Shiho was walking through the woods. She didn't know where she was and didn't know where anybody she knew was. She ran around the woods barking trying to find someone. Just then, three demons came out surrounding her. She whimpered as she backed up into a tree. Then the man that captured her as Inuyasha and Kagome so long ago came out with a rope in hand. He was his young self; he had that nasty ugly smile that he had so far back. That smile that haunted her in her dreams. Shiho started to run when the rope lassoed around her neck and pulled her down.
"Get him." the man yelled at the demons as they surrounded Shiho. She tried to pull away when the demons beat her crushing her right leg. She tried to snap the rope with her teeth but she couldn't do it.
"Shiho." She heard off in the distance. It was Yasha, he couldn't be put into this. She tried to bark, to tell Yasha to stay away. "Shiho, wake up." She felt her body get shaken. "Shiho?"
Shiho jumped up, she had the same dream for the past three nights. She got up walking on the three good legs and doing her best to stay off her right leg that Kagome had splinted and put in a cast. She stared at Yasha who threw himself back from the sudden jump from Shiho.
"You were whimpering." Yasha whispered.
She looked to see Hai still sleeping near the fire and knew Kagome was still sleeping in her room. She knew the dream probably meant something and decided to go find Sesshomaru.
"You can't leave." Yasha whispered, "You know mom's rule. No going out of the hut once it is dark."
Shiho looked at him and whimpered.
"Fine as long as you get back before mom or Hai wakes up, I wont tell her."
Shiho walked out, she walked towards Sesshomaru.
Sesshomaru was sitting around the dying fire while his family was sleeping. He heard a small rustle in the woods as he looked to see Shiho limping out. "What do you want?" he whispered making sure not to wake his family.
Shiho barked as low as she could at Sesshomaru.
"Fine, I will talk to you in the woods. I don't want to wake my family anyways." Sesshomaru got up and followed the limping dog into the woods. "What is this about?" he asked once they were a little ways out. "It has only been three days; you shouldn't be out alone at night with your injuries."
Shiho started to bark at him.
"I see. What is the dream about?"
Shiho started to explain.
"I see…perhaps you are worried that the past will repeat itself. Don't worry, the past never repeats itself."
Shiho growled.
"True, father did die for you and you did die for Yasha, however, did father come back to protect you? Besides, did I die protecting my first born?"
Shiho whimpered.
"See so the past didn't go into a full circle. If it did you wouldn't be here right now as for I."
Shiho nodded, it was true. They heard something big moving in the woods.
"It's a demon walking by, waiting for someone to leave this camp." Sesshomaru whispered. "Stay here until morning, and then you can leave." Shiho agreed, her leg was hurting her anyways. She followed Sesshomaru back to the camp and lay down for the night.
Morning came quickly as Yasha was worried when Shiho never returned.
"Shiho." Yasha yelled again near tears.
"Yasha come back in, it's time to eat." Kagome told her son as he was still out.
"No mom, what if something happened to her?"
"Nothing happened to her." Kagome said as she scooted her son in the hut. Kagome looked around as she went in, she was worried about Shiho too but she had to be strong for Yasha. Kagome remembered about hearing when dog's knew they were dying, they walk away from the family to do so. But she had to wonder, with Shiho being Inuyasha would he really walk away from his family? She had to believe he wouldn't. It wasn't like Inuyasha- was it?
Yasha sat watching the fire with his head leaning on his fist.
"Yasha eat something, Shiho will be back." Kagome told him.
"She left me, she likes it better here." He whispered. "She probably likes that she can go wherever she wants and not be tied up like at home."
"I know she didn't leave you." Kagome told him.
"Then how come she left late last night when I couldn't follow?"
"I am sure there is a good explanation."
"No, we told her that we will only be spending one more week here and she left us because of it." he muttered.
"Come on Yasha, you can't truly believe that." Hai spoke up. He had been living with them for the past few days now. He fit so well in this place that Kagome decided to allow him to stay longer. He just had to go back to the future every other day- to make sure his restaurant was running fine without him.
Shiho let out a bark outside as Yasha jumped up and ran outside, "Shiho!" Yasha yelled running at the dog at the edge of the forest.
"Go slow, remember Shiho is still healing." Kagome yelled, making Yasha stop running.
Shiho licked his face once he got to her. Shiho hobbled with Yasha into the hut, she went over near the fire and sat down. Shiho was given her dog food by Yasha, "Here you go girl, it is gourmet beef and chicken today!" she ate it as the others finally ate their meals without worry over the dog.
Yasha refused to let the dog out of his sight. He sat next to her the whole time and if she got up, he would find an excuse to follow the dog. Once everyone was situated they all started there trek to where Yasha would train. They knew Sesshomaru would be meeting them there.
Shiho lagged behind due to her bad leg. It was already improving significantly but it still wasn't fully healed. Hai always held Kagome's hand when she walked now. Yasha ran ahead loving to be able to go train, no matter how badly his uncle always beat him down. He loved training once he finally learned the lesson.
Yasha ran far ahead as he looked back to see his mom nothing more than a tiny figure in the distance. He stopped to wait for her to catch up. He missed when Shiho was healthy and would run with him. Yasha sighed as he sat on a rock and waited.
Shiho hobbled behind the two smelling and listening out for anything ahead. She wanted to keep Yasha safe but it was hard when he ran so far ahead and she couldn't keep up. Shiho's head perked up at a smell in the forest up ahead. Shiho whimpered as she tried to quicken her pace.
Kagome noticed Shiho's sudden change in pace, "What's wrong?" she whispered to Shiho.
Shiho whimpered as she tried to go ahead. The smell got stronger as Shiho started to growl.
"Shiho, what's wrong?" Kagome asked again.
Shiho's growl's intensified as she started to bark. The only one who could protect everyone from the aura that was coming from this demon would most likely be Sesshomaru. She had to get him to come this way.
Kagome got nervous with the dog. Then she felt the aura coming from the demon. "Hai, stay back a little ways." Why did demons only attack when she didn't have her bow and arrow?
Kagome started to run to catch up to Yasha.
"Yasha, come back over here."
Yasha stopped running to look back at his mom running at him. He was confused at the anxious and scared sound coming from her voice.
Kagome ran as fast as she could to her son. "Come back over here." She yelled again. He was too young, he wouldn't be able to feel the aura yet, and he probably doesn't even know what that was.
Yasha finally started to run back to his mom so that he could find out what was happening. He was almost there when a man walked out in front of him. "So you are his son?"
Kagome stopped in her tracks breathing heavily, "It can't be." Kagome whispered.
The man laughed, "You look just like him."
"Who is this 'he' you are referring to?" Yasha asked.
The man smirked. Kagome ran past the man and picked up her son, holding him close to her. "I thought you were dead." She yelled at the man still trying to catch her breath.
"Mom who is this man? How does he know my dad?" Yasha asked.
"So you kept your past a secret?" the man asked Kagome.
"Get away from us." Kagome yelled walking backwards.
"You see, I would but lately I have started to sense a sacred jewel near by. I have been wandering around looking for it. Then I finally figured it out- you returned. I don't know where you went priestess that would make it disappear for fourteen years but your return marks the possibility of me finally getting what I have wanted."
"You aren't getting the sacred jewel." Kagome grumbled out.
Shiho and Hai finally caught up. Shiho was growling with her fur standing on ends. Hai stood next to Kagome. He didn't know what else he could do.
"The jewel is all I need." The man said putting his hand out toward Kagome.
Shiho in return jumped up and bit the man's arm as she shook it back and forth repeatedly.
"Bothersome little beast." The man said pulling his arm from the dog, "I see you can't keep yourself away from dogs for too long." He laughed at his joke.
Kagome slowly grabbed the jewel from her shirt. She slid it into Hai's hands without him noticing. "Run back to the village and get Sango and Miroku. Tell them that Naraku is back." She whispered into his ear. "I am going to send Shiho back with you."
Hai nodded as he slowly put the jewel into his pants pocket.
Kagome put Yasha down and made him stand behind her as he poked his head from behind her legs. Shiho was still in front of them; growling ferociously. "Shiho, stop." Kagome whispered.
Everyone stared at her, including Shiho, from her words.
"If you want the jewel that is between you and me. You will leave everyone else alone."
Shiho whimpered.
"Shiho please go." Kagome asked the dog. "Please go with Hai back to the village."
The dog refused to move an inch.
Hai turned behind Kagome at Yasha, "Go get your uncle. Your dog isn't going to be able to fight off this guy with a broken leg. Bring this with you." He put the sacred jewel into the child's hand.
Yasha nodded as he ran toward the wood line.
Kagome was shocked to see Yasha start to run as Naraku whispered. "Your son is smarter than I thought. Such a coward."
"At least he doesn't try to hide behind the jewel. He is stronger than you are." Kagome said to him as Shiho growls intensified.
"Oh yeah? As strong as his father. His father died in a fire did he not? Oh yes, I remember that day, I was there. I watched it." he grinned.
"What?" Kagome whispered. "Inuyasha killed you. He told me so himself."
"I can regenerate. I went to a seer of the future. The person told me of how I would fight your group and lose to them. The seer said there was a way around it but later the seer told me of how Inuyasha would die in a fire due to the outcome of our battle. I could win, he would die as would be fitting but at the price of my life."
"That doesn't explain why you are here." Kagome said.
"I am getting to that." Naraku said. "You see, I thought about it and you guys are very gullible. I remember doing something much like this not to far back. You all believed I was dead but you all were wrong. My only concern this time around would be that you guys would assume the same thing. So I had to make it a lot more believable."
"So you made sure that you hurt my friends." Kagome whispered.
"Oh yes, no doubt, I was hoping to kill one of them while in the process of this fantastic plan. So to make it as realistic as possible I detached a large piece of me and that is what your friends killed. The main part stayed aside. I was hoping to kill you all to make you all suffer but then I remembered about Inuyasha dying later due to his injuries given from the battle. It was too good to pass up."
Naraku laughed making Shiho move in a step closer as she snarled even more.
Naraku continued with his story, "It was a brilliant plan. Make him suffer and in which case everyone he knew suffered. My only drawback was that I couldn't get the jewel. I had to fake my death so well- I had to give up the jewel shards that I held. I figured I would just get them back later but it took my body so long to regenerate back to its once great self. It took me ten years to get my body back to the way it was." He let out a smile. "However, the jewel was no longer present. So I spent the next four years changing myself out and making me stronger."
Kagome grabbed the dog's tail and pulled her so that she would look back, "Shiho don't fight him, you are still weak."
"That's right, try to protect those you care for as you always did. You were always powerful; your only drawback was your kindness." He laughed. "You always went out of your way to make sure no one got hurt. If you didn't care if an innocent villager got hurt or killed, if you didn't care that those so called friends of yours were killed, you could have destroyed me long ago."
"That's not true." Kagome yelled, "I care for my friends and all living things. It hurts me to see anything get hurt and it hurts me even more to know I could have done something about it. However, that doesn't make me weak. It makes me be able to say I am human. Which is more than you can say you...you"
Hai grabbed her arm as she started to take deep breaths. "It isn't worth it." Hai whispered.
"You wouldn't know. You weren't there." Kagome whined.
"That may be true, but I know that the way you are acting isn't the Kagome I know."
Kagome sighed, "You are right, he isn't worth it." She knew Sesshomaru would be here soon enough. Kagome scowled at the horrible half demon in front of her. She just had to hold him off until Sesshomaru came. There was no way anyone here could fight him…and win.
"That's right listen to that weakling." Naraku laughed.
Kagome started to tear up as she hoped that Sesshomaru would make it back to them as soon as possible.
Shiho locked her legs as her growls kept getting louder and louder. Everything was in place for someone to die- she was hoping that it would be Naraku only. Could life show her some favor just this once?
Yay! Another chapter! And I have it on somewhat of a cliffhanger (something I rarely do) I don't have the battle scene put out yet but I am hoping that it will come out good and easy.
Just wondering- has anyone ever had a tooth pulled? I had two teeth pulled and the whole time I was getting it pulled it didn't hurt but then nine hours later- my mouth is dying. I am even taking the pain meds given. And I am fine with pain- I had a spinal fusion for my scoliosis over two years ago so I know pain!
Thanks for reviewing and keep going! I love hearing from you guys.
