. Rarely had people ever so easily accepted him. He nodded wordlessly and followed her to rest beneath the tree on top of its gnarled roots. It rose easily above anything else in the place and Inuyasha was sure that it was equal in height to the walls that surrounded the garden.

The half-demon sat at the base of the tree, his back against the trunk while Kagome chose to rest a few feet away from him. He glanced up into the branches, feeling an odd connection with the tree.

"This tree is called the Goshinboku. You could say it's a spiritual tree," spoke the girl, "It certainly posses powers that are not common in other trees. Some even call it a time tree."

Inuyasha didn't know what to say.

She didn't seem to mind. "It is not governed by our laws of time." Kagome sighed and patted the root she was sitting on. "This was my favourite place before I… before I…" she fell silent, but he knew that she had been about to say, 'Before I died.'

Another silence engulfed the two and Inuyasha busied himself with staring lazily at passing butterflies and bees.

"Why did you come back?"

He raised his gaze from a nearby bee collecting nectar from a small flower and looked at the miko. She was gazing at him curiously, blue eyes sparkling in interest. Inuyasha found himself staring at her for longer than nessessary in silence, and promptly tore his eyes away, a faint pink tinge on his cheeks.

"Just to talk," he answered gruffly, staring at an area just above her right shoulder, "That, and to get my shoes."

She picked up on the topic, "What kind of clothes do you wear? They're…" she frowned a little, "strange."

"They're the clothes that everybody wears right now." Inuyasha plucked at his red T-shirt and sweatpants. "A lot has changed in the world. Your clothes are from… a long time ago."

"I can see that." She raised an eyebrow. "How long ago?"

The hanyou hesitated. How did you tell somebody that they'd been dead for five hundred years? "Don't you know?" he stalled.

Kagome smiled almost wistfully. "When you're dead, time really doesn't matter anymore. Days pass and mold into weeks and years, but I don't take any notice. After all," she raised her gaze to the tree behind Inuyasha, "the dead aren't concerned by time as they cannot die twice. The dead are more worried about other things."

Inuyasha wanted to ask, 'what other things' but felt that may cause her to disappear like she had yesterday, and so skipped the question. "It's been about five hundred years or so." He tried to make it sound casual, to make the blow a little softer, but to his surprise, the girl only grinned and laughed.

"Five hundred years? Already? I must be the oldest spirit still in this world!"

The hanyou stared dumbly at the girl. You'd think that finding out that somebody had been trapped in the world for five centuries would have a negative effect…

Catching the look on Inuyasha's face, Kagome grinned at him. "As I said, time really doesn't matter to me. I can't age." There was a slight pause in sound before, "What's outside like?"

Inuyasha looked at the miko again, catching her gaze. "What d'ya mean?"

"What's the world like? Are there still huge forests everywhere? Do demons still hunt humans? What's happened since five hundred years past?"

"A lot's happened," he started slowly, ears flicking around, "humans and demons live together… sort of peacefully, but there are still those who think one is better than the other. Hanyou children are still seen as being… lower on the social scale," he couldn't help but add bitterly. "Technology has really become advanced. Now, you can call from one end of the world to another by just picking up a phone."

Kagome cocked her head to the side. "What's a 'phone'?"

"Well, you see, it's sort of like…" and Inuyasha launched into an explanation of world communication and satellites, answering her questions whenever she had any. Kagome was an ardent listener, interested in the wonders of the world and how it had changed. He talked about the different inventions such as cars and high rise buildings. The minutes passed into hours as their discussion continued and they exchanged information about their worlds.

Inuyasha was amazed at how easily they could talk to each other. He felt, somehow, comfortable with this miko while with most other people, he rarely ever spoke a word to them. It was as if they had known each other for years and not only hours. Kagome was particularly interested in the evolution of the weapons from bows and arrows and swords to guns and cannons to biological warfare.

"Are there many archers now?"

The hanyou crossed his arms behind his head and leaned back against the tree. "No. The only archers here are really for competitions and things like that. They've been replaced by guns."

"Guns?" she asked, puzzled.

"They're sort of shaped like this," using his claws, Inuyasha scratched a rough sketch of a gun into the dirt. "You load them with bullets- sorta like pieces of lead- and then aim and press the trigger, and then the bullet shoots out really quickly. At least, I think that's how they work. Guns can kill many things very quickly."

Kagome was motionless in thought. "Then the population must have dropped drastically."

"Not really. It's risen- a lot, actually."

"Are there other priestesses?"

The half-demon looked at her, "Huh?"

"Like me, I mean. Are there still miko who use bow and arrows?"

Inuyasha shrugged. "There are priestesses alright, but not all of them know how to use the bow. My friend, Miroku knows more about this than I do, but I think the spiritual powers of monks and priests and other religious people have really decreased. Only a few people can actually purify properly."

"Would you like to be purified?"

Blinking, Inuyasha glanced at Kagome. "What?!"

She had a mischevious smile on her face. "I could purify you." Kagome stood up and began to edge towards the hanyou, hands stretched out.

"Keh." He crossed his arms. "Like you could. Other youkai may be weaklings, but you won't be able to purify me." His eyes closed arrogantly.

"And why is that?" she stepped closer.

"Because I-" Inuyasha abruptly cut himself off as his head shot to look to the side where the entrance to the garden was located. "What?"

There was something there. Actually, there was somebody there- a demon. His nose twitched.

Catching the suddenly serious look on his face, the girl looked where he was staring. "What's wrong?" her eyes suddenly narrowed. "I sense Youki."

The hanyou frowned and stood up. His ears twitched. "What's the hell's that annoying noise?"

Kagome glanced at him curiously, her bow unslung from her shoulder and in hand. "What noise?" She reached for a ghostly arrow from the quiver strung across her back.

"The buzzing." Inuyasha took several cautious steps towards the door, followed by the miko. "It sounds like a huge swarm of bees…"

"Bee demons?"

"Probably."

He drew Tetsusaiga and it transformed as expected. Gripping it with both hands, the hanyou slowly walked closer to the entrance. Kagome followed, her footsteps making no indention or sound on the grass. The bow and arrow were held loosely in either hand, ready for use. Now, she could hear the buzzing as well- it was loud and steadily growing in volume as if an entire swarm was congregating outside those doors.

Inuyasha hesitantly reached out a clawed hand to pull open the door, but soon found that there was no need- they flew open on their own, blown by a huge gust of wind that threw the hanyou backwards. He flew through the air and stopped, his back colliding with a tree and shaking many leaves out of its branches.

"Inuyasha!" The girl rushed to his side. "You all right?"

He got off from the ground, shaking his head. "I'm fine."

Mocking laughter punctured the suddenly deafening silence, the lack of buzzing obvious. The two automatically turned their heads to stare at the opening where the doors had been blown open. A woman stood there holding an open fan in one hand.

She was decidedly a demon with her blood red, pupil-less eyes, and pointed ears. She wore a simple red and white striped yukata- very unusual in the modern age. Her hair was held up by a couple of feathers. Two long earrings dangled from her ear lobes.

"Who the hell're you?" Inuyasha sniffed the air. Her scent was strangely familiar to him, but he just couldn't figure out where he'd smelled it before. "What're you doing here?"

The demoness chose to ignore his questions and instead turned her gaze to the spirit beside him. "You are Kagome, miko guardian of the Shikon no Tama, are you not?"

Inuyasha frowned. 'Shikon no Tama?' He looked up at Kagome, who had suddenly gone ridged. Her aura had become spiked in alarm as she glared at the stranger. Moving his gaze, the hanyou found that her grip was no longer loose on her weapon, but tight.

"Who are you? How do you know this?" She raised her bow and notched the arrow. "Answer!"

The woman laughed again, making the hairs on the back of Inuyasha's neck stand on end. "Who am I? My name is Kagura," she bowed derisively, "sorceress of the wind." As if to demonstrate the fact, she raised her fan and brought her hand down. "Fuujin no Mai!"

Several blades of wind suddenly came flying towards the pair and Inuyasha subconsciously reached out for the miko, but his hand passed right through hers. "Kagome!" She didn't move even as a blade flew directly towards her. "Kagome!"

Having no choice, Inuyasha leapt out of the way right before he was sliced cleanly in half. The blades struck the tree and ran right through the trunk, causing it to collapse to the ground. The hanyou landed and stared at the spot where the miko had once stood.

"Kagome!"

However, as the dust cleared, one figure remained standing, an utterly neutral expression on her face. She was completely unharmed and only studied the fallen tree with mild surprise. Inuyasha breathed a sigh of relief before shaking his head. 'That's right… she's dead.' He looked at the smirking demon. 'A wind sorceress? She controls… the wind…'

"Your physical attacks can't hurt me, Kagura." Kagome raised her bow again. "But my arrows can purify you!" She let loose the projectile and it flew directly towards the wind demon. As soon as it had left the bow, the arrow had started glowing a bright bluish colour.

An expression of mild alarm crossed the demon's face before she quickly moved off to the side. The arrow passed mere inches from her head and Kagura followed its flight from the corner of her eye. She frowned. "He failed to mention you were dead." Her lip curled. "Slipped his mind, I daresay."

"Who the hell is 'he'?" Inuyasha had returned to his spot next to Kagome and was now holding Tetsusaiga in front of him. "Who sent you?"

Red eyes flickered over him. "None of your business, half-breed."

Inuyasha bristled. "I'll show you half breed, bitch." He charged her, Tetsusaiga in hand.

Kagome's eyes widened. "No! Inuyasha!"

The wind demon watched his progress calmly, a scornful smile on her face. "So, the half-breed wants to play?" She laughed again. "Let's see how you handle this!" Kagura waved her fan. "Fuujin no Mai!"

Grunting, the hanyou held his katana steady in front of his body, deflecting the blows as he ran. He raised the sword when she was in range and gave a powerful downstroke. "Take this!"

The demon avoided the blow and snorted. "Such a weak little boy, aren't you?"

Incensed, Inuyasha swung Tetsusaiga at the demon again and again, but each time, she evaded the blade's edge. "Stop running away and fucking fight me!"

With an almighty stroke, the katana finally connected with Kagura's body and she staggered a few steps backwards, a hand clasped over a deep cut in her right arm.

"You!" Eyes narrowing, the demon took the fan in her other and brought it down. "Ryuuja no Mai!"

This time, not blades of wind headed towards Inuyasha but funnels. Tornadoes spiralled dangerously closely to the hanyou, causing him to have to perform several maneuvers in order to avoid being swept up.

Kagome could do nothing but watch- her arrows would do nothing to calm the winds after all and her powers over nature were severely limited. "Inuyasha! Watch out! Behind you!"

He looked back, mid-leap in time to see Kagura aim another batch of blades at him. He twisted his body but couldn't find a way to avoid all of the blades. Some of them hit him dead on and he fell to the ground with several bleeding cuts. Then, wonder of wonders, one of the tornadoes headed directly towards him, picking the hanyou up and bringing him all the way up the funnel until he was spit out from top.

Inuyasha flew through the air before landing with a sickening thud onto his back.

A few pained filled passed. "Da-dammit." He struggled to stand and staggered. Finally up on his feet, Inuyasha had to use the aid of Tetsusaiga for him to stand steady. Roughly, he wiped a trickle of blood from the corner of his mouth.

Kagome rushed to his side, unable to touch him but concerned all the while. "How bad are the wounds?"

The man shook his head. "D-don't worry about me."

"Hanyou," the pair looked up. "don't get into things that are too big for you to handle." Kagura moved her gaze to Kagome. "You, girl. Hand over the Shikon no Tama…"

"Never." She glared at the demon. "You will never possess the jewel."

"I haven't finished yet," smirked the demon, "hand over the Shikon no Tama, or he dies." She pointed her folded fan to Inuyasha. "I may not be able to harm you, but I can kill him."

Kagome's eyes widened and she shot a slightly nervous look at the injured hanyou next to her. If Kagura did go for him, there would be little she could do- spiritual power or none. Sure, she had arrows, but only a limited number of them. But before she could answer, somebody else broke the silence.

"Keh!" Inuyasha attempted to portray his usual arrogance even though his body was screaming in pain, "Like you could beat me! Even if I am only half-demon, I could beat the shit outta you with my eyes closed!" He tried to stand up straight but only succeeded in making it feel as though he were tearing the cuts even larger.

"Inuyasha! Don't make things worse!" She almost reached out to try and help him but remembered that it would do no good.

Waving a hand carelessly at the girl, the hanyou lifted his katana with a grunt. "I can handle this."

"But your injuries-"

"They'll heal."

The wind demon was watching this with increasing amusement. "Hanyou, you should listen to your woman and give up while you can! As long as I get the Shikon no Tama, I'll leave you alone."

Kagome's eyes widened in surprise as a faint blush stained her cheeks. 'His woman?'

"Like shit, you will. I don't know what this 'Shikon no Tama' is or why you want it but you sure as hell aren't getting it." As an afterthought, he added, "And she's not my woman."

There was a pause in which Kagura stared at Inuyasha in astonishment before her mocking laughter rang out in the silent garden. "You don't know what it is? I would have thought that you especially, would have found out as much as you could have!" She flicked the fan open. "But it really doesn't matter… when I'm through with you, you won't require anything anymore! Fuujin no Mai!"

Inuyasha jumped to the side to avoid the blades, but another surge of pain caused him to grit his teeth. "Dammit…"

Wave after wave of wind blades was sent towards the desperately evading hanyou with every flap of Kagura's fan. However, at this rate, he wouldn't be able to get into close enough range to hit her, let alone defeat her.

"Aren't you getting tired, hanyou?" The demon sent another attack flying towards him.

This time, the half-demon tiredly cut through the blades. 'I need to get closer…'

Kagura was unrelenting in her offence and was effectively keeping a quickly tiring Inuyasha a respectable distance from herself. Just when she thought she was about to win while the hanyou was leaning heavily on his katana, a shout brought her attention away from him.

"Kagura!" An arrow following the shout narrowly missed her torso, but the projectile didn't even scratch the demon. From a few feet away, Kagome's eyes widened in surprise and slight exasperation. 'I really have to practice some more…'

The sorceress glared at the miko and her control on the winds slackened briefly. "Was that supposed to hit me?"

A bit flustered, the girl called back, "It has been a while, you know!"

On her other side however, Inuyasha was panting and trying desperately to get his strength back. Closing his eyes, he tried to take several deep breaths like Miroku had once told him. His body ached and he was sure that several ribs were broken from that heavy fall.

However, suddenly, he noticed something different- something strange.

'What?'

Hoping that Kagome would think of some way to distract Kagura further, the hanyou took several deep breaths through his nose.

'I can smell something… weird.' It was almost indescribable. He plainly could sense Kagura's demonic energy but when it hit the wind currents, he could smell something almost… explosive, but not quite. It was like if only he had something to trigger that eruption, then something massive would happen. 'Why didn't I smell it before? A scar in the wind…'

Opening his eyes, Inuyasha looked at Tetsusaiga before his gaze flickered to the wind demon who was still being distracted by Kagome. 'It… It's worth a try…'

Raising his katana high into the air, the hanyou prayed to whatever Kami was out there and yelled, "Kagura!" He gave a heavy swing directly along the 'wind scar.' "Take THIS!"

The effect was immediate.

No sooner had the wind sorceress turned her head before her ruby red eyes widened in surprise. Several strong blades whipped across the ground, creating deep gouges before they connected with Kagura's body. She didn't even have time to scream as pain beyond pain wreaked her body. And indeed, if it hadn't been for one thing, she most certainly would have died.

"What the-" came Inuyasha's surprised shout.

A huge swarm of abnormal bees had suddenly flew in the garden from apparantly nowhere and surrounded the demoness even as the cutting wind attack had flown directly for her. While the bees had all been wiped out, her clothes all but destroyed, and her body half mangled, Kagura was left hanging on to within an inch of her life.

Quickly, she pulled one of the feathers out of her hair and to the surprise of Kagome and Inuyasha, it grew into a very large version of itself onto which the demon hurried. She turned her head to glare at the panting hanyou. "This isn't the last time." The feather slowly lifted into the air and Kagura shouted back, "I will be back for the jewel and your death." Then, she zoomed away over the garden wall, one dark thought echoing in her mind, 'He isn't going to be happy about this…'

Back on the ground inside the garden, one extremely surprised miko was standing with her mouth open and the hanyou who was in extreme pain was just lying there.

A few seconds passed in complete silence, but eventually, the insects and birds came from their hiding places and went about their lives. Kagome snapped out of her stupor and hurried over to Inuyasha who was lying on his back. Tetsusaiga had reverted back to its carrying state and had been stuck in the ground.

"Inuyasha!" She crouched near his head and stared into his face. "Are you okay?"

He glared at her dryly. "What do you think?"

She sighed. "Alright, take off your shirt."

"What?!" His eyes widened and he stared at her incredulously. "What do you plan to do?"

Kagome's cheeks reddened at what he was plainly thinking of and scowled. "Idiot. I'm going to clean your cuts!"

"And how are you going to do that if you can't touch me?"

Her expression darkened and the miko glared at Inuyasha. "Just because I can't directly touch you doesn't mean I don't have my methods of doing things." She stood up. "I'm going to get some water. When I get back, those clothes had better be off. She shot him a look that plainly said, 'Or else.'

She began walking towards the back of the garden.

Glaring at the retreating girl's back, the hanyou grumbled under his breath and gingerly sat up. "Take off your clothes!" He mimicked in a high pitched voice. "And she didn't even ask about my attack," he sulked. Breathing a deep sigh, Inuyasha delicately peeled off the blood stained T-shirt, wincing every now and then. Looking down, he discovered that several long, ugly gouges ran down the length of his chest and into his stomach.

No wonder it hurt like hell.

He chose to leave on the pants.

Slowly, he staggered closer to one of the trees with his teeth grit tightly together.

Just who had sent that Kagura woman?

Soon enough, the familiar presence of the miko spirit gradually came closer and Kagome entered the small clearing to find the hanyou sitting propped up against a tree. His arms were crossed over a well toned (she took notice with a blush) chest and his golden eyes were shut. He was muttering under his breath. As she got closer, she discovered them to be not-so-complimentary.

"Who's a horomone driven yap-a-lot wench?"

Inuyasha gave a huge start in surprise and his eyes opened wide. "What? Oh… umm…" he sought for an answer, "See… it's one of my friends and…"

He gave up when the expression on the girl's face clearly told him she didn't buy it.

Glowering darkly at the hanyou, Kagome slowly lowered two large pieces of deeply curved bark, both containing water. They were clearly solid, and the hanyou had no idea how she was able to fill them with water, let alone carry the both of them from whatever source she used back to him.

Catching his curious glance, the miko answered the unvoiced question, "It's not entirely mind power as it is spiritual energy keeping the bark from falling." She gestured towards a large patch of leaves that had fallen when Inuyasha had dealt his attack. "Watch."

Staring hard at the pile, Kagome seemed to be concentrating on them and slowly, the entire heap lifted up and hovered several feet above the ground. She flicked her hand carelessly at them and they all scattered in an invisible wind.

The hanyou stared in interest. "Telekinesis?"

The girl looked curiously at the hanyou. "Telekinesis? What's that?" With a gesture with her right hand, Inuyasha's shirt rose off the ground and came so close to her hand that it almost appeared as though she were holding it. Kagome dipped part of the cloth into the water and began to gently clean his chest.

"It's like moving stuff with your mind, I guess."

She smiled distractedly. "A little like that, I suppose. But not entirely. After all, it's not fun being trapped somewhere for all eternity, and it would be even worse if I didn't have at least a few powers." He couldn't help but wince as she pressed into a delicate area. "Sorry," whispered the girl.

Inuyasha closed his eyes. "So, do you know who that woman was?"

"She said her name was Kagura."

He sighed. "I know that. Did you know her, you know… in the past?"

The miko shook her head negative. "No. I've never heard of her even though I have encountered many demons."

"I could have sworn I smelled her scent before…" he muttered, more to himself than anything.

"Perhaps. But did you see what was on her back?" Kagome dipped the shirt in the water again.

He glanced at her in intrigue. "On her back?"

"When she flew away. Her yukata was torn, and you could see her back."

"Well… no. I was in pain, wasn't I?"

Kagome sighed. "She had a large spider mark on her skin."

Inuyasha paused to think about this revelation as the girl ran the cloth gently along his cuts. A spider mark? Maybe it was a tattoo?

Soon, Kagome was finished with washing his chest and was concerned about having nothing to bind the wounds with. She searched around but there was nothing suitable.

"Don't worry. They'll heal eventually. I'm more worried about the broken bones."

"But what if they get infected?"

"Keh. I'm a hanyou. See? They're already staring to close."

And indeed, the skin was slowly re-growing and the cuts were slowly shrinking, the healing process having been aided by the clean water.

The girl sighed. "That's one good thing about having demon heritage." She picked up the T-shirt and rung out the red-stained water before dipping it into the other container of water. "Alright. Take those 'pants' off."

Inuyasha immediately turned red. "Wh-what?!"

Her face was faring no better as she felt it burn in embaressment. "I have to clean those too!"

The hanyou waved his healed arms awkwardly. "No… Don't worry about it. My legs'll heal." To prove the fact, he smacked one and only barely kept the wince in. "See?" he asked, gritting his teeth, "Just… fine!"

Kagome stared at him sceptically but gave in with a sigh. "All right." She sat down next to Inuyasha, appearing to be leaning against the tree. There were a few seconds of silence before she asked a question that had been bothering her. "What did you do to Kagura?"

The hanyou shrugged. "I don't really know. I just realised that where Kagura's demonic energy met the wind, it created sort of a gap in it that smelled a little funny. I cut across the gap with Tetsusaiga and well, that happened." He paused to glance up into the branches of the tree. "I don't know why I didn't see it before…"

"Well, whatever it is, it was powerful."

"Mmn." Inuyasha stared off into the distance without seeing. Who else would know about Tetsusaiga's properties? There was the old man, but he doubted that that geezer knew anything more than what he had told him. His mother and father were dead. Miroku? It was highly doubtful. Sango might have some idea, but the most obvious person was somebody he really didn't want to talk to…

The girl glanced at him curiously before she asked him tentatively, "Don't you have a question for me?"

Gold glanced into blue "About what?"

Kagome played with her bow. "About what Kagura said."

Inuyasha blinked at her and arched an eyebrow.

"Never mind," she sighed.

A few seconds passed by in which the half-demon tried to pick out what Kagome was talking about. Then, it finally dawned on him. "Oh! You mean the Shikon no Tama thing!"

She resisted the urge to roll her eyes. "Yes."

He shrugged. "You'll tell me eventually." She stared at him. "If I ask you right now, would you feel comfortable, telling it to a hanyou?"

Kagome smiled at him, "I think I can trust you, but you have to swear that you won't tell anybody about the Shikon no Tama. If you did, then this garden wouldn't be so peaceful."

"You call what just happened peaceful?" he gestured towards the various new marks on the garden floor.

She clucked her tongue. "There'll be more than just her if you tell others."

The hanyou scratched his head. "What if that person could help us?"

"Is that person somebody you trust?"

Inuyasha thought about it hard and long before answering, "Yes… And he wants to meet you too."

"Who is it?"

He thought about what he should tell her before answering slowly, "A monk. But not a very virtuous one…"

Kagome frowned. "Not a virtuous monk?"

"He can be a little… lecherous. And he might bring one of our friends."

"And that friend is?"

"Her ancestors used to be demon exterminators…" He failed to mention that the friend was going out with the monk.

The girl nodded before sitting up. "I'll tell it to you first… it gets a little tiresome, having a secret you can't tell anybody for five hundred years." She laughed without humour. "It's a long tale," she warned.

"I've gotta heal before I do anything else anyway."

Kagome smiled briefly before closing her eyes and sucking in a deep breath.

"The story begins a long time ago… from over five hundred years past…"

Review Responses:

-- Eloraya

Was it one of the hell wasps? Perhaps. ::evil grin:: Houjo scared you? He should have. Not so innocent now, is he?

-- Kill-all-Flamers-210

This chapter answer your question?

-- FieryDemonFox

Summer School? Your school lets out earlier than mine… Houjo working for Naraku- you'll find out in the future, as for the bee- I'm not saying anything.

-- Izayoi

The plot? Well… it should go somewhere. Everything should be significant, even if it looks like things aren't adding up. And evil Houjo? Eh heh…

Many thanks to: (Eh? My later review responses won't show up... gomen)

astro-24
snowecat (In Italy, lots of stuff, and right now, piano and theory are taking up my time)
Lily Among the Thorns-89 (Number 100!)
CJ-chan
Ryngrl5
darkscorpio28
Poison Death Tree
hanyou-elf
Flaming-Rosetta-Stone
WhiteDloud
Sarcasm Girl8
brezzy610
Dark-Magician-41 (Mat… is floating in orbit… interesting…)

Translations:

Fuujin no Mai – Dance of the Wind Blades

Ryuuja no Mai – Dance of the Dragon Snakes

Katana – a sort of sword

Yukata – sort of a summer kimono

Shikon no Tama – Jewel of Four Souls

[Gomen Nasai!

Another REALLY long delay, eh? . I can explain, but do you really want to listen? (I didn't think so). I really hope that the next update won't take too long to be typed up- and it shouldn't (no promises though).

Inuyasha found out about the wind scar sooner than I expected, and Kagura just couldn't wait to make her debut… Oh well. Also, Kagome's story is coming out a bit early, but what can I say? She just can't keep a secret! -.-;; I didn't particularly like the action description in this chapter, but I needed it for the story to work- wasn't horribly bad, I guess...

Thanks to everybody who reviewed my story- it broke 100! I'm happy! =D Now, there's another milestone to reach…

…hint hint … nudge nudge …

Till next time….

Ja!]