A/N: Thanks again to all the awesome reviewers, you rock! This chapter's a bit short, and the title's a bit cliche. I did promise faster updates, though, didn't I? I've got the chapters planned now right up to the end, I just have to write it all.

I thought it would be interesting toreveal the hit-review ratio again. It's around 140: 13 or so for chapter 11. That's a whole .01 increase from the last chapter!

.:Curse of Dragons:.

.:By: Maiden of the Seven Stars:.

.:Chapter 12: The Beginning of the End:.

"Finally, a little privacy!" She sighed, dropping to the ground, only causing her sore bottom to ache even more. She groaned, about to get up again and find a softer patch of grass, but her legs ached about as much as her bottom so she flopped back down on the ground.

It had been a long day; no it had been a long month. A month of almost non-stop training, a good eleven hours a day for the past month, full of unrelenting training for her self-proclaimed mission. She had been taught the tricks of spying, step-by-step, rule-by-rule, and boy there were a lot of them. It wasn't so simply sneak in, get in the information and then sneak out. Who knew there was an art to it? She did, now anyways.

Every morning she was awakened to lessons in etiquette and respect in a compound or lord's chambers. She had to memorize how every social class acted and what their duties were, incase she found herself in that position. Who to loathe, whom to fear, whom to order about, whom to obey, she learned it all. Incredibly boring, but necessary, and Sango and Miroku insisted upon every last bit of the education. They wouldn't let her even try to find Naraku's shards without it, and she knew better than to argue.

And so her day would continue into current education. She learned about the government, the balances of power. She learned whom Naraku favored and who was looking downhill, who deserved first dibs on a servant and who was only second best. She learned important names, those who she should gain the favor of, those whose influence would do her no good, and then… she learned about… well… stuff.

She could tell anyone about anything recently, the slightest shift of power, which kimono's the ladies in the high court would wear, which dancers were the best to have at as entertainment. She learned how to cook anything, how peel potatoes quickly, how to carry trays stacked with dishes and not spill a single one. She even knew if a tomato was a fruit or a vegetable.

Then came the real test of her abilities. She would be sent to a 'hostile building' a secluded area of the stronghold. There she'd been taught how to sneak, what to listen for, how to feel vibrations through the floorboards, tell what sort of step would make something creak, if a door would sound if she opened it. She learned how to undo knots of any sort and tie the up again as she had untangle them, how to make key moulds, the list had no end. Even she didn't remember the extent of what she had learned then.

Needless to say, she was mentally exhausted by the time physical training rolled around. She was taught hand to hand, and with little weapons such as a kitchen bowl or stones. Just in case she was caught, she'd need to be able to fend for herself for a time. She had been an utter failure in this part of her lessons, and would go to bed black and blue. The days had been long and hard, and filled with the most tangible stress she had ever been under.

And through it all, Inuyasha hadn't said more than a sentence to her, which mainly included something such as 'out of the way'. The new moon had come and gone, but the silver dragon had remained aloof and it… well, strangely, it hurt.

And now, she felt as if her stomach had been torn out of her, folded into the shape of a paper crane, and then stuffed back in. She was so filled with anxiety; she had left the stronghold for the sanctuary of the forest backdrop. Today had been the last day of training; tomorrow she would leave for Naraku's new main dragon compound, which also included a rather lordly estate. Today had been her 'examination' to make sure she had passed, and she had… and now the stress level mounted even higher.

She knew she had to leave, she was the only one fit for the job, but she didn't want to leave the sanctuary of the Taijiya. She would miss them, and she might never even see them again. Ever. She was nervous, she was stressed, but she was scared most of all. She was about to go behind enemy lines, work on the inside instead of out here, and she did not really want to leave. She had to, and she would go because she needed to leave, but she didn't want to. She just wanted it all to end, she wanted to live simply again, without the jewel, without Naraku. She guessed she just wanted some peace. Peace in mind, peace in spirit, peace in the world.

"Why can't it all just go away?" She moaned aloud. "Why do we have to fight?" She cried to night sky, and the words echoed back to her.

"Why? Because we can't live in a perfect world." Said a voice above her, and she turned to see the silver dragon's head gazing back at her, the long silver snout resting on his forepaws.

"There is good, and there is evil, there is light and there is shadow, but can't you see?" He asked, gazing up at the sky. "One cannot exist without the other. Without one, the other becomes nothing, because there is nothing to compare it to. Good is… well… better than evil, but without something to be better than, what makes good so desirable?"

She stared at him for a long while. The amber dragon eyes stared up at the sky, before finally turning back to her.

"That was probably the most idiotic thing I've ever said." He growled, but she shook her head.

"No, it makes sense. If there's no light, then what can be called dark? In the night it is darker than the day, and so we call it dark, but if there was no day we'd have nothing to compare the night's light to." She said, smiling. He gave her a teasing glare.

"So what are you doing out here anyways?" He asked.

"I'd ask you the same thing." She replied, and he groaned.

"Trust you to say that." He growled. "I'm out here because I'm sick of the stronghold, it's as if everyone's holding their breath in there, it's suffocating." He paused for a moment. "They're all going to choke one day." He said at last. It was a decent metaphor.

"I couldn't take it either, at least you could get out. I was stuck there, training." She said, unable to help adding a complaint to her voice, and the dragon shifted, glancing away in silence.

"Are you mad at me?" She finally asked, after the silence dragged out, and with a sigh she sat up, crawling over to his scaled neck.

"No… I'm not." The dragon replied, his words slow and careful. "I just…" and he cut off again, unable to find the right thing to say.

"I just… hate worrying." He said at last, not meeting her eyes, but his words had said enough. He didn't want her to go, he didn't want to have to worry for her. He wanted her to be safe, out of harm's way. He didn't want to put her in danger, he cared for her, and she was touched.

"We can't just let him get away with it though, we can't let him get the rest of the jewel." She said. "We can't let him control the dragons anymore."

"I know…" Inuyasha said with a sigh, lifting his head up to look at the sky. "I just…" He paused, yet again, searching for the words.

"There are some things in this world you'd be better off not knowing." He said, sighing. He was worried, his scales were shaking ever so slightly, just so they barely distorted the moonlight, and suddenly she bent forwards and pulled the warm silver neck into a tight hug.

"Stop worrying about me, I'll keep myself out of trouble." She whispered into the smooth scales.

"That's what I'm worried about." Inuyasha grumbled, but he swung his head around to rest on her back, his chin pushing her gently closer to him, closing his eyes.

She didn't know how they sat there in silence, wrapped in the strange embrace, but finally the gentle weight on her back lifted.

"It's late, you have a big day ahead of you tomorrow." Inuyasha finally said, standing up slowly and slipping his neck from her grasp, however reluctantly.

She glanced behind her, standing up with the help of an offered fore claw, and saw that the sun, which had still touched the sky when she had started talking to Inuyasha, had long set.

"How far are we from the stronghold?" She asked, worried.

"Farther than you think, it'll be at least twenty minutes before I walk back." Inuyasha chuckled, she glared at him, trying to slap him on the snout but he dodged deftly.

"You're not helping, I'm stressed enough as it is." She snapped, turning in the direction she had come, but Inuyasha turned in the opposite direction.

"Where are you-" She started to ask, but the silver dragon had spread his wings, shaking them thoroughly.

"Come on, you want to get back quickly, don't you?" He asked, his neck arched and glancing back at her.

"But, I thought you couldn't ride without a saddle." She protested. The Taijiya didn't have dragon saddles; they had no dragons to saddle in the first place.

"Those dolts who invented that law were riding dragons, not me." He snapped, "Just get on and keep your legs out of my way."

She paused for a moment, and the dragon flicked his tail in impatience, but finally she strode up to his back, ducked under a wing, and climbed up to the hollow where his neck joined his back, right where the saddle had gone.

Scared, she wrapped her arms around his neck, and he turned back to her.

"Don't choke me, or I'll throw you off." He snapped, but before she could respond he extended his wings and leaned backwards into the ground, braced on his hind legs.

He reared up, his wings spread, and they beat once… twice, gathering air beneath their leathery membranes. He ducked down for a moment, touching his fore claws to the ground, and timed with the next downbeat he threw himself into the sky.

She couldn't help it, she cried out and squeezed her eyes shut, suddenly wishing she had decided to walk back as the dragon began the dizzying process of gaining altitude. When his wings beat down, they leapt up into the sky, but as his wings prepared to push off again they slipped back down at stomach jolting speed. Up and down they bobbed, and she felt sick, seriously wishing she had something besides air between her and the ground. Well, there was something, the silver dragon.

"Open your eyes." Inuyasha ordered as they finally leveled out and the jolting movements stopped.

"Open your eyes." He snapped again, and she knew he was looking back at her.

Slowly she opened her eyes, tilting her head upwards so she didn't see the ground, and instead met the gold dragon eyes. She could have sworn the dragon was grinning in the dark.

"Wimp." The dragon taunted, beating upwards again, but this time she kept her eyes open. It was less nauseating that way.

"I dare you to look down." The dragon said, his tone jeering, but she shook her head.

"No way." She said, defiantly, and the dragon chucked, suddenly tilting downwards and folding his wings, causing her to scream as the wind picked up in their faces.

"Inuyasha!" She shouted, slapping his neck, but his wings had snapped out again and he was soaring slightly downwards, giving her an amazing view of the land. She could see the lights of the Taijiya stronghold, which was actually a lot closer than Inuyasha had said, and the nearby mountains and the lake, and in the moonlight it was breathtaking.

Slowly, Inuyasha leveled out slightly and began to circle, giving her the best view, and she couldn't help but smile. The wind blew at her freed hair, whipping it about her face, but her eyes were mesmerized. It was as if she, herself, were flying, and the feeling washed all of her worries away. There was nothing but her and the sky; she was free as the wind, literally. She felt weightless, and for the first time in a while she was happy again.

At last the dragon slanted downwards, leveling out and drifting, slowly losing altitude. His hind legs faced the ground and stretched out as the Taijiya path came closer. She recognized her own tent, the same tent she had lived in when they had first arrived.

The distance between the ground and them was shrinking, and Inuyasha began to beat his wings slowly and lightly, slowing their descent until his hind legs touched the ground. With a quick easy movement his wings furled and his forelegs hit the ground, the joints locked and absorbing the like shock that followed the movement.

After a moments pause he lifted his right foreleg, the one nearest the tent door, and she took that as a sign to leave. She slipped down, landing lightly on his held up leg, and dropped to the ground. Inuyasha turned towards her, his neck arched and snout hovering over eye level, waiting for her to go in.

"Aren't you going to stay the night?" She asked, but he shook his snout.

"I told you, I don't like it here." He said and she sighed, she had wished he was going to stay, but given the freedom to escape she would have left for the night as well.

"I'll miss you, Inuyasha." She said, reaching up and hugging the dragon's long snout to her chest.

"I'll miss you, too." Inuyasha replied, then sighed and lifted his head from her hands.

Turning he extended his wings again and launched into the sky, sparing only one backwards glance with gleaming amber eyes, and then the silver dragon disappeared into the night sky. That was when she realized what his plan had been.

The stronghold had been much closer than he had said, she knew it hadn't taken her that long to walk to where they had met, and Inuyasha would have known that. He had lied to her, in order to get her on his back and into the sky. But why?

The answer was simple; he hadn't wanted her to worry. He had wanted her to relax, albeit being scared out of her wits, but relaxed nonetheless, and in those few minutes the anxiety she had been surrounded in had melted away.

"Thank you Inuyasha," She whispered into the night.

"Thank you for everything."

---------

They had awoken early, a small traveling party she was to be leaving with. They were spies from her designated compound, having left under the alibi of trading some goods to a more remote part of the lands.

They had packed plenty, having had the luxury of a wagon, which she would be riding in since they couldn't come back with an extra horse. She was, supposedly, a country girl who had been sent away by her family in hopes that she would no longer be a burden for them, and the traveling party had picked her up since she had had a knack for cooking.

A cleverly woven tale, she just hoped it would hold.

She stood by the south gates, in the large entrance grounds, near where the wagon stood, the two oxen that would pull it refreshed and ready for the road. The supplies were nearly done being loaded, the two spies saying farewell to their families, perhaps for the last time.

She had already said her goodbyes to Sango and Miroku. They had been sorrowful, but they hadn't opposed her ideals but had drawn her aside, handing her an arrow.

"One of Kikyo's, it has slain fourty-nine dragons." Sango had said. "We name our weapons after their fiftieth slaying, but Kikyo never managed to do that."

"Perhaps it'll help you, though, this arrow always flew true." Miroku had added with a smile, and she found herself smiling back.

"Oh, and I had Miroku and his not so lecherous under-monks enchant this for you." Sango added, handing her a rosary. It was made up of mainly brown beads, with an occasional white tooth-like something.

"Those are dog-demon fangs." Sango whispered, "the rosary was once Inuyasha's, but we don't know what it really did for him. However, if you really need us, in an emergency, break the rosary and we'll come."

Now she clutched the arrow and rosary in her hands looking upwards, in hopes for the silver dragon, but she only hurt her eyes in the sun's glare. Perhaps the dragon wasn't coming, perhaps Inuyasha had meant last night to be a good bye, but she'd like to see him again. Just once.

As if summoned by her thoughts, a shadow suddenly passed overhead. She looked up, glancing at the distant underside of the silver dragon as he swooped overhead. He tilted and circled for a moment, swooping lower, and she could see his amber eyes. They were sorrowful.

"Inuyasha?" She asked, but her voice was lost in the wind as the dragon swooped just overhead. She could have sworn she heard his voice, soft but comforting.

"Take care, Kagome." The dragon murmured, before beating his wings and heading off into the skies again.

Down on the ground she stared back up at him, and when he disappeared she glanced down at the ground, where his going away present still rested where it had been dropped.

She bent over the shining silver scale, scooping it up with both hands. It was still warm, and would forever be. A gift given away by a dragon's own free will, it had been said, was somewhat magical. A small hole had been drilled at one end, and a leather cord carefully looped through that. He must have done it himself; little could pierce dragon scale so cleanly except another dragon claw.

Smiling she pressed the scale to her heart, then, looping the cord over her head she climbed into the wagon, waving at Sango and Miroku as they drove out the gates.

---------

From the darkness of his private chambers lord Naraku smirked as he saw the departing wagon in Kanna's mirror. She was in there, the one who carried Kikyo's soul. The one who could see the shards was in that wagon.

"Your soul is coming." He said to the woman who stood behind him, and she smirked.

"She's the last thing we need, this Kagome. With her we'll find the last shards and then we'll bring the Taijiya to their knees." She said with an icy chuckle.

"Yes…" Naraku agreed, opening his closed hand and revealing a round, light pink gem. It was nearly complete.

"It has finally begun."

It was the nearly completed Shikon Jewel. The jewel that glowed with a tainted aura, the jewel that needed only three more fragments to become whole again, three fragments that were fast approaching.

It was the beginning, the beginning of the end.

A/N: And here I will actually respond to the few amount of reviews I have, there's plenty of room.

Dragon Man 180: I know you, you've been with me all the way, haven't you? Thanks! Unfortuanetly, Shippo and Rin were minor characters so you can guess the rest.

Angel-Tears-16: Yes, it's nearing the end now. Thanks for your concern and reviewing!

MikaSong: Aha! But she doesn't know she's the heroine!

Red RoseDragon: Grammar? x...X I'm really going to fail my SATs.

Neko-Yuff16: 16's a popular number, no? I remember you too! Thanks for sticking with me. Of course Inuyasha's concerned after all...

Lady Katreina: I completely agree! I hate Galbatorix!

Shaid: Soon enough? So, were your predictions accurate? I always like to know.

And to everyone else, priestessmykala, anonymous, kittencutie, animedorkette, and Snow Lepord, thank you all very much for reviewing!.

To Come:

"I want to go home." She moaned as the opened the door to her dorm.

...time was not on her side

"I need your soul alive, but I can put you in a dragon's shell."

The sun was setting fast, but there was no moon in the sky.