Here's the next one. We will be meeting up with Naruto and the gang now. So sit back and prepare.

Chpt.2 Fox Hunt

"Krii." Kirara mewed in Shippo's ear as she nudged him awake.

He began to move a bit until his eyes opened, "Er…Kirara? Where are the others?"

Kirara only mewed a bit but Shippo knew what she meant.

"So, were lost?" Kirara's reply was a lowly meow.

"Well, I bet Kagome and the others are already on their way." He said comforting himself.

"Krii." Kirara meowed motioning to something rustling in the bushes nearby.

"K-Kagome…is that y-you?" Shippo was getting more and more afraid that he was going to be eaten by a demon with every passing moment.

But to his luck, it was no demon at all but a human. He wore a strange green vest and a headband on his forehead with a leaf on it. He carried strange weapons with him and he looked at Shippo with surprise.

"Excuse me sir, but I'm lost. Have you seen a…"

"AHHH!" The man screamed, "A demon!" He threw kunai at the young fox boy but was blocked by Kirara as she morphed into her bigger form.

"Thanks Kirara."

"What's going on here?" Another human in the same attire appeared beside the frightened man.

"It's a fox demon! It also has a cat demon on its side." The man pointed to Shippo and Kirara.

"W-what?" Shippo stuttered, "But I'm only a kid. I wouldn't even hurt anyone."

"Yeah right demon." The second human growled as he threw a kunai at the two but were easily dodged, "Go call the others, we can't have another epidemic."

The first nodded and disappeared.

"What…what's going on?" Shippo quivered, "He just disappeared."

"It's just you two and me." The human growled, "And I'm not letting you leave this place alive."

"I wish Inuyasha was here." Shippo said under his breath.

The human went for a close up attack but Kirara flew up in the air for Shippo's safety.

"It…can fly?" The human gawked, "I can't let it get away though."

"Kirara, we'd probably better get far away from here. I don't think they like us that much." Kirara roared and they dashed away.

Meanwhile…

"Good morning you two." Kakashi said to his two students, Sakura and Naruto.

"Kakashi Sensei! You're LATE!" Naruto growled.

"Sorry, but I had very important business to take care of."

"You always say that!"

"Well, today there is some important business I have to take care of so you two have the whole day off."

"WHAT!"

"I'm sure that you two will find something to do." And with those last words, Kakashi disappeared.

Naruto gave out an angry groan as he put his hands behind his head. "I got all excited for nothing! I guess I'll go training."

"Hey Naruto, Sakura," Cried a voice very common towards both Sakura and him. It was none other than Kiba with his loyal companion Akamaru. And behind them were Shino and Hinata

"Hey guys," Naruto greeted, "What's up? You have nothing to do either?"

"Are you kidding? No one has any missions." Kiba growled.

"Huh? You mean everyone?" Sakura asked, "Certainly one of us got a mission."

Shino just shook his head. "No one has. All of our teachers just told us that they had something else to do and left."

"That's what happened with us!"

"We thought as much." Kiba said.

Naruto pondered this for a moment. "There's something really strange going on here. I say we should investigate."

"We already tried that." Kiba sighed, "They have Anbu surrounding the whole village. They're not letting anyone in or out."

"Then we should spy on Tsunade! She's bound to know some answers."

"We tried that too Naruto-kun." The shy girl Hinata murmured. "The Anbu won't let anyone near her."

"ARGH! This really sucks! Something's going on and yet we have no clue what it is."

"ARF! ARF!" Akamaru barked loudly and began to run off.

"Akamaru wait up!" Kiba commanded but his canine companion ran off.

Sakura tuned to Kiba, "Is there something wrong with him?"

"He's been acting like that all day. He's sent us everywhere in town."

"BARK!" Akamaru cried growling at a bush.

Kiba immediately rushed towards the puppy with the others behind him.

"GRRRRR!"

"Seems like you caught something eh?" Kiba patted the dogs little head and reached in the bush, "Lets see what it is."

"Be careful," Hinata said quietly.

"Don't worry." The wild boy assured, "It's probably a rabbit or a…AAAGH!"

Meanwhile…

Inuyasha and the others began the search for their two missing companions. Miroku, a couple miles back, had noticed a road. Now the group wandered on the dirt path with Inuyasha in the front.

"Any luck Inuyasha?" Kagome asked.

He took a big whiff of the air and nodded, "They are definitely in this direction. I also smell tons of people."

Sango's eyes light up for a moment. "They must have found a town. I hope their alright."

"Look!" Kagome cried as they neared an enormous closed gate.

"This must be the gate to the town." Miroku decided.

"But their shut. They must not want outsiders here." Sango let out a deep sigh.

Inuyasha took a big sniff, "Well, the trail gets stronger around here but it takes a turn over there." Inuyasha pointed to a forest.

"Shippo, Are you here?" Kagome cried, "It's us!"

"Kirara!" Sango cried out, "Kirara, answer me!"

A few moments went by but only the echo was heard. Sango let out a sigh of sorrow. Was Kirara truly gone? She suddenly felt a warm hand on her shoulder. She looked by her side to see Miroku.

"Don't worry," He assured, "Kirara is perfectly capable of taking care of herself. We'll find her."

"Yeah," Seconded Inuyasha, "So don't worry so much about it."

Sango let out a happy smile and nodded…but that suddenly changed as she felt the hand of Miroku groping her. Luckily she countered with her hand slapping his face.

"ARGH! MIROKU!" Sango bellowed, "Do you have to be so…so…PERVERTED!"

Inuyasha let out a moan; this was going to take a while so he decided to follow the scent some more. He took another whiff in the air and noticed something wrong. 'It smells like humans in this forest.' He said in his head, 'It's like they are right next to me.' He turned his body in every direction but found no one. 'How? I don't like this."

"Inuyasha?" Kagome called out by a bush, "Are you alright? You look worried."

"Yeah. Something's wrong here. Tell the other's that were heading out. I have this bad feeling. I keep smelling human scent but I can't find anyone. It's like there standing right next to us but when I look, there's no one there."

Kagome let out a shudder, "That's really creepy."

"Yeah so that's…Kagome!" the dog demon pushed the girl out of harm's way as dozens of shuriken were thrown at them. "So that's what they were doing, they were hiding in the trees."

"What's going on here?" Sango asked rushing over after with Miroku.

"Behind you!" Kagome cried.

That was all that they needed for Sango to shield the monk and herself with her boomerang.

"That was too close." Miroku panted, "Were up against powerful foes."

"That's it!" Inuyasha cried pulling out Tetsuiga. "Show yourselves."

Immediately, a dozen humans had landed on the ground, each one wearing green vests and strange headbands. They held in their hands weapons and by the looks in their eyes, they were in for a battle.

Kagome didn't understand who they were looking at. These people didn't look a thing like they were from the feudal era. "Who are you people?"

"We are ninja from the village you so eagerly wanted to enter." A woman red eyes and curly black hair announced. "You demons won't step any closer."

"Please, we don't mean you any harm." Miroku assured, stepping closer, "We are only looking for our companions."

"Don't step any closer if you value your life." A male ninja growled with a cigarette in his mouth. He held a kunai out ready to throw.

"This looks bad." Kagome said as a chill went up her spine.

Inuyasha only gave a smirk and a glare that only he could make, "Fine then. If it's a fight you want, it's a fight you get."

"You can't just attack them!" Kagome protested, "Their humans, not demons."

"Don't worry so much. I'll go easy."

"You underestimate us too much demon." The man smirked.

Meanwhile…

"Ow!" Kiba whined as he immediately pulled out his hand with a giant red mark, "That thing bit me."

Shino examined the bush rustling a bit. "Well now we know it isn't dead yet."

"M-maybe we should…l-leave it alone." Hinata suggested with her quiet tone.

Kiba just gave out a growl of frustration, "I'm not letting this thing get away with biting me." He immediately rushed his hand in and grasped on the creatures fur. "Heh, gotcha!"

"OW!" The creature cried. "Let me go!" Everyone stared at the bush in surprise.

"Did that thing just say let me go?" Sakura asked not believing her own ears.

"What the hell?" Kiba pulled his arm out revealing his hand holding on to some animal's tiny tail.

But this was no ordinary animal. It had human features to it and was wearing clothes. It was the little fox demon Shippo and luckily for him no one there knew he was a demon.

"What the hell is that!" Naruto barked.

"Let me go now!" Shippo cried, "You'll regret it."

Shino looked at Shippo for a moment. "It looks like a crossbreed between a human and some animal."

"ARF!" Akamaru cried at the bush.

"Huh? Akamaru says there's still something in there." Kiba translated for everyone.

The bush spewed out something with creamy fur with red eyes. It made a slight mew as it stared at everyone in confusion.

"It's just a cat. You got me all worked up for nothing Akamaru."

"GRRR!"

"Kirara run!" Shippo commanded, "Go find Kagome and the others!"

"Oh no you don't." Naruto grabbed one of Kirara's tails before she could escape and held her up high.

"You two aren't going anywhere till you tell us who you guys are." Kiba informed.

'What if there like those scary guys we met earlier?' Shippo wondered now having flashbacks of their unwanted visit with the ninjas. He decided he rather not find out.

"FOX FIRE!"

He threw a tiny fireball at Kiba lighting his jacket on fire. The ninja immediately let go of the boy's tail to distinguish the flames. "Agh! What kind of attack was that!"

"Kirara, lets get out of here!" Shippo cried.

Kirara mewed as she morphed right on Naruto, trampling him in the process. She immediately grabbed Shippo and both dashed away.

"Are you alright Naruto-kun?" Hinata asked rushing to his side.

He managed to get back up and dusted off the dirt from his orange outfit. "Yeah, I'm fine Hinata-chan."

"That brat burnt my jacket!" Kiba hollered, "I'll get him for this! I say we go after them! Let's go Akamaru!"

"Ruff!" The little dog barked as he and his master dashed off.

"Yeah!" Seconded Naruto and he too ran off.

"We'd better follow them." Sakura told the other two and with a nod from both off they went.

I know this must seem kindaodd at the moment but just bear with me. The next chapter: Kakashi and Gai versus Inuyasha and Miroku. Ino's and Lee's team make their appearance and so does Naraku with a nasty plan. YAY!