Author's note: Inuyasha not mine.

Also, it takes me quite awhile to write these chapters so I'm introducing them slowly so I don't run out and leave the fanfic hanging forever. I usually get one done every week (on the weekends).

Please review. To my reviewers: THANK YOU!

To other readers: Come on, don't be boring!

Chapter 5: Changes

Kikyo's soul collectors were quick to find her after she departed the village. She decided to continue on the route she had originally taken. She was still looking for Naraku. Everyone was. He had yet again managed to put up an invisible barrier. So she had to search for him herself.

Kikyo was walking on a quiet trail through some rice patties in the country. She had left Inuyasha's Forest awhile ago. She had kept an eye out for the wandering demon she had met earlier. She was not dismayed that she didn't cross paths with him. Still, Kikyo was sure she covered the ground where she had downed him. His body was gone. Most likely he had sauntered off.

Kikyo didn't care about him. She knew he was no threat to her, not because of her power, but because of her experience. Kikyo's experience was far beyond her years. In the afterlife, there were creatures like him everywhere, in fact, they were much worse. She decided not to think on it. Thoughts of the afterlife always glued a cringe to her face.

Most importantly, though, Kikyo knew the demon was not linked to Naraku. She had been hopeful when she first encountered him. He displayed the potential to be a minion of Naraku, and a powerful one. However, upon speaking with him, she knew he wasn't. Also, Naraku usually watched his little set ups from a close distance with a demon puppet. She had felt no such presence. The demon was a waste of her time. Then again, what was a waste of her time? Time didn't affect her. It made her sad on some level.

So Kikyo continued her journey toward the sea. She felt a power resonating over there and decided to inspect it. Suddenly her eyes swerved from the path under her and she turned her head. Kikyo felt a demon approaching. No... not a demon. A half demon...

How could he have caught up to her? She thought she had left with enough time to elude him. Persistent dog. She gazed lazily back down the track where he would soon appear. She called her soul collectors to her and they swirled around her creating an eerie blue haze. She dissolved into the air as his form manifested into a mirage on the horizon.

Inuyasha dashed forward. Kikyo wouldn't be far ahead. He had to see her. She was at the forefront of his mind. She always was, but especially today. It aggravated his soul to be so tormented. He had to ask her why she insisted on his continuous mental and now physical suffering. The pain from the arrow was still tangible. It had seared in his chest when Kagome touched him yesterday. It was still aching now.

"Kikyo," he growled to himself. "Why?" He reached the rice patties. He could smell her scent: graveyard soil, bones, and this time, water, and freshly ground herbs. That must have been for Kaede. He had smelled them on her, from under her bandage. It was getting stronger now. He should be able to see her...

Inuyasha squinted and searched the horizon. Then he saw it. A cloud of misty blue. However, it was dissipating fast.

"KIKYO!" Inuyasha screamed. She was gone. He skidded to a halt where she had stood. "Damn it!" He gawked at the sky. Why did she avoid me?

Inuyasha stood there gaping for a few seconds. His eyebrows were nearly fused together he was glaring so hard. His visage was confused and infuriated. His fists where clenched and posed as if to challenge the sky to a fight.

Inuyasha awoke out of his trance. A strong demonic aura was pulsing in the distance behind him. It was faint from here, but whatever it was, it wasn't good. Inuyasha veered his head to look behind him. It sent chills down his spine. A gust of wind rippled through his cloak and his eyes widened. That smell on the zephyr! It was blood, fresh human blood.

"Miroku!" Inuyasha raced back toward the village.

Kikyo watched Inuyasha leave from the sky. She sat with her legs crossed on her flying serpentine servants, her arms supporting her from behind. He had looked so desperate. It peeled at the thick layers she insulated her heart with. He could be so fragile sometimes. So could she.

Her soul collectors slithered under her. The wind whipped through her hair. She was sailing among the clouds. The afternoon sky was as blue as the clear Carribean ocean. The earth was so beautiful. One really couldn't appreciate it until after experiencing the depths of hell as she had. She gazed dreamily into the endless aqua atmosphere.

It was best this way after all. She had left Kaede in their care. Kagome would be better company anyway. Kagome, Kikyo had observed, brought a cheerful mood wherever she went. Kikyo surmised, only after much heartache and suspicion, it was just in the girl's nature. Ironically, it brought out an even more gloomy side in Kikyo. She couldn't deny the feeling that Kagome had stolen something from her, something precious. However, her conflicting emotions could never tell her exactly what it was.

Besides, Inuyasha's friends needed him. Her spiritual power sensed an empty void coming from the village. The demon had survived. And he was in the village at this very instant. But he was of no consequence. Inuyasha's friends were strong. They had to be in order to have survived this long. And if they didn't survive it made no difference to her. She was so cold inside. It saddened her sometimes, but that was the old Kikyo talking.

She had changed since her death. Her emotions had been sucked from her very being in the horrific conflagrations that engulfed her damaged soul in hell. Her heart was ripped into pieces. Her spirit was shattered. She was in a word: destroyed.

Now the girl had it all. All the things Kikyo was denied. Kikyo lazily blinked her eyes and smiled.

Kagome...