"Inu-Yasha, when's Kagome coming back?" Shippo asked.
"I don't know," Inu-Yasha replied with a shrug. "Feh. I don't care anyway," he added grouchily.
"If you'll be nicer to her, she won't be running away all the time." The little fow was interrupted as Inu-Yasha started pummeling him on the head. "Ouch, ouch, ouch! Let me go!"
"You two are fighting again?" A voice spoke up behind them.
"Kagome!" Shippo sang happily as he ran over to her to give her a hug.
"Hi Shippo. Is Inu-Yasha picking on you again?" Shippo nodded, Inu-Yasha hissed and fumed. "Well?" Kagome stepped in front of the half demon, "aren't you going to say hello?"
"Feh" was all he said, purposely avoiding her eyes.
"Oh, is it THAT time of the month again?" she asked, only to find herself falling onto the ground with a loud thud.
"What are you talking about?" Inu-Yasha snapped. With a grunt, he turned around and stomped off.
"Kagome, are you okay?" Shippo asked, as he helped Kagome get back on her feet. Kagome nodded, then turned to stare Inu-Yasha's retreating figure. "Was it something I said?"
"He's been acting all strange since you left last week. Real grumpy."
Kagome sighed, "Well, I have good news." The smile returned to her face as she announced, "I passed my maths test!"
Shippo cheered, "So does that mean you don't have to go back anymore?"
Kagome shook her head, "No, but it means I'm free for the next few weeks. We have our summer holidays now."
Shippo cheered again, "Then let's start looking for the shards of the Shikon jewel!" He looked around, "Hey, where did dog-boy go?" They picked up their stuff and headed in the direction of where Inu-Yasha had disappeared to.
***
In the meantime, Inu-Yasha was walking through the forect, muttering under his breath. "Stupid Kagome. If she really hates me that much, she should just tell me. Then we'll never have to bother with each other again." Suddenly his meditation was interrupted as an arrow flew past, just inches away from him. "Hey watch it, you idiot," he yellted, quickly dodging other arrows which were better aimed. "Who the hell is this? Come out so I can kick your butt!"
A shrill laugh answered him. It echoed through the forest. Inu-Yasha looked around, desperately trying to find the source of the voice. Suddenly, he spotted a shadow leaping between the branches of the trees. Without thinking, he chased after whoever it was.
***
"Inu-Yasha! Inu-Yasha, where ARE you?" Kagome's calles were futile as she and Shippo walked through the forest. They had been searching for hours and there were still no sign of the demon in question. Just then, Shippo picked up a scent of Inu-Yasha. "This way!" he said, scampering off quickly.
"Hey Shippo, wait!" Kagome started to run but she tripped over a protruding tree root. "Ouch," she rubbed her ankle which was starting to throb. She hissed in pain as she tried to stand up.
"Are you okay?" A male voice said. Kagome turned around in the direction of the voice. A young man stepped out from behind the tree. He kneeled next to Kagome to examine her ankle. "It seems to be sprained. I can put fome ointment on it. You'll be able to walk in no time." Kagome nodded again and took this chance to study him. *Hojo* she thought. Indeed her saviour (not quite!) looked just like her fellow student. Her apprehension faded as he smiled at her.
***
"Inu-Yasha!" Shippo yelled, relieved as he finally caught sight of the familiar pink fire-rat cloth.
Inu-Yasha turned around, "Shippo, where's Kagome?"
Shippos looked around, alarmed, "What? She was just behind me..." He stopped as he got hit on the head. "Ouch!"
"Idiot," Inu-Yasha muttered under his breath. "Come on! We're got to find her, that stupid girl." And with that he ran off, Shippo not far behind.
***
"Inu-Yasha, there you are!" Kagome cried as she ran to him, only to find he had been struck by an arrow on his side.
A shrill female voice laughing rang through the forest, and Kagome felt herself shudder at the sound. She turned around. "Who are you?" she demanded.
"Kagome!" Inu-Yasha yelled weakly, though urgently. True enough, there was the familiar sound of arrows piercing through the air. Inu-Yasha summoned what energy he could and pushed Kagome away but another arrow landed in his back. He growled in pain. He dug his claws into his side, and flung it at the demoness, "Claws of Blood!"
The shadow leapt away from them, her laughter echoing.
Kagome quickly rushed to Inu-Yasha's side. Our hero had become very pale, and was breathing rapidly. "Inu-Yasha?" Kagome asked tentatively, "I'll pull these out for you."
"No!" was the reply which shocked her exceedingly. Inu-Yasha looked almost apologetically (for yelling at her), "It'll make it worse. Poison," he breathed, a pure look of pain on his face.
Tears rushed to Kagome's eyes. "No!" she wailed, "I'm going to get that bit who did this to you." She was just about to run off as Inu-Yasha grabbed her hand.
"Kagome...don't go...please?"
More tears found their way down Kagome's cheeks as she clasped her hands around Inu-Yasha's. "Inu-Yasha, please be okay. You can't leave me!" she cried. Inu-Yasha smiled tenderly as his eyes slowly shut. "NO!" Kagome wailed, clutching his hand to her cheek, "Inu-Yasha!"
"Kagome!"
"Wh-what?" Kagome snapped her eyes open. "Hojo?"
"No, it's Taroshi." The Hojo-lookalike sounded confused but he smiled as he continued, "I heard you crying. Are you okay?"
Kagome pushed herself up from the floor, trying to remember how she got there. *That's right. I sprained my silly ankle, and I must have fallen asleep* She shuddered. *But that dream felt so real* Then she realised Taroshi was waiting for her to reply, so she just nodded. *Inu-Yasha! We were looking for him! I wonder...* Kagome quickly got up, to Taroshi's surprise.
"Wait, where are you going? The woods are very dangerous..." but Kagome had already run out, so Taroshi had no choice but to follow her.
***
"Do you know where we're going dog-boy?" Shippo asked warily. It seemed like they had been walking around the forest in circles for hours. "Well?" he demanded, just as they heard a voice.
"Inu-Yasha!"
"It's Kagome!" Shippo said, before waving at her, "Kagome! Kagome! We're here!" Then he burst into a run and Inu-Yasha quickly followed, after sighing (silently) in relieve. "Kagome! You're okay!" Shippo said as he hugged her.
Kagome smiled, "Of course I am. I just sprained my ankle a little, that's all." She looked up to Inu-Yasha, but was shocked by the uncaring look on his face. Suddenly he reached out to grab Shippo and Kagome. "What the?" Kagome started to ask but Inu-Yasha shushed her by whispering, "Someone's coming." He leapt up onto a large branch, and they stayed silent as they waited for whoever it was to come into sight.
"It's a demon, I can sense it," A voice said quietly, but quite out of nowhere.
"Why you old bug, where have you been all this time?" Inu-Yasha hissed scornfully.
"Well, my lord..."
"Shh"
Below them a group of armed creatures burst into the clearing. Whatever they were, they were clearly not human. In their midst, tied and gagged was Taroshi, trying to desperately to shrug off his captors. Kagome gasped and drew the attention of their leader.
"Why hello. What do we have here? Spies!" she said spitefully. Her voice chilled Kagome and Inu-Yasha to the bone. They both recognised her as the invisible arrow shooter.
*Feh. She doesn't look much* Inu-Yasha thought as he looked down at the armour-clad, but petite form.
"My lord, I wouldn't take her that lightly. That is Sagoshi, who is known for her strength and ruthlessness."
"Inu-Yasha," he felt Kagome's hand on his, "There's a shard of jewel in her right arm." Inu-Yasha squinted and located the shard.
"Mm...mm...mmm (help me)," the gagged Taroshi said. One of his guards slapped him on the cheek. Losing his balance, Taroshi stumbled to the ground, only to be kicked on the chest by another guard. "Mmmmm..." he groaned in pain.
"That's enough!" Inu-Yasha roard as he pulled out the Stell Cleaving Fang. He leapt from the tree branch. The guards charged at him, only to find themselves sliced into two. *Feh. This fight is going to be too easy* Inu-Yasha thought as he grabbed Taroshi and backed to where Kagome and Shippo were, having climbed down the tree. They quickly untied the poor Hojo-lookalike who hugged both of them in turns to express his thanks.
The guards, meanwhile, had been reduced in number by a half, and the remaining were rather reluctant to feel the power of the Tetsusaiga for themselves. They, too backed off.
Sagoshi screamed in fury - her band had been so easily defeated by a half demon. She yelled, "Prepare to die!" At a signal the remaining guards all rushed, but this time, at the unarmed Kagome and Shippo. Inu-Yasha quickly leapt in between the two groups, and the guards were clearly no match for the Tetsusaiga. Soon, the few left, who were still on their feet, ran off, leaving only Sagoshi.
Sagoshi had not been idle during the fight, she was taking great care in ensuring her lethal arrows would find their way into what stood between her and more shards of the Shikon jewel. While the rest were watching the guards hobble off, she aimed in Inu-Yasha. Kagome had the same chill she felt in her dream, and turned to see Sagoshi get ready to shoot.
"Inu-Yasha!" she yelled. Inu-Yasha jumped out of the way, only to find that the arrow was CHASING him. He swore under his breath and tried to manoevre around the forest, hoping the arrow would find a tree trunk.
"It's no use!" Myoga said urgently. "Sagoshi is controlling the arrow."
"Shippo, do something!" Kagome clutched the fox in fear. Shippo nodded.
Just as the arrow closed its distance to Inu-Yasha, Sagoshi found her vision beginning to cloud. As a result she began to lose control of the arrow, which landed on the ground harmlessly with a soft thud.
"Why you little fox!" Sagoshi yelled, snatching at the cloud (i.e. Shippo). He barely made it out of her clutch and leapt back to Kagome.
Sagoshi then smiled evilly and pulled out another arrow, this time aiming it at Kagome. "Let's see how fast YOU can run." But before she could do anything, her bow was cut into half.
"What?" she quickly turned around, just in time to see Inu-Yasha raise the Tetsusaiga again. But out of nowhere, Inu-Yasha felt something hit him and he landed on the ground.
Kagome rushed over. "Inu-Yasha. Are you okay?"
"What was that?" he stammered, clutching at his side where he was hit. In front of them stood Sagoshi, whose arm had grown to the size of an elephant's trunk. She swung her arm, prepared to strike at the two. Inu-Yasha picked up Kagome and leapt out of the way, and Sagoshi's hand hit the ground, leaving a deep gorge. Kagome gasped in horror, as she saw the arrow flying up again.
"Inu-Yasha watch out!" she unthinkingly stepped between the arrow and Inu-Yasha. He held up the Tetsusaiga, hoping to block it off, at the same time, pulling Kagome out of the arrow's path.
Clunk!
The Tetsusaiga had formed a protective shield around the two, so strong that the arrow had shatted into small pieces. Kagome, when she dared look up, breathed a sign of relieve and Inu-Yasha could only thank his father for leaving him such a weapon.
Sagoshi was fuming now, and she wasted no time in attacking again. She tried to dodge the sword but her anger clouded her judgement and she screamed as she was sliced into two. "NOOOOOO!!!" The demoness disappeared in smoke, her squeal still lingering in the forest. In her place, nothing was left except for a shard of the jewel. Inu-Yasha sheathed his sword and handed it to Kagome, who put it into the vial along with the others. At the sight of which, Taroshi gasped, "The Shikon jewel!"
Everyone just stared at Taroshi in surprise. "How do you know about the Shikon jewel?" Myoga finally asked, having found his way back on Inu-Yasha's shoulder.
Taroshi, suddenly wary, asked, "Why are you looking for them?"
Inu-Yasha's expression spoke, "Who is this idiot?" and he said out loud, holding out his hand, "Never mind that, if you have any, just give them to me."
"You're a dremon! What do you you think I am? Stupid?"
"Apparently so, since I'm actually only half-demon. Just hand them over." Inu-Yasha was quickly losing his temper.
"Inu-Yasha, sit!" Kagome felt that things were getting out of hand. Inu-Yasha fell to the ground and pushed himself up, "What did you do that for?"
Kagome chose to ignore him, "Taroshi, I'm sory. We're collecting the shards to put the jewel together again." She held up her vial, now containing about a dozen shards.
"But why?" Taroshi asked suspiciously.
"Cause this idiot here was the one who shattered it," Inu-Yasha interrupted.
Kagome blushed and wacked him on the head. "Sit!" she yelled again.
"Urggghhhh!" Inu-Yasha yelped as he fell to the ground again.
Taroshi looked on open-mouthed. "You...why do you have such power over this creature?"
"It's a spell Kaede put on him," Kagome explained, glancing at Inu-Yasha who was sitting on the ground with his arms crossed.
Taroshi stood in silence and suddenly he spoke up, "If you'll be so good to follow me. I have something to show you." He began walkig back to his hut.
The three others looks at each other and Kagome said, "Well we might as well go see what he has."
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