Update Feb 2017 - If you are new to this story, enjoy! If you are a returning fan, welcome back! I am currently re-writing/re-working this, hoping to update it to my current skill level and actually start adding on to it again ;)

We shall see how that goes!

This will mainly follow canon but, of course, I will change some things up to fit the story

ENJOY! All the love to Rumiko Takahashi for creating such a beautiful world.

Jewels in the Shadows

"So where exactly are we going Kagome? I thought you said the jewel shards were close by!" Inuyasha growled and crossed his arms across his chest.

Kagome, Inuyasha, and the others were travelling along one of the many roads that ran across the countryside of southern Japan. The trip had been pleasant for the first few hours, but Inuyasha's short patience for long, slow, uneventful trips had finally caught up with them. Kagome walked stiffly beside her bike while Shippo rode in its basket, almost crouching within the fibers for some form of protection from the anger that seemed to permeate through the miko. Miroku and Sango brought up the rear, their eyes shifting back and forth between their friend from the future and the hanyou with almost as much hesitation as Shippo, the quarrel was imminent.

As if being queued into action by her companions thoughts, Kagome finally shot around and let Inuyasha have it, "Can you stop being so impatient?! We've only been looking for them for a little while!" Her knuckles gleamed white against her skin as she tightened her hands around her handlebars. He just had to push her buttons all the time didn't he? The guy has the patience of a five year old, she screamed in her head.

Sango leaned over and whispered toward Miroku, her hand cupping around her mouth to keep it as silent as possible, "Is it me or are Inuyasha and Kagome at each others necks a little more than usual?"

Miroku returned her undertone, "Maybe it's because Kagome returned to her own time and chose to stay longer than usual. And you know how Inuyasha gets whenever she doesn't want to return to this time," the obvious sarcasm and enjoyment pulled through his mellow façade.

"He does get pretty helpless when she's gone, doesn't he?" she giggled.

"I'M NOT HELPLESS!" Inuyasha growled back at them, ears flat on his skull. Seeing their unimpressed faces, he turned back away from them to pout, stuffing his hands into the sleeves of his kimono, "It's not my fault Kagome's the only one who can see the jewel shards."

"Nice to know I'm useful for SOMETHING!" Kagome roared and turned her eyes to the reddish gray color of the road, quickening her pace to try and persuade herself to hold off saying "Oswari" more times than was necessary. His constant senselessness made her wish that she had stayed home. At least there she could get some peace and quiet once in a while.

Luckily for Kagome, she noticed her underlying threat of a face full of dirt hadn't gone undetected by Inuyasha, for he hesitated to make another comment and instead opted to stick his nose in the air with a short, grumbly, "Humph." She would have smiled to herself had she not been in such a bad mood.

Shippo remained silent for most of the argument in his basket shield, but Kagome could tell he saw how her spirits had been declining ever since they left the last village. "Don't be mad, Kagome," the small kitsune said sweetly, giving her one of his big, reassuring smiles, "You're useful for lots of things besides sensing the jewel shards."

The little fox's innocence and joy couldn't help but be taken in, especially for her, and she could feel her anger ebb slightly. She turned her eyes to him and managed a small smile. "Thank you, Shippo. I'm glad you think so," she tried to spread her smile to her tone but it failed miserably. Shippo and the others could give her all sorts of reasons she was useful, but the red-garbed hanyou behind her was always another story. Her eyes glanced back at Inuyasha and reverted back to her glare.

"Will you stop THAT!" he growled back.

Kagome made a decision, if he wasn't going to provide her with any form of respect then she wouldn't give him any either. Maybe some of his own medicine would get through to him. She forced her face to turn icy and blank, "Fine, I'm not speaking to you."

Her reaction stopped Inuyasha dead in his tracks, the aghast look on his face was almost comical, "B…but, what did I do?"

She didn't respond and just turned her head and stormed off in a huff, leaving him behind.

It was upon seeing Inuyasha's dumbfounded look that Miroku decided to spread his 'well informed' female knowledge, "I think you should allow her to be angry right now. A woman should not be bothered when they have a grudge."

"Oh and how would you know, lecher?" he rolled of his eyes.

Miroku continued without reproach, "Well, I happen to know tha…" his words were cut off as a piercing scream echoed from over the nearest hill, followed by an explosion that thrust smoke through the air in a wave of youki. Everyone froze, both startled and almost relieved by the change of atmosphere.

Kagome ran her bike over to Sango, "What was that?"

Inuyasha skidded to the front of the group. "No idea, but it's got youkai written all over it!" He turned back to Kagome, expecting to see her rush to his side as usual, "We better hurry Kago…huh…"

Kagome had already climbed onto Kirara's back behind Sango, bow in hand and eyes focused ahead. She was ready for anything that could take her mind off of Inuyasha, and if that distraction included youkai to fight, all the better. "Let's go Sango. I'm sensing jewel shards, lots of them," her excitement was palpable.

Sango replied with a curt nod. "Right, let's go Kirara!" Kirara pushed hard into the air and they flew off, leaving Inuyasha, Miroku, and Shippo on the ground.

Inuyasha couldn't seem to get his newfound, flabbergasted look off his face, "Was it me or did Kagome totally just blow me off?"

Shippo raised an inquisitive eyebrow, amused at his lack of the obvious, "She did say she wasn't speaking to you."

"DID I ASK YOUR OPINION?!" his outburst sent Shippo bolting behind Miroku with a squeaky yelp.

Miroku looked down at Shippo then glared back at the fuming hanyou before him. "You can take this quarrel up sometime else. If you haven't noticed, we have more important things to worry about at present," he counted off on his fingers, "Like Sango, youkai, a number of jewel shards, and Kagome to name a few."

"Kagome!" Inuyasha's fuming disappeared instantaneously and he jumped off after the girls at full speed.

Miroku and Shippo couldn't help but share a knowing grin.

They met back up at the edge of the village. The ruble of the buildings strung all around them like a scene from a high budget war movie. The flames still smoldering from within the crumbling houses gave ever more layers to the scene. This illusion of special effects was erased as the horrid smell of burning flesh and wood radiated through the air, hovering around them in a thick cloud. Though Kagome had been through this kind of carnage many times before, it was something she could never get used to no matter how often it happened or how often she had tried to tell herself otherwise. This was her reality now after all, and reality was something that could never be glammed up or toned down. All she could do was keep her eyes locked in front of her to keep from looking at the mangled forms at her feet. So much for being excited about letting her anger out on a youkai.

Meanwhile, Inuyasha ignored the gruesome scene around them and sniffed around eagerly until his nose wrinkled as the distinguishable scent hit him, "There's definitely some kind of youkai here all right, it reeks everywhere!" He spread his feet and took a guarded position with everyone following suit behind him.

They started as a house collapsed under its own weight beside them. A few of Naraku's insects emerged from between the ruble, their wings hissing through the air as they flew off above them.

"Naraku's siamyosho!" Miroku yelled up in alarm, "Inuyasha, do you smell him anywhere?"

Inuyasha took another strong whiff of the air and shook his head, "No, just the scent of that youkai," he made a disgusted look, "Even if Naraku was here, I don't think I'd be able to pick him up anyway, this thing's smell is strong enough to mask anything."

Another explosion of wood tore from their left. They turned just as a large, disfigured youkai lumbered out of the rubble, the crunch of wood beneath its feet mixed eerily with the pop of fire and sizzle of things many of them didn't want to think about. Its body was covered in wiry fur, tinted green from what seemed to be mold or algae growth. Horns arched from its flat skull and down its stubby neck, curving up like they grew out of its back rather than its head. Its arms were so long that its knuckles drug the ground in small rivets. It was holding what looked like the remains of a cow; the animal's body laced around the youkai's fingers like a demented form of jewelry.

"There's the smelly bastard," Inuyasha snarled enthusiastically and pulled the Tetsusaiga. "Keh, this'll be easy!"

Miroku turned to the miko beside him, "Where are the shards, Kagome?"

She had been trying hard to keep her lunch down, but her efforts were failing at the sight of the youkai and its 'meal'. She swallowed the bile that had risen in her throat and tried to pick up the presence of the shards she felt earlier. There was definitely a shard on the youkai in front of them. However, the others were gone, seemingly disappearing onto nothing. "That's the problem," she replied with a worried look on her face, "That youkai only has one, but…I could have sworn that I sensed at least five a second ago."

"If you are correct, than there must be another or many youkai nearby," he started looking around them, tightening his grip on his staff.

"Do you think it could be Naraku?" Sango asked.

Kagome agreed, "That might explain why we saw his siamyosho earlier," her body trembled from what was implied.

Miroku turned to her, "That could be the explanation, but none of us sense anything that could be Naraku, and Inuyasha didn't pick up his scent. Though, that doesn't mean Naraku couldn't have someone watching from beyond our view," he yelled out to Inuyasha, who was walking confidently toward the large youkai, "Inuyasha, stay vigilant! There could be a far stronger youkai hiding in the trees that we are not sensing!"

He turned back to them, a large, cocky smirk across his face, "Keh, bet he's too scared to come out and fight me," he turned his smirk back toward the putrid green youkai, "Letting his little pet do the dirty work."

"Little pet?!" the youkai's voice broke out in an annoyed gargle, the mix of blood and drool pouring out of its lip-less jaws like an infected wound, "I am the mighty youkai, Kilomaru! I AM NO ONES PET!" he roared and thrust his body forward, throwing his claws toward Inuyasha's small form at his feet.

Inuyasha flipped away from the attack easily. "Stop swingin' yourself around! You're burning my nose!" he launched himself high overhead and sliced Kilomaru's swinging hand off at the wrist, cutting through the bones of the joint with little resistance.

The fight only lasted for a few short minutes, until, bored from the lack of competition, Inuyasha flipped back and unleashed the Kaze no Kizu, shredding Kilomaru's flesh into pieces. The jewel shard landed softly on the blood and youkai stained ground a few steps from him.

He picked up the shard and smirked, "Well, that was easy enough. If he was this weak with a jewel shard, he must've been laughable without it. It's actually kind of disappointing really."

Inuyasha's mood might have improved but Kagome still couldn't get the look of apprehension off her face. The thought of something just out of sight and scent was more than eyes kept scouring around them until the familiar feeling struck her senses out of nowhere. "Inuyasha! I'm sensing the other jewel shards!" she yelled to the hanyou in front of her, "They're behind you…in the trees!"

Inuyasha twisted back toward the forest and tightened his grip around the hilt of the Tetsusaiga. He gave a sly glare back at Kagome, "So you're talking to me now?"

"Really?!" she grumbled, "Ugh, just be careful okay!"

Sango ran up next to her, "Where are they, Kagome?"

Sango's question cut off her glare, "What? Oh," she pointed over toward the left of Kilomaru's body, "Right there. They're not that far back in the tree line, but they're definitely there and they're all in the same place." She tried to keep her voice even and confident, but the ominous feeling she had before was only growing stronger down in her gut. After Inuyasha killed Kilomaru, it was as if the shards appeared out of nothing. That fact alone had put her on edge; however, it was the least of her questions. Apart from being all in the same place, they seemed to be pure and dormant, just like the shards she carried. How could they be purified, she thought, only people with holy powers can purify jewel shards and there's no sign of a priest or priestess around.

Everyone regrouped at the edge of the village near the trees. Inuyasha's grip on the Tetsusaiga tightened as he growled dangerously, while Miroku and Sango stood near him, poised to attack at the slightest need. Time slipped by in ever agitated silence until a slight gust of wind came through the trees.

Every muscle in their bodies suddenly tensed from the sensation the air brought with it. They had expected to sense a youkai nearby, but this wasn't some everyday rabble they ran into. The power coming from the trees was to a level that only a very select few had, the power of a daiyoukai…a daiyoukai whose scent made Inuyasha's eyes grow huge and a youki that baffled those who could sense it.

"What…the…" Inuyasha couldn't produce much more than mumbles.

"Did you sense that to, Inuyasha?" Miroku said breathlessly, "I've…I've never felt a youki like this." His trembling hand rushed to the beads around his Kazaana though the idea of opening it with the Siamyosho around was of obvious concern behind his wide eyes.

Inuyasha didn't respond, unable to move or say anything.

"Inuyasha, Miroku is trying to talk to you!" Kagome thumped him on the head with her bow, hoping to elicit some sort of response from the hanyou. She got nothing for her effort.

Shippo hopped up next to her, "Is something wrong with him? He looks…scared."

"Inuyasha?" Kagome's annoyance had shifted to concern, her voice soft and worried.

She started to reach out to him but was met with a growl before her fingertips could make contact. His face broke from its frozen state and turned to a dark scowl. "Let's get out of here," he sheathed the Tetsusaiga, turned around, and quickly started to walk in the opposite direction. The group all shared the same baffled face at his sudden change of character.

"Inuyasha?" Kagome asked again, the unease still there.

He paused mid-stride and glanced back, "Kagome, can you track those jewel shards?" he asked quietly, voice contradicting the hard look on his face.

"Y…yes, but…"

He turned back away from the group, voice still calm, "I want to follow those shards. Let's let this youkai think he got away for now and follow him when he isn't paying attention."

Miroku was the first to argue with his strange decision, "What will letting this youkai go accomplish? He's already here."

Inuyasha growled deep in his throat, "I don't want to fight this thing right now, so get off me!"

"Bu…but Inuyasha, why are you so…" Kagome reached out for him again.

He growled louder, "I'll tell you when we get out of here!" with that, he jumped off in the opposite direction.

Sango threw her hirakotsu over her shoulder and turned to Miroku, "That's a first, Inuyasha running away from a fight rather than toward it."

"I agree, Sango. Unfortunately, all we can do now is follow him and hope that this youkai doesn't come looking for us. From what all of us felt, there's no way we can handle it without Inuyasha's help."

They all nodded and followed the retreating hanyou. Eyes glancing behind them periodically to ensure that they were not being followed.

The sound of the branches along the canopy gave a feel of waves on a calm sea. With it, the rising moon broke through the leaves like ripples, revealing a shadowed form high in a tree. The only movement visible from the tree's single occupant was the slow stirring of long silver-white hair through the wind, swaying around his crouched body like it was being blown through water rather than air.

The deep baritone of his voice was barely audible through the rustle of leaves, "Do I puzzle you that much, Inuyasha?" The light reflected dimly off his fangs with the hint of a grin. The hanyou's reaction when he let his youki reach the group had been quite intriguing, "Perhaps it is in fact time for me to finally introduce myself to you."

The white glow of his eyes appeared briefly before shadows took over…

Hope you enjoyed this as much as I did writing it!

Till next time ;)