Disclaimer: I don't own Inuyasha or Avatar: The last Airbender. Only the plot.

ENJOY!

You gain strength, courage and confidence by every experience in which you really stop to look fear in the face. You are able to say to yourself, "I lived through this horror. I can take the next thing that comes along."...You must do the thing you think you cannot do.

Eleanor Roosevelt

Chapter 1

It is said that every cloud has a silver lining, but this certain cloud was too vague to make anything out at this particular time. Especially when you're running blindly through the forest as the rain pelts down on your already freezing skin, as if trying to slow you down.

"Ah!" I shrieked as I slipped over the tree root that had strangely appeared before me. A cruel, hollow laugh slipped through my lips as gazed down at the used-to-be new red and black kimono which was now caked under thick layers of mud. Now even the elements were against me.

How exquisite.

Just as I was about to fight my way out of a mini mud slide, a glance to my right made my blood run cold and my body freeze in panic. I wanted to curse myself for my oh-so clever planning. Of course the one thing I would forget about running away in the Feudal Era was the fact the demons inhabited almost every crack and crevice.

Why has intelligence failed me so?

I wasn't sure wnough if it may have been able to reach my waist seeing as how it was completely on the other side of the clearing, -a shockingly far distance might I add- but the appearance of the beast was enough to send even the scaries demons to the hills. Its eyes glowed red in the shadows of the bushes, it's seemingly greasy charcoled skin more grotesque than that of a bull frog. I mildly flinched as its quivering lips pulled back into a snarl revealing its hideous yellow fangs. I squinted my eyes as I noticed 2 extensions from its back stretching deeper into the bushes. The demon sensed my slight movement and its ragged ears flapped viscously, as though sending it false warning signals that I was a threat to its safety.

I held back the urge to roll my eyes. Me? A fifteen year old girl who happens to be unharmed and practically laying face down in the mud. I scoffed at the audacity of the thought.

Suddenly, the demon's eyes widened a fraction before leaping out of its place, and snapping its jaws at me. Without a split second to think I ducked covering the back of my head with my hands. I smiled in satisfaction as I heard a sickening thud of it's skull against the bark of the wood of the tree behind me. I rolled away before it had the chance to fall onto me.

Scrambling to my feet, I tried to recover as much balance as I could. That went straight down the tubes as I gazed at the unconscious creature that had nearly killed me.

"What the--a dragon?!" I yelled out in confusion and fright. The pounding of the rain against my body became numb as multiple thoughts raced through my head. Part of me was surprised while the other didn't think too much of it. I could understand why though. While in my time, you would be considered bonkers for even voicing the thought that immortal creatures, both of higher and lower ranks, existed; in the feudal era, if you were to complain about a boar youkai munching on the rice fields near your hut, you're considered completely sane.

'What on god's great green earth would a dragon be doing here in Inuyasha's fore-' My thoughts were interrupted just as well as my breathing pattern was when a giant snake-like tail swung about my waist knocking me off of the ground and into a nearby riverbank.

I coughed and wheezed as I climbed my way back onto dry land. My body temperature felt like it had dropped below zero, I couldn't stop sneezing; and my new kimono was now stained, ripped, saggy, and ugly. Oh, did I forget to mention the fact that I'm about to be killed by a dragon?

What a nice damn day.

The water of the surface of the lake fluttered about as the beast landed, with what looked like practiced ease on the boulder in the middle of the lake. None of the battles I've experienced, the near-death situations, the fatal injuries, or the continuous fights with the human and non-humans of this world prepared me for quite a sight.

I shielded my eyes from the oncoming rain to look up at it's phenomenal stature. I almost strained my neck, it was so big. The body was a scorched red, obviously bearing its scars from past obstacles. The neck was long and slender, somehow giving the dragon an air of arrogance. The eyes were strangely orange in color, or at least of what I could see from the narrowed slits.

I tried to stand but the dragon, seeing it as a threat, released a type of warning growl that disturbed my inner core. I sat back on my sore rump with a whimper. 'Mental note. Standing: bad. Sitting: good.'

The dragon stopped it's growling but continued to glare at me. I couldn't suppress the feeling that for some reason it was studying me. Maybe to see what I would do next or if I was going to do anything at all. I myself began to wonder of such things. My eyes snapped to the tides that lapped at my feet. 'I could try to swim, but it's too cold and I could possibly die from freezing.' My eyes then cut to the edge of the forest from which the dragon flung me. 'I could try to run, but the mud would make it all the more hard.'

I blew the wet bangs from over my eyes. Why wasn't anything simple anymore? You know, where all you had to do was run away quickly while the bad guy was distracted by something else. Uh!

Out of the blue, my hand slapped to my side as a wave of intense pain originated from it before wading out through my whole body. I glanced down to see a part of my kimono ripped, blood seeping through my fingers and a huge gash in the same spot where the jewel had been torn from my body.

Glancing back up at the dragon, I noticed that it had its eyes trained solely on my wound. I panicked. If this dragon was one of those blood-sucking fiends, then he wasn't going to get any part of me. Blood or no blood.

With regained vitality, I forced myself up as a yelp sounded from lips. Looking the dragon straight in the eye, I challenged him silently. Apparently that did not sit well with it. The dragon threw its head back while spewing flames of red and orange into the foggy grey sky while it's wings spread out at the sides. For the first time I noticed how...deformed the dragon really looked. They weren't the normal wings I'd expect to see on a dragon. Instead it looked like that akin to a sail of a ship that hadn't been washed for months and seen many battles, obtaining wounds of their own.

There were holes. Plenty of them. Maybe too many to count. The size wasn't too bad, but the fact that there was multiple had to count for something. The edges were torn in a way that looked as if they had been chewed on. There were shallow scratches near the body of the dragon, noticeably fresh.

'Those wounds couldn't have happened long ago. What could possibly have the power to cause such damage to a such a creature?'

All at once, the demon stopped its roaring and the wings stopped it's flapping. It was erringly silent even with the rain; though I was glad it let up a little. May be now I could focus more on my surroundings.

'Hm...So you are not afraid of me?' asked a masculine and slightly English voice.

I froze. I turned quickly ignoring the pain of my side and the presence of a dragon to both sides seeing if anyone around me had popped up unnoticeably.

"Who's there?!" I called out.

'Over here you stupid human.' I didn't know which direction the voice asked of me, so my head kept snapping to all directions.

"What?"

'Oh for the love of..in front of you Insolent wench! On the boulder!'

I turned my head to find the dragon staring back at me. An annoyed look upon its face. "Y-You?" I stuttered dumbly and pointed a finger up at him. Wasn't that smooth?

I could have sworn I saw the dragon roll its eyes as it blew a puff of smoke in the air.

'Yes. Who else do you think would have been talking to you? Buddha? Ha. You humans never were all that smart.' I felt my blood pressure rise as the dragon turned its nose up at me.

Okay, now I'm not one for cursing but this dragon was begging for it

"Okay look you dumb bastard of a dragon! I was just mindin' my own business running through the forest-" 'In the rain?' "Don't interrupt me when I'm talking!" Smoke was begging to blow out of my ears. In situations like these, Kaede had taught me how to control my anger with slow and deep breaths. Too bad I chose this moment to throw all of her advice and teachings out of the window.

"First you interrupt me then you almost rip me in half with those big ass chompers of yours called teeth! Now you sit your big ass on the huge boulder over there and mock me after attacking me, again, ripping my kimono in the process and give me this nasty ass wound! I don't care who or what you are but I won't have you talking to me this way! Even if that means being killed afterwards!!" I screamed to the heavens.

I gave away to my knees as stress and exhaustion caught up to my cold body.

'Hn...such spunk for a human. Maybe you are fit to be my master after all.'

"Master?" I whispered. Mostly to myself instead of to the dragon staring at me from across the lake.

Through half-lidded eyes, I looked at the dragon as it flew from its perch to my side. The last thing I felt as I faded into darkness was the wind running through my hair and the ground disappearing from beneath my body.

A/n: Oh yeah! I think this might be the best story I've written yet! But only if you guys make it so. Please! Please! Please review! I will dedicate a special one-shot to my first reviewers of this chpt! Just send in your ideas. And for the people who don't know this is a ZUKOxKAGOME fic.

JA NE!