Disclaimer: Inuyasha is not owned by me in any way, shape, or form.

Author's Note: Sorry, sorry, sorry! It's been, maybe, three or four weeks? Don't worry, I'm actually still alive. Life caught up with me, not to mention I just finished with finals week, which had me completely immersed in homework for the longest time.

When I was first writing this fic, this coming chapter originally didn't make the cut, as I cited it badly written and diversionary from the plot. However, one day I found the file, read it again, and wondered why the hell I cut it, since the content in this chapter was a great opportunity to flesh out Inuyasha and Kagome's relationship some more. I finished the chapter, spruced it up a little, and here it is!

And also: there is a PERVERT ALERT for this chapter! Yes, Miroku's at it again...

The story of the priestess Midoriko has also been slightly altered from the canon. Artistic license, no?

&&YU(U&

Kagome stood on quietly as Miroku continually haggled with the innkeeper, who seemed to have his heart set on a higher monetary value than what they all even had combined. They had been at it for at least ten minutes running and it was getting rather tiring, though she could do nothing but continue to stand aside and wait for her Buddhist friend to come through with the bargaining.

(Idiots...) she thought exhaustedly, referring to the slough of innkeepers she had met over their travels who seemed to jack up the price with every hour closer to dark. (They don't care how many people they have to turn away, just as long as they make a profit for the night.)

She stared at the little middle-aged man whom Miroku was haggling with, who was half his height and sporting a curly little mustache that fitted his stereotype completely as the devious merchant. "I apologize, my friend, but as I said, there are absolutely no rooms to spare on this busy night. There has been much coming and going on the main road for the past week. Perhaps another village attack in the north?" He twirled his mustache expertly. "However, if you wish," he started again slowly, drawing closer to the irritated-looking monk, "I could secure the very last room for you, if...if you pay no less than twenty-five silver between the four of you and your---and your---" -he gestured towards Shippo, who was sitting cross-legged on the floor, looking distracted--- "delightful little pet."

"TWENTY-FIVE SILVER?!" Miroku interjected, aghast, temporarily letting down his guard. "But I had haggled you down to fifteen!"

The innkeeper shrugged disinterestedly. "Surely you have twenty-five silver to part with if you want the room, my friend...after all, you have kept many minutes of my time trying to bargain for it..."

"HEY, WAIT A MINUTE!!" an angry voice rung out from a darkened corner. To no one's surprise (except for the fact that he hadn't bothered until now), Inuyasha emerged from out of the shadows, definitely looking on the pissed side. "I know damn well that you have at least more than one empty room up there, and-"

Again, to no one's surprise, the innkeeper's eyes practically bulged out of his head. "Y-you! You're - you're a demon! I-"

"Great observation," Inuyasha spat, coming right up to him and crossing his arms. "Now are you gonna give us the damn room or not?!"

The little man gulped. "Y-yes, of course! Five silver! Yes, five silver! Th-that's all I'll be needing!"

The half-demon sniffed. "Now that's better." He allowed himself to stand aside as Miroku stepped up to pay the wretched man.

"Second floor, my friends!" he called out behind them as they went up the stairs. "Third door on the left!"

&&&&Y

"See? Just what I thought," Inuyasha snorted, throwing his pack down onto the dusty floor. "The room sucks, not to mention half of 'em on this floor are still empty tonight."

Miroku yawned. "Oh well, as long as we got our way, I suppose..." He looked around at everyone, grinning broadly. "Heh, did you see the way he wet himself when Inuyasha stepped out? Works like a charm every time!"

"Hmph!" Kagome sniffed, unpacking a few necessities from her bag. "I wish we wouldn't have had to stand and wait for five years, though!"

"You're all expecting too much from a merchant." Sango rolled her eyes, staring at the unmade beds in disgust. "Though I bet he wasn't lying about the number of guests he's been having." She sighed darkly. "Those whispers we've been hearing all week about that fishing town being destroyed...I bet they're true..."

Miroku looked up from riffling through his bag. "Not surprising, being the fact that we are so close to Naraku's castle," he said thoughtfully, wincing as his hard search only produced a half-eaten apple. "Dammit!" he exclaimed, throwing it on one of the beds, where Shippo promptly collected it. "We have not a crust of bread between us!"

"I suppose we ought to check whether or not the market's closed for the day yet," Sango said thoughtfully, opening the ratty window curtains to reveal the early evening sunshine filtering in from the west. "I'm sure that any food we could get here wouldn't exactly be savory..."

Kagome exhaustedly slumped down upon the hard, questionably-stained bedding with a low moan. "Well, you guys can go and get some food, but I'm too tired to even move! Just don't take a long time so that I die of hunger!"

A faint smile appeared upon Miroku's lips. "...I suppose we couldn't let you starve to death, Kagome, or we'd be having a definite problem with our goals." He looked around expectantly at the others. "Well, shall we go?"

Everyone murmured in agreement and within a minute Kagome was the only one left in the room. She, however, didn't really mind; getting up from the bed, she proceeded to rifle through her knapsack and eventually produced a dark, thick blanket (in fact, the same one she had worn during her precarious encounters with Inuyasha), putting that over all the covers so that she would not come into contact with those disgusting-looking stains. She shook her head ruefully. Inns in feudal Japan, they were all the same...dirty, smelly, and with a rather unsavory clientele...

Not to mention there was the approaching thunderstorm. She had noticed the clouds building all day, and now the distant rumble of thunder and the recent appearance of lightning illuminating the failing day signified that the dam was bursting at last. She had always been afraid of thunderstorms, especially when she was all alone...

She was beyond caring at this point, however. With four straight days of trekking through mountains, forest, and rocky plains, every waking moment seemed lately to have been spent in a complete daze. Not to mention that some nauseating stain and a little bit of thunder didn't even compare to what she'd probably be facing twenty-four hours from now...

They were very close, she knew. Not only did the bitter hints coming from her companions tell her so, but also the look of grimness on their faces with each passing second... They had been to Naraku's castle before, she knew, but that had been a few months after she had returned to the future, and she luckily had not been there to witness their humiliating defeat.

But what would stop them from being defeated this time?! Their only advantage was that they had a few Jewel Shards, and really, what difference did THAT really make in the end if they didn't have the rest? This had always been such a burden upon her shoulders, the thought of failing their quest... The future basically depended on her and her companions, and if there was one slip-up she possibly may not have a future to return to.

Of course, the alternative of actually REUNITING the Shikkon Jewel wasn't too tantalizing either, as she reminded herself for about the millionth time that day. What would happen when Inuyasha would make his wish and transform into a full-blooded demon? Would his fangs grow longer? Would his eyes turn from their gentle amber to that cold, blood red that most demons had? And there was more to be considered than just his external appearance... His mind would most likely change as well, his disposition changed to that of a demon's... She had met a few good demons, such as Shippo and Jinenji, but the evil ones definitely constituted the majority. How many times now had they been forced to fight for their lives because of some ambitious demon who wanted to attain the power of the Shikkon Jewel?

She sighed, nuzzling her head further into the pillow as she heard the distant boom of thunder. (Inuyasha, why won't you just SEE?! No matter how well-intentioned you might be now, it will corrupt you in the end! That Jewel is evil! Even if you wished for the most wonderful thing in the world, something bad would STILL happen! Don't you understand? Don't you see?...)

She inclined her head towards the dilapidated wooden door as it opened with a creak; it was only Inuyasha, who, seeing her lying on the bed, started and tried to shut it as quietly as he could. "It's all right," Kagome told him sullenly, sitting up. "I'm awake..."

"Oh," he replied shortly, immediately noticing the troubled look on her face. "...Hey, what's wrong?" he added, sitting down at the foot of the bed.

Something inside Kagome tightened as he asked her this, but she was determined to make voice of her worries. "Oh, nothing..." she lied, turning onto her side. "I just can't sleep very well sometimes, especially when I'm in the past..."

She shuddered as she felt his warm hand caress her side. "I think I could help you with that," he said huskily, drawing closer to rearrange her unruly locks.

She felt herself stiffen as one of his hands, edged with pointed claws, softly brushed the nape of her neck. "No...not now," she replied honestly.

He began to look even more worried. "...I'm not THAT bad at it, am I?"

She whirled upon him quickly. "NO, Inuyasha! For crying out loud..." she huffed frustratedly. "I'm tired and I'm stressed!" Frankly, considering what she had been thinking about earlier, the thought of doing anything sexual with Inuyasha made her stomach turn, as did the thought of doing it with him right on the stained bed in this shabby inn. Not to mention there was the whole thing with Naraku within perhaps hours...

Her ears perked up slightly when she thought she heard him mutter to himself vehemently, "Feh, women!"

He bounced up and fell in a jumble of limbs when the word "SIT!" rang through the air.

"Hey!" he gasped indignantly, sitting back up and glaring at her. "What was THAT for?!"

"Feh, men!" Kagome tutted, her mood taking an upward swing as her lips broadened into a smile. "They don't know WHEN to stop begging!" He blinked furiously as she tweaked his nose.

He let out a low growl of frustration. "Don't DO that!"

"Why not?"

He turned red. "Because - because when you move your smell gets overpowering!"

"And why should I worry about that?"

"Because if you don't then I probably will go to any means to get what I want," he murmured, his lips softly brushing the area just below her ear.

Kagome softened as she felt his wiry arms close in around her waist. "You've got way too much testosterone."

"Whatever THAT is," he retorted, craning his neck so that he could see her face. "Well, if you think I'm bad now, just wait till I go into heat."

For the first time in five days, Kagome managed to giggle. "OK, NOW you're pulling my leg," she shot back, rather amused. "I haven't even heard you MENTION going into heat before."

"Feh! The one time that you were around I purposely sent you home! Do y'think you'd want to be sticking around once I got a whiff of your scent?!"

"Mmmmm, perhaps not," she admittedly honestly as his grip tightened even more. "But I think I lucked out with you anyway, Inuyasha..."

"And why is that?..."

She turned slightly red. "Well, I always thought that if we DID have sex something weird would happen...you know, like you'd end up being abnormally large or have some weird fetish or something..."

"Fet-ish?"

Kagome rolled her eyes. "Oh, how can I explain it?" she muttered to herself, growing redder by the second. "Well," she began out loud, "to put it simply, it's something weird that you like very, very much..."

He scratched his nose. "Oh, that's what it is?"

"Yup."

"But I DO have one! For ramen!"

"No no, silly!" she giggled, imagining what a ramen fetish would entail. "That's totally wrong! A fetish is sexual, and even though you like ramen, I'm sure it doesn't go THAT far! Got it?"

Inuyasha certainly got it. And although the event had been totally unplanned, before she knew it they were both leaning towards one another, their lips touching softly-

"HA! I knew we'd catch you at some point!" a voice triumphantly exclaimed from the doorway.

Inuyasha and Kagome both groaned as the rest of their band all filed one-by-one into the room, all of whom had apparently been watching. They reddened immediately; other than Inuyasha spooning up to her around the fire at night and the odd, chaste peck on the cheek, the others had not actually witnessed them doing anything.

Kagome turned even redder when she saw the owner of the exultant voice, who was prancing around the room a little too excitedly. "You really ought not to wander off alone, Inuyasha, or we might come spying on you!" Miroku patted Inuyasha's shoulder roughly, narrowly missing an angry swipe from the half-demon. "Whatever made you think that you could slip away from us?!"

"I did NOT slip awa-" Inuyasha stalwartly began to protest, but it was then that Miroku turned on Sango, who had been quietly standing near the door.

"Sango-chan!" he moaned piteously, "WHY on earth did you push me like that?! Just two more minutes and we would have been seeing some serious action!"

Sango, as usual, gave him a glare that could have melted arctic ice. "Which is precisely why I pushed you, you pervert! I tell you," she huffed to the others, sitting on the bed, "that man's head is a permanent resident of the gutter!"

Miroku fell silent for a moment, but the whole group knew that they were in for it when his eyes lit up like a couple of overbright beacons. "Which of my heads, Sango-chan?"

Sango wasted no time with his unamusing sexual hijinks. SMACK!!

Inuyasha winced visibly and Kagome collapsed against him laughing when Miroku finally dared to get up from his cowering place on the dirty floor. On the monk's sheepish face there was the largest, reddest handprint that anyone had ever seen on him yet. "Did I say something wrong, Sango-chan?" he asked her mournfully, trying to crawl backwards out of her range.

Sango pursed her lips disapprovingly. "You sure did."

This long conversation probably could have gone on for at least another hour but for the fact that everyone suddenly heard a loud rustling coming from the corner of the room.

"SHIPPO!" Sango exclaimed indignantly, crossing over to it and pulling a rather ravenous little kitsune from the inside of their newly-acquired food bag. "You awful little thief! You've already eaten half the food that we bought!"

Shippo struggled vainly as Sango continued to dangle him in the air by the cuff of his tunic. "Well, if you wouldn't have been yelling and slapping and swearing at each other all this time then maybe you would have noticed!"

Eventually Sango let him go and they all set to what was left of the food in the rucksack, which consisted mostly of some coarse bread and a motley array of early-harvested fruits and vegetables. Everyone sat on the bed and set to the food (with the exclusion of Shippo, who got several angry glares from Sango whenever he chanced a paw near the bag), all of them a little disappointed at the food that Miroku and Sango had managed to hanagle from the late market.

"Feh! Where's the ramen when you need it?!" Inuyasha snorted, stuffing in a piece of bread.

"It's all sitting in Kaede's hut, where you said it would have to stay if I didn't want to carry it!" Kagome retorted, giving him a little shove in the side. "Honestly," she added to the others, "you'd think that I was going to be living at Kaede's, with all of the bags there and everything." She looked around the room indignantly. "He made me leave my jacket! My JACKET!"

Miroku raised an eyebrow. "It is late August, Kagome," he explained, kicking off his sandals. "The winter snows are not due for at least three months yet. And besides," he added slyly, patting Kagome's shoulder, "take this from a man: if it DOES get cold, he will most likely attempt other ways -er- in which to keep you warm."

"Not everyone's as perverted as you, monk," Inuyasha mumbled through an apple. "Not by a long shot."

"So what's Naraku's castle like?" Kagome asked, trying to change the subject.

Miroku laughed. "Well, obviously it is not a very nice place, Kagome, but seeing as you've never been there..." He cleared his throat. "The castle is situated on a cliff, protected on three sides by the ocean. It is old and crumbling, but the gates around it are practically impregnable."

Inuyasha laughed, his facial scar illuminated in the feeble candlelight. "It was luck that managed to get us in there last time; only God knows what we'll do now. Though I'm guessing that Naraku would want us to get in more than anything else..."

Sango laughed nervously. "Well, I suppose we'll cross that bridge when we come to it." She paused thoughtfully. "Though that would be tomorrow, wouldn't it? We're close---awfully close. In fact, I half remember this town the last time we passed through."

Miroku nodded. "I remember it as well." He stared at Inuyasha, on whose shoulder Kagome's head was leaning. "That was maybe a month or two after Kagome left---I've never seen Inuyasha so sulky!"

"You'll be the one sulking, monk," was the quiet reply, "when you'll be rubbing another wound if you don't shut it!"

Shippo's head poked out of the empty rucksack. "Can you guys keep it down?" he asked tiredly. "Geez, I find a place to sleep and you guys won't be quiet!"

Miroku scratched his head. "Heh, maybe we should take a leaf out of Shippo's book and call it a night," he said, getting off the bed and beginning to dig in his pack. "I cannot keep my eyes open for a moment longer, honestly."

Sango got up as well, helping Miroku with their bedding. "I agree with you for once." She turned around to smile at Inuyasha and Kagome. "You two can play the married couple and have the bed, stains and all."

Inuyasha looked confused. "Stains? What kind of sta-"

Kagome, turning red, shrieked out "SIT!" before he could finish his sentence. "Good night, Inuyasha!" she exclaimed to him warningly, turning over onto her side.

"But what are you talking about? Are they-"

"I SAID, good NIGHT!"

"But-"

"Good NIGHT!"

"Feh, women anyway! All right then...good NIGHT!"

The storm, now close, gave a resounding boom of thunder, but Kagome was no longer afraid. Snuggling up against his warm side, she buried her head into his shoulder, lulled to sleep by the sound of his beating heart.

Inuyasha snuggled back.

&(&(&)(##

It too was thundering in Kaede's village, and even more so. Lightning illuminated and gnashed angrily against the stormy clouds, spurred on by magnificent cracks of thunder that seemed as if they would rend the entire sky apart. It was a nasty storm to be sure, but also completely normal; the summer had been (and still was) a stormy one, one that often made the rice farmers go scurrying to their fields the next morning.

Thunderstorms were always a catalyst for anxiety for the adults of the village, but the opposite of so for the children. A night with a thunderstorm always meant a story

at Kaede's, a tradition that had developed over the years when a few of the parents noticed that the jumpy children often quieted down with the presence of a bright fire and a good yarn. Tonight was no exception, and the children gathered in hordes at Kaede's shrine, eager to know about what she would tell next. Kyoko was among them, though she was too young to understand what was going on; she sat next to Kaede wide-eyed, taking in everything around her.

"Tonight, children," Kaede began, emerging from the doorway and heading towards the hearth, "I am going to tell ye a story about the Jewel of Four Souls, also called the Shikkon Jewel, or even the Sacred Jewel."

"A jewel?" one of the little boys piped up. "Is it pretty?"

"It is," Kaede replied grimly, "though deceptively so. It is actually something very dangerous, especially if it falls into the wrong hands."

"But why?" the same boy asked her curiously. "What does it do?"

"It all started with the birth of a grand priestess named Midoriko, about five hundred years ago," Kaede explained softly to the children. "This priestess was probably one of the best ever known, and not even the demons trying to kill her could hold a candle to her." She cleared her throat. "In those days demons were even more common than they are now, and villagers like us often had to fight for their lives."

"Demons?" said a girl with pigtails. "Like Inuyasha?"

"Yes," the old woman replied, "though a good number of them were not so -should we say- as benign as Inuyasha (and he is only half of a demon!). At any rate, Midoriko hated demons, especially since one had killed her younger sister long ago. In turn, the demons hated Midoriko, since she had the power to kill them. She often traveled out of her hometown, traversing the lands in order to deal with any threatening demons. But one of those times, however-" -here her voice hushed to a mere whisper- "-one of those times her luck ran out and her power failed her."

"How so?" a fat little boy challenged her. "I thought she was the greatest priestess ever!"

Kaede cleared her throat again. "It was in the Kyobe region---in a cave that we now call the Cave of Four Souls. Midoriko had gone into it in order to deal with a ferocious viper that had been plaguing Kyobe for months---instead she found a trap. Surrounding her were hundreds upon hundreds of demons, some of them even fusing in order to increase their power."

A tense silence fell throughout the room, each child hanging on to her every word as she continued on with the story. "The battle continued on for days and days...but with no clear winner. But eventually one side had to succumb to the other, and Midoriko was the loser. In a last resort she attempted to gather all of her power and petrify all the demons; however, she used too much of it and petrified herself as well. She and the horde of demons stand there in the Cave of Four Souls to this day, as a testament to the battle that occurred there hundreds of years ago."

"But what about the Jewel?" the pigtailed girl asked her.

The old priestess smiled. "Patience, patience, I am getting to that, Makiko!" She cleared her throat. "Only one thing in the entire area was not petrified---and that was Midoriko's soul. So full of hatred for the demons was she that it could not take the long journey to the other world; instead it crystallized and pushed itself out of her body, waiting for the day that it could be used towards the eradication of all demons."

"But why?" another little girl sitting by the fire piped up. "There's got to be SOME good demons---aren't there?"

"Midoriko was a great and beautiful priestess, yet she was marred by hatred," Kaede explained calmly to the group. "And so upon her death she placed a great curse upon the Shikkon Jewel: unless held by hands deemed worthy of pursuing her goal, it would consume and eventually destroy its owner."

Now she held the attention of everyone; not only that of the children hanging on to her every word, but that of some of the parents standing in the doorway as well. "Thus began the Shikkon Jewel's tragic history. If held in the hands of someone who held similar goals to Midoriko (namely, destroying or restraining demons), the wish would be made without trouble; the Jewel would then most likely disperse, as Midoriko's soul could now be laid to rest. If held by evil, however, or even someone who did not wish to carry out her plan, her hatred and malice would grow; the Jewel would not only become more powerful and greater wishes could be made multiple times, but its owner would eventually succumb to its unfathomable darkness." She looked around at the wide-eyed audience, the thunder reaching its violent crescendo at the very moment that she paused. "Does the fact that the Shikkon Jewel still exists tell you that it never once has served its purpose? Time and time again weak-minded people have used it for their own betterment; they have only served to perish, taking their greed and ambition with them."

"Why did the demonslayers of Kyobe give it to us fifty years ago, then?" one of the elders at the doorway asked curiously. "I remember well how the Shikkon Jewel ended up plaguing our village with its snares."

Kaede shook her head sadly. "Yes, it is true that Kyobe had had the Jewel in its possession at least a hundred years beforehand, but it was working its deadly trap even upon them by that time. Given the village's bloody nature coupled with the fact that demons and humans were often grappled in deadly battle there, the Jewel was becoming unsettled after a long period of dormancy. The elder was quite afraid of the Jewel's unfriendly sheen, I remember, and entrusted it to my older sister Kikyo for purification." She laughed bitterly. "Unfortunately, though, it was even too much for my sister to purify, hence what happened here fifty years ago. It is strange that evil and bitterness can reside in the hearts of even the best and purest of us all, is it not?"

Eventually all of the children dispersed, yawning and stretching and feeling completely contented as they headed for the door of the shrine, some of them with their parents. Kaede continued to sit by the fire, watching them all leave, hers the only face in the entire village that showed any sign of worriment. She sighed as she fed the healthy fire with a few more logs, her thoughts towards the small group that was probably even now working its way towards Naraku's stronghold.

"Perhaps I should have told them the truth from the beginning..." she sighed, staring into the flames. "Inuyasha, Kagome, even Sango...none of them know the true purpose of the Jewel." She laughed bitterly. "Perhaps I had too high of an opinion of Inuyasha...or even perhaps I did not want to believe what would really happen."

"Humans...demons...gems...it is all getting too much for my tired old mind. Will Inuyasha have the strength to do the right thing...or will he too succumb to the Jewel's silent desires?"

A/N: !shakes head! I really hope I didn't create a plot hole in response to Kaede's story...

Laura: Of course! Inuyasha gets embarrassed and all defensive even if someone implies it in the anime! :) I hope I'll make everything believable in these upcoming battle chapters, especially since I opted to leave Kagura and Kanna out.

earthshine411: If you do check Dragonball Z out, do remember to bring your barf bag if you are watching the English version. The Japanese version makes sense and is good, but the English dub is arguably one of the worst anime dubs ever, especially in the early episodes. In fact, I burst into giggles whenever I watch it because the characters make all of these hilarious grunts and yells when they power up... 0o Yeah, I sound like a real geek now. Glad you liked the chapter! :)

Draechaeli: Yes, Miroku goes to great lengths to get his 'books'. :)

angelica incarnate: Glad you liked perverted Miroku! I'm sometimes worried that he gets a little TOO perverted in this fic. I'm balancing it out now, though; now he's going to get all serious during the final battle.

Also thanks to twidget, kagome, Neko no Baka, mels, inu and kag fan till death, sailor-saturn550, sess'snekofiregoddess, Suga-sweet-and-tasty, brigurl, inuyashaluv0528, x-cleverclaws-x, grand admiral chelli, rb8, Delonwethiel, Angel6582, and Mini Nicka.