Bleak gray and white storm clouds rolled lazily across the sky, covering the natural blue of the vast heaven. The grass sprinkled with dew glittered every now and then in the small rays of light that the sun forced through the thick blanket of gray. Everything seemed to have lost color in the recent storm, along with the one brewing again. A hooded figure emerged from the over grown trees, faded black cloak billowed behind the small frame as they made their way through the tall grass. The figure then stopped suddenly, its head moving to look up at the sky, warm ivory skin turned pink in the light as a rich violet eye dilated to a slit. No noise was made as the figure then took off at a dead run, a black blur in the dreary day.

The hooded figure then stopped once again, this time in the shadowy forest, but a large spring and water fall. Kneeling down at the waters edge two ivory hands emerged from the cloak and dipped slowly into the chilled water. The hands then came up to the over sized hood covering the face of the figure. It was a female, and a quite pretty one at that. Warm ivory skin faded back from the pink it was in the sun, high cheek bones, slightly narrow chin, and lightly plump lips were nothing compared to the mystery of her eyes and hair. Her streaky mixture of black and white with a hint of lavender hair is long with choppy layers, reaching her knees with feathered bangs falling into her eyes. Her black outlined eyes are what entice most male demons, the right one is a light violet, nearly white with a rich purple ring around the outside and cracks of glowing silver throughout the iris. The other is simply a rich purple in color. A beauty mark also holds a place on her face just under the outside corner of her right eye and under her left, tracing from just a few centimeters from her nose, to her temple is a faint scar.

Cold hands touched her warm face lightly, instantly cooling it back to it's icy feel. She sat all the way down, running her hands through her long hair absentmindedly as her odd eyes stared to the glassy surface of the water. The violet eyes then looked up, the right one dilating into a slitted four pointed star. She then stood suddenly, replacing her hood back over her eyes as a rather large wasp looking insect flew by, followed by three others. She slowly backed into a thick shadow, then from her feet up she melted into it, the shadows encasing her body for safety and to stay under the radar. She would wait there until they passed the area.




Red eyes narrowed and a pale fist clenched as news was brought to him. He then shrugged it off, though still upset about her evading him yet again, "Leave," he muttered to the insects, "and keep searching," he added as two of the three insects flew off.
He waited for a moment, then closed his eyes and leaned against the wall, "Kagura," he said sternly.

He cursed under his breath, not taking care to choose whatever choice words he uttered. He nudged the lifeless body over with the end of his sword, causing it to turn over on its back. Some blood still slowly flowed from the deep slice through the creature's neck. The head was still attached which proved his angered carelessness.

Third one today...

So weak, he gave a short exhale as if to punctuate that fact. If he was going to have to keep taking out demons they could at least be strong enough to provide a challenge, however little it actually was.

Shouldering his sword, he listened for anything else. And finally hearing nothing, his amber eyes drifted up to the sky. Perfect weather to reflect his current mood. Well, previously perfect weather. The sun's light had only just started to streak down towards the Earth from behind an opening in the grayed clouds above. He half wished the clouds still blocked out the light; he was frustrated and sunlight did nothing for him.

With nothing else to do, he made his way back into the woods from the clearing, leaving behind the third demon he'd slayed that day. Too many to be a coincidence, someone had to be sending them. Whatever, he'd have no problem taking care of whatever came his way.

She smelled farther away than the place he'd left her; probably having gotten bored enough to wander. That human girl hardly ever did anything he told her to.

OOC: I'm assuming it's fairly early into the story, where Kagome is still pretty awestruck by the fuedal era. Correct me if I'm wrong.

Kagome picked her way through the thick underbrush, ducking under a branch here, pushing a canopy of leaves aside there, until she came back to the BoneEater's well. She sat on it's edge, lost in thought.

Kagome wasn't particularly worried about Inuyasha, or whether he would find her way out here. By now, the teenage girl knew better than to worry. Inuyasha could always smell her, and would always seek her out again. The girl wasn't particularly sure why; she was more of a nuisance than a help.

Oh, that's why. Kagome was the only person who could sense Sacred Jewel shards. Inuyasha needed her for that; they couldn't let the shards fall into the wrong hands. Even though they seemed to do so anyways.

But was that all Kagome would ever be to him? A tracker, useful only for locating objects of immense power? Of course, that in itself was a big role, but.... it was strictly business. Would she.... would they..... ever be more than just partners?

Kagome shook her head violently. She told herself that she didn't want anything more than a shaky partnership. That she didn't want anything more. Who would want to befriend such an insensitive, bumbling idiot? Who would want to be more?

Kikyo. Kikyo was more to him than just a partner. In fact, the two had once been enemies. And then became lovers. Kagome thought that Kikyo must've been such a fool to be able to love that idiot, Inuyasha. And despite this, Kagome felt a tiny twinge of jealousy.

" Ah, what am I thinking? " Kagome banged herself on the forehead and stood up, waiting for Inuyasha.

(( idk, only Kurai would be able to answer that ))

Inuyasha stopped taking a few seconds to curse again. He scent was farther than he'd first thought. Apparently, she'd wandered even farther than usual. Holding tetsaiga out away from himself so it wouldn't get in his way, he took up running as walking would take too long.

Why couldn't she ever listen? All he'd done was ask her to stay in one place, one place while he took out another demon just a little ways off. And what had she done? Wandered off, again. Kagome was trouble alright. He wouldn't bother with her at all if he didn't have to.
She was the only one that could sense the different shards of the Shikon no tama, most likely because she'd been the one reponsible for breaking it in the first place; he scowled at the thought.

Why couldn't he have a partner more like Kikyo? ... Then again, nothing could have compared to her. The human priestess was a vivid memory in his mind, someone he could not have forgotten even if he had wanted to.

He finally reached a sort of clearing where Kagome's scent was the strongest. Glancing over the area, he found her easily.

"What do you think you're doing?" He snapped, shouldering tetsaiga yet again. He stopped to stand where he was.

" I'm thinking. " Kagome sighed, rolling her eyes at Inuyasha. " I get bored, too, you know, " But even as she said this, she knew from a glance that Inuyasha and all of his insensitivity didn't care at all.

She sighed and moved from her spot by the well, knowing the look in his eyes enough to realize that he was thinking about Kikyo again. No doubt comparing the two of them, pointing out all of Kikyo's virtues and her own flaws. As far as Inuyasha was concerned, Kagome didn't have any virtues.

Kagome had a hard time believing that she and Kikyo were the same person. The fact that the Sacred Jewel had been inside her body was proof enough. But Kikyo had been a priestess. A master archer. And Inuyasha had loved her. At that point, Kikyo seemed so different from herself that Kagome wondered if she should exist at all. ONly later would Kagome realize how alike they were.

Waitin gofr Inuyasha'a retort, Kagome sighed.

"Yeah so?" He snapped. "How does that give you the right to just take off?"

She really was so much different than Kikyo. A...what was it...reincarnation? He hardly believed that. Wasn't a reincarnation supposed to be like the original person? Sure, she looked a little like Kikyo but not so much that she could be mistaken for her and her personality was nothing like Kikyo's. For one, if he'd asked Kikyo to stay in one place to wait for him, she would have done it.

He scowled even more getting mad at himself for allowing all the memories to come back. Kikyo was gone, he couldn't spend so much time thinking about something he couldn't have even if part of him believed he could still have a part of it.

" Uh, last time I checked, I'm a free person and can take off whenever I want. It's not like you care, anyways. All I'm good for is finding the Jewel shards, right? " Angered even more as she said these words aloud, Kagome turned toward the well and swung her legs over, dissapearing from Inuyasha's sight.

The well swirled with an eerie blue light, seeming as if the whole galaxy swam before her eyes, and suddenly Kagome found herself back in modern-day Tokyo. Back home.

Sighing partially with relief and partially with happiness to be home again, Kagome climbed up the well's sides and ran out of the shrine. It had been almost a week since she had left.

" Souta!! Grandpa!! Mo-om!! I'm home, " she yelled, grinning as her family came rushing.
" Welcome back. We weren't expecting you for a few days," Grandpa smiled.
" Yeah, well, Inuyasha's being an idiot again, " Kagome sighed, and went up into her room to take a long, hot bath.

There she went again! This was the only coincidental smilarity he could see between the Kikyo he'd known and her reincarnation, the fact that Kagome argued with him. Though Kikyo wouldn't always do so.

He did not so much as blink when she purposefully slipped off the side of the well. It wasn't the first time he'd seen her do it though he could not help being bothered by it even if it was the tiniest bit. Finally giving up his stance, he went to the well's edge and looked down. She said once that she was able to get home that way but it made little sense to him, he looked down and saw nothing else but the dirt bottom of the Bone-eaters well. But he was forced to believe her, she wasn't there at the bottom now, so she had to have gone somewhere.

Whatever, he huffed. What did he care where she went? She'd be back eventually wether it was two days or a week, Kagome would be back, not that he nessescarily looked forward to it.

He took off into the woods at a run, bored enough already to go start a fight with an innocent demon.


Much farther away, a figure crouched on one knee, a pale, long-fingered hand pressed lightly to the ground. After a moment of complete silence, the smallest hint of a grim smile formed at the corners of his mouth and seconds later it was gone.

Nothing...absolutely nothing for miles around... His time had been wasted in this area.

He rose gracefully, his lifeless amber eyes looking up to the sky, the reddish hue above them and the sharp marks over the sides of his face were painted lighter as the as the sun had come through the clouds also bathing his pale features.

"Time to move on." he said quietly to himself.

And after a moment, he began to walk along in a direction away from the miles of area he had found now useless.

Emerging from the shadows the cloaked female took off at a run, weaving in and out of the trees in a blur. She jumped onto a low branch, then made her way towards the tops of the trees, jumping now from tree to tree. The hooded demon then burst through the over grown trees as she jumped, landing on a roof of a temple. She landed in a crouched position, cloak falling behind her like wings no longer in use. She stood and began to run once again, the billowing cloak resembling a small black cloud for one who only took a second to look. She reached the edge of the temple, then jumped to a smaller building, then again then again until she jumped into a rice field, jumping from the small patches of land to others with cat like grace.
Villagers looked on, shooting arrows at her and falling back into the water when she landed close to them. These were the times she wished it was night. Disappearing into the trees once again she avoided the sunlight at all cost, staying low to the ground as she ran. She slowed to a stop as she reached the heart of the forest. Her eyes peered around as she caught her breath, hearing nothing but the woods around her.

With a sullen sigh of exasperation, Kagura came to kneel behind the screen door to Naraku's chamber, fan clutched in hand and both hands lay on her lap. Her head was bowed slightly, not so much in respect as in frustration. "Yes, Lord Naraku?" She muttered, though her voice still rang clear, like a deep bell toll in the dank and musty smell of the wood and stone.

His gaze did not look up, but his voice was etched with frustration, "She evaded us again, inform Sesshomaru to keep an eye out for this Shadow Demon," he said as he then leaned against the wall with his arms folded over his chest, "she cannot run forever," he added as an vile smirk crossed his face, he dug into his sleeve and pulled out a small glowing shard, holding it between his thumb and index finger, "Give this to Sesshomaru as well, tell him he can keep it if he finds her and brings her here...alive," he finished as he flicked the small stone sliver at his female counterpart he created that was behind the rice screen door, it pierced a small hole easily.
There was no way she could avoid both his insects and Lord Sesshomaru, he knew she would slip up somewhere. And when she did...he got goosebumps just thinking about devouring her powers over shadows. His red eyes opened and looked at Kagura, that same smirk still playing his lips, "you keep an eye out for Inuyasha and that girl of his," he added, "if they have any jewel shards, be sure to try and take them."

The door opened only a sliver, and a pale wrist; shapely and almost luminous in the darkness of the room extended for the shard. "As usual, my lord. I will." Kagura's voice remained low and almost velvetine in her boredom. Although there was a glint in her eye that came from the energy that filled her upon hearing she would meet with Lord Sesshoumaru again. She'd given him quite a bit of thought in recent times. The door closed tightly behind her and her tiny thudding footsteps could be heard leaving the narrow hall.


Kagura Accended the great feather and took to the sky. The grey making things a little harder to see and bringing the concern of rain. The air smelt wonderful, but readily of water. Chill wind blew through her hair and tingled her flesh in that all too familiar and still sensual way. She put her mind on her work, but couldn't help adjusting her kimono to allow a breeze to caress her shoulders.

Over the course of the past few months, Sesshoumaru had found nothing as he covered miles of the Earth as far away from every human as possible. And if he did happen to cross paths with some poor human foolish enough to stray from the rest of its kind, its life ended there.

Strangulation had become his recent favorite method to kill. It was beautiful how a struggling creature would writhe in his grasp, his pale hands about its neck, slowly tightening to cut off its way to breath. The most fascinating part being when the eyes unfocused just before death, bright and in a straight stare as the creature looked over all the events of its life with regret at things that had not been resolved. It seemed that every creature had not lived life as desired. None that he had killed died without regret of its life...

A chilled breeze blew, tossing his silvery hair around his face. It smelled like rain.


Rain, Inuyasha cursed at that. On top of not finding anything worth fighting, it was going to rain soon.

Figured that Kagome would leave before then... Well it would probably only make her happy if he was thoroughly drenched. He had not had the mind to bathe as often as she'd said he ought to and rain would take care of it. Unless he was so bloody that it was necessary, Inuyasha simply did not see the point in it.

OOC: Does anyone mind if I do a time skip? Not in this post, but really there's nothing for Kagome to do... Except go back to the fuedal era, and she wouldn't think of THAT!!

" Ahhh, " she sighed, stepping into the bath and closing her eyes. A girl needed to relax, right? But as soon as the wonderful sensation of heat passed, her mind wandered elsewhere.

Like, when would she go back to the fuedal era? Probably in a few days, when school let out for the weekend. And what disease had Grandpa come up with that she had to pretend she had had? Probably some disgusting foot fungus. Ick. And would she let slip about Inuyasha at school tomorrow? She usually did, without even noticing. Now, Inuyasha seemed more like an annoying guy and less like a supernatural being that was half dog. She was beginning to find it easier and easier to cover for him. Except, there was the little issue of her friends all thinking that Inuyasha was her boyfriend.

Yeah, maybe in a million years. In another galaxy, where the sky was green and the grass was blue. And pigs flew like birds, where birds waddled like pigs. And fish walked on land, and cats loved the water. Yeah, maybe then.

But some little part of her mind kept reminding her: it's not impossible. You are Kikyo.

" No, I'm not, " Kagome told the voice. " I'm not Kikyo. I'm not a master archer, I'm not a priestess, and I'm most certainly not dead!! " After saying this, she fleetingly wondered why she had not added that she didn't love Inuyasha. But she didn't say it; because the moment was gone, she told herself.

Sighing, Kagome stepped out of the tub and let it drain, going to her room, getting dressed, and falling asleep on her bed.

Kagura finally discovered him, looking to be deep in thought where he stood. Yet he always looked as though he were thinking of something important; some secret that could change the world for better or for worse.

She lightly landed, as is a feather's nature, nearby. She stepped from the feather and it immediately resorted back to it's normal form, which she placed in her hair. She bent at the waist and folded her hands in front of her, when she stood again, there was the tiniest of smiles on her lips. "The master" she spat the word. "Wishes for you to continue your search for the shadow demon." she wagered he'd look at her coldly for the use of the inferior direction-giving, but that's what Naraku had said, and she did not wish to be killed.

(( a time skip might not be a bad idea considering that Inuyasha also has little to do now XD ))

As lightly as she had landed, Sesshoumaru had heard her the feather's tiny wisps as it traveled through the air. Her arrival not being a priority, he only bothered to turn his cold gaze upon her after determining he had nothing else to better spend his time observing. That shadow demon... He had caught her scent once a few months ago but she fled, knowing she was pursued, there could be no other explanation of how he'd lost track of her. Now and again, he'd find something reminiscent of her scent and that would point him in the right direction. So far, her trail seemed to lead farther and father from any other human or demon. He'd lost her once but he would catch her, of that he was certain.

Well of course Naraku wanted him continue. Certainly Kagura was not ignorant enough to bother him with that obvious detail.

"And?" He tonelessly replied.

Her appearance must warrant that Naraku was either impatient or had some specific new rule for the shadow demon's capture. Either way, it was better for Kagura's well-being that she would have a good reason for interrupting his pursuit.

(( Well, seems like everyone's pretty busy. So no time skip now. Sorry But when people get bored probably we'll need one. ))

"And," She repeated through a tight-liped grimace. "He'd like me to give you this." The tiny, purplish-pink shard lay in the palm of her pale hand like a drop of dew that radiated hatred. she stared down at it a moment; understanding the main purpose of her exsistance was to collect these shattered little trinkets. They afforded great power, but turned their users into slovenly beasts. She couldn't imagine what self-pittying fool would rely on them. Although that was not something she would bring to Lord Sesshoumaru's attention.

Kagura's eyes seemed to radiate heat and hatred as he took the shard from her palm. "How am I to know?" She asked haughtily and whirled the feather from her hair, standing upon it as it reached it's initial size. "I assume the continued stalking of the shadow demon." As she rose into the air, she called bitterly "Ask him yourself!" and departed.