Sorry for the big delay on this chapter, but things have been really hectic lately and that hasn't been giving me a whole lot of time to work on this. Not to mention the fact that I have a profile on too now. Yeah, I'm working on some of my own original stuff now that I think I have had a really good run so far with the fanfiction thing. I think I've been writing too much Inuyasha fanfiction though. . . my vampire story is really starting to sound more like the Japanese demons than vampires. Yep. But I don't think it's going too bad. If you would like to read it, I wouldn't mind in the least bit. I need some opinions and feedback on that . . . I really hope to get it published when I'm done. Anyway, enough rambling, time to get on with the story!

Mayu Kitsune

Dark Colors

What's wrong with me? Why can't I get to sleep? Kagome questioned herself as she lay in bed, staring up at the ceiling. She was tired, she had a test the next day, by logical reason she should've been asleep by now! Was she really that restless over the test? Or was she restless over something else?

She sighed heavily, her thoughts traveling back to the feudal era . . . and Inuyasha. Her eyebrows furrowed as she tried to jerk her thoughts elsewhere. Anywhere but with him. He had broken her heart and she wasn't going to go back for him.

Her eyes watered and she inwardly shouted at herself not to cry. She wouldn't say it aloud, but it had hurt her that he hadn't even come back to get her from her era. Grr! Get over it! Things are finally getting back to the way they used to be! Nothing to worry about except for going to school and getting good grades! This is what you used to always want wasn't it? she thought.

She raised a hand to wipe her tears as the stubborn things refused to go away. She had been trying to tell herself that this was finally nomallity again . . . but the words seemed hollow. This wasn't normality anymore . . . the feudal era was . . .

Her thoughts then wandered over everyone else. Sango, Miroku, Kirara, Shippo, her friends. That was it! The excuse she had been looking for. A good excuse to go back. She sat up, rubbing a bit of the sleep from her eyes. She would go back to the feudal era, but not for Inuyasha. She was going back for the rest of her friends.

She didn't waste any time in beginning to pack. Something was nagging at her, telling her that she had to go back this instant. She wasn't quite sure what it was, though it felt like the feeling she got before her or her friends ever wandered into something dangerous. Ignoring the feeling hadn't made it go away and now it was only pressing her to start off for her second home more impromtu than ever.

Her eyes wandered to her bow and quiver of arrows. Could this sixth sense work even without her having to be there? In any case, she was going back to help whether Inuyasha wanted her to or not. Now the only thing left undecided was how to act around the groups newest couple.

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Sango and Miroku continued on their way back towards the inn, both of them pausing as they heard a loud scream. "That sounded like Moyuru!" Sango exclaimed.

"Come on, we don't have much time!" Miroku stated, beginning off at a run.

Sango nodded once before following on Kirara's large cat form. Miroku was right; that thing had attacked those peopple so swiftly. Moyuru and Inuyasha had been asleep! What if they were already too late?

The demon slayer jumped off once they arrived, heading straight for the door. No sooner had she gotten there than something crashed through it right in front of her, missing her by only an inch! A wounded and angry Inuyasha stood in the doorway.

"I dare you to try that again you blood-sucking bastard!" he snarled, beginning towards it after it landed a good distance away.

"No wait, Inuyasha!" Sango shouted in an attempt to stop him. That thing was dangerous and he was already wounded!

Sango's attempt seemed to be in vain as Inuyasha ignored her. The creature gave a disgruntled hiss in his direction before streaking off and disappearing into the night, not giving Inuyasha a chance to reach it. It left Moyuru's sai on the ground where it had landed.

"Damn." Inuyasha growled under his breath.

"That thing, I've never seen anything move so fast." Sango mused.

Miroku approached Inuyasha, "So that was the creature that has been attacking the villagers?" he prompted.

"Yeah, no doubt about it." the hanyou answered

"We heard someone scream, is everyone alright?" Miroku questioned.

Inuyasha nodded, "I think so."he replied, beginning back towards the room.

Sango had entered already, checking on the others to make sure that no one else had been hurt. She found Moyuru still in the corner, clutching one of her weapons with Shippo nearly pressing himself into her back. "Moyuru, are you okay?" Sango asked as she lit one of the candles in the room.

Moyuru seemed to relax a bit, "I'm fine." she answered quietly.

Shippo ran out from behind her, launching himself at the demon slayer, "Sango! Are we glad to see you!" he exclaimed.

"I'm glad to see you're okay." Sango replied.

Moyuru tried to stand, using the wall as leverage and trying not to put much weight on her injured leg, "Is Inuyasha okay?" she asked.

"I'm still alive if that's what you mean." Inuyasha's voice said from the doorway.

Moyuru looked to him with a relived smile as she nearly stumbled into him. He steadied her, "You shouldn't be up with your leg the way it is." he scolded.

Moyuru paused, sniffing a bit. It was as she had thought, he was injured as well, "You're one to talk, you're bleeding!" she stated. She gaped at the wound on his neck, "Your neck! It bit you!"

"It's nothing." Inuyasha answered, trying to brush it off though he was beginning to look a little pale. The bite on his neck was still bleeding too! The crimson liquid still flowed from it, staining the neck of his kimono an even deeper shade of red. He ignored it for the moment, setting Moyuru down before sinking down against a wall. He felt exhausted.

After a record-breaking short argument, Inuyasha allowed the others to help him, soon drifting off into a deep and heavy sleep. Moyuru helped the most she could, seeming troubled the whole time. That thing had gotten close enough for her to make out the color of its long hair. It was dark purple . . . almost black.

"Something wrong?" Sango questioned, having noticed her troubled expression.

"Don't worry about it . . . I'm just tired, that's all." the hanyou replied.

Only moments after they situated Inuyasha on a futon, Moyuru herself drifted off next to him. They both seemed so drained. No one bothered them, though they needed answers. Shippo had been there. Perhaps he could fill in the details.

Sango knelt down to the kit who had been sitting nearly on top of Kirara since they returned. The demon slayer let a small smile slip. She knew that it probably wasn't right to laugh at the poor kid, but he looked so funny. "Are you alright Shippo? You're looking a little pale."

"I'm okay . . . I'm not still scared." Shippo said shakily, forcing himself to move away from his protective company a bit.

"Do you remember what happened? We need to know if we're ever going to beat that thing." Sango stated.

Bringing up the thing seemed to be the right thing to do, yet a mistake as the young kit couldn't stop talking about it . . . and talking so fast that she could barely understand what he was saying. "It attacked from out of nowhere! I tried to tell Inuyasha there was something near the door, but he didn't believe me and just said I was being a coward!" Shippo said quickly.

"Alright, calm down-"

"I told Inuyasha there was something there!"

Sango sighed. This ranting seemed to be just about the only thing she was going to be able to get out of the poor kid. He needed to calm down and sleep, he must've been just as tired as the rest of them. The demon slayer thought for a moment before reaching out beginning to scratch behind Shippo's ears as Inuyasha had done to Moyuru earlier. Shippo had said that it felt good didn't he?

The kit instantly began to go lax. "Hey, no fair. . . . I was going to calm down myself." he muttered, letting out a yawn and his eyelids growing heavy.

"I'm sure you were, but this works faster." Sango stated softly, allowing Shippo to fall asleep and leaving him with Kirara.

The demon slayer let out a wide yawn, getting up and stretching a bit. Everyone else seemed to be asleep or getting there except for Miroku, he was still wide awake and interested in something near the door. Sango looked to him in question, "What are you looking at?" she asked as she approached.

"Shippo said something about that creature seeming to attack from out of nowhere right?" Miroku prompted.

Sango just nodded.

The monk gestured toward the wall, "I believe I now know where it was hiding."

Sango stared at where Miroku had motioned to. On the wall were apparent claw marks leading up to the corner near the ceiling. It had been hiding up there? The holes in the wall were deep, it had run it's claws in there far enough to support it's weight. This was just too strange! "So that's why Inuyasha didn't notice it? Because it was all the way up there?" the demon slayer asked.

"Looks like it." Miroku answered, "Whatever it is, is definitely a threat. It has claws like that, and the speed that it seemed to possess when it ran away from here was level with, if not greater than that of any demon we've come across."

"Do you think it'll come back?"

"Well, there's no way of really knowing, so it looks like one of us is going to have to sit up and keep watch."

"Both of us." Sango corrected quickly.

"Both?"

"That creature is extremely fast, what if one of us doesn't see it?"

Miroku seemed to think for a moment, "You do have a point." he mused aloud, "But can you stay awake for that long? You seem tired and I'm sure I can handle the job by myself."

"I'll be fine." Sango insisted as they both took posts outside the room.

After a while they realized just how much longer the night was going to be. Too long to just sit in silence and try to stay awake. "So, did Moyuru ever tell you what was troubling her earlier when we first arrived here? She seemed shaken up then like she is now." Miroku said, trying to start a bit of small talk to keep them occupied and conscious.

"Yeah," Sango answered after a moment, "She said it had to do with a dream she had."

"So that's what upset her so bad? A nightmare?"

Sango nodded, "She said that this all seemed similar to a dream she had. I can only guess that somone was attacked in her dream and that's what scared her so bad when we first came here."

"Who do you think was attacked in her dream?" Miroku questioned.

The demon exterminator shrugged, "I don't know, she didn't tell me." she answered.

Miroku seemed to think on something a moment before speaking up again, "Did she see what did it? In her dream I mean."

"She said that she could only make out a color, like something was moving too fast to actually see. She said that it was dark purple. . ." Sango replied, her sentence seeming to die off as she realized something. That thing's hair. It had been too dark to really see, but she could have swore it had a purple tint to it.

Miroku gave her a knowing look, "If you're thinking what I'm thinking,"

"Then we should ask Moyuru more about her dream when she wakes up." Sango finished for him.

"Right, it appears that her dream and the current situation is somehow linked. I could be wrong, but it would be the only information we have to go by." Miroku stated.

Sango nodded once in agreement, "It would be better than nothing."

The two talked about a few more things to stay awake. Sango made a valiant effort, but in the end sleep claimed her. She had been so tired that she failed to notice where her head rested.

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Kagome finally entered the village, hoping that someone was awake to aknowledege her arrival. This was the latest that she had ever returned to the feudal era before. She hoped that her mother wouldn't worry. Her mother had been asleep when she left, so she left a note a prayed that that would explained things.

The night was so quiet and calm, nearly pleasant. But if everything were so good, then why did she feel that there was danger somewhere around? This weird feeling was half of the reason for her sudden departure in the first place. Why couldn't she place where the danger was? Nothing seemed wrong here.

She wore a pensive expression as she entered the tent-like structure that had been set up for the injured villagers. Just as she had anticipated, Kaede was still awake, tending to one of the many injured. There was still something puzzling though. When Kagome had looked around outside, she didn't see any of the others. Where were they?

"Lady Kaede." Kagome said quietly as she approached.

Kaede turned, giving a bit of a tired smile upon seeing her, "Ah, so I see that ye have decided to return."

Kagome nodded, "Are the supplies I left behind helping?" she questioned.

"Aye, thank ye. I was beginning to fear that ye wouldn't be coming back. The others have worried as well."

The others . . . excluding Inuyasha. Kagome thought. Her eyebrows furrowed, "Where is everyone else?"

"They left."

"Left?" Kagome echoed. Without her? This had to have been Inuyasha's doing! They had never left her behind like this before! She always went with them!

"They left earlier today. Don't be angry with them Kagome, they're leaving was forced."

"How?"

"Naraku has shown himself again. They were unsure of ye returning, and they couldn't waste anymore time on following the next lead." Kaede explained.

Kagome calmed down a bit, forcing herself to think on all of this. It was reasonable to think that she wouldn't be coming back for a while. The others had seen how angry she was. She also couldn't blame them for needing to go after more jewel shards right away if Naraku had come back into the picture in the short time that she was gone. It was always a race against him.

She sighed heavily. She also couldn't blame Inuyasha for not coming back to get her first. . . . This was the one that she had a hard time admitting to herself. Of course, walking in his shoes, or lack of, then she wouldn't have wanted to be the recipient of another barrage of sit commands either.

There. She was calm. Everything was reasoned. Now just to think of what to do next.

Well, there's Kagome in the mix again for you. I did really need to get her back into the story and now I think I know how to get her and Inuyasha back together. Then this fanfic can finally come to an end . . . and a sequel can start. At this rate, the story's never really going to come to an end. This actually should have probably been two fanfics instead of just one! Anyway, I hope you liked the chapter and I'll make the next one even more intriguing. I know you all want to find out what that thing is! Thank you all who have had to bear the wait. I'm sorry to inform you that you may have to wait a while for the next chapter too. My life's been a little hectic, so I was lucky to even be able to update. Anyway, here's your preview!

PREVIEW!

Chapter 25: Shinku

So, what will morning bring for Inuyasha and the gang? And what will Kagome's plan of action be? She has managed to calm down enough not to blame Inuyasha for the gang's leaving, but she still isn't too happy with it all. Will she decide to take things in her own hands and try to catch up with them all herself? Hey, what could be the danger? She can shoot sacred arrows, maybe she can finally show them all that she's capapble of taking care of herself in the process.

Thank you for your time in reading and please leave a review! THANK YOU!

Mayu Kitsune