A/N: We're going to hurt you if you make us say this again. Sigh FINE! We don't own Inuyasha. Cries in corner
Jade: -Glares at new character over shoulder- I still don't see why you had to introduce him.
Kayla: -Sighs in frustration- JADE! Why don't you just wait and read the chapter when I'm finished? Then you'll see.
Jade: I don't know. …-Eyes the new character again-
Uotu: -Flashes her a devilish smile- I must not be so horrible if you can stare a hole through me.
Kayla: -Rolls eyes and looks back at Uo with a warning look; eeps when she realizes he's still wearing the clothing he's introduced in- UO! Go to dad's room and borrow some jeans and a shirt. We can't have you running around half-naked…and in hakama, no less.
Uo: -Pouts- You're no fun.
Jade: Meh…do what the creator says, baka.
Uo: Grr…I'll get you for that later.
Kayla: -Chuckles as she types- Indeed, you will.
- - -
Jade followed Miroku out of the camp and onto a small hill not far away. Feeling a bit overwhelmed by the sudden realization that she had family but unwilling to let it show, she nonchalantly asked, "What's on your mind?"
Miroku gave her an exasperated look. "Jade, please don't act like this means nothing to you."
She sighed and crossed her arms over her chest. "I don't know how to act," she admitted softly. "I've been on my own so that readjusting to people isn't an easy thing. And family? That's completely foreign to me."
He took her hand and sat down, making her sit next to him. "I understand better than you think I do," Miroku assured her quietly. "Now, you said our mothers were cousins. I know the story of your mother's disappearance very well. I never dreamed she had been taken by a demon. From what I understand, the entire village thought she'd been killed by a centipede demon that terrorized them. My own father killed it with his Wind Tunnel."
Silent tears slipped down Jade's cheeks, but she turned from him so he wouldn't see her weakness. Clearing her throat, she said, "Kenshi—my father—always told her and, after she died, me that the entire village had been killed by a demon. He made sure we believed we had nothing to run to." She smiled sadly. "But I still got away."
Miroku put his arm around her shoulders and pulled her close, saying, "It must have been terrible for you."
Regaining some of her previous attitude, Jade shrugged and laughed. "No worse than anybody else had it!"
Miroku sighed again, but didn't reply. If she didn't want to talk, he wouldn't push her. He worried about her, though. Obviously, there was more to the story than she was telling.
Finally, he asked, "Why don't we go back to camp? It's probably not safe for us here."
She nodded and rose, leading the way back. As they entered the camp, Inuyasha glanced at them irritably. He was steaming about something.
Almost immediately he demanded, "When do you change, cat? I wanna know when I have to protect you in your human form."
Jade gritted her teeth, causing her fangs to break the skin of her bottom lip. Miroku placed a hand on her shoulder before she could grab a dagger. She relaxed instead, laughing quietly.
"What makes you think you'll be protecting me, mutt? It might be the other way around."
The dog demon snorted. "Not likely. I don't need anybody's help!"
Miroku rolled his eyes, bidding the two demons goodnight. Both of them ignored him. Jade got up in Inuyasha's face.
Sneering, she questioned, "So, when do you change, dog?"
He pulled back slightly, yelling, "That's none of your business! Besides," he turned and stared coolly at her from over his shoulder, crossing his arms, "I asked you first."
Fuming, she pulled her chopsticks out of her hair and smacked him on the nose. He went cross-eyed for a moment before covering his injured nose with his hand.
"What's your problem!" His voice was nasally and his eyes were watering.
Jade shrugged, replacing the chopsticks in her hair. "Amazing what you can blame on PMS." In reply to his questioning look, she said, "I heard Kagome say it."
Just then, Khira called out, "God! You two are such children!"
Jade and Inuyasha jumped and turned to look at the women. Sango nodded in agreement. A huge smile split the girl's face as she watched the injured dog and the triumphant lynx slowly blush.
"How long have you been standing there?" Inuyasha demanded loudly.
Khira smiled as she informed him, "Since you got smacked on the nose, you naughty puppy."
Just as Inuyasha launched himself at the panther, Kagome rolled over and groaned at being woken up. "Sit, boy," she whispered before rolling back over.
He fell face first in the dirt. After a good laugh, the three women went to bed, leaving Inuyasha to his own devices. He eventually got up and went to keep watch over the group, mumbling as he went. He didn't budge from his spot in the tree until the next day rolled around and the group set about travelling again.
The days soon turned into weeks. The group had fallen into a fairly redundant pattern. Search for Naraku, avoid the saimyosho, fight demons for jewel shards, sleep, and then do it all over again.
Inuyasha sniffed the ground desperately. His demon powers were starting to weaken already. He cursed the fact that he was only a half-demon.
Jade noticed that Kagome's eyes were filled with worry. "What's wrong?" She asked of the young woman.
Kagome sighed before answering, "You'll see soon enough."
Jade crinkled her nose at the unintended mysticism and watched the horizon. She groaned inwardly when the sun dipped toward the line of the land, painting the sky orange and red. It was going to be a long night.
"Maybe we should make camp," Kagome suggested quietly.
The lynx demon hurriedly agreed. The group worked together and soon had a fire going. Kagome set up a pot to boil water for their dinner—Ramen noodles. Both Jade and Khira had discovered that they loved the strange food.
Jade stopped suddenly, staring as the sun finally set. The entire group gasped as she transformed in front of them. Her curly black hair turned a dark red with a few blonde highlights laced through. Her claws, fangs, and ears disappeared, leaving her as a human. She stared at everybody through fearful jade green eyes. They were the only things that hadn't changed.
Kagome's mouth was wide open. The lynx had never let on that she transformed on the night of the new moon. This would prove to be interesting.
Shippo broke the silence. With wide eyes, he exclaimed, "Jade, you look really pretty!"
The compliment made her blush and mumble, "No, just same old me."
Inuyasha grunted before saying, "If you ask me, she looked better as a demon."
Jade turned to glare at him. Her retort caught in her throat when she laid eyes on him. In the commotion following her transformation, she had missed his!
His long, previously silver, hair was now as black as Kagome's. His eyes were violet and glaring angrily at her in the moonlight. His ears, claws, and fangs had also disappeared to leave him with human features.
"You change on the night of the new moon, too!" Her voice was shrill and angry.
He shrugged. "So?"
Her eyes narrowed as she answered, "So?You've been buggin' me about when I change for the past two weeks! All you've said was how you had to protect two more people."
"Well, it doesn't look like you're any help tonight either!" He shot back at her.
Jade felt her temper rising. She slowly reached up and pulled her chopsticks out of her hair. "Do I need to teach you another lesson, Mange?"
Inuyasha tensed as she called him the infuriating pet name. "Bring it on, cat!" He unsheathed Tetsusaiga and charged her.
Jade laughed at his clumsy attack and easily sidestepped, bringing her chopsticks down on the back of his head. The rest of the group watched in wide-eyed shock as this happened.
Finally, Kagome had had enough of their petty fighting. She growled and yelled, "Inuyasha! Sit, boy!"
He fell face first, creating an impression in the ground from his fall. When the spell had worn off, he looked up angrily, shouting, "What'd you do that for! She," he pointed to the lynx, "started it!"
Miroku shook his head and chided his cousin. "Really, Jade. You shouldn't let him anger you so easily."
She crossed her arms over her chest, giving him a petulant look. "He annoys me. I can't help it."
Kagome sighed. "There's a stream a little way from camp. Why don't we go take a bath?"
Sango and Khira agreed immediately. Jade did so reluctantly, her eyes wide and slightly glazed. This wasn't lost on the other women.
Khira took her hand and led her to the stream. "What's wrong?" The panther questioned her quietly.
Jade shook her head. "It's nothing."
Khira shrugged, letting it go. They were at the stream and she really wanted a bath. She released Jade's arm and began to undress.
Sango and Kagome followed suit. The three women slid into the water. Jade still hesitated.
Sango called out to her, "Come in! It feels nice."
Jade tried to smile, but couldn't quite bring it to her lips. "Maybe I'll skip it," she informed them before quickly walking away. Her eyes burned with angry tears as she made her way into the woods, but she kept them locked inside.
The truth behind her refusal to bathe with the other women lay in the shame she felt for her body. Her back, breasts, stomach, and upper legs were covered in large scars. What hurt most was the fact that her own father's claws and favorite weapon, the cat-of-nine-tails, had inflicted them.
Unwillingly, she was sucked into a memory that, for being four years old, was still fresh as ever. She threw a dagger toward a moving target—a human girl abducted from a nearby village—hesitantly. She didn't want to hurt the girl.
Her dagger missed, sailing past the girl's head to land in front of her. The small human shrieked and kept running, putting on a new burst of speed. Her labored breaths sang loudly through the mountain clearing.
Kenshi cuffed Jade, his claws digging into her back. "Unless you want to be my next moving target, you will finish her," he growled in a deadly tone.
Jade stared up into his hard, identical jade green eyes. Her fear consumed her, eating away her ability to move her muscles. The threat hung between them for a full minute before a loud "oomph" echoed back to them and broke the spell.
Jade lifted her head to see that her target had tripped over her own two feet and lay sprawled on the ground. She lay there only a moment before getting to her feet and continuing on in a limping run. The half-demon watched her in awe. Would she have the strength to keep going if it she was in that girl's place and it was her father chasing her?
She winced when her father smacked her again, his claws digging furrows across her shoulder. She wailed inwardly when she realized the truth. She would never have the strength to escape her father. She would never be able to exhibit as much bravery as the human girl in front of her would.
"Yes," she whispered brokenly. "I'll finish it."
She drew another dagger and threw it. It whistled through the air, coming to rest two hundred feet away in the skull of the target. The girl took another few steps, her body not realizing that her brain was dead, before she collapsed in a heap.
Her father made a rumbling sound of approval in his chest, jerking his daughter's downcast face up to his. "Well done," he complimented her with a feral grin.
His compliment was followed by a slash to her stomach with his claws. As she fell on the ground, curling into a ball, he pulled his cat-of-nine-tails from his waist and uncurled it slowly. He savored the look of fear that came into her eyes as she anticipated the crack of the weapon against her skin.
She pulled herself away from the memory forcefully. She didn't want to remember his punishments. Those memories only made it harder to hold back her tears. Tears only caused more pain. She had learned to lock her pain and tears away years ago. A mere memory wasn't going to break her control!
Swearing, she pulled out a dagger and launched it into a tree. Another and another followed it until all her knives were bunched together in the same spot. She then threw her shurikens. Each one was off the mark.
"You're releasing them too late," somebody said from behind her.
She spun around in shock, silently cursing herself for not paying attention. She had never seen the demon in front of her before. This made her uneasy. She had no weapons left unless she counted her chopsticks, but they were virtually useless on anyone besides Inuyasha.
She shifted warily, studying the demon. He was extremely tall, reaching 6'4" or 6'5", and his hair was dark. She couldn't make out the exact color with her mostly night-blind human eyes.
His eyes were black, filled with interest as he studied her as well. He seemed to be a cat demon also, but it was hard to tell because thick shadows covered half of his body.
He was shirtless and only wore black hakama. His chest glistened with water drops. He must have been bathing as well.
Her eyes snapped back up to his face suddenly. "Who are you?" She asked sullenly, realizing that he was smiling at the way she had studied him.
His fangs gleamed under the starlight as his grin widened. He came out of the darker shadows, dropping his gear next to him. The sound of clinking metal—the sound of many weapons touching each other—rang out in the silence.
"I'm Uotu," he informed her. "You can call me Uo." After several seconds, he raised an eyebrow, prompting her to say something.
She didn't see the look, but complied finally nonetheless. "Jade," she said simply. They stood in silence for a few more minutes before she finally demanded, "What do you want?"
He didn't answer. Instead, he asked, "You know you're trespassing on my territory, right?"
She brushed a loose strand of hair out of her face, shrugging. "We're only passing through." She tried to sound haughty and nonchalant, but her voice quaked slightly.
He took another step forward, but Jade stepped backward, maintaining the distance. He chuckled. "Poor little lynx, all alone in the woods. No friends nearby."
Jade's mouth fell open. "How did you know?"
"I saw you transform."
Her composure broke. She turned and ran to the tree where her knives were buried. As her hand grasped the hilt of one, she found herself pinned bodily against the tree.
"Let me go!" She roared as he gently touched her hair.
He spun her around, his eyes full of mischief. She jerked against his grasp, but his demon strength was much too great.
"You know," he said in a deep voice, "if you release that shuriken half a second earlier, it'd hit the mark every time."
She didn't say anything, just looked up at him fearfully. In her human form, pinned to a tree, she was at his mercy. She didn't like the feeling, it reminded her too much of her father. Somehow, she managed to keep herself mildly calm and remained still.
He leaned in and kissed her lightly. She stiffened as his mouth touched hers. His tongue ran across her lips, sending little shivers through her. She relaxed against him, but he chuckled and pulled away. He grabbed his gear and disappeared into the darkness.
He called out from the darkness, "Goodnight, Jade."
She hurriedly gathered her weapons, stashing them in her clothing, before going back to camp. The entire way there, she replayed the last few moments with Uo. That had been her first kiss.
- - -
Kayla: -Laughs hysterically at the look of outrage on Jade's face-
Jade: If you weren't the creator…
Uo: -Slips arm around Jade's waist- Oh, come on. You know you liked it.
Jade: -Punches Uo and pouts- Come on, Creator. This isn't funny!
Kayla: The fans adore Uo, Jade. I'm a slave to their will.
Amanda: -Sits up on the futon where she's writing- You're weird.
Kayla: Meh…go back to writing before I get the combat boot.
Khira: -Comes upstairs with a water gun and sprays everyone, laughing maniacally- REVENGE IS MINE!
Jade and Uo: -Exchange a predatory glance before chasing after Khira-
Khira: EEP! Creator, help me!
Amanda: Sorry, I'm writing. Suck it up.