Happy New Year you guys! You have any resolutions? Mine is to get better as a person overall and set new goals to accomplish! Of course, that's every year though: to just strive for the best! I hope everyone is having a great 2015 so far. Here's a new chapter! Enjoy! Please review!

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CHAPTER TEN

Inuyasha

"So, that's Koga?" Ayame lazily pointed in the direction that stupid wolf took off with Kagome in.

"Well, do we follow them?" Sango asked in confusion.

"Yeah, let's go." I huffed. I tried picking up Koga's stench after a few steps but stopped walking when I hit a dead end. I couldn't smell it anymore. Kagome's either. "Dammit!" I put Kagome's bike down and got on all fours to sniff the wet ground.

"This way," Sakura stepped over me and led the way.

I groaned, picking up Kagome's bike again and followed in behind everyone.

We came up on a cave not too far from where we stopped at the forest. Kagome and Koga were alone, sitting in front of a fire. Kagome stood when she saw us and rummaged through her bag, pulling out Ninja food.

"I figured we could all eat until the rain died down." She said thoughtfully.

Sakura and Ayame did the honor of boiling water to soak the noodles in so we could eat. Nobody really talked during the meal. Glances were just being shared. It disgusted me to be anywhere near Koga and see him flirt with Kagome. As her best friend, I naturally wanted better for her.

"What brings you around here, Koga?" Miroku asked, trying to start conversation.

I finished eating and sat on the far side of the cave to have some space. The fire warmed my clothes dry and I had to admit I was glad to be comfortable again.

"Just had to get away from the tribe for a while. See what was going on in the world." He slid Kagome closer to him in an attempt to keep her warm.

I closed my eyes and leaned against the cave all and relaxed a little.

"Without your comrades?"

"Yeah. I wanted to be alone. They can never keep up with me anyway, so I told them to stay and watch over the tribe. What are you guys doing traveling with the Tsuyotomi sisters?"

"Oh, so you know them?" Kagome asked.

"Sure I do. Their father and grandfather fought beside mine and our clan in wars years ago. They got along very well."

"If that's the case, how come you and Inuyasha won't bury your differences?" Shippo asked sarcastically. "Aren't dogs and wolves part of the same family?"

"Practically." Sango gave off the same tone in her voice.

I didn't even open my eyes to acknowledge them. I just let out a "humph" and crossed my arms.

"I'm above that mutt. I could care less about getting along with him. All I know is, there will be trouble if my Kagome is in any harm." He got loud and spoke in my direction.

"For Kagome's sake, the least you could do is get along." Ayame giggled.

"Yeah, well, I'm not interested."

Kagome sneezed. "It's pretty chilly in here even with the fire burning."

I looked at the cave opening and Sakura sat, staring out at the rainfall. Water dropped onto one of her ears and she flinched a little. She slid over and swatted at the droplets that fell from the top of the cave. It was sort of…cute.

Kilala transformed into her larger size and went to sit behind Kagome and Koga. Koga had never been so close to Kilala before so he was hesitant about leaning into her frame as Kagome had done. He decided against it and went towards a pile of firewood and grabbed a few pieces to add to the fire. Ayame chanted something and the fire in front of them grew into a large flame which brought more heat and light to the dark cave.

I saw Sakura get on her feet from my peripheral and looked to see if something was wrong. Since I couldn't smell anything due to the heavy rain, I secretly relied on her, Ayame, Shippo or Kilala's reactions to know if something was off.

Sakura was standing at alert. I couldn't see anything from where I sat, so I went and stood beside her. "What's wrong?"

"Some people are coming this way."

I looked out into the rain and saw nothing. I hadn't even sensed any energy yet. I instantly became frustrated. All of her cat instincts were intimidating me no matter how much I tried to ignore the emotion. Since she was mixed with canine as well, her senses were sensitive ten-fold how much mine were. A growl creped from my throat and I was about to say something when she held a hand up.

"Wait…there." She nodded her head in the direction of the first few people and I saw shadows approaching us.

First there were three shadows, then five, then nine, then twelve, then about thirty. The closer they got to us the more distinctive their looks became. They were all dressed in soldiers clothing with armor and each of them had weapons of some sort.

"Something tells me they didn't come to join us around the fire." I said, cracking my knuckles, ready for action.

"Do you smell that?"

"Smell what?" I sniffed the air a few times. "These men are dead."

"Yeah, and one of them is alive. Whichever one it is smells of Naraku."

I turned to look at her. "You smell Naraku?" It had been some time since I was around Naraku and any of the incarnations he cast from his body and sent out into the world. This rain was really killing me. I could hardly smell anything, let alone these dead soldiers. "How can you be so sure?" I hated to sound skeptical of her during a time as serious as this, but I couldn't help myself.

"It's hard to forget the foul stench of the man who killed your family…killed your parents. I remember it all too well." Sakura's demeanor was tainted with hatred when she spoke of Naraku. I could feel her energy rubbing off on me.

When the others came and stood at the cave entrance, the army of soldiers before us was neatly lined up about twenty feet away. Even though they were dead, they all stood strong. Their skin was pale and grey and their eyes held no life. They were covered in scars and dark stains which was probably their blood or the blood of others. Naraku managed to disturb these perished soldiers from peace just to get them to do his dirty work. What a coward.

Sakura stepped out into the rain with Ayame beside her, both rid of their ponchos. I followed and instructed Koga to keep Kagome in his eye sight.

"Where is your leader?" Ayame's small voice grew loud to be heard over the summer rain. It slowed down some but I would be happy when it completely stopped.

"She is among us." All of the dead soldiers responded at once.

"She, huh? You know, for all of you to be dead, you sure are some smart-asses!" Their answer pissed me off.

"You are of no concern." They all said to me.

"What do you want? Who sent you?" Ayame asked before I could say anything to provoke them without getting the answers we were looking for.

They all pointed whatever weapon they had in their dead hands in our direction. "We came for the jewel shards." They ignored Ayame's second question.

"What?" Kagome said, stepping closer to Koga.

"You'll have to get through us first!" I challenged, ready to fight.

As if on cue, the rain suddenly stopped. The dark grey clouds still hovered in the sky, being pushed lightly by a breeze, hiding the sun.

All of my senses were as sharp as before the storm and I was more than ready. I zeroed in on the droplets of water Sakura was playing with earlier as they stilled dripped from the top of the cave. After three more drops, they silenced. A flash of lightning and rolls of thunder cut through the hot, muggy air and the dead soldiers all charged at us.