--Too Soon--

The forest was quiet, save for the fast-paced footsteps that echoed throughout the trees. The noise disrupted the calm and serene of the woods, but in a subtle sort of way, like ripples in otherwise still water. They belong to not one, but two hasty people; one following the other on a sinuous path through the woods. There was no actual path, nor trails or signs that people of any kind have ever come this way. The one leading had no use for a pathway. She knew where she was going and she knew exactly which way to go to get there.

The one following her wasn't so sure. He had absolutely no idea where he was, relying on the woman yards ahead of him to lead him the right way. Thinking it over now, he wondered why he so easily agreed to follow a complete stranger into unfamilar territory, but the allure of the promsing offer rid him of worry. The only thing he really felt was anxious.

"Wind Witch, how much further?"

The woman up ahead came to a swift halt, sudden but graceful, and whisked around to face him. Her lips pressed into a thin line and she gave him an intense look. Or perhaps it was merely an annoyed look. It was hard to discern, since that was the only kind of look she gave him so far, so he had nothing else to compare it with to tell.

"We're almost there, seer," she said, with hardly a hint of expression in her voice, "If you plan on having any second thoughts, now would be the time. Continue if you will, but there will be no turning back if you do."

Was that a threat, or was it a warning? The woman's attitude towards him (and possibly everything) suggested complete indifference. She didn't even wait for his reaction or to see if he would follow; she simply turned around and started off again, fleet-footed and fast, a flying blur in the foggy, grey woods.

Hiromi did have second thoughts, but not very prominent ones. And when he noticed that Kagura was almost out of sight, all thoughts promptly vanished and he hurried to catch up.

---------------

"Sure is a gloomy day, huh? With all those clouds and fogs, it's kinda hard to tell if the sun's still there or not."

Reyu smiled. "I'm sure the sun hasn't left us, Maron. He's just hiding behind the clouds."

It was a pretty drab afternoon, grey and somber, with the dark clouds threatning rain, but the village was as lively as ever. There was working and playing and chatting, and the prospect of the seer setting up a fortune-booth had everyone excited.

Reyu enlisted in the help of a little village girl named Maron to assist her with the booth, much to the girl's delight. Maron was unaware that this in turn was helping her. When Reyu went to find a helper, she didn't pick Maron randomly; she knew who she was looking for. This is what Hiromi had meant when he said "try to save the world with your visions," the night before. Some days ago, Reyu had a vision of the little girl, playing by the river alone. Because of the fog, she accidently fell in and drowned. Determine to prevent this, Reyu set out for the village. This was how she always choose her next designation; wherever someone's future took a turn for the worst, but was able to be changed, she would head there next and do what she could. Today, all she had to do was ask Maron to be her assistant, which then kept her occupied and safely away from the river. Reyu was even awarded with a vision of Maron eating dinner with her family later on that night, so she knew the girl would be fine.

This was her calling, Reyu decided years ago. She believed that she was given the gift of Sight to help others, and to keep Destiny in check. (As with the case of Inuyasha.) It didn't bother her one bit either; she throughly enjoyed being able to help other people. It filled her with purpose and pride, and it just felt good. Reyu couldn't save the world, and didn't try to as Hiromi suggested, but she did contribute to it as much as she could.

Hiromi didn't always feel that way, that they should use their Sight for the benefit of others. He said they shouldn't interfer with fate. But then again, he never objected to it much. Reyu figured he said those things just to be stubborn. He was like that.

Thinking about him now made Reyu feel rueful. She couldn't understand what had happend. She met Hiromi almost three years ago. It was right after her family disowned her and she started becoming nomadic, wandering around by herself. A group of bloodthristy bandits had surrounded her, took what little she had, and just when she feared the worst, Hiromi swept down from the sky and took all them out. She was afraid of him at first, since he was a demon, but he did save her afterall. And then she found out he had the same gift as she. And he was just as happy as her to find another seer; Hiromi was the last of a long line of demon-seers. They became fast friends, despite their differences, and Hiro taught Reyu everthing he knew about being a seer, things he learned from his late grandmother.

But even though he was a demon and was actually trained as a seer, it became evident that Reyu was better at it. Her visions were always more frequent and more accurate than his. She thought it didn't bother him, but maybe it did. Maybe that's why they got into that fight and went their separate ways. But that was so stupid! If all it took was for her to be a less better seer than him, Reyu wouldn't mind at all, but she had no control over it.

Lately, it seemed she had no control of anything in her own life.

She pushed those thoughts away for now, tucking them into the back of her mind for later pondering. Maron was adding the finishing touches to the booth, and Reyu would start telling the villagers' fortune soon, for a small fee. (She had to earn money somehow.) Maron was ready to go first, and of no charge as a reward for helping out. Reyu didn't tell the girl about how she would have died today, because 1) it would be upsetting, and more importantly, 2) it wouldn't be her fortune, as she would not drown anytime soon, thanks to Reyu's interferring.

Instead, she put on an act of reading palms and flipping through tarot cards, weaving Maron a future of fun, magic, and hope. She told the little girl that she was blessed and would be successful in life, and even though Reyu had no visions to confirm this, she felt that it was true nonetheless.

---------------

They reached the heart of the forest, where the fog was at its thickest and the shadowy trees seemed grim. Kagura motioned for Hiromi to stay where he was, and then stepped forward, swallowed by the fog.

"He's here," he heard her say.

"Ah. Good. You are dismissed for now, Kagura, but do not stray far. I will need you later." The voice was male, but Hiromi could barely see whom it belonged to through the fog. Then, two figures emerged; a tall man with long, dark hair, and a small girl at his side, white as snow, with a mirror clutched in her pale hands.

The man smiled, perhas to appear friendly, but it seemed unstable. It was like he had heard of smiling, but never had any actual experience with it first-hand. Hiromi felt at even more unease.

"Hello, young seer. Pleasure to meet you. I am Naraku."

"I'm Hiromi. It's, uh, a pleasure to meet you too," Hiromi said uncertainly.

"I'll just get to the point, and save us some time," Naraku said, with that creepy smile of his, "You want more power. I can give it to you. Then afterwards, you can do a small favor for me. Sound fair?"

"I s'pose so. If...can you really give me more power?"

Naraku nodded his head once, and extended his arm to Hiromi. He opened his hand to reveal a sinlge pinkish shard, bright and glittering in the dank woods. It was small, but Hiromi could feel the great energy resonating from it. Gingerly, he reached out and picked it up, holding it between his index finger and his thumb, and held it up to his eye.

"How does it work?" he asked, no longer feeling uneasy, but excited.

"Just push into your skin. It's quite simple. Your body will draw power from it, and enhance your Seer Sight. Go ahead. Try it out," Naraku suggested, "Summon a vision for yourself, and if it doesn't work, you will owe me nothing."

Hiromi didn't even hesitate. He slipped the shard into his wrist without even the slightest wince, and let its power flow through him. Instantly, everything was sharper and clear, and he felt more alert than he ever felt in his life.

Summon a vision. The downside to having the Sight was that you couldn't choose what or who's future you would see, and never saw your own. Visions were random for the most part and, in Hiromi's opinion, mostly useless. But now... Now, with this Shikon shard, he knew he had a choice. He could feel it. He could See anyone's future, and whenever he wanted. And he already knew who's future he wanted to See the most.

He paused and closed his eyes, drawing power from the shard. He thought of the person who's future he wanted to know, and forced the vision to come. It was happening, he could almost see it, but then...

"It's not working," he said disappointedly, "It's too blurry."

Naraku, it seemed, had thought ahead. "Place your hand on Kanna's mirror," he instructed, gesturing to the silent ghost girl, "And your vision shall be reflected clearly on it."

Hiromi did as told, and watched in amazement as the vision unblurred and revealed itself in the mirror. His grin of triumph suddenly became an 'O' of horror as he stood there and Saw the ghastly future uncurled in front of his eyes.

"No," he whispered, taking a step back from the mirror, as if it was something dreaful lunging at him. In a sense, it was. "No," he repeated.

Naraku glanced at mirror and frowned. "Poor thing. Pity it has to be like that. Someone you know, I take it? I'm so sorry." He didn't sound sorry, but Hiromi wasn't really listening.

"I-I can't let that happen. I won't," he told himself, "I'll change it."

"Not just yet, young man," said Naraku in a cold yet even tone that was obviously his real voice, "You owe me something. I need certain infomation about a person, and you are going to use your Sight to tell me. Kanna," he said, and the girl nodded. Hiromi's terrible vision swirled and dissolved, replaced then with an image of a young man with a white mane of hair and dog ears. Hiromi blinked. He had seen that person before.

"His name is Inuyahsa," Naraku supplied, "And he is a half-demon and a nuisance. For one day every month, he becomes a mere, weak human. I want you to find out when and where that will happen next."

"That's one of the people Reyu was traveling with," said Hiromi, mainly to himself, "Why do you want to know when he's human?"

Naraku didn't answer. He didn't need to; Hiromi could figure it out from his silence.

He was shaking his head. "No. I can't do that. I won't help cause someone's death. "

"Oh?" said Naraku evenly. He didn't look upset.On the contray, he looked rather amused."What if it's the only way to save someone else from it? Take another look with your Sight, see what you can find out. You may find that you've missed something significant."

Somehow, Naraku was right, and that's all it took. Hiromi told him what he wanted, and immediately left the forest. He didn't think about what he had done, because why would he? Afterall, what's done is done.

---------------

Reyu was hanging on tight, urging the horse to go as fast as it could, despite the fact that she was hardly able to stay on. Almost all the money made from fortune-telling that day had been spent on the chestnut mare right after the vision ended. There was no time for her to remember that she didn't know how to ride a horse when she bought it. She was in a hurry.

The village was now a tiny dot behind her, and she raced off on the road that Inuyasha and his companions took the day before after making it through the pass. She had to catch up with them as soon as possible. Which meant by tommorow, at the latest. The odds were against her, and the awful vision she had back in the village still echoed in her mind:

Sango and Kirara are knocked out from a hard blow from Naraku. Miroku is dealing with a swarm of demon wasps, and can't use his wind tunnel. Shippo hids behind Kagome, who is hastening to fire an arrow. Inuyasha is standing in front of Naraku with an old, cracked sword that won't transform. It won't transform because Inuyasha is human now, on the night of the new moon. Kagome fires and misses, and Naraku is suddenly right before Inuyasha, who doesn't even have time to react. With his arm molded into that of an orge's, Naraku raises his claws and kills Inuyasha with a single slash...

"Notgoodnotgoodnotgood!" Reyu cried, and she willed her horse to go even faster. The future was not supposed to be like that! Inuyasha had to live! Only he could possibly defeat Naraku for good, and if he didn't, then everyone would suffer. Naraku would be free to grow more powerful and more dangerous than ever, many would continue to die at his hands, chaos would almost certainly ensue. Reyu had to warn Inuyasha before it was too late; before Naraku won.

Besides, it wasn't just that she wanted Naraku to be stopped. She liked Inyuasha and his friends, and they deserved a better future than this new one. One where they were alive. Reyu has never failed to save someone from death (aside from natural causes) when she had a vision of it and felt it needed to be prevented. She wasn't going to start now.

She traveled for hours straight, but both she and her poor horse grew too tired to keep going for the rest of the night. Reyu reluctantly came to a halt and unmounted her horse. (If falling off a horse is considered unmounting.) She curled under a nice, big tree on the side of the road, to worn out to worry, and promptly fell asleep. Hopefully, they weren't too far ahead of her now and she would catch up with them before tommorow night.

---------------

Something was nudging at her, and Reyu woke up with her horse's snout in her face. She absently pat it, saying, "Good morning Horsie, did you get enough rest?" when she noticed with a start that it was not morning; it was dark out. Suddenly, she felt very awake, with a horrible sense of dread coming over her.

"It's okay," she told herself, "Maybe it still the same night. The horse just woke up me before morning." She took a deep breath and looked up the night sky.

She craned her head in all directions, searching relentlessly for a sliver of the moon. She saw nothing of it. Just stars and black sky. No moon.

New moon. She was slept too long. She was late.

The horse snorted, as if impatient, as if she knew what was going on, and Reyu hurriedly climbed on. She paused before flicking the reins, asking the air, "Which way? Please tell me which way!" Her call was answered by an inkling of Sight, guiding her in the right general direction. "All right, Horsie, let's see what you got. Go beyond fast."

---------------

There. She could see them, off in the distant, huddled in a clearing. Was she too late? Had Naraku come yet? Maybe not; she didn't see anyone dead on the ground, which was a hopeful sign, but she was still to far away to really make things out.

Not even bothering to bring the horse to a stop first, she jumped off, fell to the ground (which only hurt a little bit), and made a mad dash to group. Now that she was closer, she saw that they were huddled around a someone, who was on the ground, in a pool of blood. Reyu jerked to a halt and stared in horror, mouth agape.

It wasn't Inuyasha on the ground, bleeding, nearing death.

It was Kagome.

-TBC-

A/N: Dum dum duum! The plot thickens! "Too Soon" might be a bit of a misnomer for this chapter, but titling it "Too Late" would have gave the ending away. Besides, one could argue that Naraku launching a surprise attack on the Inu gang could be considered 'too soon' of an act, as they weren't prepared yet.

Now I would like to ask that you review, even if you didn't like it. I don't mind, just tell me what you think, please! My friend that I appointed as proof-reader for this story is still upset and refuses to offer any constructive critism and/or compliments in protest. In fact, Ami is now at this moment searching for something harder and heavier to smack me in the head with. Preferably a bowling ball, she says. (I hope she's kidding, but with Ami, ya never know.) I'd very much like to know what you all think about my writing, so that I can improve upon it. Thankies!

If I'm not suffereing from a concussion, the next chapter should be up by next weekend. Stayed tuned!