disclaimer: i don't own it...i do however own a crap load of homework. Anyone want to trade?

thanx to all reviewers! I luvzya all! lol a special thanx to the razzle-bear, lol luvd the review. I feel special, tee hee hee. YAY lol.

okie, i'm sry to all those ppl who liked my "insanely perfect" chapters, but this one is going to be a bit more serious. k.

Chapter 17

Devil You Know, or Devil You Don't

Mitsukai stirred restlessly in her sleep. The expression on her face suggested that she was having a nightmare. She was dreaming that she was falling, falling into a dark abyss. Then, suddenly, she stopped falling. There were bright lights then she was standing in a clear, serene meadow. The meadow was peaceful, but Mitsukai felt tense. Something didn't feel right. Then Inuyasha appeared out of nowhere and they started fighting and bickering. Suddenly Mitsukai turned into her mother. People swarmed her, chanting Kagome's name. They began poking and shoving her. She felt like she was spinning out of control. Faces flashed before her: her friends (Kenji, Sasuke, Naomi, Midorime, Fumio, Kotaro, Akio, Sayuri, Chie, Takeo, Kage, Emi), Inukuro, random faces from her own time such as teachers and peers, then Inuyasha, Kaede, the man from the rice field, Sango, Miroku, Sae, Yukio, Sanosuke. Mitsukai-Kagome screamed. Then...she woke up.

Mitsukai sat up on her bedmat, her breaths coming in short gasps. Her eyes were wide with the confusion of the events of her dream. She sat for a moment breathing hard, in a sort of dazed state. It took a moment for her breathing to slow down to normal. Finally, she sighed.

"Phew, only a dream."

She looked around and the look of confusion and panic crossed her face again. Where the hell was she? The room was dark, yet the feeling of it wasn't that of her own at home in Tokyo. It smelt different, looked different. The floor was wood, not carpeted. The walls were wood, not painted. This place looked like it had been built in the warring states era of Japan. There wasn't much furniture in the room, except for the bedmat she was lying on. Suddenly, everything came back to her.

"Awh shit! Only half of it was a dream," she groaned.

She fell back on her bed and immediately regreted it when her head hit the hard wood floor full force. She sat up immediately and glanced around, rubbing the back of her head and wincing. She looked around for a moment. Her now chocolate brown eyes, not her regular silver ones, fell on a little boy sitting beside her on the floor. She recognized him as Sango and Miroku's middle child, Sanosuke. She glared at him, annoyed at first, then her gaze softened in to a thoughtful look when she realized that the boy looked a bit frightened. 'He probably had a nightmare or something,' Mitsukai thought.

"Miss. Mituskai, we have to go. Momma told me to come and get you."

Sanosuke, who was about ten years old (maybe give or take a year), took Mitsukai's hand and stood up. He tugged on her hand and she stood up. He pulled her a couple of steps toward a back door but Mitsukai stopped. She knelt down in front of Sanosuke and looked him thoughtfully in the eye.

"What's wrong, Sanosuke? Why do we have to leave?" she asked him calmly. 'What could possibly be going on?' Outside she could here some instructions and directions being yelled, but couldn't make out what the muffled voices were saying.

"The village is under attack. Don't worry though, Shippo will protect us," explained Sanosuke.

"Shippo?" Mitsukai asked.

"Yes, he's a fox demon. But he's a good demon. He'll protect us," he assured again.

"Okay, whatever you say," replied Mitsukai.

She stood up and, still clutching Sanosuke's hand, followed him outside. Outside Mitsukai could hear the sounds of fighting, and yells, and growls and squeals of pain. 'What in the world could make those kind of sounds?' she questioned mentally. She glanced over her shoulder at the village wall and gasped. All along the wall were men lined up with weapons fighting the hordes of demons that were trying to get into the village. The demons were hideous. She couldn't remember there being any demons of that kind in her world. Then she remembered something that Sesshoumaru had told her once, that over hundreds of years only the strongest and most dominant types of demons were able to survive and adapt through the years. So that meant, the dog demon race, the wolf demons, some snake demons...and a few others was all that was left. A thought came to Mitsukai. 'Maybe that's where I am! It makes sense, the demons, the way these people live. I'm in the past, hundreds of years in the past, the feudal era of Japan. Now what? Just great, people from my time will look at my grave and be like what the hell, born 1990 – died 14-something-er-other.' Mitsukai stopped running and watched the fighting with wide eyes. She watched as one man was thrown a couple yards back, smashed into a post, then didn't get up. She could see Inuyasha slaughtering demon after demon after demon, almost easily. As well as Sango and Miroku. It was obvious that they had worked together slaying demons in the past. Though every once in a while there would be a pause, as if they were waiting for someone else to take their turn in the attack, nothing would come and they would just continue. There was another demon that seemed to be helping the humans and Inuyasha. It was catlike and looked familiar...the two-tailed cat demon from the night before...Kirara. Suddenly Mituskai realized that Sanosuke was tugging on her hand, pleading for her to follow, but she didn't react at all. She just stared.

Suddenly, something silver flew past Mitsukai's head and she ducked just in time to prevent it from decapitating her right then and there. It was so close she had felt the breeze and heard it whir as it just barely missed her neck. Her eyes widened in shock and horror at her near death experience as she watched the weapon land a few feet away from her. She realized then that this wasn't some dream, wasn't an acid trip, and she wasn't crazy...okay maybe she was the last one just a little bit, but. This was real, way too real for Mitsukai's comfort. She heard a snicker from somewhere in the shadows. She subconciously drew Sanosuke closer to her, holding him tightly. She heard him whimper and tried to comfort him by rubbing his back in a relaxing motion. Her eyes scanned the shadows for the owner of the weapon and the chilling laughter. She heard quiet footsteps behind her and she spun around to see a shadowy figure of a guy. She couldn't make out the features of his face, all she could see were his eyes. His cold red-gold eyes watching her with blood lust and amusement. Somewhere in the back of her mind a pair of golden eyes floated, these ones different, holding mystery and mischief. A shiver went through her spine. She watched in horror as the demon inched closer and closer. She hugged Sanosuke closer to herself and screamed.

Just as she expected the weapon to come down, taking her life and Sanosuke's in one swift movement, nothing happened. She looked up, eyes wide in shock and confusion as to why they weren't dead. She still saw the red-golden eyes and the shadowy figure, but now the eyes held a hint of recognition, of hesitation, uncertainty. Mitsukai took her chance. She scooped up Sanosuke, who seemed to be paralyzed with fear, and ran back to the house as fast as her human body would allow. Once inside she slammed the sliding door shut and barred it as best she could. As she stood, panting, her breaths coming in short gasps again, tears staining the usually flawless soft skin of her cheeks, three different pairs of eyes flashed before her in her mind. Mysterious and mishievious; blood lustful, cold, and amused; and uncertain, hesitant, with a hint of recognition. Two, red; one gold.

Mitsukai was panicking. She knew that the demon was right outside the door. Without warning she snatched Sanosuke and began to run. She spotted another door that lead to the kitchen area where there was another door that lead outside, from there Sanosuke could lead them to Shippo. When they got outside she could hear and see fighting. She saw Inuyasha's wind scar. She sighed in relief, Inuyasha was fighting the demon. Sanosuke brought her out of her thoughts, tugging at the sleeve of her yukata. She nodded and followed him through the village to a series of tunnels and caves in the mountain side. Standing guard was a...giant red fluffball? As they got nearer Mitsukai realized that the fluff ball was actually the tail of a little boy, well demon. They approached the fox-like demon and it saw them. It ran forward and met them.

"Sanosuke! What took you so long? I thought you just went to get her," said the fox boy. "Sango would've killed me if something happened to you."

"Sorry Shippo...We were attacked by a demon. But I'm okay, Miss. Mitsukai got us away, she saved us!" said Sanosuke.

"Well, I wouldn't say I saved us, I sorta..." began Mitsukai somewhat ashamed that she had run. She never ran from bullies. When she was little and a demon had attacked their school, she and her brother had stood up to it and shown no fear. Now she was running away. It wasn't like her. 'I guess it's just the stress of everything that has happened these past few days,' decided Mitsukai. 'Besides we're with Shippo now. We're safe.' She glanced at the little fox boy and suddenly panicked. 'Shippo? That boy was Shippo? Okay, I'm as good as dead. My life is in the hands of a 5 year old!' "Wait! Shippo? You're Shippo?"

The fox boy nodded. "Why? Got a problem with me?"

Mitsukai was a bit taken aback by Shippo. "Umm...er, no, not really."

With Inuyasha, Sango, and Miroku

Soon After the End of the Fighting

Inuyasha watched as the bastard of a demon slipped into the shadows and disappeared into the night. He growled and sheathed his Tetsusaiga. He heard footsteps behind him. His ears twitched and he turned around to see Sango and Miroku walk into the street.

"What the hell was that?" asked Inuyasha, referring to the attack.

"I don't know," said Sango. "I haven't seen that many demons together since Naraku."

They were silent for a moment. They remembered the time, 16 years ago, when, as a group, they searched for the shards of the shikon jewel. When they sought Naraku, each for their own reason. Sango was the first to talk.

"Do you think it could have been him? We never really knew what happened to him and we never did find his shards of the jewel. Maybe...maybe he tricked us again," suggested Sango.

"Feh, yeah right. It's been 16 years. I think he would have showed his sorry ass by know if he were still around," retorted Inuyasha.

"Sango has a good point," said Miroku. "Maybe Naraku is back."

"That's impossible. It ended a long time ago. It's over. The well did a good job of deciding that when Naraku died," snapped Inuyasha.

"The well?"

Everyone looked over to see Mitsukai's form melt out of the shadows. Sango and Miroku sighed, relieved that it wasn't that demon. Inuyasha just scoffed.

"None of your business kid."

"Hey! Who you calling a kid? I'll have you know I'm 15. And I'm sure I could take you on any day." She paused. "Er, any day except for today, tomorrow, and the day after that...maybe a couple of others...but other than that I could SO take you on!"

"What the hell? Like hell you could take me on. Weak human."

"Oh that's it!" yelled Mitsukai and charged at Inuyasha...Only she didn't go anywhere. She was held back by Sango and Miroku. 'Damn human weeks!'

Inuyasha smirked triumphantly. Mitsukai growled.

"I wouldn't mess with Inuyasha, Mitsukai," said Miroku.

"What's that supposed to mean, monk?" asked Inuyasha.

"N-nothing."

Mitsukai pulled out of Sango and Miroku's grip, took one last look at Inuyasha before turning on her heels and stalking off. She spotted Shippo and Sanosuke close by and decided to check out what they were doing. She jogged over to them. She scooped up Shippo and gave him a little squeeze. She had come to adore the little kitsune. Shippo protested a little but easily gave in to Mitsukai's attention. He liked Mitsukai. She reminded him of his two favourite people: Kagome and Inuyasha. Two in one deal.

"Hey Shippo! What's up?" Mitsukai asked loosening her grip but not putting him down.

"Sanosuke and I were going to look for Inuyasha," relplied Shippo.

"Oh," said Mitsukai a bit disappointed. "He's over there."

"Thanks Mitsukai, do you wanna come?" asked Sanosuke.

"No. I'm gonna go for a walk."

Two Days Later

Mitsukai sat beside Sanosuke on the veranda, Shippo in her lap. They sat watching some of the exterminators train. Mitsukai was watching but wasn't really seeing. She was deep in thought. She had been in this...place...time for six days. Six days away from home. She hated to admit it, but she was homesick. She missed modern day Tokyo. She missed her family, even Inukuro. Hell, she even missed school.

'I think,' she decided, 'it's time to go home.'

She thought for another moment as she took in the scenes around her. Most of the men, and a few scattered women, trained in a training field with various weapons. A group of them, training with katana, were led by Sango. A few men fished in the river that ran through the west end of the village. A large group of the women were working in the fields. Three children ran past, laughing.

Mitsukai smiled and gently hugged the young fox demon sitting in her lap. She also had to admit that she kind of liked the feudal era. Sure, the night the demons attacked was a bit scary, but it seemed like most the of the time it was quite peaceful. For the past few days, Mitsukai's stay at the exterminator village was peaceful and relaxing. The air was so clean and the stars were vivid and bright every night. She would never find that in Tokyo. The people of the exterminator village were very friendly towards Mitsukai even though she was a stranger to the village and they knew absolutely nothing about her. Another thing Mitsukai wouldn't expect from Tokyo. Mitsukai admired them. They were hard workers. Yes, Mitsukai liked the feudal era. Even bickering with Inuyasha. She especially loved Shippo, with his kawaii fluffy tail and brilliant green eyes.

She gave the little fox-boy another little squeeze. He looked up at her and she smiled down at him. He smiled back and snuggled into her. Sanosuke leaned against her. Mitsukai was content.

'I'll come back soon, though,' she thought.

Her contentment was disturbed, though, by a commotion at the gates. She looked up and watched as the large, heavy gates creeked open. For a moment, nothing happened. Then an old woman riding a horse entered the village. Mitsukai recognized her immediately: the old miko from the village by the well. Kaede.

Mitsukai stood up, Shippo still in her arms, and approached the woman. She smiled and waved when Kaede looked in her direction. The old woman smiled and waved back as she handed her horse off to a stablehand. Mitsukai jogged over to Kaede, being careful not to jostle Shippo.

"I see ye made it here safe and sound, Mitsukai. And ye met Shippo I see," greeted Kaede.

Both looked down at the now sleeping Shippo. Shippo's leg twitched in his sleep and the two women giggled.

"Hey, old hag, what are you doing here?" came Inuyasha's rough voice.

Mitsukai rolled her eyes. Kaede sighed, obviously used to Inuyasha's rough tone.

"Hello Inuyasha."

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A few minutes later Mitsukai found herself in Sango and Miroku's kitchen watching Sae for them. Sango, Miroku, Inuyasha, Kaede, and a few others from the village were having a meeting to discuss the recent attacks on villages. For a little while Mitsukai played with a giggling Sae. But, Sae soon got tired and Mitsukai thought it best to put her down for a nap.

Mitsukai soon grew bored and a bit impatient. Shippo and Sanosuke, who hadn't left her side since the night of the attack, were outside playing with some of the other children. Inuyasha was in the meeting, so she couldn't bug him or start an argument over nothing with him. And Yukio, who Mitsukai had spent a bit of time with, was also in the meeting. There was nothing to do but sit and stare at Sae. Afterall, she had been told to watch Sae.

Everything was quiet for a few moments, then Mitsukai heard voices coming from the other room, the room where the meeting was taking place.

"There have been a few attacks on villages in the area recently," said Kaede's voice. "One village was heavily damaged. A good few were killed or injured."

"Could it just be unchecked demons making trouble?" asked an unfamiliar voice. Mitsukai guessed it was one of the exterminator leaders'.

"No," answered Sango. "These demons were definitely not leaderless."

"I agree," said Kaede. "When they attacked there was one demon, a dog demon, who lead them."

"Yes," agreed Miroku. "Inuyasha fought him, but he got away."

"Feh, the weakling ran scared. He wasn't leading these demons by himself. There is someone above him, ordering the bastard around," said Inuyasha.

"Do you think it could be Naraku?" asked the other exterminator leader.

"I don't know, but we should be careful," said Miroku.

"Aye, we should be very careful, whether it's Naraku or a new enemy," said Kaede.

There were murmers of agreement then silence. Mitsukai guessed that the meeting was over so scooted over to Sae's bedside so that she wouldn't be caught eavesdropping. Sure enough, a few moments later Sango entered the kitchen. Mitsukai stood up and met her at the door.

"Thank you for watching Sae," said Sango.

"No problem," said Mitsukai.

They were silent for a moment. Then Mitsukai spoke.

"Sango, can I ask you something?"

"Sure."

"Who is Naraku?"

Sango frowned, then gave Mitsukai a quizzical look.

"You don't know who Naraku is?"

Mitsukai shook her head.

"No, I guess he was before your time. Come with me, I'll explain."

Mitsukai followed Sango silently. Sango lead her all through the village. Mitsukai followed her to the other end of the village where there was a gravesite. Sango stopped at the gravesite then turned to Mitsukai. And with that she explained who Naraku was, though Mitsukai could tell that that was all she was telling, there was more not being said.

That Night

Mitsukai sat alone on the veranda. She looked up at the sky and sighed. The sun had just set and now the first quarter moon replaced it...'First quarter?' thought Mitsukai. 'Oh no! I totally forgot, this is my last human night.' Sure enough she could feel her demon strengths and senses coming back to her. She looked around frantically looking for anyone who might see her. But all of her senses told her that no one was around. She sighed in relief. 'Looks like it's time to go home.' One of her ears twitched at the sound of a cricket chirping. 'I don't think they'd be as friendly if they found out I was demon.'

Mitsukai stood up and stretched, then with her quarter demon speed she was gone.

A/N – read and review!