I do not own InuYasha or YuYu Hakusho.

Chapter 2

Days turned to nights and nights turned to days. Weeks flew by, turning into months. Rivers and streams were crossed and mountains were climbed. She traveled through the thickest jungles and dangerous forests but she never seemed to be strong enough to get past the power Youko had over the plants. He toyed with like she had no more power than an ant to a anteater.

Her frustration in her lack of progress soared high as her hopes of having Shippo back began diminishing. She would silently watch him play with the other children happily, but when she did it would only last for part of the day. A silent understanding that she can watch but not approach Shippo and the other children. It reassured her that Shippo is being taken care of and the constant thought of giving up began to eat at her more constantly as she continued to fail to retrieve him on several accounts.

She watched Shippo and Youko one day as he was being taught to harness his powers. Shippo constantly looked at the silver kitsune with such admiration. It was easy to see that the young fox looked up to him as his mentor. Kagome was struck with a regularly occurring memory.

FLASHBACK

"Shippo, can you come here please?" A demonic Kagome sat under a tree by a stream, looking worse for wear as her distress spoke out like a beacon, twitching at every sound.

Shippo hurriedly ran over and gave her a questioning look. "Yes?"

She nibbled on her bruised lip, a habit she had formed years ago that normally showed when she had to speak of something uncomfortable and serious. "My body may not last long even though my mortality is no more. Even though I am now a kitsune, I fear I am even less able to protect and raise you.."

Shippo attempted to interrupt but one look from Kagome had kept him quiet. It is obvious that even holding a conversation is getting hard. "We need to have a back-up route to ensure you are taken care of no matter the circumstances. I need to find a kitsune family that will be willing to take you in as their own and raise you if worse events come forth. We may have lost these hunters and fur traders for a short period but time is not on our side. I doubt they will give up after they have already gone through this much trouble and wouldn't want word getting out about the talent of that one demon in particular. You have to understand that this time we are entirely alone and have not cross paths with any humans. Wherever we are,.. its not home, its far away from there and we may not see it for a long time if ever again."

Shippo understood the predicament they are now facing but it doesn't mean he likes the choices or wants to accept the fact that worse has yet to come and he just might be separated from Kagome entirely and it would most likely happen very soon.

END FLASHBACK

She didn't want to give up but she had decided that if worse comes to worse then she would find him a kitsune family to raise him and although its a bunch of thieves and from what she could tell, Youko is the only solid kitsune in the picture and the leader of the thieves, Shippo is well protected and doing fine. He has a male kitsune as a role model and is more than exceptional with helping Shippo harness his powers.

Several weeks later she tried once more and once again failed without coming anywhere near Shippo or past the first boundaries. Youko's arrogant smirk taunted her as she growled in defeat. She mumbled to her self, losing almost all hope at ever having her son figure back in her life. "It would be selfish of me to keep wanting him when its easy to see he can have a proper childhood here without the worry of constant danger that I would bring upon him." She straightened up and began to walk into the shadows but not without looking back one last time to speak. "You won. He is better off here than he would ever be with me. Take good care of him." She then let herself dissolve into the shadows leaving behind a stunned kitsune still smelling the burning of her flesh from her clashing powers.

"She gave up. That was unexpected. I found her attempts quite amusing but she must not view it in the same perspective as I." He cast one last glance in the direction she had left from and then took off back to his home.

Days, weeks and months flew by once again and it found Youko still bothered to some degree that she hasn't made any more attempts. He tried to coax her back into trying again but she ignored them all. She clearly found it useless to compete against a kitsune that is several centuries older than herself. He found himself wondering where she went. Her scent is nowhere around in these parts or anywhere he has been.

Kagome, meanwhile, has taken up the task to cross a seemingly endless desert. She just continued to walk for days on ends, taking short rests and trying to renew her stamina and hope to see the end of the desert. She has spent about 2 or 3 weeks already in this dry, deserted climate. Barely any demons and usually none that cared to bother her.

The sun began to once again make its descent and at first she thought she could be seeing a mirage but as it stayed visible through the last hours of the hot day as it quickly began to grow cold she had finally made it to a real shelter. The building looked like old ruins to some ancient chamber. Worn down from the elements, the rocks once hard corners are now smooth. She cautiously entered as she heard distant thunder signaling a storm approaching and any storm in the desert is a big storm.

She walked around in the increasingly dark building that provided little to no light. Thankfully she is now a demon or she would be blinded. It appeared to be just a deserted old building which would be quite fitting for a building in the desert. She walked back to the main wall and sat against the wall, spreading her senses as she rested her weary limbs and eyes.

The storm loomed overhead with its pounding rain. It continued on relentlessly for hours. Kagome eventually had to find higher ground due to the flooding. Soon the floor is covered in an inch of water as she sat on a 3 foot divider with her back leaning against the beam. Keeping her senses spread she allowed her body rest once again, letting the sound of rain and thunder soothe her. A few days went by and the storm began to slightly let up.

Kagome by then had stretched and relaxed as much as she could being limited to a divider for dry ground. The water had drained into the basement so she had no need to find higher ground and there is none she could find anyways. Shortly after she could feel a group of presences approaching the building from the direction she has been heading for countless days now, most likely a month. She let her self blend into the shadows.

Footsteps could be heard sloshing through the water and sand. Voices, grunts and complains soon followed. She almost thought they hadn't noticed her presence on their way there but the thought was soon interrupted with a demand.

"Come out! We know you're in here." One of the members shouted.

She didn't want to give her identity away so she decided to remain more than partially in the shadows enough to cover her species. She allowed her cape to drape over her body. Her eyes glowed in the dark just like the other demon eyes did. She carefully guarded her emotions as she tried to determine if they could be a threat to her. The demon that had spoken stepped forward bravely with a clenched fist at his side.

"Just who would you be?" He asked none too pleasantly.

"It is unimportant who I am. What is important is if you are here as a threat or if you are neutral." She didn't want them to easily come to the conclusion that she is a female so she lowered her voice slightly while talking.

"Well that depends on what you are by species." He quickly lunged for her.

She soon found her self dodging all sorts of attacks as she narrowly escaped the building but not from them. Her hood to the cape fell back with the force of the wind uncovering her black fox ears as she fled to her original direction with the group of demons fast on her heels hunting her down. She ran not even ten minutes when she finally reached plains and eventually a forest and bamboo grove. No matter her twists and turns they stayed close behind her.

She soon found her self dodging spears and other long distance weapons as she continued through the grove getting hit in the legs a few times. She continued on until it seemed she had lost them for a bit. Finally making it to a small creek and stopping long enough to drink and stretch. She continued walking in another direction, changing course every so often.

As night quickly descended she assumed she had lost them for a good while and jumped up into a bulky tree to take refuge for the night and nurse her wounds. She fell into a light slumber as the noises of the forest she had entered began to lull her to sleep. Various night birds hooted and chirped, along with the crickets and grasshoppers. Several small mammals scurried around the forest floor trying to find food.

Her mind began to dream of different life under a different night sky with companions not forgotten but sorely missed. Tears streamed gently down her face as memories of her last days in her old life where she had family and friends. Now,... now she had lost them all. There is no InuYasha to guard her while she slept soundly with Shippo in her sleeping bag. No Sango to talk to, or Miroku to get wisdom from when he isn't being a hentai. No Kaede to nurse her wounds or Kirara to play with. She hasn't seen Sesshoumaru either and even his presence would be welcoming in such a foreign land with names of territories she had never heard of.

She could remember her home with her mom, Souta, Buyo, and gramps. Her friends and Hojo included. She would rather be on a date with Hojo than being alone and constantly running for her life in a distant land she had never heard of nor set foot upon until that horrible day so long ago. She got so caught up with her emotions in her dream that she never realized she began to let her guard down.

The soft noises of the night were interrupted as you could barely make out movement from much larger beings than the small mammals, insects and birds. It wasn't until a louder than usual crunch was heard on the ground and the sound of a branch creaking more than it had been, did Kagome realize she is being surrounded by the same demons she had thought she escaped possibly for good. Her assumption had definitely been wrong as she quickly jumped to higher branches, taking out a few demons that had been above her since they had ruined her branch she was resting on.

Once she got high up she began leaping from tree to tree looking for an escape. Dodging ropes, nets, daggers and such. The swamp lands in the distance looked slightly promising, at least more so than this. She made a beeline to the swamp lands and took advantage of the darkness and the shadows to help disguise her and cloak her scent from pursuing demons. The middle of the night the idiot demons thought to ambush an ebony kitsune while they're at there fullest power. All she could hope now is that her fullest power at that time would be enough to save her hide.