Chapter 6

Wind attack

"So when are we leaving?" Yasha asked the next day as he watched Mikon pack her strange yellow bag.

"In two weeks time" Mikon answered.

"Two weeks!" Yasha exclaimed. "I thought that we were leaving tomorrow!"

"No, the two weeks is actually for Izayoi" Mikon replied.

"What do you mean?"

"At the moment, she is too small to carry anything bigger than herself, but in to weeks or so- she should be able to carry you easier."

Yasha froze. Dropping his catch, his hand settled on the hilt of the Tetsusaiga as he sensed someone nearby. "Who are you?" he asked as a women walked into view.

The women walked around a nearby tree. "Is that any way to greet me, Inuyasha?" With a cold smirk, she flipped open her fan.

"What are you talking about?"

"Isn't it obvious?" She drew her arm back in preparation.

"Keh. If you're gonna fight, then just get on with it already."

"Very well" Her hand swung forward in a sweeping motion, releasing a great gust of wind.

Yasha expertly dodged the blast and landed a few feet back without a sound and drew the Tetsusaiga and he grinned with approval. Noting the loose grouping of trees, and lack of other cover, he flashed the women a smile. This was going to be a head-on fight, his favourite kind.

"You'll have to do better than that!" He yelled, raising the blade in front of him.

"Don't worry." She smiled. "I intend to."

"Mikon, please stay here." Midori said as she started to leave the cave.

Mikon frowned in disapproval; there was no way that Midori was just going to leave her here. She quickly stood and tried to object. "But-"

"Just stay here, Emiaru and Izayoi will be with you. I need to go check this out."

"Please be careful. It's Jōgi, I can feel it." Kagome said.

"I will. Besides, someone's got to look out for that boy." She chuckled, referring to Yasha who had gone out to catch dinner. "Emiaru, you and Izayoi protect Kagome, alright?"

Izayoi squeaked her agreement while Emiaru puffed out his chest and settled down beside the tree cave in a defensive poison.

Midori carefully slipped out of the cave. Trying her best to be silent, she crept in the direction that she'd sent Yasha for dinner. This was a horrible time to be attacked and she knew that despite Mikon's strength, she'd be helpless if Jōgi himself showed up.

"Is that all you got?" Yasha smirked as the women missed again.

"No, but it is all I needed." She whispered.

"Eh? What was that?"

"Nothing you need to concern yourself with." She said as she launched another volley of blades at him.

Yasha rolled to the side to avoid the slashing winds. Then he realized that was not the best idea when she sent another wave at his down form. "Damn." the wave knocked him into the rushing river.

"Tsk, tsk, Inuyasha. The last time I fought you, you did much better." She teased. She looked around and guessed that she'd been fighting for probably a good ten minutes. That was plenty for what her master was doing. Deciding that she'd done her part, she drew a feather from her hair.

"Oy! What are you doing? We're not through yet!"

"But I think we are." She floated skyward. "And if you want to know the truth, ask Mikon and Midori about the Shikon Jewel."

"What?" He yelled.

She sped away on her feather without another word. Yasha stood stiff for a moment, putting together her last words. Panic blazed across his eyes for a split second. "Dammit! Mikon!" He raced off towards the cave, completely forgetting about dinner.

Mikon was growing increasingly unsettled. Nervousness built as she waited. Jōgi was getting closer, she could feel the overwhelming aura approaching. Why was she always so helpless? Even as a hanyou she couldn't do anything. Somehow, it always seemed that she was waiting around for someone to save her. She wasn't some damsel in distress! Steeling her nerves and sidling past her bodyguards, Kagome walked outside. Emiaru followed with Izayoi on his back. He nudged Mikon's elbow.

"I know, Emiaru, I'm supposed to stay inside. I just wanted to check things out for myself."

It'll be alright! Mikon, you are brave and strong! Emiaru said.

"That's touching."

Mikon turned slowly to see her worst enemy glaring down at her from about fifty yards away. Izayoi jumped down and ran back into the cave while Emiaru stood growling in front of her. Jōgi moved forward.

"You will give me the Shikon Jewel."

"Never Naraku!" She held the tiny bottle tight against her chest as she shouted his true name.

"Very well, then I shall have to take it from your corpse." He chuckled.

A chill ran down Mikon's spine. Here she was talking about how she didn't want to be rescued all the time, and now she really did need to be rescued. There was no way she could launch arrows before he could attack. Emiaru was brave, but he really didn't stand a chance against him and Izayoi was still only a baby so she couldn't do much either. Mikon hoped that Yasha would arrive in time.

"Foolish girl. Do you think that your precious hanyou will be here to save you? Remember, he's dead!" Naraku stopped moving and raised his tentacle in a mocking gesture. "He won't be here."

"Inuyasha-" She whispered.

"And I don't think that anyone else will come to save you either. I've ensured their," he paused, "entertainment?"

"What did you do to them?" Kagome shouted, silently hoping Yasha would hear.

"That's none of your concern. Now, the Jewel- give it to me and I may reconsider killing you now."

"No way! I would never give it to you."

Emiaru rushed forward and collided with a barrier. He hit with a sickening thud and drew back, shaking his head slightly. Naraku laughed and launched a few tentacles at the forest dragon, strangling him. Emiaru bit and clawed at the tangling mass only to release a purple-hued mist.

"No! Emiaru, don't!. "It's poisonous! You hear me?"Mikon screamed

He kept biting until the poison got to him. Emiaru then fell over. Mikon winced when Emiaru slumped to the ground, but knew that she still had a duty to protect the Shikon Jewel. "Don't worry. I won't let him hurt you any more Emiaru!" Mikon forced a smile, and then spread her arms wide in a protective gesture.

Mikon was shaking. After Emiaru had fallen, Izayoi bravely tried to defend her, only to be knocked aside. Now she was ten feet from Naraku, who would not hesitate to kill her for the Shikon jewel she possessed.

"Now, I'll ask you again. You can either give me the jewel and live a little longer, or you can resist and die now. Which do you choose?"

"I won't give you the jewel." She spat, surprised that she could still hold onto her bravado.

"Very well. Then I see you have chosen the latter." Naraku grinned and raised an arm that morphed into a sword. "It has been fun." The sword slashed forward and Mikon tensed, waiting for the blow. But it never came.

"What the-" She looked up. Mikon was shocked to see a man standing over her with long flowing black hair and a wearing a red harori and violet eyes. He was currently blocking Naraku's sword with his own. She fumbled for words. "Yasha?"

Naraku backed up. He glanced to the side and sensed that the others were returning. His minions hadn't distracted them long enough. Not that he expected much from Kagura. "Another time." A dark mist formed around Naraku and he disappeared without a trace.

"Mikon!" Yasha rushed to her side and looked for any injuries. "Are you okay?"

"Yes, I'm fine."

He stopped and turned his upper body towards her.

"Thank you."

"Mikon!" Midori yelled, coming into view.

"Midori! Are you alright?" Kagome ran towards her friend, leaving a grumpy Yasha behind.

Mikon hugged Midori close. "We need to care for Emiaru; he was hurt by Naraku's poison." She gestured towards the fallen dragon. "And Izayoi -" Kagome bolted again, this time to Izayoi's side. To her surprise, Yasha had already picked up the dragonling.

"Is she okay?" She asked.

"Yeah, he's pretty tough. Still needs to be cared for, here-" He handed Izayoi to Mikon. "You're better at healing than me" he muttered.

Midori walked up to Emiaru and sat down beside her. "You'll be alright, Emiaru. We'll make sure you're okay." She petted Emiaru's head and the dragon gave a quiet roar.

"Mikon" Yasha started.

"Yes?" Mikon asked.

"A strange woman attacked me at the stream and she called me Inuyasha, and also she said for me to ask you about something called a Shikon jewel.

Mikon sighed "I guess I have to tell you the truth now. Come with me" she said, retreating into the tree cave after she gave Izayoi to Midori.

"The truth?"

"Uh-huh, the truth is that I'm not even from this dimension. And my name is Kagome, not Mikon."

"What do you mean?"

"On my fifteenth birthday, I fell through the well on my family's shrine. It transported me, to feudal the feudal age of my land. 500 years back in time. I freed a hanyou named Inuyasha from the Goshinboku and accidentally shattered the Shikon no Tama or Shikon Jewel. We were forced to work together to collect the shards of the jewel and put it back together. I was able to sense the shards and he would protect me." Kagome smiled softly.

"Along the way, we met some other friends and an evil youkai - actually hanyou - that we had to defeat. He was responsible for everything bad that had happened to my friends. His name was Naraku or Onigumo but you know him as Jōgi."

"WHAT? Jōgi? Like King Jōgi?"

"Yes, now please don't interrupt."

"Although they were both hanyous, they were created differently. Inuyasha was the result of a human mother and youkai father. Naraku, however, was born a human and stayed a human for his childhood and youth; his human name was Onigumo.

One day, not long after Inuyasha and Kikyo met, Kikyo was a priestess and she found Onigumo with severe burns. She helped him as best as she could, but he was beyond repair and he knew it. Still, he fell in love with Kikyo and was extremely envious of the hanyou she spent so much time with. So he called some youkai and they became one with his flesh. He became very strong, stronger than most youkai and he was constantly building up his power."

"A year in my dimensions time, we battled him for the last time. Almost friends were killed and I ended up shooting him with an arrow. Only Inuyasha and I survived.

She took a deep breath and showed him the jewel around her neck. "This is the sacred jewel. That is basically the whole story in a nutshell. I…really miss my other friends - whose names were Sango, Miroku, Shippo and Kirara.

"Anyway, Inuyasha and I had gone back to my time to try and heal from the wounds that were inflicted on us. Both from the physical scars and the emotional scars as well."

"One new moon night, Inuyasha and I were heading home when a human stabbed Inuyasha through the heart, and because he was mortal, he died instantly."

"The man then turned on me but before he could hurt me, my priestess powers flared to life and carried me and Inuyasha's body to this world."

"I was told I could revive Inuyasha but to do so would mean that Naraku would be resurrected and also that Inuyasha would forget everything about his past life and be reborn."

"I accepted because I was confused and… Inuyasha had a hard life as a hanyou and I just wanted to give him a better one."

"These are the beads of Subjugation" she said, holding out a necklace with roughly 42 and 49 round violet-blue beads and between seven and ten fang shaped beads. "They hold the hanyou Inuyasha's Yokai powers inside them.

"Why are you telling me this?" Yasha asked.

"One, because you asked, and two because Inuyasha from my story is YOU!"

"WHAT?"

"I don't expect you to believe me but, if you want the truth, just put these on around your neck and everything will become clear" Mikon said, handing him the necklace and then walking past him outside and into the forest.

It was an hour till Yasha followed Kagome's path to her. (With instructions from Midori)

"So you remember?" Kagome asked, looking at his now silver-white hair and dog ears.

"Uh-huh" Inuyasha said, coming up beside her. 'Why Kagome? Why did you make me forget and become human?"

"I guess I wanted you to have a better life, one without people beating and hurting you just because you were different" Kagome said, looking over the small clearing.

"Keh. What made you think that I wanted to forget you? As far as I'm concerned, a world without you is a world I don't want to live in" he said, staring at her.

"I was just trying to protect you" Kagome whispered as Inuyasha put an arm around her.

"Baka, I'm the one whose meat to protect you" he muttered into her ear.

"Gomen nasi."

"Don't be, just promise me one thing."

"Nani?"

"Don't ever leave me again." Then he did something totally unexpected. He put his other arm around her neck and kissed her.

Kagome felt as if her body was so light that she was floating off the soft grass.

Inuyasha held her tightly, pressing his lips to hers for what seemed like an eternity. Finally, Inuyasha released her and stepped back, smiling at Kagome.

"We'd better get back or else the others will get ideas" he said shyly.

With that, Inuyasha turned and started to walk back towards the others. After a moment to catch her breath, Kagome followed, hand in hand with the Hanyou of her life.

The End