Kagome lowered her bow and waited for her comrades to come up to her, breathing heavily. They stood in a loose semi-circle just looking at each other.The males suddenly started laughing, relieved, patting each other on the back.

"It certainly is exciting traveling with you, Lady Kagome!"

"I'm glad that that's over!" Inu Yasha said.

"We're not finished." Kagome said quietly. Their laughs stopped abruptly.

"What do you mean?" Inu Yasha asked, after a few moments of silence.

"We have to dig out the shards, as well as deal with the eggs."

"Eggs? What eggs?" Even wounded as she was, Kagome managed to give him the 'Are you stupid?' look.

"Look around you." She growled. "We are in a NEST. A NEST! Now what is usually contained within a nest? Hmm? Any guesses?" Inu Yasha grumbled.

"Eggs." He mumbled.

"Yes, yes there's hope for him yet. If I had any energy I'd applaud. Can we get on with it yet?" Miroku stared at the short-tempered hanyou, and decided she was like this because of her wounds.

Not waiting for them Kagome stalked over to the youkai carcass. Unsheathing one claw she quickly carved out the points of pulsing light, which had increased in brightness as well as speed as she had grown closer. One was in each wing as well as in its forehead.

The shards were giving off an evil aura, Miroku noticed, coming closer. Perhaps from being imbedded in the body of an evil youkai. But Kagome either didn't know or she didn't care for she plucked them from the flesh, without any regard for her safety, before he could warn her. But he was shocked, moments later, when their aura changed from a dark evil one to the pureness of pink yet again. Miroku stared at her in wonder. Who and what exactly was this girl?

Kagome held each in close scrutiny before wiping them off with a swath of green fabric, which had been tied around each boot. Making a tinkling noise, each fell in the bottle about Kagome's neck, joining the others. With the last of the shards taken, the youkai's carcass seemed to melt away. Turning to Inu Yasha, she said.

"You did manage to cut off that wing? Get the shard and I'll be back." Walking off, they were left with little choice in the matter.

The pair made their way over to the wing, slowly. Having neither claws nor daggers to work with, they were left with only Tetsaiga. Inu Yasha tried to slice off the chunk which held the shard, but ending up with something the size of his hand. You had to give him credit, though, as he didn't exactly know where it was, except for a weak pulsing light that came every few minutes.

The chunk now removed, the giant wing dissolved. Inu Yasha stooped down, intending to dig out the shard from the remaining chunk, but Miroku stopped him with a hand on his shoulder. Inu Yasha looked up at his friend, confused.

"Don't touch it, my friend. There is an evil aura within it, and I do not think we can come in contact with it without consequences. Let's wait for Kagome."

Standing again, Inu Yasha looked frustrated. "If we can't touch it, why would she be able to?"

"I don't exactly know why, but she seems to have an innate power of purification. It's strange that one with youkai blood has that power." Miroku said, pondering.

They waited in silence and Miroku growing stinkier with every moment until Inu snapped. "Gods! Go wash yourself before I'm forced to gag!"

Miroku took a deep whiff of himself and silently agreed with him. But looking around him, he was at an impasse.

"Uhhh… Inu Yasha?" Holding his nose, Inu turned to him.

"What?"

"How would I go about finding a place to wash… If I can't get down?"

Inu Yasha opened his mouth but closed it audibly. "Well… I guess that's something I didn't think about." Inu Yasha walked up to the lip of the cliff. It was sheer, leaving one with no way to slide down. The option of scaling up was out, too.

"Miroku? There is absolutely no way to get off this thing. How do we get down? Our rides up are dead!"

Miroku stepped up beside him and both continued to stare over the side, perplexed.

****

Kagome, now out of sight of her companions, fell to her knees. What little energy she had retained from the battle adrenaline rush was completely depleted. Kagome bent forward and she rested her forehead against the ground. She was in no threat of going into shock. The blood lost before was almost replenished. All that would be left soon would be a few barely discernable scars.

However, true exhaustion was setting in and she was afraid she would involuntarily become unconscious within a few moments. 'No. Wake up. You have miles to go before you sleep, Kagome. You're half demon! You are stronger than this!' Pep talk now over, she still couldn't seem to move from her resting position.

"No… Must… Can't let… Eggs…" She sighed, on the verge of unconsciousness.

Giving in to the situation, Kagome did something she would never do with a clear mind. She voluntarily let her youkai half take over.

Kagome's head lifted, showing red eyes to any who wished to see. Standing quickly, one would never guess that a couple of minutes before Kagome had been about to fall asleep.

Youkai Kagome looked around, wondering at the sudden change in scenery and wondering where her earlier playmates from before had gone. She scented the air; nose twitching as she caught said playmates' scents and also some others. The demon set about the immediate problem, certain little eggs on the verge of hatching. That, of course, explained why the youkai adults had been hunting.Besides, those other scents didn't' seem to be going anywhere. Demon Kagome set about destroying the eggs, rather gleefully, leaving but a slimy mass of dead baby youkai. Red eyes gleaming, youkai Kagome seemed almost proud of her work.

Now, on to those interesting smells she had found earlier…

*****

Jaken, now hidden in the mess that the avalanche had caused, cackled gleefully at their seemingly insurmountable problem. Looking at the pair of humans, he could see their slow little minds working and winding around this obstacle. It was like watching field mice. Oh, how he'd like to do to them, as he had done to the now roasted field mice.

"Ooooo… Yesss… Roast them like- Somebody tapped him lightly on the shoulder. "What do you want?" He asked, too caught up in his visions of merry little fires burning Inu Yasha and Miroku alive.

A hissing in his ear brought Jaken abruptly awake to his surroundings. Turning slowly, he could see that it was the female hanyou who had sniffed him out. He glared around her at the Wind shrike, knowing in his dark little heart that it had not uttered an alarm in the hopes that he would be killed.

"Seems like it doesn't like you very much. Perhaps it needs a new rider?"

Jaken's eyes widened in alarm. "No, that it impossible! My lord assigned it to me especially for this mission!" He clapped his hands over his mouth, but too late.

Kagome leaned in threateningly. "And exactly who is this… Lord? Tell me or I'll rip you apart with my, quite sharp, claws." She unsheathed them before him, pressing one against his green leathery cheek. A droplet of blood welled up.

Jaken gulped and frowned up at her. Suddenly, he whapped her upside the head with his short staff, and attempted escape. What he realized too late was that he was pretty close to the edge of the cliff. Looking back at the pursuer, he dropped off the cliff with very little noise except that of his bouncing body on the few boulders that stuck out from the cliff face.

Kagome went to the edge and looked over, soon joined by Inu Yasha and Miroku, who were drawn by the noise of the encounter. But the trees obscured any view she may have had of the small green frog youkai.

Kagome turned to the pair standing behind her, her bangs covering her face. Miroku took his eyes away from the trees below, and inhaled sharply as he noticed the gore that seemed to cover Kagome's arms and legs.

"Well, now that that has taken care of itself, let's get off." She stalked over to the wind shrike and stared deeply into its red beady eyes. It seemed to Miroku that the pair made some sort of agreement because the hanyou nodded.

"Get on. Now." Miroku took stock of the Wind Shrike, and it stared right back at him.

"Are you sure we should-

Kagome bared her fangs at him and he saw that she had changed form again by her red eyes. This didn't make him at all more assured. About to take his chances by refusing, he felt his friend push him towards the bird from behind. He gave him a glare.

"Just do it." Inu whispered fiercely. Inu stalked ahead of Miroku, grabbed the pack nearby, and, only hesitating a moment, threw himself up on it. Miroku shrugged his shoulders and did the same, taking a tighter hold on his staff.

Kagome gave one more look to the bird, before getting astride it. "Hang on." She said firmly. However, the guys did not take it to heart quick enough, and would have slid off if Kagome hadn't been such a good anchor.

The ride down was a blur, making all slightly dizzy. At such high speeds, they reached the ground rather quickly, coming to an abrupt stop on the ground.

Miroku slid off the rest of the way, Inu Yasha not far behind him. But Kagome stayed on.

"Come on, Kagome." Miroku said, turning with Inu Yasha to walk towards a stream for a much needed bath. However, a thump from behind had them quickly turning and rushing to Kagome's form, slumped at the clawed feet of the Wind Shrike.

Inu Yasha lifted her and carried her away, while Miroku blocked the bird, just in case it decided to attack. It glared at him with one red eye before squawking once, and fluttering, flew to a branch nearby. It settled down to roost, being as it was a nocturnal bird.

Miroku hurried to where Inu Yasha had gone. He found them not far from where water gushed forth from the mountain and gathered in a pool before going on into a stream. Inu Yasha had gotten one of those swaths of green fabric and dipped it into the water to rinse the gore away.

Wringing it out, Inu Yasha came back to her and started wiping at any skin that showed. It didn't help much, and they all had some on them. It had gotten on their sleeves from when they had grabbed a hold of her and Inu Yasha had it all across his chest from when he had carried her. Add to that the previous muck on Miroku, you had a smell that stank to high heaven. Miroku started towards the pool.

"You stay with her and start the evening meal." For it was evening, the traveling, flying, and fighting taking up all of the day.

"Hey-

But Miroku had disappeared from sight on the far side of the pool. Inu Yasha snorted in disgust at Miroku's selfishness as well as his own rankness. Who wanted to cook and eat when one smelt like this?

Inu Yasha made Kagome as comfortable as possible, before he set about making the meal. The nearest food was in the pack. Flipping it open, his mouth opened in shock. The rice, the dried meat, it was all gone! All there were was mushrooms!

Inu's nose wrinkled up in distaste. He disliked mushrooms intensely.

'Oh well, at least Kagome likes them.'

He set up the cooking area, pulled out some spices and set to work, slicing the mushrooms. It was weird though. There were two kinds of mushrooms. Shiitake and something else. He knew what poisonous mushrooms looked like and since the other kind wasn't in that category, he assumed they were edible.

Miroku joined him ten minutes later. "Watch the food. It will be done in a few minutes. Try to get Kagome to eat and drink some." Inu Yasha then went off to scrub his nasty clothes and remove a layer of dirt.

Miroku took the meal off the fire and placed it to cool nearby. He made a shish kabob on a stick, and bit off some while making his way over to Kagome. Taking bits off one at a time he fed it to her. Even in her unconsciousness, she ate it eagerly.

Next, he picked a large leaf and filled it with water. Carefully, he let it pour into her mouth and she gulped it down. That done, Kagome sighed before seeming to go into a deeper sleep.

Inu Yasha came back and they finished off the rest of the mushrooms quickly before settling down to sleep upwind of Kagome. But a short while later, Inu felt a bit dizzy. Suddenly feeling thirsty as well, he made his way over to the pool. Dipping his hand in the water, he lifted it to take a drink. Droplets fell, hitting the surface and causing ripples.

His eyes were drawn to them as he watched them turn different colors, before changing into fireflies. 'What the hell?' They flew over his head and he looked up, where he was caught by the antics of the stars above. His eyes widened in wonder. The constellations were playing games with each other!

******

If there had been any onlookers from that point, one would see Inu Yasha crouched down near the water, staring up into the sky, a dazed look on his face.

One would than be confused as the strange man then jumped up and turning in circles, laughed hysterically, before falling backwards, knocking his head into a rock.

Smiling still, Inu Yasha reached up his arms, attention then caught by his hands. He stayed that way, staring at his hands and contemplating God knows what, for hours, a crazy giggle escaping him every few minutes.

******

Miroku's eyes felt dry and he tried shutting them up tightly. He also felt odd. Standing, he lost his balance and stumbled into the woods. Tripping, he started to fall. But something was strange. Right before hitting the leaf-strewn ground of the forest, he just… stopped. His nose almost touched the roots of a nearby tree, but he did not actually hit the ground.

He watched the occupants of this tree, squirrels, real ones, for a time in confusion before he suddenly realized something. He understood their language! He chattered at them, and they responded by coming over.

Hand in hand, the pair of squirrels greeted him in a squeaky voice.

"Welcome to our home, the forest of High Times! We urge you to join us, for there is a festival today! Come, let us dress for this joyous occasion!" Smiling, Miroku sat up slowly, picked up the squirrels and followed their directions in preparations.

******

Once again, if there had been an onlooker, one would watch as Miroku stood up from his bedding, and stumbled into the forest. Tripping, you would see him fall flat on his face, slamming his head into a tree. Miraculously, minutes later, you would see him turn his head and stare in one direction for a few moments.

For some unknown reason, the strange man smiled, sat up, picked up two rocks, and stumbled off further into the forest, making one wonder about his luck in finding his way back.

Smells came before she was fully conscious. Wood smoke, a night-old whiff of cooked food, human sweat, all came in at once. Then sounds. Water rushing nearby and the breeze rustling through the trees, which came slowly to a standstill a few moments later. Then she heard what the rustling had been hiding.

Kagome's eyes snapped open, and she sat up quickly. Her hand felt around slowly on the ground for her bow and quiver of arrows, trying to act normally, she almost cursed out loud when she found that she did not have it.

A whirring reached her ears a split second before she rolled away, a familiar bone boomerang crashing into the spot she had just left. 'Is she ever going to quit trying to kill me?' Sango ran to her weapon and again readied it for a throw. "Quit dodging and let me slay you!" Kagome stared at her from her position on the ground.

"Oh yeah, I'm really gonna just let you- Eeep!" She threw herself backwards, clipping a tree. She was spun around by the force of her own throw, and ended up on her hands and knees. 'Not a good place to be, Kagome!'

Not waiting for the next throw, she rolled to the side, stood up, and started running towards the woods. 'Need to get out of the open! Where is everybody?!'

Nearing a pool of water, she turned her head to see if her pursuer was close, and ended up tripping. Landing on something soft, she looked up.

"Inu Yasha! What are you doing still sleeping?!" A crashing sound signaled another attack, and she looked behind her. Her eyes widened.

'Shit! That thing can cut through trees?!' She pressed herself down as it flew over head, turned around and crashed through a few more trees before returning back to it's owner.

"Stand up and fight, you youkai bitch! I won't forgive all the deaths you've caused."

Kagome grabbed Inu Yasha's kimono collar and shook him rather violently.

"Wake up, you stupid useless idiot!" His eyes opened slowly and his hands grabbed at hers on his collar.

"Wha…?" He stared into her slightly panicked angry face confusedly. She was about to say something, but her face turned away from him and she hissed. Inu turned his own in that direction and his mind absorbed what he saw slowly.

Some woman was standing not twenty feet away holding a rather large boomerang of bone. 'Youkai Exterminator.' The phrase came to his mind once he noticed her outfit. Tight fitting, black, poison gas mask. She raised her weapon above her and his eyes widened in panic and surprise. 'She's attacking us? Will we ever get any rest?'

Still drowsy, he wrapped his arms around Kagome, perhaps to offer some form of cover.

"Idiot! We can't stay here!" Grabbing him, she pulled both of them away, right before the boomerang crashed into the ground, causing debris to fly everywhere.

Inu stared at the destruction. 'So much from such a small person.' "Get off before I throw you off!" He heard growled from below him. This made him aware of the fact that he was on top of Kagome. Hurriedly, he pushed away from her, but he ended up elbowing her in the stomach.

"Ooof! Could you be any more clumsy?! And you!" She said, standing up and facing their attacker. "I haven't killed anybody recent enough for you to care!"

Sango glared at her suspiciously, but refrained from throwing the boomerang again. "That pack-

Kagome looked exasperated. "Like I told you before, I was getting it for a friend. This friend that you see behind me, in fact." Sango looked surprised and glanced around her.

"But he's human! He isn't your victim?!" Inu Yasha took a few steps forward, his hands out at his sides, indicating he hadn't a weapon. His hand itched to have his sword within it, however.

"Of course, I'm not her victim! I've been her traveling companion for about three very long and interesting days now." Sango looked confused.

"But…"

"Look, obviously you've been taken in by the villagers talk of me. But really, I don't kill humans." A gleam appeared in Kagome's eye. "Besides, it's more fun to destroy other youkai."

Inu Yasha came closer to the exterminator. "Come on, let's head back to camp and talk further of this. We'll bring you up to date on this and maybe you'll stop trying to kill Kagome."

An hour later Kagome finished the story of their current adventure. "You say you have another companion? Where is he?" Kagome put one finger to her lip and looked up in thought.

"I don't know."

******

From afar some one would see a man standing up, wearing flowers in his hair, flowers in a necklace around his neck, and a skirt of leaves around his waist. And that was all. You would watch as this extremely confused person looked about, not recognizing his surroundings. Then, looking down, you would hear him scream.

"Where the hell are my clothes!! Inu Yasha!! Kagome!!" And not getting a response, we see him try to gain his bearings.

"Where am I?!"

******

"What do you think, Inu Yasha?" Kagome asked, turning to him.

"Well, all I remember is eating, then getting some sleep. I faintly recall getting up to get a drink, but I'm pretty sure Miroku was still here."

"What did you eat?"

"Some of those mushrooms you gathered. I didn't like them very much. Tasted weird even for… What is it, Kagome?" Her eyes had widened and she had gotten up and started riffling through the pack. Turning, she stared at him.

"You ate… All the mushrooms? Both kinds?" Seeing his nod, she started laughing, pointing at him then at the pack but not able to say anything.

Inu frowned and Sango watched as the silly youkai kept pointing back and forth.

"You ate musorukki mushrooms!" She finally managed to choke out. Inu turned to Sango, only to find that she had started to laugh herself.

"Okay, what's so funny?" Inu demanded. Kagome was still laughing so Sango took it upon herself to answer.

"Those were medicinal. When consumed in large quantities, it has hallucinogenic qualities."

"Hallucino-?" They heard the snapping of twigs and they all stared into the woods where the sound was originating from, hands on their weapons. However, they were not prepared to see a half naked Miroku to appear.

"You can't believe how hard it was for me to find you! You now how many clearings next to pools of water there are?! If it wasn't for that maniacal laughter I may not have located you!"

"HE'S your other traveling companion?" All turned to her look of annoyed disgust. Miroku seemed to finally take notice of her. He smiled charmingly.

"Ahh… The young lady from the market. How are you?" Sango crossed her arms and looked away.

"Just fine until now." Miroku's smile didn't disappear, but it's charm dissipated.

Nodding, he turned back to his comrades.

"Okay. Now, I would like to know why I woke up in the middle of nowhere WITH no clothes to speak of upon me? Does anybody have an idea?" Miroku looked between them, questioning expression evident.

"We ate some weird mushrooms that made us see stuff. Then I wake up, and Sango here, who thinks I'm Kagome's victim, is attacking us. You seem to have gone on some disturbed trip through the woods and seem to have the same amount of memory as I have." He had a sour look on his face. "We're all alive and I'd like to move on before something ELSE attacks us, don't you agree?"

All stood up.

"Will the Lady Sango be joining us?" Miroku asked, looking back at her.

"Why do you keep calling all the girls you meet 'Lady', Miroku?" Inu asked, as he strapped his sword at his side.

"It's probably to flatter possible mothers-to-be. Right, Miroku?" Kagome looked at him, one eyebrow raised. Miroku laughed, one hand behind his head, looking slightly like he was caught with feathers in his mouth.

"I'd like to think of it as giving respect to the fairer sex." He replied.

"Yeah. Riiiiight. I totally believe you, 100%" Kagome responded back.

"So," Inu turned to Sango, "are you coming or not?" Sango seemed to thing about it.

"Very well, I guess I shall. It seems like you guy's get in a lot of trouble and I need to pay back Kagome for trying to kill her several times." She said.

"Alright, now that that's settled, let's head out." Inu stated.

"Wait!!" All turned to Kagome.

"Can I take a bath first?" Inu groaned in annoyance.

******

As the week went on, Kagome became more and more distant, scouting ahead most of the time. Since the remaining three did not know her that well, they did not think much of this. Inu Yasha, however, was becoming oddly silent and grouchy when approached, even for him. Miroku would have discussed it with him, but at the end of the day he had little energy for conversation. Everyday, they were attacked by one or more youkai, all with shards. They seemed to be attracted by the few they originally had. After four days that number had been increased to 12.

Fortunately, with the inclusion of Sango, and Inu Yasha's growing skill with his gifted sword, they were but a time consuming annoyance. Unfortunately, they were making little distance towards whatever their destination was and there were injuries to contend with, minor, but still there.

Roles had been assigned. Kagome caught thefood. Sango had no cooking skills to speak of, so she gathered herbs, greens and firewood. After the previous encounter with cooking, Inu Yasha decided NOT to be the cook in favor for setting up camp, leaving Miroku to prepare the meal. It was everyone's responsibility to take down camp.

All this went through Miroku's mind as he prepared the morning meal. A shifting in the trees told him that Kagome was coming back from wherever it was that she went. And for once, he wasn't too exhausted to be curious.

"Lady Kagome. I'd like to speak with you about some things." He said, not looking up from the food. She paused at the edge of the woods, seeming to ponder something.

"Okay." She sat criss-cross near the fire, tail waving in the air idly. It had grown a few inches every day, but today it looked the same length as the day previous, reaching slightly above her head when held up.

"It appears to me that you are avoiding us by your frequent outings. Would it be too much of an intrusion, Lady Kagome, if I asked the reason why?" At that point, he turned and sat before her in the same position. Taking one look at her, he decided that she looked quite haggard.

"Are you well, Lady Kagome? I thought that you would have recovered from yesterday's run-in by now."

The day before a mole demon had left from the ground and almost ripped her arm off. It had left her arm broken in three places along with a dislocated shoulder, leaving her with nothing but one clawed hand for defense. Thankfully, she had used it to her advantage, relying on her strength to jam her claws deep into its blind but very sensitive eyes.

The rest of the group took care of the mangled demon and Kagome plucked the shard from its paw, purifying it with her touch. Re-setting the arm was stressful for all involved. Kagome had been especially annoyed at their lack of travel distance made that day.

Kagome sighed. "`No, I'm fine Miroku. I'm just dealing with certain things right now and it's making me a bit tired." Miroku nodded. They just sat there, birds twittering in the trees.

"Where are they?" She asked.

"Sango to get fresh water for the day, Inu Yasha… Well, he went for a walk, I think. He seems to be doing that more often then not." Again, silence.

"Perhaps you would feel better if you shared your burden." He put her hand on her knee, so close to his. She hissed and he took it quickly away.

"Yeah, I'm sure that's all you want to share, you hentai." Miroku held up his hands.

"My intentions were pure, I assure you." Kagome groaned.

"I'm sorry, Miroku. I don't know why I'm acting like this." She looked down at her lap. "No. No, I know exactly why I'm acting like this." She sighed. She stood up.

"I'll be back. Get ready to leave but stay here. I have things to explain and now is as good a time as any." Miroku was left to sit there, looking at nothing.