Disclaimer: I don't own Yu-Yu Hakusho or InuYasha.

The Newest Ally

Chapter 1

X-X-X

He was tired. He had been traveling for a long time after all. But he still had a goal to reach. He sniffed the air once or twice and then took off in a North-West direction.

He had heard about them nearly a month ago.

Shikon Jewel Shards

Now every good thief should know about famous jewels.

The Jewel of Four Souls had been most famous. It's power was legendary, and its lure was vivid and enchanting. To a thief it could become and addiction.

But the retched women that guarded it…No one could get past her, she had immense power. Tales traveled of the woman that guarded it with her life. The woman was known to all that sought the Shikon no Tama, and the thought of her discouraged many who sought the precious jewel.

There had been a passing missionary in a village that he had been in to acquire a particular something near midsummer. After the missionary had some ale in him his mouth had moved quickly.

He had told him that the legendary jewel, Lord over all jewels, had been broken and the priestess that guarded it disposed of. He had told him of the land being scoured for the precious shards, and of the fate of a few.

That had been all the initiative he needed, he had listened to a few rumors, gathered a few supplies, and had been tracking ever since.

In a way he wanted to put the jewel back together, hunt down all the pieces. Then he would truly have a great treasure. But he had learned of what just one shard could do…the immense power that one shard could possess.

He was hooked, after he found a goal he would never stop until he reached it.

He listened softly as his feet hit the soft forest ground.

Pad, Pad, Pad.

Subconsciously he would name of rare or sparse plants as he saw them. Still running, still tracking. The speed the demon could traverse was equaled by the subtlety in which he tracked, and sped through the lands.

Soon he felt as if he was getting closer.

From what he had learned there was a Monk, a Demon Slayer, a demon Fox Cub, a Dog Half-Breed, and another Women. It was a motley group that protected the jewel and sought the casting of it whole again.

He was undecided about the women, some said she was an indecent whore, some said an innocent princess from a distant land, and still, yet others called her a priestess, after all what better to hunt a spiritual jewel than a spiritual being?

He wasn't worried about the Monk, from what he had gathered from several villages, from the women (apparently he was quite a ladies man) is that he was a Buddhist Monk, and from other unnamable places he had learned that his only other power was a gaping hole that produced wind in his left hand, though his spiritual power had to be accounted for.

He had been filled in about the female Demon Slayer from a Human Lord to the south who had seemed to be quite smitten with her. He had told him much before the tracker had killed him.

She was a "Rare, exotic being of exceptional beauty and grace, an exceptional warrior who lacks in no talents." He knew her weapon, the giant boomerang. He had had the opportunity to be able to fight warriors that used that specific weapon in the past, so he wasn't worried about that.

He was also confident that he would be able to recognize her when he saw her as that same Human Lord had had several paintings of her made from his memory of her.

He had been informed that the Half-Breed Dog demon was the brother of The Great Lord Sesshomaru, Lord of The Western Lands. This small piece of information gave him no amount of great pleasure. The group truly was an uncanny troupe.

He grinned and changed his direction slightly west.

He wasn't too worried about the Half-Breen either, he was only a Half-Breed after all.

The Fox Cub that was something that interested him. He figured after he killed everyone he would take the cub, maybe even raise him.

Him? A father figure?

A deep chuckle rang out in the forest around this mysterious figure.

'Like that would ever happen!' the thought amused him greatly.

He had had Koronue investigate where this merry band were and where they were headed. He had been told that they had been headed towards Lord Gaara's lands. There was only one remotely safe road that could get them anywhere near Gaara's lands, and he was on it.

Nearly two days ago he came upon an abandoned camp site. The site was nearly a fortnight old but he gained a grand ability from it.

The camp had been covered in their scents.

And he was gaining on them; he had now been discovering other encampments. They were of the road a bit; somebody had put effort into someone not finding them.

He was also very happy at the rate he had been going; every three or so days of their travels seemed to be about one day of his.

He was ever getting closer to his prize.

Youko Kurama wanted the Shikon Jewel and he would not be stopping until he got it.

X-X-X

"-and keep your hands there!" yelled a very angered demon slayer. Her face was flushed with anger.

Kagome sighed.

She nearly pitied Miroku, but he just didn't know when to keep to himself. If his wind tunnel didn't kill him she was certain Sango eventually would.

In the year since they had had any major battles or confrontations Miroku's Wind Tunnel had grown, it was nearly one centimeter bigger than it had been before. And this depressed Miroku deeply; he would often relapse into saddened silences.

Kagome glanced back up and smiled.

Poor Miroku now had both Sango and Inu-Yasha yelling at him.

'He never learns to not do stupid things,' thought Kagome. She decided to try and break up the argument a bit. She grinned a little though, it was always an interesting spectacle to watch.

"The jewel shard feels a lot closer, but do you know where we might be headed to, Inu-Yasha?" she asked walking up behind him.

"Eh?" said Inu-Yasha, momentarily stopping from berating Miroku. "I don't have a clue. I've never been this far north in the Western Lands before, why?"

"Well it's a little weird around here don't you think?" asked Kagome. Indeed their travels had been very odd lately. For the past three weeks they'd be walking through a dense thicket of trees when al of a sudden they'd be walking through patches of sand. The mounds of sand were anywhere's from a few inches to several feet wide.

"Yeah, they are, why? Can't take it?" Inu-Yasha's whole exterior became mischievous instantly. Taunting Kagome was a highlight of his day.

"Of course I can take it!" said Kagome firmly, "But where could all this sand be coming from?"

Kagome looked at Inu-Yasha but he had an 'I-don't-know-why-the-hell-are-you-asking-me?' look on his face.

Miroku spoke up.

"I don't know where the sand would be coming from either, Kagome," said Miroku inching towards her, in turn Kagome inched slightly towards Inu-Yasha. Miroku seemed to have gotten the silent threat, because he hastily added, "There shouldn't be any beaches around here as we are so far from the coast."

"Nor are there any sand dunes," said Sango. "I hope nothing is wrong, I really don't want to try fighting whoever could be doing this," She had a slightly worried look on her face.

"Not to worry, my dear Sango!" said Miroku joyously, coming closer to her, "I will be there to protect you!"

"Monk!" said Sango warningly. Her fist unclenched and clenched again, sending a rather strong message.

"Ah, my dear Sango, why do you fret so? I am a man of the cloth, what could I do to possibly offend you?"

Kagome sat down near the edge of camp before she heard Sango retort. She often would look up at the stars now-a-days. She could remember a couple of things she had been told about the stars.

The earliest she could remember, she was around seven or eight, her mother used to sit by the Goshinboku and Kagome always asked her what she was looking at.

'Your father,' Kagome's mother always replied. 'He's up there with the stars watching over us,'

Another thing Kagome could remember was something Kaede had told her. Kagome had commented that the stars looked magical, Kaede replied:

'Of course they're magical, they be the past priestesses, spreading protection through good thought and cheer,'

But right now Kagome didn't think the stars were very magical. While Inu-Yasha had gotten easier to deal with he still ran off to try to find Kikyo in the middle of the night when he thought everyone was sleeping. And Naraku, he seemed to be continuously evading them. She had been missing so much school lately that she was sure they'd kick her out when she got back. She'd had so many 'unexcused' and 'excused' absences that she was sure she had lost all credit for her classes.

Kagome sighed; life just seemed to be getting harder. She just wished she could be whisked out of this like in a fairy tail. But she was willing to do her duty, and to help where help was needed. However, sometimes it just got hard to do so.

It was pitch black when Sango cam over to her.

"Hey Kagome, want to going to the hot springs? Inu-Yasha says they're not too far, and they're always most enjoyable when it's dark out," Kagome noted that Sango looked oddly rejuvenated. She leaned slightly to the left and saw an unconscious Miroku.

'And that would be why!' she thought to herself containing a giggle. She smiled up at Sango and shooed away her more recent thoughts.

"Sure Sango," she said aloud this time. "Just let me get some stuff from my pack and then I'll be ready to go."

Sango waited patiently while she rummaged in her pack. She gathered all her things and finally found what she had been looking for and joined Sango.

'Inu-Yasha didn't even try to stop us,' she thought sadly. He would usually make up some sort of excuse, like it was too dark or something.

She made sure Shippo was indeed sleeping with Kilala ( though she could see Kilala's ears flickering) before calling out to Inu-Yasha.

"Make sure Miroku stays away, O.K. Inu-Yasha?"

"Feh!" was the only response she received.

X-X-X

"Ahhh," said Kagome happily as Sango and she sank down into the warm water.

"This is the life," said Kagome.

"I agree, Kagome. We haven't been near a hot spring in so long. This is amazing, especially so far up north. Sango had a peaceful smile on her face as she relaxed with her eyes closed.

'She deserves something to ease her mind,' though Kagome with a sad smile. 'With the last appearance of Kohaku…She just needs this.'

Kagome was milling over the possibility of Miroku being more lecherous towards Sango to get her mind off things (Like he would be that considerate! He's just a lecher!) when she felt a spike of energy.

She sat straight up. Her quick move disturbed both the water and Sango.

"Is something the matter Kagome?" Sango asked, looking around them wearily.

'Ah! I shouldn't be acting so paranoid! If there was a demon a mile from here Inu-Yasha would probably be all over it!' she thought trying to make her raging priestess powers die down a bit. They were calling for demon blood.

"Oh nothing Sango! Just swept my hand over a really sharp rock!" she gave a small nervous laugh trying to wave the incident on.

"Well if you're sure…" said Sango, once more reclining in the water. She definitely looked as though she didn't believe Kagome's excuse.

Trying to get her mind off the energy she thought of something.

"Hey Sango do you like Cherry or Coconut scent better?" she asked reaching towards her small pile of items.

"Cherry or what?" asked Sango cracking an eye towards Kagome questioningly.

'Oh that's right! I doubt they still share that name in feudal Japan,' Kagome thought.

"Oh never mind, let's just go with the cherry," she put on a smile and waded towards Sango, something clutched in her hand.

"What are you doing?" questioned Sango. Kagome sure was acting weird.

"This is called Cherry Essence," explained Kagome "It's very soothing so just lay back and enjoy."

Sango reluctantly suck back down and allowed Kagome to put the sweet smelling water in her hair. It was relaxing, and many of the tense knots in Sango unwound themselves

Kagome was massaging Sango's scalp when she felt it again.

That spike in energy.

It set her priestess powers on fire!

"You know what Kagome? I'm done. I think we better head back before Inu-Yasha—or worse, Miroku—comes looking for us," said Sango, hesitantly climbing out of the spring.

"O.K." said Kagome worriedly, she really wanted to know what that spike in energy was.

By the time Kagome had toweled off Sango was already dressed and waiting.

"Go ahead Sango," Kagome said, she could tell Sango was tired. She also wanted to examine the power closer but did not want to worry Sango.

"It would probably be safer if we were to walk together," said Sango, moving her hand to stifle a yawn.

Kagome felt a small pang of hurt. She knew it wasn't Sango's fault but she also knew it was Sango that was waiting for her, Sango could protect herself easily, it was Kagome that couldn't.

"We're not far from camp, and I'll catch up to you in a minute!" said Kagome, trying to be cheerful.

"O.K." said Sango, worried slightly. Why had Kagome wanted to be by herself?

Kagome finished dressing, and watched Sango head back along the path they made, and back to camp.

'Now to concentrate,' Kagome told herself.

Trying to force her mind into a semi-conscious state she tried to concentrate on the energy she felt earlier.

Then it was like she had slammed into something tangible, it didn't hurt, but a clear note seemed to resonate throughout her body. Then the note seemed to take form of a light, a light taking the shape of-

"That is quite unnecessary, priestess," came a commanding voice.

Kagome's eyes snapped open as she lost all concentration, emitting an all too girlish squeal of surprise.

"Who are you!" she nearly fled to the other side of the clearing, but the very ground she stood on seemed to rise and stop her.

"My name is of no importance, as you will not be alive long enough to need it," The tall silver haired stranger said.

'A Fox Demon, huh? Nine tails…silver' were the only thoughts she managed to get through her head before the being before her charged.

"What do you want!" Kagome gasped out, though she feared she already knew the answer.

"I, Youko Kurama, want the Shikon Shards."

X-X-X

I've recently edited this story somewhat, this was the second fanfiction that I posted on this site and it was actually interesting going back through and fixing all my mistakes from back then.

I hope you enjoyed!

-AnimeSiren