She lay unmoving on her back, scanning the night sky with her eyes twinkling even in the moonlight. The gash in her side had almost ceased bleeding now. Had she been aware of that swords strength she would have taken her opponent more seriously. She'd barely even cleared the blast. Luckily for the dust that rose from the immense power she was able to escape unseen. She'd run as far as she could, unsure of whether they'd attempt to track her down. Her target after all was a dog demon with highly acute smell but then again perhaps human blood and horse demons who had attacked the nearby village would overpower her scent. Her ears and nose twitched when she detected someone. No...there were more than one. She faintly sensed toad, dog and human. Soon after she heard a young girl's singing which became louder as she and her party approached. Her song ceased when the girl stumbled upon her exhausted and bloodied body.
"M-master Sesshoumaru!" she cried. The toad demon entered the small clearing next.
"Hmm...now what kind of demon do you suppose she is, my Lord? My, it is difficult to determine with all that filth."
The cat demons eyes flashed from the ignorant little toad to the taller demon behind him. She'd expected to see Inuyasha but it was not he who she'd failed to slain. In fact, this demon was the most beautiful that she'd ever laid eyes upon. Long silver hair flowed down her back and deadly piercing yellow eyes glanced upon her fallen form. A dark blue crescent in the middle of his forehead was partly hid behind long silver bangs and two light purple stripes were on either side of her narrow emotionless face. However, she had only one flaw. One arm was missing. Wait...the toad demon called her "My Lord". Did he not mean "My Lady"?
"A cat demon, Jaken..."
She felt her heart skip a beat when she heard his deep hardhearted voice. So she was actually a he. An honest mistake. "That is correct..." the cat demon affirmed.
"What?! She's not dead?" Jaken cried. "Lord Sesshoumaru, who do you suppose did this to her?"
"Ask me yourself, ignorant toad..." the cat demon retorted.
"How dare you!"
"That is enough Jaken."
"...Lord...Sesshoumaru?"
His lord did not reply. His eyes were transfixed on the young girl, Rin, who was close to tears. She took a piece of fish that she'd been saving for later from within her clothing and held it towards the cat demons mouth only to have it rejected. The demon turned her head away insolently.
"Lord Sesshoumaru!" Jaken cried when his lord neared closer to the cat demon.
His eyes roamed over her wound, "...The result of the wind scar..." He assumed correctly.
"Yes."
"Jaken, gather some fire wood."
"What for, my Lord?"
"We're staying here for the night..."
"Yes my Lord!"
Inuyasha sighed irritably and leaned his back against the tree. He wondered if Kagome too were staring at the moon as well. Or if she could even see the moon at all. At least they still had their pieces of the shikon no tama. After Kagome told him she was returning home she threw the bottle that contained them at him.
"Here! This is what you really wanted! Good luck finding the rest without me!" she had shouted.
"Damnit..." he growled and sighed again. He glanced down at the bottle he now held before dropping it into her pack. She'd been so furious that she'd forgotten to take it with her. "...I'm sorry...Kagome..." he whispered just before his eyes closed. CRACK! Inuyasha squeezed his eyes shut. "Shippou! Quit moving around!"
"Heh...I'm not Shippou."
"What?!" Inuyasha's eyes snapped open just in time to find a fist shooting right for him. It collided with his nose and he let out a startled "AIYEEEEEEE!!!"
"What the??? What happened Inuyasha???" Miroku cried.
"Grr...something hit me!"
"Hey look!" Shippou cried, pointing to something above. So Miroku hadn't been the only one to have awoken.
"Where?" Sango inquired.
"K-Kagome's bag is gone!" Shippou cried.
"Get back here you little thief!" Inuyasha yelled as he leapt up. He plucked the thief off the branch of the tree like an apple just before it had the chance to pounce away. "Not quick enough are ya?" he growled and yanked the bag from its grasp.
"A raccoon demon?" Shippou wondered aloud.
"I'm a cat demon you dumbass!" the thief yelled, attempting to run Shippou through with her deadly claws. However Inuyasha still had her by the tail and he yanked her back.
"Hold it kid."
"K-k-kid?!" she cried, "I'm not a kid you ass wipe!"
And with that she flung her body around and stabbed him in the leg with one of her claws and bit his hand with her teeth.
"Ow! Quit that!" he cried and shook her until she lost grip and hung still upside down.
She wasn't a kid? When Inuyasha carried her over near the light provided by the fire it was confirmed that she was smaller than Shippou and probably younger too. She had a long beige colored tail and big innocent cyan blue eyes. There were two small blue hoops pierced in her ears atop her head. Two gold chains hung from her neck. One with a dark blue stone and the other was hanging slightly below with a greenish blue stone with two small yellow and orange ones on either side. She had peach colored markings on either cheek that curved upwards into a point towards her nose and eyes. On her arms she wore wrist wraps which commented nicely with her green kimono which sleeves she had rolled up around her shoulders out of the way of her claws since they were much too long. Her head reached Inuyasha's knee and her light brown hair just brushed the ground.
"Whoa...I feel sick..." the cat demon burped and covered her mouth with one hand. Inuyasha's eyes narrowed.
"Don't you dare puke on me you little runt or I'll rip you apart!"
"Inuyasha, don't be so hard on her."
"Wha?!" Inuyasha blinked and looked up at Sango.
"You've got no right to say such things..." Miroku told him.
"How can you be so cruel!" Shippou cried.
Inuyasha blinked again dumbfounded. "What the hell?! S-she just tried to steal Kagome's bag, which if you need a quick reminder, holds the shards we have!" he explained waving his hand that held the bag wildly.
"Well she seems to feel sorry about her actions now," Sango pointed out.
"She's so cute!" Miroku exclaimed.
"Awww!" Shippou cooed.
Inuyasha turned his gaze slowly upon the little cat demon. Tears welled in her innocent looking eyes causing the others to take pity on her and her irresistible cuteness. How could anyone stay angry with something so cute?
"Wha?! She's fakin' it!" Inuyasha yelled.
WHACK! Miroku's staff came down upon Inuyasha's head which caused him to drop both the cat demon and the bag. The cat demon fell onto her hands and flipped forward onto her dainty little feet.
"How about something to eat!" Sango suggested.
The cat demon nodded and twitched her ears. "Yeah! We still have some leftovers from dinner!" Shippou said, taking the cat demon by the hand and leading her the way.
"WAIT A MINUTE!" Inuyasha shouted.
"Calm down Inuyasha. There's plenty left for everybody," Miroku said. Inuyasha was ready to pull his hair out.
"Fine then! Since you're all fooled by her oh so cute appearance, I'll protect the shards myself!"
"Thank you for allowing me to eat with you!" the cat demon exclaimed before taking a bite of some fish.
"Oh it's no problem at all!" Sango assured her, "It looks like Kilala likes you a lot!" The cat demon looked down to see Kilala cuddling up next to her. She smiled, "My name is Kao!"
"I'm Sango."
"Shippou is my name!"
"Miroku...a humble monk at your service."
"Humble..." Shippou chuckled.
"And who is ass wipe over there?"
"He's Inuyasha. He seems a little heartless at first but he's really a big softy."
"Don't be telling lies about me, Miroku!!!" Inuyasha barked.
"And those two?" Kao asked and pointed to the girl called Rei and her brother.
"We're not too sure. We just met them today," Shippou explained, "Their village had been attacked earlier by horse demons."
"I came close to being trampled on by the stupid fuckers..." Kao muttered.
"I beg your pardon?" Sango inquired.
"Oh! Ah! Nothing!" Kao exclaimed laughing nervously. She stood up, "Well, thank you for the lovely evening but I must be going-"
Her sentence was cut off when Inuyasha rose to his feet, "Everyone be quiet!"
"Wha-" Shippou began.
"Those horse demons are coming this way. You led them to us didn't you!" Inuyasha accused.
Kao shook her head, "No! I-"
"I've had enough of you kid!"
Kao's eyes danced with flames, "I'm...not...a...KID!!!" she screamed and pounced on him, clawing viciously at his face.
"Get off of me!!!" he cried, pulling her off and hurling her into a tree. She hit hard and slid down the trunk onto the ground.
"You'll regret that, ass wipe!" she warned before scampering off.
"GOOD RIDDANCE!" WHACK! "Miroku! Do that again and I'm going to break that stupid stick over your own head after my fist has dented it!"
"She could have been telling the truth," he said, watching Kilala transform into her larger state.
Sango lifted the sleeping Rei and her brother onto her back and hopped on. Miroku and Shippou climbed on as well.
"Go on ahead! I'm staying. No point in running from weaklings. There's only three of 'em anyways. Take Kagome's bag and get out of here," he said, tossing Sango the bag.
"You might require some assistance. I'll stay as well."
"All right," Inuyasha said, "suit yourself..."
Only a moment after they'd gone the horse demons showed up. There were three of them. One was of fire with flames for its mane and tail who was known as Hibara. Another was of wind with a current of wind for its tail and mane who was known as Kamibara. The third was of water with its tail and mane made of water who was known as Amebara.
"Who are you?" Amebara demanded.
"A human and a hanyou," Hibara chuckled.
"Hanyou?" Kamibara inquired.
"A filthy blooded and foul smelling half breed," Hibara explained darkly.
"Foul eh? You don't exactly smell pretty either!" Inuyasha retorted, pulling the Tetsusaiga from its sheath, "C'mon. We'll take all three of you on at once. What do you
say?"
"I say you're either very brave or very stupid," Hibara said with a tint
of amusement.
"Hey Sango, I've never been in this part of the forest before," Shippou said.
"Me neither. Hey, what is that down there?"
"A lake?"
"Let's go and have a look. If it's hospitable enough we'll rest there until Miroku and Inuyasha return. It shouldn't take them long. Inuyasha was rather confident about the battle."
Kilala gently descended upon the area and dropped them off beside the lake shore. After unloading Rei and her brother under the protection of a tree Shippou, Sango and Kilala let their eyes roam over their location.
"This lake is huge!" Shippou exclaimed. Beneath the moons glow the water reflected its eerie light. "Sango..."
"Yes Shippou?"
"I see something over there..."
Sango narrowed her eyes, "...It looks like a shrine."
Indeed on the other side of the lake there was a small shrine only big enough for one person to fit inside. Suddenly Shippou's body began to tremble with fear.
"I see someone! Look!"
"I'm going to check it out. Maybe this lake belongs to someone. Kilala, stay here with Shippou and watch over the girl and her brother."
Kilala nodded and watched Sango reach the other side of the lake. The moonlight dimly illuminated her curved and slim figure. It was the statue of a beautiful woman. No wonder Shippou had thought she was real. Her facial expression mimicked the expression of someone in deep despair and agony. Why had it been put there?
"How odd..." Sango thought and turned her gaze over to the shrine. It was a lot bigger close up.
Sango wondered who had built it and why in the first place. She walked over cautiously and stood before the doorway. Slowly she pushed open the doors and entered the darkened room. It was so dark she could barely see anything. Suddenly she saw something flash up ahead.
"Wait!" Sango cried when all of a sudden she came face to face with....herself! Sango froze. A mirror?
"Sango!" Sango turned around. Shippou was there.
"I told you to stay and watch over the girl and her brother."
"B-but...Kilala and I heard your cry."
"What? I didn't cry out."
"...T-then...who did? Wait! I thought I saw someone earlier! I-"
"...It was only a statue."
"A statue?"
"...Yes..." Sango confirmed.
"All right...well...please don't stay too long!" Shippou said.
"I won't," Sango replied and watched him leave.
She turned back to the mirror. Shippou had let the door open a little more allowing more of the moonlight in. She realized then that the mirror had been shattered into pieces. She reached out to touch it when suddenly a blinding light shot out from the center.
"AHHHH!" Sango yelled when it began to engulf her.
"Sango!" Shippou cried as he bounded back into the shrine, "Wake up! Please wake up!" He shook her by the shoulders where she lay unconscious on the floor, the smooth, unflawed mirror reflecting his every move.