Yu Yu Hakusho Fan Fiction / InuYasha Fan Fiction ❯ Elementals ❯ Chapter Two ( Chapter 2 )

[ T - Teen: Not suitable for readers under 13 ]

Title: Elementals
Author: Natala
Rating: Eh, PG-13
Crossover: Multiples eventually but right now just a simple Yu Yu Hakusho/Inuyasha cross.
Author's Note: Gah. Sorry for the long time between updates. Going through a bad writing time.

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Chapter Two
Heat - Part2/2

Kagome had sent most of them off to the shrine. She'd left the brunette (Keiko, she'd said her name was, not just the kitsune's girl) to tell those boys that no, they hadn't all been kidnapped and yes, they were all safe. She had stayed until morning. Past morning in fact. She'd kept her end of the sudden bargain she'd made.

An old man had taken charge of the group. With the sudden instinctive trust she'd once been criticized for, she put the twins personally in his care for the journey, telling him to relate everything that had happened to her little brother. He would take care of the twins until she took care of that jewel.

She was still unsure exactly what had happened to them all. Whatever creature was causing this was obviously also sending out some sort of mental sickness for ones like her, those with her purifying energy, but then their were the twins, who appeared to have had something else done to them. Something more than the sickness that made them act crazy. Something had made them actually be crazy.

It never occurred to her that those "fire things" Taji had spoken of would also be skulking about. She hadn't seen them yet. She didn't need to, someone else had.

"Watch out!" A flash of silver gray - an aura, her mind said - was by her side and the flash of dark fire had her turning, hands reaching out to envelope them both. Pink light sprang up in a sphere around them briefly and Kagome held one hand on the boy's shoulder as she sized up her opponent.

It was exactly how Taji, the boy now by her side, had described it. A thing made of fire. It had no form, nothing to hit. But it had a dark aura, and her powers needed nothing more to target it. "You followed me, Taji."

"I want to learn." He was shaking under her hand and his voice trembled. He was scared. Terribly, deathly frightened of this thing, but he was still willing to protect her, a person he'd just met, from one of them. It didn't speak, she didn't know if it had the ability. It stared at them. At least, she assumed it did. She couldn't see if it had eyes.

"I want to help." His whisper made her heart ache and she wished she could stop a moment and pull the lonely and heartsick boy to her. Obviously there was something more to this. Where were his parents? She had a sickening feeling as she scrutinized his reaction to the fire being that she knew exactly where his parents were.

"That's great kid, but why don't you leave it to the professionals?" Taji jumped and turned to stare at the four boys there with a nervous Keiko trailing behind. Obviously on the way to take her somewhere safe they had made a detour. Kagome didn't bother turning her eyes away from the creature. Would her powers destroy something insubstantial like this? Only one way to find out.

"Professionals? Then why weren't you the one saving us?" Kagome was surprised to find that she was pleased at the bite Taji had in his statement. Not a pushover, this one who seemed to be brave and stubborn. He'd make a good student. She just hoped she would make a good teacher.

A spark of pink turned into a light that streamed in a brief flash from one palm. Obviously the fire being hadn't thought her to be operational. It had thought her to be as helpless as the others. Its mistake.

Kagome stared as the fire shaped vaguely like a human disappeared on instant contact with her energy. She could see why they didn't want her and her kind around. Besides the whole seeing the jewel hovering over the center of the city thing. If this was how they all reacted to purifying energy, it was understandable.

"Wow. I want to do that." Taji was bouncing on his toes.

"You need a hair cut," Kagome commented, staring at the messy locks of black hair.

"When do I learn that?" He asked, ignoring her pretense to be interested in his hair.

"Badly," She added. Taji settled down and ignored the looks they were getting to fix her with a pleading gaze. "Soon?"

"Perhaps. It depends on how much potential you show in that area." Completely ignoring the narrowed eyes she pulled the teen forward with her, her shoes clicking on the pavement as she continued heading toward the center of the city.

When five more pairs of feet followed her, she rolled her eyes, already studying the buildings ahead. What she needed was to get to the top of a building with a flat roof and shoot it down. That's what she needed. It would have helped if she had her bow and arrows, but if she needed to, she could do with regular energy beams.

She sucked in a breath at the sudden presence that moved from in back to her side. She ignored him, feeling his annoyance when she did so. In back of them, Kurama took the opportunity to pull Keiko closer to his side, nuzzling her hair as they walked, breathing in the life and scent and glad she was here. He wanted her safe, but at the same time, how would she be safe if something came after her and there was no one there to protect her?

"You said you'd be there in the morning." Anger flooded the space around the three in front suddenly. Taji shivered and Kagome frowned at the boy. He was sensing things very quickly. It was as if he was hypersensitive. There was something decidingly odd about the boy's aura, but she couldn't place it. It was good. But there was something extra, something different there.

The majin fumed as his statement seemed to be ignored. He glanced back at the other four and saw Kurama practically jump away from Keiko and the girl herself fidgeting a bit. He rolled his eyes at them both. He had noticed them being extra cuddly. How could anyone not? It was bothering them more than him.

Kurama met his gaze unflinchingly and Yusuke raised an eyebrow. Kurama shrugged. He liked her. She liked him. Keiko's sickness had just made him extra protective of her and now they realized that the awkward moments didn't need to be there between them.

"You two are pathetic," Hiei summed it up nicely to the two once again hand in hand as Yusuke faced the miko woman once more. Even Kuwabara knew they were "together". Obviously they had no reason to hide it.

"What's he angry with her for?" Keiko asked softly to the three boys as she stared at her friend's tense back. If it made for a distraction, she might as well satisfy her curiosity.

"The miko interpreted a promise she made differently than he did," The fire apparition spoke once more before lapsing into silence as the three curious faces around him peered at him. He was a very light sleeper, and no one could miss the detective when he was angry.

"I was there. I left after noon, in fact." Kagome lengthened her pace and Taji was looking between them in confusion. She glanced at him and he relaxed as she tried to convey to him not to worry. Apparently it worked.

"I meant you should be there when we woke up!" She didn't turn her head to see the narrowed brown eyes.

"I was."

"You know what I fucking meant!" Yusuke clenched his fists as she continued to speak in that calm, almost detached tone despite his out burst.

"You should have been more specific. I took that what you were saying was exactly what you meant." Kagome and Taji stopped at the same moment and shivered, Taji stumbling and almost falling. There was something different right here. Something was watching them.

"Will you stop shoveling bullshit! You- Hey, what's wrong?" A spark of worry crept into his eyes as both of them stood; pale faced and the boy barely holding himself up only by his stuuborn will and a hand on a nearby wall.

"That's a very dark aura," Kagome murmured. Her eyes were drawn to a building to her right. The top looked flat. Near enough that she could hit the jewel. She would have chosen it herself. But something was already there waiting for them.

"Let's go. Kill the bastard who did this to all of us!" Taji was striding on trembling legs toward the building. His strides steadied and Kagome was beside him, studying him carefully. "Taji..."

"I learn quick." Both stopped again.

"How do we get up there?" Kagome shrugged at the question. She could jump high, but not that high. Maybe a few jumps... why couldn't it have a convenient ladder near it?

"I can get up there using my Spirit Sword!" Kuwabara exclaimed, getting ready to use it.

"Yes, and once you kill the bad guy, how will you destroy the jewel?" Kagome glared at the young man as he stared at her. What she needed now was for someone to get her up there. She supposed they could go inside the building and up to the roof... or back track and jump from lower buildings and gradually jump higher. She could anyway. Taji couldn't. All the better then.

Just as she was ready to backtrack a ladder dropped down on one side of the really tall office type building and seemed to anchor into the ground. Kagome raised an eyebrow and shrugged. Looks like she was taking the ladder.

"That's an obvious trap!" Yusuke said in frustration. Kagome sighed as she turned to face him, a spark of anger and frustration in her eyes. "Really? What was the first clue? The whole fact that we could feel him up there watching us, that he picked the perfect building I'd want to use to shoot the jewel down, or the big honkin' ladder ready for me to use?"

Finished snapping at him and feeling a bit better now that she had taken her anger out on a mostly innocent Yusuke; she took a breath and approached the ladder. Unfortunately a male body that decided to plant itself in front of her stopped her forward motion. "Are you stupid? You can't just walk into it!"

"Really? I can't? Watch me." Kagome wrapped one hand on the first rung. As she pulled herself up the first few feet, she found herself unsurprised to be glancing down and seeing a familiar angry toushin at her heels, her soon to be apprentice right under him and grinning cheekily up at them, attempting to hide his fear.

"So, you going to stare at him all day, or actually move, Kagome?" At Taji's question, Kagome jumped and realized her gaze had moved back to Yusuke, frowning at him. She scrambled upward and hoped they couldn't see her blush.

Yusuke wasn't paying much attention to the boy; his gaze had been fixed upward and had settled firmly on the legs and hips above him. Hey, if he was going to follow the girl into an obvious trap, at least he was getting a good view.

"Yusuke, I don't think that's appropriate," Kurama called from further below, having tilted his head upward to look past the small teenage boy ahead of him and seen where Yusuke had been looking.

"What's not?" Kagome called down as she continued climbing up. This was getting boring. Not at all stressful considering the past few years, but why did people need buildings this big?

"Heh. Nothing." Suspicious but unwilling to stop and glare at the boy below her, Kagome resolved to squeeze it out of one of them once this was done, if she saw them. Something told her this wouldn't be the last time they would be heading into danger together.

Her hand finally hit the last rung and she pulled herself up onto the hard cement roof of the building and proceeded to lie there a moment, totally unconcerned about the dark aura that was waiting impatiently for her to admit its evilness. Tough luck, she'd felt Naraku and he had hot, evil, and wicked laughter going on. This guy was totally toast. Kagome rolled over onto her stomach and stood to face her foe.

She quickly changed many of the pronouns in her mind from "he" to "she" and "him" to "her". Unlike the fire beings before which had only a vague humanoid form, this one was definitely solid, with only a few flames dancing across the dark, almost brown skin. Red-orange hair and yellow-orange eyes made it all the more obvious what she was. But most of all, she definitely looked female. And like most female villains, she was of course astonishingly pretty. Somehow, Kagome didn't care. She just wanted to kick her fiery ass off the roof and out of Ningenkai.

"Hmm. For the famous Guardian I'd heard would be the main threat, I'd thought you would have been more... intimidating. I hate to tell you dear, but you don't really look like a warrior for good. You simply look like a normal girl taking too much on her shoulders. Really, why do you fight? Wouldn't it be easier..." At this point Kagome realized this was the usual attempt at a villain to mess with her mind and fixed her eyes to a point slightly to the left of the fire elemental's head.

It took a few minutes for the female to realize she was being ignored. She smiled a bit nervously, that having been her trump card against such extraordinary odds. Psychological warfare was supposed to work! "Ah... Were you listening?"

"To that load of crap? Nope. Naraku was much better at it. Of course, he had the whole deep, smooth voice going for him as well." Inwardly, Kagome shuddered at saying such a thing. But, if it made the demon mad, then she would become sloppy. If she was sloppy, she would be easy to take down.

"So. It really is you. This won't be the end you know. I'm the weakest of us. The others will come to avenge me. Not even all the power in that jewel would save you then!" Taji's eyes widened as the fire elemental actually trembled when Kagome stepped forward in response to the cocky words. How powerful was she? She was scaring the demon and she hadn't said more than a few words!

"Good to know." Kagome hoped it was all talk. She didn't want to have to do this more than once. She already had a bunch of soosaara and mikos to train. Couldn't she simply do that for the rest of her life and leave it at that? Except, the rest of her life might be stretching it. With the Shikon no Tama about her neck, that could be very short amount of time... or a very long amount. Or, if they were all wrong, a hopefully normal amount of time. That, Shippo had said, would depend on her choice. She'd understood. She did have a choice in a way.

"Let's see if you're all the legends make you out to be." The demon hissed. Then a wave came out of her hands and Kagome once again reevaluated the demon. Not quite a fire elemental, she was pushing pure heat at her, and it was invisible, not in the form of orange and yellow flames.

Unfortunately, enough heat did begin making things light on fire and Kagome felt her shields pulse as they worked to compensate for the new energy. Then Taji screamed.

His clothes had caught on fire. She hissed and hurried to him, helping him put them out before putting up a stronger shield around him and turning enraged eyes onto the smirking elemental.

"Oh, poor girl. You look-" She never finished her sentence. A surprised look crossed her face before she disappeared, a light pink glow for a moment illuminating where she had been before it too disappeared.

"Angry? You hurt one of mine. You shouldn't have done that," Kagome scolded the empty air, not noticing Taji's eyes shine in joy. Keiko did and wondered how starved for attention the teen was to accept that from a near stranger. Sure, she'd saved their lives, but he seemed a bit too attached to her.

Kagome stared at the jewel floating above the city and heartily wished for her bow and arrows. It was going to take a lot of energy to destroy it without them, and with the energy she'd already used that day, and left over fatigue from yesterday, she wouldn't be surprised if she collapsed. That was one powerful jewel. It radiated energy and defenses and, fortunately, darkness. It was harder for her to destroy things that weren't dark. It was just the way her powers worked.

"So, is that it?" Yusuke was glancing around. The kid was a bit burnt, but for weeks of toil and heat, that had been absurdly easy. Hell, why hadn't they been able to do that?

"A strange breed of demons. I will have to look into this. I believe I will have a reason for why they can sense them, but we can't until we are right on top of them." Well, wasn't that convenient. Kurama to the rescue. As long as he didn't have to pick up a book, he was happy to have the kitsune do it.

"Not quite finished. The jewel's still there and it will continue maintaining the heat wave, though it will not continue to spread. It might still become hotter. I've never come across this before. I can sense some things about it, but... Well, I suppose we'll never know." Kagome took a breath and focused her palm towards the jewel, feeling the glow of energy around her fingertips before it began to travel.

Energy poured out to attack the jewel which seemed to flicker and then glow as if protecting itself. Kagome redoubled her efforts, not even noticing the yellow beam until it was beating on her shields. It really was trying to protect itself.

Her weakened shield was standing up to the damage for now, but Kagome decided this was going to be an all or nothing gig. She gathered up as much energy as she could spare without dying or releasing the shields on the Shikon no Tama and poured it through her palm, afterwards dodging to the side away from the beam traveling through shields no longer there.

The miko managed to keep herself upright long enough to see the red heat jewel shatter and fall to the ground in crystallized dust. Then she turned, smiled at them, her eyes lighting upon Taji affectionately, and promptly fell over.

There was a silence and then Yusuke looked at the others. "Let's just pretend we caught her right then. No one will be ever the wiser."

Snorts of laughter were issued and after a moment Yusuke walked over and knelt to pick her up. There were a few pauses as they all looked down at the ground, then at the miko in his arms. "We're on a roof, Yusuke. It would be a bit difficult to climb down a ladder with her in your hands."

He shrugged nonchalantly and then grinned at them. "Guess I'll have to jump."

Taji and Keiko both protested. Yusuke ignored them as he stepped off the roof. Kurama and Hiei simply shrugged and Hiei followed, Kurama taking the more conventional route to look after the two non-super powered of the group. Kuwabara went down last.

Yusuke grinned as the ground approached rapidly, the air flowing past making his blood rush. This was the best adrenaline rush. Unfortunately, it was put to a stop when something caught him by the back of his jacket and stopped his descent, growling out a complaint.

He twisted around to see golden fur and slightly annoyed emerald eyes. "Hey, you're that kitsune. Can't remember your name. So, we got rid of the heat wave."

Despite being an overly large fox, he managed to convey a raised eyebrow, even without eyebrows to speak of. "Well, maybe she did. We would have eventually!"

There was a disbelieving snort before the kitsune twisted his head and dropped them in his fur, snagging the youngest teen from the ladder he was scrambling down and adding him to his passengers. After a thoughtful pause, he added Keiko to them, and then began to bound off. Immediately Kurama and Hiei began chasing him. Shippo ignored them.

"Don't worry about it. He's just taking us to the shrine." A previously unnoticed boy with black hair who looked a bit like the girl Yusuke was still holding sat up from where he had been nestled into the golden fur on the kitsune's neck.

"Isn't it a bit dangerous for him to do this in the daytime?" Keiko asked nervously.

"Probably. But, with the heat wave only beginning to dissipate... mass hallucination. No one will speak of it." The boy shrugged, and then they were all clinging to fur as the overgrown fox came to a stop. He growled at them over his shoulder.

"Here's our stop. Here, give her to me." All three who were conscious stared at the boy before Yusuke glared and slipped off without relinquishing his hold on the girl. Taji had a bit of a harder time and rolled as he landed, to ease the strain. Keiko's fall was a bit more clumsy and Souta managed to land on his feet, even if not as easily as Yusuke had.

Shippo transformed just as Hiei and Kurama launched themselves toward the group, rolling his expressive green eyes at the angry expressions. "I have no patience to deal with self righteous angry volatile demons. Souta, you're up."

"What? Why me?" Souta stared at the kitsune. Shippo smirked and took Kagome from Yusuke, ignoring the toushin's narrowed eyed stare. Hopefully they'd just leave. Kagome certainly didn't need a suddenly protective majin she barely knew hanging around. At least, he didn't think she did.

"Who are you? Why did you bring Keiko here? She needs to go home. She'll be safe there." Souta caught the flash of gold and suddenly wished his sister was awake. He turned in surprise as a teen slightly younger than him placed himself beside him. He had an odd, silver aura.

"It's safe here. Can't you feel it? This is the safest place in the world for people like us." Souta grinned at the boy's soft statement. With so many of them here now, the God Tree was practically singing to them all, its influence extending over the whole shrine now. The calm and peaceful air was going to be needed with around a hundred people, most of them young, all on the same property.

"Keiko..." Kurama glanced at the brunette, whose mahogany eyes were steady on the largest tree standing tall, proud, and alone on the property. She switched her look towards the kitsune and her eyes said it all. Apologetic and guilty, but there was a strange shine to them. She needed to stay here, at least for a little while.

Kurama's eyes went back to green and they darkened considerably even as Kuwabara came over the top of the stairs, staring as Kurama turned toward the younger Higurashi, his face perfectly calm. "Why doesn't she want to leave?"

"We didn't do anything, if that's what your insinuating. Ask her yourself if you're so interested. It's more of a feeling than anything. Almost impossible to put into words. Or ask the tree. If it wants to, it manages to communicate better than all of us. No pesky words to hinder its explanations." Souta's gaze flickered around, only briefly staring at Kurama as he spoke. His eyes went to the rest of the property, looking over the newcomers that had taken residence there and grinning at the familiar twins, tussling around in the grass. He shivered to think they seemed so normal, yet there was something so very wrong with them.

"What's he talking about?" Kuwabara questioned the fox, who had turned his attention to the tree. Beside them, Hiei's hand was settled on his sword. The very air around them was so pure, it was sickening.

"The tree... it's very strange. And... It doesn't like me. That... a tree can't dislike me. It's in my very nature to have an affinity with nature." His anger dissipated into confusion and curiosity, his gaze as fixated on the tree now as Keiko's had been. At its roots, most of the people herded there earlier stood, talking quietly and finding themselves calmer than they ever remembered being.

"Great. A tree that's alive. Would you like me to slap a dress on and call myself Pocahontas?" Yusuke's voice dripped sarcasm. Kurama didn't seem to notice.

"Technically, all trees are alive. If you put on a dress, I think I'll have to burn my eyes." There were a few snickers, including Kuwabara's guffaw, at Kurama's ready answer. He was stepping towards the tree, stopped by a boy who was frowning quite seriously at him.

"I'm sorry, but we don't allow strange demons near the tree." Souta's voice was firm and Kurama found himself being confronted by his fellow kitsune when he attempted to continue. "It's impolite to disrespect someone when you are guests on his property."

"For some reason, I'm getting the feeling he doesn't like us," Kuwabara mentioned to Yusuke.

"Me too. Fine with me, if some stupid demon wants to dislike us for no reason, he can. He'd just better be ready to follow through with whatever he starts." Everyone seemed tense and the shrine had gone silent. Souta had somehow managed to slip a bladed staff into his hand.

"He's not old enough to own this property. As the proprietor is presently asleep, I will take permission onto myself and apologize later if she did not want me near it." Kurama didn't understand why the other smirked at his statement.

"Too bad Kagome is not the one who holds the property in her care. Souta, why don't you have your mother invite our guests inside. Make sure they don't touch anything." Shippo bared his fangs at Kurama before disappearing out of their sight.

"What the hell is his problem?"

"I imagine I am," Kurama answered, unusually subdued as the kitsune disappeared. "He does seem oddly familiar. For some reason, I'm associating his scent with dogs as well. I will contemplate it later."

Kurama's face settled into a thoughtful frown. Youko was on the edge of his senses and snarling as well. He remembered the kitsune vaguely, but neither could remember from what. Or when.

"Great. Another from your past? For a famous thief and ruthless killer, you sure seem to leave a lot of people behind." Yusuke ignored the glares he received for that statement as a woman appeared at the door of the house.

"Hello there. I'm Mrs. Higurashi. Would you four like to come in? You as well, if you want? I've been trying to feed everyone today, but many of them decided to take the strain off and simply go out and get their own food." The smiling middle-aged woman bustled all five of them inside and toward a table. Souta was already there, savagely attacking his food with the abandon of a growing teenage boy, Taji mimicking him from across the table. They were apparently attempting a conversation as they ate.

"So then," The sentence was interrupted by sounds of chewing, "she came out of the well and was all, 'Hey Souta.' And then she collapsed. She was bleeding. That was scary, seeing my own sister collapse like that. Then again, she described Inuyasha once and he was even worse when he got injured, blood everywhere!"

Instead of looking horrified at the discussion at the table, she simply smiled and shook her head. Keiko looked horrified by the enthusiastic hand waving Souta was doing to get his point across, especially when he was describing his own sister. Taji was eating it up with wide eyes, taking bites once in awhile, apparently not finding it odd to be eating and listening to Souta avidly describe battle scenes.

"And, once, after she came back, and after Shippo had found us, a few demons attacked, and they just slid into the battle. They'd never fought together because Shippo had been a kit to her before. But now... it just, there they were and then the demons were gone! A few from Shippo had bodies left, but most of those had arms missing, or holes in their chests and guts hanging out, dripping slimy blood like stuff and some stringy things that-"

"Oh... I... need to use the bathroom," Keiko said faintly and bolted from the room as Mrs. Higurashi called out directions. Then the motherly face turned serious and she scolded lightly, "That wasn't nice, Souta."

"I know. But Taji owes me money now. So does Shippo. I'm gonna be rich, Mama!" Souta enthusiastically took the bills he was handed from Taji and stuffed them haphazardly into his pocket. The four boys looked disappointed to see the story stop, Yusuke leaning back and Hiei fixing his eyes in a different direction.

"The airs already getting cooler. I'm so glad," Mrs. Higurashi murmured into the silence, handing them their meal.

"Excuse me, Higurashi-san, but may I see the tree? Your son and that kitsune prevented me from studying it earlier." Kurama's hopes were dashed at the apologetic smile.

"I'm sorry, dear. Perhaps later." The underlying meaning was obvious. Perhaps when Kagome woke up and could defend herself, them, and the shrine properly, then she could give him permission. Until then, he wasn't getting anywhere near it.

"I see." The meal would have continued in silence if not for Souta deciding he could regale the rest of them with the bloodiest tales he could remember. Yusuke joined in to counter them and despite themselves, Taji and the two Higurashi's present found themselves warming up to the rough and ill-mannered majin.

On the floor above, anger practically radiated from a golden kitsune who was settled in Kagome's window, one leg braced against the windowsill, one on the floor. Keiko, walking out of the bathroom, glanced inside by chance at heard the soft words he spoke. "There have been rumors in Makai. Oh Mama, I hope you don't end up fighting the rest of them like this. This shouldn't be your responsibility. But no one else seems to be stepping up to the plate, are they? Certainly not him and those others."

Keiko headed down the stairs, her head spinning with puzzles. There were more coming. He called the elder miko "Mama". And what reason did Shippo have to dislike any of them?

Far away, a meeting was held and another stepped up to try its hand at their task. They decided to allow this and a new jewel came into existence, a shimmering silver-blue color. "Do not fail."

There was a smile, the slightest hint of a smirk. Teeth were bared in excitement and glittering eyes glowed slightly as they glanced at those speaking. "I will not. My methods are much more...direct, than hers."

With that, the blue jewel and the one holding it disappeared.

Rain clouds, apparently a symptom of the breaking heat wave, began to form above the city. No one seemed to notice a shimmering jewel falling into the lake at a park and beginning to glow.

---End Heat Part 2/2---

Reviewer Responses:

Thanks to Rose_Fury, kagome15, and moon flower for reviewing.

Shabopo: Wow, thank you. Elementals is a bit different than what my usual had been, and it gets shoddy in some parts, but I hope it keeps meeting expectations overall.

Fox_Vixen: I don't write Kagome/Kurama's. I'll read a few of the good ones, but overall, I don't really see them clicking. Sorry. As for the rest of the inu_gang, that might be a long time in explaining, but it will be revealed eventually.

Kin-chan Pandun: Wow, you have a lot of questions. I'll try to sort out the ones I can answer without giving away the whole plot. Obviously, it was a jewel above the city, and yes, Kagome will, at least for a bit, be hosting a refugee camp on her shrine. To those she saved, she may become different things, but some of that will be revealed soon so I won't go too far into it. Kagome will be a major part of the main conflict, which is also a bit slow in being totally revealed. Keiko and Kurama will be explained later, though perhaps not as lengthy as they deserve, as I tend to get them to OOC if I focus on them a lot. Yusuke is not aware of what happened with his aura, and for now, Kagome and Yusuke will be interacting as allies. I don't want to rush things. Souta was attacked, plain and simple. The Sengoku Jidai will also have to wait, which I know might be frustrating. Hmm... I may answer more of those later, but I think that's enough for now.