Disclaimer: Inuyasha iie wa watashi no desu. That is supposed to say Inuyasha is not mine, but I'm pretty sure I messed up the order and possibly the words…well, you get the point, nee?

Yahoo! Reviews are so cool!

You know your reviews make me wanna...

Shout! Throw my hand up
Shout! Kick my heels back
Shout! Throw my head back
Shout! Come on now (Shout!)

Ha! That song is so cool. And this chapter made me wanna shout too, cause I was on writer's block for the longest time. Thenthis week was Finals week in school. And that sucked.

Scroll Eight

Just a Friend

If ever there were a beautiful woman, it would surely be her: the lovely maiden Kikyou. He had learned of her name a while ago, right after he was hired to eliminate her. He secretly watched as she gracefully picked out specific herbs as a child watched her in the process. To think that this gorgeous woman held such great power in the palm of her hand!

He had heard of the Jewel of Four Souls a while back, when he was stealing from some weak and pathetic villagers to the south. It was said that the jewel gave incomparable power to any evil being that could manage to get a hold of it. Of course, no one knew exactly how much power it would bestow, because no one had actually gotten lucky enough to steal it from the jewel's guardian. Every demon or human that had tried to steal the jewel (and survive) from Kikyou grew bitter and angry at her. They hated the thought that a mere mortal woman could stop them from achieving their pernicious goal.

Kurabawa, the man that had hired him to get rid of the miko, hated her as well. Apparently, because of her, his arm was now permanently disabled. He had a very hard time moving his left arm. So for revenge, Kurabawa wanted to take her precious jewel and kill her. That's where he came in. But before he could make a move, he had to see for himself just how powerful that beauty of a miko was.

And he would have stayed longer too, if that damned hanyou hadn't popped out in the tree opposite him. He was lucky, he guessed, that the hanyou hadn't spotted him. It seemed he too was caught in the spell of the miko's hypnotic movements. Still, however entertained that half-demon was, he couldn't risk getting caught. As he made his slow departure, he took another glance at the hanyou. Then he stopped.

He didn't like the way the hanyou looked at the miko.

He really didn't like the way that half-demon looked at the miko. 'I could come up from behind him right now, and he wouldn't even know what hit him,' he thought.

No. That was too easy a death for that bastard. He wouldn't let him go so easily. How dare his dirty blood even glance at such a beautiful mortal as the priestess? Just who in the hell did he think he was?

"Inuyasha."

He saw him flinch, as if he weren't expecting his name to be called out. The man himself drew back somewhat, not expecting his question to be answered so soon. 'Inuyasha...' he thought with repugnance. "I'll remember that name..."

"Sister Kikyou, who are ye speaking to?"

Distracted by her younger sibling's voice, Kikyou turned her attention from the tree back to Kaede. "Kaede. I'm afraid we'll have to continue your lessons some other time," said Kikyou, handing Kaede the few herbs they had managed to pick. Kaede was about to protest, but Kikyou gave her a look that meant she had more important things to do, and that usually meant danger was around. So, with a small sigh, Kaede handed Kikyou her arrows and left.

Kikyou had not wanted to scare her younger sister, but for some time now, she had sensed an evil presence nearby, watching her, examining her every move. The presence had slowly faded, so it was probable that it had gone on its way. 'I sensed no demonic power, but the evil within was strong…could it have been a human?' she wondered.

"I take it by the look on your face that you're finally gonna take me seriously?" asked a voice from within the trees.

Kikyou looked up into the trees and caught a glimpse of the demon's crimson clothes before he leaped down to face her. He threw his head back in a futile attempt to make his silver bangs move so his eyes could see. He looked at her and smirked. Flexing his claws, he greeted her. "Hello, Kikyou."

He seemed especially lively that day, Kikyou noticed. She remembered she had seen him the night before in a deep, serene sleep, and that was presumably the reason he was so full of energy.

"I'm in a good mood today," he said, taking a step closer towards Kikyou, "so why not make my day better by giving me that jewel?" Oh yes. He was definitely in a good mood today. A good night's sleeps does wonders to the mind. But someone was bound to break that good humor of his, and he decided it would be best if the priestess were the one who did so, since she always managed to do it anyway.

Her calm chocolate eyes never left his cocky golden ones as she relaxed the grip on an arrow she held on her right hand. That same inexpressive face he had come to know so well, he noted, was slowly softening every time they met. Could it mean she was slowly starting to trust him? Or maybe it was just his imagination. Yeah. That was probably it. He didn't trust her. And he didn't expect her to trust him either.

Being the lonely loners that they were, neither had had many, if any, friends. In fact, Inuyasha never had any friends. He knew of no love that wasn't motherly and mercy was a word absent from his life. Unless one counted the times the miko had spared his life. Did dose acts of restraint from the miko count as mercy? Those times when she refused to take that final blow to his heart? If so, then those times would be the first a stranger had shown him compassion. Maybe that waswhy she hadn't been able to kill him.

They were standing twenty feet from each other, the closest distance they'd ever been since they met. Kikyou restrained a smile. She guessed it wasn't so bad speaking regularly to someone, even if they only discussed about the jewel, or about how stubborn he was, or about how much of a "wench" she could be. He was, perhaps, the closest thing Kikyou would ever know as a "friend."

Perfect moments like these, when a boy meets a girl in a romantic environment with no one but nature as a witness, are destined to be ruined. Both knew it was true, because both felt the rapid speed of a demonic power approaching. Kikyou's character remained unruffled, but Inuyasha was already putting on his fighting pose.

"Jewel…" it said in an eerie voice.

Kikyou waited until she could get a clear view of the demon. It wasn't a very strong demon, but it was demon nonetheless. She prepared her bow and arrow. From the shadows it appeared, swaying from side to side as if drunk.

'A human?' thought Inuyasha, surprised. But that couldn't be. His senses told him of demonic power, yet he saw a human male in front of him, looking dazed yet malicious. But he smelled nothing like a man. "Ugh! He stinks!" he cried out in disgust, covering his sensitive nose from the fowl smell.

"That man is dead. A demon is using the corpse for mobility," explained a clam miko, still pointing the arrow towards the dead man. Inuyasha looked at her, amazed a human would know so much about demons. Then again, she was a priestess after all. "What you smell is most likely the decaying body."

"Feh. No matter," he said, trying to divert from the fact he knew nothing of what she was talking about. " I'll take him down!"

But before Inuyasha had time to reach the walking corpse, Kikyou's arrow struck the man in the abdomen, forcing out the demon dwelling within the dead man. The crow demon flew away into the sky, and the remains of its victim fell apart where it once stood.

"It's a crow!" cried out an astonished Inuyasha as he watched the crow fly away into the sky. Realizing it was escaping, Inuyasha jumped up onto a tree and pursued the flying demon. "Claws of Steel!" he yelled, ripping the air in front of him with his claws. The power his claws let out reached the crow and tore the demon into pieces.

Kikyou watched him fall down gloriously, still surprised he'd gone after that demon. Why had he done that? Had he done it for her?

As if he knew what she was thinking, he merely offered, "I only did it for the jewel." He landed gently at a safe distance in front of her. Kikyou studied him, attempting to discover if he was being honest or if he was just bluffing. "That way I won't have to keep hunting it down," he added.

She arched her eyebrow slightly. "Of course," she said and she turned around to walk away. "Thank you, anyway," she said.

"You sure it's safe to turn your back to me?" he questioned her, and watched as she kept walking away from him.

"Had you wanted to kill me, I'm positive you would have already done so," she said, as if rationalizing why she didn't view him as a threat.

"Feh," he huffed. "Don't take me so lightly, miko!" he yelled, running off into a different direction. "I'll be back for that jewel!" she heard his distant voice promise.

Kikyou smiled. Yes. He was a friend. Just a friend. And she liked it. The thought of having a friend, that is. Even if that certain friend didn't see her as one.

When Kikyou reached her home, she sighed. Such solitude had been familiar to the miko until she met her friend. She was so respected, so idolized by her villagers, but no amount of that kind of affection could fill in the hole in her heart that cried for mutual love. Even the love of a friend would make her soul so immensely happy. She knew she couldn't have what most women her age had: friends, husbands, or happiness. Such luxuries were forbidden for a woman such as herself. And although the life of a powerful priestess was a lonely and sad one, she didn't regret one bit that she had relinquished her youth and happiness to keep others safe from harm's way. She was born with a special gift, and she had decided to use it for good.
"Had you wanted to kill me, I'm positive you would have already done so."

"Feh," he huffed to the memory. He could kill her if he wanted to. But that would be saying that the miko had a point in her statement.

"Who said I wanted to kill you anyway?"

End of Scroll Eight

Sorry the chapter's so short. I just wanted to post this as soon as I could. Just so you guys wouldn't think I forgot about you ;) I've given up on trying to keep the manga and anime at pace. There's just too much confusion, what with anime episodes that never appear in the manga and such. So I'll just do this how I want to, and I'll decide what's important and what's not. So don't go on telling me that I'm missing stuff from episode blah blah or from volume yak yak. And please be patient about these two. Love is like a flower. If taken care of properly, it'll blossom beautifully.

Uh...I dunno where that came from. Just feeling a little poetic. Well, you know the drill. Review please!

Adios!