As I promised, here's the newest chapter! Thank you for your continuing support! Enjoy the Chapter!

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"Do you really think that we should return to the village?" Sango asked.

"Well, I think I would feel better if we were closer to the well. That way when Kaede returns, we'll know it," Kagome replied in a worried tone.

"And it will give us time to prepare for any upcoming battles. Let's just take this opportunity to relax. With all of the searching we did yesterday, we're pretty tired out as it is," Miroku added.

InuYasha just walked along with his normal annoyed look, but if you would have asked him, he would have agreed all the way, for once, that it was time to go back to the village. He was just angry that Kaede told him to stay behind. And of course, the occasional worried thought would cloud his mind.

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The demon walked closer to Kaede and she looked him over. His hair was long, and light brown, as was his tail. His bright, green eyes looked directly into her gold ones as he walked to just a few feet away from her.

"A... A fox demon?" Kaede transformed the Tetsusaiga back into it's neutral form.

"Is it really you?!" The demon came forward and hugged Kaede tightly, agitating her ribs.

Even though Kaede felt the pain of her ribs, she took in a deep inhale of the demon that was hugging her.

"S-Shippo?" The girl asked.

The demon backed off and said, "It's been so long! I can't believe that it's you!"

He then looked at her with a worried look, "I'm so sorry! I didn't know it was you! Did I hurt you?"

The two had gone back inside of the house and Shippo prepared some of the food as Kaede sat down at the table.

"I'm so sorry that I attacked you! If I had recognized your scent sooner I probably wouldn't have done that..." Shippo explained with guilt.

Kaede smiled and said, "Don't worry about it Shippo! I probably would have known it was you as well if I had recognized your scent as well. Except for the fact that it's changed a little."

"My scent changed?" Shippo asked.

"Yeah, and I'm not surprised. When demons get older their bodies give off different scents than when they're young. I should have seen through the change and realized it was you."

"I guess I never really noticed myself. To me it's always been the same," Shippo said with a smile as he sat a plate of rice in front of Kaede and himself.

"Well I mean... it get's complicated, that's all... Anyway, what I'd like to know is how it is that you're here," Kaede asked.

"Oh right! Well I guess it was because you saved me that I managed to survive!" He said happily.

"Saved you?"

"Yeah, when that tree branch came down upon me you pushed me out of the way and took the brunt of it! When you did that, you changed the fact that I would have died!"

"But I thought that you died in the past when Naraku caught you and Miroku and Sango off guard?" Kaede asked.

"Well, just before you were born, InuYasha and Kagome made the decision to take me to the future. Miroku and Sango were attacked alone in the past while I was in the future. However, a few years after Miroku and Sango died, I decided to go back to the past to train myself and try and help to defeat Naraku. So I'm not surprised that you don't remember me, you were just a toddler when I left for the past," Shippo explained.

"Well, and also I'm from a different point in time where you weren't alive at all, so I don't remember because for me, you never existed... But I'm glad to see that you're here," Kaede said with a smile.

Shippo smiled but then looked at his plate of rice as if it were a plate of garbage that he didn't want to touch.

"What's wrong?" Kaede asked seeing the young man's face.

"Well I... I mean I guess it's nothing..." Shippo said still looking down at his plate.

"It's never nothing when you're looking like a truck just ran over your dog, what's wrong?" Kaede said in a frustrated tone.

"Well it's just that... I wanted to know... Back in the past, you said that you had to return here for a little while..." he began.

"Yeah? What's the problem?" Kaede was wanting him to get on with his point.

"Why...Why did you never come back?" he asked looking up at her sadly as if he were a child again.

"I... I never came back?" Kaede was confused.

"No... We waited for weeks for you to return, and after so long, Kagome and InuYasha had no choice but to leave the village... They were so sad, they thought that perhaps you had abandoned us... I don't think that they ever got over losing you..." Shippo continued.

"I-I didn't know about that... Mom and Dad... They never told me that..." Kaede didn't understand why it was that she had never returned to the past.

She looked up at Shippo who had a horribly sad look on his face.

"Shippo, I promise that I had planned to go back to the past! Honestly! You have to believe me!" Kaede tried to persuade the boy.

"What was so important that you had to return here anyway?" Shippo asked.

Kaede sighed and looked down at her food.

"The night that we had spent in the cabin with that family, the day before I left. Do you remember that?" Kaede began.

"Yeah, I remember InuYasha hitting me... And then you said that you had to go to the past, but you wouldn't tell us why, or even let InuYasha accompany you," Shippo remembered.

"Yeah, well the night that we spent in the cabin... Before you guys awoke, I was visited by Kagura."

Shippo's eyes widened.

"Kagura attacked you and you didn't tell us?!" Shippo was both angry and confused.

"No, she didn't come to attack me, she came to give me information. She and I had a scuffle once before, when she had captured me and I was still under the effects of the miasma. She was going to kill me, but the sinenso herbs had finally started to reduce the poison in my body and I was able to defend myself against her. Just before she got away from me I told her that I would destroy Naraku and I believe that she decided to help me after that. So she had come to give me the information that would keep me ahead of Naraku's game," Kaede explained.

"If she wanted Naraku dead, why didn't she come forward and do it herself?" Shippo asked, reluctant to believe that Kagura wanted to help a foe of Naraku's.

"She couldn't. She was born of Naraku, and being so, he literally held her life in his hands. And every time she would disobey him, he would almost squeeze the life out of her. Plus, he had Kanna and other incarnations of himself keep an eye on her so that she didn't do anything against him," she explained to the non-believing demon.

"If she was being watched, then why did she come to give you information? Wouldn't she have feared that he was watching her and would kill her?" Shippo tried to think of reasons why not to trust Kagura.

"I'm pretty sure at that point she didn't care anymore. She wanted a free life, but if she had to die in order for Naraku to die, she would take the chance," Kaede answered.

"Well, if you say so..." Shippo didn't want to argue.

"Anyway, so in order to keep all of you out of it, we walked to the river so that we could talk. And she told me some interesting stuff."

"Well first I just wanted to say that I know all about you now... that you're from the future... and that you are, of course, InuYasha's daughter..." Kagura started.

"Yeah? Anything else that will be of interest or help to me?" Kaede was beginning to think that Kagura had nothing of interest to offer her.

"You may have noticed demons in this time period being somewhat different than what they were..."

"You know, I've been wondering about that... Naraku had something to do with it, didn't he?" Kaede asked.

"Not just Naraku, but the Naraku you knew as well," Kagura stated.

"What the hell is that supposed to mean?" Kaede was confused.

"Apparently the Naraku from your time has come back to this time."

"What?!" Kaede stood up with her mind racing.

"And of course, being Naraku, he joined forces and combined his power with the Naraku from this time as well. So Naraku has become much more intimidating than before, and his power is unrelentless... You'll have to do better than an adamant barrage in order to break his new barrier..." Kagura finished.

"How the hell did he get back to this era?!" Kaede's heart was racing.

"I guess after he decided that he was just going to kill you for fun one day, he realized that you were gone, and he put two and two together all by himself... Anyway, I better get back before Kanna rats me out to Naraku that I've been missing."

Kagura threw her feather up in the air and as she flew away she looked back to Kaede and said, "I expect you to hold up to the promise that you made me!"

"Yeah... That's what she told me anyway..." Kaede sat with her eyes down to the table.

"So then, why did you come back here?" Shippo was confused, if Naraku was even stronger in the past, then why did Kaede run back to the future?

"I needed to know for myself. I needed some confirmation that Kagura was telling me the truth. So I came back here to find out what was going on," Kaede explained.

"You mean if Naraku wasn't here, then you would know for sure that he had managed to get back to the past and join forces with Naraku there..." Shippo understood what Kaede needed to find out.

"Yeah, that and I needed to check on Sota. I needed to know that Naraku hadn't used him to find out where I was at and then killed him afterwards."

Shippo looked up at the girl and said, "Well you just missed him. He was here for a few hours just staring down the well, and then he left."

Kaede felt a little relieved but said, "I would feel better if I had gone out to find him myself and talked to him face to face."

Shippo became a little angry and said, "No! You need to go back to the past!"

"What are you talking about? I've only been back for a few minutes, I have some time to kill, and I want to make sure he's all right," Kaede demanded.

Shippo walked around the table and got in Kaede's face, "You never came back to the past! Remember? What if going to look for your uncle is what ends up getting you killed?!"

Kaede looked the boy in the eyes and shot back saying, "I don't know what happened to me, but I can't let that keep me from looking for him!"

"No!" Shippo yelled slamming his fist down on the table, "I can't let you do that! I can't let you die! I would never be able to forgive myself if I was the only thing that could have stopped you but didn't! InuYasha wouldn't just let you wander off, and neither will I!"

Kaede wasn't going to hear anymore of this and said, "Shippo, you're being overdramatic!"

Shippo then had a shocked expression on his face and backed up.

"What now?!" Kaede didn't know exactly what to think of the face that the boy was making.

"What if... What if it was me?! What if I was the reason that you didn't go back because I had killed you?!" The boy's eyes were wide and his mind was racing.

"Don't be stupid, Shippo! It didn't take much to make you realize who I was, what makes you think that you're the reason that I could have been killed?!" Kaede tried to reason with him.

Shippo turned back to her and walked behind her, picking her up by the upper arms and leading her out of the house.

"What the hell are you doing?! Get off of me Shippo!" Kaede struggled against him, but now the tables had turned. He was a full grown, full demon, and he was more powerful than she was.

"You can't stay here! You have to go back to the past! InuYasha and Kagome were my family too, Kaede! And I'm not going to watch you die and have their hearts broken!" Shippo angrily drug the girl back towards the well.

"I have to see Sota before I go!" Kaede demanded.

"I'll let him know that you're okay, just please go back to the past where you're safe!" Shippo pleaded with Kaede.

"Shippo! Look!" Kaede looked behind them as she struggled against the demon's grip.

"Don't think that I'll fall for something that stupid!" Shippo said proudly as he continued towards the well.

"Shippo! Watch out!" Kaede said in fear.

Just as Shippo thought that he had done a good deed, he heard strange noises. When he looked behind him he saw a giant squid demon, and it began by throwing down one of it's tentacles. Shippo picked Kaede up quickly and jumped out of the way. Landing on the other side of the courtyard, Shippo turned and saw that the demon was coming towards them once again. He jumped again and landed behind one of the large storage sheds and put Kaede down easily.

"Listen Kaede, I'm going to take care of this demon, and while I do I want you to get to the well and get out of here!" Shippo ordered.

"Don't think that you're just going to order me around! I'm not going to let you fight alone and -" Kaede was interrupted by Shippo hugging her tightly.

"Go back... Go back with them... with me... and save us! You're the only one who can save us!" Shippo stood for just moments before letting go of the girl and jumping out back onto the courtyards to face the demon alone.

"Shippo..." Kaede didn't know what to think for a moment.

The boy looked back and saw the dazed Kaede still unmoving.

"What are you waiting for?! I said go!" Shippo ordered and snapped Kaede out of her state.

"Uh... Right! I'm going!" Kaede said as she ran into the nearby house and grabbed her yellow bag, and then sprinted back outside and to the shed where the well stood waiting.

The girl looked back to see Shippo fighting the demon with kicks and punches.

"He's changed so much... From the scared little fox child into a strong man... I'll fight too! I promise!" Kaede opened the door to the shed and nearly stepped in when she heard a loud "boom".

Looking back outside, Kaede saw Shippo, unconscious on the ground and the manipulated demon about ready to come crashing down on him.

"Shippo!" Kaede yelled, the boy still lying still.

"I can't let you die for me!" Kaede yelled, putting her bag on the ground and grabbing her sword, rushing at the demon.

Just before the demon could crush Shippo, Kaede cut off it's arms. The demon began moving erratically and Kaede acted quickly, she picked up the boy and jumped to the house, putting him down and turning back to the demon. It had already started to grow it's arms back and turned towards the girl.

"You're going down!" Kaede yelled as she ran towards the demon, cutting off an arm, and then another. As she was landing back on the ground one if it's arms came out of nowhere and struck the girl. She slid across the courtyard and slowly stood up, using the Tetsusaiga as a crutch before she pointed it back at the demon, running again.

"WIND SCAR!" The girl shouted as she swung the sword and a giant wave of energy shot out of the Tetsusaiga.

The technique had almost torn through the demon but it managed to jump out of the way, rushing towards the girl. Kaede didn't have time to react and the tentacle came at her, about to run her through. Kaede braced for the impact of it and closed her eyes.

Nothing happened.

Opening her eyes, she saw Shippo... he had been run through by the demon instead of her after jumping in the way of the tentacle.

"S-Shippo!" she yelled as she landed on the ground, and he next to her.

Kaede ran to him and he looked up at her and gritted his teeth.

"I...thought I told...you to... get the hell... out of...here..." he said just before he passed out.

Kaede's anger grew in intensity. Her eyes flashed red for a moment as she turned to the demon, who was coming back at them.

"I said... YOU'RE GOING DOWN!" Kaede swung her sword again and yelled, "BACKLASH WAVE!"

The intensity of the backlash wave was too much for the demon and it was smothered under the technique, completely destroying it.

Kaede landed back on the ground and ran to Shippo.

"Hey, wake up! Shippo! Come on, wake up!" She demanded from the unconscious boy.

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For the Next Chapter!

They had all settled into old Kaede's hut and they explained to her what they had experienced.

"I see... So she did not tell ye why it was that she had to leave so suddenly?" the old woman asked.

"No, she just said that she would explain everything when she got back..." Kagome said sadly.

"I'm afraid all we can do now is wait... Kaede will most likely return, but we've returned to ensure that when she does, we'll be here waiting for her," Miroku commented.

"Where did InuYasha go?" Sango asked.

"I think he went to the well..." Kagome thought aloud.