A/N: Okay.. it's been a REALLY long time but I think I'm ready to pick this thing up again. I forgot it existed until just yesterday and I felt like it did have some potential so I'm giving it one more shot.

Disclaimer: It's not mine.

Chapter 4

It had only been an hour or so when Kagome had reached the end of her patience. She had 'sat' Inuyasha some time ago and since then the stubborn hanyou had refused to speak to her. She sighed loudly in frustration and stopped walking.

"Come on, Inuyasha," she said, annoyance laced in her tone. "This trip is going to be that much longer if we don't speak."

Inuyasha 'hmmphed' and crossed his arms. Turning away from her, he stuck his nose in the air. "I ain't got nothin' to say to you."

Kagome's form shook slightly in anger before she, too, crossed her arms and stuck her nose in the air. "Fine. I have nothing to say to you either." She roughly brushed past the hanyou and continued down the small path. Inuyasha was so... so... "EEEP," Her whole body tensed and she again stopped walking.

"What's wrong?" Inuyasha asked flatly. His expression turned from bored to serious as soon as his nose picked it up. He was at Kagome's side in a flash as he unsheathed Tessaiga. "There's a demon closing in on us."
"And he has a jewel shard," Kagome murmured, pulling out an arrow and notching it.

A rather devious looking youkai emerged from the forest just a moment later. It looked like an imp but was much taller, it's claws much longer, and it's wing span much wider. It grinned micheviously and in an instant was out of sight.
Inuyasha tensed visibly and scanned the surrounding trees. He could smell it. It smelled horrible and Inuyasha's eyes burned from it. It was in the shadows somewhere. Movement caught his attention directly in front of him. Inuyasha swiped his sword at the group of trees in front of him and bounded into the ruined forest, searching through the debris.
Inuyasha let out a frustrated sigh. Where was the damn thing?
"Can you sense where he is?" he called to Kagome, only to realize she was gone. The imp had given chase. How had he lost sight of it so easily? He lifted his nose to the air. The imp's smell was only in the immediate area and Kagome's was hard to locate because of it. He paced frustrated circles in the clearing trying to find the scent.

Kagome nervously notched an arrow and waited for the demon to show itself. It appeared, but only for a moment, and was out of sight again. Kagome focused on the shard and felt that the imp was behind her. She spun around just as Inuyasha swiped at some trees off to the side and immediately released her arrow in shock, her bow pointed at the ground.

It was standing there with a wicked grin on it's face just a few feet from her. The arrow had struck the ground not even a foot away and the imp grinned even wider, if that were possible. Kagome took a hesitant step back and reached for another arrow only to discover her arrows were gone. The imp swung the quiver tauntingly in the girl's face before tossing it aside and advancing. Kagome turned and ran blindly into the forest, not bothering to look for Inuyasha.

A raven flew into her line of sight and was suddenly transformed into the imp. The smell had returned and she gagged, stumbling to the ground as her body sucked in as much oxygen as possible, exhausted from her run. The imp grinned again and cocked its head curiously at her, before stiffening and swiveling around, turning its back on Kagome.

It sniffed at the air loudly and crouched into a defensive stance, its tail twitching anxiously. Kagome scrambled away from the imp, aware of a new presence somewhere nearby. A flash of silver crossed her path directly over the imp and then was gone. The imp turned back to the girl, looking quite horror stricken and its torso slowly slid from the rest of its body, landing in a sickening thud next to the now dead legs.

Kagome sighed shakily and stood up. "Thanks, Inuyasha," she breathed, smiling despite the gruesome sight before her. She inched toward the dead demon and carefully picked the shard out of it's severed belly, instantly purifying it. But Inuyasha did not answer her. In fact, she didn't see Inuyasha anywhere.

"That half breed is not who you should be thanking," came a silky voice from behind her. She spun around and gasped as Sesshoumaru came into sight.

"Sesshoumaru..." she trailed, unable to decide if his saving her was a good or bad thing. She looked around nervously for any sign of Inuyasha. Where was he?

"He does not know where you are," came that same silky voice, as if reading her thoughts. "The imp's foul presence has disoriented him," Sesshoumaru said flatly, as if it was obvious. He walked towards her slowly and her eyes widened in terror. He mentally grinned as he smelled the panic rolling off of her in waves. Without any sing or warning Sesshoumaru grabbed Kagome and conjured his cloud. Kagome screamed in terror as they soared over the trees.

Sesshoumaru nearly winced at the shrill sound of the ningen onna in his arms. "If you do not cease your shreiking, wench, this Sesshoumaru will be forced to drop you."
Kagome immediately stopped and looked a Sesshoumaru with wide disbelieving eyes. It wasn't in the Lord of the Western Land's nature to warn someone before killing them. She counted this warning as a blessing and did not scream again.

Inuyasha was still searching the forest for Kagome. He had her scream just minutes before and a feeling of dread was stuck in his stomach, refusing to dissipate until he knew the girl was safe. The imp's stench tainted the entire area, making it very hard for him to concentrate on just Kagome's scent. His heart raced when he thought of what could have happened to her in his absence and mentally berated himself for not keeping a closer eye on her.

He finally came across the dead imp and the knot in his stomach eased slightly. His eyes swept the surrounding area as his nose focused on Kagome. His eyes widened when he recognized a third scent mingled with the other two and his heart sank as he smelled Kagome's fear. His damn brother had taken her.

"That bastard," Inuyasha gritted through clenched teeth. He knew Sesshoumaru probably wanted the Tessaiga and was using Kagome as a bargaining tool. It wasn't going to work. He was going to get Kagome back and kill his bastard of a brother.

A/N: That's all I have for now. Sorry if the imp youkai confused some people... I needed a demon and looked up imps. The smell and his ability to transform into a raven are things I researched. I'm working Kikyou into the story, though I originally meant to leave her out as much as possible. Honestly, this fic might be heading in another direction than I had originally intended. I hope people will continue to read it. R&R please!