Birds fluttered around loudly in the trees above the scene of a peacefully sleeping man and woman, causing the former to twitch a white furred ear and blink open his eyes. He stretched a little, his neck cracking as it protested its stiff position from sleeping upright after not having to for a few decades.

The weight against his leg caused a golden eye to glance down at his female companion, still carefully tied into his suikan and sleeping peacefully. Her slender fingers had slipped around his claws in the night, gripping them rather firmly as he lifted his hand up. Her fingernails were chipped, torn in places from trying to climb up the wall of hair the evening before. Her bow and quiver lay at her side, the hand not gripping onto his resting over the soft wrapping that made its grip.

"She had her guard down, but only just. Guess the fact that the oni woman could have killed us wasn't as lost on her as it might have seemed," Inuyasha thought to himself as he carefully released her grip on his hand and leaned over the red robed woman, taking a deep breath of her soft scent. It was sharper than usual, full, and heady like those dreaded days a few weeks ago, a fact that made him feel his ears grow hot.

What on earth was she dreaming about that made her smell like, well, that?! She wasn't due to start that up again for another quarter moon or so!

Kagome murmured something softly in her sleep, vaguely sounding like his own name, and rolled over so she was facing the tree, her head slipping off his knee. Cheeks burning, Inuyasha leaped up and away from her.

She was dreaming about him, and it was making her smell like she was going into heat?

Glancing at their dying fire once more, he shook his head to clear his thoughts. They really needed to get out of here, more importantly she needed to wake up so that "come hither" scent she was giving would knock it off and dissipate. He jumped to his feet, nudging her with a clawed foot.

The young woman groaned in protest and smacked him away with the back of her hand. "Leave me be, Sota. I was having the best dream," She moaned. "Just take Buyo and go back to your room." She let out a yawn and settled her temple against a tree root. Sighing, her husband nudged her shoulder again with the ball of his foot.

"Oi, Wench!" He growls, "Get up and get dressed. It's time to go." The young, mortal woman's stormy blue eyes blinked open, and she glanced at him out of the corner of her eye.

"Inu-yasha?" Kagome asked groggily, yawning half way through his name. He was very rarely actually there by her side when she woke up, and he never shook her awake. It was then that the rising sun he had positioned them to face streamed through unfamiliar trees and she squinted her eyes as she sat up, rubbing the arm she had pinned to the ground as she slept. "The sun is barely up."

"And I told you we'd leave at first light," He says. "I let you sleep in long enough." The princess looked up at her husband and tilted her head a little as she wiped the crustiness away from her eyes. If she were to believe this disheveled appearance, she was pretty sure he had only just woken up himself.

"What's the rush?" She asks, "I thought you didn't mind spending time with me." A white ear twitched, and he quickly turned away from her, huffing.

"I don't, but I also don't like wasting my time," He growls, his eyes growing quite wide as she stretched, her chest pushing out and the fabric of the robe of fire rat fur rising on her milky thighs. She glanced around him at the dying fire and carefully stood up. She figured she could try to maybe stall their return a little by suggesting they have breakfast first but decided against it given the rough way he woke her up.

Her body was really stiff from sleeping without any support on her hips and shoulders. Her neck was especially cramped as she rolled her head stretched her arms behind her back. She glanced at Inuyasha to see the irritated hanyo prince tapping his foot impatiently as he stood in front of her, a clawed hand tapping on his arm.

"Hurry it up already," He growls, "I wanna get back before the sun gets hot and you start complaining about being sweaty and needing another bath!"

"Alright, alright," She sighs. "Just give me a second to grab my clothes." She started to walk around the tree but suddenly stopped in her tracks and turned back to him. Inuyasha raised an eyebrow at her, and she grabbed his shoulders and pushed him face first into the tree trunk.

"Hey, what's the big idea!" he yells, and she reaches up, gripping one of his ears like a disobedient child.

"This time I mean it, no peeking!" She says, and his cheeks turn as red as the staining of the sky from the rising sun.

"I told you, I didn't see nothin' last night!" He growls, smacking her hand away and turning his back to the tree, leaning against it.

"As long as we're in agreement about that," She says, "Because I'll say 'it' a lot more than once if you actually try after an 'accident' like last night." Smirking she reaches up on her toes and pats the soft tuft of his bangs that stuck up between his ears. "Stay and be a good boy. I'll be right back."

Inuyasha's eyes crossed as he looked up to her hand and his ears pulled back. "I'm not dog!" He growls and Kagome just giggled as she stepped away, shrugging.

"You're the one who called me a 'good girl' first," She simply says as she skips around the tree, disappearing, "I'd remember that next time you try to give me a command like that in front of everyone. At least I have the curtesy to wait until we're in private."

Rolling his eyes, he leaned back against the trees, huffing as he tried to focus on the smell of oak sap and not his mortal wife.

Beside the river, the young princess shook out her wrinkled clothes, thankful to see that they had dried very well despite being just laid out on the boulders at the river side. Reaching behind her back, she pulled on one of the red sleeves tied around her body and pulled the makeshift bow free.

Inuyasha's suikan instantly loosened and she glanced behind her, just to be sure he wasn't moving before carefully shrugging the red fur to the ground and pulling her nagajuban on. Picking up its white obi and fastening it tight to her body once more, she grabbed up her yukata and the discarded red robe, walking back towards the large oak.

However, while worrying about a certain immature hanyo sneaking a peak, she failed in noticing as a bush to her side rustled with anticipation. As the small yokai spying on her noticed the gleaming of her treasure in the morning light, he giggled softly to himself, picking one of the shrub's leaves and turning it over in his child-sized hand as his trick slowly came together.

Inuyasha cracked open an eye as Kagome came around the tree, clad in the white cotton of her undergarment. It wasn't the thickest piece of material and left little to the imagination, casing his cheeks to dust a pink color as he closed his eyes again.

"I thought I told you to get dressed!" He says and suddenly he felt the thick fabric of his suikan landing on his head, flattening his ears.

"Yeah, well so should you," She replies, slinging her slightly tattered yukata around her shoulders and tying the dark blue obi tight to her middle. Her chest binding was coiled up around her hand and she looked at it a moment before stuffing it into her robes. She hoped they wouldn't need it but figured it would be more useful kept clean as possible bandaging than its intended purpose.

It wasn't like she was going to be the one running anyway.

The white haired Inu-hanyo glanced over at the mortal princess as she used a tattered hairband to tie her hair up and out of the way. The blue-tinged black of her curls shone in the morning light and he couldn't help but watch as her nimble fingers tied a bow out of the torn ribbon. She glanced back at him and nodded to him.

"Well, weren't you in some kind of hurry?" Kagome asks and he sighs, walking over to the fire and snuffing it out by kicking dirt over it. He looked over at her bare, scuffed, and cut feet, raising an eyebrow.

"Where are your sandals any way?" Inuyasha asks and she looked down, nervously shuffling her feet.

"I left them with the dead horse," she says, "It isn't like straw zori are easy to run in. I didn't have time to keep tripping over them." She pulled her bow and quiver up onto her shoulder, crossing her arms around herself. "So, are we heading out or what?"

Sighing, the hanyo prince crouched down and the mortal woman walked forward, gently draping her arms over his shoulders. She could feel his warm, calloused hands gently grip the backs of her knees, hefting her up onto his back.

She felt the scabbard of Tetsusaiga resting against her leg as he moved her around a little, the warm black wood hooking into the sole of her foot. Her yukata and under nagajuban rode up, making it so that her bare legs were resting on his hips, the soft fabric of his suikan tickling her thighs and her cheeks pinking up.

A soft, white ear flickered in the corner of her vision, making her fingers flex. She couldn't help it. She thought they were adorable, which may be one of the reasons he was always so snappy at her she whenever he caught her looking at them. He almost acted like they were something to be ashamed off, but she liked the way they looked. They looked so soft, and she sighed, remembering fondly the way his head had leaned into her fingers scratching at them during her dream.

Her dream...it had been quite, vivid, to say the least.

Her already warm cheeks settled against her husband's soft, moonlight colored hair as he turned away from the sun and started carrying her towards their western castle. Towards the home they shared, a place she now seemed to feel more at home in then she had at the shrine castle of the Sunset Palace.

Kagome knew she was kidding herself, that her husband didn't see her "that" way. But between the scrolls the elders had made her study back in her childhood bedchamber and the attraction she couldn't help but feel for the handsome hanyo prince, a girl sure could dream!

Those furry, twitching little triangles that crowned his handsome face? Last night, in dream land, she had quite enjoyed the way they tickled her thighs as he lapped at her most intimate flesh in a way her slender fingers could never in a million millennia imitate.

Thinking it over again, Kagome's ears grew hot with embarrassment as she realized something. It wasn't the first time she'd had dreams that veered towards the more adult matters, especially since she'd married Inuyasha, and he took the place of a formally faceless lover.

But this was most certainly the first time she'd woken up from such a dream to be face to face with the subject of such fantasy. And knowing his nose, he probably had a pretty good idea about what she was doing in her sleep.

Oh Kami, what must he think of her, having such lewd thoughts?

Shaking her head, she tried to settle down. If he hadn't said anything about it, teased her about it, maybe, just maybe he hadn't caught her. And if he wasn't going to say anything, she sure as all the fires in seven hells wasn't going to ask him about it.

Little did she know, the young hanyo carrying her had his own mind running much along the same lines. as she rested her head between his shoulders on the soft, moonlight-colored strands of hair running in a slivery curtain down his back.

She was very warm, and comfortable to hold up on his back, her legs soft and smooth where her yukata usually hid, and he currently held in his unworthy claws. She wasn't wearing her usual binding across her chest, allowing him to feel every natural swell, dip, and curve of her form. His cheeks grew red as he recalled the knowledge gained last night of just what the warm body pressed against him so close and naturally looked like glimmering with water droplets in the light of a crescent moon.

Inuyasha had instantly regretted lending her the Robe of the Fire Rat the second she threw it back at him. It was soaked in the fragrance of her arousal. What the heck had Kagome been dreaming about that had conjured up that strong of a scent?

And what did he have to do with anything? He knew what he heard. It wasn't the first time he might have heard her mumble his name as she turned over in her sleep, Inuyasha always attributing the utterance as her subconsciously acknowledging his demonic aura.

After all, he could feel her reiki brushing against his senses when she flopped over and on top of him to the point that it woke him up before her weight on his middle, so her feeling his power back was pretty much a give in.

But all those other times, she certainly hadn't smelled that sweet and alluring. Well, certainly not that strongly anyway. But what the hell could that even mean? There was no way she could think about him that way. Sure, she said he was her friend, but they had come to a clear, unspoken agreement that nothing more was to happen beyond that.

There was no way in hell she felt anything beyond that, pure and innocent as she was. After all, her power would never be as strong as it was, which was perhaps even stronger than the jewel's guardian before her, if she were tainted by affections for anyone, let alone him.

He'd already learned the hard way how that worked.

Shaking his head to rid himself of such thoughts, Inuyasha focused on the matter at hand and continued pushing forward, wanting to get Kagome home and away from him as soon as possible.

The young woman lifted her head from his shoulder as she was roused by his sudden movement, looking up at the sky. It seemed like a lot of clouds were rolling in all of a sudden. She blinked a moment as she heard the rumble of thunder in the distance, seemingly further away than the cloud, in a different direction all together.

"Inuyasha," She says softly, gaining the flickering of an ear in response. "is it supposed to rain or something?" He looked up, broken from his thoughts to just get her home as he too saw the dark swirling in the sky.

"No," He says, slowing down and setting her on her feet. He could smell the scent of another demon approaching, and could see the dark cloud coming expanding, seeming to swallow up the rising sun. "Stay behind me." He drew Tetsusaiga and held it in front of him as the swirling shadow continued to approach them.

Kagome stood with her hand carefully resting on her weapon. She couldn't sense any hostility, and the faint green aura that swirled within the cloud as it approached wasn't near as strong as Yura's, let alone Inuyasha's. However, she couldn't help but shift her feet nervously as she saw licks of hot, blue flames reaching out from inside the cloud.

"You!" She heard a surprisingly young, almost childish voice ring out from inside the cloud, "You are the one who possesses the Shikon no Tama! Hand it over or be destroyed!"

"You, destroy me?" Inuyasha scoffs, "That's awful big talk for a coward hiding inside an illusion." Before Kagome could say anything, a large, pink ball appeared in the middle of the swirling cloud, almost like a large balloon. It continued approaching until it floated above them.

"Inuyasha," Kagome says softly, "I-I think it's just a ch-" Before she could finish, the bubble opened its mouth and tried to bite Inuyasha's head. However, it didn't have any teeth and only caused the hanyo to lower his ears and drop his sword. An open palm swinging back and smacking the sphere shaped yokai away.

The pink ball let out a very childlike yelp and popped, the swirling darkness of his illusion popping out of existence with it. In puff of smoke, a small, red-headed child fell from the sky and Inuyasha snatched him up by the fur coat he wore.

Or at least, that's how it appeared to Kagome.

"It really is a child!" She gasps and Inuyasha turns back to her, revealing the squirming little yokai hanging by his fluffy tan tail in the hanyo prince's fist.

"Not exactly," He says, "Looks like a young raccoon dog trying out his first prank and wasting my time."

"I'm no Tanuki!" The yokai cub squeals out in a child's voice, unobstructed by the false deepness he had tried to put on during his transformation, "I'm a fox, you heathen!" Kagome looked closer and realized that not only did the child have a fluffy tail, but a pair of canine appearing paws with the smallest little toes.

"A kitsune," the princess says, her eyes glowing with wonder. "Oh, he's so adorable! Let me hold him!" Amber eyes glared at her from beneath his thick white hair.

"Do you mind? I'm trying to teach the little brat a lesson," her husband growled and the little fox yokai flipped himself up and bit Inuyasha's wrist. "Ow! You little!"

The child pulled a small statue from in his haori and threw it on Inuyasha's hand, smashing it. He then turned to the young woman and hopped up, his leaf-colored eyes blazing with determination.

"I don't typically pick on vixens, but you leave me no choice!" He cried, leaping up and attempting to knock her out from a pressure point on her shoulder while simultaneously breaking the Shikon Jewel from around her neck. However, as he hit her shoulder, she just widened her eyes and looked at him.

"Hey! What was that for?" She said and he clutched to the necklace breaking the bead away and leaping away from her in a ball of foxfire.

Kagome jumped back and almost fell over, bumping into the now standing Inuyasha. The hanyo growled and flexed his fingers as his knuckles popped back into place. She reached for her neck and looked at him in horror.

"He took the jewel!" She says and Inuyasha just looked past her, watching as a rabbit with an especially large and fluffy tail tried to hop away, into the forest.

"Yeah, but the little brat ain't gettin' far!" he growled leaping forward and smashing the rabbit on the head. It let out a wail and turned back into the young fox-child, crying, and holding his head. The glass marble rolled to the ground at Kagome's feet.

She picked it up and placed it inside her yukata, tilting her head at the fox child. "Inuyasha, you didn't need to be so rough. He's just a child." He just blinked at her, completely confused.

"He stole from you!" He says, "Why the hell should I have gone easy on him?" Kagome rolled her eyes and kneeled down in front of the young kitsune who was wailing on the ground.

"Perhaps you could tell us why you were so desperate for the jewel and maybe we could help you," She says quietly, and the little boy looked up at her with puffy eyes.

"You aren't mad?" He asks.

"You're damn right we're-" Inuyasha starts, and Kagome glares up at him.

"Inuyasha, sit!" she says before looking kindly at the child again, offering out her hand to him, "No, I'm not mad at you, but I do want to know why you needed the jewel so badly you would attack two adults. It isn't something just to be done for kicks." The little boy frowns and looks away from her, "Can I at least know your name?"

"My name is Shippo, and my mission is one of vengeance," he says, crossing his small arms.

"It's nice to meet you, Shippo, " the princess says smiling, "My name is Kagome, and this is-"

"I know who you are," the little boy huffs, his voice losing its gravely sadness, "every yokai in the West knows about the princess of the jewel and her pet hanyo." Inuyasha raises his head from the crater that Kagome had forced him into, growling.

"Pet?" he growls, "I'll show you a pet when I turn you into a chew toy you little son of a-"

"Inuyasha," the mortal woman said in a warning tone that told him if he were to push any further, he would be sinking deeper into the dirt. He just frowned and sat down on the other side of the young yokai, crossing his arms into the large sleeves of his suikan. "Well Shippo, since you know about us, why don't you tell us about yourself?"

The small red-head child rubbed the knot on his head. "My tale is a sad one. I am from the Fox Clan of the Azure Flame and my father, and I lived near the base of the Rumbling Mountains. Two days ago, two mortal clans gathered to face one another in battle near our meadow. Father told me it was our responsibility to stay close and ensure it was a fair and noble battle and scare them away if need be." Shippo finally crossed his arms and looked up, blinking his large green eyes at the princess.

"That is very noble of you, Shippo," She says, and he nods, looking sad.

"But, before the forces even met in battle, the sky turned black and the Thunder Brothers, Hiten and Mantan, came down from their lair and began slaughtering and devouring all the able-bodied mortals. Father tried to stop them, but Mantan killed him with a blast of lightening! Before I could do anything, the samurai were all killed, and the meadow was desolated."

"Oh," Inuyasha says, "So you thought you would take the jewel and use it to try and take on these Thunder Brothers? Like a little whelpling like you could do anything with that power?"

"Who else can I count on?" Shippo says boldly, jumping to his paws, "As my father's son, it is my duty to avenge his death. I cannot allow his murders to continue living."

"Yes, I understand that, but surely you could have gone about this a different way," Kagome says softly, "Perhaps come to Musashi and made an appeal to us?"

"And leave my revenge in the hands of some lowly half-demon domestic dog?!" The kitsune shouts indignantly, "You must be crazy as you are pretty, Lady Kagome, and you sure are pretty!"

"What did you just call me?" the hanyo prince growls before his wife can respond.

"My father was Leader of the Azure Flame Clan!" the child counters. "A six-tailed fox over twice your age! If he couldn't beat them, there's no way what a lowly half-breed like you could have ever be of any help! I would dishonor my father by stooping so low as to ask for your help!"

"Why you little!" Inuyasha growls as he snatches up the kit and started whacking him on the head. "It's time for you to learn some respect you little twerp!"

"Stop it you two!" Kagome yells as Inuyasha continues to wail on the child, "Inuyasha, he's just a little kid!"

"That's no excuse!" He says, snarling at the fox cub, "No one calls me a half-breed and gets away with it!" Shippo slipped away from Inuyasha's hand and shakes off some dust as the larger, stronger being continued to growl at him. He looks at Kagome and nods.

"Yes, of course, where are my manners," the kitsune says, reaching into his jacket and grabbing onto a small stone statue, "Consider this as a token of my apology!"

Throwing the children's guardian down, it grew and pinned both of the half demon's clawed hands to the ground. Flipping over, he pulled a sealing sutra from inside his kosode and smacked it to the top of the statue's head.

Growling Inuyasha started to try to pry his hands up, snarling as he was unable to make the stone budge, "What the hell did you do to me, you little brat!"

"The statue of Jizo will stay in his place until the scroll is removed!" the Shippo says triumphantly. "I'll find another to help me defeat the Thunder Brothers. A hanyo and a mortal vixen are of no use to me! It probably isn't even the real Shikon, seeing as it was under the protection of someone so easily fooled!" Turning the young boy scampered off into the bushes and Kagome looked up at her husband as he continued to struggle with the statue.

"What are you staring at? Take the damn scroll off!" Inuyasha says as his golden eyes meet her sympathetic blue ones.

"What about Shippo?" She asks as she looks in the direction the young boy ran, seeing the swirling clouds above the mountains, rumbling like a fearsome storm. "If what he said was true..."

"Forget about him!" he growls, "It was probably all a trick from the beginning. Kitsune are a whole bunch of little liars. Now help me!' Kagome heard the rumble of thunder above them and got up.

"But he's still a child and needs help!" She says getting up, "Why else would he risk approaching us like that?" She had the far-off look of a woman who was only seeing a lost little boy, not the demon that he really was. Inuyasha twitched an ear in irritation at being ignored by her.

"Kagome, whatever you're thinking-"

"I'm gonna go try to catch up to him," She says, glancing at Inuyasha before adjusting her bow back on her shoulder, "I'll be right back."

"Kagome!" Inuyasha growled as the young woman started running towards the direction of the mountains, "Damn it wench, get back here!" Trying to pull his hands away from the ground and grabbing her, he growled in frustration, "At least get back here and free me first! Kagome!"

The young woman acted as if she couldn't even hear him, her figure becoming smaller and smaller as she ran away from her husband's side, ignoring every attempt he made to call her back to him.

*****

Kagome lost sight of where she had left Inuyasha nearly half an hour before, looking around for any and all signs of the small kitsune child who had run away from them.

She knew it was dangerous, especially seeing as they were headed towards the rumbling mountains where she could see lightning repeatedly striking, but she had felt it better to leave Inuyasha behind if she were to try to talk to the child.

They simply antagonized each other far too much and if she was going to try to convince the child to at the very least come with them to safety.

"Shippo!" She called out, "Please, come back!" She looked around the open river, trying to sense the small pulse of his youki. However, when she did find it, there was another, larger aura of a very malicious nature surrounding his.

Slowly, Kagome moved through the meadow, towards the trembling, frightened kitsune cub. She could see the shining, reptilian head of a huge yokai raised above the meadow grasses and she instantly crouched down in hopes of hiding herself.

Her breath was coming out in short, gasping inhales. How had she found herself like this again? She had hoped above all that she might be able to catch up to Shippo before something like this happened. Now she was stuck, with a horrendous yokai looming over the fox child and Inuyasha trapped a few miles back.

There was no way for him to come after her this time.

"Well, if it isn't the little fox tyke who was told to run away," She heard a large, admittedly goofy voice boom above her, making her peer through the grasses at the two yokai, "Anxious to join your father are you? I'd love a hood to join my newly acquired kilt!"

Looking through the grasses she saw the large beast standing over the child, patting a wide, orange coloured fur wrapped around his waist. She was ears, and a group of thick tails, each the size of a normal fox's hide. Her hand raised in horror as she realized it was the true form of a kitsune.

A six-tailed kitsune.

"Don't tell me that he skinned Shippo's father!" Kagome thought as her fingers trembled. "What kind of monsters are these demons?"

"Pa-Papa?" The child whimpered, recognizing his father's scent, "You monster! How dare you dishonor him by turning him into a common hunting trophy?!"

"You need not worry," the large, lumbering yokai chuckled, "Seeing as you have failed to retrieve the jewel as you bragged you would do, fleeing like a coward, I believe it to be time for a family reunion!"

He reached forward and tried to snatch up the cub, but he squealed and started to run away from the lumbering, pale, admittedly egg shaped yokai. He was laughing as he chased the terrified child and Kagome felt her whole-body tremble.

"Somebody help me!" Shippo cried, running, and zigzagging through the tall grass.

The mortal woman hesitated for only a moment. She was scared of this large, bulky beast from his aura alone, dangerous as it felt. But she also knew that the child had nothing and no one else. Now was no time for cowardice and self-preservation.

"I've never aimed at a moving target before," Kagome thought as she gripped her bow and pulled an arrow from her quiver, "At least it's a really big, really wide moving target." She slowly pulled the bow taught and got up on her knees.

Shippo ran forward, but the lumbering fool that was Mantan continued to gain on him. His paws and hands strung as he continued to try rushing forward. Suddenly, he heard a yelp and looked back to see a glowing arrow sunk through the egg-headed snout of his enemy. They both turned their heads to glimpse the young woman standing with her red bow.

"L-Lady Kagome!" The kitsune child gasped as he looked up at her. He looked between her and the monster that stood there glaring at her before hopping back to his feet and scampering to her.

"Shippo!" She said as he ran up and she kneeled down in front of him. "Are you alright?"

"I" he looked up at her kind blue eyes, but before he could speak to the mortal woman who had just saved his life, Mantan looked over at them.

"Lady Kagome, was it?" he chuckled, "Be you the same princess that was married into the Inu-Yokai Clan, who carries the Shikon no Tama?" He laughs, holding his belly, "You must be, seeing the way you know a kitsune child. You brought me quite the gift indeed, little fox. A maiden and the power of the jewel."

"Shippo, get behind me!" She orders, pulling another arrow as she felt the small flare in the yokai's aura. The red-haired child accepted her offered protection and ducked behind her legs, his puffy tail trembling.

"You really are quite something," Mantan continues, beginning his approach. "Come along peacefully and Brother Hiten might just let you live. Especially if you are so kind as to hand over what is ours."

"Not on your life!' She says, letting the arrow free, aiming right between the reptilian yokai's eyes. However, the smooth skin caused the arrowhead to just graze over the top of his head and fall away.

Mantan felt something on the top of his head and reached up. Into his hand fell two short, black hairs and he started to whimper as his already bald head had become even more bare. Tears began welling up in his eyes and he threw his head back in a wail.

Shippo looked around the blue cotton of the mortal princess' skirt and saw the glow of the demon's power starting to charge up inside Mantan's throat. Yelping, he tugged on the torn hem of her yukata and Kagome glanced at him.

"Come on!" he wails, "We have to get away from him!" He jumped up and latched on to her hand, pulling her along by two of her fingers. "That's the same attack that killed my father!"

Kagome followed after him but could only move so fast as she was pulled along by the small kitsune, her back hunched as she clutched his tiny hand. Suddenly, she heard the yokai scream out and they were both thrown forward by the blast of electricity. Kagome tumbled forward, her bow breaking under her shoulder. The shattered wood tore through her yukata and scrapped across her shoulder blade, splinters imbedding painfully into her skin.

She trembled as she felt her head hit something, her vision blurry. Her legs lay slack behind her, made numb by the lightening of the blast. Her eyes darted around, trying desperately to focus on something. Finally, she saw Shippo coming to her, his bright hair something even her scrambled, spotty vision was able to locate.

"Sh-Shippo," She groaned, and he moved closer to her, his green eyes wide with worry.

"Lady Kagome!" He yelped, "We have to go!" He suddenly saw the dark blood trying to seep through her shoulder. "Oh no! You're bleeding!"

"Shippo, you need," She closed her eyes a moment, her trembling fingers reaching for her yukata, crawling their way to her neckline, "you need to go. Run away!" She wrapped her fingers around the Shikon Jewel and held it out to the fox cub with trembling fingers. It may be a horrid, terrible idea considering he was a trickster by nature who had just tried to steal the jewel from her. But it was much better than the alternative.

"What about you?" the kitsune asked, "The Thunder Brothers eat others to gain their power, and you're a priestess! You'll be devoured!" Kagome felt the ground rumble as Mantan began lumbering forward, looking for them.

"I'll be fine!" Kagome says and reaching forward and snatching the kit's clawed hand, placing the jewel into it, "I need you to take this and run! Go back, to Inuyasha. I am trusting you with this, as Lady of Musashi. Do you understand?"

"But Kagome-" Shippo started but she shook her head.

"Go! Now!" She whimpered, feeling her tired, injured body losing consciousness, her head sinking into the dirt. Shippo looked at her in horror was she lay in the dirt but seeing the lumbering yokai approaching, her quickly dashed into the brush, abandoning the unconscious mortal woman.

"My, you really are quite the beauty," Shippo heard Mantan mumble as he crouched over her, "I must bring her back to the den, and see what use she can be. Waste not, want not."

As the fox child watched in horror, the reptilian demon hefted the princess up and conjured a dark cloud around them. Slowly, they rose into the sky and disappeared as the thunder cloud approached the mountain.

Shippo stood as the two disappeared, his tail twitching as he looked up at where Kagome had disappeared. The Shikon no Tama glowed in his hand, and he saw her arrows laying in a discarded quiver where she had been laying. Scampering forward, he leaned over it and sniffed, her soft scent was gentle and comforting as she had been when she found him.

He was terrified. The Thunder Brothers had killed his father, the Kitsune Lord. They would make short work of the mortal woman who had shown her such kindness. He could never live with himself if her sacrifice to let him escape was in vain.

However, facing the angry half dog he had left behind was nearly as scary as the demons of the rumbling mountains. He shook at the thought of having to tell him that his vixen had been kidnapped saving him.

"I gotta keep it together!" Shippo declared as he grabbed the Princess' quiver and stuck the tempting jewel down, inside the leather pouch.

Turning back where he had come from, the kitsune child transformed into a admittedly silly looking hawk and flew off with the quiver gripped in his talons.