:: Summary
Kagome's excitement over a toads young leads to an encounter with a most dangerous beast. A trip with her dear grandfather and brother ends of being a life changing experience for the young girl. Being only the age of 12, Kagome doesn't understand the weight of a promise.

(Inuyasha's story or characters are not owned by me. The plot of this story, however, is mine to claim)

-oOo-

::Chapter 1

-oOo-

"Grandpa, grandpa!" A voice as ethereal as only a child's could be sang wrapped up in a covert embrace of nature. Thick, heavy footwear stained by impure ground thumped what many species called home. Two bright chuckles echoed behind the uttered words.
"I found tadpoles! May I catch them for myself?" Eyes as blue as the sky itself stared with desire at the more mature man. As animated and jumpy as only she, Kagome, could be - who was the elder man to reject her request? Certainly not a beloved grandfather, that's who. Rugged fingers spread through the dark roots of the child's hair and there was a smile on the owner's lips.

"Of course, Kagome. Will you hold out for just a moment?" The man spoke with a throaty sound - a voice of one who had lived long, as more a demand than a request. Curiosity of the young was beyond this world. "I will gather our belongings and your brother, then we walk to where you found the frogs."
"Tadpoles!" Kagome exclaimed, tossing sun-kissed arms up over her head.

"Ah yes, tadpoles. Do not go before I am back, you hear me? I do not want to have you absent." A gruff gray eyebrow crooked at the young girl, a warning that his words were law. Flushed cheeks puffed and the small child kicked upset at the forest bed - yet not enough to leave a pocket. A whine under a breath that could only be heard by the owner herself left immature lips. Fidgeting. Oh how restless Kagome became within minutes. Knowing her grandfather, it would be at least five years until he returned! Those captivating tadpoles would be all grown up by the time they got there.

That simply could not be.

Standing where she was, net and bucket already at hand. How could she ever endure the temptation of violating her elder's unwritten rule? Simple enough, she could not. With bare legs Kagome quickly got up a phase of a skip after another, euphoria spreading though her small form at the thought of where she was heading. The trail was shrunken, only way an outsider would know it even laid there would have had to have walked the path once before. Kagome had, so she knew. Her grandfather did not.

But the simple logic did not pass the girl's thoughts.

-oOo-

Joyful laughter left cherry lips, framed by dust of nature that stuck to moist skin. Her hands, wet from lake water smelling foul because of the humans waste. It did not trouble her. Kagome loved the feel of nature against her skin, even one slowly tainted by unnatural chemicals. Sitting at her knees in the lakesides muddy terrain, sun rays smoothing out against her form as to not be too harsh on the sensitive creature - she was happy like this. A bucket sat at her side. A small one, plastic and blue filled with liquid enough to spill over if nudged. Kagome giggled, filling up her net with a group of distressed tadpoles. Starting their life by a human child's hands, how cruel the world could be.
Caught up in so called innocent play, naming the hyper young's trapped within closed walls - the creature lurking in the shadows were never called out of their mischief.

-oOo-

An individual one would name human at first glance, but remorse at second for the horrific assumption. A being banished from eternal rest by those that gave them life. A youkai, daiyoukai no less and the belief of such abnormality was long gone from modern life. Yet here one was, pale clothes pushed against hard bark - stalking a human child.
Lanky claws weeping with poison that could yet not be contained by the creatures body gripped the poor timber - the surface fading with agony. If greenery had a voice, it would cry in pain. Song of despair traveling from crown to crown as a weak call for help.

The abominations breath, heavy and deep that only an animal's sensitive ears would ever be able to pick it up – a human child's could not. Kagome, ears only filled with her own excited amusement, would never know the dangerous creature's presence until it was too late.

-oOo-

(A/N: Thank you for reading, it means a lot! Feel free to review your opinions and guesses for the story.)