AN: I'm sorry this took so long! For once, I was actually writing in Protect me... got through almost the entire chapter and everything! But now I lost the charger to my laptop and all of the fic is on there... I need to get the charger back before I can finish the chapter and upload it. And for that, I'm so sorry!

The only thing I have to offer is this humble chapter...

...and in all honest, I'm rather amused that no one guessed who the "heroic figure" was... I guarantee you'll get a crack out of who it really is...

Sorry again! I swear I'm on it!

hEyKyRa13

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

Soul

Chapter 6

So… What're we gonna do now?

Had anyone happened to walk by the forest at this point, whether demon or human, they would have been scared shitless at the pitiful wail that sounded neither human or demon… heck, not even a ghost could pull off that kind of racket. Birds rose in clouds above the trees, startled out by the scream made by the unknown beast. Then, whoever was walking by would quickly decide it a better idea to run instead of walk. The birds have the right idea- no one wants to stick around long enough to discover what manner of beast could produce a sound so… what's the word I'm looking for, terrifying? Bloodcurdling? Yeah, bloodcurdling is good.

Yeah, well, what those birds and that passerby did not realize was that fearsome scream was coming from an emotionally unsettled girl, fifteen years old yesterday, who had practically run away from home, intending on saving her father from the clutches of an evil demon king, instead discovering she's supposed to save the world.

See? You would be upset, too, right?

And trust me, you don't want to know what I would have been like had I been on my period, either, so this is nothing.

But in my mind, I had every reason to be upset… if upset is even the word you could use. 'Pissed off' doesn't quite cover it, either, but it's a tad closer. So, for the record, we'll say I was pissed off.

Now, back to the matter at hand… my being pissed off-

"Kagome?" Sango tried timidly.

Naturally, I didn't hear a thing over my own wailing, so she tried again.

"Kagome!"

Still, not a thing.

So, doing what any girl would do… she resorted to desperate measures.

SLAP!

I blinked, and spun around to stare at Sango incredulously, hand coming up to gingerly touch my stinging cheek.

She didn't look apologetic, either. "What? I needed to do something!"

My lip quivered slightly as I rubbed a little harder. "Ow," I said pointedly.

Sango's brow lowered only momentarily in retaliation before she sighed and returned to her seat against the tree, looking undaunted. "Well, you deserved it."

I frowned, but moved to sit next to her, facing away to lean my own back against the tree, still rubbing my cheek to restore feeling to it. "You know, I think this was the same cheek you slapped this morning."

Sango leaned her head back, eyes sliding shut. "You deserved it then, too."

I stared straight in front of me, and my gaze fell on my bike, so I decided I would trace over every detail with my eyes. I didn't really want to allow my mind to wander over the discoveries I had made while reading my father's journal. So, instead, I opted for staring at my bike. Besides… it really was a nice bike. I never really took the time to appreciate it until now.

Just about when I got to my third or fourth spoke in the front wheel, I sighed, lowering my hand from my cheek and dropping it in my lap. "Thanks."

"Anytime," was Sango's clipped, yet not unkind response.

Suddenly, I felt compelled to give her an explanation. I mean, I know she knew why I felt the urge to scream like a banshee… but I felt compelled to explain, anyway. I rarely question the way my mind works- I'd only get more headaches than usual, that way.

"It's just… I didn't know how to react," I said softly, staring at the shoots of grass between my legs, picking at them absently. "I mean, I woke up yesterday, thinking of my birthday, and dreading Kaede's lesson. Then, that night, I find out she's going to Naraku's. Then, I decide to go. Then… this… is it selfish of me to think that it's not fair and that the stars are out to get me?"

I could have imagined her startled expression at the mention of the word "stars", but her tone betrayed none of it. "Not really… and even if it is, I think you deserve to be a little selfish at a time like this."

I sighed again, resting my head up against the tree. "Yeah… maybe you're right."

This time, I heard her muffled chuckle. "Kagome, don't make me repeat myself a third time in one day."

I nodded, but couldn't find the will to smile at her joke.

She obviously sensed this and sighed, voicing the same question that weighed heavily in my mind. "So… what're you going to do, now?"

I shrugged, despite the fact that I knew she couldn't see it. "I don't know. What am I supposed to do?"

Sango hesitated before replying. "Well, Kagome, I'm not sure anyone can tell you that. It's not like someone's done something like this, before."

My eyes blinked sluggishly, staring up at the dimming sunlight through the canopy. "Yeah, but I-"

A high-pitched scream interrupted me, and both our heads snapped towards its direction.

"What was that?" Sango asked, already reaching for her Hiraikotsu out of instinct.

I frowned as I tried to recognize the voice. "I don't-"

A second scream interrupted me again, but quite different from the first. It was low, more guttural, but the most obvious difference was the clear intention of the growl- whatever it was, it was on the hunt. And, judging by the lack of conviction in the first screamer's warning, it had found its meal.

"Sango, come on!" I shouted, on my feet in seconds as I sprinted forward towards the voices, leaving a stumbling Sango behind, screaming for me to wait.

But, hey… she knows me well. It's not like she expected me to stop or anything, right?

Before I knew it, I had burst into a small circular clearing lining a wall of rock, not more than twenty-five or thirty feet in diameter. I skidded to a stop, but, sadly, was not quick enough, and slammed into the back of what I could only assume was the attacker by the way it loomed over something much smaller against the wall.

The force of the impact sent me crashing none-too-gracefully onto my butt, but when I glared back up to scream God knows what to it for standing in my way, the insults died in my throat, which, at the time, began forming a huge lump as I tried to gulp.

Of course, it just had to be the stars controlling my fate. Who else would have the humor to have me run into a fifty-some foot centipede demon? No, they couldn't just stop at me interrupting its hunt… no, I had to slam into it! Oh yes, no one but those evil, conniving little gas balls could think up as clever a situation as this.

As my eyes traveled slowly up the many sections of insect body, each set with a pair of twitching legs, I finally came to the head, which looked surprisingly human. It was sort of like those mythical creatures you hear about in fairytales, with the torso of a human, and the lower body of a horse or goat... but the creature I was currently gaping at hardly looked like anything out of a fairytale… unless that fairytale was written by a bunch of stars…

But that's beside the point. The centipede body ended at just below her navel, and sickly yellow skin continued from there. The human-like part was female if the two bags of flesh protruding from her uncovered chest were any indication. And if she didn't sport three-inch long fangs and glowing almond eyes that lit up with hungry delight upon settling on me, one might even go so far as to call her good-looking… as long as you look up, and cover the whole centipede-thing from view.

Oh yeah… I'm sure the stars must be having a field day with me.

"Well, well, what have we here?" she said in a low voice that reminded me of a snake with a bit of a hiss to her words.

Oh… crap…

I reached around behind me for some sort of weapon when realization hit me like a ton of bricks. My bows and arrows, my primary weapon, was still hanging off my bike. I ran into the forest after a demon, a demon in pursuit of prey, no less, without my bow…

I was so screwed…

Suddenly, something bounded in front of me and crouched in a protective stance, uttering a low growl in what sounded like a warning. It took a while for me to recognize it as the small prey that was huddled against the wall before the centipede turned her attention to me. At first, the only thing my mind could register was surprise at such a tiny creature could produce the throaty growl I heard back from our campsite. And not just tiny, but… adorable!

It mostly resembled a small, crème-colored kitten with large, black ears and more black fur covering her tiny paws like socks. A small patch of dark fur formed a small diamond shape on its forehead, sloping down in between large, almond-shaped crimson eyes of which whose thin, slitted pupils were focused on the centipede demon. Instead of one tail, though, the little demon had two, long and fluffy, together almost the size of its entire body, with a thin spiral of black winding around each of the tail tips.

I swear, had we met under different circumstances, now would be about the time that I'd be scooping up the little creature and hugging it as tightly as I could, squealing incomprehensibly how cute it was. But just as I was about to pull my already creeping hand away from doing just that, I suddenly noticed all the cuts and scrapes along its body, each trickling a small stream of blood. As I stared longer, I noticed that while it tried to crouch in a seemingly threatening position (although, I'll admit it's hard to be intimidated by something so cute!), it kept as much of its light weight off its front right paw as possible.

Nonetheless, the little cat demon hissed and spat as furiously as if it were completely unharmed and capable of facing such of foe.

Speaking of which…

Once the tiny cat had assumed its position in front of me, the centipede demon threw her head back and laughed, a kind of teeth-clenching cackled one would expect from a wicked witch (notice the similarities?).

"Foolish little one," she hissed in amusement. "You stand there, protecting a human when you're hardly in a state to protect yourself!"

The cat spat its response in typical cat fashion, raking out a tiny paw to claw at the air in warning.

The centipede did nothing but laugh again, now starting to slowly approach us both, bowed insect legs clicking as they brought the enormous body closer. She slowly began reaching her clawed hand out like a delicatessen selecting a morsel from a buffet… oh, right, bad analogy for this situation, huh?

"You are both fools… I shall only hope such idiocy does not affect me once I devour you."

"I don't think so!"

I heard the whirring noise milliseconds before I heard Sango's voice, and, knowing what would follow, I grabbed the kitten and clutched it to my chest, curling my own body around it as I ducked as close to the ground as I could, eyes squeezed shut.

My hair swept around me as the force of the Hiraikotsu flew by, catching the centipede's outstretched hand, resulting in a hair-splitting screech that rivaled my own and the sickening thumb of the detached limb falling to the ground. I kept my eyes shut, knowing that the fingers would still be flailing around, and really not wanting to puke all over the cute kitty. After what I assumed was a safe amount of time, I hesitantly opened one eye, then the other, uncurling myself enough to allow the kitten to hop from my grasp and glance back at me with a 'mew' of appreciation. I had to push down a renewed urge to cuddle the creature to death at the sound of its cute little voice, but merely settled for a smile and a nod of understanding.

Meanwhile, the centipede was grasping her wrist, staring at the space where her hand should have been. I refused to look at where it sat, now. She darted thinned eyes to where Sango stood, voice crescendoeing to what sounded like a close cousin to a snarl had a snake-like voice the capability of snarling.

"You… You shall pay for that, human!"

Sango merely smirked, one hand on her hip, and the other slowly raising above her head. "I don't think so."

I saw the raised hand and, understanding its significance, reached for the kitten again (and no, my overwhelming desire to huggle it to death had nothing to do with it!), resuming my protective position as I heard the faint sound of the whirling again.

Do centipedes have ears? Maybe not. Shame, (sarcastically speaking, of course) because that one might have noticed the giant boomerang's arched trajectory and avoided its path towards returning to its owner. A scream, which was cut off seconds later by a stomach-churning sound of exploding flesh, proved that such hearing must not have existed.

The second time I looked up, I saw Sango in the same position, but with the raised hand gripping onto the strap of the Hiraikotsu instead. I breathed a sigh of relief and straightened, letting go of the kitten once again, smiling at my friend.

"Sango, you came just in the-"

"Kagome, back up!" Sango called, hauling the boomerang over her shoulder and marching forward in a way I recognized as her preparing to use the weapon for close-range combat. "Just one more!"

I frowned in confusion, but as soon as I realized she was referring to the kitten, I moved in front of it, opening my mouth to stop her…

…but another small voice beat me to it.

"Don't you touch a hair on Kirara's head!"

All three heads, human and demon alike, moved simultaneously to the source of the demand.

At this point, I didn't think anything could get cuter than the little kitten demon. But the source behind the aggressive shout all but sent me dashing forward to capture it in a life-strangling hug.

Standing just above us on a ledge of rock was the smallest, cutest little boy I had ever seen. At least, he looked like a little boy, but further inspection revealed small pointed ears, a bushy, tan tail and tiny, bowed paws that, at least, weren't like any human little boy I've seen. A head full of bushy, carrot red hair was massed together in a high ponytail at the back of his head with a little blue bow. Long bangs hung about bright green eyes, which glared in what I assumed was an attempt to be menacing towards Sango. Combined with the added effect of a tiny fang peeking out from his lip, I had to bite my lip at how hard the little guy struggled to appear daunting but with hardly any materials to work with, the overall effect was more of a doubling of cuteness, the complete opposite of what he was striving for.

Not to mention the cuteness factor of his outfit. He wore a long-sleeved blue shirt patterned with light blue leaves all over it and a small, light brown vest. Puffy, dark blue pants with his little paws poking out from it added to the boy's rounded appearance, stacking up the cute points heavily in his disfavor.

Sorry, little dude. You're just way too cute to be scary.

But, hell if I was going to poke at his pride…

With a leap that confirmed his demon blood, he landed right in front of me (a good thirty foot jump, what with the height and distance) and held out both arms wide, appearing for all his might like a miniscule blockade.

"You leave Kirara alone!" he demanded again, undaunted by the fact that Sango was towering over him, jaw dropped, staring down at utterly non-threatening child before her.

The kitten, Kirara as it was apparently called, rolled its eyes and walked around me to glance disapprovingly at the child, mewing what sounded like a reprimand.

The child spun around, looking at the kitten incredulously before fixing a dangerously cute glare on it, as well. "No, I will not stand aside! That human would have killed you if I didn't stop her!" he cried defensively.

I choked back a chuckle, sneaking a glance up at Sango. The girl returned my gaze with a raised eyebrow, her expression reading, He thinks he stopped me?

Kirara took another step forward, chirping inconsistently to the child, occasionally poking its nose at me and the scattered remains of the centipede, then looking pointedly at Sango, before returning its attention to the little demon boy.

During its apparent recount of the experience, the boy tried several times to butt in, opening his mouth to retaliate, but the kitten would stop him with a soft hiss of authority, leaving the boy sighing submissively. When Kirara had finished, the boy crossed his arms over his little chest, chin tucked and eyes closed in what looked like deep concentration, pondering over what he heard.

Finally, the boy sighed and opened his eyes, looking up at me (quite a stretch, since he hardly came up to my knees), face still frowning, but appearing to look over me in a re-evaluation. After I let him study me for a few seconds, his brows lifted just slightly and he straightened to bow deeply.

"I, Shippo of the fox demons, thank you for protecting my friend, Kirara," he said formally.

Now, it really took all of my strength to not giggle at the sight, but I somehow managed, offering the young kitsune a smile. "I was more than happy to, Shippo."

Sango's eyes flicked to me, narrowing suspiciously. "Wait a minute. You mean to tell me you protected that demon?"

I flinched, knowing exactly where this was going, yet faced my friend with an unwavering will. "Yes, I did."

Frustration flickered over a face for barely a moment before she hid it again, obviously straining to do so as she forced her next words. "And why did you do that?"

I shrugged. "That demon, as you say, tried to protect me," I told her. Suddenly, a thought ran through my mind as I glanced down at the cat demon. "Speaking of which…"

Sango's eyes widened. "Kagome, don't-"

I snorted. "Like you could stop me," I replied sourly as I knelt down to face the cat who looked up at me curiously. I smiled. "You look hurt. If you let me, I can put some medicine on your wounds to help them heal."

As Kirara tilted its head, pondering over my proposal, Shippo leapt forward, frowning at the cat. "Kirara! You can't-"

An abrupt snarl silenced the boy once again. Once it was assured that there would be no more outbursts, the kitten looked back at me and mewed softly.

Shippo grudgingly stuck his hands into his sleeves, muttering, "She said she would appreciate it."

I smiled, nodding. "Good," I said, standing. "Then it's settled. All we need is to go back to camp, and I can have you as good as new in no time!"

Sango took a step forward. "Kagome, you can't seriously be-"

"Kirara," I interrupted, ignoring Sango, "would you like me to carry you back to our camp?"

Shippo didn't say a word as he watched the cat nod once, leaping into my arms and laying down, mewing her appreciation, then sending a command down to the boy. Shippo glared at her defiantly, tightening his fists from within his sleeves as he lifted his chin, striding past both me and Sango in the direction she had come from. "No thanks," he apparently replied to the kitten. "I can walk myself."

Sango watched him disappear behind a tree, then turned to fix me with a glare that I was amused to find resembled Shippo's own. Of course, I wasn't about to let her know that… "Kagome, you-"

I smiled at her, completely disregarding her mounting frustration. "Come on, Sango. It is getting dark." And with that, I strode past her, calling out behind me, "You'd better hurry up, Sango!"

A poorly suppressed growl and angry stomping was her only reply.

--------------------------------------------
AN: Okay, so, since I have the time, I'll actually do the review response for once! But outside of that, I hoped you enjoyed Shippo and Kirara's introduction. I was rather amused by it meself... but my opinion doesn't quite count for much if ya know what I mean...

Review Responses:

kilala730 Glad you enjoyed it. Hope you feel the same about this chapter, as well!

YuniX-2 My goodness! I think I blushed like crazy for ages after reading that. I thank you humbly for your many compliments and hope I continue to please you with whatever the heck kinda crap posts I happen to come up with! PS- I realize you guessed Miroku, but are you happy with it being Shippo instead?

Next Chapter: What we're REALLY gonna do, now

So the question of "What's next" isn't quite settled... but hey, they've got two of the cutest characters in the show joining them! That's a nice alternative, right?... Well, maybe for some...