My apologies for the delay in updating. They've practically doubled my hours at work, so didn't have as much time. . . plus other things. Anyway, after I got Dark-Huntress's review this morning, I simply couldn't not update. That, and I finished the chapter last night.

I got so many reviews that to respond to everyone individually like I usually do for all my stories would've taken up too much space. Sorry guys. However, I will answer a few questions that popped up:

First off, I already have a general plot for this story and there will be no romance in it. So sorry to everyone who was hoping for a Kagome pairing. Besides, she'll have to go back to Japan when everything's over anyway, because she still Naraku to fight (talk about long-distance relationship: several thousand miles and 500 years!). Also, I think she's still quite attached to Inu Yasha. If she was going to pair up with any of the HP boys though, I think she'd be more inclined to pair up with Harry rather than Draco. A friend of mine described her once as having "damsel in distress syndrome" and Harry has "hero syndrome" . . . so I think they'd suit each other very well. ;p

Secondly, thanks to everyone who helped with the demon energy/aura thing. Unfortunately there were five or six of you and every one of you said something slightly different. So it didn't really help per say, but it did get me off my ass and made me look up the term. I spent several hours trying to find this on the internet and watched several of the subtitled episodes I have at home and here's the verdict: it's spelt jyaki (incidently, not one of my reviewers got that one right, lol). It literally means "wicked energy" and it's the magical energy surrounding a demon, like a malicious, demonic aura. It can also be translated as "miasma" or "nauseating fume."

My thanks to ear-tweak. com, where I finally found that little bit of info.

Any other questions you guys had will probably be answered in this chapter. Or in the next one, but a lot of them in this one.

Thanks to everyone who reviewed, you make me want to continue this: krissy, Ame-Atsume, kireishi-chan, Geasa17, Evil Toilet Paper, nunofyorbiz, storywriter10791, Skye, Aria-Chan, Shadowed Rains (yeah, computers can be a real pain sometimes, can't they? lol!), inuyashas hun, Fuji the Hobbit, Moonjava, emalee, Wytil, lala-girl27, and, of course, Dark-Huntress.

Disclaimer: I don't own any of this.

A Clash of Cultures

Chapter 4 - The Magical Cat

Once again, Kagome was confused.

Harry had a hand to his forehead, at about the spot where Kagome guessed she had noticed the scar earlier, his face contorted in pain. His two friends and Cho were huddled around him, asking what was wrong. They also kept asking about someone . . . although they never actually said a name, just kept asking about "you-know-who" as if they didn't want anyone else to know who they were talking about.

Draco was staring at the group, his face several shades whiter than it had been before.

Kirara growled. Kagome looked down at her and nodded: it was time to go. After all, chances were she was the only one with any powers to fight the demons.

'Although, they can all do magic,' she reasoned, 'so maybe they do know how to fight demons. But I don't have time to explain what's going on. But Draco already knows! And he figured out that I'm a miko, so he must know something about demons. He might be able to help!'

She grabbed Draco by the arm and began dragging him away, towards the jyaki.

"Come on," she said, "they're almost inside the park. We have to stop them!"

Draco allowed himself to be dragged for a bit, until he realized what Kagome was talking about.

"Wait, hang on a bloody minute!" He yelled and tore his arm from her grasp. "That's the Dark Lord you're rushing off to face!"

She never got the chance to answer. Blood-curling screams pierced the stillness of the park. Kagome's eyes widened. They were too late. The demons were in the park.

"Kirara," she looked at the two-tailed cat and pointed up, above the park, "we need to get above them."

"Kagome, Kirara's a cat, how in Merlin's name. . . ?" Draco gaped as a huge fireball suddenly encased his beloved pet. Then the fire disappeared and an enormous sabertooth tiger stood in Kirara's place. It roared once and then looked at the two humans expectantly.

"Draco," Kagome looked at him and smiled, "I would like for you to meet Kirara's demon form."

"Her. . .her what!"

"Kirara is a cat demon."

With that, she jumped up onto Kirara's back.

"Well, are you coming?" she asked impatiently. Draco absently nodded and slowly climbed up behind Kagome.

The second he was seated, Kirara leaped into the air. Draco watched as the ground got further and further away and suddenly he realized they were flying.

"I have a cat that can fly. And is a demon," he muttered under his breath, "and I'm finding this out now!"

Kagome paid no attention to him. Instead she stared intently at the jyaki ahead of them; she could feel it reaching out to her, trying to encase her soul in a bubble of despair. The closer they got to the demons, the stronger she felt its pull. It was different than that of any demon she'd encountered before. She mentally shook off the feeling of hopelessness and concentrated on ignoring the images of her unconscious friends and a red-eyed Inu Yasha.

Draco stiffen behind her. She turned around to see what was wrong.

"I can feel them now," he whispered and when his eyes met hers, Kagome saw fear in them.

"You know what they are," she stated. Draco nodded.

"They're dementors."

Kagome shrugged; she'd never heard of a dementor demon before. She figured they must be native to England. For a moment she wondered, if her magic would even work on them.

'Well, there's only one way to find out,' she decided, 'besides, I can't let those demons kill the people in the park.'

As she looked down she saw people fleeing in terror. It was odd seeing modern-day people with strollers and CD players instead of villagers from Feudal Japan, with the odd pitchfork or other farming tool they were holding when they were attacked and forgot to put down.

Then she caught her first glimpse of the demons.

"Kirara, stop!" she commanded, knowing that her friend would forgive her rudeness.

Kirara did as she was told and hovered above the treetops as Kagome surveyed the scene on the ground.

The dementors, as Draco called them, were unlike any demon she had ever seen. First of all, they had a humanoid shape and were covered by a dark gray hooded cloak. The most she could glimpse of the creatures themselves was a couple of skeletal hands peaking out of the long robes they wore. The jyaki they emanated was incredibly strong and as she noticed several people curled up on the grass, she realized it was probably meant to paralyse or cripple their victims.

One of the English demons knelt down to a heavy-set man. Kagome felt a slight shift in the jyaki and suddenly she could see the man's soul. It shone for a moment, before dimming again and moving up his body. It disappeared. The light of a soul shone inside the demon for an instant, before going out completely.

Kagome gasped in horror when she realized what had just happened.

"The light," she said, "they take the light from a person."

"What?" Draco asked confused, but then saw what Kagome was looking at. "Oh, you mean the soul? Yes, dementors suck the soul out of a human being. It's called a Dementor's Kiss."

"Kiss?"

Draco shrugged. Then something new caught his attention.

"Looks like the aurors are here," he pointed out, "guess that means we can leave then. 'Cause I'm not much good with a Patronus. . ."

Kagome looked back to the ground. Several new figures had suddenly appeared. All of them were dressed in strange-looking robes and were pointing sticks at the demons. She assumed they were sorcerers like Draco and her cousin.

She sat back and watched, honestly curious as to just how those pathetic-looking sticks could be used as weapons. She heard them shout something and a slivery-white smoke emerged out of the sticks, morphing into animal shapes that ran at the demons.

The dementors shrieked and Kagome felt a chill go down her spine. It was a horrible, bone-chilling sound. She frowned however, when she noticed that none of them were destroyed, only scattered.

There was another chorus of shouts from the sorcerers and more animals charged into battle. But yet again, they disintegrated before they did any real damage.

"What are those baka's doing?" she asked out loud. "They're driving them back into the city!"

From her position, she could see some of the dementors changing direction, part of the group heading towards the palace, some trying to circle around the sorcerers from the side and the rest heading back towards the populated streets of London.

"What are you talking about?" Draco asked. "The Patronus charm is the best defence against dementors."

"But it's not doing anything!" She gestured at the scene. "It's not destroying them, only sending them off in three different directions."

"Hmm. . . so it is."

"Kirara, could you get closer, please?" Kagome asked and Kirara immediately responded, knowing through years of experience what the best aiming distance was for the miko sitting on her back.

Kagome slid an arrow out of her quiver and brought her bow up to eye level. Carefully she aimed at the group of dementors who were now crossing the street, heading towards a small cafe and souvenir shop. She concentrated on the wood she was holding in her hands, feeling her powers wrap themselves around the arrow.

She let go and her arrow sliced through the air.

Yes, I'm aware that cliffhanger's evil. And that the chapter is really short: from now on, the chapters will be rather short, because the action's picking up.

Anyway, please review! Proper motivation may get the next chapter up in just a couple of days. ; )