Chapter 5

Kagome had difficulty paying attention in her arithmetic class, and was constantly asked to wake up by her good friend Eri. Little did Eri know, Kagome wasn't sleeping when she was putting her head down, she was daydreaming of Inuyasha.

"Higurashi! Pay attention!" Mr. Tanaka bellowed, he was getting quite irritated by Kagome's attitude towards his class, and she rarely even attended. Kagome simply looked at him with distress in her eyes and looked away as soon as he locked eyes with her.

It seemed that the class would never end, for Kagome could care less what the instructor was talking about. The only thing she had on her mind was Inuyasha, and his sudden act of an over-protective husband. She couldn't help wonder if what he had said was just an excuse, or if he was truly worried. Kagome knew Inuyasha extremely well, that look in his eyes had a deeper meaning to it, but she couldn't guess what.

Meanwhile Inuyasha was cutting through trees and jumping from one telephone pole to the next. Inuyasha had no idea where he was, but wasn't worried about that at the moment. This jyaki was stronger than anything he had ever felt in his life, he was worried about himself, and furthermore, he was worried about Kagome. A demon wasn't something natural during this present era; he was positive that it was after Kagome's jewel shards.

Inuyasha landed in a clear space of what seemed like a forest, or what was left of it. He was surrounded by tree stumps and fungi, and stopped to pick up a foot long feather when a beam of light hit the tree stump next to him, causing him to jump in surprise. Inuyasha landed 20 feet away and noticed that a void the size of Kagome's room was formed where his feet left the ground just a moment ago.

Inuyasha pulled out his Tessaiga, transforming it into a marvelous and vast blade, fully prepared for battle. He slowly walked forward when the ground below him shook violently and forced Inuyasha to pierce his Tessaiga into the ground for stability. Inuyasha looked straight forward and noticed a woman approaching him, as soon as his eyes met hers the ground ceased to shake.

"You must be Inuyasha," the woman said, she spoke so softly Inuyasha could barely hear her. She was almost as tall as him and had long golden-brown hair; her dazzling green eyes could have almost hypnotized Inuyasha if he hadn't sensed her strong jyaki.

"Whose askin'?" Inuyasha said, he wasn't going to be fooled by a mere pretty face.

"I am Amurante, leader of the lion demon tribe. Please put your sword away, I do not wish to fight with you." She said, her cinnamon skin gleaming in the sunlight. Inuyasha stared at her for a moment and tried to see any resemblance to a lion, he couldn't find any. Sure, she had the hair color, luminous fangs, tanned skin, and turned around to reveal a 2-foot long tail. Okay maybe she wasn't lying…

"What do you want from me, and why are you in this world," Inuyasha asked, grasping his Tessaiga a little tighter. He wasn't so sure if he could trust her, but he was willing to listen to her story.

"I have a great deal about you Inuyasha, my tribe has heard a lot about you too. I am sorry if I attacked you earlier, I had mistaken you for Naraku." She said.

"Naraku?!" Inuyasha barked, "What do you have against Naraku, and why did you think he would be in this world?" Inuyasha was slightly worried, what exactly was Naraku up to now, and how in God's name did he get in Kagome's time?

"My whole tribe fears Naraku, he killed almost half the men and children, and kidnapped several women for his own pleasure. He has an ability to hypnotize our kind and use us for his own dirty work. I have lost my three sisters to him, and I am in great need of your aid. I have heard from other demons that you and you're friends have fought him several times, and weakened him and left him in states close to death. I am willing to help you on this mission; I am the strongest of my people. I have the power of 15 of my people, and am unaffected by his hypnosis because of this amulet I wear; it was created by a monk to ward off special spells." She explained, simultaneously searching Inuyasha's eyes hoping to see a glimpse of comfort or reassurance.

"How can Naraku hypnotize the rest of your kind, what is you're weakness?" Inuyasha asked with interest, he was stunned by what this Amurante woman just told him.

"I am unaware of my own weakness, except for the concern and fate of my family. I believe Naraku uses some dark from of sorcery to obtain his selfish desires, with you and the people you travel with I hope to put an end to this evil." Amurante said and sighed heavily; she placed the amulet between her two hands and started to read incantations under her breath.

Inuyasha gave Amurante a puzzled looked and asked, "What exactly are you reading?" Amurante looked up after finishing and replied, "I'm warding off evil spirits, I have to purify this amulet every now and then so that it will do it's job correctly." Inuyasha just nodded in reply. He then studied her appearance and noticed that she was carrying two samurai swords, several daggers, and was dressed in what seemed to be lion fur boots and a dress made of dragon hide and leather. Her outfit closely resembled Kouga's and his goons, but she was much more attractive. Keh, that stupid wolf, Inuyasha thought, I can't believe I let him occupy precious space in my mind.

After a long and awkward silence, Amurante took a step forward towards Inuyasha and asked, "So, master Inuyasha, what is your verdict? May I accompany you and you're friends or am I not worthy of your trust?" Inuyasha shrugged, he was still debating if this was just another trick in a disguise, but he found himself nodding to the lion demon. He casually placed his Tessaiga back into its sheath.

She squealed with excitement and started to thank Inuyasha; she jumped into his unwelcoming arms and embraced him tightly. Inuyasha pushed her away once her arm touched his shoulder and he stepped back, and immediately started to walk away, Amurante followed closely behind him. What a weird demon this one, did she just hug me? Kagome even hesitates to do that at times, and that's Kagome!

"Master Inuyasha, may I ask where we are going?" Amurante asked curiously, she had this unusual smile on her face, Inuyasha thought she looked so young.

"I'm not so sure myself, but tell me, how did you get in this world anyway? I mean it's not something that a normal demon just happens to know. Amuse me will you?" Inuyasha said, he was very anxious to know, and wasn't convinced just by her charming appearance.

"Through a portal, it was in this room sort of thing, I came through a well. I was quite surprised that it led me to what seemed the same place but in the future. I have meddled with time before and got my self in quite the pickle." She giggled at her own words, God, what a freak. Inuyasha turned to look at her and simply sighed, she was like a 12 year old girl, and giggling at his every look and blushing when he locked eyes with her.

"Now that's odd, you shouldn't be allowed to pass through that, I mean only me and Kagome can. How did you get through it?" he asked as he scratched his head.

"This amulet is rare; the powers it holds are just extraordinary. For example, allow to me demonstrate." And with a quick lunge forward, Amurante grabbed a hold of the two daggers at her waist and pulled them from their belts and they transformed into twin 6-feet blades, or what seemed like fangs.

Inuyasha had to dodge her every move, she was surprisingly quick. Inuyasha pulled his Tessaiga out of its place and started to block her attacks, she was starting quite the fight. Inuyasha was struggling to dodge her every move and was cut deeply on his shoulder. Inuyasha was starting to get annoyed, I'm losing to a girl, this is pathetic, he thought.

He debated whether to use his Kaze no Kizu attack, and decided that she could prove herself worthy enough if she survived. Amurante kept swinging her two fangs and threw one of her smaller daggers and Inuyasha's chest, which he caught and threw back at her. She was surprised and got pierced in the thigh and shrieked in pain, she nervously backed away and stood her ground, carefully eying Inuyasha.

"You are much stronger than you look, Master Inuyasha," she said while wincing in pain as she removed the 4 inch blade from her thigh. Inuyasha smirked, he was quite fond of her advances, he knew at that moment she was worthy of his trust. Her wounds started to heal almost immediately.

"I get that a lot, one final thing … if you can survive this and you will gain the privilege of calling me Master." Amurante looked confused, she has been always calling him Master Inuyasha, and what exactly did he want her to survive. As that very thought diminished she sensed a great force coming her way, it was undeniable Inuyasha's Kaze no Kizu attack and she wasn't prepared to block it. She quickly closed her eyes and wrapped her fingers around her amulet; and with her free hand she covered herself with one of her twin fangs.

Inuyasha stared at the cloud of dust in front of him, he could smell Amurante and he knew she was alive. That amulet must have some extraordinary powers if a girl like her could survive such an attack from him. Inuyasha sliced through the air and created a strong wind with his Tessaiga to clear the dust, and there lie Amurante's unconscious body. He slowly walked up to her and kicked her torso to revive her, he noticed that her hand was covering her amulet and he attempted to release it from her grasp but to his surprise, he couldn't. Her fingers wouldn't budge and Inuyasha had to use both of his hands to free one of her fingers. Suddenly a white light surrounded Amurante and her eyelids flickered for a moment, and she noticed Inuyasha's hands were wrapped around hers.

"Oh wait, no you don't understand! It's not like that Amurante, I was just trying to um … get the amulet from you!" Inuyasha quickly said as he pulled his hands away from her and turned a deep red. Amurante was smiling; she had touched Inuyasha's hands for the very first time and was ecstatic. She wasn't convinced by his little speech but she brushed it off as if it were nothing. She was going to make sure that they would have some genuine alone time, but not now.

"Disgusting…" Inuyasha mumbled as he stood up and wiped his hands on his robes. He had a feeling that Amurante had a crush on him, and that she thought it was mutual. Keh! Yeah right she has a chance with me, she doesn't know about Kagome then … I can't wait to see the look on her face when she sees us together… hahahah! Inuyasha laughed at his own thoughts and was smiling to himself and once again gave the wrong idea to Amurante, who thought he was smiling because of their awkward physical encounter.

He started to run at top speed and leap over the trees in the forest, and he knew Amurante would surely follow him without the need of telling her to do so. Amurante tried to keep up with Inuyasha but was getting tired rather quickly, but she knew he wasn't going to wait up for her.

Inuyasha kept his eyes and ears open to anything of the unordinary, he followed what seemed to be a scent of a demon, and he had a feeling this was the works of Naraku.

Kagome, please forgive me … and please don't follow me … be safe …my love …