Kagome walked peacefully through the "Forest of Inuyasha". Her long raven hair blew gently behind her in the soft cool breeze as she took in the beautiful sight of sunrise. It was a beautiful morning and Kagome could hear the incremental chorus of the forest as its inhabitants prepared themselves for yet another day.
Kagome's eyes scanned the area before her, and not too far ahead of her stood a narrow path that slowly wound through a thicket of large trees. The trees were all packed together firmly, giving the illusion that they were some kind of gigantic wall, attempting to block out anybody who may pass. Beyond the thicket, Kagome could hear the gentle flow of fresh water, and the air smelt unbelievably fresh.
She made her way through the large trees, pushing away coarse and jagged branches in the process. She then reached the stream with no difficulty, as there were no further obstacles blocking her path. Kagome sighed in contentment, thankful that there was a source of water so nearby.
She slowly knelt down and splashed some cool water on her face. "Ah this feels so good" she said in relaxed voice. She hadn't had a break like this for ages, especially after Naraku had mysteriously disappeared. Inuyasha wanted to always keep moving, he hardly even slept. She was worried about Inuyasha, she thought that he needed to loosen up a little, but the past three weeks had been disturbing and there had been no sign of Naraku, and Inuyasha was as determined as ever to defeat him and avenge Kikyo's death. "Kikyo" she muttered. "He always worries about her, when all she does is try to drag poor Inuyasha down to hell" she added angrily. She knew that she wasn't supposed to have wandered off, but she was in such a desperate need for a walk that she couldn't resist.
Suddenly at that precise moment a loud shrill cry sounded through the forest and a flock of birds shot out of the trees and flew overhead. "Youkai" Kagome muttered cautiously, and as quick as lightning she grabbed her bow and arrow and flew in the direction of the noise. Whoever you are please hang in there, I'm coming to help you Kagome thought quickly, hoping that whoever the victim was that they would stay alive until she got there.
She must have been running about half a mile or so when she reached her destination. There in front of her was a bear looking youkai slashing at a young girl who looked around the age of seven.
The girl was crying hysterically as she scuttled away from the bear youkai's claws. "Hey you!" Kagome shouted bravely as she raised her bow to attack. The bear youkai turned around, its attention was now transferred away from the young girl to Kagome, its eyes now dead-set upon her. "Uh…….." stammered Kagome fearfully as she took three steps back. The bear Youkai charged for her and Kagome released her grip on the arrow. It managed to strike its back and the Youkai let out a terrifying roar, but it wasn't affective enough to stop it. The Youkai turned around, its eyes blood red and it charged again, now at full speed towards Kagome. Kagome tried to dodge it, but its claws slashed at her side and she let out an unbearable cry of pain before her world went totally black.
"Argh". Kagome gasped as her eyes slowly fluttered opened. Reality was starting to drift back to her and she could now make out that someone was carrying her. I'm alive she thought amazed. Kagome's eyes drifted forward and she could see that the young girl she had saved earlier was safe on the back of a weird two-headed dragon, plaiting its mane. Following behind her was a toad-like figure, no it couldn't be. Jaken? Kagome took a closer look, there was no mistake. It was Jaken. So if Jaken was here then whoever was carrying her had to be…… Kagome gasped horrified.
The figure carrying her sensed her sudden discomfort, grabbed her wrist and slid her off his back, forcing Kagome to be dangling in the air in front of him as he held her up by one of her wrists. She stared into his face mortified, she was looking into none other's face than Lord Sesshomaru's, Lord of the Western Lands.
He was smirking slightly. "I um………..". Kagome couldn't utter a word; she was too shocked to say anything. "Silence miko" he ordered calmly. Kagome blushed and nodded, she was no fool to disobey Inuyasha's brother, especially in the state she was in.
Sesshomaru regarded her with an amused expression; this girl intrigued him, though he would never admit it of course. Ever since that day when he had visited his father's grave in an endeavor to retrieve Tessaiga, she, this human, had unintentionally removed the sword from his father's bounds, in attempt to defend his idiotic half-brother's life, an achievement that not even Sesshomaru nor Inuyasha could accomplish. She had also challenged him countless of times, throwing her own unimportant opinions at him with no regard for her own life. "You are wounded, I am taking you back to my castle on Rin's request" Sesshomaru said expressionlessly before swinging her back over his shoulder.
Kagome said she was no fool to disobey, but when it came to people ordering her around and treating her like a piece of luggage, stubbornness took over. What did he say? I am not going anywhere! "Let me down" Kagome shouted knocking her fists into Sesshomaru's back.
She wished she hadn't of done it because now he had her by the throat dangling in front of him. How dare this human disrespect me? he thought furiously. "You will never use that tone with me again human, do you understand?" he growled dangerously. Kagome didn't respond and his grip tightened. "Do you understand me human?" he asked again his voice extremely low. "Yes" Kagome muttered incoherently. His grip loosened and his golden eyes softened a fraction. "Good to hear that miko" Sesshomaru said smugly, and he swung her back over his shoulder and continued their journey towards his castle.