Birds chirp. The sun shines. The grass glistens. All is well again in the feudal era, temporarily at peace once more until the next demon decides to attack, whether it's for their own amusement or for the jewel shards Kagome carries. Nonetheless, the new day goes like every other day that's passed by.

Amongst the bushes, Kagome stands, holding up her bicycle. She looks at the sacred well, her key to returning home (temporarily), and then looks around the area suspiciously; so far, Inuyasha is nowhere in sight. Nor is her adopted sister for that matter.

Unbeknownst to her, up above, sitting on a massive branch, Kaori is silently gazing down at her, back against the tree trunk. While Kagome may have a desire to return home, Kaori does not; while she misses her adoptive family, she's afraid. She glances at her palms, closing and opening them a few times. She doesn't know how her power works; was it instinct, was it random, was it from rage, was it all of those? She'd rather stay behind than potentially injure or kill someone over there.

Below her, Kagome gets a determined look on her face. "Clear. Here goes." On her bike, she furiously pedals towards the well.

However, just as quickly, Inuyasha suddenly zooms past her. "What's your hurry, Kagome?" He lands in front of the well, blocking her way. Panicking, Kagome slams on the brakes, barely avoiding ramming into him with her bike. "Not so fast." He aggressively points at her. "You're not going anywhere until you hand over the shards of the sacred jewel."

Up in the nearby tree, Kaori sighs. With reluctance, she hops down, landing not quite gracefully, likely because she's distracted by her thoughts. She slowly approaches them, silently listening to their argument continue.

Kagome glares at Inuyasha. "In my era, girls go to school, and it just so happens that this girl has a huge final tomorrow to study for!" In a dramatic way, she looks to the side and speaks quieter. "My attendance is so bad, I might fail the class, even if I ace the exam."

"I think there's far more important matters for you to be worried about than some exams, like finding all the jewel shards for example," Kaori comments, reaching her adoptive sister. "Like you said, because of your many absences, you'll likely end up failing anyway. Maybe even have to repeat a grade, or two if this journey of ours lasts longer than a year." She crosses her arms. "So, why even bother with trying? Get homeschooled instead or something, at least while we're dealing with this situation you got us into in the first place."

Kagome's face turns red with anger. "You don't have to keep bringing that up every single time I do something you don't like!"

"I don't always do it, though, so you're already wrong," Kaori interrupts.

Kagome gets angrier. "Well, it feels like it!" She throws her arms around in her rage, for emphasis. "And maybe I will have to repeat a grade or a few classes, but at least I tried to fix it instead of doing absolutely nothing about it!" She continues yelling. "It's not wrong for me to want to continue having a normal life in our own time!" Clenching her fists, she closes her eyes and yells even louder. "I didn't ask for any of this either, so stop blaming me for it already!"

Kaori's eyes briefly widen in surprise, because of Kagome's outburst, before softening from the guilt she suddenly felt. Unfortunately, Kagome wasn't wrong; she has been putting the blame on her a lot, especially when Kagome would say or do something she disagreed with, and those things tended to be (but not always was) irrelevant to their journey in Feudal Japan.

"Kagome, I-" Kaori's attempted apology is interrupted by Inuyasha, who is holding a boulder over his head as he stands directly beside the well. The moment ruined, Kaori's guilt fades quickly and is replaced with confusion, her eyebrow raised at the half demon. "Uh, just what in the hell are you doing?"

"What does it look like?" Inuyasha sounds like he's struggling to continue holding up the boulder. "I'm going to cover up the well for good. Then, neither of you will be able to escape to that strange era of yours."

Kaori stares at him for a second. "...Uh huh."

Beside her, Kagome is still fuming from her reasonable outburst but has now redirected her anger towards Inuyasha, again. Poor bastard; the very second he attempts to plug up the well, she yells. "Sit!" Inuyasha, surprisingly, doesn't instantly faceplant; instead, it appears as if he's fighting the command. "Sit! Sit! Sit! Sit! Sit!" Still, he doesn't faceplant; instead, he jerks into random poses, while still holding up the boulder. "Sit!"

Finally, he falls flat to the ground, the boulder crushing his back; if he weren't half demon, the impact would've killed him, instantly. Kaori approaches him, but doesn't assist in getting the boulder off of his back; sure, she can fight back against demons but she isn't ready to find out if she can move boulders.

Sitting aside her bike, Kagome carries her huge bag over to the well. She rests her knee against the wood, prepared to jump in. "Stay, boy. I'll be back in three days, and don't even think about following me."

Still in a terrible mood, she takes a single glance at the back of Kaori's head and doesn't hesitate to grab onto her hair, yanking her into the well without warning; caught off guard, Kaori doesn't react in time, due to shock, and falls towards the bottom, Kagome jumping in seconds afterwards.

And just like that, both sisters are back in their own time period; Kagome lands gracefully on her feet for a second before her bag knocks her over, thanks to the weight, and Kaori lands on her behind a bit harshly.

Kagome smiles, as if she'd never been pissed off (that day). "It's so good to be back home."

Kaori, however, looks absolutely horrified. "What the hell have you done?!" She scratches at the ground with her nails, panicking. "Send me back! Send me back right now!"

Kagome scoffs. "Stop being so dramatic. You need to spend time with our family before you can't anymore." She gestures at Kaori's current appearance. "You still look human but when the transformation happens, it'll be too risky for you to come back here." She drops her bag for a second and crosses her arms, visibly pleased with herself. "I'm just doing you a favor."

Kaori wants to scream at her for potentially placing their family in harm's way, as she does not have control over her newfound power of fire. Her mind flashes to when she horribly burned Manten, only for her family members to immediately replace him in the imagery. Tears well up in her eyes.

Suddenly, from above, rice wine rains down upon the two sisters. Kaori doesn't react much, far more concerned with the circumstances of her being there, while Kagome lets out a squeal of some kind.

"What is this stuff?" Kagome pats at her wet hair and sniffs her hand afterwards. "It smells like sake."

Immediately, the face of their grandfather appears above them; he's leaning over the well. Expectedly, he has tears in his eyes. "Kagome! Kaori! It's you! I knew my prayers would be answered!"

"...Senile old man," Kaori hushedly remarks, no heat behind the words.

Kagome clenches his fists, looking exasperated. "Thanks for worrying about us, Gramps. You don't know how much it means to me." She sneezes.

"...Your sarcastic tone needs a little work," Kaori lowly comments, literally moments away from freaking out. She can only hope that none of their family members tries to touch her; she really, really hopes they won't.

Sōta, who also just happens to be there, and Gramps exchange words up above the sisters but they can't quite catch what they're discussing, not that it matters anyway; it was likely something pointless, like another spiritual rant or something. A bit rudely, but understandably, Kagome tries to interrupt their conversation, to no avail.

The sisters end up waiting up to thirty minutes before Kaori, too, grows tired of waiting; ultimately, she just climbs up and out without Kagome, out of spite for being forced to come along for the visit.

Serves her right, Kaori sourly thinks.

Unfortunately, to her dismay, Sōta immediately pounces at her, wrapping his arms around her with an iron grip; he really missed her (Kagome, too, of course). She missed him, too, but her fear towards harming him prevents her from hugging him back, so she instead keeps her arms raised to where they won't even slightly touch him. He doesn't seem to notice, lost in his excitement over her temporary return.

When Gramps and Sōta finally get around to helping Kagome get out of the well, even though she could've just climbed up like she normally did (like Kaori), Kaori pretends she's not pissed with her. And just because she wasn't showing it very much beforehand doesn't mean she hadn't felt that way very strongly.

And so, very consistently, Kagome and Kaori ignore each other. They change clothes (casual clothes for Kagome and a black jumpsuit with a hood for Kaori), they bathe, and so on, and so forth, and then, they eat breakfast, almost silently, though they still don't speak directly to one another. That doesn't stop them from glaring at each other, whenever a family member isn't paying attention; best keep the conflict to themselves, after all.

Kaori sips her herbal tea, keeping her gaze elsewhere to avoid glaring at Kagome again for putting her into this situation. Directly across from her at the table, Kagome picks up a slice of toast; sitting on her lap is Buyo. He sneezes. Kagome hums, looking down at him with some concern. "What's the problem, Buyo? Got a cold or something?" She immediately sniffs her hair. "Or maybe my hair still smells a little gross."

I'd probably be sneezing, too, if that were the case, Kaori thinks, gently touching a piece of her own hair. It could just be the food, stupid… Or nose irritation in general. She smiles softly as Buyo gets off Kagome in a comedic fashion, putting his attention on her instead. She continues smiling as he hops onto her lap and gets cozy. She avoids touching him.

Their mother walks in through the sliding door, holding up a school uniform, identical to the one Kagome always wears. "Here's your new school uniform, Kagome. I'll put it in your room for you." Kagome politely thanks her.

Sōta talks with his mouth full. "Where's that dog guy, Inuyasha? Didn't you bring him home with you?"

Kaori knows the question is directed at Kagome but she answers anyway. "He tried to stop her from coming. She used her command powers of holiness to make him not. And then, she dragged me here with her, quite literally, despite the dangers of my being here."

Simultaneously, Sōta, Mama Higurashi, and Kagome look at her, with various expressions: confusion, concern, and confoundment.

Gulping, Kaori explains further, despite some reluctance. "My…inner power, I discovered it recently, during a…battle. I don't know what the trigger is, precisely, so I didn't want to come here and hurt…someone because of it, especially since I have no control over it, not right now." She gestures a bit grumpily at Kagome. "But then, out of spite because of an argument, Kagome brought me here against my will, and it's only been about an hour and a half, but I've been on edge ever since because I don't want anything bad to happen if I touch someone."

Mama Higurashi looks upset for Kaori. "Oh, my sweet girl…"

Kagome, at least, has the decency to look apologetic (and guilty). She decides to start speaking to her adopted sister again. "I… I didn't know… I swear, I didn't…"

Kaori glares at her. "I get that you're "young" and will make "mistakes" but damn. Use your common sense sometimes, Kagome. In what world would someone know how to control their powers immediately?" With a huff, she rests her elbows on the table and leans her head against her hand. "Even if you'd known, you probably still would've done this," she mutters, loud enough for everyone to hear. "Because you were mad. Look at every argument you've had with Inuyasha this far; you end them by hurting him with the command, and it's usually out of spite when you're angry."

Sōta and Mama Higurashi silently watch both sisters. Kagome is quiet for a moment. "...Do I really use the command that often…?" Kaori nods shortly. Kagome grimaces. "I hadn't realized…"

"Apparently, you haven't realized a lot of things, Kagome," Kaori retorts. "Sooner or later, Feudal Japan is gonna knock some sense into you. Maybe even some maturity, but somehow, I doubt it."

"You don't have to be so mean about it! I'm sorry, okay?!" Kagome exclaims.

"Now, now, girls. No fussing at the table," Mama Higurashi states, eying them with some sternness. "You've both been through a lot, it seems. Instead of fighting, you should be taking the time to cool down." She looks at Kaori. "I'll let your grandfather know about the…newest development. And we'll refrain from touching you, to ease your burden."

"Thanks, mother," Kaori softly says, grateful.

Kaori sits on the staircase that leads to the well, silently staring at it. She has nothing else to do; Kagome and Sōta have left for school, Gramps is doing his own thing, and Mama Higurashi is…probably going to work or something. She feels lonely, every fiber of her being telling her to find a family member, but her wishes to keep them safe prevents her from giving in (though they'll likely seek her out themselves, eventually).

She gently tugs on her own ear, frowning. When her transformation happens, will they be replaced with cat ones? Will she have two sets of ears? It's not like Kaede gave much detail to the appearance of their last Nekomusume. And, come to think of it, what are the male ones called? Nekos? Cat boys? Or just their given names? Do they even exist? Do Nekomusumes only give life to other Nekomusumes?

She shakes her head and lets go of her ear. She'll just give herself a headache, asking all these questions that won't get answered. She'll find out about the appearance thing when it happens and she'll probably never meet a male equivalent of her species anyway.

I wonder what Inuyasha and Shippō are doing, Kaori thinks. Probably arguing, probably trying to kill each other. Sounds like something they'd do, either of those. …I wonder how Inuyasha's back is doing.

Unbeknownst to her, not that far away from her position, a possessed mask wreaks havoc inside their storage room and injures Gramps. She only finds out when she hears the ambulance, fire engines, and police cars. Rushing outside of the building, she stands by the entrance, staring in shock at the chaos she'd been oblivious to. Inhaling, her sensitive nose catches the smell of rotten eggs; overwhelmed by the scent, alongside smoke, and the situation, she ends up hunching over and hurling.

That smell is getting harder and harder to ignore, Kaori thinks, wiping her mouth afterwards. Last time must've just been a fluke; Shippō and the asshole brothers hadn't smelt that bad, surprisingly. Could it be based on their ranking? Like, lower means absolutely smells awful and higher means not that terrible, almost unrecognizable? She grimaces, breathing through her mouth; it doesn't make her feel that much better. Gone are the days of some normalcy, when smelling these things wasn't consistent.

It takes about thirty seconds before something very important registers in her brain.

"…Wait a second, what the fuck is another demon doing here?!" Kaori exclaims, aloud, to herself.

An uncertain amount of time goes by. Outside the Higurashi shrine, many people are gathered. Officers and paramedics go back and forth. Kaori sits by the building in which the well resides, keeping a distance but watching everything in concern, especially when they carry her adoptive grandfather out. An officer briefly speaks to her about the situation but she tunes out almost everything, except her relative's condition; he'll be okay.

Her adoptive mother checks in on her sometime later before she leaves to visit Gramps in the hospital. Sōta isn't home yet and Kagome is lingering around somewhere. Kaori stares in the direction of the storage building.

"What could possibly have been in there?" Kaori asks herself, wondering. "And why did it leave Gramps alive?" She bites her lip. "And where is it now?" It's just one problem after another for their family nowadays.

"Kaori!" Kagome yells, sprinting over to her. "Did you hear what happened?"

"I was here the entire time; I'm very aware of what happened while I was preoccupied," Kaori comments. "Only, the issue isn't anything normal." She points to her nose, wrinkling it.

Kagome groans. "No, really? Are you serious?"

"My nose isn't lying to me, Kagome," Kaori says with a huff. "Believe me, as much as I'd like to go back to normal, the built-in, slightly faulty, warning device called my demon smelling senses kind of comes in handy. We know what we're up against now, sort of."

"I just wanted some peace and quiet before we went back," Kagome complains.

"I think you should just face it; nothing is ever gonna be normal for either of us again," Kaori remarks. "No matter how much we may desperately want things to be as they were, to some extent." She pauses. "I feel like I've told you this a few times before, already."

"Maybe this time, it'll stick," Kagome says.

Kaori snorts. "I highly doubt it."

Kagome stares at her silently for a moment. "You should go to the hospital with Sōta and I, to visit Grandpa."

"And risk burning down the building?" Kaori questions, wary.

"You've been doing fine this far," Kagome points out. "I think you're letting the fear get to you. There's no way you'll hurt anyone." Kaori looks unsure. "Besides, your hands smoke when it happens, right?"

"Maybe," Kaori says.

Kagome nods. "So, we'd have a fair warning beforehand. It'll be fine."

Kaori sighs, giving in. "Fine. I'm still not touching anyone, though…"

Shortly thereafter, Sōta arrives from school, looking panicked as he sprints towards his sisters. They quickly calm him down but, unfortunately, something occurs that causes some panic between all of them when they go to investigate; for some reason, a fire engine is ramming into every other vehicle as it leaves.

In her head, Kaori worries that they'll be up against another major pain in the ass.

Briefly, Kagome, Kaori, and Sōta visit the hospital; they don't exactly get to see their grandpa but they hear more news about him through their mother. Apparently, when he was rescued, he had charms plastered all over his face and stuffed in his mouth. They also happen to overhear their grandfather speaking in his sleep, considering the door to his room is open; he mumbles about a flesh-eating mask. It's very disconcerting.

That night at the Higurashi household, Kagome and Kaori are gathered in their shared bedroom, which is basically just Kagome's room but Kaori always sleeps there (in more recent times) instead of in her own. Kaori is just chilling in a corner of the room, on the floor, and Kagome is doing her homework when Sōta drags his blanket, with Buyo lying on it, and pillow into the bedroom.

"Sis, got any room for Buyo and me to sleep here?" he asks.

"No chance," Kagome immediately answers. "You can stay in your own room."

Kaori's eye twitches. "I swear to-"

"Please, sis?" Sōta asks. "You're letting Kaori stay."

"Don't be such a scaredy-cat," Kagome complains. "And I don't like it when she's in here either but she does as she pleases, so why should I bother trying to kick her out?"

Kaori glares at her and stands, putting her hands on her hips. "Did logic seep outta your brain in the last couple of hours? There's a demon on the loose here, who isn't me. We're safest together." She gestures to the floor where she usually sleeps. "He can sleep beside me. Any further disagreements about us staying in here will be met with silence and more glaring."

Kagome and Kaori stare each other down with glares for a few moments.

"You both can't stay in here; I'm going to be up all night, studying for a test," Kagome states.

Kaori rolls her eyes. "I've literally passed out here a few times during such intense study sessions. You'll survive another night with my presence."

Sōta makes a noise as he glances between them. For a moment, it looks like their argument is going to continue, but then, the glass pane of the window starts shaking, startling the three siblings.

"Coming back here with the jewel fragments was a terrible idea," Kaori udders.

"Well, I wasn't just gonna leave them with Inuyasha!" Kagome exclaims.

"By this point, I don't think he plans on ever leaving you behind," Kaori states.

"…Don't you mean us?" Kagome questions.

"No, I meant what I said," Kaori says. "After the fight with those thunder brothers, I think it's very safe to say that he cares about you a lot more than he lets on."

Rumbles come from outside, bringing the siblings' attention back to the window. A fire truck crashes through the fence of the Higurashi shrine, before crashing into the residential structure. The fire ladder extends and breaks through the window of Kagome's bedroom.

In the blink of an eye, Kaori grabs onto Kagome and Sōta, and face-plants against the wall furthest from the window another second later. She groans and drops to the floor, bringing her adoptive siblings down with her. "Of all the times to develop another ability…" Blood trickles from her nose.

On the ladder, the noh mask is attached to a large mass of black goop, which drips onto the bedroom floor. It reaches outward.

"A noh mask?" Kagome wonders as she and Sōta sit up on the floor. "That must be the flesh-eating mask that Grandpa was mumbling about in the hospital."

Kaori sits up, rubbing her nose. "Yeah, no shit." She chokes on air when she notices that the noh mask is reaching for the jewel fragments they've collected thus far. "Kagome, stop gawking and get the bottle!" Luckily, the bottle rolls off the desk just before the creature can grab it and Kagome rushes for it, getting it first.

Much like the first demon they ever encountered, the noh mask just repeatedly demands the shards of the shikon jewel. Without delay, Kagome sprints out of the bedroom, Kaori and Sōta close behind, Kaori taking the rear on purpose. On Sōta's back, Buyo is latched on for dear life.

They make it to the courtyard mostly unharmed, minus a cut on Kagome's hand from the broken glass and Kaori's self-caused, healing broken nose. Above them, the noh mask lingers within the ladder. Noticing its shadow, the three stop running, like morons because of course, and look up; the noh mask drops. Kagome, Sōta, and Kaori dodge it in two different directions; Kagome and Kaori land beside each other, Sōta by himself (with Buyo).

"Why do these things keep getting worse every time we face them?" Kaori complains. A centipede monster, crows that can possess people, a crazy bitch that controlled hair, Inuyasha's half-brother (instinctively, Kaori glances towards the location of the well), a toad, two insanely powerful half-brothers (at least, she thinks they were only half brothers; maybe they weren't, she didn't care to actually remember the information correctly). It's surprisingly very little, yet a lot, that they've dealt with and it hasn't even been that long, a month at least (maybe a bit more).

Kagome, on the other hand, notices a jewel shard glowing inside the forehead of the noh mask. The mask has a jewel fragment on its forehead, she thinks, confirming to herself what she's just seen. So, that's why it's after these shards. I've got to get Sōta away from here and out of danger! Having no other options, she gets up and starts running.

"Kagome?!" Kaori exclaims, getting up. "What the hell are you doing?!"

Kagome briefly pauses to look at Sōta. "Sōta! Run to the hidden well and get Inuyasha! Tell him there are more jewel shards here! That should be enough to get him to cross over and help us!"

Sōta is wide eyed. "I have to go in that spooky well?"

"You can handle it. Just get going!" Kagome yells before beginning to run again, going down a slope. Kaori easily catches up to her, the noh mask giving chase behind them. The sisters can only assume that Sōta has listened and gone to the well.

Kaori runs up beside her, huffing. "Great plan, having Sōta get Inuyasha, but what the hell are we doing, then?" Kagome gives her a look as they run. "…Oh, for goodness sake. Not this shit again. We're just running away? Seriously?"

"Got any better options?" Kagome asks, glancing back at the noh mask, which is not gaining on them but it's also not that far behind. "You could outrun Mistress Centipede."

"Barely and technically, it was both of us," Kaori answers.

"Well, now, you've developed more of your abilities; you could probably gain a lead against it," Kagome says. "With or without you carrying me."

"This isn't a track race," Kaori retorts. Nonetheless, she scoops Kagome up into her arms and picks up the pace, throwing caution to the wind. "If I accidentally kill you when my ability goes haywire again, you're not allowed to haunt me; this was your idea."

She spends quite a bit of time running through town, carrying Kagome bridal style. She even risks jumping onto buildings; she blames her instincts for that but at least she didn't fail at it. The sisters eventually end up on one of the highest floors in a building that's under construction. Not exactly the best place to be while under attack, but at least there wouldn't be more civilian casualties.

"You can put me down now, I think," Kagome says. "We're far enough away that we can take a break."

"We? I was carrying you the whole time," Kaori states as she sits Kagome down on her feet like she was asked. "And we weren't that far ahead of it."

Kagome looks out at the city, looking worried. "Inuyasha's not here yet. What's taking him so long?" She looks at Kaori. "If you were fully transformed, we wouldn't have to worry about him getting here before we died."

Kaori narrows her eyes, squinting at Kagome. "You know, just this one time, I'm gonna assume you were just making an observation, not blaming me for something I can't control."

At the bottom of the building, the noh mask shoots itself upwards like a rocket, black ooze and all. Kaori and Kagome jump back, gasping in horror as the blob lands directly in front of them, recomposing itself. It towers over them and repeats the same line as before. "I need the shards of the shikon jewel!"

"…So, absolutely none of you assholes are gonna play fair, huh?" Kaori rhetorically asks, looking nervous. "Good to know."

The noh mask creature reaches towards them, specifically Kagome, with its enlarged hands. Suddenly, Inuyasha appears from above, with Sōta on his back; he attacks the noh mask, clawing it into two black oozing blobs. He lands near them.

"Nice timing," Kagome states, looking relieved.

"You alright?" Sōta asks them.

"Yeah, sure, we're fine," Kagome answers nonchalantly. Sōta jumps off Inuyasha's back and immediately hugs his sisters' legs, kneeling before them as he starts sobbing.

Kaori's eye twitches. "Well, since you're not gonna say anything about it, Kagome, then I will." She immediately grabs onto one of Inuyasha's ears and pulls him towards her, ignoring his yelp. "Would you like to explain to me why you thought it was a good idea to drag our little brother back into danger?! You had no reason to bring him with you; he couldn't have possibly known where we'd end up!"

"He asked to come along!" Inuyasha exclaims.

"And you let him?!" Kaori exclaims back, pulling harder on his ear. "He's a little boy and he's human, you fucking idiot!"

"Argue about it later!" Kagome yells. "We have something more important to worry about right now!" Kaori hmphs and releases Inuyasha's ear, which he rubs. Then, calmly, Kagome reassures Sōta, kneeling down to his level. "It's okay. Inuyasha's gonna destroy that monster for us, and it'll all be over."

"Ahem," Inuyasha clears his throat, making Sōta, Kagome, and Kaori look at him again. His arms are folded in front of him. "Before we get on with my little rescue mission here, this might be an appropriate time for an apology, wouldn't you say?"

Kaori hums, glancing at Kagome.

Kagome looks confused. "Huh? Apology for what?"

Kaori face-palms, sighing.

"For what?!" Inuyasha looks insulted. "For shouting all those incantations and putting my back out, that's what!"

Kagome gets up, a finger near her mouth as a look of clarity crosses her expression. "Oh, that. Yeah, now it's coming back. Okay." She clasps her hands, her tone cheerful. "I'm very sorry." She starts waving her palm at him, as if gesturing for him to go ahead and fight. "There. You satisfied now?"

Kaori stares at her from the side. "No wonder you don't apologize often…" she mutters to herself, low enough that she's not heard. She hardly meant that.

Inuyasha turns his back towards them, clenching his fist, sounding exasperated. "She makes it sound like she's apologizing for stepping on my foot." He deadpans, glancing back at Kagome. "Maybe I'll go back."

Kagome is immediately annoyed with him. "You can't just leave us here. Besides, the mask has a shard of the sacred jewel. Don't you want to add it to our collection?"

"Argue about it later," Kaori says, repeating Kagome's words from earlier back at her. "I don't think the noh mask is gonna let us conversate for much longer."

In the background, the noh mask finally pieces itself back together. "Who dares to attack me?" Although a feminine voice keeps ringing out, Kaori continues to mentally call it an it. She also makes a face of disgust at the bubbling noises coming from the demon creature.

Kagome points at it. "Inuyasha, aim for the mask. The shard is in the forehead." Behind her, Kaori stands, pushing Sōta back; Inuyasha really, really shouldn't have brought the boy there.

Suddenly, the noh mask decides to monologue. "I am the flesh-eating mask. Centuries ago, I was carved from a giant tree, which had a fragment of the sacred shikon jewel embedded in it. Since my creation, I have craved human flesh and devoured my victims. But now, I wish to have a living body that will not rot. For that, I require more power from the sacred jewel."

"Uh huh," Kaori grunts. "Cursed artifact. Demon creature. It's all the same to me, at this point. You're going down." There's an awkward pause. "Damn it, Inuyasha; that was your cue."

"Huh?" Inuyasha blinks. "Oh. Yeah. Right." He smirks and cracks his hand, claws ready. "I don't know how many humans you've eaten so far, but it's time to lose some weight!" He tries to punch the mask directly but it splits open. "What the-?!"

Among the edges of the split mask are teeth. It bites into Inuyasha's wrist. "You fell into my trap. Now, you shall never escape me." It drags him into its oozing body. Inside it, Inuyasha grunts.

"…This is going so well, you guys," Kaori sarcastically remarks.

The mask emerges from its body, joining together again. Immediately afterwards, without reattaching itself to the large mass of black goop, it zooms towards Kagome and pushes itself against her hand, the very one still gripping the container with the shards. The impact makes Kagome fall to the ground but at least she's able to quickly switch which hand is holding the container.

Kaori makes a move to assist her, only to be caught completely off guard when Kagome throws the container at Sōta, who catches it. "Kagome, what the fuck is wrong with you?!" she exclaims.

She (Kaori) turns towards Sōta, who has already started running away. Taking a step forward, she yelps as she accidentally rams into him within a millisecond, her new…speedy thing getting the best of her, again. It didn't stop there, though; as she grabs onto Sōta, picking him up in a similar manner that she did Kagome earlier, she barely manages to shift sideways before making impact with one of the steel beams, protecting Sōta from harm.

Intense pain shoots through Kaori's left shoulder; either she just dislocated it or she fractured, maybe broken, something there. A milder pain enters her head next; her shoulder took most of the impact but her head still managed to hit the steel beam, too. Blood drips from the side of her head. "…Well, that fucking hurts." If her shoulder hadn't gotten in the way, the self-inflicted blow to the head might've killed her. Who knew undergoing a demonic transformation, very slowly, had some dangerous aspects to it… Silently, Kaori wonders if any Nekomusumes accidentally killed themselves during the development of their abilities.

"Kaori!" Sōta cries out. "It's behind us!" He doesn't seem to realize that Kaori has accidentally injured herself again.

"Right." Kaori immediately starts moving again, despite the pain. Thankfully, she doesn't ram into anything else, running at the speed of Inuyasha again. Additionally, as she runs, her head wound and shoulder injury begin to heal but while the pain in her head slowly starts going away, the shoulder pain remains intense. It's healing incorrectly, isn't it…? Damn it. It was bound to happen eventually.

When she reaches the edge of the building, she stops running instead of just jumping to another one; doing that while injured would just put Sōta at more of a risk of getting severely injured himself. She turns, facing the noh mask, still carrying Sōta who is still holding the container of shards. The best she'll be capable of doing at the moment is dodging.

Thankfully, Inuyasha, getting out of the oozing body, saves the day (night) by running up from behind the noh mask and slicing it in half with Tetsusaiga. The mask, then, explodes into four pieces before disintegrating into thin air. The jewel shard from its forehead lands on the ground.

Sōta practically jumps out of Kaori's arms in excitement, staring at Inuyasha in awe. "You destroyed the mask! You did it!"

Inuyasha swings Tetsusaiga over his shoulder, unsheathed. He stands there, staring at Sōta. "Sure thing. You still got those jewel fragments?" Sōta nods with thankful tears.

Kaori winces, holding her injured shoulder; it's definitely healing incorrectly, so she's gonna have to rebreak it herself and hope for the best or get surgery and hope for the best (but for different, obvious reasons). "Couldn't you have gotten free a bit sooner?"

Inuyasha rolls his eyes, unconcerned. "Whatever. You're still alive, aren't ya?"

Kaori gives him a sarcastic smile. "It still would've been nice." The sun begins to rise on the horizon. "We were out here that long…?" she wonders to herself. Too busy looking at the sunrise, she misses the short but pleasant exchange between Kagome and Inuyasha.

After the brief exchange of words, Kagome notices the sun rising. She suddenly clasps her face and shrieks in panic. "Oh, no! It's morning already and I haven't studied for my test!"

She turns around and starts running off. She briefly pauses on a ramp that's heading downwards. She looks at Inuyasha, Sōta, and Kaori.

"Thanks, Inuyasha. It's been a slice. See ya when I see ya. Sōta, don't forget to pick up those jewel shards and bring them home with you. Kaori, get Sōta and the shards back home safely." With that, Kagome continues leaving the area, though it'll take a while. Barely, they hear her add, "Inuyasha, I'm going to be super mad if you're still around when I get back from school."

Inuyasha just stands there, looking stunned. Sōta approaches him and tugs on his sleeve. "Psst." Inuyasha glances down, with the same expression. "Know what? I've got a new hero. Bet you can't guess who it is." Kaori smiles slightly at Sōta's words to Inuyasha.

Instead of saying anything, Inuyasha just makes another face; one that's crossed between content, flustered, and irritated.

Kaori hums, staring at where Kagome "vanished". "You know, I wonder how long it's gonna take for her to realize she'll get home much faster if one of us takes her."

Once again, epic fail on my part for taking up to five months to get around to finishing this chapter, finally. I did not have it on my mind; I was more focused on the other fanfictions, and I didn't update those ones that often either until recently. I've created a schedule for myself, days to work on whichever fanfiction. From now on, Inuyasha is getting worked on only on Sundays (and will be updated on Sundays). Do not expect an update every single Sunday but keep in mind that it is the day that I'll be working on this from now on. Thank you.