Disclaimer: I do not own Inuyasha, and most likely never will. Perhaps I should format my documents so that I don't have to type this each time… it'd make things easier, that's for sure, and in more ways than one! Mmn… perhaps next chapter. Too lazy right now.

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Kagome looked up, yelping as she saw the bird youkai, but was unable to dodge in time. It slammed into her side-on, jarring her hand open and forcing her off-balance and sideways.

She didn't even have time to gasp as a pair of warm arms wrapped around her waist and tightened. Within the space of a second, all of the breath was pulled from her body in a long rush as the ground fell away and her world gave way to rushing wind and whipping strands of silver hair.

Miroku yelped as he noticed the descending bird youkai. He sidestepped it neatly, cracking his makeshift staff over its head and felling it instantly, and looked up again, searching.

Where on earth…? His eyes widened at the sight of Inuyasha with a dazed Kagome clinging to his back, alighting on the edge of a nearby roof.

"Oi!" he yelled. "Are you leaving?"

Inuyasha grinned down at him, brushing some of Kagome's hair off his shoulder. "Only if you can't keep up, bouzu!" he called back, and promptly followed it up by leaping off the building and out of sight.

Towards the forest… oh, perfect, thought Miroku, dropping his stick and running forwards. He had only a moment's warning, the tingling feeling of youki on the rise, and dodged sideways just in time to avoid a slash of the bird youkai's talons. I needn't bother to engage it… it'll probably follow them… it was probably only after the jewel…

Which accounted for his confusion when, upon glancing behind himself, he saw the bird youkai winging its way in the opposite direction.

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For several moments all that entered Kagome's awareness was the feeling of rough cloth against her cheek. Upon realizing that the hair currently being blown into her face was not, in fact, her own, she snapped back to herself and immediately yelped.

Grey, cloudy skies filled her vision, her view of them whirling and spinning as she was brought closer to the earth once more. She was airborne, with nothing beneath her but air and the rapidly approaching tops of trees. Instinctively she tightened her grip on the only thing solid at the moment—only to recoil in horror as she discovered that she was clutching Inuyasha's back.

He looked back at her, annoyed. "If you let go, you'll just fall," he said. "So I'd advise you not to do it."

"Well, I'm sorry!" she said, wrapping her arms more carefully around his shoulders and holding on gingerly. "I'm sure you do this every day!" She could feel his muscles moving beneath the thin shirt—lucky it wasn't quite as cold as it had been the day before, or they would all have been frozen solid by now.

Shade filled her surroundings as Inuyasha dropped back beneath the tree cover and landed on a branch, looking around all the while. Kagome tried to find a way to loosen her hold on him without putting herself in danger of falling off—if she did, there was nothing to catch her but a rather slippery-looking branch, and then the icebound forest floor beneath that. She wondered briefly how Inuyasha could stand, perfectly balanced on a narrow branch like that.

Well, of course! He's a half-youkai! she reminded herself. Not like he's human or something… It was difficult to think of him as inhuman, though… She pried her mind away from such thoughts as a strange sensation entered her mind—a tingling, almost. It felt almost like the presence she'd followed a day earlier, when she'd been searching for Inuyasha… the kehai.

Giving up, she draped both her arms over Inuyasha's shoulders, leaning against him fully, and trained all of her senses on the new feeling.

It… tingled.

Inuyasha fought to keep his mind off the girl now limp against his back. He could still smell the bird youkai, that disgusting low-level youkai with nothing better to do than lurk around small villages. It probably ate rats to survive. Stupid beast most likely had no idea that the girl it had been trying to kill earlier smelled like flowers and mysterious spices, and that a certain silver-haired hanyou was blushing furiously as he glared at the tree in front of him.

Damn it, concentrate! he snarled inwardly. I don't know if it's coming any closer… stupid! Why didn't I put her down? I can't move with her stuck to me!

Suddenly Kagome gasped. Inuyasha looked back at her irritably. "What is it, wench?"

Kagome was staring at her empty hands. Something inside of her was trying to curl up and vanish. "The… the jewel. The bird youkai took it…" She looked up into a pair of disbelieving amber eyes and cringed. "Sorry."

There was a long pause.

"You… what?" rasped Inuyasha at last. Within the space of one second and the next, those amber eyes were livid. "You let it take the jewel?"

Inuyasha snarled. That's why I can hardly sense it anymore… it's making its escape to gain time to absorb the jewel's power! "Fuck!"

He leaped off the branch, not even bothering to let Kagome down, and sped towards the fading scent of the bird youkai.

Miroku arrived in a clearing in the woods, panting, and was just in time to glimpse a barefoot, silver-haired figure vanishing into the sky with a second figure clinging to its back for dear life. "Oi!"

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Waka smiled inwardly as he regarded the immense spider youkai standing before him. Being to all outward appearances a small, rather thin and generally weak-looking human, it might have been odd that he watched the huge demonic being with confidence… but the reddish tint to his eyes would say otherwise.

"You know where you are needed, yes?" he told the creature, watching with amusement and pleasure as it shifted uncomfortably on its eight immense legs.

"Y-yes, Naraku, but…"

"Then stop your whinging. Remember, kill all who arrive except for Mr. Taijiya… you know what he looks like, yes?"

"Yes," said the creature, forgetting itself for a moment and allowing a note of hatred to enter its voice. Waka did not bear it any mind… every youkai in the city had heard of Mr. Taijiya, and feared him with a passion that was as deadly with intent as it was futile. This was only to his advantage.

"Good. Do everything in your power to suppress him—I want him brought to me, injured if need be, but subdued."

The lumbering beast inclined its insectoid head and began the long process of turning around so that it could leave.

Waka allowed his grin to surface for one brief flicker of a second after the youkai had gone, no more. Then he was turning away, towards a door through which he knew he could find a telephone.

It was truly irritating, how the ways in which his plans chose to bear fruit sometimes hindered other things. For instance, suppressing the technology available in the world meant that those contraptions of years ago, the so-called 'cellular telephones,' were now completely extinct except as curios in museums. Nobody understood how they worked any longer, now that most scientists were either out of business or highly corrupt, and so they were not made.

And now all that was left were those heavy, unwieldy-looking machines with their clumsy receivers and cradles. Waka could feel his good mood evaporating bit by bit as he turned the dial for the numbers. It took an achingly long time.

At last, the ring tone… and, fairly quickly, the click as the person on the other end picked up.

"Kagura? I have another task for you. If you recall the location of the Taijiya Core in the Inner City…"

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Inuyasha grinned as he bounded off another branch and leaped back into the air. Now, set aside his involuntary passenger, this was close to how his life had gone before… before everything had happened. For four days he'd been barely able to move, but now that he was just about completely healed…

He could see the shape of the bird youkai, already large and quite grotesque, beginning to shift in form. The stringy tail grew longer, thick slabs of onyx skin moved and rearranged themselves into a strange pseudo-musculature, the talons became longer and somehow rather jagged-looking. And it was still frightened. He could smell it on the wind, and see it in the creature's white and bulging eyes every time it turned to look at them.

"Wh-what's it doing?" whispered Kagome from just below his ear. She was staring, fixing terrified brown eyes on the thing he was pursuing. Set aside for now the fact that she was up in the air, supported by nothing more than one (admittedly, rather strong) inu-hanyou…

"Only using the jewel's power to boost its own," said Inuyasha, unable to sound dour while the ground was rushing by far beneath him and the wind blew through his hair. "But that won't last for long…"

"Oh…" Kagome couldn't help feeling a stab of concern. "But… but what can we do? We're not catching up by much…"

"That'll change," said Inuyasha, resolving to push off harder the next time he came to earth. "Soon."

Kagome craned her neck to look up at him, puzzled at the new tone in his voice. She had never quite heard it before. He sounded almost… happy…

A loud, keening shriek came to her ears, fading in the wind. Kagome winced and clung tighter to Inuyasha's shoulders. It was one of the more disturbing sounds she had heard in her life, that was for certain.

The ground was approaching once again. All right, time this one… the next jump ought to catch it… Inuyasha leaped again, the resistance of the suddenly fast-moving air pressing his ears flat against his head.

The now thoroughly mutated bird youkai turned its head yet again, squawked loudly, and began to beat its tattered, growing and twisting wings faster through the air. Inuyasha grinned, moving an arm so as to pull his claws free. Before he could do so, of course, Kagome had move her leg out of the way, which she did with alacrity—and promptly found herself halfway off his back. She came away so slowly she could have been floating—if it weren't for the gradual sinking sensation, and the still fast-moving wind. The last few strands of silver hair brushed past her face as Inuyasha executed his strike, sweeping his claws across the bird youkai's stomach. This one didn't simply die, it exploded… and the jewel came free of its belly, drifting almost as slowly as she was. Inuyasha caught it in the same motion with which he'd slain the youkai.

All of this happened within a fraction of a second. The next thing Kagome realized, she was falling again… quite quickly.

Inuyasha twisted in midair at the sound of a cry from behind him. For the second time that day, a completely inexplicable jolt ran through his body, and the cry was ripped from him again—"Kagome!"

Funny, thought Kagome, closing her eyes to avoid the rather dizzying sight of him growing smaller above her. I thought he'd never say my name…

"No!"

Never mind that not a single one of Inuyasha's youkai-given powers included anything similar to self-directed flight. If he could turn in the air quickly enough, change his trajectory as fast as possible, move just a little bit faster, then he wouldn't have to watch her hit the trees far below.

She just wasn't fucking close enough…

Aero-whatsis… take up as little space as possible… I can fall faster! He turned his freefall into a dive, thankful for once that he was no longer wearing his old haori. Catch up, catch up…

Kagome's eyes were jolted open as something pulled hard on her hair, yanking her back upwards for one brief second. She was flipped over in the air and enfolded in a pair of warm arms… familiar arms…

"Inuyasha," she whispered.

Her voice was drowned out by the still-shrieking wind and the sudden noise of cracking branches and shattering ice as Inuyasha reached the top of the tree cover and fell through it. The thin twigs, made brittle by the cold, snapped easily and offering little resistance to the weight of a falling body. Her hearing was lost to the screaming of the air, her vision to where her face was pressed against Inuyasha, all she could feel was the warmth surrounding her body… all she could smell was the bitter scent of winter.

Three hard, jolting impacts followed, and then silence. Twigs, icicles and small pieces of natural debris rained down on them for a second or so.

For a moment all Kagome could do was lie against Inuyasha and breathe. Quiet, slow… we aren't falling… She closed her eyes, felt someone else's breath against her cheek, and realized her position.

"Ah!" Hastily she scrambled off Inuyasha and tried to slow down the rapid beating of her heart. "I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I didn't…"

Inuyasha wasn't moving.

Sh… oh, no. On her hands and knees, she moved closer to him again, beginning to shiver now that the heat of adrenaline was wearing off. Inuyasha seemed to be unconscious, eyes tightly shut, his breath misting in the air just above his face. Well, at least there's no blood this time…

She reached out and gently touched his shoulder, rocking him slightly. "Hey…"

No response. She tried again.

"Inuyasha? Can you hear me?" She thought one of his ears twitched, but it could have been simply her imagination.

Okay…Kagome leaned back, keeping a wary eye on Inuyasha in case he awoke, and carefully keeping the thought of that faint mist above his face vanishing as far out of her mind as possible. It's time to regroup. Stuck in the middle of some forest a couple of miles away from home, with an unconscious hanyou and no shoes or coats… no one knows where we are… Her heart sank. Oh, wonderful. We're doomed.

She could hear the wind rushing above the trees, making the branches creak as they swayed. The snow around her, undisturbed save for the area on which they had fallen, was littered with small pieces of broken twigs and tiny fragments of ice. If it snowed again while they were out here, she wasn't sure what she might do; but, mercifully, the sky didn't seem to be terribly inclined towards precipitation.

She tried to keep from biting her lip, but it was difficult. Almost as hard as remaining calm. It was extraordinarily uncomfortable, sitting in the snow wearing her indoor clothes which most definitely were not made for this sort of thing. And of course, with her only companion unconscious… he could be dying… the gunshot might have opened up again, but—no, there's still no blood. Maybe he has a concussion…

She shook her head. No. He's fine. He heals fast, you've seen that much for yourself! He'll wake up soon…

A faint glimmering caught her eye, and she glanced down to where Inuyasha was clutching something in his hand. The jewel… Reaching over, she gently pried it from his grasp. He didn't react.

So this is his big goal? She turned it over in her fingers, thoughtfully. Every time she held it, it seemed that she found something else about it that was odd—she couldn't see the reflections of the trees in it. In fact, she couldn't even see the reflection of her hand, despite its shimmering surface. I wonder what he wants it for… I mean, all I've seen it do so far is to either make people see visions… or… she shuddered. Turn youkai into big, creepy-looking… things. She glanced down at Inuyasha. He looked oddly peaceful as he slept. He doesn't seem like the type who's want to see visions, so…

Perhaps he wasn't exactly asleep, per se… But the silver hair that fell across his face was catching the diluted bluish sunlight in a very interesting way, and his entire face was more relaxed than she'd ever seen it. His mouth was half-open.

So…

He really should be waking up.

Tucking the jewel into her pocket, she ignored the snow that was beginning to soak through her socks and crawled closer to him again. There was still no blood, at the very least, for which she had to be grateful.

"Inuyasha?"

He didn't look quite so peaceful anymore. His eyebrows had drawn together again, and his jaw was clenched. Kagome hesitantly reached out to run a finger through his fringe, and began to worry in earnest when he failed to react.

"Inuyasha? Come on, wake up…" The snow was starting to soak into his hair, turning the burnished silver into a darker shade of grey. She might have expected his skin to look darker when contrasted with the whiteness surrounding them, but if anything he looked paler than she remembered. "Please, wake up! We have to get out of here!"

Oh, no…

She sat back on her heels, looking down at him again. What can I do? We'll both freeze out here before long if he doesn't wake up… She felt a sudden stab of anger. Why didn't he just tell me he was going to let go? Then I wouldn't have fallen, which means that he wouldn't have fallen…idiot. Trying to act the hero, or something? Idiot!

She shivered suddenly, the anger dissipating. It was the afternoon, and soon it would be dusk… the sun set early in the winter. If Inuyasha didn't wake up, they would be caught outside at night, in the snow—and the temperature would probably drop about ten degrees, if not more.

And there's nothing to make a fire with, and nothing to… oh, darn it! Again, unwillingly, her eyes were drawn back to the unconscious hanyou. No! Focus… I need to figure out something to do… Her breath was steaming in front of her face in small billowing clouds, another one appearing each time she exhaled. If she watched closely, she could see smaller ones hovering just above Inuyasha's face too. But… what if he's seriously hurt again? He did just recover from being shot… if he… if he…

To her surprise, she found that her eyes were full of tears. Ohh, no…

"K-Kikyou?"

She looked up, startled. Inuyasha's eyes were open at last… but… something was wrong.

Again.

Idiot.

Kagome rubbed a hand across her eyes and leaned forwards. "No… it's me, it's…"

"Why… why did you do it?" he whispered.

Why did I… Kagome corrected herself. Why did Kikyou… oh. "Shoot you?"

He seemed to be trying to focus on her, squinting slightly. "You said… you said that you'd make me human," he said softly, almost accusingly.

Kagome blinked. What?

"Shikon no Tama… call of the blood… some sort of miko thing, I guess. I just… didn't expect a gun…"

Miko? Like… a priestess? It was very unnerving, Kagome decided, the way his eyes seemed to be fixed on her without actually seeing anything. Wait… so there's more magic involved?

Wait… if he's going to explain anything… I guess this is my chance.

"I was going to make you human?" said Kagome. Is that why he wants the jewel? "Why?"

"No way to fit… otherwise… not human, not youkai. If… if I was human… nobody would chase me…"

Chase him? There's someone… after him? "Who would chase you?"

He closed his eyes, very slowly. "Everyone…"

Through a sudden pang of guilt, Kagome leaned forwards. "Hey! Don't go to sleep again! Come on, stay awake…"

"Fuuuuck…"

She leaned away again, startled, as his eyes shot open and focused immediately. On her. Kagome tried to smile innocently, but it didn't quite work—mostly because she didn't feel the least bit innocent, though also partially because of the tears that she hadn't quite wiped away completely.

He stared at her for several moments, golden eyes inscrutable. She half-expected him to start yelling at her, or swearing—probably both. After all, she had taken advantage of the situation…

"Were you crying?" he asked.

"Uhh…" Kagome lifted her arm and rubbed at her eyes again. "Just a little bit," she defended. Now this was a reaction she hadn't expected…

Inuyasha sat up. He looked honestly confused. Kagome might have found amusement in the expression if she hadn't still been rather worried. "Why?"

"Well—I was worried!" she said quickly. "I mean, we fell really far, and you were knocked out!"

Inuyasha watched her for several seconds, his face slowly reddening. Finally he looked away. "Keh."

I guess he's back to normal, then, thought Kagome with a sigh. Time to get back to business… "So, do you have any idea where you took us?"

His head whipped around to face her again. "You're the one who lives around here, wench," he said. "Shouldn't you know?"

I guess that's a no… "I know Aneston, and the towns around it," she told him. "I don't know the forests. And I know that you know my name, you've said it twice already. Stop calling me wench!"

"I'll call you whatever I damn well please," he snarled. "So you're lost? Keh. Bloody humans… useless for everything…"

"You're lost too, O Heroic Hanyou! Why don't you try to get us back to Aneston, then?"

Inuyasha let out a wordless growl and stood up quickly, swaying slightly. He turned away from her and motioned towards his back.

"Huh?" That certainly wasn't a gesture Kagome saw every day.

"Well? Get on already, wench!" He turned to glare at her impatiently, and she stood quickly as well. By now she was thoroughly soaked, and getting colder by the second. Of course, he was wet too, having been lying in the snow for quite some time, but he didn't seem much affected by it. He was cold, though. Kagome cringed at the feel of his sodden shirt as she wrapped her arms around his shoulders.

Within seconds, they were both up in the air once more, with the ever-present wind feeling all the more chilling. Kagome watched the trees flashing past far below them with interest. So this is what everything looks like from above…

A thought occurred to her. "Hey, Inuyasha…"

"What?" he grunted.

"Why did the youkai just start coming after the jewel? I mean, we've had it for a couple of days, and nothing happened until now."

"Idiot," he said. "When you used it, it sent out a sort of wave effect to all the youkai in the area. I felt it from upstairs—hell, I think even Miroku felt it, though that's probably just through all of his training."

Kagome frowned. "Training?"

Inuyasha remained silent. She pressed further. "Inuyasha? What sort of training?"

"Nothing that need concern you," he said at last, and refused to speak further.

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Urrk… fluff, fluff, or… well, fluff-ish attempts. I need my beta back… :cries:

Sorry about that last chapter thing. I was… in a disturbed state of mind. It will be the new chapter 13. Don't worry, though, I'll post 13 and 14 at the same time to avoid irritation… on the part of anyone who hasn't given up on his mess of a story already…

And... gah! No, Cyan I'd, you're not confused... I forgot to edit that out. Another coat-esque gaffe on my part, I suppose. Thanks for pointing it out.

Another, smaller edit: uuurgh... so many little errors...