12/26/13 - You've caught up with where I'm writing, so please be patient while I finish.
I do have an end in mind.
Kagome sat down heavily, the dusty ground puffing out around her. She continued winding up the bandages in her hand, her foot against the edge of her first aid box. The supplies were a mess, and starting to get shabby. She was nearly out of disinfectant and bandages.
"Where did they all come from? We can barely move anymore without running into these humanoid freaks!" Kagome exclaimed. "They're all so strong too." She shoved the bandages back in the box and snicked it shut. "I mean, I shot three of them, and just parts of their bodies incinerated. It was just a month ago when we were with Kurama, if I shot something, it all went up. I'm not that weak."
"They might be stronger, but we're lucky. Humanoids typically can make plans, but these ones aren't that bright. It is strange." Sango finished wrapping her own wrist with gauze. She tended the pot over the fire. "Most of them are smart and strong, like people, but these ones don't seem to be as strong as, say, Sesshomaru or Kurama. They're not as smart, and they lack the same energy." Sango mused as she cooked.
"Smart, stupid, strong, weak, what's it matter? They're all after the shards and we have to kill all of them." Inuyasha replied bluntly.
"With these guys it's almost like they don't know what it is they're after. We haven't heard one of them demand for the shards by name. They just stare at me like I'm a three course meal." Kagome remarked as she stretched her arms.
Miroku took several slow long breaths, lying on his back on the side of the clearing. He had his staff by his side and the top of his robes open where Kagome had bandaged his chest. "Is this Naraku?" he asked the group.
Sango, Shippo, and Kagome stiffened staring at him. They took a few moments to resume their tasks. Shippo snuggled with Kilala.
"I don't think so. None of these smell like Naraku." Inuyasha shook his head.
"We haven't seen any of the bees around either." Shippo muttered.
"You're right." Kagome nodded. "That's really odd if it is or isn't Naraku. Typically we run into them at least once in a while." Kagome looked around, searching for the pests. When she came up empty, she joined Sango by the fire. "Last we heard he was up here, so not seeing signs of him is kind of worry-some."
"We'll have to keep our eyes peeled." Shippo nodded.
"Let's set up a night watch just to be sure that these new demons don't attack us unaware." Kagome suggested. "Inuyasha, do you want to go first or last?"
"I'll go first." Inuyasha answered from his spot on the far side against a tree.
"I'll go after him. Kagome, you need your rest. You used a lot of energy trying to purify those demons and you need to recover if we are going to run into Naraku."
"Can I go third?" Shippo pleaded.
"You need sleep too Shippo. You're still growing." Sango scolded.
"You're just worried I'll fall asleep on the job."
Kagome sighed, "We're just trying to look out for you Shippo."
"Let him do it." Inuyasha stepped in. "It's not like Miroku can get up to look around, and chances are I'll stay up long enough that Sango won't get tired before dawn breaks."
Kilala mewed at Sango and ran over to Shippo sitting by his side.
"Well, I guess it's alright," Kagome sighed.
"Don't worry Kagome, I'll have Kilala keep me company." Shippo hugged her neck.
"I'll go after you, Shippo." Kagome told him. Sango and Inuyasha exchanged glances, but they didn't say anything. "If you start feeling sleepy, wake me up."
"Yeah pup. Even I know not to over-stay my shift." Inuyasha stressed. "Don't push yourself with this. Just wake her up because if you don't, and you fall asleep, we're all in danger."
"We're counting on you to wake us up if someone's close, or it sounds like someone might be close, so keep vigil," Sango added.
"I can do this! Don't worry guys, I can do this." Shippo replied nodding assuredly. "I wake up earlier than most of you anyway, aside from you Inuyasha," Shippo chirped. "Man I'm starving."
Sango sighed and glanced between the other adults before agreeing as well. She helped Miroku sit up and Kagome passed out dinner, sitting on her sleeping bag. It was nearly dawn when Shippo shook Kagome up from her rest. She groaned a little and rolled around before propping herself up. Goosebumps shot through her body.
She felt it. A strong demon was approaching camp. They were pretty far out, but they were coming. Shippo was shaking Miroku awake when Kagome pulled on her bow. "Good job Shippo," Kagome whispered as Inuyasha put out the fire. Sango and Kilala were pulling Miroku to his feet. Kilala dropped down and Miroku got on her back, with Shippo in front of him glowing with pride. Miroku groaned in pain and grabbed his stomach as Kilala launched off into the sky to keep him safe. Sango was in her fighting outfit, heading into the woods. Kagome followed.
As the demon got closer, it slowed down. The creature was large, nearly a story tall with fat curled around its stomach in layers, and tusks. Otherwise, it looked human, even down to the outfit. Kagome nearly gasped as she saw a deep wound dug into the demon's side. He scratched at it as he came into the clearing. There was a purple head demon suckling at his blood digging in its teeth near his back. The pig couldn't get his arm back far enough to get the creature out, yet he was still fit, and seemed to be okay. He looked around frantically at the spots where they had been sleeping, all of them safely tucked away in the trees.
Inuyasha grabbed Kagome's shoulder and pulled her back a few paces as they heard the ground torn asunder. They collected half an hour north of the camp site.
"That was one of Naraku's demons!" Sango urged.
"You can't be sure of that. It just looked like a purple skull," Kagome replied. "It was a flying, flaming, purple skull."
"Naraku's aura is purple and he likes disembodied skulls to attack from the sky. That demon could have been in a fight with Naraku before he came through our camp."
"It didn't really feel like Naraku though," Miroku carefully leaned back against Sango on Kilala. He did his best not to show his pain.
"Or smell like him. That demon did not smell like Naraku's miasma at all." They sat down on rocks around the area they'd found, the edge of a river. Inuyasha shook his head. "Something's not right. Naraku would never let us get this close. If it really is him, and that demon was just in a fight with him, there's no way he's still here."
"We have to check. What if this is our first chance to catch him off guard because of these demons? We might actually be able to kill him!" Miroku exclaimed.
"And what if it's a trap? What if that's one of his dolls he's using to lure us in?" Sango asked. "You're hurt right now Miroku, and we don't have our second strongest fighter with us. We need to try to kill Naraku with Kurama. For now we should focus on collecting the shards," she pushed.
"We can't just let this opportunity go by." Inuyasha countered. "Whenever we fight him, we fight him because he found us, now we've got a chance to surprise him, we have to take it."
"Kagome?" Shippo hopped up on her shoulder. "What do you think we should do?"
Kagome sighed and scrubbed her head in frustration. "I haven't had a bath in nearly two months because these new demons keep popping up! They're all fleeing south, that either means something horrible is up there, or it's Naraku. Whatever it is, we're going north because I keep feeling blips of the jewel up there. It's like someone's taking them out of a leather bag for a few seconds each day."
"So we go north."
Kagome nodded. "We go north."