Ten minutes later, they were all safe and sound at the top of the well, after Sango's wise decision to tell Shippo to transform into a normal human when the men above them were out of sight.

Once they were on the surface, one of the men quickly came, introducing himself as Sgt. Baker, and draped a service blanket over Kagome's shoulders, trying to protect her from the chill. Kagome wrinkled her nose at the heavy smell of sweat and exhaustion on the blanket, but it was warm, and she had absolutely no complaints about being warm. She murmured a quick "thank you", and with their ears tucked securely under their hair, Inuyasha and Kagome quickly ran over to a tree, Inuyasha looking thoroughly confused as he whispered in Japanese, his native and only language, "What the hell just happened back there!"

Kagome's eyes widened as she realized she was the only one who could speak or understand English, and from the look of the men's uniforms, this had to be the forties. Kagome whispered back to Inuyasha quickly, "I don't know, but one thing is for sure, don't talk to them… just tell me what you want to say and ill say it if I deem it appropriate." She rose, approaching the Sergeant once more, holding out her hand, "Hi, thank you so much for rescuing us Sgt… Baker, is it?" She asked, her accent very well hidden with her rigorous classes in English.

The man gave a small smile, his eyes smiling as he looked down at her, taking her hand gently and shaking, "Nice to meet you, this is Bravo platoon, Baker company, 502nd Airborne regiment. Welcome to the squad, ma'am…" Kagome noticed that he had a bit of a Midwestern draw to his voice, but she smiled, putting that in the back of her mind for later. Baker took a look at the new comers, "What you guys headed to, anyway? The USO Circus?" he asked, nodding to their strange clothing, especially the silver haired man that stood before him, looking rather tense.

Kagome gave a small smile as she waved her hand, "If I told you, you really wouldn't believe me…" she added, giving a small laugh, trying to relieve the tightness building in her stomach from nerves of being found out, and if they were, what would happen to them.

Baker's eyes suddenly narrowed, his brown eyes boring into her amber ones, "Try me…" he said, almost in a growl. He had been trained to get every scrap of intelligence he could. In war, intelligence could save soldiers lives, and he didn't want to be responsible for more letters going home to break mother's hearts and families apart just because he didn't ask enough questions.

Inuyasha's nose twitched, and his eyes widened. "Shit… Kagome's fear scent just spiked… just act normal, be passive, don't talk…" he whispered to himself mentally, closing his eyes and taking deep breaths, then opened them, getting a good look at his surroundings, noticing that every single one of the men around them was staring either at Kagome or himself. He gulped once, he hated being stared at like that…

Kagome stuttered, eyes widened a bit as she let an ear flick out of her hair delicately, "lets just say, that's a secret I'd like to keep," her voice had become silky smooth as she spoke, her pupils becoming cat-like slits.

The man before her jumped a full five feet backward, landing on his ass, then scrambled back up, snow and dirt falling from his pants. "Wh… what the hell are you!" he stammered, staring at her now, his Thompson already leveling to his shoulder, the muzzle pointed right in her face.

Kagome stared blankly down the barrel of the weapon. She could smell the sulfurous scent of the gunpowder from its previous firing, and it was a very powerful smell, indeed. It made her want to throw up, but she held it down, her face void of color as she looked up at him with fearful eyes. "L… look… I… I mean you no harm… just…" she paused, her ears twitching, then swiveled around to face the east side of the clearing at the well. "Some people are coming… I can hear their voices…" she whispered, then ran for cover, hiding under one of the stone walls at the west end of the clearing, ducking down.

Baker raised an eyebrow, "I don't hear nothing… what're you talkin' about?" He said skeptically, but made his way to one of the walls to the north, quickly pointing to Squad Alpha and setting them up around Kagome's position at the west side of the clearing, then put bravo squad at his point at the north wall, their guns bristling from them as Baker waved to the four others, and they quickly ran to their position. Baker watched the woman running as fast as she could, her belly sticking out in the frilly garment she was wearing, it was obvious to Baker that she was with child. The man behind her was dressed in purple and black robes and carried what seemed to be a dangerous staff with six rings on the golden crown, three on each blade of the vicious looking headpiece. The other silver haired individual ran quicker than the rest, in the lead with what seemed to be a young man on his back, dressed in a small, frilly garment just like the woman's.

Squad Alpha, consiting of O'Malley, Haverson, and Nash were ready and waiting, whispering in soft voices, "Do you have any idea what the hell is going on?" Nash asked, looking up from the sight of the M1 Garand he was carrying over at O'Malley and Haverson to his right. They both shook their heads and O'Malley reached up and put a finger to his lips, telling Nash to be quiet. Nash quickly did so, returning to his sight and watched and waited.

A sickly silence was falling upon the small position as they watched, waited, and listened. The silence was dented by the soft sound of voices, harsh and guttural, and soft chortling. Baker's eyes widened, as he turned to look at the Kagome, seeing her already pointing to a point to his right, making him swivel his Thompson to the right just as the enemy was becoming visible, their bodies concealed by the shrubbery and trees as they passed, coming along across their field of view, obviously headed in the direction of Bastogne. Their voices were a little bit more boyish than those of the crack grenadiers, so they had probably come across some reserves, the young boys and old men who seemed to be visiting them with more and more frequency, showing their lack of battlefield skill with their sloppy tactics.

One of them stopped, looking towards their position, but must not have seen the silver grey of the gunbarrels pointing right at them, and saw the well, because the man gave a smile and called something to the men behind him, then pointed to the well.

Baker held up his hand, the universal sign for holding fire. "Let's just see what they do…" Kagome heard him murmur to himself. She was anxious, her ears already tucked into her hair, ready for the eruption of noise that was probably about to ensue as the young squad leader walked into the clearing from the south, looking anxious about something, the rest of his squad holding behind the shrubline. "Pretty admirable… but very stupid" Baker murmured once more.

The young man had his MP40 at his side as he walked slowly forward, trying to be cautious. "Good" he though, "No damn Americans around…. Let's see if we can get a canteen fill." He walked quickly over to the well and gave a look, then reached for a stone, tossed it up and down twice in his palm, then dropped it down into the well, listening for a splash. As he leaned down to listen, he saw a glint of light to his left, then his eyes widened as he saw the green helmet in his view. He sprung away from the well, screaming, "Kontakt Link! Kontakt Link!" as he ran back as fast as his legs could carry him. Then the clearing erupted in explosions, along with two consecutive yelps of pain and fear as the two half dog demons cowered, claws slammed down on their ears, trying to keep their eardrums from exploding.

Baker called, "That's it, boys! Get 'em!" as he pounded his fist at them in the signal to open fire, "GIVE 'EM HELL!"

It was over before it had even started. The forest before them was strewn with white and gray bodies, contorted in what seemed to be impossible positions, blood pooling at random points on the ground below them. The soldiers gave a whoop of glee as O'Malley rose from his position, only to take a bullet to the shoulder after a sharp clap of a rifle and the smack of the bulled against his flesh sounded in Kagome's ear. "FUCK! I'M HIT!" He screamed, gripping his shoulder with a vice grip as his uniform's shoulder was quickly reddening. The man in purple quickly got up and ran as fast as he could, kneeling next to him in an instant, pulling out a large leather pouch from within his robes, a hand on the wounded man's chest, and he suddenly became calm, his cries becoming smaller and smaller until they were down to moans of pain. Baker was amazed, he had never seen or heard of anything like this…

Miroku opened the pouch and looked at each of the herbs he had, finding the one for deep wounds and heavy bleeding. He pinched the powders onto the wound, and the bleeding suddenly ceased. Kagome turned and quickly gave Miroku the blanket she had been wearing. He draped it over the wounded man, "Take it easy, young man… you're going to be alright," He said softly in his native tongue, making him give an odd face of non comprehension.

Nash turned to Haverson, "Hey! Does that guys jibberish sound like Nip to you?" he asked, looking over them. "Now that I think of it… they are all Nips…" he growled to himself, the radio broadcast of December 7, 1941 playing over and over in his head. He hated them for what they did, what they did to those unsuspecting sailors. He turned suddenly, his M1 Garand trained on Miroku's head as he leaned over the wounded O'Malley, finger on the trigger, but Haverson was on him as quick as a rabbit, using his hand and slamming his palm underneath the muzzle of the rifle, throwing his aim as he pulled the trigger, the loud "PTHOT!" of the rifle sounding in the quiet trees, then silence. "CANT YOU SEE! THAT'S A NIP! THEYRE ALL NIPS! EVERY ONE OF THEM!" He yelled at the top of his lungs, seething with rage and anger.

Miroku felt his hair suddenly getting a clip as the round whizzed past his head with a loud "ZIP!". He fell backwards, looking up at the man who had fired the shot as he was tackled to the ground by Haverson, who quickly separated the man from his rifle.