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"It's... It's so boring. And hot. Why is it so hot?!" A feminine voice spoke as her ragged pants for air broke into her sentence.
Streams of sweat could be seen dripping from her brow down to her temple then making a bee line to her blouse. Her group could only look at her, the same thoughts running in their head.
The sun glared down upon the ground with such intensity that the heat that radiated off the earth could literally be seen as steam. You know when there's so much heat that a distance from afar seems all hazy? Yes they were seeing those.
They've been walking since dawn broke due to Inuyasha's insistence. Their feet tired from all the walking and their skin red from the heat of the sun, one could only hold out for so long...
"IT'S SO HOT!! Kagomeee! I wanna go to a river!!" Shippo wailed as he assaulted Kagome with his 'puppy-dog' eyes. His emerald orbs sparkling with such fervor that Kagome couldn't help but smile at his antics. He didn't have to go and do that. Hell, she wanted to go to the river herself, she was drowning in her own sweat and that was just gross.
"Inuyasha...? Are there any rivers around? It's been so hot since we started walking hours ago and I think a nice dip in some cool water will be nice for us." She pleaded to Inuyasha while walking towards him.
"What?! When were finally making good time? No! We keep walking, its just a little heat, you humans need to suck it up!" Inuyasha's grunted response only caused Kagome to narrow her eyes at him.
The moment he looked back at her, his ears flopped down atop his head and he backed away slowly. It's as if he could see a fire right behind Kagome, her hair was dancing with the flames. He blinked once... twice because he knew he was imagining things.
It was the wind... yes the wind and the heat making Kagome look all that much more evil at that moment.
"Uhhh..."
"Inuyasha... SI.." She began but Inuyasha leapt at her and clamped a hand on her mouth before she was able to finish her sentence. This only served to piss her off more and so she did the only thing that her mind told her to do. She bit him. Hard.
"OW! What the fuck woman?!"
"We are going to a river... NOW"
"Okay! Fine! Jeez!" Inuyasha said while nursing his bitten hand. He looked around, well smelled around at first to try and find where the closest river was. "Keh, you guys are lucky. There's a river close by."
And so they did, they each took turns swimming. Girls with Shippo. The guys by themselves.
Kagome, Shippo and Sango went first. Relaxing near a boulder, Kagome looked up at the sky and sighed happily while Shippo swam around trying to catch a fish. This was what she needed.
She could only enjoy it for so long before Inuyasha would yell at them to get dressed and keep going. I don't know why he's being all grouchy, he looks a lot less stressed right now and his feet have less red and blisters so he should be feeling a lot better. Hm, maybe to keep up his tough guy guise?
An image of Inuyasha wearing black leather biker outfits crossed her mind. Chains and all. She burst into a fit of laughter as she swam out of the river to her drying clothes after being washed. Sango signalled for them that they have to return now before the men start to melt.
Kagome giggled at the thought and told her to go on ahead since she finished getting dressed first. Sango nodded and went on her way, but not before telling her to come soon after.
"Come on Shippo, let's go. Inuyasha and Miroku might melt because of the heat, and we don't want that do we?" Kagome smiled at her little kit as she got dressed. She heard a rustling sound from the bushes behind her and stopped dead in her tracks to slowly look back.
A rabbit jumped out of the bushes, nibbling on a leaf. She released a breath she didn't know she was holding and smiled. Suddenly, she felt herself slammed to the ground with such a force that she swore she bruised, or even broke a rib.
"Give me the jewel shardssss!" A snake-like youkai hissed at Kagome while wrapping itself around her small body.
"Kagome!" Shippo screamed.
"No Shippo.. .Ugh.. Stay back!" She sternly told him as she looked up at the youkai trying to squeeze the life out of her. "INUYASHAAA!!"
"Sssilence! If you won't hand over the jewel shardss then I will devour you with them!" It said before it opened its mouth lowering it to devour her whole. It stopped all of a sudden.
Literally a hair away from its fangs and then closed its mouth shut. Its eyes narrowed cautiously at the woman.
Kagome closed her eyes shut, almost certain that she was going to be eaten until it stopped. Then she looked up at it as its head came closer to her then all of a sudden. It sniffed her. What the hell?
With a startled gasp and eyes that would've surely popped out of its sockets, the snake-like youkai recoiled back the moment it smelled her.
And just as fast as it came, it was gone, right before Inuyasha burst through the trees, Tetsusaiga in hand.
"Kagome! Are you okay?!" Shippo yelled as jumped in her arms and hugged her.
"Y... Yeah I'm fine. Man it seems like I smell bad or something. That's happened, what? Seven times now this past week?"
"Keh, of course you smell bad. You're a human!" Inuyasha said while sheathing Tetsusaiga after making sure it was safe.
"SIT!"
Later that night, Kagome and Sango went into the forest to get some more wood for their fire that's starting to dim. She sighed heavily and massaged her temples before bending over and picking up what they need, wincing on the way up due to her bruised ribs.
"Are you okay Kagome?" Sango asked, casting her a worried look.
"Yeah, I'm fine. Just a bruised rib, it will heal soon enough." Kagome gave her friend a reassuring smile. Holding a bundle of wood under one arm, she reached into her pocket and pulled out the glittering leaf. Looking down at it, she caressed its surface as her thoughts pulled her back a week before.
"What's that Kagome? It feels dangerous..." Sango said while walking over to her friend.
"This? I... I'm not sure... I got this a week ago and I have a feeling its something special."
"A week ago? That leaf is laced with a demonic signature. A very powerful one... perhaps it is the cause of why those demons kept fleeing as they did?"
"Maybe... Inuyasha did say something weird about it... Its just that it's too strange of a thought."
"What's that?"
"That this came from Se..." Kagome suddenly felt a malicious aura heading their way.
"KAGO...!" Sango's scream was cut off as Kagome turned to look at her only to see Sango disappear into the darkness, her pale hand reaching out desperately. Her body was then crushed against a tree, the leaf she held thrown back and blown away by the wind. A slimy hand grasped at her neck.
"Miko..." Kagome's eyes shot up to look at her assailant. Its features, to her, were grotesque.
Scales dripping with slime covered its body from head to tail. Yellow cat-like eyes stared down at her and a mouth as wide as her head sported jagged black fangs. Its tail wrapped itself around the tree she was against and held her there as its arms seemed to weave in and out of the shadows.
"You're a pretty one, aren't you?" Its voice sounding much like a man's reverberated through her heaving chest. Her tears refused to fall as her body was racked with pain. "Be a good little miko and hand over what I need... Perhaps I will even grant you a quick death. I don't, however, promise a painless one..."
His tongue licked the side of her face as a wicked gleam was caught in his eyes. "You see I have this problem of enjoying being covered in my prey's blood...Ah such...satisfaction." Kagome shivered as his energy cackled against hers.
"Why so scared, little one? This form of mine... does it frighten you? Ah... I will grant you this." His form shifted and his energy died down slightly in a more compressed form.
Kagome was dropped to the ground as she crouched in pain. Her arms held her body dearly as she coughed up blood. A foot lifted her chin to look up at the being before her. What was once a scaly, slimy demon now became a ragged looking human. His calm, almost handsome face betrayed by the look of blood lust in his eyes.
"Is this better?" He reached down and took hold of the bottle around her neck then pulled it off as he kicked her back against the tree. "Ahh.. there we go." He smiled a fanged smile.
"Now I am a demon true to my word..." His arm raised as claws protruded from his fingers, Kagome could only struggle to sit up and brace herself. Her arms all ready in a cross in front of her in a futile attempt to defend.
Something warm and sticky splashed all over her and she heard a sickening rip of flesh before a loud thud on the ground caused her to look up.
"It seems you attract more demons than one as weak as yourself can handle, Miko." Sesshoumaru stood before her, his one arm dripping with blood from the man on the ground.
He bent over and picked up the bottle of shards, gave it a glare while Kagome took in a sharp breath as she tried to stand up to take it away from him.
"Ugh!" She grunted as her body failed her commands and slumped against the tree. She was having trouble breathing, her chest hurt and her heartbeat was erratic. She felt something drop on her lap and saw that it was the bottle of jewel shards. "Why...?"
"I do not need such troublesome trinkets, I am powerful on my own." Sesshoumaru said as he turned and walked away.
"I know... but why did you..." She coughed again, "help... me?" Kagome's vision was going hazy by the second, still she looked up at him in earnest. Her blue orbs glossed over with tears.
Sesshoumaru's body tensed, he looked over to her and walked back to her slowly before bending over and taking a strand of her hair. He brought it to his lips slightly. "I do not know this myself."
Kagome had to strain her hearing to catch what he said, his breath that tickled her forehead and making her stomach do loops wasn't helping either.
He brought to her attention the same glittering leaf that she lost moments ago. "Learn to keep this with you, Miko." Sesshoumaru tucked the leaf in her hair and stood.
Her eyes widened as she opened her mouth to speak but Inuyasha and Miroku's yells made her turn her head towards their voices.
The moment she did, she felt the warmth radiating off his body leave her side. "Sess..." The last thing she saw was Inuyasha's and Shippo's worried faces before her world turned black.
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Yay people wanted a continuation! So here it is! Sorry that it took so long, I work and I have college :-/. I didn't really like how this chapter went but I'll go with it for now. I need to fix some things but at the moment I don't have time :(. Sorry if its not to your liking guys but please review nonetheless!