A/N: Hello mina-san! I'm back with chapter 3! I've gotten more reviews than I've expected! Hope this chapters will be to ya'lls liking! Replied to reviews will be at the end!

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Chapter Three: Reunion With An Old Friend And An Enemy

Kagome looked towards the old, yet familure, sounding voice. She squinted her eyes at the withered face looking back at her, a small smile on her lips, making the lines on her face deeper than they really were.

"Who are you?" Kagome asked, pushing herself out of the arms of the other hanyou. Its not that she wasn't greatful that he had set her free of the arrow that was causing her pain, she just wished that he had left her under the spell of the arrow for ever. She hadn't wanted to wake up from the dreamless sleep, not knowing that time was passing, and she didn't want to wake up and face the nightmares she knew would be plauging her. Nightmres of how Naraku had betrayed her, of how she had been foolish enough to let him use her, of how foolish she had been to fall in love with him.

The old woman nodded her head. "It would only make sense that she wouldn't recognize me." She was muttering to herself. Outloud, she said, "The last time you say me, Kagome, I was only a little child."

Kagome's eyes narrowed, trying to remember, and she did.

"Kagome! Wait for me!" A small child called out to the neko hanyou, running through a feild of flowers to the neko.

Kagome smiled down at the little child no more than seven, eight at the most. "Did you think I wouldn't wait?" She asked.

The little girl nodded her head. "Aye, I did. Ye are so fast at times that I don't think ye can hear me." The little girl said, crossing her arms.

Kagome chuckled and knelt down, giveing the girl a hug. "Don't worry. I will always hear when you call, Kaede.".

"Kaede?" Kagome asked, unsure.

The old woman smiled. "Aye, it is me." She replied, walking closer to the neko hanyou.

Kagome shook her head as the old woman walked towards her. Just how long was I pinned to that tree? She wondered and jumped to her feet, the dog hanyou following her lead.

"Kaede, how-" As if reading her mind, Kaede answered her question before she could even finish it. "Ye have been pinnned to the Goshinboku for over fifty years."

Kagome's eyes widened and she took a small step back. "Fifty years?" She repeated.

Kaede nodded her head. "Aye. Come back with me to the village and I will tell all that has happened since ye have been on the Goshinboku." She said and turned and began to hobble back to the village.

Kagome began to follow, slowly. The last time I went to the village I was attacked. That was the day that Naraku betrayed me. She thought, clenching her fisted together tightly as the memory of that day flooded her mind.

Inuyasha, not knowing what else to do followed the two. They had better have one heck of an explanation. He thought and crossed his arms over his chest as he followed the two women.

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Kagome, Inuyasha, and Kaede were all gathered around a large fire inside of Kaede's hut, Kagome and Kaede sipping cups of herbal tea and Inuyasha sitting there with his arms crossed.

"Kaede, what all has happened in fifty years?" Kagome asked, breaking the silence that had settled over them.

Kaede sat down her herbal tea and crossed her hands in her lap. "It was only after Naraku had pinned ye to the Goshinboku that the villagers had realized that they had made a grave mistake. Naraku was enraged that he could not take possion of the Shikon no Tama because of the barrier ye placed around it, so he attacted the village, demanding that we tell him the way to break through the barrier. We didn't know how and he continued his rampage through our village, many were killed." She explained.

Kagome had tears in her eyes. How many? How many did Naraku kill just to get this Jewel? She wonder, turning her eyes down to the glowing pink Jewel that graced her neck. "What about Kikyo?" She questioned, turning her eyes back to Kaede.

Kikyo had been Kagome's best friend. They had been inseperable.

Kaede shook her head. "My sister took a stand against Naraku, going to the Goshinboku and trying to release ye from the spell Naraku had put ye under. Naraku desired my sister because of her strength to stand up against him and he wanted to make a deal with her. He told her that if she would become his mate, he would release ye and leave the village alone. Kikyo refused and Naraku killed her."

Twin tears dripped off of Kagome's chin, landing on her forest green kimono with out a sound. Kikyo, you always were the brave one.

Inuyasha was getting frusterated by all this talking. This doesn't tell me a thing about how I got here. "Feh, look, I don't care about all this crap! I don't wanna know anything else about Kikyo or this Naraku person, I just want you to tell me how to get back to my home!" He grunted out, arms crossed over his chest.

Kagome's green eyes flashed as she whipped her head towards the other hanyou. "No one asked your opinion, dog." She hissed, venom laced in her words.

Inuyasha felt his hackles raise and a low growl began to for in his throat, rumbling into his chest. "Look you wench, if you think I'm gonna sit here and let some cat-" before he could finish his sentence, the covering of Kaede's hut was pushed aside and a frantic village man burst through a bow clutched in his hand.

"Lady Kaede, the village is under attack!" He cried before rushing back out the way he came.

The old woman rose from her sitting place, grabbing the bow and the quiver of arrows that had been sitting at her side. "We'll have to finish this talk leter." She said and began to hobble out of the hut, pulling out an arrow and notching it in her bow.

Kagome and Inuyasha quickly followed suite.

The old human and the two hanyous rushed out of the hut to find the village in total devastation. Huts were burning, women were screaming, children were crying out in fear, people were running every where! There were even a few bodies unconcious bodies laying in the streets.

Kaede reached out, her withered old hand grabbing hold of one of the village mens arms. "What is the cause of this?" She asked, her vocie stern, trying to get the frightened mans attention.

The young man was wild eyed and panting. "It is a youkai, Lady Kaede! It is attacking the village!" And with that he took off, spear in hand, going to defend the village.

Kaede took off in the directiong where there seemed to be most damage, most likely where the youkai that was attacking them would be. The two hanyoud followed close behind, Kagome because she felt she was obligated to protect the village and Inuyasha because he didn't know what else to do.

Both neko and dog hanyou were scenting the air, trying to pinpoint exactly where the attacking youkai was. When Kagome caught wind of the youkai, she froze in her tracks, her eyes wide and slightly frightened. No, it can't be... She thought desperately, but she knew that it was. She knew this scent from fifty years ago. This scent belonged to the person who had pinned her to the Goshinboku, to the person who had tricked her into falling in love with him, to the person who had betrayed her and broken her heart beyond repair. This scent belonged to, "Naraku," Kagome whispered in disbelief.

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The dog hanyou nearly ran into the young neko when she stopped dead in her tracks, her body going ridgid as if someone had just thrown a bucket of ice cold water on her.

"Oi, watch it, wench!" He called, but stopped when he saw her face. Her eyes were wide and swarming with fear and another emotion that Inuyasha couldn't place, her hands were shaking slightly and her face had turned chalk white, like she'd seen, or in this case, smelled a ghost.

Her lips parted, forming a word. She said it so lowly that Inuyasha had to strain, even with his near perfect hearing, just to catch it. "Naraku," She whispered, her voice quivering ever so slightly.

Inuyasha cocked his head slightly to the side. "Naraku? Ain't that the spide hanyou or what he was that you and that old hag were talking about earlier?" He questioned, lifting his nose to scent the air once more.

Kagome shook her head, her cat tail swishing wildly about her, clearly a sign that she was agitated. Her green eyes with the flecks of gold in them narrowed and flashed dangerously and she clenched her fists tightly at her sides, her claws biting into the skin of her palms and a thin, trail of blood trickled from her closed hands.

Inuyasha was surprised at the way the neko hanyou's demanor had changed. From what he had seen of the female hanyou she was a mildly tempered, friendly feline. But the way she looked now, she looked completely feral!

A low feral hiss escaped from Kagome's throat and her lip curled upward, reveiling a row of sharp, feline teeth. "Naraku!" She hissed, this time not in fear and confusion, but almost something resembling hate. She dashed forward, quickly catching up and passing Kaede and the village men trying to protect their homes.

Inuyasha shook his head and dashed after the Neko. That cat is crazy!

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Kagome passed Kaede and the village men, barely even sparring them a glance as she rushed towards the one scent she never wanted to smell again. I'll make him pay for what he's done to me! Kagome thought, still hissing.

What she thought made her stumble. What was it she was feeling? Was it hate? Kagome wasn't familure with this emotion, it left a bitter taste in her mouth.

Once she realized what it was she was feeling, she slowed in her head on rush at the spider hanyou, glancing down at the Shikon Jewel gracing her neck.

The Jewel was still glowing its soft pink, but a dark, malevolent purple was begenning to spread from its core, feeding off of the hate in Kagome's heart.

Seeing the change in the Jewel caused Kagome to stop in her tracks as her mother's words came back to her when her mother was training her to be the protecter of the Jewel of pure power.

"Kagome, you must remember, you cannot let hate into your heart while you are protecter of the Jewel." A beautiful woman was telling a slightly younger Kagome.

Kagome looked at her mother with a cocked head, her red cat's ears twitching in curiousity. "Why mother?" She asked, head still cocked.

Kagome's mother, Lady Higurashi, glanced down at the Shikon no Tama that currently rested around her neck. "Because, Kagome, this Jewel feeds off of what the keeper feels in their hearts. Midoriko, the miko who created this jewel, created the Shikon because her heart desired to save the people that the youkai she was battling desired to destroy."

Kagome furrowed her brows. "I don't understand, mother."

Lady Higurashi glannced at her child. "Nobody truely understands how the Jewel feeds off of our hearts, but it does. If there is hate in your heart Kagome, the Jewel will sense it and feed off it, becoming tainted and evil. And, in the end, the Jewel would destroy you."

Kagome felt moisture in her eyes, but she blinked it away. Mother was right. She thought with a pang in her heart, feeling the hate she had felt melt away as the purple in the Jewel receeded and disappeared. It does feed off the protectors heart.

She was jolted out of her thoughts by two things. One, she felt the dog hanyou, Inuyasha, stop beside her and two, a dark voice that she hadn't heard in over fifty years, a voice that sent shivers up and down her spine.

"Hello, Kagome." The voice said with an evil edge of humor lacing his voice.

Kagome glanced up, her eyes still shiney from the tears she hadn't shed earlier.

Naraku stared back at her, his blood red eyes gleaming with the fires that raged around the three hanyous, fires that he himself, had probly created. "It has been a long time,"

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First off I just want to thank my wonderful reviews and readers! 'bows' Thanks soooo much mina-san!

katie12321: OK, here ya go! 'hands katie12321 and ice cream sunday with a cherry' Enjoy! 'grins' And to answer your question, Sango is gonna stay in the Feudal Era, but she and Miroku will meet, possibly in the next chapter.SenceLess: 'laughs' Thankies! Glad I put that smile there! shady's-girl: Hey, thanks for reviewing! windgal: Hope this update was quick enough. 'grins' Ikimono JoufuThanks for saying its interesting! I haven't written anything in awhile, so I writing skills would be a little rusty.angicakesisinuyashasluvrHey, thanks for say that!