Disclaimer: I do not own either Inuyasha or Rurouni Kenshin.

Chapter 6.

Kaoru had to give Sano and Kenshin credit. All the things they had been through had primed their reaction skills. Kenshin and Sano were up and out of the dojo like a light following Yahiko. Kaoru got up and joined Sango and Kagome by the gate to the dojo. On the hill where the temple resided a faint glow could be seen among the trees.

Sango was suddenly very nervous. "Kagome, tell me that isn't what I think it is…"

"Yup. It is." Kagome said starting to look panic stricken. "We would have to leave all the weapons behind!"

"Don't worry girls, Kenshin and Sanosuke can take care of almost anything." Kaoru said trying to put the girls into an easy feeling she herself didn't share.

Kagome looked at Sango, but Sango was shaking her head. "That sword that Kenshin was carrying is probably made of ordinary steel. It might not have any effect."

Kaoru was about to say something when Kagome turned to her suddenly. "Ms. Kaoru, do you have a bow and arrow?"

"Yes, I think there's one in the storage shed for hunting…" Kaoru said hesitantly. She watched as Kagome reached down, hiked up her kimono and ran far all she was worth for the storage building. A few minutes later she rejoined Sango with the bow and arrows and the two of them went running for the temple. Kaoru stopped only for a moment to look around the deserted street before pulling up her own kimono and ran after them. It was unlady-like, but that hadn't stopped her from other such stunts before.

Kaoru came skidding into the turn to run up the steps to the temple right behind Kagome and Sango. Ahead, Kaoru could hear Sanosuke and Kenshin.

"KAMI-SAMA, KENSHIN! WHAT IS THAT THING?"

"I don't know Sano, but we better stop it before it leaves the temple grounds."

They just reached the top of the stairs when Kaoru stopped dead in her tracks and let her kimono fall back into place. Sango, Yahiko, and Kagome had stopped there as well, and all of them were looking up at a giant.

The thing stood around nine feet tall. It had huge muscles and was covered in hair. It finished stuffing a tree down inside an old well and turned towards the six of them. It had a beak instead of a mouth and had three red eyes. It took one step forward and Kaoru could feel the tremor of its footfall jar her teeth.

Kenshin was already leaping at the thing. He was so brave; Kaoru couldn't help but be moved by his selfless defense of the people he cared for. Sango was already running forward as well while Kagome loaded an arrow.

"Get out of the way you idiots!" Sango was screaming as Kenshin launched his attack. Kenshin connected with a beautiful shot that knocked the creature backwards, unbalancing it. Sanosuke followed up with that super punch of his and the creature went flying backwards with a huge welt across its chest from Kenshin and a crater in its abdomen from Sanosuke.

Sango actually stopped for a moment with her eyes going wide as she saw the creature collide with on of the temple buildings and crush one of its walls. Kenshin and Sanosuke had very pleased grins on their face and looked ready to congratulate each other when the thing got up.

Kaoru felt a cold knot forming in the pit of her stomach as the thing stood up. The last traces of the wounds they had inflicted were disappearing as it charged Kenshin and Sanosuke.

Kaoru started to scream, but Sango was already there knocking the two of them to the ground screaming "Now, Kagome!"

Kaoru watched as the young girl loosed the arrow from the bow she had borrowed. As the arrow left the bow it began to glow with a purple light until it struck the beast in the chest. The flash of purple light was nearly blinding as the creature fell apart. Kaoru didn't know how else to describe it. At one moment the creature was there minus a rather large hole in its chest, and the next moment it had crumpled to dust.

Kaoru and Yahiko rushed over to help up Kenshin and Sanosuke. They both had haunted looks on their face as they looked at the mound of dirt and then looked at Kaoru.

Kenshin regained his composure first. "Kaoru-dono, what just happened?"

"I don't know Kenshin…" Kaoru said looking over at the two young women who were now looking at the huge tree wedged into the well and looking at each other with concerned expressions. They all stood there for a moment looking at each other with stupid expressions on their faces.

Kagome finally got up the courage to speak. "I guess we've got some explaining to do, huh?"

Soujiro looked around for the third time. There it was again, a fleeting sense of someone following him. He'd felt it first as soon as he left the last village he'd come to. Now the feeling lingered for a moment longer than it had the previous two times.

Soujiro turned to continue walking along the road. He decided it was time to find out who this stalker was. After all, if they wanted to catch up to him that badly he could at least oblige them and if the situation was something he couldn't handle he'd simply run away.

It was amazing. He had never used his running ability to run away from a conflict before meeting Himura. Now he used it to avoid conflicts that would have required him to kill again. He hadn't made any vows like Himura had, he still wasn't convinced that killing totally unnecessary in all situations. It was just that killing someone, as a last resort, hadn't actually presented itself in any of his conflicts. There was usually another way.

Soujiro felt the presence once more it was in front of him now and it was coming fast. He looked around desperately for some sign of an attacker before finally looking up just as a flash of blue collided with his chest sending him sprawling to the ground.

He suddenly couldn't breathe very well. That was when he noticed that someone had a hold on his wrists and they were straddling his chest pinning him down. He had managed to draw his sword, but it was laying a few centimeters from his fingertips. Soujiro looked up into the face of his attacker and into the most stunning set of emerald eyes he had ever seen. He lay there stunned for a moment, not from any injury, but from the realization that there was a beautiful green-eyed girl on top of him. Oddly, she looked familiar.

"Ah ha! I've got you now Tenken!" she said staring down at him with an almost evil glee in her voice.

"Oh, really?" Soujiro said with his usual smile on his face. "I was just curious then how you're planning on killing me or tying me up without letting go of my hands."

The young girl looked at Soujiro's sword and was obviously not prepared for such a dilemma. This gave Soujiro a moment to think. He could easily curl his legs up and kick her off of him, but that would mean hurting her. He normally didn't care about whether or not he hurt people who attacked him, not even Himura was that bad. However this girl didn't radiate malevolence of any kind, and well, hurting pretty girls just wasn't equated in his new way of looking at things.

The girl still hadn't made up her mind as to what to do then so Soujiro opted to try overpowering her. With a sudden rush of strength, he grabbed her wrists pushing them around her sides until he had them pinned behind her back with each of his arms curled around her. He rolled and tried to sit up as well as the girl struggled against him. After a few moments they managed to stand, her with her arms still pinned behind her. It was then that Soujiro realized he had managed to pull her body against his and their lips were now in VERY close proximity. The things one thinks about when attacked by pretty women.

"I'm sorry about this miss…" Soujiro started.

"Misao. Misao Makimachi." The young woman glared at him a moment as the two of them stood there. Soujiro realized this was the closest he'd ever been to a girl. It made him very nervous.

Misao apparently had misread the nervousness. "So, realized who you were dealing with?" She said smugly. "Or are you just coming to realize that now YOU can't go anywhere without releasing me."

Soujiro stopped and thought for a moment. She was right. If memory served this was the girl that had accompanied Himura the first time they'd fought and she was reported to be a pretty good aim with those kunai of hers. There didn't seem to be a really good way out of this situation. Not that he was complaining about the current situation mind you.

Soujiro's thought were interrupted as he heard a cart coming up the road they were standing on. Acting quickly, he kicked his sword off into the grass and lifted Misao. "You pervert!" she yelled at him as he picked her and ran behind a tree. It wasn't until he put her down with her back to the tree that he realized his head had been resting against her bosom. "Sorry." He said lamely.

The two of them stood there for a few minutes as the cart came rolling into view from behind the tree. An old man guided an ox that pulled the cart, which was apparently full of rice barrels; it just HAD to be rice barrels. The old man stopped and stared at the two of them before shaking his head.

"You kids need to find some other place to go and do your business. This is a public road after all!" The old man said disdainfully.

Soujiro was blushing furiously. Looking down he noticed that Misao was as well. Without thinking he quickly let go of her arms and stepped back scratching the back of his head. "Uh, sorry sir." He flashed a smile at him hoping to placate the old man and shuffled his feet a little.

The old man snorted and started his cart moving again. Soujiro and Misao waited until the old man was well out of sight. Soujiro looked at Misao, who was still blushing, and thought for a moment. "Why didn't you cry out for help?"

Misao looked at Soujiro as if noticing him for the first time. "He was only an old man. He couldn't have done anything about it anyway and I'm not about to involve somebody in one of my battles especially against a murderer."

Soujiro bent over and picked up his sword. Without looking he buried it into the wood next to Misao's head as she reached for her kunai. It had the desired result as she stopped dead still. She looked a little startled as she said, "Are you going to kill me now?"

"I've gotten out of the habit of killing pretty young girls." Soujiro said bluntly. "What are you doing following me anyway?"

Misao was blushing again but managed to regain her composure. "I was sent to find you."

"By who, I didn't think Aoshi wanted me dead that badly."

"He doesn't." Misao said hotly. "My Aoshi doesn't hire out the Oniwaban group as assassins! I was sent to find you and bring you back!"

"Sorry Misao, the end result is the same whether it's by an assassin's hands or the police's hands I still end up dead."

"No, no. Nothing like that." Misao said exasperatedly. "A short while back someone came to the Aoiya looking for you. It was that freaky guy Kamatari. He said that he had been to see Anji and that Cho thought he could get him out by bribing the right people. Normally I don't agree with bribing government officials, but Anji was an OK guy. Anyway, Kamatari said that he was looking for Shishio's hidden stash of money to get the money necessary to spring Anji. The only problem was that the only people who might have known where it was happened to be either dead or wandering; namely, Yumi or you. So, Aoshi-sama sent me to find you since we had reports that you were somewhere near Tokyo."

"She." Soujiro said distracted.

"What was that?"

"She. Kamatari prefers to be thought of as a woman."

Soujiro tuned out the rest of the conversation as she went on about how easily she had found him, how great her Aoshi-sama was, and how he was now her prisoner and would be coming back with her to Kyoto. Shishio-sama's fortune. Now THAT was something he hadn't expected. Everybody thought that Shishio had spent nearly all of the money he had on buying the Purgatory. Soujiro smiled about that. Actually, the money had originally been Himura's. One of Shishio's ironic plots on revenge. He and Himura both had earned a great deal of money killing during the Bakumatsu. Himura had refused the money when he had become a wanderer. Shishio however had accepted his and Himura's both. He didn't have the heart to tell Himura that it had been HIS money that had funded Shishio's rebellion.

"Hey are you listening to me!" Misao had moved in front of him holding a kunai up to his throat. "I said you're my prisoner! So get moving!"

"OK, this way then." Soujiro turned sheathing his sword and started walking.

"Kyoto's this way you JERK!"

"I know. We have to get the money first though. That, and I have to ask someone's permission before I use it." It was only fair after all. Since the money wasn't really his to give away, he would give what was left to Himura-san. It was only fitting since Shishio had taken his money.

Misao ran to catch up to Soujiro. She settled into step beside him as the two started out for Tokyo.

Kagome looked into the uncomprehending faces of the Kenshin-gumi. They had sat quietly listening to her tale over tea once they returned to the dojo. "So, you mean to tell me that you're some kind of time traveling sorceress?" Sano was saying.

"No, I'm not a sorceress!" Kagome snapped at him. "I guess the closest thing you could call me is a priestess. That's what the majority of my training has been in up until this point, thanks to Kaede. Though Alanor-sama may have different training in mind once he gets back. Gets back and finds I'm not there too…

"And you're from the past…" Kaoru was trying to get a handle on this as well.

"No. Actually, I'm originally from the future. I traveled back to the past where everything has been happening and now I've come to your time seeking help." Kagome was getting the impression that these people thought she was absolutely bonkers.

"So, that thing was a demon. I guess that's why our attacks didn't seem to have any effect on the creature." Kenshin was saying looking at his reverse blade sword.

This time it was Sango who jumped in. "Actually it varies from demon to demon. Some demons can be stopped with normal weapons made of steel, but the vast majority have managed to acquire immunities to attacks not made by special weapons. Really, most of the demons NOT able to ignore normal weapons have been killed off by this point leaving only the powerful ones."

"Are you a priestess from the future too?" Kaoru said with some fascination.

"No, I really am from the past. I'm the last of my clan of demon exterminators. We hunted demons for generations before I met Kagome and Inuyasha. I've been aiding them for the past several months to recover the sacred jewel that Kagome was telling you about." Sango looked at the four of them and then glanced back at Kagome with a little bit of confusion. Were they getting through to them? All they did was sit there, staring at them wide eyed.

"Well, how are YOU able to kill demons." The young one, Yahiko was saying.

Sango turned to him and began patiently explaining. "We made weapons from the bodies of dead demons to use against them. Swords made from their fangs and bones, clubs too. Personally, I use a large boomerang or else I use a demon bone kodachi."

"Where's your weapons now?" Sano asked finally. "And I thought you two were sisters."

"Well, SOMEONE thought that we would attract too much attention walking around the Meiji era with weapons." Sango shot Kagome a withering stare. "As for being sisters, we lied. Kagome has a surname, but I don't." At this Sango turned her gaze down and said it almost meekly.

"Sango, you can be my sister if you want to be." Kagome said shyly. "We've been through so much together, it would really help me to know that if I have to stay in the past I could have someone near me I could think of as family."

Kagome looked at the shocked expression on Sango's face. Kagome knew how much this must mean to her since she had lost her entire family to the demon Naraku. Sango beamed at her and the two caught each other up into a sisterly embrace. Both of them were crying a little.

"Sango Higurashi. I love the sound of it." Sango said saying the name to herself.

Kagome couldn't turn down the chance for some mischief. After all, they were sisters now right. "I wonder what Miroku would think about being Miroku Higurashi?"

Sango was suddenly very startled. "You wouldn't adopt that lecher into your family would you?"

"No," Kagome said with mock innocence. "It's just that he doesn't have a surname either so he'll probably take the surname of whoever he marries." Sango was immediately blushing and Kagome giggled to herself.

"Uh, excuse me, but I need to know one more thing." Kenshin said pulling the two young girls back from their private moment. "Will there be any more demons coming after you. I have to be concerned for the safety of Kaoru-dono."

Kagome suddenly remembered the well. "I don't think so, not as long as the well is plugged, but I need to get it unplugged as soon as possible. The demons are after this jewel, so if I leave, they'll most likely come after me and forget all about you."

Sano nodded. "That at least isn't a problem. I should be able to turn that tree into chopsticks in a matter of seconds. I can go do that tomorrow."

"Thank you, Sano. We told Kaede we would be back in a few days and I hope to get back before Inuyasha gets worried and comes to look for us." Kagome said thankfully.