I do not own Inu-yasha.

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Hello again! Last chapter was kinda short, but this chapter's kinda longer... Uh, whatever. So yeah. Shogi Ie means Whore/Prositiute House. If anyone didn't catch that last chapter. Isn't it funny that it was the prosititutes and royalty that wear kimono? I mean, what irony. Whatever. This chapter's called Kaji, which means fire. So yeah.

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Chapter Two

Kaji

The keys were right where Kagome had told him and he picked them up easily. He tapped on the wall and saw fifty different pairs of eyes look up at him. "Yo. I'm letting you all out." He found the key number matched the cage number. In ten minutes, all of the cages were empty.

"Go run away now," he said. In another ten minutes, he was by himself. He took out a flask of alcohol and poured some on the front desk, letting it pour on the ground as he walked to the back. "This better work. That was some good shit," he said to himself. He lit a match and dropped it on the front desk, walking himself out.

He bumped into something and fell over onto his front.

"Ow," the something said calmly. He looked back and saw Kagome on her knees, rubbing her back.

"What the hell are you doing?"

She looked over at him. "Coming with you of course."

"Hell no!" He stood up. "The stuff I do is way too dangerous for a girl."

She stood up as well, glaring at him. "Oh yeah! Setting a place on fire is really full of danger! I've done it so many times I could do it in my sleep!"

"Oh, then is that why you were sold to a prostitute house?"

"No!"

"Um...Kagome?"

Kagome looked back to see a girl in kimono, her hair pulled back with a headband. "Yes, Eri?"

"Shouldn't you get out of the burning building?" Eri shrugged and ran off.

"Burning building?" They looked up and indeed, much to their just-remembered amazement, the shogi ie was on fire.

"Oh shit!" the male said as a rafter fell. He picked up Kagome and got out of the way. "See?" he said, looking down at her. "Too dangerous!"

Kagome smiled at him. "Thank you."

He fehed at her. "Don't thank me! It's not like I'm some kind of beast that lets innocent people die, no matter how much I hate them." He put her down, crossing his arms.

"Oh, stop it with the childish antics. You're what, seventeen?"

"No."

Kagome sighed. "You are one really annoying person! Too bad I need you."

He looked at her. "What do ya mean?"

"I was suppose to get the shikon no tama, but I was caught and forced to work here."

"The what?" he said, not really caring.

"The shikon no tama!" Kagome said angrily. "It's a jewel that grants your wish!"

NOW he was interested. "Grants anything? Like...something to become a full demon?"

"Feh," Kagome said, imitating him. "But it's too dangerous for little half-demons. Only mikos can make the journey.

He looked at her. "Then why did you want me, eh?"

Kagome sighed. "Fine. I'll tell you. I need you to protect me. I'm pretty young and my miko powers aren't very developed yet."

He laughed. "That's hilarious!"

She glared at him. "I can still hurt you, just wait."

"Whatever. Fine, I'll go with you on the promise that I can use the jewel."

Kagome sighed. "Fine. But first, I have to get it back to its owner."

"And who the hell would that be?"

"A demon of the name Naraku. At least...he says it's his. I don't really believe it, but a job is a job is a job."

He shrugged. "What the hell. Get on." He turned around so she could get onto his back. He looped his arms underneath her legs and looked around. "Yeah...this is going to be tricky..." He made his way through the building, until the door was in front of them. Just as they were to reach it, what great luck would have them but the rafters fall down again, right in their path.

"Damn it!" he yelled.

Kagome sighed. "No problem! Look! There's a window!" She pointed at what was more like a hole, since the glass had been blown out by the fire.

He shrugged. "That's as good as any." He went over and took her off his back. "Out ya go," he said with a smirk and threw her out. His little payback.

She flew out it with an "KYA!" and hit the ground with an "ITE!"

He climbed out, safe and no harm to him. "How ya doing there girl?"

She glared at him. "Oh I'm doing just fine! Thank Buddha the ground broke my fall!"

He smirked. "Good then, get on."

Kagome glared at him, but climbed on anyways.

"So, where we heading?"

"The Forest of Inu-yasha of course."

He looked at the ground. "Oh..."

"And what's the problem now?" Kagome said.

"Did I mention my name was Inu-yasha?"

She sweatdropped. "YOU'RE KIDDING ME? YOU'RE THE HALF-DEMON WHO WRECKED THE VILLAGE BECAUSE YOU BETRAYED THE MIKO KIKYO!"

"Hey!" Inu-yasha said, "Your little fairy tale is wrong! I didn't betray her, she betrayed me!"

"How did you get out of the spell?" Kagome said.

"I don't know!" he said angrily. "I just woke up one day and there was this little light thing in front of me and it pulled out the damn arrow!"

Kagome sighed. "This will be Buddha's blessing to report to Lady Kaede. 'Oh yeah, my partner you asked me to get? Yeah, he killed your sister'."

"Kaede? That twerp is still around?"

Kagome glared at him and pulled on his ear. "Hey, that's LADY Kaede and she's not a twerp! She's the respected miko elder of the village!"

He glared at her. "STOP PULLING ON MY EAR!"

"THEN LEARN SOME MANNERS FOR YOUR ELDERS!" Kagome shouted, pulling on his ear with every word to emphasize her anger and her point.

"OW!" he shouted and let her fall on the ground. "Forget it! I am not working with a stupid little girl!"

"I'm not little!" Kagome said and picked herself up. "With the things I've seen...I'm not little." She started walking north. "Got to keep going in the direction of the tiger..."

"HEY!" Inu-yasha yelled.

"What?" Kagome said, turning her head.

"You can tell her I didn't kill Kikyo."

"Whatever half-boy." She started walking away again.

"Stupid mikos," Inu-yasha cursed. He really hated them. And yet he was so plagued by them. He didn't believe in gods, but he was sure that if there were some or one or whatever, then they definitely had it out for him.

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Kagome sighed. She was lost, absolutely lost! If she had Inu-yasha, she could of used his nose. Why did she have to be born with a low sense of direction? She sighed again. Just her fault.

"Hey lady! What's wrong with you?"

She turned her head to see a little kitsune jumping around behind her, tugging on the bottom of her kimono. He was small with red hair held back in a blue bow. He had on blue jeans and a shirt with white shell decoration and a brownish fur vest. His tail was a light tan color and his feet were bare, to show that he had little fox feet.

"Oh, I'm lost," she said with a smile. He was actually quite cute. She didn't know they made jeans that small.

He smiled brightly at her and jumped onto the counter of the bar and restaurant they were at. "Hi! I'm Shippo! I can help you! Where are you going?"

"I'm going to the Forest of Inu-yasha. My name's Kagome. Can you take me there?"

"No can do!" Shippo said disappointedly. "They recently put a barrier around it to keep out demons like me, and especially half-demons! It's because they found out that Inu-yasha has escaped!"

Kagome frowned. "Well, that's okay. I'm a miko. They'll let me in. I know the elder there."

Shippo thought a second. "Well...okay... But I'm not very strong. You can protect yourself, right? Since you're a miko."

Kagome's face dropped. "Uh, Shippo...I'm pretty young and my powers are kind of...underdeveloped."

"Welly welly well then!" Shippo said. "We need to find you someone who would protect you!"

"The one I had ran out on me."

Speak of the devil, Inu-yasha came in, sniffing the ground. "There you are!" he said when he found Kagome. He stood up, not noticing all the stares, and if he did, they all stopped because he was glaring like he would kill something. He walked up to Kagome and grabbed her eri. "And why the hell did you run away?" he said, bringing her face close to his."

"What are you talking about? You're the one who decided you couldn't work with a stupid girl remember?"

Shippo watched on, confused. "Kagome, who is this?" he asked, clinging onto her arm.

"This Shippo, is the most idiotic half-demon you'll ever find!"

"Oh. He was the guy who was going to protect you."

Inu-yasha glared at Shippo. "Who the hell is this twerp?"

Kagome took a quivering Shippo into her arms. "This is the bravest little kitsune I've met. He agreed to take me to the Forest of Inu-yasha without a second's hesitation!"

"Feh! He couldn't protect an ant."

"Yes, and he said so himself he couldn't protect me. We were just in the process of finding someone who could." She pulled her eri out of his grasp. "Come on Shippo. Let's get away from the scary mean half-boy." She walked out of the restaurant, a glaring Inu-yasha behind them.

"Wait one second!" he shouted, running after them. "We promised. You get protected by me and I get the jewel."

Kagome glared at him. "Yeah? Well you haven't exactly been showing loyalty!"

"We never said I had to like you," Inu-yasha said with a huff.

"And we never said I couldn't dispose of you!"

"Well you aren't filling out your side of the promise!"

"AND NEITHER ARE YOU!" Kagome shouted.

"WHAT THE HELL DO YOU THINK I'M HERE FOR THEN?"

Shippo sighed in Kagome's arms. Something told him they were going to be like this the whole way.

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'Till next time!