Kitty-chan: Another intermediate chapter, but more happens here. I promise. Anyway... sorry this took so long. I've been preoccupied with a few other stories and trying to post for all of them at once... it's tough. XD Anyway... hopefully it won't be too difficult to come up with what happens after this. As I said in the bio, there are a lot of finer details I haven't quite made out yet. > Sorry. Off to the chapter!

I don't own Inuyasha.

There... I said it... happy now?

I'm so stupid. Kagome barated herself. She sat several yards away from the village exit, staring out at the destruction wreaked by Naraku's control. Her eyes focused on a small tree off to the side, standing alone among barren land populated by sparse bushes and smaller plants. The small tree was surviving, but alone, and barely. Similarly, she felt humans were standing alone in a world as demons closed in, threatening to wipe them out. She sighed and rested her forehead on her knees. Why can't I think more than five minutes ahead? If I had thought for just five minutes about what I was doing… She began to sift around with the dirt beside her, moving her head to rest her temple on her knees. She started down at her absently fiddling hand.

A now-familiar prick in the back of her mind warned her of an approaching creature, and without looking, she could tell who it was. She felt him take a seat beside her and there was a long pause. Surprisingly, he was the first to speak.

"So… what's wrong with you? What's with the tears?"

Kagome smiled gently. Inuyasha always did hate crying. At least that hadn't changed. She scrubbed the water from her face and gave him a weary smile. "Oh… don't worry about it."

Inuyasha stared at her for a moment. But I do for whatever reason. "Listen… what did you mean before? About causing me pain? You're the one who got me out of that tree. What's going on around here?"

Kagome looked away, across the long expanse of land that stretched away from the village. "You wouldn't believe me if I told you."

Inuyasha rolled his eyes, and seemed to get himself comfortable. "I did have some questions for you, but judging by that little exchange, I doubt I'll get any answers."

Kagome chuckled. "I'm sorry. What questions do you have? It makes sense that you would be a bit confused considering you've been out of it for 500 years."

Inuyasha regarded her oddly for a moment. "Yeah…" he muttered, hesitation in his voice. He then looked away. "For one thing… how do you know who I am? How do you know my name?"

Kagome paused. "Uhh… well…" she chuckled nervously. "That kinda falls into the category of you wouldn't believe me if I told you."

Inuyasha smirked as if he had made a point. "Thought so." He then growled. "Just tell me what's going on, damnit!"

Kagome stared guiltily at him. She then looked down. "Honestly, Inuyasha… I don't really want to. It's not going to make any sense to you. It barely makes sense to me, and I've had a front-row seat to the whole issue."

Inuyasha turned to her now, in his own form of begging her to let him in on recent happenings. Though his words and mannerisms hardly portrayed one who begged. But Kagome knew. She knew him better than anyone and she could tell you, he was begging for information. "Damnit, Kagome… you have information on me and the things that directly affect me! I deserve to know what's going on!"

Kagome looked back to him. "Alright… I'll tell you. But you have to understand that what I'm telling you is true. It's not some story. Everyone else around here thinks me mad."

Inuyasha snorted and rested his chin in his palm, looking away from her again. "I'm beginning to think I'm the one who's going crazy around here."

Kagome smiled and sighed. She had a lot of explaining to do.

Inuyasha stared at her for a long moment. He wasn't quite sure what to make of the information. There was simply too much of it. He was surprised by his own inclination to believe her. Of course, there were a lot of things lately that surprised him. His knowledge of Kagome… his 500-year sleep… hearing of Naraku's role in the betrayal between Kikyo and himself so long ago. Perhaps his mind was getting used to shock and so it took this information better than one would expect. Kagome stared at him for a long moment, hoping to see some reaction out of him. His ears were standing at a somewhat diagonal position to his head, indicating detachment and confusion. Now that he had the ball, he had no idea where to throw it or even what to do with it while it remained in his hands.

Kagome smiled. "I suppose that's a lot of information for one day, huh?"

Inuyasha's ears perked up and he looked back at her, his orange eyes losing their glaze of concentration. "Well… I guess… but what does all that mean? You're trying to get rid of Naraku to fix your mistake? What good is that going to do? I thought you wanted to get the world back to normal."

Kagome sighed. "I do. But… I don't know how to do that. I figured that at least a start would be to get rid of Naraku. At least that way, if there truly is no way to undo what has been done, I will have benefited this place somehow. It will begin on a road toward the way is once was. The way I remember it."

"And you're expecting to take this Naraku person down by yourself?"

Kagome opened her mouth to answer, but Inuyasha's arm shot across her vision, signaling her to stop. She looked up at him, seeing his ears perked to full attention, and his nose twitching at intervals. Kagome pushed his arm down slightly, clearing her vision slightly. "Who's near, Inuyasha?"

Inuyasha looked down at her. She certainly knew how to read him, that was for sure. How, he had no idea. There were only two people in his life he had been with long enough for them to read him like she did, but to his knowledge, they were both long dead. So how could she…?

He shook his head and growled deeply. "Cats."

Kagome's eyebrows came to a point and she began looking around for the source, though she couldn't smell it in the first place. "Where?"

"All around. They've surrounded the village." Inuyasha stood, and Kagome stood with him. "There's a lot of them."

Kagome put a hand on his shoulder. "I'll tell the villagers to take cover."

Inuyasha nodded as she took off toward the village.

"You're a new face." Came a scratchy voice. Inuyasha's eyes darted to the side to spot a female Neko demon waltz out from behind a nearby hut. "A dog… now they've resorted to watchdogs." Inuyasha ignored her. "We heard that your Goshin Boku has been destroyed, so we thought we'd move in."

"There's nothing special about that damned tree. Try whatever you like. You're not getting in. Anyone who works for Naraku I've sworn to kill. I take it you fit on that list?"

She sighed. "I see. So the humans have recruited the lowlife now? They're so desperate they'll recruit even filth like a half-demon to try and save themselves."

"Half's more than I need to skin a cat like you."

"Very witty." She moaned. "So..." She paused and cracked a few of her knuckles. "Are we going to do this the hard way, or are you going to step out of the way?"

Inuyasha stared at her, his eyes severe. "Not gonna happen."

She gave a longsuffering sigh. "I see. Well... the hard way it is." She waved to her left and Inuyasha's stance relaxed, his face losing its severity. A neko demon stood several feet to the left of the female, Kagome held firmly in its claws. "Here's how this works." she muttered. "You stand down and your precious Priestess will live."

Inuyasha said nothing, did nothing, staring her down. Part of him screamed to leap in and pull Kagome away, but another part, a larger part, told him to stay still and trust Kagome's ability. The cat demon stared at him for a moment, waiting, and quite expecting a reaction. Inuyasha not giving one seemed to surprise her, for she motioned to the air with her hand. "Hello? Are you going to stand down or not?"

Inuyasha grunted. "No." He stared her down and he could tell that she was hesitant to kill off her only leverage against a half-breed she knew nothing about.

She sighed, figuring she could find more leverage once the village was infiltrated. "Kill her." She commanded her comrade. The male cat demon smiled and held out a clawed hand, as if taunting Inuyasha before the deathblow. Inuyasha stared at him, anxiety buried in his eyes.

The claws came down.

Seconds later, the cat also fell.

Kagome stood above the cat demon, the sudden pulse of energy she had sent from her body causing her to pant slightly. "Thanks for the help, Inuyasha." She grumbled, holding an open hand toward the female leader, her face looking as if she were holding someone at gunpoint. Though to be honest, the amount of damage that one hand could do is about equal with that of a gun.

"Inuyasha?" The female cooed, looking to the half-breed. "Your name is Inuyasha?"

Inuyasha didn't flinch. "Depends on who's asking." Kagome chuckled. He said that a lot in the unaltered world, causing her to relax slightly.

"I see… So you're the troublesome half-demon I've heard about, are you?" She smiled. "I don't envy you, you know. Naraku-sama sure does hate you for some reason. What you did to envoke such anger, I have no idea, but you really pissed him off."

Inuyasha held up a fist. "Pissed him off! He's the one who ruined my life! I never did anything to him, damnit!"

Kagome glanced to Inuyasha. The only thing you ever did, Inuyasha… was earn Kikyo's favor. Naraku has never let go of that, even if he won't admit it. She sighed. "Listen… you'd better get out of here right now, woman."

She turned to Kagome. "Oh, I'm not going anywhere. Not for a while. You see… Naraku-sama has offered the greatest reward possible if someone is able to kill Inuyasha; rule over the South." She then looked back at Inuyasha. "Like I said… no idea what you did to piss him off, but it must've been pretty bad."

"Shut up." Inuyasha growled. "I don't care what Naraku says. You're not getting by me."

"Oh you are a glutton for punishment, aren't you?" She chuckled and shook her head. "But have it your way." She pointed at him.

Kagome growled. "Have you forgotten about me?"

The female looked carelessly in her direction for a few seconds before Kagome was thrown to the ground, a disgruntled-looking cat demon standing arrogantly behind her. Inuyasha seemed to hesitate no more for he threw himself at the offending cat demon, tackling him to the ground with a canine roar. Kagome smiled at him. His desire to protect her was still imprinted on his soul.

Kagome couldn't even blink before the enemy cat demon was dead. It almost seemed as if the mere force of Inuyasha's claws had slain the enemy. Kagome sat up and watched as he then took off after the female demon. She simply stepped out of his swinging range, but that didn't seem to do the trick. Hot yellow energy erupted from the ends of his claws and increased his range by about a foot. The blades of energy managed to create a deep gash in the woman's stomach and she stepped backward, holding her arms across her bleeding midsection and staing up at him in surprise. Inuyasha also stumbled backward, holding the hand he had used against her. Kagome raised an eyebrow at him. Blood was dripping through his fingers.

His hand is bleeding? What just happened? The cat demon couldn't have had time to strike back... She stood. "Inuyasha, what happened?"

Inuyasha shook his head. "I dunno." He uncovered his hand and held it up as much for his own viewing as for the others'. Blood was dripping down his hands, originating from the tips of his fingers, as if his nails had been pulled up and cut through. "I tried to do a Sankoptessou... and it felt like it blew up my claws."

Kagome took his hand in her own, disregarding the blood. She then put two fingers to his forehead, leaving two bloody prints. Her eyes widened in realization. His energy store... Dev said he wouldn't be able to control the amount of energy he's got now. She looked back to his hand. His energy store has too much energy to control, so he accidentally released more energy than his claws could handle in his attack. She looked back to him. Suddenly, the area exploded into action.

Kagome screamed as she was tackled from behind by the female cat demon, claws digging into her shoulderblades.

Inuyasha let loose another canine yell.

The cat demon was thrown away from Kagome, and a loud explosion was heard, flattening Kagome to the ground and causing her to plug her ears. Kagome only knew a few more seconds before she blacked out.

Okuri sat, staring out the window of the hut, sighing. He's not a demon... but he's not human... is it possible that he's a half-demon? Though what human could possibly make such a detestable union I have no idea. Then again... if what Kagome-sama says is true, he's been around for over 500 years. Perhaps it was more acceptable back then. He shook his head. Impossible. Half-demons are the rarest breed on the planet. How could we have found one?

"Okuri-sama?"

Okuri looked down at Miidori. "Hey, I thought you were sleeping."

Miidori shook her head and sat up. "No... I'm not tired anymore. And Kikyo-sama's medicine is working."

"But she wouldn't want you up and moving around."

"You don't need to worry about me."

Okuri placed a hand on her head. "But we do. You are the future Kikyo-sama. You are the hope of this village. We can't be careless with you."

Miidori ducked away from his hand, smiling. "Either way... where are Kikyo-sama and that fair-haired man?"

Okuri motioned blithely to the doorway. "Kagome-sama left a while ago. Inuyasha came and went just a little bit ago."

"Inuyasha? Is that the fair-haired one?"

Okuri nodded, then tensed as Miidori stood and darted over to the window. "Miidori? What are you doing?"

"Okuri-sama... I sense demons. Familiar demons..."

Okuri stood as well and quickly vacated the hut. He wandered several feet toward the destroyed Goshin Boku, glancing around the area. His brain was tingling. There were definately demons around. Quite a few of them considering how strong the pull in his mind was. He wandered farther toward the tree, and stopped when a flash of orange was seen in his peripheral vision. He growled. "Take cover!" He shouted to any surrounding villagers who happened to be unfortunately out of their homes. "Demons are here! Get inside!"

Panic seemed to ensue almost immediately as the villagers would head immediately for the Goshin Boku, but then would turn away with increased terror toward their homes, realizing suddenly that the tree would no longer protect them. They had mostly vanished into their homes before the first cat demon decided to make his move. Okuri turned just in time to block the rear-aimed attack. He swung his arm outward, catching the enemy in the stomach and sending the momentum back at the cat. The cat yowled and hit the ground, nursing his wound as several other surrounded him. Okuri growled at them, but felt a tug at the bottom of his kimono top. He glanced down to see Miidori standing there, offering to him a sword from the wepons shed. Okuri smiled and took the sword in his hands, aiming the blade at the cats. The cats took their time surrounding him, inching their way into a circle by sidling sideways until they encompassed him. Okuri's green eyes darted around, looking for movement anywhere, trying to find the cat that would move first. It was not a single cat that jumped at him, but three, all attempting to overpower him with their numbers.

Okuri made one horizontal slash at about waist level, pumping energy through the blade. There was a burst of blue power expelled from the blade, sending the enemies flying. Okuri brought the blade back to his front, staring at the nearby emenies.

"Spiritual energy, huh? Not too many humans left have that kind of power." The wounded one smirked.

"I'm more unusual than you think. Leave this village, or you will be made to leave." He brandished the sword slightly in an effort to scare them off. They showed no signs of intimidation.

"Silly little human." he chuckled. "What makes you so sure you can make us leave?"

"This." Okuri held out his gloved right hand, letting the blade in his left hand fall to his side.

The group seemed to take a sudden and slight step backward. The one who had spoken before growled. "Miroku Okuri, I take it?"

"You got that right. Now get out. Or would you prefer to be sucked into oblivion?" He growled.

It seemed that Okuri need not have done anything for just as he spoke, a scream echoed behind him, somewhere most likely at the edge of the village. It was only seconds later that a canine roar shot through the air and something akin to an explosion deafened him and a rush of energy like a gale knocked him off his feet. Miidori landed next to him, grabbing onto his arm and holding tightly as wind continued to come from out of nowhere. Huts creaked with the stress put on by the wind and the cat demons began yowling before dashing away from the area. Okuri pulled Miidori close to his body and held her there, hoping to shield her from the winds, whatever they happened to be. His mind was swimming, as if the wind had some mental effect on him. He glanced down to see that Miidori had finally passed out. He felt his consciousness fleeing as well, but he held on with sudden tenacity.

It seemed an eternity before the winds died down, though in truth, it couldn't have been more than a minute or so. Okuri blearily sat up, his vision swimming and his head reeling, causing his upper body to swagger slightly. He glanced around, seeing that the huts had remained, and people were beginning to crawl cautiously from their homes, searching for a source of the winds or even the one who had driven off the enemies. All across the village grounds were long scars, lines dug into the earth by the winds. Feeling rather anxious, Okuri's senses wound about the village, looking for Kagome's energy. He scooped Miidori into his arms as he scanned, and nearly dropped her when he finally found it. Nearly half a mile from the edge of the village she was... and her energy was severely weak. He stopped a nearby man and plopped Miidori into his arms. "To-san... take her to Kikyo-sama's home, please. Lay her down and don't move her until I come back."

From there, Okuri made a beeline from the center of the village toward where he sensed Kagome. When he reached her, he stopped at the sight. The bodies of at least five cat demons lay around the area. Two of which he knew were dead. Two more were shakily getting to their feet, and when they saw Okuri they quickly took off in the opposite direction. The last cat demon, as Okuri examined her, was dead at this point, though there didn't seem to be any scratches on her. Kagome lay beneath this female, and Okuri quickly shoved away the cat to reach the unconscious Kagome. He gently rolled her over onto her back and gave her a onceover. Aside from the small traces of blood on her shoulders, she didn't seem to be injured. Simply unconscious. His eyes caught sight of the ground as he stooped even further. The gouges on the ground were shallower here than in the village, but they were also narrower, as if leading toward a point. Following the narrowing lines, his eyes wandered until the found the epicenter of the lines.

The fair-haired creature Kagome had awakened lay unconscious on the ground, his clothes full of lacerations, but his skin pale and healthy, no blood on him save for that on his right hand. From what, Okuri had no idea, nor did he care. All he knew was that Inuyasha was at the very center of the gouges in the earth. This creature was somehow responsible. He growled and shook Kagome gently. "Kagome-sama... Kagome-sama! Wake up!" She did not stir. Giving a foul glare in Inuyasha's direction, he scooped Kagome into his arms and stood as several villagers approached and examined the scene, though they did not have the interpreting eye as Okuri did.

"My Lord Okuri... what has happened?" One woman inquired. Her eyes seemed to dialate as she saw Kagome's state. "And what has happened to our Kikyo-sama!"

Okuri moved backward. "She is alright, merely unconscious." He looked up to the few men that had approached. "You two!" They stood at attention. "Gather him up and bring him to Kikyo-sama's home immeidately. But do not care for him yet. I will do that myself." A growl was heard behind his voice and the men jumped to obey. He took off toward the hut once more. "Hang in there, Kagome-sama."

Kitty-chan: There... must... sleep... review please.