I own nothing save my OCs and my own unique idea twists. Reviews and comments are welcome, but no flaming please. Also my first fanfic, so constructive criticism is appreciated. Enjoy!

After the powerful stranger left, Inuyasha and the others took her advice to leave the cave system. As they left a howl of falling rock came out of the crevasse, giving them all goose bumps for how close the rock fall was.

"Well, she did not lie about the cave collapsing," Miroku remarked, favoring his ribs as they make camp near the crevasse.

"I don't understand how she resisted the Windscar so easily- not even Sesshomaru walked away unscathed by it." Sango states, worried by the implications.

"She was using slang," Kagome remarks, awake now but resting.

"And her clothes are more like those of my time period." The group muses over this before Shippo asks,

"Do you think she's from your time, Kagome?" Kagome makes a face, unsure.

"I don't know, her clothing is similar, but that animal she was with isn't anything I have seen before. And the… head attached to the saddle is definitely not from my time period."

"Gaaah! So we have no answers except she's strong and is a 'Dragon Slayer'. Pft, I doubt she's ever killed a dragon, much less seen one!" Inuyasha grouses irritably.

Meanwhile…

"Not a lot of towns around here," Jade remarks as Soren picks his way through the woods.

"Heck, not even villages!" She frowns, annoyed. "Dang, and I was hoping for a soft bed for once- sleeping outside is fine, but I was really looking forward to it." Jade sighs.

"At least I can make you hot mash, Soren. I still have a few oats left. I'll make it once we reach the stream-" The Wapiti snorts and trots faster, eager to have his mash. Jade laughs.

"Nice to see you're excited!"

As they move deeper into the woodlands, Jade suddenly catches the scent of unwashed bodies, steel and old blood. Putrid doesn't even begin to describe it. Soren pauses when she urges him to halt, tossing his head. She listens and unwillingly takes a deeper sniff.

One, two, three, four, five, six. Six individual scents so six people waiting off the sides of the path Soren is following.

And all of them stink of bad hygiene and death. Bandits? Bad luck- for them. Hmm, maybe they can answer my questions…

Jade smiles and deliberately relaxes, before calling out-

"Hey, don't be shy- why doncha come out where I can see you? Unless," she drawls, letting her face convey mock horror,

"You are afraid of me?" Dead silence falls then six men step out into the open. All of them are wearing traditional clothing, old-fashioned armor and topknots. Their expressions range from affronted to furious. Jade's eyes take note of visible weapons- all of them have katanas and one or two have knives.

Typical bandits- armed, but with mostly scrap metal swords. But what's with the traditional get up? Nobody does that anymore unless they are die-hards.

Jade looks at them and intones-

"Topknot, topknot, topknot… what is this, a gang mentality? Everyone has to have a topknot to join? Talk about antiquated." She shakes her head in disgust. Soren snorts and lowers his head, ready to charge.

The bandits are not amused.

"Wench! Get off your- your animal!" One of them barks, shaking his sword menacingly. The others grin evilly and step forward with swords drawn.

"Give us all your valuables and maybe we'll let you live- after a lesson or two in how to respect your betters! Right, boys?" The ringleader says, with ringing support from his fellows.

"Yeah, bitch!"

"You'll learn to respect us mighty quick!"

"After we all have a turn with you! How much do you think she will scream?"

Jade tunes out the taunts and boasts, yawning, clearly not impressed. The bandit's leader notices and snarls.

"We said, GET OFF YOUR ANIMAL, WHORE!" She looks at him and smiles very slowly, showing off fangs.

"Whore, huh? Matter of perspective, I guess." Smoothly, she kicks her feet free of the stirrups and springs forward, standing directly in front of the ringleader. He involuntarily steps back- she is nearly a head taller than him! Seeing the flinch, she laughs menacingly.

"I see a bunch of cowardly low-lives that aren't worth shit. All you can do is band together and hope no one else is stronger than you. Pathetic."

The bandits retaliate, screaming battle cries as they surround Jade. She laughs and launches herself into the brawl.

She easily dodges three of the katana and kicks one from the hands of a bandit, then leg sweeps the two trying to strike her from behind, knocking them down. The last bandit sweeps his sword down on her unprotected head and-

CLANG!

At the last second, Jade's arm snaps up and hardens into stone scales, protecting her head. The sword fails to cut her and bounces off, throwing off the bandit's balance. Jade takes advantage, rushing him and slams a knee into his face, breaking his nose. He collapses, clutching his face and screaming. The others regroup, unsure of what they saw.

"The sword bounced off of her!"

"Is she a demon?!"

"No, she's a spirit come to slay us!"

Jade listens with interest.

Demon- Fluffy Ears was talking about demons too… what is it with these people and 'demons'? Hmmm. Better leave at least one with a functioning jaw then!

Decided, she explodes into motion and lays waste to the rest of the bandits. Soren nibbles on grass as she interrogates the bandits. Jade learns the following:

One, they have never heard of magic. Two, demons are creatures that often have malicious intent for humans. Three, their clothes are not 'traditional'- they are just regular clothes. Four, none of them know what cosplay is. Five, there is a village about three days away to the east.

Jade nods thoughtfully and knocks out the last bandit. Then she ties all the bandits to a tree and leaves them there wearing only their loincloths. When they all wake up, Jade smiles and casually breaks all of their swords with her bare hands. After they are suitably cowed, she leaves and heads in the direction of the village.

When Inuyasha and the others come back down from the mountains, they hear cries for help. Intrigued, they go to look only to find six mostly naked bandits tied to a tree. Each of them look like they had been beaten half to death and were ridiculously happy to see fellow 'humans'. At least, until they saw Inuyasha.

"Augh!"

"Demon!"

"Not again!"

"Don't eat us!"

"Aiee!"

"Help!"

Inuyasha is already in a bad mood from losing to the strange woman, and is even angrier when he scents traces of her on the bandits. A few more punches shuts them up and after they apologized to Inuyasha, Miroku and Sango release them.

"Who did this to you?" Kagome asks, curious.

"A Demoness!"

"She was pretty-"

"Shut up!"

The other bandits silenced the one that had developed a crush on Jade and tried to answer Kagome's question.

"We thought she was easy prey, even with that strange animal of hers. It was huge! As big as a horse, if not bigger, with huge horns sticking out of its' head. They were curved and really long!"

"It had a demon's head attached to the saddle- but I've never seen a demon like that before either!"

"We've never met a demoness like that bi- um. Lady, either. She was tall! Taller than the demon there, with black hair and strange tattoos!"

Bandits gave them all the information they could on the demoness, including her strange questions.

"What is 'cosplay'?" One of them asks Kagome, who starts.

Cosplay..!

"She asked you about that?" Kagome prods, eager.

"Yeah, she wanted to know if we were doing 'cosplay'."

This is getting weirder and weirder- she knows about cosplay but I've never seen an animal like the one she rides before. Is she from my time?

As Kagome ponders possibilities, Inuyasha gets riled up when he learns the 'demoness' is heading towards Kaede's village.

"You sent the bitch to old hag's village?!" At this, the others immediately decide to return to Kaede's, to protect her from the 'demoness'.

"I hope we make it in time!" Sango says, riding Kirara with Miroku. Everyone has grim expressions-

Please let Kaede be alright!

As they reach the outskirts of the village, Inuyasha snarls, furious.

"I smell her! She's here already!"

"Oh no!" Kagome cries. Picking up the pace they rush into the village, ready to fight-

Only to see the strange woman hammering on a roof, with nails sticking out of her mouth. Her mount is grazing nearby, the saddle and monster's head nowhere to be seen. The villagers are rebuilding several homes and chatting familiarly with the strange woman, who is laughing as she works.

"… Huh?"

Kaede spots them and waves them over.

"Ah, you have returned. Good, help to fix the village. What troubles we have had-" Kaede says, shaking her head and sighing.

"… Kaede-san, who is the woman up there?" Asks Miroku, unsettled by the way the very powerful fighter is fixing a roof.

"Ah, her? I have advice for thee, Monk. Do not ask her to bear your child, she would surely geld you. She has been of great help these last two days, what with the demon attacks and bandits. I can tell thee she is no one to be trifled with." Kaede says firmly.

Inuyasha snarls.

"She can't be trusted-!" Kaede gives him a glare.

"She is not Naraku's get, nor a demon. True, she has great power but she has no malicious intent unless attacked first- something I have been told you have experienced firsthand, Inuyasha." Inuyasha blinks and his face scowls.

"Wha..!" He snarls but Kagome cuts him off quickly.

"Kaede, you have talked to her?" Kaede nods thoughtfully.

"Aye, lass, I have. And what a story to tell she has. Come, you may speak with her after supper." Kaede bustles off, overseeing the repairs and leaving Team Inuyasha standing there, nonplussed.

They look up at the stranger, then at Kaede.

"Well, if Kaede thinks she's alright…" Kagome says doubtfully. Sango, Miroku and Shippo nod slowly.

"Kaede is very experienced, so I find it hard believe she could be deceived easily…" Miroku says eventually.

Inuyasha growls and starts to yell.

"Hey y-!"

"Sit!" Bam.

"Inuyasha, trust Kaede. Now let's go unpack and help out!" Kagome says determinedly.

Jade is already seated in Kaede's hut when Team Inuyasha enters, helping herself to a bowl of soup. She has a blissful expression on her face as she eats.

"Ghish dis dehishus!" She mumbles excitedly.

Inuyasha scoffs.

"What are you, an animal, witch?" Jade looks over at him and her eyes widen.

"Uffy Mears!" She tries to shout, then frantically tries to chew and swallow at the same time. After a few coughs, she swallows her food and tries again.

"Fluffy Ears!" Inuyasha's ears flatten.

"Don't call me that!" He yells, red-faced.

"What are you doing here, Fluffy Ears?" Jade asks, completely ignoring his demand.

"What am I doing here?! What're you doing here?!" He yells back.

"Inuyasha! Be quiet!" Kagome shouts, pissed.

"Me?! She's the suspicious one!" He growls.

"Sit!" Bam!

"You aren't helping!" She snaps at the prone half-demon, hands on her hips. Jade sniggers into her soup. Kaede clears her throat, finally catching everyone's attention.

"If ye sit down, the lass is willing to tell her tale. I warn thee, tis strange even for ye." Then she looks at Jade and says,

"Lass, would ye be willing to tell thine tale again?" Jade glances up from her food to look at Kaede. She shrugs carelessly.

"Sure, Gran."

"And don't ye forget to introduce thy self!" Kaede lectures Jade, who grins bashfully.

"Sure, sure, okay, point taken." Jade says laughingly, playfully using a hand to ward off the older woman's words. Jade puts her bowl down, smacks both of her cheeks with her hands and assumes a serious air.

"Nice to meet ya, I'm Jade Aquilo of Fairy Tail, a wizard's guild in the country of Fiore." She says before bowing from her seat.

Team Inuyasha blink and look at each other.

Fairy… Tail? Guild? Wizards? Fiore?