Chapter 24

Inuyasha pt. 1

The familiar scenary assaulted Tara's senses as she slowly drove into her home state. Pleasant and not so pleasant memories hit her like a ton of bricks as she drove to Santa Fe. Oddly enough a day before they had arrived Giles called and told them that the executer of Tara's aunt's property had called. It seemed that since Tara was now of age, she was entitled to her aunt's estate and insurance money.

Seeing that the day was still early, she decided to go their first.

"Ah, and you must be Tara Maclay?" a snappy dressed lawyer asked as she entered his office. Tara nodded her head and sat down by his desk. "Firstly I would like to say that I'm sorry for the loss of your aunt. I knew her for many years and she will be missed."

"Thank you." Tara replied sadly. She really was going to miss her aunt.

"Now for the business at hand. As you're aware your aunt wanted for her home and property to be sold off at her death. She updated her will when you came into her life and she left you everything. Including the collection of her insurance policy money. After selling your aunt's house and property and getting her insurance policy money together..." he stopped so he could get out a calculator and add it up.

"The total monetary value that you will recieve, after my fee of course is...3.5 million dollars. Here's a bank draft for that amount." he said as he handed Tara said draft. "I also took the liberty of calling your Aunt's bank and telling them what was going on. So when you want to collect your money, go here." he said as he handed Tara a business card.

"Thank you." Tara said with wide eyes. It was strange that her Aunt was worth more dead, then alive.

"Not a problem. Have a nice day Miss Maclay."

"So how much did you get?" Faith asked as Tara got back to the car.

"Not much." Tara said sadly. "Only 3.5 million dollars." she said happily as she showed Faith the bank draft.

"Holy shit." Faith replied as she looked at the draft. "You're loaded."

"No, we're loaded." Tara corrected. "I'm giving you guy's 100,000 dollars each."

"What?" everyone seemed to say at the same time.

"No argument's." Tara said sternly as she looked at each of them in turn. "We've been through a hell of alot in the last month and a half, and I want something to share with my friends."

"I'm rich!" Faith shouted. "I'm so going to vegas."

"You know." Tara replied as Angel whispered something in her mind. "We might just do that."

"So where are we going now?" Amy asked.

"It's still early." Tara said as she looked up to the early morning sky. "So after we check into a hotel and get a little rest, why don't we visit Master Tao?"

With that suggestion made, the teens went to the nearest fancy hotel.

Later that day

Master Tao's Dojo

"Master." Tara called out as she and the other's entered the dojo. It was just as Tara remembered.

"Tara." an elderly voice said from a backroom. Looking up the gang saw an elderly Japanese man with long grey and white hair, coming out of the backroom. "I see that you've brought some friends?" he asked as he took a look around.

"Yes, Master." Tara said with a slight bow. Almost immediately the gang fell in line. And lined up beside Tara.

"This is the guy, who taught you how to fight?" Faith whispered into Tara's ear. The poor old guy didn't look as if he could go a round with a fruit fly, much less teach someone how to fight.

"I may be old." Tao said as he walked up to Faith. "But I've been known to still go with the best of them." As he said this Faith blushed and lowered her head.

"Ahhh... a soldier, a knight, a witch, a mystical warrior, and hidden potential." Tao said as he walked down the line and called out what he saw in the teens. "Do all of you wish to learn from me?"

"Yes Master." Tara replied in awe. She just couldn't figure out how he knew about her friends. "That's why I brought them here."

"I see." Tao replied as he stroked his chin thoughtfully. "I sense a great deal of potential from all of you. But before I can allow you to train under me, you must complete a task."

"I don't mean to question your methods Master." Tara said as she looked up at him. "But what task? You never made me or the other students do anything special. You just trained us."

"As I was saying, there is something special about all of your young friends. It's rare to find such a team together, but with my teachings you all could be unstoppable."

"Are you going to teach us some of that cool, special ninja power shit?" Faith asked. But then she realized what she had said. "Sorry."

"It's alright my child." Tao said with a smile. "I see I'll have to teach you more discipline then the others. Now all of you come with me. Your first lesson starts now."

As Tao made them drink a funny smelling tea, that he had brewed, he made all of them sit in a sacred circle. As he chanted something in Japanese, a thin portal opened. It seemed to bend and flex in mid air until it stabilized.

"Now go through the portal." Tao instructed.

"What's on the other side?" Xander asked as he eyed the man worrily.

"The beginning of your journey." Tao answered with a crooked smile. "Now go."

Taking a look at each other, the group shrugged and jumped through the portal.

"Good journey all of you." Tao said as the portal closed behind them.

The Gang fell in a heap, as they exited the portal. As they stood to their feet they looked around and saw that they were in some kind of forest. It was still daytime but that didn't make the place look any less creepy. And a wierd demonic mist spread across the ground as if it were covering the earth.

"Man where the hell are we?" Johnathon asked as he looked around.

"Never mind that." Xander said aloud. "How are we going to get back, because the portal's closed."

"Are you okay?" Tara asked as she looked over at Kendra. Her skin took on an ashen grey color and she looked kind of queasy.

"Dare's something wrong here." Kendra said as she looked up at her. "I can sense demonic presenses all around us."

"Ma...maybe that's why." Amy said as she pointed up to the sky. As the group looked up all shapes and sizes of demon snakes and demon heads filled the sky. There looked to be hundreds of them. And they all seemed to be coming for them.

"Oh shit." Faith whispered as she took a step back.

"Tara." Johnathon called out.

"Dragon Guanlet's!" Tara shouted out as she extended her arms. But no flash of light came. As she looked down at her wrists she saw that her Guanlet's didn't appear. "Oh shit!" Tara yelled, sharing Faith's earlier sentiment.

"All right new plan." Tara calls out. "We're not going to be able to outrun these things, so we have to fight. Everybody take out whatever weapon you have and get ready."

As the first wave of demons came down on them, Amy caught a glimpse of something red jumping over her shoulder. The force of which making her fall to the ground. Before she can issue out a warning about the possible threat, she hears a male voice yell out...

"Iron Reaper Soul Stealer!"

Looking up she see's a young man with a red kimono, long white hair, yellow amber eye's, and a katana, slashing away at the demons with his claws. As Amy tries to stand to her feet, a pair of soft hands wrap around her and help her up. Looking back she see's a beautiful raven haired Japanese girl. She also wore a green and white school girl uniform.

"Are you alright?" the girl asked as she helped Amy to her feet.

"Yeah." Amy replied as she tried to collect her thoughts. "But my friends..."

"They'll be taken care of miss." a man said as he stepped from behind the school girl. He had purple and black robes on and gave the presense of being a monk. Looking behind him, Amy could see a woman with pink and black armor getting off what looked like a flying sabretooth tiger and a little boy with a fox tail running up to the scene.

"Inuyasha!" the monk yelled out. "Bring those people over here, I'm going to use my wind tunnel." with that said Inuyasha, kept the demons at bay while Tara nad the others ran over to where Amy was. Seeing that they were safe, Inuyasha flipped through the air and stood beside the school girl.

"Wind Tunnel!" the monk shouted as he unwrapped his right hand. As he did so a black hole opened in the palm of his hand and a vortex of wind came out. The force of which sent every demon and basically anything in it's path into his hand. As soon as the threat was gone, he quickly wrapped the cloth and a string of sacred beads back over his hand.

"Thanks for saving us." Amy said as she walked up to the monk.

"Not a problem, miss." the monk replied as he took her hand in his. "Now would you do me the honor of bearing my children?"

"Miroku!" the girl with the pink and black armor shouted as she slapped him on the back of the head.

"I just asked a question." Miroku said as he rubbed the back of his head.

"I hate to be rude, but who are you people?" the girl with the school girl outfit on asked.

"My names Tara, this is Amy, Johnathon, Faith, Xander, and Kendra." Tara replied as she pointed to all of her friends in turn. "Now who are you people and where are we?"

"My name is Kagome, this is Sango, Inuyasha, Shippo, Kirara, and the man who is probably going to ask all of the girls if they would bare his children is Miroku." Kagome informed them. "As for where you are... well you're in the feudal era of Japan."

"What!" the Scooby Gang all yelled at once.

"My family are caretakers of this shrine. The Bone Eater's Well contains a time portal that moves me from one time to another." Kagome explained as she and the others started their walk. "So that's not how you got here?"

"No we weren't even in Japan." Johnathon answered. "Our new karate teacher sent us here."

"But why, it just doesn't make any sense?" Xander questioned. "Why would Master Tao send us here?"

"That's the million dollar question." Amy said.

"This shrine..." Tara started as she walked up to Kagome. "can you take us to it?"

"Hell no!" Inuyasha growled as he stood to his feet. "That's about two day's of a journey away. We're on a quest to kill Naraku." he said as he crouched on the ground and sniffed the earth beneath him. "He's close. I couldn't mistake his awful stench. Naraku is near!"

"Hey mutt, she just asked a question." Faith told him. "Besides she can track, that Naraku guy faster then you can."

Inuyasha stood to his feet and growled. "Does she have a super powered nose?"

"Well yeah." Tara said with a shrug.

"Just shut the hell up anyway. It's not like she know's his scent."

"He's not usually like this." Kagome whispered to the Scooby Gang.

"Are you kidding." Shippo said as he jumped on Faith's shoulder. "Inuyasha is alway's this grumpy."

Wham!

"OW! Kagome, Inuyasha's picking on me again." Shippo whined as he touched the lump, Inuyasha put on his head.

"Sit boy!" Kagome said as the beads around Inuyasha's neck pulsed with a white light. Within a second an invisible force sent him face first to the ground.

"Damnit all." Inuyasha complained as Xander and the other's laughed at him.

"Lord Sesshoumaru..." Jaken said "when you retrieve Rin, what-"

"I have no intention of doing such a thing" Sesshoumaru told his toad like companion, even though it was a lie. Rin had been missing all morning and he was worried about her. She never took this long to get food. Never. "I have given Rin something of great importance. I'm going to retrieve it and that's all."

"Y-yes my Lord." Jaken replied as he struggled to keep up with his Master.

As Inuyasha and the others come to a tall hill, they suddenly hear screams. Looking down into the valley they see smoke coming up from a nearby village.

"Damnit!" Inuyasha shouted as he put his hand on the hilt of his sword. "I smell the stench of Kagura."

"Kagura?" Xander asked.

"She's a reincarnation of Naraku." Sango explained. "Now come on we..."

"Please... help... me..." a voice rasped out. Looking down they see a man whose been badly beaten and very bloody crawling towards them.

"Oh my God!" Amy yelled as she ran to him. "Sir you're going to be..."

"My village in the east... is under attack by a demon." the man said as he pointed towards where he came from. "Please..." he gasped as his eye's rolled in the back of his head. Letting out a final breath, the man slumped over and died.

"Rest in peace." Amy said as she closed the man's eye's.

"So what are we going to do?" Faith asked as Shippo jumped from her shoulder to Kagome's.

"We split up." Tara said as she took out a sword. "Inuyasha can you handle things on your end?"

"Yeah." Inuyasha said as he drew his Tetsusaiga. "When you get done with your demon, meet us back here." he told them. "Everybody else let's go."

With that the Scooby Gang and Inuyasha's group went their separate ways. Following the trail of dead bodies and the stench of blood, Tara's group was able to find the cause of the disturbance. It's a twenty five foot demon turtle in a lake, with what looks to be samurai's surrounding and trying to kill it.

"Oh shit." Faith said as she looked down at the very far corner of the lake. A little girl was down there trying to get out of the water, but the current that the monster was making was keeping her in. It was dragging her deeper and deeper into the water.

"Faith you and Johnathon get the girl." Tara said as she picked up a crossbow out of the hands of a dead soldier and threw it to Kendra. "Me and the others will distract the monster." With that said Tara, Amy, Xander, and Kendra ran off to help the soldiers, while Faith and Johnathon got the girl.

"Johnno, she's not breathing." Faith said as she emerged out of the water and layed the little girl down. The girl had long black hair and had a red and white kimono on.

"I...I know CPR." Johnathon said as he ran over to her. "Just tell Tara that we got the girl." Seeing that Johnathon had everything under control, Faith ran over and told, Tara what was going on.

"Good." Tara said as she looked over at the soldiers. "General, call your men back." once they did so Tara pulled her hands together as a red and blue ball appeared in her palms.

"Kah...me...ha...me...HA!" as the Kahmehameha wave hit, the turtle exploded in a shower of blood and bone fragments.

"Thank you for your assistance, priestess." the general said as he walked up to Tara. "We don't have much money, but we would be honored, if you and your companions would spend the night with us."

Tara was about to decline the offer, but the heavens suddenly opened up and it started to rain. Seeing that she and the others had no place to go, she looked up at the general.

"We'll take your offer."

"But what about, Inuyasha?" Kendra asked. "We said dat we would meet him back at de hill."

"That's about two miles away." Tara told her. "Besides he can alway's track us down, if he wanted to.Ow!" Tara yelled as something pinched her back.

"Are you okay?" Kendra asked.

"Y...yeah." Tara said as she rubbed at her back. "I guess a bug bit me or something."

"Hey sweetie, it's going to be okay." Amy said as she hiked up her jacket, so the rain wouldn't fall on the little girl. "We're going to take you someplace safe."

"Lord Sessho..." the girl managed to say as she passed out.

Kagura was pissed that she had been defeated by Inuyasha again. As she flew over the valley, she looked down at a battle scene of samurai's and a few young people fighting a huge demon turtle.

But someone in particular was radiating a lot of power. Peering into the night, Kagura saw that it was coming from a blonde haired girl with strange garments. Then she unleashed a red and blue wave from her hands and destroyed the turtle.

"That power." Kagura said to herself. 'Maybe she can help break the bond between me and Naraku. Then I'll finally be free.' with a plan forming in her head she took out a black jewel shard and threw it at the blonde priestess.

"She's coming too." a muffled sounding voice said over Rin. Opening her eyes she saw a pretty blonde girl looking down at her. Instantly afraid of the newcomer, Rin jumps back as if someone stung her.

"Hey it's okay sweetie. Nobody's gonna hurt you." Amy told her.

"Lord... Lord Sesshomaru, where are you?" the girl asked as she looked around. As she does so she see's a beautiful girl with long raven hair and two men. One short and one tall. All of them were looking at her.

As she turned to run, she ran into someone with a white Kimono on.

"Lord Sesshomaru!" Rin cried with joy.

"That's not my name sweetie." the voice said. Looking up Rin saw that it was a girl with long blonde hair. Dissappointed Rin started to cry. "It's going to be alright, sweetie." Tara replied as she pulled her into a hug.

A few minutes of explaining later

"So your name is Rin and you follow a demon man around?" Xander asked. Rin nodded her head. "Man why am I alway's surrounded by wierd girls?"

"Xander." Amy screeched as she slapped Xander on the back of his head.

"Don't mind them." Tara said as she pulled Rin close. "We'll help you find your friend in the morning."

"You don't have to." Rin informed her. "Lord Sesshomaru will come for me."

"Hey where'd you get those clothes and where's Ken?" Faith asked.

"Well the villagers think that I'm a preistess, so they gave me this outfit."

"So what are we chopped liver?" Faith asked. "We helped."

"Don't worry about it." Tara said as she looked up at her. "They have kimono's and other stuff for you guy's too." At that moment Kendra entered the room wearing a beautiful yellow silk kimono.

"Wow." was all Johnathon could manage to get out. Kendra looked amazing.

"Hey Ken, where have you been?" Faith asked.

"I was helping de villagers bury dare dead." Kendra said as she sat down beside Johnathon. "Den dey gave me dis to wear."

"Rin where are you going?" Faith asked.

"To get some wood." Rin said as she shivered a little. "I'm cold."

"Then that's share a blanket together." Faith said as she raised up her blanket. "It's still raining outside and the wood is all wet." with that said Rin curled up next to Faith and got under her blanket.

Tara looked at them and smiled. She never knew Faith had such motherly instincts. Her smile faded though as she heard a voice say.

"Preistess come out and show yourself!" As Tara stood to her feet, she slid the door open, just a crack and peered outside. As she did so she saw a woman with red eyes, a large fold up fan, wearing a purple and white kimono. Behind her were about twenty samurai skeleton warriors.

"Oh shit." Tara said as she moved away from the door. Xander ran up and peered outside.

"Amy stay here and watch over Rin." Xander said as he picked up a sword, from an earlier battle, and walked back to the door. Kendra, Faith, Johnathon and Tara were a step behind him as he walked out of the door.

"Who are you?" Tara asked, regarding the woman.

"My name is, Kagura." she said with a smile. "And I'm your new master."

"I don't think so lady." Tara said as she unsheathed her sword. Not wasting more time on useless banter, Tara charged the woman. Kagura merely unfolded her fan and the skeleton warriors ran from behind her and attacked the Scooby Gang.

TBC...

Please review...

A/N I know Inuyasha and the others speak Japanese, so that's why Tao made them drink tht funny tasting tea. It's a form of magic that works as a universal translator. Also in the next chapter I'll explain why they are in the past in the first place.