Disclaimer: I do not own Inuyasha. Inuyasha belongs to Rumiko Takahashi.

A/N: I have decided to randomly update. It's because I'm still working on with another story (at a different site), so I can't determine a solid update date for Bloodshed. I thought at first that maybe I should update this story every month, but the ideas kept coming and I'm excited with this story—so I think I might end up updating this weekly. If I suddenly stop updating at one point, go to my profile and check if I have news about the updates. I'll keep you guys informed if I can't update.

I will be replying to the reviews at the end of the chapter because I still don't know how to reply and I feel bad if I don't. Well, hope you enjoy this chapter.

Chapter 3:

The Blonde Girl

"Inuyasha."

His eyes kept staring ahead, unfocused.

"Inuyasha."

His mind was pulled back into reality. "Huh? What?"

He finally looked up to seeing Kagome standing in front of him, her eyes above his face. A faint smile crept over her lips as she knelt on the floor. He watched in silence as she leaned forward and felt his forehead. He had to hold back from flinching as her cool hand was over his warm skin.

"Good, no fever," she said and stood back up.

His brows furrowed in confusion. Suddenly, his eyes darted around the area as he wondered where he was. He spent a few minutes taking in the surroundings. The large—almost empty room, lit a bright orange as the light from the fire illuminated the place. The whole room was covered in wooden walls and flooring. He could see everyone else, except for Kagome, sleeping soundly on the floor. He felt a throb at the back of his mind as he couldn't remember what had happened earlier. He started panicking for a brief moment, unable to recollect earlier events, but then it clicked.

He could finally remember that Miroku had asked a villager for a place to stay. The villager led them to this empty hut that he owns. Later that afternoon, he felt tired and had a quick nap while the sun was still up. Then what happened? Oh, right. When everyone went to sleep, he was awake and decided to keep watch in case the puppet appears again. Somehow, he ended up daydreaming to the extent of not noticing that Kagome had awakened. He shook his head in disbelief. He was never letting his guard down ever again.

"Inuyasha."

He glanced and found that she was already unrolling the futon that the hut owner had offered. He raised a brow, questioning what she wanted him to do.

"You should get some rest," she said and patted on the futon. "I know you've slept earlier, but I need you to get a good night's rest too."

He shook his head. "Nope. That creepy kid might appear again."

"Then I'll take over," she insisted.

"Go back to sleep, Kagome," he muttered.

He then felt his arm being pulled. He turned his head to the side and observed as Kagome was using a fraction of her strength to get him over to that futon. He sighed and used his free hand to scratch his head in annoyance.

"Alright, fine," he finally said. He yanked his arm away from her grip, grabbed the Tessaiga, and started walking to the futon. He could feel her eyes on him from the back of his skull. "Damn it, Kagome. I'm sleeping, alright?"

He awkwardly leaned back and laid down on the cotton fabric, placing Tessaiga on the ground at his side. Her face appeared in his line of vision, a pleasing expression on it. He frowned when she knelt beside him, and felt her hands rubbing gently at his ears.

"Good boy," she said with a chuckle.

"Shut up," he mumbled.

Kagome stared as his eyelids slowly closed. She kept rubbing his ears, admiring the soft thing before she heard the sound of his slow breathing. Her eyes landed on his face. He was sleeping so soundly. This was the second time he looked so calm—the first time was when he had slept on her bed. A smile made its way again on her face. Seeing the hanyou sleeping like this... she wished this would last for a while.

Her eyes landed on Inuyasha's arms, and she hesitated to check it, not wanting to wake him up. But then, she mustered the courage and slowly pulled the sleeve of his suikan. A sigh of relief escaped from her lips as the bruises were gone. There were a few red patches left, which meant that some still haven't fully healed. She was surprised that he healed quite fast, but that was because she knew he was eager to get rid of all his wounds. This also meant that Inuyasha had used quite a lot of energy to focus on his healing, which would be bad if he refused to sleep.

She touched the fuzzy appendages once more before heading over to her bow. Honestly, she had forgotten about the puppet for a while, until Inuyasha reminded her. Her fingers touched the bow mindlessly. She was sure that she had slept only for a few hours, and still felt sleepy, but she wasn't going to sleep, now that she had promised Inuyasha.

A yawn escaped her mouth and she shook her head as drowsiness was starting to take over. The silent night wasn't helping with her plan on staying awake. She gripped the wooden part of the bow, forcing herself not to sleep. She was not going to sleep. But even if she kept chanting the words in her mind, her eyelids wouldn't stop attempting to close—

"Kagome-chan!"

And that was what made her eyes flew open.

She instantly got up, the bow still in her hand. Her mind was fully alert now, and all sense of going to sleep was gone. In front of her, she could see Sango had her Hiraikotsu behind her back, Miroku was preparing his Wind Tunnel, Shippou behind the monk, and Kirara had transformed into her huge cat form. How long had she fallen asleep? What happened?

"S-Sango-chan? What's going on?"

"Youkai," the taijiya said, peeping through the noren. "Lots of them."

"Huh? Youkai...?"

And that was when she started hearing the cries of the villagers. How could she have not heard them before? She cursed under her breath as she accepted the fact that she had fallen asleep. So much for trying to keep watch. If only she had pushed herself, she wouldn't have dozed off.

"I'm so sorry," she said, causing Sango and Miroku to look her way. "I should've been on guard."

"You don't have to apologize, Kagome-sama. You're allowed to have some rest too," Miroku stated, puzzled.

"Yes, but..." she felt so guilty. If something had happened... "What if the puppet had teleported here to attack Inuyasha again? He was keeping himself awake just now because of that. So I... I asked him to sleep and said that I'll keep watch in case the girl appears again."

"It's okay, Kagome-chan. We're all exhausted, especially since we've never got a chance to take a break before," Sango said and held her Hiraikotsu. "Besides, nothing happened while we were asleep," she gave a challenging grin. "So, are you ready now?"

Kagome nodded, ready with her bow and arrow. As she was about to head out, only then she remembered about Inuyasha.

"Wait! Where's Inu—" she turned her head and found Inuyasha still lying with his eyes closed. "Inuyasha? Oh god, is he—"

"He's fine, Kagome," Shippou's voice interrupted her. She looked down to the tiny kitsune. "He's just really tired. He won't open his eyes or move."

"Wow, it's the first time he's like this. I've never seen him sleep like the dead before... I don't know if I should be worried or not."

Before Sango could respond to Kagome's sentence, she heard a cry coming from a woman and immediately looked at the commotion outside. "I'm going to help that woman!" she exclaimed before running out of the hut, Kirara following behind her.

"Sango-chan—" she wanted to join the taijiya, but Miroku held her arm. "Miroku-sama?"

"Kagome-sama, you must stay here with Shippou. Someone needs to watch over Inuyasha. I'm afraid that he's truly unconscious and isn't aware about a thing. It will be dangerous if we leave him alone."

Kagome nodded. "Right."

Miroku smiled before joining Sango outside. Kagome sat on the floor, both of her hands holding the bow and the arrow. She was going to keep her guard this time in case a demon ends up entering. But she couldn't help but feel worried for her friends.

"Kagome, don't worry," Shippou said and hopped onto her shoulder. "Miroku and Sango can handle it."

"Mm," she hummed with a nod. "I have faith in them."

All of a sudden, she heard the sound of a shrill cry and before she knew it, an injured demon had violently pushed the noren aside, entering the hut. Thankfully, its size was no bigger than an average human and that was something she could handle. She immediately stood up and pulled her arrow back, aiming directly to the demon. The demon noticed her intentions and wanted to run away, but she had released the arrow and it dispersed in the air.

She approached near the entry way and pushed the noren aside, wanting to see what was going on outside. Sango and Miroku were nowhere to be seen, but she guessed that they already had things under control, since there were no signs of villagers or demons. She exhaled in relief and pulled back from the entry way.

"It seems that Miroku-sama and Sango-chan is—" she froze at the sight behind her.

Shippou was trembling in a blonde girl's arms.

Kagome took a step back in shock as she took in the features of the little girl. The girl could be labelled as a child, her height not even reaching Kagome's shoulders. The blonde girl had knee-length hair. Her eyes were a pale shade of blue and her face was almost emotionless. Overall, she was beautiful, but Kagome could tell instantly that she was dangerous even though she was merely holding the little fox demon.

Her gaze flicked to the blonde girl's side and her eyes widened as she saw Inuyasha's figure over a man's shoulder. The man was wearing a silver armor, resembling a knight. His face was covered with his helmet and he was quite tall and large in size—almost double the size of the hanyou himself. But that wasn't her concern. What concerns her the most at the moment was what the blonde was planning to do.

"Let go of Inuyasha and Shippou-chan!" she shouted, her arrow aimed at the two of them.

"Shippou...?" the blonde said quietly and her eyes stared down at the still shivering kit, "...cute..."

It took the blonde a few minutes of staring before she bent down and gently placed the terrified kitsune on the ground. Without second thought, Shippou ran over to Kagome and clung at her leg, shaking non-stop. Kagome was relief that she released the fox, but her eyes were still trained on the girl.

"Let go of Inuyasha."

The girl looked at her with blank eyes, glanced at the knight, and looked at her again.

"Waru-sama needs him."

"Waru-sama?" Kagome questioned and her grip tightened on her arrow. "Is that the name of your master? Is that the name of the one who created you and the puppet that attacked Inuyasha?"

"No..." she whispered. "I am the creator of those puppets."

"W-What?"

Kagome examined the girl from head to toe. From the looks of it, she almost looked human. Almost. But she's definitely not human, is alive, and not puppet material. She glanced at the knight. She wasn't sure whether he was a puppet or not, but she made a wild guess and assumed that he was a puppet. She then boldly took a step forward, her arrow never turned away from her target.

"Anyway, I'm not going to repeat myself," Kagome said. "Release Inuyasha."

The blonde girl slowly pointed an index finger to Kagome. "Kouru."

"I won't let you—" she froze when she couldn't move a muscle. "Huh?"

She heard Shippou freak out, then the kitsune stumbled backwards, head hitting the floor and desperately trying to keep her distance from her. When her brown irises—the only thing she could move—looked down, she saw a tiny girl (with the same height as Shippou) holding—more like hugging—her leg.

"What the—I can't move!" Kagome shouted—her mouth being the second thing that could also move. Is it because of the girl? "Shippou-chan! Get the girl off me!"

"R-Right!"

She heard the kitsune grunt as he tried his best to get the tiny girl off her. But no matter what he does, the girl remained still on her leg.

"Kagome, I can't! She's—strong!"

The blonde girl looked at the knight. "Kishi, let's go."

The blonde girl, and the knight named Kishi, motioned to pass Kagome. Kagome couldn't bear the feeling that she could only watch as Inuyasha was taken away right in front of her eyes. She struggled more, before giving up and decided to use another way.

"Inuyasha!" she shouted. "Inuyasha, wake up!"

It was no use. No matter how loud she yelled, the hanyou wouldn't wake up. She knew that he must be unconscious out of exhaustion, but right now, she really needed him to be awake and realize the situation he was in.

She considered of using the command. Osuwari—that was the only thing that could help move the hanyou. It would also crush the knight. But then, she thought about the outcome. What if Inuyasha won't wake up even if she uses the command, and ends up being unconscious longer? Or if it does crush the knight, what was she going to do if Inuyasha still isn't awake? She groaned internally as she realized the command would be no help at all, unless she was willing to take a huge risk and hoped that Inuyasha would wake up.

She wanted to scream at the lack of options. She would do anything right now to get the knight's hands off the hanyou, not knowing what the two of them were planning to do. Heck, she would even wrestle the little girl if she had to. If she could move right now, she would be clenching and unclenching her fists in frustration. Then, all of a sudden, her eyes widened when the kitsune stopped pulling the tiny girl named Kouru, and ran over to the blonde instead. She heard the kitsune cry in a warrior-like way before she suspected that he bit the girl.

Shippou bared his teeth at the blonde girl's leg, trying to get his teeth to sink further into her flesh. He could feel her blood in his mouth, but had no plans on letting the blonde go.

Shippou grew pale when he felt himself being picked up by the back of his neck. It took little effort for the blonde to get him off her. Blood trickled from where he had bitten, but the girl's face remained neutral. She raised the whimpering kitsune that hung in her hands, her eyes expressing nothing. Shippou shivered as her free hand moved over his head. He shut his eyes tightly, expecting a hard smack.

Kagome panicked when she heard Shippou's whimpering. "No! Shippou-chan! Please, don't—"

"Poor child," she heard the blonde whispered.

Kagome couldn't tell what happened behind her, but she was slightly relief when she didn't hear Shippou screaming or anything that indicated he was in pain. That would mean that the girl hadn't hurt Shippou yet.

Meanwhile, Shippou slowly opened his eyes when he felt the girl stroking his hair gently. He looked at the girl's face, her expression soft. After his fear was gone, he could now hear the faint humming coming from her.

"Um..." Shippou tried to speak.

"Kouru."

The tiny girl that held Kagome's leg released her grip, before fading away until she can no longer be seen. Kagome jerked forward as she could finally move. She turned around and found the blonde girl playing with Shippou's hair. The kitsune looked like he had calmed down a bit too.

The blonde girl bent down and released Shippou from her hold. Uncertainly, the kitsune shuffled towards Kagome. Kagome smiled at the fact that Shippou was safe, but she was still worried about Inuyasha.

She tried to plead again. "Um, about Inuyasha..."

"Kishi," the blonde girl called.

"Yes, Jikiko-sama?" came the monotone voice from the knight.

"Release the hanyou."

The knight instantly complied and walked nearer to Kagome. Kagome was about to ask what he was doing, before the knight passed Inuyasha to her as if he was some kind of item. Kagome had to plant her legs on the ground to stop herself from toppling with the hanyou on her. Inuyasha may not be as heavy as she thought, but he still had some weight on him. She held firmly on his shoulders to avoid him from falling, her face poking at the side to face the blonde.

"Um... thank you," Kagome said.

The girl, she found out called Jikiko, stared and turned away. Before she left, she stopped and turned to look over her shoulder, gazing directly at Kagome.

"Waru-sama won't be pleased..." she said quietly with a pause, averting her gaze. "He might ask me to get the hanyou again."

And with that, the blonde girl and her knight was gone.

A/N: Noren are those cloth things that hung at the doorway, to those who are wondering. Also, I changed my username because my sister found out about my acc (which I wish she hadn't, sigh).

By the way, let me explain some of the translations of the names here. So Jikiko is just a combination of "Jiki"/磁器 (porcelain) and "Ko"/子 (child). "Kishi"/騎士 is "knight". And "Kouru"/凍る is "to freeze". Forgive me if I'm wrong. Japanese speakers, don't hesitate to correct me!

- Replies -

TheKamigawa: I literally laughed at your review at the part where you imagined the puppet going 180-degrees. Now I can't stop imagining it when I read chapter two lol. I'm also glad that you like the original characters here and enjoying the story. Thank you for both of your reviews!

veetree03: Thanks and I'm glad that you find this story interesting! Hopefully I can finish it fast like you say, cause I wanna write other stories too haha.

Guest: Yep, the story isn't finish yet and I just started it. But don't worry, I promise I'll finish it because I don't like leaving my stories hanging.