A/N: Uhmm…hello? So…yeah, I'm still alive and kicking….life just sort of happened, my internship schedule combined with my classes was absolutely unreasonable and the work itself was more than a bit of a mess, but I'm officially done with uni classes so I'm finally back! I mean there's still a lot of paperwork to do, but I'm almost there. So while I haven't decided on a definite upload schedule I'll be able to write for longer than 10 min interval at a time, so Happy new year guys!

Chapter 9.- Discarded warnings

All things considered, Kouga was a pretty reliable ally, not that Inuyasha would ever admit that out loud, even if his life hung in the balance.

The wolf prince was arrogant and annoying as hell, but for the most part, the male could pull his own weight in a fight. Yes, the cocky bastard was still using the Shikon shards to boost his power, but that he hadn't been corrupted by the damned things was in and of itself an accomplishment the hanyou refused to acknowledge. Now that they'd cleared up the identity of the culprit behind the wolf clan's massacre, a betrayal was highly unlikely, especially considering Kouga's obvious affection towards Kagome. It was infuriating, but Inuyasha wasn't stupid. Hunting Naraku carried a risk, and one mistake could be all the fucking spider needed to take his life. Oh, Inuyasha was far from accepting defeat. In fact, he was determined to use Tessaiga to cleave the asshole in half…but on the off chance he was wrong, there was no doubt in his mind that Kouga would step up. The wolf would become the priestess' new protector. It was a weight off his shoulders. Because while Miroku and Sango were undeniably strong fighters, they were still human. Regardless of how lethal they could be, there was a fragility etched in them by their very own nature. The sort of injuries youkais and even hanyou's could just walk off would kill them a dozen times over. So, begrudgingly, the silver-haired hanyou learned to respect the wolf…sorta.

Which did not mean he wanted to spend any time in his presence.

Patience was never a quality he could boast of, and every single time their paths crossed, Inuyasha felt like he'd been run over by a boulder. And right now, he had even less patience than usual.

The way the so-called warrior clung to Kagome like a lost pup, yet somehow never got accused of pestering her got on his nerves a little more every time he saw it. Oh, he hadn't made the mistake of accusing Itachi of being suspicious; the last thing he needed was to keep eating dirt, and he wouldn't delude himself into thinking his complaints would have any other ending. Just because he agreed that maybe giving others a chance wasn't a terrible idea didn't mean that his nature had magically changed from one day to another. He wasn't a calm person, and jealousy did nothing to help the situation, especially when there was no way the hanyou could voice his irritation when the girl kept happily offering her attention to the human male.

Looking at the two of them, it was clear that no arguments or fights between them happened during the week spent on the other side of the well. Whenever the hanyou jumped through he always ended up in the receiving end of a scolding. Hell, even this time, he'd been stuck with his friends constantly watching him to make sure the silver-haired male remained in the village. No, he was not in the mood to deal with the delusional wolf, but there was no mistaking the stench invading his nose.

Really, the gods must hate him.

His right hand clenched around Tessaiga's hilt.

Dirt filled his mouth, and he could feel rough heels digging into his back. That fucking…

"Kagome!" Oh he didn't need to see to know Kouga was grabbing the priestess' hands. "How is my woman doing?"

"Not your woman, Kouga-kun, but we're doing fine." There wasn't enough irritation in her voice, in his humble opinion, but she was always kind like that.

"You know, the moment you get tired of dog breath, you just need to say the word," Kouga said, giving a light kick. "No one would complain."

"How long…do you plan to keep stepping on me?!"

Shape claws found nothing but air. Unsurprising but infuriating all the same. If there was one thing the wolf had, it was speed, not that it was his to begin with.

Then again, maybe the fleabag could be useful for once.

Chasing Naraku was the only thing Kouga ever did, and the hanyou could use any hint of a lead that might convince the group to ditch their search for shrines and temples. At this point, Inuyasha had no choice but to accept the warrior was a permanent addition to their journey, but looking for a way to get the guy back to his own world was a completely different issue. The hanyou would love it if Itachi could simply vanish from their life, but Miroku's assessment of this whole mess made too much sense to be ignored. Chances of them finding a way to re-open the path between their world were close to none, making this fruitless effort nothing but a waste of time. Already, they'd lost one whole week thanks to the girl's exams.

"Oh, forgot you were here; should've known that's where the stench came from…" the wolf trailed off, his eyes finally finding the new human in their midst. "You're new."

"Ah, well…this is Itachi. He's traveling with us now." And, of course, Kagome jumped to try and stand up for the warrior.

"You're hunting the bastard too?"

"Umm…not exactly," Again, the girl tried to explain the situation. "His circumstances are a bit more complicated."

"Our paths happened to intertwine, so I'm tagging along." Itachi's words were as calm as ever.

"Huh…but you're still going after Naraku." The wolf's eyes narrowed, not buying the vague story.

A groan got stuck in his throat.

So far, Kouga had completely overlooked all the little (and not so little) details that screamed the truth that Kagome didn't belong to this era, but he chose now of all times to stop being so dense?

The group was too used to brushing off questions about the futuristic girl's clothes, mostly by ignoring them altogether. Honestly, compared to the priestess, Itachi blended in with so much more ease. Everyone in Kaede's village more or less understood that the warrior didn't belong to this time. And Jaken would declare his ever-lasting love for bunnies before Sesshoumaru cared enough to question why there was one more human in his half-brother's pack, so no one even considered making up a story to justify why someone with no connection to Naraku might accept the hassle of hunting such a dangerous monster. But of course, Kouga just had to throw them all into a frenzy with his stupid questioning.

"Well, that is quite an interesting story, but I fear it may be a tad too long for us to truly make it justice." Smooth as always, Miroku tried to salvage the situation while the hanyou wondered if starting a fight would be a better way to deal with this.

"The short version is enough." The wolf crossed his arms.

"Are you sure? It is pretty long, so…" Kagome faltered, hands clasping behind her back.

"I was badly injured when we met, to the point where death would've been certain if left untreated." Placid look in place, Itachi interfered, not a single hint of nervousness in his stance. "Helping with the hunt is my way to pay back such a big debt. A life for a life sounds about fair."

"There's no need to repay anything…" the priestess mumbled.

"Guess I can see that…"

A shiver ran up the hanyou's spine. This former soldier was a pretty good liar.

Lying wasn't linked to a particular smell, but nervousness certainly was. At this point, he'd have to be sick not to notice how nervous the girl was right now. Even their professional con artist had lost his footing for a second at Kouga's unexpected persistence, but Itachi didn't miss a beat. He even technically avoided saying any falsehoods. Biting his tongue, the hanyou did his best not to glare at the human. As if he needed another reason to be wary around that guy.

"In any case, Kouga-san, what brings you here?" Not one to miss a chance, the monk hurried to change the topic.

"Why, I came to see my woman, of course." Had Kagome not taken a step back and hidden her hands behind her back, the wolf would've surely pulled her again. "Well, that, and I figured I might as well give you a warning."

"What do you mean?" the priestess asked.

"I noticed the area south from here has been silent, too silent, if you know what I mean," Crossing his arms, Kouga continued. "Thought it might be related to Naraku, so I decided to check it out. First place I came across was a human village. Wasn't planning to stop by, but…it was a massacre; bodies were sprawled everywhere. Didn't look like anyone managed to put up much of a fight. I went through a bunch of towns southwest later, only to find the same thing. Nothing but corpses and the smell of rotting flesh. Couldn't find any youkai in the area, and it didn't look like any beast has tried to get a bite."

"What about injuries?" Sango jumped in.

"That's the problem, see?" The wolf's words gained a hard edge. "There was blood everywhere. Some humans were still clutching sticks or whatever weapon they could find; others seemed to be trying to flee, so they had to know they were being attacked, but there were no wounds."

"Poison then." Calm as ever, Itachi wasn't even frowning.

"Yeah, that's what I was thinking, but I couldn't get even a whiff of it under all the other smells."

"Don't tell me you came all the way here just to tell us you gave up on figuring out what happened?" Inuyasha scoffed. "You sure it's not just the stench of wet dog overpowering everything else?"

Baiting the wolf wasn't the most mature decision he could've taken, but he needed to buy himself some time to think, and the predictable back and forth helped him squash down the impulse to grab Kagome and run in the opposite direction. Since Kouga was still here, being his annoying self, there was a chance the poison either didn't spread through air or its' potency had been lost after enough time passed. And while the wolf's sense of scent wasn't that bad, it wasn't impossible for him to have missed a clue or two. Sango's knowledge about demons was more extensive than many youkais themselves; and Miroku's insight as a monk (perverted liar that he was notwithstanding) could prove invaluable…but humans were especially weak to toxins. Even if Inuyasha himself could go into those towns without worrying too much, there was no guarantee that his companions, that Kagome, would be able to endure the poison. Blindly entering these villages was no different from betting on everybody's life.

Was whatever info they could get from them really worth it?

"…Yasha, Inuyasha, that's enough!" Crap, he knew that tone. Whenever the miko used that tone, what followed was…! "Listen to me, just sit!"

He tasted dirt on his tongue for the second time that day. The subjugation beads glowed as they kept him pinned to the ground.

"Anyway, thanks for the warning, Kouga-kun." Kagome gave a fake cough. "But I think we should still go and take a look for ourselves. We might just discover something. No one better to spot what's off in a human village than a bunch of humans, after all."

"Kagome-chan is right. Even if this isn't related to Naraku, we should still check it out," Sango nodded.

"Southwest from here…" the warrior trailed off for a second. "Did you pass by any unaffected town before finding us, Kouga-san?"

"H-hold on! Who the hell decided we're going?!" Inuyasha finally exploded.

"Why, it's true visiting these villages may not be safe," Hands held up, Miroku tried to pacify him. "But it's not like us to run away from danger."

"If we keep this pace, we should reach the closest town before nightfall. Shall we stop here before heading out?"

Golden eyes narrowed, glaring at the so-called warrior when he spoke. The sneaky bastard maneuvered himself to be right back to Kagome's side, gaining her attention in an instant.

"Oi…dog breath." Clawed fingers closed around his shoulder. "Need to talk to you for a minute."

A couple of glances were thrown his way before the group focused back on their discussion. Clearly, the decision to go to these ruined towns was already taken. Not the first time it had happened, and it wouldn't be the last time either, so really, it wasn't like he needed to be here, and he was a little curious about why the wolf managed to reign back his insults for long enough to ask for a word. With a nod, the hanyou followed, careful not to go past his hearing range; it wouldn't do to get caught off-guard just because he was curious, and Kouga didn't know human limitations and didn't realize there was no need to go too far to keep the group from overhearing their conversation. Crossing his arms, Inuyasha stopped, leaning on a random tree.

"So? What do you want?"

"That guy…" Kouga glanced back to where they came from. "How much do you know about him?"

"Not much, but he's not related to Naraku if that's what you're asking," he huffed.

"He reeks of human blood." Suspicion laced every word. "And I can tell he's been hanging around my woman."

"Look, Kagome was the one who saved his ass, he's not gonna hurt her." That, at least, the hanyou could say with confidence.

"Hmm…I suppose it makes sense, Kagome's kind like that…" the wolf trailed off for a second before alarm took over his features. "Wait, doesn't that mean he likes her?!"

"I guess."

Now, what was the idiot going on about?

"What the hell do you think you're doing?!" At once, the wolf was screaming, fist clenched and wildly waving around. "Why do you think I let you travel with her?!"

"Let me?" Annoyance surged once more.

"You're supposed to be keeping the flies around her away from her!" And now Kouga was pacing as if he was the one who should be offended. "That's the one good thing you're good for."

"And why the hell should I respond to you?! How am I even supposed to do that in the first place?!" Fine, if the idiot wanted to scream, he'd get the screams.

As if he needed more proof that Kouga didn't know Kagome at all. Because the one thing he realized after meeting the futuristic priestess was that he hadn't known what the word stubborn truly meant. Once the girl got something into her head, it was impossible to get her to change her mind, and bitter as it was to admit, there was no denying that the otherworldly warrior was now a permanent fixture of their group. Hell, her insistence was the only reason he agreed to help the wolf prince back when they first met in the first place. Oh, he'd love to see Kouga try and kick the guy out when his argument could be summed up as nothing but jealousy…although, Inuyasha supposed, the other male was at least able to voice his feelings.

The hanyou bit his tongue. No need to add one more reason to feel pissed.

"Be my guest. Kick him out yourself." With a huff, Inuyasha left the clearing, ignoring the outraged yells coming from the wolf.

O-o-o-o-o-o-o-

Abrasive personalities were nothing new to Itachi; in many ways, having to deal with the more eccentric members of Akatsuki helped him learn how to keep his reactions mostly under control, because describing the wolf prince as an ally wasn't nearly enough to prepare him for the sort of entrance the youkai made. Quite honestly, he was surprisingly grateful for how overbearing some of them were; it would've been far more difficult to stay quiet when Kouga insisted on calling the young priestess with a wrong label than he expected. One of the first decisions he'd made after fully processing he'd crossed over to her world was to not meddle in the girl's personal life. The Uchiha was used to keeping his emotions under control, and his butterfly didn't need to be forced to deal with his affection, and yet, he couldn't stop himself from tensing up whenever the wolf referred to Kagome as his woman. Perhaps it was because she rejected such claims, but he couldn't stop himself from jumping into the conversation.

He had to be careful not to be greedy.

Just a couple of months ago, hearing her voice wasn't something he thought would ever happen again, so there was no reason for him to feel annoyed by the increased hostility Kouga showed after he talked with the liver-haired hanyou. Considering how openly the wolf professed his love for the girl, jealousy wasn't an unexpected reaction. Itachi didn't want to make things more complicated by getting his emotions involved, but he'd made no effort to hide how important the young priestess was to him, so truly, the change in attitude wasn't surprising. Still there was no point in feeling satisfied to see his butterfly stand up for him. His first priority was, and would always be, Kagome's safety, and for that reason alone, this whole encounter gave him some valuable insight.

While Kouga himself didn't offer much information, the two wolves that arrived while the two non-humans were talking were a different story. Ginta and Hakaku were all too willing to share their past after a brief introduction.

Learning why the remnants of the pack were set on hunting Naraku certainly explained why all three full-blooded demons seemed to outright admire an untrained human priestess. Plus, it gave him a better idea about how the spider hanyou operated. Killing almost the entirety of the wolf clan to pin the crime on Inuyasha so he could use Kouga as a tool to get rid of an annoying obstacle spoke volumes about his way of thinking. Strategy-wise, the plan was something he could've found within the Elemental Nations, though the Uchiha had to wonder how effective such actions were. Youkais with human form tend to be stronger than those whose appearance remained animalistic, though that didn't mean their strength level was the same, and while the wolf wasn't weak, it didn't look like he was all that stronger. Meaning Naraku had chosen to gamble with the success of his plan instead of having a face-to-face confrontation. So, either the spider hanyou was careless and liked to use overly complicated tragedies without bothering to fix potential flaws, or he was fully aware of his own weaknesses and feared having to fight those who had a chance to defeat him and thus decided to hide away and throw whatever he could their way. Either way, Itachi was no stranger to insidious schemers, and the shinobi felt confident he could deal with what currently was the biggest threat in Kagome's life.

Although this situation was putting him on edge.

Poison was a variable he didn't have enough mastery over for him to feel safe entering a place littered with poisoned corpses.

Sango-san and Miroku-San confirmed they had a way to determine if it was safe for humans to enter the town, so the group took to the southwest after parting with the wolves. There was logic behind that choice, and the shinobi was curious himself about what was going on, but poisons and toxins were too volatile for his taste. The kind of training he'd gone through gave him old bases, but an Uchiha should never use a weapon that could be considered weak or hateful. Maybe someone like Sasori could take a completely unknown substance and produce a proper antidote, but Itachi's skill set wouldn't be enough. Especially when there was a chance youki could react violently to the raw chakra needed for the medical jutsus he knew.

But the liquid inside the glass bottle the demon exterminator gave Inuyasha to test the toxicity of the air came out clean, so they'd entered the town with the agreement not to directly touch anything inside and carry a small batch of antidotes. Only the hanyou was exempt from it. Antidotes made for human consumption wouldn't be as effective, and someone had to investigate the bodies. With the silver-haired male volunteering to go to the center, it left the four humans to pair up. Sango-san's speed in pulling the monk to her side was slightly surprising but not unwelcome. There was no escaping the sight of drying blood painting over almost every surface or the scent of rotting flesh from invading their senses. Still, after letting a gasp escape and intertwining slender, trembling fingers with his own, Kagome hadn't stopped walking. Not even once.

"So," the girl started softly. "You didn't try to stop me."

"That…"

Anticipating the gruesome sight waiting for them inside the settlement, Shippo had been left on the outskirts with instructions to act as a lookout. And the only one who didn't try to convince the priestess to stay behind with the fox kit was Itachi. Overprotecting someone determined to go out into the world was severely counterproductive. Besides, considering the nature of her power's mutation, Kagome was the one running the least risk here.

"Ignorance can bring as much danger as the bliss it grants." The time to keep her safely guarded had long passed.

"Better the devil you know, I guess." Kagome gave him a wan smile. "Though I don't know how helpful I can be here. There really doesn't seem to be anything here."

"Confirming the information we got is legitimate is never pointless. Just by looking at it there are a couple of things we can safely assume." None of it pleasant.

"Really?"

Pushing through what had to be some considerable discomfort, the priestess made an effort to observe their surroundings. It was a worse sight than the last ruined village the group passed through. Poison may be the reason behind the townspeople's deaths, but what caused their bodies to fail was clearly severe hemorrhaging, with blood covering most of the corpses they could see, leaving marrón stains that betrayed the passage of time. They couldn't even try to move the bodies since their earlier tests only confirmed the toxins didn't linger in the air. But Itachi wouldn't have made ANBU if he couldn't get a couple of decent clues by observing this sort of scene.

"If the poison was purely airborne and the creature responsible for this stayed hidden, no one would've grabbed weapons, so the people managed to see who killed them and thought they could try to fight it off. Most of the structures around here are still intact, so its size can't be too big," Itachi explained, dark eyes going over their surroundings.

"What if it kept flying above the roofs?"

"They're holding hatchets and blades; if the enemy was out of reach, they would've grabbed something they could throw. Moreover, I haven't seen a single bow." They'd been here for around five minutes, and he doubted they'd find one now. "But the most crucial detail is that there was more than a singular enemy." At his butterfly's questioning look, he continued. "All of them are facing different directions."

"Then…whatever did this also had to be fast, correct?" The girl asked after taking a second to get a better look.

"Either that or their numbers had to be large enough to keep everyone inside the town." Her observational skills were good, even if he hated having to ask her to soak up more of the nightmare-like town they were in. In any case, it would be best if Inuyasha-san can find out how the poison was delivered."

With the possibility of being pushed away after revealing the whole truth to her, Itachi had no choice but to give her as many tools and information as possible and hope her resilience would be enough to overcome what may come. He wasn't planning on leaving her defenseless, but it would take him some time to get to his butterfly's side if he had to keep his distance.

"I wonder if…" the girl trailed off.

"Kagome?"

"I think I can feel something here." Her brows furrowed. "It's really close too…"

"Non-human?" Itachi's question earned him a quick nod. "Try to pinpoint it. I'll keep an eye out."

Keeping a radar going all the time still took too much effort since the priestess wasn't used to maintaining her focus on two things at the same time. Still, Itachi asked her to do some quick routine checks, even if it meant some quality would need to be sacrificed. It'd be a good chance for her to keep up with her training, and his senses were honed enough to catch anything that might escape his butterfly's scans.

"Yes, there's something here." Her words came out slowly as she carefully approached one of the few damaged houses. "It's really weak though."

The wooden wall had fallen down, broken planks giving way under the weight of an unfortunate victim, crimson stains all around it. But other than that, there was nothing to see, but even if Kagome hadn't been training for long, his butterfly's progress was undeniable. Using chakra to enhance his sense was an Academy-level trick. There was nothing to gain by trying to smell anything over the stench of blood. It was hard enough to withstand it, besides, it probably wouldn't get him anything different from what the youkais could detect. But there was a light buzz barely reaching his ears, even with the aid of chakra, without the girl guiding him to this place, Itachi wasn't sure he would've noticed it.

"Can you take a step back?" Itachi crouched near the body. "Please don't move."

"Is there really something here?"

"Sounds like it." He could see her tense at his reply.

Kagome nodded, apprehension as evident as her trust in him as she took a couple of steps back; her bow was already in her grip, her right hand grabbing an arrow. If what he could hear was any indication of the size of the thing, it may not be useful; whatever it was, it was trapped underneath a broken piece of wood. Reminding himself they were dealing with poison, the sharingan flared to life.

It was small and certainly faster than he would've expected, but the insect's speed wasn't enough for it to escape him. From what he'd been able to see so far, as long as the animals didn't have demonic origins, there didn't seem to be any difference to the creatures he was used to. Of course, Itachi didn't know every single insect within the Elemental Nations, and he hadn't been in this world long enough to be familiar with every possible species there was, but the one desperately flapping between his fingers didn't exactly look familiar. If he was right about this, however, things could become troublesome in a hurry.

"Do you have a place to keep this?"

"This…is that a youkai?" The girl asked, searching around her backpack before passing a glass bottle to him. "Don't tell me…wait, what are you…!"

"We need to figure out how the poison got into their bodies. Since there doesn't seem to be any swelling. This might be hard to watch. The others should be informed as well, so it's okay if —

"I'm staying." Kagome's voice was resolute. "You said it yourself; we still don't know how this happened. It's safer not to separate."

Ah, there was that stern tone that left no room for discussion. Then again, her decision was by far the most logical. Spiritual energy could serve as an antidote, if the deadliest component of the toxin was youki itself. But there was no way to know that before attempting to purify it, and even then according to Miroku-san, not everyone in possession of reiki could perform such feats. When talking about a regular monk or priestess, that is. Because his butterfly's power had mutated, there was a chance she could heal the poison regardless of its nature. Truthfully, apart from the non-human members of the group. Kagome was likely to be the safest person in here; still, a part of him didn't want her to notice how used he was to handling corpses. A medic would never be convinced to leave the battlefield, though, and something told him there were better odds for Suna to go through a monsoon season than for the girl to go back.

Glancing at the girl, the Uchiha sent chakra to activate his bloodline's technique. Azure eyes widened ever so slightly, a light surprise rather than shock, but he supposed this wasn't the first time the young girl saw his eyes taken over by that crimson shade. While he'd been cautious about not letting others see the change, he didn't want to hide even more from his butterfly, so she'd caught glimpses of his kekkei genkai. Still, the young priestess demanded no answer as he turned once more to examine the body. Every detail became clearer before the sharingan; if the mark he was looking for wasn't covered by the drying scarlet-drenched clothing, there wouldn't be a need to show Kagome an even more disturbing sight. Reaching out to push the man's head to the side his eyes stopped their search as they found three slight protrusions on his neck. There it was, the proof that had just turned this situation from annoying to dangerous.

"I can see three bite marks on him."

"Just three…" The seriousness of the situation sunk in in an instant. "We have to find the others."

Painfully obvious apprehension guided the girl's movements as she reached for him. Even then, her grip was firm. He could already tell there would be no dissuading her; the group would investigate this, and he supposed he'd get a chance to test a different set of skills with this particular enemy.

o-o-o-o-o-o-

"Wait, you're telling me that thing is responsible for what happened here?" Inuyasha's bafflement was well deserved.

Golden eyes refused to move away from the tiny insect clashing furiously against the transparent glass of one of Kagome's little bottles.

Kouga's description of the situation had been lackluster, but the wolf was right about there being nothing to scent out. Finally giving up on his search, the hanyou was about to get the others when he heard everyone sprinting his way, and even he could tell how much they were panicking. And oh, how he wished he could say their human sensibilities were amplifying their fears.

They were not.

Because the demonic insect trying to break out was just a miniature version of the ones that had been rounding Kaede's village this past week. If what they'd been killing were not some small but the older versions of this thing, or worse, if they'd been the parents of nearby nests…

"Not even flies are getting into this town," Kagome observed.

"It…it would explain why the villages were unable to fight back." Miroku managed to calm down. "And why there are no obvious signs of an attack."

"They are the same, aren't they, Inuyasha?" Sango turned to face him, the same realization he had dawning upon her.

It was impossible to miss how close Itachi seemed to stick to the priestess, as if ready to intervene in case the small insect managed to break the bottle. Considering the warrior was the one who caught it, that might very well be what was going on inside that guy's head. Clenching his fists the hanyou had to bite his tongue, because he just might be thankful for the man's presence in this situation.

"Shit…We're going back!"

A/N:To anyone still reading this story thank you guys so so much for reading, I'll do my best to find a working upload schedule to stick with soon and any and all review/comment/criticism is greatly appreciated.