Disclaimer I DO NOT own Inuyasha (but I WISH I did...) OR Keane's lyrics from "Somwhere Only We Know." excellant song by the way...go and listen! YAY!

A/N: Okay, So Much for the Hanyou's Happy Ending is over...(cries) but I've had a lot of its fans asking me for the name of the sequel...The truth is I am not sure of what to call it yet myself...when I DO know I shall tell you, rest assured (winks). For now I must apologize to you all-seems like I've been doing a lot of that lately (frowns)-this update is mucho late. I have nothing to say for myself except that it WAS going to be ontime until my parents (this was back on Tuesday or weds night) decided to forbid me writing on ANYTHING that wasn't a scholarship. They called me lazy and blah blah blha. I proved them wrong. That night I entered not one, not two, but THREE scholarships online. HA! So I regained my privelages, 'cept then I was SO tired for the rest of this week that I just about forgot. I mean I haven't been writing at all! No wonder I feel so crappy right now. Writing's like food for my soul most of the time...so I'm starving...well, I hope you like this chapter, it's simple and solves the "Sacred Jewel" problems...it might be sloppier than usual b/c I NEED to give you this update to make up for its tardiness, so please forgive me (grins sheepihsly)! Well enjoy, drop me a line!

The River

"I walked across an empty land

I knew the pathway like the back of my hand

I felt the earth beneath my feet

Sat by the river and it made me complete…"

Four young women and a small child waded across the shallow river. The water came to their calves, rushing and hissing as it passed, flowing eagerly. The women shivered and pulled their kimonos higher as they walked, slowly, trying their hardest to avoid slipping and being dragged under by the violent current. The river had been known to drag away small children who didn't watch their step. It was a little like a predator, a wolf or a fox, and never trustworthy.

The little girl that had acted as the sentry for the bathers at the hot springs clung helplessly to one of the oldest woman. If anyone had stared at them for more than a moment they'd have noted that the small girl and the woman looked incredibly alike—in fact they were mother and daughter. They worked together as they crossed the perilous current and successfully reached the opposite bank.

One by one all five found their way across the river's fury. As they stepped into the dirt on the other bank their wet toes caught the dirt, dripping, dampening it. The sticky stuff clung to them, dirtying the soles of their feet. When all five of them had crossed without mishap they looked about themselves and then realized one of their number was missing, and immediately all heads turned toward the river, eyes alert and flashing with alarm.

One of them was a dark brown haired girl aged about fourteen years in a blue and yellow kimono named Shisuki. Her face was ashen and gray as she stared back across the river fearfully.

"Sakana!"

On the opposite bank a girl of somewhere between fifteen and sixteen years was standing, her eyes glazed over, her hair flat and wet; her face was pallid. She seemed deaf to the other women's cries. Slowly, as the others watched, she turned away from them and began to walk along the riverbank on her side, like a zombie.

The eldest woman with the little girl looked to Shisuki in consternation, her face a mangled frown. "Shisuki! Go and get her! Make her cross the river! I think she must be terrified of it, after what happened to her! How could you leave her behind like that!"

With her head bowed in shame Shisuki started across the river again, pulling her kimono up once more. Her progress was slow, and across the river Sakana was making better headway, she was already some ten feet farther from the crossing point—the water there grew slightly deeper, the river narrower, the current more deadly…where is she going! Shisuki wondered, biting her lips as the water sloshed around her knees when she stepped into a deeper hole. Slime caressed her toes and she grimaced…just a little further…

On the opposite riverbank Sakana was following an invisible string in her mind. The tingling at the back of her skull had grown to a fever pitch; it only lessened when she walked along the river. If she stopped for a moment or tried to turn away it grew anew, scratching at her, making her head ache excruciatingly, her stomach broil and her throat raw. She felt as if she wouldn't be able to breathe unless she removed whatever was bothering her…

Across the river she could see the other women calling to her, trying to wave at her and catch her attention. She spared them nothing more than a few glances before the terrible pull of whatever strange force had her in its grasps reclaimed her. The pain inside her head swirled when she tried to fight it.

Her feet lifted up and set themselves down again almost of their own will. She had no control over them at all…

Shisuki, meanwhile, had reached Sakana's side of the river and was hurriedly running to catch up with her. The girl's breath panted ferociously, her feet were muddied and dripping wet, as were the edges of her kimono. A scowl covered her normally pretty face—she was distressed. How did I let the girl out of my sight! She's so lost and clueless! She didn't even bow to the samurai that saved our lives!

She reached Sakana and grabbed her around the waist roughly. "C'mon Sakana! This isn't the way you want to go!" she tried to pull the girl backward, toward the wider, shallower part of the stream that the people of the village had used to cross the river for countless generations…

Sakana screamed, her voice high-pitched and wild, a frenzied, frantic call. She squirmed and twisted in the other girl's grip, turning round just enough to place her palm to Shisuki's chest. "Let go!" she commanded and the place were her hand rested against Shisuki's chest glowed a strange bluish light…Shisuki screamed in shock and jumped away, looking between her kimono and the strange girl standing before her.

"What's wrong with you!" Shisuki breathed, shaking in fear.

Sakana blinked, looking dazed. "What? Shisuki…I…"

Shisuki took a step away from her; the girl's face a wall of fear. "You're not human are you?" she whispered, shocked, "Just like Toka was always saying…"

Sakana stared at her, the large, soft brown eyes full of sadness. "I honestly don't know Shisuki…" she fought the tears in her eyes abruptly, "I don't remember anything!" she looked to the ground, ashamed of herself, looking at her hands as if she'd only just noticed that she had them, "I never meant to hurt you, it's just that there's something about the river…I had to follow it…" even as she spoke it her eyes became hazy once more, the strange force pulling her again further upstream. She turned and began to walk, dazedly, away from the stunned Shisuki.

The women across the river stared, muted with awe. Not a one of them understood what had just transpired, but they knew that Sakana was clearly not like them, and fear was beginning to stir inside their hearts. The youngest girl moved the quickest. Cupping her hands to her mouth she called Shisuki's name.

"Come back, leave her Shisuki! We'll follow her wherever she goes from over here!"

Shisuki glanced swiftly to the other women, gaping like fish out of water. In a moment she frowned and made up her mind. "No!" she called across the river, "I'll follow her form over here. I don't think she's a monster…" she looked ahead to see that Sakana was well ahead of her now, stepping over a few rocks to avoid a shallow inlet of water. Shisuki skipped after the older girl, almost enthusiastically.

Across the river the other women shook their heads in bafflement and walked onward, keeping pace with Shisuki and Sakana.

Beyond a bend in the river Shisuki saw that Sakana had come within sight distance of the very place where she and Toka had discovered the girl. On the opposite side of the river where the other women were walking parallel to the strange girl the riverbank's slope changed, becoming flat and sandy. It was a perfect little beach. Only a few feet out the water deepened and a few rocks stuck out their heads here and there, the current swirling in little eddies around them. Yet right on the warm sand of the river's beach a few women were sitting about, piles of laundry strewn about them, waiting to be washed. This part of the river was where the people of the village cleaned their clothing…it was exactly where the strange girl had washed up from the river's currents.

Why was she drawn back to this place? Shisuki wondered, swallowing nervously as Sakana's steps quickened, her search nearing its end, its payday…

The pale, long legged girl in the short green kimono Shisuki's mother had made for her, reached a spot just upstream of where she herself had been found and stopped. For several long moments all the women were silent. The women washing their clothing across the river gawked in surprise at Sakana, thoroughly confused. Finally, blinking several times as if she herself were confused by what she was about to do, Sakana stepped into the water.

Everyone was tense, wondering what would happen as she started to wade into the stronger current, the deeper waters…one step, two, three…she stumbled once and then stood tall, erect, her eyes glazed but somehow at once sharp. Shisuki was close enough to see the wheels spinning about inside the other girl's head, pondering her next action it seemed, carefully.

A moment later she knelt so that her knees disappeared below the water's surface and her hands dipped into the inky blackness…Shisuki stepped forward, ready to run and rescue the still weak girl if she should slip and be dragged away by the river's ferocious current. Yet even as Shisuki worried Sakana's legs seemed to stabilize, her eyes became focused, she was thinking clearly—searching with her fingertips…

Her arms disappeared up to her shoulders, her black hair, still wet and warm from the hot springs, slipped from her shoulders and kissed the water's rough surface. A little steam rose as cold met hot and the women all stared, transfixed. Sakana bent still lower and now the gurgling, rushing flow of river water was billowing up at her face touching her lips and nose. Shisuki saw Sakana squint her eyes closed abruptly and she ducked her head into the blackness of the river.

The women began to cry out with alarm. Shisuki rushed forward, plunging into the river, fighting the current…but her foot landed on a sharp edged rock and she screeched in sudden pain and lurched forward, fighting to current and gravity to keep herself out of the water and out of danger. She looked up just in time to see Sakana stand back up, her black hair flinging sparkling droplets, like diamonds through the sunlight…

And in her hands, covered with river slime and muck, there was a golden chain and a pendant that glowed an amazing purple…all of the women stared at it, thunderstruck all over again.

Sakana gingerly began to clean the necklace, heedless of the stunned, gaping women around her. When it was mostly free of muck and slime she pulled it over her head and slid it underneath her kimono, shivering as the cold metal of the chain touched her skin and the water from the river dribbled from it over her flesh. Then, as if nothing had ever been amiss, she stumbled from the river, looking fatigued but pleased. A great weight had been removed from her shoulders as she trudged back to land, joining Shisuki.

"What did you find, Sakana?" Shisuki asked, her eyes still wide and shocked, "And…how did you know where it was?"

Sakana blinked at her for a moment, uncertainly. After a second she shrugged, "Honestly I don't know…" her stare became unfocused, "I guess it was calling to me…"

On all fours, like an animal from the forest, the hanyou Inuyasha reached the river, and, cautiously, peered down along its length from his position in the branches of a tree that hung out over the swirling currents. Taking in the wind the half dog demon knew that there were women up ahead, downstream of him, washing clothes in the waters. If he was careful they'd never need to know he'd passed through…but he chuckled at the thought of seeing the expressions on their faces if they did see him…

And then a particular scent caught him—like the cologne or perfume of an old lover, or the smell of baking cookies from Grandma's house—the hanyou recognized one of the women on this river…

Kagome?

The thought of the shards immediately fled from him at the slightest hint of her…

A wild need arose inside him and the hanyou sprung from the tree, landing just barely on the riverbank, his heels splashing at the edge of the water. He gripped the grass with his claws and ducked low, using its height to shield himself from the women on the opposite bank who were quietly washing their clothes. Once he was within the shadow of the deeper, thicker forest, Inuyasha leapt and ran steadily, running with the flow of the water, squinting with his eyes and straining with his nose, trying to discover the truth behind the scent that had so intrigued him…

It couldn't be…

But it smelled like it was…

The hanyou stopped finally and crept furtively forward, keeping his body low among the reeds. A few feet shy of the riverbank and the end of the forest and reeds he peered out, desperately hoping that in the bright sunlight his amber eyes wouldn't flicker and flash and give out his position…

His hopes were in vain.

A woman screamed from the other side of the river where she'd been holding a white kimono robe into the water, wetting it. Somewhere in the course of her work she'd had her eyes pointed right at the spot where Inuyasha stuck out his head—and shed seen the bright crimson flash of his haori immediately. Suddenly the river was awash in frightened voices, the smell of fear and human sweat. Inuyasha growled and cursed below his breath. Damn those humans! They're all so flighty!

A man's voice rose up now, and Inuyasha felt his stomach clench with surprise—horses! When he looked in the direction of the loud, thundering sound, and saw a man with a bow and arrow atop a large and powerful gray horse. His armor and helmet and demeanor as he nearly ran over the fleeing women and children to get to the river were enough to identify him as a samurai, but Inuyasha had a hunch… He lifted his nose quickly and scented the wind…yes, it was the same samurai that'd harassed him when he'd been at the hot springs!

An arrow whizzed through the air and dug itself with a loud thunk! sound into the dirt before Inuyasha. Snarling, the hanyou turned round on his heel and dashed back into the trees—out of sight and out of danger.

Behind him the samurai's horse stopped midway across the river, snorting and huffing at the cold water about its hooves. The samurai sneered at the trees where the crimson demon had disappeared, disappointed, and then turned the beast back toward the village, calling, "Fear not ladies! I have saved all of thee again!" (A/N: I hate this samurai! I think you learn his name next chapter, Namaru...)

Sakana and Shisuki were already within the village's walls when the commotion came up at the river. Both young women stopped and watched as the washerwomen hurried passed them their faces ashen with fear. Sakana felt her spine stiffen when she heard them murmur of a "scarlet demon."

Shisuki shook her head and took hold of Sakana's arm, "Ignore them Sakana, they'll talk forever. It's all that miserable samurai's doing!" the younger girl dragged Sakana away reluctantly, "C'mon, we need to show Mijai that thing you found in the river! It sure looks special!"

Uncertainly Sakana followed, her free hand rising to her throat where the strange purple jewel pendant in its clear case on the golden chain clearly rested under her kimono. What is this thing I found? Why was I drawn to it? what did I do to Shisuki and why when she tried to stop me? Why does talk of demons affect me so much? I've never even seen one as far as I can recall…

She walked behind Shisuki with her head bowed, weighed heavily down by thoughts she didn't understand-by her missing memories.

Endnote: I can't give anymore hints for now as I haven't written out anything too far...(sighs)...that and if I keep feeding you stuff before hand it'll ruin your reading later, and my AOL STILL won't work! (sighs)...but at any rate I hope you enjoyed this chapter and...Oh nevermind, I'll give you a paragrapgh or two anyway...this is from the next chapter, called "Good Days Gone." It introduces the character Koshi, who's a sweet, well-meaning young man with the samurais...

And then his eyes landed on a strange girl wearing a short green and white kimono…she was standing beside the gates of the village, staring out into the open rice fields and crops the villagers had planted as both food and a source of income. Her long black hair was fluffy with a look of cleanliness; it flowed about her shoulders and down to the middle of her back. She was leaning on the opened gates, fingering a golden chain about her neck that ended with a few shimmering purple gems. They caught the fading sunlight and flashed before Koshi's eyes, dazzling him.

Koshi's stomach fluttered, his palms broke out in a sweat, his face suddenly burned, and the rest of the world had faded around him completely…

He'd fallen in love before he could even blink.

Well there you are, that's a little from Koshi-sama...that's all next chapter...see ya...drop me a line kay? (pleeeeaaassse! (grins))