Chapter 1

" WIND SCAR!" The force of the attack took out the last of the demons. Inuyasha stood there gasping for breath. His best friend, Miroku, ran up to him as he cursed. "Shit..."

"What's your problem? We won!" Sango, a demon exterminator, said with a bemused expression. Sango and Miroku had been with him for whats seems to be forever. Inuyasha growled "That bastard Naraku got away again!" They all shared the same contempt for Naraku, each with their own persona; reasons for wanting him dead. They became fast friends.

"We'll get him next time," miroku stated confidently. "He's getting slower now that he's lost a jewel shard."

The unusual threesome was searching for the shards of the Shikon jewel "Yeah, yeah... your really not helping, miroku. We've been fighting him for-" inuyasha's ears twitched as he picked up an peculair sound.

"what is is yasha?" this inquirey came from Sango.

"I don't know... it sounds like... crying." His canine sense of smell soon picked up the trail and he began running toward the forest. 'It's got to be close' he thought ' the scent is getting stronger.' He pulled back the branches of a bush to find a small girl. She looked to be no more than eleven or twelve years old. she was covered in blood. Whether it was hers or not, he didn't know. she caught sight of him and screamed. She turned and started to run.

"Wait! I don't want to hurt you! Aww.. shit." Inuyasha began to run after her. He soon caught up and when he grabbed her, she began to struggle. "Hold... still," he gasped out as pinned her arms down. She kicked him in the shin and a grunt of pain escaped him. 'oh what the hell..' he thought as he threw her over his shoulder. the kicking and screaming began once more as Inuyasha made his way back to Sango and Miroku.

"She was hiding in the bushes," he explained. he set the screaming child down and she imediatly scrambled away until she had backed up against a large boulder. Her large brown eyes were filled with fear. Sango's motherly instincts quickly took over and she tried to soothe the trembling girl.

"It's okay, we dont want to hurt you" she crooned.

"keh," inuyasha scoffed. "I ve already tried that hence the reason she ran away."

"Will you just shut up!" Sango threw the coment over her shoulder." I think its you shes scared of!"

"Me? well.." he huffed and went to sit down under a tree.

Sango attempted again to calm the youngster. " Hey, you can trust us, we're here to help. Dont be frightened." Sango's pet, kirara, bounded up to the girl and started meowing and rubbing against her leg.

A murmered, "kitty..." was heard as she reached out a hand to pet the demon. Kirara purred and jumped into her lap. Sango slowly walked up to the child careful not to scare her. " See there, its okay. Oh you poor thing... whats your name?"

"Kagome..." was the soft reply as she looked warily at each one of them in turn shrinking back when she saw that inuyasha had come forward again. Miroku had been peacfuly standing aside and decided it was safe to come closer. He knelt next to Sango. " Where are your parents Kagome?" he asked.

"I dont have any parents!" Kagome promptly burst into tears much to Sango's dismay.

"Oh, please dont cry. It will be alright," she hurried to kagome's side and pulled the child into her arms. "Shh.. its okay.." Kagome only clutched the womans shirtfront as she was lifted " Inuyasha, do you smell water nearby? We need to get her cleaned up and bandage her cuts and scrapes."

"There's a hot spring a little farther north and a stream to the east. The stream is closer." Inuyasha had been quietly observing all that had occured and was slightly puzzeled as to why the girl was scared of him and how Sango was able to calm her. ' Must be a girl thing'

" I'd rather go to the hot spring, if its alright with you. I remember Kaede saying somthing about how hot springs were supposed to aide the healing process" Inuyasha was still lost in his own thoughts and only heard half of what Sango was saying. Miroku wondered at Inuyasha's dazed expression.

" HELLOOO... Yasha, you okay?"

"huh? oh...uh.. yea, this way." an embarassed inuyasha led the way

By the time they reached the hot spring, Miroku had at least three hand prints on his face (a/n: stupid hentai!) and kagome had fallen fast a sleep. Both sango and Miroku tried to rouse her, but it was Inuyasha who succeeded in waking the sleeping sprite.

"Hey! Wake up!" he hollered in her ear. That got her up...crying.

"INUYASHA!" We were trying to wake her up without scareing her in the process." Sango scolded him. "Go sit in your tree!"

"Keh.. whatever."

" Dont worry, he's just a grumpy old jerk." Sango tried to reassure her but she could tell Kagome wasn't ready to trust inuyasha just yet. the girls made thier way to the hot spring, leaving inuyasha aand kirara to watch Miroku. Sango doubted he would try anything tonight, but you could never be too certain with that lech of a monk.

As they got in a multitude of thoughts went through her head, ' I want to ask her so many questions, but how should i approach this? She seems to have had a traumatic experience. I'll just have to do my best.'

"So... Kagome umm... Wheres your family? Your village? Just... what happened?"

Kagome hesitated, " I ... I dont... know. I cant remember anything."