Chapter 4- Entwined to Perfection

A/N: Okay, so, so far in the fic I've gotten through a lot and last night I made a realization, this story is probably going to be shorter than my original works under the pen name Dom-sama. It's gonna seem like it will go kinda fast with all the new information about characters showing up and some new twists in the plot. So keep reading, review, and love. Thanks.

It was early when Toshiya awoke with a strange sensation falling over her. Sitting up on her pallet, she noticed everyone was still sound asleep. Grabbing her boots, she crept out of the small house. She sat on the ground and pulled on the knee high, black boots, and laced them up, then snapped the buckle on top.

These it was again, that strange sensation. It was like a soft caress on her cheek. So gentle, so soothing, it seemed to pull her in and hold her as if she were an infant. A shadow-like figure appeared before, a hand outstretched for her to take. She placed her small hand in its larger, colder one. The shadow led her away from the little house and into the fog-surrounded woods. Toshiya followed like a docile puppy, as if this shadow were someone she'd known her entire life and trusted it completely.

She couldn't remember walking into the woods. The clearing was darkened ever more by the large, green canopy above her. The shadowy figure still her hand in its own, pointing a mysterious finger towards a spot a head of them. Toshiya followed the invisible path set by the shadow's hand. Releasing her hand, it stepped a way from her. A creature sat before her clad in a white baboon cloak disguising its wearer from those whom it wished not to show its face to.

"Hello, Toshiya," the cloaked figure said. By the baritone in its voice she knew it was a man. "Come here child," he was holding a hand out to her. She felt compelled to go to him. She started to step towards him when she was knocked backwards.

"Not this time, Naraku!" Inu-Yasha shouted as he slashed at the other demon with the Tetsaiga. The form split in two, but did not leave the much hoped for corpse in its wake.

"I'll be back, Inu-Yasha. Just wait. You can't keep from me what is mine." The familiar, irritating voice said in the still morning air.

Coughing coming from behind him caused Inu-Yasha to turn around and abruptly sheath the Tetsaiga. Toshiya was on her hands and knees, her hair covered her face as she coughed. Inu-Yasha kneeled by her side and placed a hand on her back to steady her. She gasped as she pushed her hair away from her face and leaned back on her knees. "You okay?" Inu-Yasha asked. When she didn't answer he grabbed her other shoulder and turned to face him. "Toshiya?"

"It was…what was it?" she looked up at him, her grey eyes so full of confusion.

"That was Naraku. He's been after the jewel shards for decades now. I don't know hwy he tried to take you, though," Inu-Yasha said, looking into her eyes for only a moment before looking away.

She placed a porcelain white hand on his chest. "I don't remember any of it." She said. He looked back to her. "I just woke up and felt compelled to go outside, so I did. The next thing I know, I'm here…with you." The look on her face showed genuine fear and confusion. "Is this why I wasn't supposed to know about this place?"

"Probably, yeah," Inu-Yasha said. He took her hand in his. "We won't let Naraku take you, don't worry too much about it. Okay? Naraku's pretty much a coward."

Toshiya took a deep breath and released it. "Thanks." She said, giving him one of her half-smiles.

"For what?" he asked.

"For saving me from that creep."

"Don't worry about it," he said, standing up and helping her to her feet. Inu-Yasha led them back towards the village. When they returned the sun was already rising, and Sango, Shippo, and Kilala were awaiting them.

"Where'd you two go?" Shippo asked, giving the two a mischievous smile.

Toshiya raised her eyebrows at the kitsune, but smiled at Sango as she sat next to the older woman. "Naraku tried to lure Toshiya to him," Inu-Yasha said.

Both Sango and Shippo gasped. "What would he want with Toshiya," the Kitsune asked, he gave both Inu-Yasha and Toshiy questioning glances.

"She's Kagome's granddaughter. He must thing that she has the Shikkon Jewel shards. Why else would he want her?" Sango said.

"I guess that's true," Inu-Yasha nodded, accepting the possibility.

"What' the Shikkon Jewel?" Toshiya asked.

The question earned her surprised looks form the three others. "They never told you?" Sango asked. Toshiya shook her head. "Before you born, back when your grandparents and myself were about your age, we went on a quest. To gather the shards of the Shikkon Jewel from all of the demons in this world who possessed one…" Sango continued to relay the story of her youth and the search for the sacred jewel shards.

"So you never found all of them?" Toshiya asked.

"No, not all. Only two shards were never recovered," Sango said with a deep sigh.

"A waste of time, if you ask me," Inu-Yasha said.

"There were some good times," Sango added. "Though it would have been nice to have found those last shards. Naraku has them, I'm sure, but we've never been able to fin d and destroy his true form to recover them.

"I see…" Toshiya nodded. "So this guy is assuming that since my grandparents helped recover the jewel shards then they would have given them to me to help recover the final ones because I'm here now?"

"Maybe," Sango said, with a slight shrug. "I don't know for sure, but we'll soon find out."

After breakfast that morning Toshiya helped Sango clean up the small house. Sango informed the two demons and the young one that they would be taking a journey to a village about a four day walk from the one they were currently in. "Are you coming with?" Toshiya asked, as she finished packing the last of their food supply for Shippo to carry.

"No, no, no," Sango said. "These old bones aren't up for that long of a journey. It'll be just the three of you. So keep a close eye on each other and stay together. Good luck."

The three of them set off that afternoon, after eating lunch. Golden sun light shone down on the three travelers. Shippo had managed to keep a steady conversation going by pointing out little things to Toshiya. It was well after dark before they found somewhere to settle down for the night.

"Why don't we just keep going and sleep tomorrow night. That'll get us even closer to the village with less time wasted," Inu-Yasha said.

"Because we're hungry and tired. Toshiya isn't used to doing this much traveling, Inu-Yasha, can't you tell." Shippo said quietly to the older demon.

Inu-Yasha looked over to where Toshiya was sitting in the soft grass. Moonlight shone down on her, making her hair and white skin seem to glow.

"Go talk to her for a while," Shippo nudged the older demon. "I'll get some fire wood and then we can make something to eat." Inu-Yasha watched the younger demon walk off into the darkness to find them some fire wood.

He walked slowly over to where the young girl sat. Standing beside her, he looked up to see the stars. There were millions of them dotting the sky like diamonds.

"You can sit, ya know." Toshiya said.

Inu-Yasha glanced down to see that she wasn't even looking at him. Still, he sat down next to her on the grass. "How ya holding up?" he asked, trying to make an attempt at conversation with the girl, which wasn't really an area of his expertise.

"Okay," she shrugged. "I really am grateful for the modern technology back home, now, though." She chuckled.

He smirked. "Shippo went to get fire wood. He'll be back in a little bit."

"Okay," she said. She looked over at him, "Do you miss her?"

The question caught Inu-Yasha offguard, "Huh? Miss who?"

"My grandmother…Sango said that you and she were almost dating before she left with my grandfather."

"Yeah…sometimes…."

"Are you angry that they never came back to visit after all these years?"

"Sort of."

"I'm sorry."

That reply caught Inu-Yasha offguard again. He looked over to see the teenager looking at him with sympathetic eyes. "What? Why? It's not your fault."

"No, it is. You seemed like you were doing fine before I disobeyed my grandfather and messed with the well. Then the first time you see Miroku in over forty years and now your stuck babysitting his grandchild. I'm sorry for that."

He looked at her, taking in every aspect he could see. She looked nothing like Kagome. Obviously, her mysterious father was the one where her looks came from. Her long silver hair and grey eyes which really could not be described as grey because of their shining color, porcelain colored skin, pink lips, and slender frame. She was absolutely beautiful, even more than Kagome had been in her youth. She seemed to have been a great combination of her parents' DNA, entwined to perfection.

They were staring into each other's eyes. Gold melting into silver. He leaned in closer, her head tilted back just slightly. His lips brushed hers in the smallest of kisses before the sound of someone approaching caused them both to jump away from the other.

It was Shippo. He placed the large armful of sticks and twigs before them. "I got as much as I could carry. This should last us awhile." Stepping over the pile he sat across from them. "We just gotta get the fire started and we'll have dinner in no time."

"Here," Toshiya said, reaching into her pants pocket to pull out a small silver box that fit in the palm of her hand. "It's lighter." She said as she flicked the top open and produced a small flame. The two demons' eyebrows went up simultaneously. She reached over and lit a few small twigs on fire and set them in with some dried leaves and grass. Within minutes there was a good fire going.

The three of them ate in silence. Inu-Yasha and Toshiya in a small uncomfortable silence, with as much distance as they could have without giving away something that they were pretending didn't happen. And Shippo not telling them that he had seen their little lip lock.