Hello again. Thank you Charlie for reviewing. You were the only one so yeah. Thanks buddy, lol. Anyways sorry for the long wait between updates but I am not sure any one really cares cuz I am not getting feedback and I am gonna assume you guys don't think this story is worth reading. But enough of my moping this in for friend. Enjoy!

Disclaimer: I don't owe Inuyasha...if I did I would bitch-slap Kikyo until she cried...(aren't i evil?)

Chapter Three: Mind Games

"What is your business here?"

"I am looking for the priestess Kaiaya."

"What would you know of this priestess?" Kai asked, her voice surprising light. If Kiyoshi wasn't so captivated by Kai he would have noticed the looks of discomfort in the rest of the gang. Chandra observed them from lowered eyelashes and marked their expressions. She didn't make a sound and pretended to be oblivious. But she made a quick mental note, and she going to tell Kiyoshi later...

"That is a secret. I must speak to the priestess herself." Kiyoshi stated. Kai snorted. This guy had a lot of nerve, she thought, rathering admiringly than irritated.

"How would you know when you found the priestess? Do you know what she looks like?" Kai asked. The rest of the gang openly stared at the two bickering back and forth.

Kiyoshi eyed her suspiciously. Chandra shifted postion to distract Kiyoshi's attention on the young priestess. He looked at Chandra who directed her eyes at Kai and raised her eyebrows. He nodded at her with a sly grin.

"You know her don't you?"

Kai nearly whacked him across the head. Her infamous temper was rising and she needed to find a constructive outlet before she murdered the man on the spot. She was feed up with this mind game! "Look, fool-!" She began.

"It's Kiyoshi," he added polietly. Kai let out a deep sigh fo frustration. "And your name must be Kaiaya."

Kai flinced. "But then-."

"It's fun to mess with people." He commented. Inuyasha growled and drew the Tetusagia (sp?) and pointed it at his throat.

"What do you want with Kai?" He demanded slightly harsh. Kiyoshi was obiviously taken back by the demonic blade at his throat but didn't answer his question. Chandra rolled her fuchisa eyes at the boldness of her companion.

"Please, sir," She said rising to her fullest height, which was still considerably short. Chandra stood between the sword and Kiyoshi. Inuyasha looked at the girl with mixed surprise. "Don't punish my friend for his foolishness." Kiyoshi glared down at her. "He doesn't know when to quit."

Everyone looked at Chandra and kiyoshi. Inuyasha sensing no danger lowered his sword. The wounded men moved slightly. "Why didn't you kill them? Kai asked Kiyoshi. He swallowed and looked at Chandra and looked back Kai. She nodded in understanding. He cared deeply for the girl. "You have my attention what do you need?"

"Can we go somewhere else?" Kiyoshi pleaded. Kai looked at the menacing villagers readying their weapons for a much desired second round. The priestess nodded. The group filed out and Kai lingered to talk with the two.

They were sitting in the priestess's hut in the center of the village. Kiyoshi and Chandra were sitting on mats and had food prepared in front of them. They were talking with Kai, Kagome, and Kaede, the priestesses. Inuyasha was outside listening in but nobody seemed to care. Just as long he didn't barge in. The two travelers were at ease and Chandra was getting tired. She had rested her head on Kiyoshi's shoulder.

Kai was almost sure they were related but their scents were completely different. Kagome had been wondering the same thing, granted she couldn't smell them like her husband and daughter could. But it was Kaede who asked. "I understand you are traveling companions but are you related?"

Kiyoshi said. "No. Her father was the best servant to my mother the demon queen Shinsora. She has always been like a sister to me."

"Your mom is a demon queen?" Kai asked shocked.

"Was," he said bitterly. "Shinsora was the queen of the Northern Lands. She was known as the Ice Queen because of her elemental pedant that gave her the power to freeze anything solid."

"An elemental pedant? How she get one of those?" Kagome asked. Kiyoshi shrugged.

"I am not sure, she never said."

"What happened to her?" Kai asked concerned.

"She was murdered." He said his unqiue eyes blazing in hate. "By a demon named Naraku."

Kagome, Kai, and Kaede gasped. Chandra looked up. Kai realized that it was her that let Naraku get away. She lowered her head in shame. This was her fault.

"Naraku was no doubt after the pendant." Kagome said in a hollow voice.

Kai's head was swimming as she thought about Naraku. She had nursed him to health when he was still Katsuo, and now he was wrecking havoc. If she had left him to die, there maybe this nightmare wouldn't have happened.

"Kai," Kiyoshi said. Her jerked out of her trance and looked into his pleading eyes. "I need you to help me destroy him."

Numbly, she nodded. She was going to fix the mistake she made, before it cost more people their lives.

Naraku frowned as he stared at a familiar silver mirror. It use to belong to Kanna, the demon of the nothingness and his first offspring. He felt a twinge of regret knowing that without her, the magic reflective glass was useless. He wasn't sure what happened to her or the damnable traitor Kagura. He snarled at the thought of the rebel. He wasn't going to deny that he needed the extra help to complete him ultimte revenage. Without the power of the Jewel he couldn't create new demons but with the help of his new assistant, he had control over lesser demons.

He smiled as he thought of his new minion. Although she was mortal, she had the power over illusions and mind-control. She was the going to ensure his victory against Inuyasha. Then he planned to either kill her or enslave her. It was definetly a risk keeping her around for long. As long as he kept a tight leash on her, his worries would be eased.

As if hse sensed he was thinking for her, the minion slowly slinked into the room. Her face was hidden underneath the her plum hood and through the shadow mistygrey eyes shined through. Her eyes were narrowed with suspicion. Her flowing cloak drapped down from her narrow shoulders to the stone floor, concealing her figure. As she stalked in the garment lifted revealing pale ankles and barefoot. The dark cloth resettled around her creating a dark halo at her feet.

"Naraku-sama." She said. Her voice was dry and curt. "The raid has been sent to the village." Naraku smiled and began to chuckle to himself as he thought of his plan. The witch stood there without a word, as still as a statue.

"That is good news." He said with a smug little smile. The witch studied him through her hood. She tilted her head up and Naraku noticed that she wore a black mask veiling the bottom of her face. That explains the shadow he thought. Her face was incredible pale in contrast to her shadowy attire. "Ok, girl what other news do you have?"

She let out a quiet noise that sounded like a snarl. "My name is Kasumi. And my night watchers discovered a demon you might want to meet."

"Oh?"

"He has found his way to Inuyasha and the priestess. He has the Ice pendant."

"That's the demon wench's brat!" He said furiously, as he thought of the attack he sent a couple of weeks ago to capture the Elemental Amulet of Ice. It had failed becasue the magical artifact had slipped through his fingers when the queen's bastard half-demon son had to ran away.

"Attacking the village will not get the amulet, you fool." Kasumi said her cold. Naraku snarled at her and she didn't even flinch. "You are only setting yourself up. And I don't wish to be a part of that." She swiftly turned on her heel and drifted away making no noise.

"Kasumi!" His angry voice shouted at Kasumi. A red shackle appeared on her left wrist and tightened over the black tatoo of a rose with dark red drops of blood dripping from the spiked petals. She cursed as the iron dug into her skin. "I didn't want to do this." He said. Kasumi never he was lying. "But I need your help and you will be rewarded for your services with freedom."

Her eyes blazed through the shadow of her hood and she dropped her wrist to her side. "Fine," her voice rang with supressed anger. "Naraku, beware once I shed these chains I will kill you."

Naraku let out a nervous chuckle. Kasumi didn't have the power, he rationized. His fear was involuntary and he was furious for feeling this way. No mortal could scare him. not Kasumi or Kai.

A group of murderous demons were preparing to attack the village. They had little strategy, but with Kasumi controlling their minds they formed a plan. Kasumi shuddered that the thought of Naraku's power growing. A glossy black raven landed on her outstretched forearm. The bird shifted and leaned against Kasumi's forehead. She heard the soft caws in her ear and she deciphered the noise and the message was clear.

"The demon born of Naraku, whose heart begs for something more, lives."

Kasumi pursed her black lips together and sat still as more ravens landed on her arms and sang in their haunting language. A bystander would have been scared to death seeming a dark cloaked woman charming birds of death. Kasumi wasn't a dark miko, but her powers were different from Kagome's or Kai's. She grinned as she thought, of Naraku. The pretentious quarter demon was about to learn his lesson about soiling his hands. Kasumi wasn't going to bring the downfall of Naraku, but she could deliever it to someone else, who deserved to more than her.

The demon hordes stirred as Kasumi walked through with her ravens perched on her shoulders and arms or circling her like a whirlwind. The leader was the biggest and by far the most grotesque. He looked like a mix between a boar and dragon demon. His squinty eyes stared at her an snarled. Kasumi placed her slender hand on his snout, displacing three ravens who joined the others in the sky. The demon instantly calmed under her touch.

"Save your strength. You're going to need it." She advised. The beast made a noise that could be described as a rude scoff.

"No half-demon can harm me." He said his voice husky and coarse. Kasumi gritted her teeth as she tried to bear the noise that sounded like grinding stones.

"Let's hope that's the case." Kasumi remarked more to herself than anything.

"What did you say bitch?"

"Good luck my dear." She said coldly. Her ravens jumped off their perches and disappeared into the dark sky.

Plz, plz, plz review! Don't make me beg some more!

This chapter is for you Kasumi...

-SMR