AN: Thanks for reading and thanks for all the reviews! Here is the next installment!

Disclaimer: I do not own the characters from Inuyasha or Aladdin!

Chapter 10

Annoying.

Aladdin's grip tightened on the ceramic drinking cup placed in front of him as he listened to Jasmine laugh at another one of Prince Naraku's grand stories. It was bad enough he had been forced to listen to the two chat away excitedly the day before at dinner, but to make him attend today as well was just heart wrenching.

The sultan watched the couple from across the table. He radiated happiness towards them, excited at the fact his daughter had finally even agreed to court another man. From time to time he would cast Aladdin an apologetic look, but his daughter's well-being and future came first in his eyes at all times.

"Brute strength isn't always the answer. You don't have to be the strongest person physically in order to succeed in war. It simply takes the right plan and an army of loyal individuals willing to do whatever you tell them to," Naraku said coolly before taking a sip from his own cup.

Jasmine had her arms propped up on the table and used her hands as a perch for her chin. Aladdin rolled his eyes at the exaggerated excitement she was displaying toward the prince. "It sounds like you have a strong army," she stated admirably.

"It sounds like you get into a lot of wars," Aladdin retorted. "If you married our princess and inherited Agrabah, how do we know you won't attract unnecessary enemies?"

Jasmine opened her mouth to protest, but was quickly silenced by her father. "Now, Aladdin is right. I won't have my people suffer because of your kingdom's affairs. Especially if it means putting my daughter at risk."

"I assure you, your highness, that no harm shall come to your daughter," Naraku said sincerely without breaking eye contact with the man. "I've not lost a battle yet, and I don't plan on starting anytime soon. I also make sure my skirmishes take place on a battlefield away from my kingdom."

"And what about assassins?" Aladdin quickly added in. "Just the other day someone tried to shoot you with an arrow in the throne room."

"Might I remind you that the person that tried to shoot him was someone you brought into the castle?" Jasmine angrily said while folding her arms across her chest. "Her mouthing off is what got her officially kicked out of the castle. That and she is crazy thinking Naraku here is a demon."

"Half-demon," Aladdin corrected remembering Kagome's words from the other morning. His words caused Naraku to stiffen in his seat. "I am curious as to how the two of you met though."

"What makes you so sure we've met before?" The prince monotonously asked without even looking at the vizier.

"Why else would she try to shoot a you on sight? She would have to either be crazy or an assassin to want to try kill a prince." Aladdin watched him, waiting to get any sort of reaction from the man. Sure he had heard Kagome's side of the story, but Naraku would definitely try to paint the girl in a negative light.

The faux prince took a sip of his beverage before gently placing his cup on the table and letting out a sigh. "If you must know, the girl is simply seeking revenge from a previous war encounter. She lost some comrades in a battle they lost some time ago. She has been after me ever since."

"Liar!" Aladdin exclaimed accusingly. "Kagome arrived to Agrabah before you did. I know you're after the jewel she has and that's why you attacked her in the desert a few days ago."

"Enough!" Jasmine slammed her hands on the table and stood up, gaining everyone's attention around the table. Hers, however, remained solely on Aladdin as she glared at him furiously. "I won't have you pestering Prince Naraku! I am done with your jealous tendencies. You and I are never going to be together, so stop trying to ruin this for me and get your emotions under control."

Aladdin felt something inside him snap. The girl in front of him was not the same one he fell in love with months ago. The once caring woman looking for adventure and freedom was no longer there. All that remained was a quick to judge princess who apparently was now only interested in some guy pretending to be a prince. "Don't flatter yourself," he started as he stood up at the table. "As if I would want to be with a blind foolish girl like you."

Without waiting for a reaction he abandoned the royal group of people in the dining room, and headed back toward his own bed chamber. He couldn't help but wonder if he was going to be fired as the Grand Vizier after his comment to Jasmine in front of the Sultan. Of course that would mean being kicked out of the castle again, and back to the life of a street rat. But maybe with Kagome around it might not be so bad…

Speaking of which, he hadn't seen her since yesterday morning after she was kicked out of the castle. Agrabah really wasn't that big of a kingdom, and since she wasn't from here there was a possibility that she had already decided to leave the desert town to make her way back home. Deep down, he hoped that she hadn't left yet, especially without saying goodbye.

As he arrived to his room, Abu jumped onto his shoulder in welcome while Genie was floating lazily on his back around the room. "Hey Al," he called out sleepily. "How was your dinner with the princess?"

"Awful," Aladdin answered curtly while giving his monkey companion a quick pat on the head. But he didn't want to dwell on the subject of Jasmine and her half-demon boyfriend. "Genie, have you seen Kagome since she left?"

"Nope," he replied as he lowered himself back to the ground and onto two feet. "I haven't even left the castle in a couple of days."

"Is there anyway you can simply display where she is?" The magical being quirked an eyebrow at him while grinning, causing Aladdin to blush in embarrassment. He quickly added, " Just to make sure she is okay!"

Genie didn't say a word as he dramatically clapped his hands together to his side. When he pulled them apart, a smokey orb appeared remained floating in the air. The three of them watched it closely as the mist swirled and rearranged before eventually displaying Kagome before them. His heart nearly stopped at what he saw. She was sprawled out on the sandy ground, in what looked like a dark crevice, she wasn't moving and her eyes were closed. Her clothes looked dirty and disheveled while her backpack lay next to her, the contents spilled onto the ground.

"Genie!" Aladdin called out, panicked at the sight before them. Questions raced through his head. Is she okay? Is she hurt? Who hurt her? Was it Naraku? How did she get there? Is she even alive? It didn't look like she was moving. "We have to get to her!"

With a snap of the genie's fingers, the three of them disappeared and reappeared in the same dark and sandy place they had seen Kagome in just moments ago. Aladdin rushed to her side and kneeling next to her, he gently raised her into his arms. She was cold and still wasn't moving.

"Kagome!" He called out her name desperately, and started to shake her body. "Please be okay," he mumbled to himself.

What he wasn't expecting, was for her to suddenly let out a low rumble growl and blast him with a bright white light from her hands. Abu had been smart enough to jump off his shoulder before the blast, but Aladdin was thrown across the cavern by the force, causing him to drop her. He slid against the hard, grainy sand for about twenty feet before halting to a stop Abu chasing after him.

"Oh my god, Aladdin!" Kagome, clearly fine after all, ran to him and knelt beside him. "I am so sorry! I rarely get to sleep, so when I do I'm kind of hard to wake up because I really don't want to get out of bed. Long story short, I'm a cranky morning person."

"It's night time," he said gruffly, as he tried to prop himself up with his elbows. However, he hissed in pain as he tried to apply pressure to his arms, wincing from the newly acquired rashes forming on them. But what hurt more, was how stupid he felt and probably looked to her. Of course she was sleeping at night in a cave with no where else to go.

She placed a hand on his left arm, causing him to grimace at the contact. "Let me help you," she stated sincerely. Suddenly, his arm felt warm and tingly at her touch and he was surprised to see the same white light that just blasted him a few moments ago radiating softly from her hands again against his skin.

Reflexively he pulled his arm away from her, not interested in getting blasted any further back. But instead of a rash on his arm, he only saw his unblemished tan skin. "What the…" he murmured out before looking back at Kagome. "What are you?"

She let out a nervous laugh before leaning over him and placing her hands on his other arm to repeat the process. "Well, believe it or not, I'm a priestess."

"Priestess!" Genie cried out before shrinking himself down to the size of a rodent and quickly darted to hide behind Abu. "I thought most of them had died out or been killed off."

"That could be true. I'm not really sure what time period I'm in, or the precise year," Kagome said, muttering the last part to herself.

But Aladdin heard her loud and clear being so close to her. You didn't have to be educated to know the year let alone the current time period. "I don't understand what you mean."

She let out a sigh as she finished healing him, and sat back on the sand. "I'm a time traveler, not by choice of course. But I'm originally from far into the future."

He stared at her incredulously. Was she serious? A time traveler? Maybe Jasmine was right, perhaps Kagome was crazy. "Are all priestesses time travelers?"

"Oh goodness, no," Kagome responded with a small smile on her face. "I'm the only clumsy girl that can manage to keep falling through time on accident. But I really like meeting new people. Everyone here is so interesting. Except for the ones trying to kill me of course. I'm not sure how long I've been trapped in this cave..."

"Trapped?" Aladdin finally took the time to look around the cavern. They were completely surrounded by walls of sand, and there was no entrance. He started to question where the light allowing them to see inside their entrapment was coming from, until he realized just how familiar it all looked to him. "I've been here before…"

"I would hope you wouldn't have forgotten the place we met," Genie called out nervously in a squeaky voice, still hiding out behind Abu. "This is where you got away with that freebie wish of yours after you released me from my lamp. We're in the collapsed Cave of Wonders."

Genie was already strange, but he was acting weirder than usual. To make matters worse, his friend hadn't taken his eyes off of Kagome since she announced she was a priestess. "What's wrong Genie?" Aladdin asked.

"Nothing really, except for the fact that priestesses are the only beings that can dispose of genies!" He was practically screaming it out at them, but because he was so small, his voice didn't sound at all upset.

No one could ignore the hurt expression she wore on her face. Aladdin found it hard to believe that someone as nice as Kagome could have the potential to kill off a genie. However, instead of being upset about it, she gingerly scooped him up so that the little blue guy was standing on the palm of her hand. Then she placed a small kiss on his cheek. "Genie," she started softly. "I would never hurt you. Especially after everything you guys have done for me."

A guilty look immediately plagued Genie's face. With a 'poof' he was back to normal size and quickly scooped the girl up into a hug. "I'm so sorry I even thought you would."

"It's okay," Kagome said with a giggle as she was released. "I didn't even know I could hurt genies until yesterday. I'm embarrassed to say that I was silly enough to follow a genie impersonating Aladdin here. However, when he transformed into what I can only assume to be his normal form, he tried to take the jewel from me but I was able to stop him by dissolving his arm off with my abilities."

"Another genie?" Aladdin, Genie and Abu cried out. The three of them exchanged wary glances amongst one another before Aladdin finally asked, "What did this other genie look like?"

"Well, now he only has one arm," she said with a chuckle. "But he was a very tall and slender gentleman with brown eyes. He wore long, dark robes with a matching turban. He also had this twisty goatee beard…"

Aladdin felt a wave of dread wash over him. There was only one genie that fit that description, and since he was after Kagome, there is a good chance the man is working with the Naraku. Which could only mean bad news for Agrabah as a whole. He let out a groan and plopped backwards onto the sand again.

The last thing anyone needed was for the half demon to have found Jafar's lamp.

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