Disclaimer: I do not, sadly, own InuYasha or its characters, they belong to Rumiko Takahashi. Nor do I own Cardcaptor Sakura or its characters, I just love them more than life itself, they belong to the wonderful ladies at CLAMP.
~~Chapter 3~~
Sakura woke the next morning, and drank a little of the tea Kaede had made before falling back to sleep. Making everyone that knew her just a little bit more worried. Inuyasha grumbled a bit before heading out to hunt up a few rabbits, while Miroku went to the river to fish, both trying to get enough food for everyone that was now sitting in the hut.
Meiling, Renaku, and Syaoran left the hut to a small clearing just outside of the village to practice as they normally did every morning. Tomoyo asked Kaede about where she could get some fabrics and such in order to make everyone some new clothes, though Kaede was kind of curious as to how Tomoyo planned to get the money in order to afford any fabrics. The girl in question just smiled when asked and left the hut to go speak to some of the village ladies, offering her abilities as a seamstress for pay.
Eriol stayed and helped Kaede prepare various ointments and elixers for any wounded or sick villagers, discussing with her that while he was no priest, he often worked and helped out at a Shrine back in the modern era. Sango listened to them discuss different herbs as she wiped down her Hiraikotsu. Kagome went out with Shippo, carrying a basket to go and collect fresh herbs for Kaede.
As Inuyasha walked back towards the village, he saw the three humans in the clearing. Meiling and Renaku were sparring against each other, while Syaoran had a sword in hand, practicing different maneuvers. He stopped to watch them, wondering if maybe it wasn't a complete disaster having them there if they were skilled fighters. They'd have to toughen up a lot more though, as fighting a demon wasn't the same as fighting another human.
"You three need to hurry up, breakfast'll be ready soon." he stated as he continued back towards the hut. Syaoran stopped what he was doing to look at Inuyasha as he walked by, carrying a good number of already skinned rabbits.
"Is that going to be enough?" he asked the half-demon as he followed him back towards Kaede's hut, leaving Renaku and Meiling to finish their sparring match.
"Well yeah….Kaede will just make a stew to put it in, it'll be plenty." Inuyasha replied as they walked, "And hopefully Miroku catches enough fish for lunch."
"Inuyasha, how long are we going to be staying in the village?" Sango asked once he and Syaoran walked into hut.
"I figured once Sakura woke up we could head out. Naraku was last seen heading east, so we'll head east ourselves to find him." Inuyasha replied, "Here Kaede." he added after, handing the skinned rabbits to Kaede so she could make her stew they usually ate there.
"Thank you." Kaede replied, setting aside her herbal remedies and began cleaning and gutting the rabbits, pulling the meat off of the bones, she looked at Syaoran and smiled handing him a bucket, "Go and get water for the stew, please." she told him.
"Hai." Syaoran replied, bowing respectfully before getting up and running out the door. Sango laughed at how eager he seemed.
"That boy was well raised." Kaede commented, smiling as Meiling and Renaku came back inside, both sporting a few bruises.
There was a groan from the back of the hut, as Sakura woke once more, stretching a bit. Her gaze was still unfocused as she smiled at everyone, "Ohayo…" she mumbled.
"Ye awaken child." Kaede said, nodding at Eriol, "Drink more of this tea, it will make you feel more alert."
Sakura nodded as Eriol got up and brought a cup of tea over to Sakura, sitting on his knees next to her, worry etched onto his face as he handed her the cup.
"Arigato, Eriol." Sakura said with another smile, accepting the cup and lifting it to her lips, drinking it down quickly as she was extremely thirsty, she looked around, realizing a lot of people were gone, "Where is everyone?"
"They went out to do various things for the morning until breakfast was ready." Kaede replied, as she washed her hands after handling the rabbit meat and set about chopping up carrots and potatoes to go in the stew as well.
Sakura nodded and slowly got up. She was feeling better, less tired that was for sure. She walked out of the hut, and looked around. Meiling got up and hurried after her, "Where we going?" she asked.
Sakura smiled at her, "I wanted to wash my face." she replied, "I don't know why I was so tired."
"Kero-chan will explain it to you later. Come on, the river's this way." Meiling stated as she looped an arm around Sakura's arm and started off in the direction of the near-by river.
"Where's Tomoyo?" Sakura asked stiffling a yawn.
"I dunno, I went out to spar with Renaku and Syaoran this morning, when we got back she was gone."
Sakura sighed and nodded, not sure if she was comfortable with everyone spreading out the way they did.
Kagome sighed, wiping her brow on her sleeve to free it from the light sheen of sweat that covered it as she placed another sprig of a healing herb in the basket.
"What's wrong Kagome?" Shippo asked.
"Nothing Shippo, this is just hard work when its already so hot out." Kagome replied laughing lightly.
"Shouldn't we head back soon? Inuyasha should be back by now." Shippo pointed out, as Kagome picked a few more herbs within her reach before standing, basket in hand.
"I suppose you're right, might as well before he comes looking for us." she said.
"That's true, he'd come running and yell at you for being gone too long." Shippo agreed as he hopped onto Kagome's shoulder.
She just smiled and walked back towards the village.
~~~~~~XOXOXOXO~~~~~
Once everyone had been gathered and eaten their fill of rabbit stew, they set out, checking the well one more time, finding it to still be blocked. They traveled for hours, mostly in silence. Sakura was still pretty tired, and was slowing more and more as they walked, which made Inuyasha increasingly frustrated.
"Inuyasha I think we should stop to eat." Kagome said looking back at her cousin who was gradually falling behind.
"No way, we keep going." Inuyasha retorted
"We've been walking for hours Inuyasha, I want to rest."
"Sure you do, we've walked longer than this before without you complaining. If your cousin can't keep up she should have stayed in the village with Kaede."
"You're such a jerk!" Kagome yelled, stopping until Sakura's group had caught up to her, and stopped. They stood there waiting for Sakura to catch up. Once she did, Syaoran squatted down in front of her, offering her his back.
"Arigato Syaoran…" she said, grabbing hold of his shoulders as he hoisted her onto his back. Blushing bright red, he pulled her arms forward to drape over his shoulders one at a time before getting a good grip on her legs by her knees. They started moving again easily, Tomoyo walking next to Syaoran to be sure Sakura didn't fall to the side as they walked.
20 minutes into the group moving once more, Sakura had fallen asleep again. "Inuyasha why is Lady Kagome upset now?" Miroku asked as he walked up to the hanyou.
"Heck if I know." Inuyasha replied stubbornly, causing the monk to sigh.
Close to midday, the group finally stopped to rest and eat lunch. Inuyasha, Miroku, and Kirara going off to find firewood while Kagome and Sango searched for sticks to cook the fish Miroku had caught, that morning, on.
As the group sat down to wait for those that were off doing their tasks, Tomoyo pulled out some fabrics and strings she'd managed to get from the village women in exchange for her patching their worn out clothing. It wasn't top quality like she was used to, but she could still make something out of it. She began using a sharpened knife one of the women had given her to cut a pattern out of the fabric.
"What's that?" Nakuru wondered as a tornado of dust was off in the distance, heading their way.
Syaoran stood between the group and the dust-nado heading their way, pulling a pendant out from under his shirt and pulling the string it was attached to over his head, he closed his eyes, the pendant held tightly in his fist as he concentrated, the pendant transforming into a sword as he grabbed an ofuda from his pocket, standing before the rest of the group.
The wings on Kero's back grew and wrapped around him when they unfolded once more instead of a small plush-toy there was a large yellow mane-less lion with a dark gold headpiece decorated with a red orb-like gem on it and a matching chest piece secured to him only around the neck with the same orb-like gem in it.
At the same time as Kero transformed, so too did Yukito as Yue took control, they stood on either side of Syaoran ready to defend the group. They tensed as it got closer, until finally a man wearing a fur wrap around his waist and armored chest plate skidded to a halt in front of him, he had a headband of fur around his head with his black hair pulled back in a pony tail and fur around his ankles and half way up his calf's almost like foot-less socks, armband of fur on one arm from wrist to elbow and just a small bracelet fur band around his other wrist. His sharp blue eyes took in the group of humans and the two, what he assumed were, demons.
"Where's Kagome? I can smell her but she's not here." the man said, crossing his arms.
"She left to do something. Who are you?" Syaoran replied, shifting as the man's gaze moved over the group in Sakura's direction.
Kero, also seeing where the strange man's eyes were headed, moved to where he was standing almost over Sakura, one of his wings blocking her from sight.
Meiling stood protectively close to Tomoyo, Eriol, and Nakuru with Renaku next to her, all eyes turned towards the scene in front of them.
"That's just Koga." Shippo's small voice was finally heard as he jumped onto Syaoran's shoulders, "He's a wolf demon that has the hots for Kagome."
"Oh hey, its you. You're that little fox kit that travels with Kagome and the mutt." Koga said, smirking, "Where'd she go?"
"She went to get stuff for lunch with Inuyasha. They probably just wanted to be alone." Shippo lied.
"WHAT?!" Koga shouted, "She's alone with that mutt?"
Shippo just shrugged with a smug smirk on his face, only for it fade as Kagome's voice was heard coming towards them, "Hey! We're back! Sorry it took so long, there aren't many sticks around here. I wonder how far Inuyasha and Miroku had to go for firewood."
"Kagome! You're back I was getting worried!" Shippo called happily, jumping off Syaoran's shoulder and into Kagome's arms, "Koga's here so I'm sure Inuyasha'll be back soon too, he's so jealous of Koga the second he smells him he'll run back."
Koga jumped over Syaoran and the rest, landing in front of Kagome, "Hey Kagome, long time no see. I thought I smelled you near by and decided to drop in for a visit."
Kagome forced a smile, "How thoughtful." she said, keeping both arms around Shippo.
Koga sent a glare towards the kit but then smiled at Kagome, "Can't believe the mutt left you out here by yourself."
"He didn't I have plenty of people here to protect me. Besides I'm sure he didn't go far. We were just about to have lunch." Kagome replied.
Yue, Kero, Syaoran, Meiling and Renaku relaxed their defensive positions, though Yue sat down near Sakura with Kero, neither of them turning back to their temporary forms.
Kagome gasped when she saw Kero, "Who is that?!"
"Its Keroberos. Or rather his true form, no need for alarm." Yue replied in a bored tone.
"O-oh." Kagome sighed in relief.
"I thought I smelled something disgusting." came Inuyasha's arrogant drawl from behind Kagome, as he dropped the firewood he was carrying, "Run along you stinkin' wolf. You'll ruin my appetite."
"How unpleasant, you've returned mutt-face." Koga retorted, glaring over Kagome's shoulder at Inuyasha.
Miroku sighed as the two started bickering, slinging insults back and forth. Sango picked up the firewood Inuyasha had dropped and started setting up a campfire to cook the fish on. Seeing the two ignoring the shouting match between Inuyasha and Koga, the others started helping. Meiling retrieved the fish, and Kagome went over and showed her how to put them on the sticks. Eriol helped by gathering stones to put around the firewood to keep the fire from spreading to the grass, Tomoyo returned to her sewing, Renaku went over to speak in quiet tones to Syaoran, Nakuru watching the argument between Inuyasha and Koga, finding it entertaining.
"Today's the day I'm going to end your life you flea-bitten wolf." Inuyasha said, drawing the Tetsusaiga.
"Oh yeah, I'd like to see you try." Koga said, tensing himself for a fight.
Sighing and making sure Meiling would be alright for a moment, Kagome stood up and brushed off her skirt, walking back over to Koga and Inuyasha, "Inuyasha, sit boy." she said calmly, before turning to smile at Koga, "We're about to eat lunch, was there something you needed Koga?"
"Ka-go-meee" Inuyasha growled from the ground.
"Not really-" Koga was cut off by a shout from the direction he'd come from.
"Koga!" a man yelled, he had features like Koga, except his hair was platinum blonde, almost white, and cut into a mohawk, another man right beside him with grey hair with a black patch on it, "Wait for us!"
"Well gotta go, I heard Naraku was in the east somewhere and I'm going to find him. See ya later Kagome." before taking off, Koga glared down at Inuyasha, "You better take care of my woman, mutt." he added before taking off running.
After a small argument between Kagome and Inuyasha about her always taking Koga's side, the group sat down to wait for the food to finish cooking, Yue and Kero returning to their temporary forms of a plush-toy and Yukito.
While it cooked, Sakura finally woke up again, this time seeming even more energized than before, as she sat up. She walked over and sat with Tomoyo, the two talking animatedly while Tomoyo worked on her newest design.
Conversations drifted around the camp fire, while Inuyasha sat basically pouting a bit away from everyone, normally it wasn't this noisy while they were on the road, but the sounds of people talking and the laughter rang around him.
"Inuyasha!" Kagome called, having already gotten over being annoyed with him, "The food is ready!"
He grumbled and got up, moving closer to the group, taking his usual seat next to Kagome, she handed him a bowl of instant noodles, a set of chopsticks, and 2 of the fish. He softened immediately as the conversation picked back up while everyone settled with their food.
They even included Inuyasha in the conversation, and though he'd never admit it, made him happy. These people from Kagome's time didn't turn away from him because of what he was, they accepted him, just like Kagome did. He was starting to think that the people from her time were a lot nicer than the ones from this time.
"I will be back shortly, which direction did you say the woods were?" Eriol asked, looking at Miroku with a pleasant smile.
"About a mile to the east." Miroku replied, "Do you wish for someone to go with you?"
"No I should be alright." Eriol replied.
"I'll go with him!" Nakuru offered, jumping up, "I have to go as well so I might as well go with Eriol. Surely nothing'll happen."
Miroku just nodded, frowning as the two walked away. Something about the Eriol kid just didn't sit well with him, he couldn't figure out why. The boy was genuinely kind and polite, he wasn't sure why he felt the way he did, but he could not help it.
Once everyone finished eating, they packed up and put the fire out, now only waiting for Eriol and Nakuru to return.
"If they're not back soon, I'm going looking for them." Inuyasha growled 30 minutes into waiting, the others nodding or making small sounds of agreement. About 10 more minutes passed still with no sign of Eriol or Nakuru, and Inuyasha got up, getting ready to run off to track the two down. He hoped nothing had happened to them.
Before Inuyasha could get far though, a giant bird-like demon swooped down to attack. Inuyasha barely dodged getting grabbed by its claws before it flew up into the air once more. Sakura, feeling completely refreshed, turned the Star Key into its staff form, Syaoran brought out his sword and ofuda, Yue came forth and Kero transformed.
Kirara also transformed, Sango jumping onto her back, her Hiraikotsu in hand. As the bird came swooping back down again, Inuyasha readied the Tetsusaiga, yelling "Wind Scar!" as he slashed in the bird's direction.
It struck, tearing straight through the bird, and once the flash of yellow disappeared from the wind scar, instead of the bird lying there dead, it was hovering in the air, split into five. Instead of regenerating into one bird, it became five demon birds.
"What in the world is this thing?!" Sango yelled as Kirara dodged around one of the birds as it attacked them.
"We've gotta do something about them…" Sakura gasped.
"What about that one card, Sakura?" Tomoyo asked, "The one that makes things vanish?"
"Erase?" Sakura asked, frowning. She pulled the card out, thinking, "If only I could get them to stand still long enough to use it…."
Syaoran nodded, "Keroberos, I need to get closer." he said, switching the ofuda in his hand for a different one. Kero nodded and crouched down, allowing Syaoran to climb onto his back. Once he was seated, Kero flew up into the air at the birds, as they got close Syaoran threw the ofuda out before him, shouting "Hyouka Shourai!"
He managed to hit one of the birds, and froze it in ice, Kero now having to dodge the other 4 as they targeted them, making it impossible for Syaoran to target another.
Seeing this, the other members of the Inu-taichi went into action, Sango using a sleep poison on a throwing dagger on one, Inuyasha using his sword to knock another out of the sky, Miroku using sutras to subdue one, and Kagome shooting another one down with her arrows.
Once all five of the birds were on the ground, Sakura ran forward, tossing the Erase card into the air, "Card originally created by Clow. Abandon your old form and reincarnate, under the name of your new master Sakura! Erase!"
Once the card had changed forms, a tall woman with short hair in a kind of harlequin-jester kind of plaid jumpsuit appeared, "Erase, make those birds disappear, please." Sakura said, giving the card a smile. The Erase beamed back at her, bowed at her with a flourish before turning and spreading out a large sheet that expanded until it covered all five birds on the ground. Once it had them covered it yanked on the sheet, pulling it back as it shrinked, the birds nowhere to be seen.
Before Erase could go back to card form on its own, Sakura collapsed once more, Yue catching her before she hit the ground. "Sakura!" Kero shouted as he landed, Syaoran jumping off his back, the Erase card floating over and landing on Sakura's stomach.
"She is merely asleep once more." Yue stated, frowning.
Before anyone could say anything more, Eriol and Nakuru came running up, seemingly out of breath, "We heard shouting and saw those huge birds!" Nakuru panted, "So we came back as quickly as possible."
"Feh, not that either of you would have been very useful." Inuyasha stated, putting the Tetsusaiga away.
"Those were very peculiar creatures….they had no demonic presence and yet…" Miroku commented.
Inuyasha nodded in agreement, "I don't know what the hell they were but I'm sure it was Naraku's doing. Lets get moving."
The rest of the group agreed, Syaoran and Yue situating the unconscious Sakura on Kero's back before Yue transformed back into Yukito, who looked around confused as to what happened. "He really doesn't remember?" Sango asked, intrigued.
"Yue doesn't share his memories with Yukibunny. Though Yue himself remembers everything that happens with Yukito." Kero explained.
Sango just nodded, not quite getting the nickname that Kero had used for the man walking at the back of the group, so that he could keep an eye on all the people traveling with them. They continued on for the rest of the day, finally stopping as the sun began to set. They set up camp swiftly, Inuyasha taking off to go hunting for dinner.
After everyone ate, they spread out around the fire to sleep, wondering what would await them the next day.
~~END Chap. 3~~
Sakura: So Chap. 3 is done. Not a lot to say, if you read this please review. It'll pick up soon, promise.