"RRRRRAAAAAAAAAAAAA!"

The mighty roar awoke everyone in the caves, many huddling together in fright. Something was terribly, terribly wrong, the link to their Prime having been suddenly broken. A small blue haired girl was the only one to go in search having recognized the voice. Of course she was also afraid, but knowing her parents would protect her from any harm bolstered her confidence. Rounding the bend into her parent's room she saw a figure in a seeming frenzy, great gouges in the walls and the furniture in varying stages of destruction. This was unlike anything she'd experienced before and she took a few moments to push the fear away and walk in.

"Papa? What's wrong? Are you hurt?"

She flinched as he whipped around and growled menacingly at her, eyes no longer kind but hateful and fully red.

'Why is Papa being so scary? He's never mean to me!'

She was trying very hard to talk herself into believing her words, but she couldn't feel the connection to her Papa anymore. That warmth in her chest that always let her know everything would be alright was gone, as well as the warmth from her Mama. This wasn't right! None of this was right, and her instincts screamed at her to run away and hide.Taking a step backwards she whimpered out:

"Where's Mama? I want my Mama!"

The words were like a hot iron to his heart, the pain of losing his mate far too much for his mind to handle. He had known it was dangerous to not fight by yet side but she refused to listen to him, instead insisting on a promise to stay with and protect their hatchling. It wasn't a promise he wanted to give, and yet he was unable to deny her.

'Not that I would have kept it if I'd had a choice. Why did she have to block me? If I had been there...'

With another mighty roar full of his pain and anguish he dashed forward and grabbed the child's throat, snarling as he dangled her in front of his face. If he was in his sane mind he'd be appalled at treating his daughter like this, the very last connection to his love. Sadly, he wasn't sane, not any more; a demon mating was at once gaining the greatest strength and weakness. The couple shared their strengths and forged a connection not even the gods could break. Unless, of course, one of them died in which case it was as if your very soul was torn asunder.

Though the girl struggled to loosen the grip on her throat, her father was much too strong for her. It was like the world as she know it was crashing around her and she was too weak to do anything about it. Being far too young to truly understand things, her childish mind made the only connections it could.

'It's my fault! If I was a good girl Papa wouldn't be angry with me and Mama would be here.'

Tears raced down her cheeks, the only outlet for the fear, sadness and beginnings of self hatred that constricted around her heart. It was as her throat began getting crushed that her survival instincts took over; snarling and growling, even tearing into her Papa's arm elicited no reaction. Black spots started clouding get vision and in a final burst the holy powers within her lashed out with everything she had.

Not nearly powerful enough to truly damage him, he finally loosened his grip and made eye contact with her for the first time. Through her coughing and gaps of air she saw him lean his head down and take a long inhale stopping as the scent hit him. A look of anguish contorted his face as he threw his head back and screamed out her mother's name; the holy powers had a nearly identical scent to his mate and caused him to choke with emotion.

All at once the fight drained from him and he slumped to the floor, clutching his daughter close to him. In his broken mind she was no longer a living being but a vessel he could use to keep his mate close to him.

'I knew she wasn't gone, she's right here! I just need to wake her back up, that's all. You'll see mate, I won't let anything keep us apart!'

Fear still laid heavy on her chest, but her Papa was now hugging her and crying, making her cry even harder. Hopefully her Mama would come home soon so Papa didn't have to cry anymore, but until then she'd work to be better and not make him mad at her again.

'I'll show Papa I'm a good girl and make him love me again, then Mama will come home!'

If only she know what that promise would cost her, she might never have made it. After all, you can't reason with the insane.

In the stunned silence that followed, Inuyasha leaped forward and grabbed the stranger by the front of her shirt, fear a thick scent around him.

"I don't know who the hell you are, but you better get out of Kagome before I force you out!"

Not that he had a plan or way to follow through with his threat, as usual his high emotion came out as violence.

'I knew I should've tried harder to stop that stupid ritual! Fuck! This is just like with Hakudoshi- no, it's worse! What the hell do I do? How can I fix this?'

The being inside Kagome stared at the half-demon, taking in the scents of his emotions as well as those around them. It was clear they were distressed as well as very worried, but that she could blame them. She hadn't intended on ever fully taking over, the small bursts more than enough, but the surge of demon power hadn't given her a choice.

'Not that I'm going to complain though, this is the most freedom I've had in over a millenia and a chance at finding a way to gain true freedom.'

Frustrated at being ignored and unnerved by the continued stare, Inuyasha tightened his grip, the sound of fabric tearing loud in the silence.

"Well?!" He knew once his friend was back she'd make him pay for running her uniform, but it was a small price to pay to get her back.

Not-Kagome was already bored with the posturing and slowly raised an eyebrow then, her hand was a blur, she gave a simple flick to the half-demon's forehead that sent him crashing into a wall. The rest of the group jumped into defensive stances, but the stranger only stretched leaned back on her arms.

"And how exactly do you intend on doing that In-u-ya-sha?" She purposely drew out his name in order to pass him off, deciding it was easier to deal with all the stupid reactions ahead of time.

'Besides, the sooner this is dealt with, the sooner I can start figuring out what to do with the jewel.'

With a loud growl the embarrassed and angry dog jumped back up but was held off by Sango.

"Don't, Inuyasha. This isn't a fight we can win with violence, not when we'll only be hurting Kagome's body."

She hated having to say it, but it was true; this wasn't one of their usual enemies and would require a different approach. Taking a few deep breaths the pup calmed enough to gain a reasonable amount of control over his anger, though just under the surface he was still seething. Even should she not have been watching from the corner of her eye she would have known tbe moment the holy people went on the offensive, Inuyasha being unable to keep even a hint of a poker face abs having an obvious reaction to the others. Together they had created a seal with a decent amount of spiritual power, a very potent attack for a less powerful being then herself to be sure.

'If they hadn't allowed their emotions to get the better of them it could've been an actual problem. I'll need to help them work on that if I have the chance.'

Considering how well she was able to smell their emotions, she was glad to have a barrier on her senses so their high emotions didn't overwhelm her.

'This is the best and only real option we have, I hope we can succeed in bringing Lady Kagome back.'

Miroku was dealing with feeling like he failed, thinking that he could've prevented the possession of only he had made his barrier strong enough. Steeling themselves for a possible fight, Kaede signaled to throw the seal and channeled as much of her remaining power into it as possible.

For a brief moment hope filled the group as the seal hit the stranger but faded away when they noticed nothing happened. A shocked 'how' escaped from the monk while they watched her lift the paper from her arm and look it over, humming to herself as she noticed the small mistakes that had been made.

"This was very well done, but if you ever want to go over the mistakes, let me know. This isn't quite the way I grew up learning and it's fascinating seeing how things have changed." Holding it for another moment she imbued her own power into the seal before tossing it back to Miroku. "There we go, that should be strong enough to take care of nearly any enemy you might come across. Use it wisely, hmm?"

Seeming to deflate, Inuyasha flopped to the floor and crossed his arms with a frustrated huff. None of this had gone the way he had expected, and he was completely powerless which was not a feeling he was able to handle. "Fine, you've made your fucking point. None of us can do anything to you, so what do you want ya bastard?"

She had to fight for a moment to keep herself from laughing at the put-off tone of the pup and sat up straight. To be fair, she had expected things to be much worse and go on much longer.

'If I have a chance I'll have to make sure Kagome knows just how much they care for her. Or maybe I'll set up a situation where they have to tell her themselves. Hmmmm...'

"I'll have you know that my parents were very much mated when I was both conceived and birthed." Her amusement faded away as she started thinking of her parents, the group storing that info away for later. Before Inuyasha could start complaining she continued on. "Before I answer your question I want to point something out to you all: I was not the one who unsealed a powerful demonic fragment with no way to control it." She had hit a nerve, anger mixing with guilt and having nowhere to go. It made sense they would direct it at her, but if they had any hope of getting her out of this body she needed to be sure they could be logical when needed. Straightening her spine, Kaede lifted her chin and and looked the stranger in the eyes, refusing to cower as she took responsibility for what she'd done.

"Aye, that mistake be my burden to carry. Ye cannot act like ye don't have se reason to be here though, else ye would have given young Kagome's body back to her, would ye not?"

A small impressed smile curved the strangers lips as the group stood together in solidarity instead of descending into chaos. Taking it a a positive sign, she relaxed back and prepared for the long conversation ahead.

"I'm not entirely certain what my choice would be, though I won't pretend to be anywhere near as selfless as Kagome herself is."

Inuyasha huffed out an angry breath while trying to ignore the feeling of dread climbing his spine. "You're acting like you didn't already make the decision, which you obviously did since Kagome isn't here!"

"I can understand why you'd make that assumption, but I in fact did not make a decision."