Props to:

Ellen Tee – Thanks, I think… and Ayumi doesn't have Inuyasha's powers yet, she's developing them. So she has speed, but not strength.

Bananafish – One: It's called a story. If it all has the original characters, then the writer is limited by the originality of the characters already there and unable to write an interesting story. Plus this is suppose to prepare writers on how to write in the future when they are making their own books and not copying off shows. Two: dialogues are important, it tells you what's going on. If you skip the dialogue, it's just like skipping an important piece of a puzzle, even if it is tedious. Third: How do you want me to write if I can't even foreshadow something by switching views for a couple of lines? And if you can answer that then explain how to show finesse about switching views. Fourth: How can you say that the plot is unstable, you haven't even read far enough into the story to know what the plot is. And no, I make it a habit of reading what I write as if I were reading a brand new book, not knowing what's going to happen next. That way it makes it fun to write, even if it goes way off track. I'll fix it later.

Mike Attck – Thanks!

Christa – Thanks!

Read and Review my other story – W.I.T.C.H. Problems in Friendship and Sisters

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"It's about time you came back." Kohaku murmured as Kagura walked into the castle. He had waited for her for a few hours.

"Shut up." Kagura said angrily. She had found what she had wanted, but it wasn't the answer to her questions. She was frustrated from her endless searching. She wanted to get away from Naraku once and for all, but she didn't want to anger him. She remembered the last time she tried to run away. It was like a nightmare that she couldn't wake up from.

"It's your turn to watch her." Kohaku sighed. When she got like this she would never do her work, he thought.

"Yeah, I get it." Kohaku walked away from the sleeping Ayumi. She didn't wake from them talking. Kohaku was a little intrigued why Naraku would want such a weak child. He shrugged it off and kept walking. He was supposed to have been able to explore more from their new hiding spot. The castle never changes, but he always like exploring the surroundings.

Ayumi had woken when Kohaku left. She could smell the people and it alerted her. She wondered how long she was able to do that, but she didn't care. This place made her so tired, it was like sleeping on a cloud in a desolate wasteland: disturbing and comfortable. She tried to stay awake long enough to see Kohaku turn the corner and Kagura sit down next to her.

"What are you looking at?" Kagura sneered.

Ayumi tried to speak, but her gag would let her.

"Kagura, where have you been?" Naraku called from doorway.

"Naraku, I was just exploring the area." Kagura lied.

Naraku narrowed his eyes, but let it go. "You may untie her now, she needs to eat."

"Yes, sir," Kagura said coldly. She had just been ordered to feed her. Ayumi watched as Kagura untied her and walked off.

"I wonder what that was about," Ayumi said to herself. It felt good not to be tied and gagged anymore. She walked through the doorway and went the other way Kagura and Kohaku did, to the left. She wanted to escape, but she wasn't going to get that chance if she was caught. She still felt sleepy. She held back a yawn and turned down another hallway.

Ayumi looked through a hole in a wooden door to see thousands of demons trapped in a huge room. She back away slowly and took another hallway. She looked through another door to see a little girl with white hair and a mirror in her hands. Ayumi got a feeling of distrust from her and walked away. She found a four-way hallway intersection and wondered where to go.

"Hello, Ayumi." Naraku whispered from behind her. Ayumi froze and felt her face pale. She picked the hallway to her right and started running as fast as she could. She didn't want to get caught again. She stopped when a bright light took over her senses.

She closed her eyes and saw sunshine making the dew on the grass shine like glitter. She looked behind her and saw no one. She took a step out of the castle, but immediately felt something wrong when she took another step on the green grass. She stood stock still and waited. She didn't hear anything. There weren't any animals out. She bent down and looked at the grass, it was too green. She plucked a piece from it and the piece suddenly turned brown. She looked down as all of the plants and grass turned a dead brown. She wanted to scream, but she shoved her fist into her mouth.

"What are you doing here?" Kagura appeared in front of her.

"I was just- just exploring and then- then I found a way out and it all died." Ayumi stuttered. If they thought she was just a scared little girl, they wouldn't go so hard on her, she thought.

"Here," Kagura through a dead rabbit at her. Ayumi wanted to scream, but she just stared at the carcass.

"I- I don't eat meat." Ayumi lied. Her mother had always made her eat it, but she never liked the flavor.

"Well then, you can just starve." Kagura said coldly and walked off.

"Wait!" Ayumi ran after her. She knew that Kagura had to help her, and she wanted to use that as much as she could.

"What?" Kagura didn't turn, but just stopped.

"I can't eat it, it still has fur, and it's raw." Ayumi complained.

"So, skin it, cook it, and then eat it." Kagura was getting annoyed. Didn't this girl know how to survive in the wild?

"I don't know how to." Ayumi looked at the ground and stopped the tears that had started bunching up under her eyes.

Kagura sighed and went back to the rabbit. She started a fire and began to cook it when Ayumi sat down in the brown grass next to her. "Why does Naraku want me?" Ayumi asked quietly.

"What? Oh, I don't know. You don't seem very special to me." Kagura lied. She had seen how fast Ayumi could run, faster than the wolf demon, Koga. She wondered why Naraku didn't just absorb that power though.

"I hope my father comes to save me." Ayumi pulled her knees up to her chest and rested her head on them. She felt lonely, she had only seen three people to talk to, and one of them captured her, the other is pure evil, and the third is quiet.

"Why? Aren't you afraid he will be killed when Naraku finds him?" Kagura didn't look at Ayumi when she asked. She didn't want to see her crying.

"No, because I know my dad can save me." Ayumi remembered their fight at the village, Inuyasha had almost been killed by his hand, and he tired so easily when he fought Naraku's puppet. The puppet hadn't even become tired. It scared Ayumi; so much power in just a puppet and the real thing must be ten times that strong. She wasn't sure if Inuyasha could kill Naraku at all.

"Wow, he must be a brave, or stupid, man." Kagura laughed at the thought of a mortal man trying to stand up against Naraku.

"My father isn't stupid!" Ayumi argued.

"Then who is your father?" Kagura sneered.

"He's–" Ayumi stopped and thought about telling Kagura who he was. If she did tell her she would either laugh or tell Naraku. If she lied she would laugh, but Inuyasha would be safe. She decided to lie. "He's Mr. Johnson!"

Kagura narrowed her eyes, it was obvious that Ayumi lied, but who is Mr. Johnson? That name sounded so unfamiliar.

Ayumi wanted to hit herself, she had just told Kagura her math teacher's name. What was she thinking? Mr. Johnson was the stupidest man in the world, why would he be a threat to Naraku?

"Mr. Johnson sure sounds weak and stupid to me." Kagura laughed. She hadn't laughed in so long, but this girl made her want to laugh.

"Shut up." Ayumi grumbled, but she couldn't help herself from smiling. He was the stupid and weak man Kagura had described. Ayumi heard Kagura laughing at her. She looked up to see an unhappy woman laughing at a little girl. It truly was an odd sight. Ayumi had to hold back the urge to laugh. It wouldn't look good if she laughed with the woman laughing at her.

Once all the laughing had died down, there was silence. Ayumi relaxed as the rabbit sizzled on the fire. Kagura turned it over once in a while, but other than that, there was silence. They sat there looking in different directions and thinking different things.

Ayumi caught the scent of something, it smelled familiar, but she couldn't tell what it was. She heard a wolf howl and figured out what it was. The wolves were coming to rescue her. Kagura heard it to, but she didn't make any moves. She finished cooking the rabbit and ripped off a leg. She threw it at Ayumi and ripped another one off for herself.

Ayumi bit down into the rabbit and immediately tasted something different about it. It wasn't like the store bought packages like her mom got, this was good. She took another bite out of it and savored the flavor before swallowing. Before she knew it, she had eaten her half of the rabbit.

"You sure eat a lot for not liking meat." Kagura pointed out.

"I've never had rabbit before. This is really good." Ayumi complimented.

"Thanks," Kagura smiled as another wolf howl rang from far away.

Ayumi looked to the noise and felt a longing to be free. She knew that they were coming, but she could tell it would be another hour before they arrived. Kagura stood up and walked off.

"Wait, where are you going?" Ayumi asked.

"I'm going to find Kohaku. He'll be able to take care of you better than I can." Kagura sighed. It was true; she was a fighter, not a mother.

Ayumi watched as Kagura gave her a chance to get away. She stood and started walking off in the direction of the wolf howls. She walked through a layer of dead leaves, checking to make sure she wasn't followed. She picked up a scent that she recognized, Koga. He was with someone. Ayumi sniffed the air again and smelled a girl. She thought back to everyone she had met, Miroku, Inuyasha, Koga, Kagome, Kagura, Naraku, Kohaku, and a name she couldn't remember. She sniffed the air and Sango's picture appeared in her mind.

Sango was with Koga, and they were with the wolves. Ayumi frowned. She really didn't want to talk to Koga. The jerk could just go hide in a cave for all she cared, but she knew she shouldn't run from Sango. Sango was worried about her, Ayumi wondered how she knew, but she knew. It was something about the scent.

She started running towards Sango's scent. Ayumi had to stop before she hit Naraku's castle. She had just ran from this thing, how is it here? Ayumi turned and ran away from it. It appeared in front of her. What was going on? How was she going to escape? Was there more than one castle?

Ayumi shook her head and walked to the fire Kagura had built. She sat down on a fallen tree trunk and watched the embers die down. Kohaku appeared next to her, but she was used to people suddenly appearing and disappearing. She was bored of it.

"Where were you?" He asked.

"Trying to escape, you?" Ayumi said plainly.

"Trying to find you," Kohaku smiled, at least she was honest.

Ayumi sighed and looked at Kohaku. She saw that he was worried about her. She wondered why.

"It's dangerous to leave the castle." Kohaku pointed out.

"I can take care of myself, but there's some sort of magic around here that won't let me leave." Ayumi sighed as the sound of the wolves rang out, but they were farther away.

"Why would you want to run away?" Kohaku asked.

"It's not obvious? The creepy castle, the dark, dank hallways, the rooms filled with demons, the fact that my family is miles away, what isn't a reason to run?" Ayumi listed.

Kohaku didn't say anything, but instead, sat down next to Ayumi and sighed. The sunset was slowly taking over the sky. Ayumi guessed it was at least six, maybe seven, o-clock. She figured she had already missed her Parent-Teacher conferences, and her tests. She had been there for three days. She thought about it, and decided that she still liked it here better than her old life. This one was at least interesting.

"Safe and boring versus exciting and dangerous," she murmured.

"What?" Kohaku asked.

Ayumi blushed, she hadn't meant to have him hear her, but she answered him, "Safe and boring versus exciting and dangerous, my old life versus my new one."

"What was your old life like?" Kohaku asked.

"Terrible," Ayumi exaggerated, "you had to go to school, get a job, work just to pay the government to live, and they put a price on everything. You have to waste away in school for twelve years, just to go to college for four years, just to work at the nearest fast food joint."

"That sounds horrible, but what's government?"

"Right, you're from here. Government is a group of jerks that control everyone else and try to gain power for themselves." Ayumi stated. She really didn't like the way the government worked.

"What's a jerk?" Kohaku asked.

"A jerk is someone who is rude and acts like the world revolves around him." She realized she had just described her ex-boyfriend.

"Oh," Kohaku sighed and wondered if her were a 'jerk.'

"What's this world like in your opinion?" Ayumi asked.

"There are demons everywhere, hundreds of people get killed just because of them, and demons and humans alike are searching for shards of the Shikon jewel shard so they can become all powerful." Kohaku wondered if they worlds were somehow the same.

"No matter where you go, things search for power and people get killed." Ayumi sighed. "I guess it's just a matter of who will stand up to them."

Kohaku thought about what she had just said, 'people who stand up to them.' It made sense. He sighed as he looked into the dying embers. Nothing in this place ever lived with Naraku around. His miasma was so strong. He wondered why Ayumi didn't fall under its path. Even he couldn't stand it for very long. He always left to do something else.

"Ayumi–" Kohaku started. He couldn't bring himself to ask her.

"Yeah?" Ayumi looked up at the boy who was barely older than her. Naraku's power kept Kohaku from aging quickly.

"Nothing," Kohaku sighed and looked away.

Ayumi watched him for a second longer before turning towards the now dead fire. She watched as the last puff of smoke rose from the fire. She realized that she was stuck there until Naraku wanted her gone. She wanted to escape, but the more she thought about it, the more she didn't. If she escaped, she would be sent home, but if she stayed she could be in the Feudal Era forever.