"What is our destination and quest, Lady Kagome?" Miroku asked. Inu Yasha did not have the patience right then so it was left to Kagome. Inu listened to her recitation. When it came to the part about him, he listened intently, wondering what she would say. She recited what she thought had happened and he corrected her on almost every part that didn't concern her, severely annoying her. After one such interruption, Kagome stopped in her tracks and 'hmphed.'

"If you know the story sooo well, wanderer, maybe you should tell it."

Inu looked uncomfortable as he realized what he had been doing.

"Feh. A waste of breathe and time anyway, if you ask me."

"Our quest a waste of time?! I don't even know why you insisted on joining me on this insane quest anyway! It's not like WE need it?" Miroku stepped back, getting a better look at the picture of them.

"I thought you were all for saving people, huh?!" Inu shouted.

"Not when I have to deal with an overly emotional HUMAN male!"

Kagome stalked away 10 feet or so and took deep breaths as she sheathed and unsheathed her claws. Both men got an alarmed look on their faces as they noticed this.

Minutes passed in silence. Kagome broke it with her quiet words.

"I really care about you humans too much, don't you understand? I sense your pain and feel it keenly within my own heart. It feels horrible when you humans are so unfairly taken advantage of by demons. It's pointless slaughter after pointless slaughter, and death after death and all for what? A power struggle that has gone on senselessly for ages. Though my demon half causes more problems than it fixes, I count it a blessing that I am able to help humans with it. Maybe show that not all demons are bad."

Footsteps as Miroku came forward and placed a hand on the hanyou's shoulder. Squeezing lightly to show his support, he said, " A noble cause, Lady Kagome. I am honored to be included in it."

Kagome smiled tearfully and said, "Oh, thank you, Miroku!" She threw her arms around him, feeling relief at finally finding a friend. The warm fuzzy moment was broken with a resounding slap. It knocked Miroku quite a couple of feet away, and added to the bruises that girl in the market had given to him the day before.

"I can't believe you did that!! Don't ever touch me without my permission, or you shall suffer the consequences." She unsheathed her claws before the lecherous priest, passing them before his eyes. The priest's licked his suddenly dry lips.

Sheathing her claws again, and rocking on the heels or her feet, she said, "Now that that's settled, maybe we should continue, possibly a bit faster as you two have been walking like turtles." She helped the lecher back to his feet.

Inu cleared his throat. "Yeah, we should be moving faster. We'll discuss destinations tonight at camp."

"Camp? Oh yes. Do you plan on sleeping every night?" Kagome asked.

"That usually is how a human day goes. How do you rest, if I may ask?" Miroku looked at her quizzically.

"I just take a nap here and there unless I'm truly exhausted. Then I sleep about as long as you humans do while I recover from my wounds."

"Then why did you sleep for three whole days this week?" Inu asked, annoyed.

Kagome's eyes clouded over. "Did it ever occur to you that I didn't really want to wake up? Anyways, I was infected with miko poisoning. That's pretty hard stuff to contend with and my human side was doing all the healing not my demon side."

"Oh." Inu said, at a loss for words for once.

Continuing on, and picking up the pace, Kagome told the rest of the story, glaring at Inu Yasha in warning. After it was all said and done, Miroku trailed behind to take it all in. Inu was still ahead, until the hanyou loped ahead of him and into the forest.

She came back about five minutes later, acting as if nothing had occurred. She continued this behavior as the hours went by, and they went in the direction of the distant mountains.

Finally, Inu Yasha snapped on her return. "What is the purpose of you going in and out of the trees?"

"Shhh…" She said, placing one claw to her lips. "Don't let them know that I know that they are there." A look of consternation took over his face.

She tried to explain. "If you can not let on that you are aware of them, they will leave from boredom. See, they gather power from being noticed." Kagome glanced around anxiously. "But they seem to be gathering in large numbers. I have the distinct feeling that they are after the jewel shards!"

"What are they, Lady Kagome?" Miroku asked quietly.

Keeping her eyes on the forest she leaned her head in closely to Miroku's. "They appear to be innocent squirrels but-

"What?! Were slinking about like thieves because of squirrels?!" He laughed, relieving the tension at having learned that they were being followed. He let his pack slide from his arm as he stepped up to the edge of the forest.

"Here, squirrelly, squirrelly, squirrelly! Come out, come out wherever you are! Can the cute little squirrels leave the forest or are your mommies holding you back?"

Inu Yasha suddenly became aware of the red eyes staring out at him from the growing darkness of the forest. Chattering, the creatures had him on edge. He rested his palm on his sword.

Kagome slapped her forehead. "Now you've done it! How could I ever think that you were a serious person?" They hanyou heard a strange fluty noise. The chattering intensified. Kagome's eyes widened.

"Run! They're about to attack!" She grabbed each of their hands and sped away.

They weren't dragging their feet, for she was running at such a high speed, that they just kind of flew behind her, eyes closed from the sting of the wind. Miroku looked back, and almost choked. Hundreds of… squirrels with mouths full of teeth were chasing after them, slowly gaining. One jumped, trying to get a bite, but was lost under the mass.

"How close are they?" Another squirrel jumped, nearly getting rewarded with a toe. "Eeepp! Pretty close!" Miroku replied.

Kagome's mind raced trying to find a way to live through this situation. The air brought her the scent of a large body of water, and she swerved, facing that direction, and racing into the trees. It slowed her down; especially as the bodies floating behind her kept hitting the trees.

"Do you think *Thump* you could possibly *oof* stop knocking us *whack* into trees?" Inu yelled out sporadically.

"Sorry! We have to reach water before they get us!" Kagome yelled back.

"Why don't *smack* we just *slapped by branch* fight them?"

"Too many! They would swarm us and then we'd be chow. Why'd you have to go and insult them, huh? It's your fault were in this!" She replied.

" I thought you were just trying to mess with our heads!" Inu shouted.

"Why would I do that?" She said, startled, and slowing down.

"Don't slow down!!" Both men yelled, panicked.

"Sorry!" She said again, a burst of speed bringing them in sight of the lake. Kagome sensed the mass of demons almost upon them. 'Too close!' She let go of them, and took Miroku by the arm.

"Wha- Ahhhhh!!!" He screamed, as she lifted him off the ground and threw him towards the vicinity of the lake. *Splash* She turned quickly to Inu Yasha. His eyes widened and he made as if to protest. She seized his arm, spun to get momentum, and sent him flying after Miroku. Now that they were safe, she turned to face certain death.

She grinned maliciously and wielded her claws. They wouldn't get her without a fight! A second later you couldn't see her for all the demon squirrels.

***

Inu Yasha watched from his place the air, horrified, as Kagome was swarmed. Right before he hit the water, he saw the squirrel demons fall back as if from an explosion.*Splash* Reaching the bottom, he instinctively pushed back with his feet, the resulting force of it bringing him quickly to the surface. He made for shore, though his sword weighed him down with every stroke. There was no way that Inu Yasha was leaving the family heirloom behind.

The shoreline was covered in jagged rocks, so he could safely assume that he was now on the other side of the huge lake. Luckily, he still had his footwear, so he didn't cut his feet. He squinted at the incoming darkness, looking for any sign of his companions. Making his way to the other side of the lake, he saw a glimmer from the water. He climbed down, and snatched Miroku's staff up from the water.

He called out. "Miroku!" A groan a ways in the forest brought him hurriedly to his friend's side. Looking him over, he took stock of his friend. Miroku's lank hair, usually pulled back in a neat topknot, fell to his shoulders in a soggy mess. His robes were ripped and torn, probably from those jagged rocks on the shoreline. Overall, he looked like a wet rat. He helped his friend into an upright position.

"Ahhh… Not much of a swimmer, especially dragging around all this water weight. Add to that sharp, jagged, pointy rocks and you have disaster." Miroku said, chuckling.

"Here's your staff, Miroku."

"Thanks Inu. I'd feared I'd lost it forever." The ring jingled as it came into Miroku's hands. Getting to their feet, they stared into the darkening sky as it slowly sank from view behind the trees.

Eventually, Miroku broke the silence. "Let's make camp and decide what to do in the present tomorrow morning." No response. "I'm truly very sorry for your loss, my friend. But we must-

"Do you think she could of made it? I can't help but think that someone like her would survive. Even with all the odds against her." Inu stopped, realizing his words meant nothing and that they really couldn't change anything.

"We'll search for her in the morning. But I'm afraid that all we'll be able to do for her is bury and pass rites over her." Miroku said sadly. They gathered wood and made a fire, though they had no food, in silence. Making their pallets, they escaped their thoughts for the oblivion of sleep.

***

The strange whistling was heard even over the sounds of the swarming squirrel demons. In one uniform motion they stopped their attack and turned away from the now unconscious form. As one, they went into the forest, leaving the hundreds of dead and wounded behind surrounding the body of the hanyou. It was not a pretty scene, when all movement had stopped to reveal it.

Of course, the gore did not bother the small frog demon, Jaken, at all, as he left the curtain of the trees. He breathed in the deeply satisfying smell of drying blood. Pleased, he went forward, looking down at the rogue hanyou. Covered in blood, Jaken suddenly felt a stab of panic. Was the ugly thing dead?'No,' he breathed a sigh of relief; the smell of death did not waft up from it. His Lord would not of been happy about the death of this hanyou. The Lord wanted this one for himself, though Jaken couldn't see why. Anything human disgusted him.

Looking it over, he decided he had perhaps let the squirrel demons gnaw on it too long. (Ewwww…)

Taking a slip of rice paper from his pocket, he wrote a note that no one but a select few would understand, and tied it quickly to the Wind Shrike's leg, hopping away in nervousness. It gave him an ominous red glare before it beat its wings and flew off at a speed no normal human could see. Hours passed as the creepy frog demon waited for a reply. What he got, however, made him want to run away.

Riding a two-headed demon monstrosity, his Lord came to the area swiftly. Stepping lightly from it, he seemed to float towards the hanyou, long silver hair trailing behind him. Jaken came forward, groveling at the great Lord's feet. He was ignored, and rightly so, for he was a disgusting, gross, creepy, slimy… Sorry. Anyways…

***

Lord Naraku looked down at the mess before him. Knowing that the hanyou was alive, he didn't let on to this fact until the human part of his mind was far enough down in an abyss of despair to amuse him. Once enlightened, Naraku grimaced at the shout of joy, which only he could hear, that this information elicited. However, that part of Naraku slowly began to get worried and queried his possessor. Naraku smiled slightly.

"Yes, she certainly does look raw." Naraku cocked his head as he patiently listened to the minds rambling. "I suppose so. Can't let her slip away." Naraku took a whiff of the area and smirked. 'She turned demon again, during her struggle. You know what that means?'

Naraku bent down and lifted his wrist above Kagome. One claw sliced his wrist and he let a stream of blood land on her wounds. The slice healed quickly over as he bid it to do so, and he watched as his blood mixed in the hanyou's wounds, making them disappear as if they were never there. Standing, he looked down at the work completed. Her pale skin shone in the newly risen moon and she seemed to take on a glow, confirming what he had already guessed.

'Soon. Soon all will be in place and we shall both be content with our efforts. Shan't we… Sesshomeru?'

Laughing evilly, and Lord Naraku walked to his beast, and Jaken looked up in fear at his Lord and got his first clear look at him.

His Lord was taller than most of the humans that he resembled so much. Of course, this was normal, as many a powerful demon took on this form to get around easier. Long silver hair hung, almost reaching his Lord's feet, glinting brightly in the moonlight. Jaken trembled in fear as icy blue eyes took notice of him. The claw marks on his cheek and the crescent moon on his Lord's forehead seemed to flash at Jaken. The frog demon gulped.

"Ahhh, yes. The loyal Jaken." Said demon cringed.

"Carry on. Keep me aware of any changes." With that, his lord left him, glad to be alive. A groan from behind sent the frog demon scrambling into the underbrush.

***

Kagome moaned again, just for good measure. 'God… I feel like someone whacked me in the head with a boulder.' Putting a hand up to her forehead she winced.

Deigning to look around, she became aware of the smell of rotting youkai bodies and the stale smell of blood. A familiar scent came to her… It couldn't be! Taking another deeper sniff, she told herself she was completely insane. That scent was similar but different. Besides, it was demon, and he had been human. Catching another scent, that of a demon frog, she wrinkled her nose up in distaste.

Kagome's eyes widened in panic as she frantically searched for the shard in her pocket. She closed her hand about it and brought it out. It was pulsing its bright pinkness at her. She sighed. Was this what had kept her alive? She couldn't remember anything after turning to fight to the death. She frowned. Why did she keep having all these memory lapses?

She groaned as she got to her feet. The aches and pains were leaving her quickly as they were soothed away by her demon healing. She tucked the shard away, not wishing to give away her position in the darkness. The moonlight shone on the lake, making it look almost magical. Such beauty, however, was marred by all the floating, hanging, and half-buried rotting youkai surrounding it. She tried to scent for her friends, but all it did was lead her to the water.

'Well, I guess I have to find them the usual way. If I was human, I'd guess that would be to stumble around, make lots of noise, and curse as I ran into trees, stubbed my big toe on a boulder, and tripped on a twig. Then, feeling paranoid, I would start to get the feeling that eyes were on me. Although those eyes would probably be that of a harmless hoot owl, I would nevertheless start freaking, give way to panic, and start screaming inane things like, 'Save me! Save me!' A strange expression entered Kagome's face, before she gave into the giggles at the ridiculous scene she had conjured up.

Her stomach muscles tingled as she sighed in contentment up at the moon.

"It's good, then, that I'm not human!" She said out loud. She then set out about the task of locating her friends. With, of course, none of the situations that said human would go through.

Finding them a short hour later, she made sure they were fine, before finding herself a nice tree to sleep in that overlooked them. She yawned and stretched, her claws unsheathing. Comfortable, she fell into a dream filled sleep. Filled with memories permeated with that familiar scent.

***

Kagome woke up three hours later *cat nap*. She left the branch in favor of the ground. At the base of the tree she stretched, unsheathing her claws, and kneaded the bark. Arching her back, she purred. Finished, she headed towards the camp, wondering if her friends had awakened. No such luck. Not up to hunting for breakfast she was disappointed to see that the wanderer didn't have his pack.

Stalking over, she hunkered over him. "Hey!" He didn't wake up so she poked him. "Hey! Where's your pack? I'm hungry!" Inu Yasha eyes snapped open and he was suddenly sitting up, surprising Kagome so much that she started to lose her balance.

The fight was completely lost when the wanderer leaped upon her hugging her body tightly against him. "You're alive!" He said loudly, causing her to grimace. She tried to peel him off her, feeling slightly strange, as all her hands seemed to do was rest on his.

"Of course I'm not dead! Though If I were human I certainly would be!" Suddenly she went limp with shock in his arms. Inu Yasha looked into her face, concerned.

She just stared at him. "You! You pulled the arrow out! You lied! You…" Her eyes widened further and she blushed. Inu Yasha could just imagine what she was thinking, and he stepped back, abruptly letting her go.

"It didn't mean anything! I swear! I was just-" Miroku walked up, rubbing his eyes. "What's all the noise about?" The sleep rubbed from his eyes, he suddenly noticed Kagome standing there. His mouth formed an 'O'.

"WHAT are you staring at? You humans are acting like-" She noticed Inu also making the same actions. She followed their gaze, which seemed to be fixed upon something behind her. "What is…"

***

Birds were startled from the trees a mile away as a scream shattered the peace of the morning.

Heart beating quickly from the shock, she grabbed the source of her agitation and pulled it before her. A fuzzy peach tail was in her hands, the same shade of her hair, with long white hairs sprouting from the underside of it. Right now it was about the length of her arm, but Kagome knew from experience that it would grow with time. Thoughts going at a furious rate, she calculated how much time she had.

Turning to her friends, who were still staring at her, she asked them an important question. "This whole time, ever since we left the village we've been going northeast right? I've been leading you northeast?"

"Well… yes." Miroku put a finger up to his chin in thought, "I have been wondering about that, as there were many other directions to chose from. But I gave up that line of thought when I just guessed you had heard of some shard rumors up that way."

Kagome cursed fluently, surprising them with her rather colorful vocabulary. She started pacing before them, ears twitching rather agitatedly atop her head. An odd sight with the new addition of the tail, which seemed to mirror the owner's mood by undulating wildly.

Kagome stopped, seemingly calm, and appeared to be lost in thought as she stared into the distance towards the mountains.'My body's tricked me into going where I've had no wish to go in a long time. I guess I should thank my lucky stars it hasn't already happened before this.' Behind her, Inu Yasha shifted, causing his sword to clang and breaking her out of her reverie.

Turning on her heel, her eyes widened as she actually tripped on a small young tree, about a foot tall, growing right where she had chosen to step. Incredulous at the very idea of such a happenstance, she didn't react quick enough to stop her fall. The wanderer was just a few steps away, however, so he cushioned her fall, catching her beneath the arms.

Face pressed into the folds of his kimono, Kagome inhaled his scent once again.Right now, she smelled confusion, concern and… what was that? Alarmed, she tried to push away, but the arms just tightened around her, hands pressed into the small of her back. A purr escaped her.

Starting to panic at her involuntary actions, she leaned away, though the demon half of her protested it. Unaware of the emotions he was provoking, Inu Yasha looked at her, concern evident in his face.

"Are you alright, Kagome?"

She jerked away from him, almost causing him to fall himself from the shift of balances. As she was walking away, he became annoyed at her reaction to a simple question.

"Hey, what was that for?" Ignoring his question, she spoke to both them.

"I'll scout ahead, retrieve your pack, and perhaps gather some fresher food. Most of what you had in that pack must be damaged. Head out towards the mountains in as much a northeastern direction as possible. I'll catch up with you later."

She bounded into the forest. Inu Yasha started wrapping his bedroll up, complaining about hanyou's and their strange behavior. He didn't notice Miroku staring at the space once occupied by Kagome before she had left.

*****

Sango left Kaede's village early that morning, unknowingly walking in the footsteps of the half demon she had been hired to kill. After staying a couple of days and helping out with some other demons, free of charge of course, she had decided it was time to leave. She felt oddly saddened by the leave taking. The village had reminded her so much of her own. Perhaps she would give her home a little visit on her way through the mountains.

A couple of hours later she came upon a strange scene. A pack, left stranded in the middle of the road, it's contents scattered across it. She spotted and recognized demon paw prints, as well as two human males and a female. Picking up the pack, easy for the youkai exterminator to carry even with her other burdens, she followed the tracks a ways down the road before they suddenly swerved into the forest.

She raised her eyebrows at it. It might as well have been a path, if she hadn't noticed the newly broken branches and undergrowth. A swarm, she decided, and it was apparently rather intent on catching its prey, destroying everything in its path. Sango picked a tuft of youkai hair from a snapped branch.

'Strange… squirrel youkai rarely gather in brute force. I wonder what they were after.' She looked down the path of destruction and caught a slight movement to the side.

She spun, grabbed her boomerang from her back, and swung it towards that direction, watching the sky for an escaping youkai. Returning back to her, she was disappointed.

A voice behind startled her. "Tut, tut. Too slow!" Turning, Sango's eyes widened.

"But you're…! The explosion…!"

"No such luck! That's old news. You really should keep up." Kagome took the pack from its fallen position on the ground. "I'll be taking this. It belongs to me, so I'll just be on my way, right?" The hanyou made as if to leave. A whirring sound was all she got as a warning. Kagome ducked, hair flying as the boomerang whipped past her.

"Hey! You could hurt someone with that!"

"That is sort of the point, hanyou. You should be dead! I was hired to kill you. Now you've murdered again and I shall not fail this time in my endeavor." Sango strengthened her hold, readying to throw again. Pack slung on her back, Kagome could not get to her bow. So she tried a different approach.

"Hey, hey! I'm not looking for a fight! This is my pack, really! I didn't-

Her words were cut short by her leap from danger. She felt the fire of anger lick at her demon blood and she tried to stamp it out desperately. 'No! Not again!'

Landing on a tree branch, she looked down at her attacker. "Look, girl, I have no idea who you are but I don't want to hurt you. So I'll have to disappoint you and leave right now, okay? Bye now!" Kagome gave a little wave before she leaped away, just in time to miss another flying attack.

*****

An hour later, Kagome found her companions traveling in the forest, making good headway. Not wanting to join the group just yet, she continued on, scouting ahead as she said she would. No disturbances so far and she didn't smell anything on the wind.

She did, however, smell some wild mushrooms nearby. 'Yuuumm.' Mushrooms were her favorite. Especially roasted on a juicy rabbit. There were several kinds of mushrooms before her, but she knew which were poisonous or medicinal. Though in small doses they could be hallucinogenic.

She grimaced in embarrassment at that memory. 'So I'd made a little mistake between types of mushrooms! Who knew that the patients would act that way!' She grinned, picking the correct mushrooms. Before standing up though, her hand hovered over those particular mushrooms. Dropping Inu Yasha's pack, she rifled through it, looking for a pouch.

"Aha!" Taking the special mushrooms, she shoved them into it. Only a few, you only needed a little to block pain. The problem before was that she had given them the whole mushroom.

Perched in the treetops, she scented the air again. This time, though, she smelt something. Shading her eyes from the sun, she saw it, just in time to be snatched away from the trees.

Claws dug into her shoulder, drawing blood. "Damn!" 'Another shirt wasted! Well, I guess I could just patch them over but that- Kagome gasped in pain as the claws dug into her, grinding against her shoulder blade. The bird youkai swooped down, and Kagome looked to their destination.

"Ooohh, no! Definitely do not wish to be baby bird food. Let me go!" Seeing no sense in trying to reason with a lower bird youkai, she unsheathed her claws and slashed at the legs that held her. "AREWARK!" The bird screamed, dropping her to the forest below.

Possibly plummeting to her death, Kagome could do nothing to stop this.

***

"What's that?" Miroku asked of his friend, pointing to some point in the sky.Inu Yasha looked up from his feet, and gasped in alarm. He started running. Miroku shouted after him.

"What's wrong?!"

"That's Kagome, you baka! What are you waiting for, an invitation?"

***

Like all cats, Kagome landed on her feet. But since she had only two, the weight was not evenly distributed enough not to cause damage. Feeling as well as hearing the audible cracks, she fell down to her side on the ground. Wincing in pain, she tried to rise, but lost enthusiasm for the project almost before she started. Groaning, she just lay there in agony as her demon blood burned along her veins in an effort to heal what was wrong.

Her mind chanted out what she had to do, to set the fractured bones, but she could not make herself do it. Looking around her, she noticed the pack as well as the pouch had divulged their mushrooms, leaving them mixed. Quickly, her hazy mind tried to tell her about why this was a problem, but the Kagome who cared had gone on vacation. This is where the worried pair found her, lying unconscious on the ground, mushrooms spread about her, helter-skelter.