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Chapter 4: Just Chasin' Butterflies

"...and I tell ye this, Inuyasha, not solely for your own good but for the good of others. Guard the Jewel well and ye shall receive a Jewel of your own. Should ye fail, your life will end."

The half-demon groaned and rubbed the base of his neck. It was stiff and sore from sleeping against the thin wooden doorway to the shrine. After Kagomes fiasco in the middle of the night Inuyasha could not comfortably return to his tree and guard the shrine at a distance. She had insisted that she was simply sleep walking. And that sleep walking was a common occurrence in her world. Then she promptly returned to sleep.

Inuyasha didn't trust it. He had been guarding the Jewel for too long to believe in coincidences anymore. Something was strange about the girl and he'd be damned if anything slipped by him.

Guarding the Jewel was his sacred duty. The duty that was forced upon him but his nonetheless. He knew very well what would happen if the Jewel got into the wrong hands: He would cease to exist. Guarding the Jewel wasn't just his duty- it was a matter of survival.

The girl rolled over and sat up, groggy. She rubbed her brown eyes and yawned unattractively. A dull, stinging pain resonated in her shoulder. Kagome brought her hang up to rub it lightly.

"Ow..." she muttered to herself; trying to get a look and see what was stinging. Her eyebrows knit together in confusion.

Inuyasha turned his head and pretended not to notice.

Brown eyes turned to him. Finally seeming to notice his presence.

"There are these weird little puncture marks in my shoulder." She sounded worried.

He twitched. She noticed.

"Hey," She started gently. "Is something wrong?"

Golden eyes turned on her. His gaze gave away nothing. Kagome had her head cocked to the side as she waited patiently for his reply.

"Feh!" He exclaimed finally; getting to his feet.

The furrow of her brow became more defined. What was wrong with him?

Before she could ask again he bounded off into the surrounding forest area. Leaving her alone with her thoughts and one deep eyebrow crease.

-B-B-B-

Boredom gnawed at her like a disease. Inuyasha hadn't returned since this morning. Fixing the shrine by herself was out of the question, she discovered. After very nearly hammering her thumb off twice and destroying three...or five wooden panels Kagome figured out early on that fixing things without a hospital around wasn't a good idea.

She was sitting on the first stone step of the massive staircase that lead up to the shrine. Every couple of seconds she would bounce a smooth, round pebble down the staircase. It would bounce down the staircase on each step until she couldn't see it anymore. A few seconds letter she would look at her side and the pebble would be there. It was like she hadn't thrown it at all.

A bored smile fixed itself on her face. I guess that was the upside to being stuck in a timeless-wasteland: nothing you had ever went very far.

Letting herself fall and land on her back she stared up at the tree canopy. More sunlight than normal filtered through the trees today. A delicate, golden glow engulfed the surrounding shrine area. Kagome closed her eyes and absorbed the warmth.

It was strange to her that she knew nearly nothing about Inuyasha. After all, she was the only other person here. Inuyasha seemed like he was trapped in whatever reality this was for a decent amount of time before she arrived. So wasn't he supposed to be lonely or something? All she knew about him was that he was a dog demon. And brave. And strong. And amazing.

A warm blush colored her cheeks at the direction her thoughts were going. It was becoming less and less of a surprise as time went by.

Brown eyes opened slowly, dragging her out of day dreams and back into reality. She sat up leisurely and looked beside her for the pebble she was mindlessly skipping before. Three streams of bright, brilliant, orange and pink floated by her; captivating her eyes.

They were butterflies. Strange, magnificent, multicolored butterflies. They danced together as a group. The color trails they left behind them created a strange mixture of beauty and fascination. Without a second thought or a care in the world Kagome got up and followed them.

They fluttered together as a group, never once breaking harmony, into the forest. Kagome followed them eagerly. They weaved through the trees, never once in danger of breaking formation. The pace Kagome followed them at quickened. She never got any closer, nor further from their dazzling display of color.

Inuyasha rummaged through the forest. He spent the afternoon slicing off pieces of wood from the larger trees and sanding them to make planks that would fit on the shrine. The first stone he used as a sander was quickly dying and he needed a new one.

Footsteps approaching quickly caught his attention. One ear rotated in its upcoming direction. There was only one person the steps could belong too, and she was approaching at an alarmingly fast pace.

When Kagome came into view he noticed something was wrong instantly. She was fumbling over fallen tree branches and narrowly swerving around tree trunks like she didn't see them. Her pace hastened, becoming more desperate with each step.

What the hell is going on! He thought to himself before dropping the wooden slab he was sanding and taking off after her.

The japanese school girl disappeared between two dense trees. Inuyasha ran faster to catch up with her. When he broke through the clearing he fumbled to a halt.

Kagome was standing on the edge of an open clearing. Her arm out stretching into the air like she was trying to catch or touch something fragile. Her feet were trudging forward...towards a cliff. The look on her face was the same glazed-over expression she wore when she was "sleep walking" the night before.

She moved faster suddenly; narrowing the gap between her and the cliffs edge.

NO! He screamed mentally. Inuyasha lunged forward, arms outstretched to cage the moving female.

"Kagome!" He yelled frantically at her.

The glaze in her eyes dulled and her pupils returned to normal. "Inuyasha...?" She asked softly before his arms closed in around her. He crushed her close; very nearly smothering her between the crook of his nick and his shoulder.

Brown eyes blinked in confusion. Inuyashas grip on her never loosened. She struggled in his grip to free one of her hands and push away the bangs over his face. Golden eyes were gazing at her with molten fury.

"What were you thinking!" He barked at her.

"W-What?" She was confused.

"You almost walked off a cliff!"

Kagome squirmed a little more in his grip, trying to turn her head. His hold on her loosened ever so slightly. Just enough for her to see over her shoulder. Kagome inhaled sharply at the sight before her. Inuyasha jerked his head up at the sound of her gasp.

There was no cliff. No grassy field or butterflies.

The shrine, the archway, and the massive stone staircase stood before them. As if they were never in the forest to begin with. Snow poured down from the tree canopy and blanketed the area in white. Shivers shook Kagomes body when Inuyasha released her. The air was frigidly cold and her school uniform offered no protection from the elements.

Inuyasha snarled suddenly, drawing her attention. Kagome turned her head to see what he was looking at.

Right under the archway was the baboon man from the hot spring.

Her heart thudded loudly in her chest.

The baboon wasn't moving. The white of the pelt almost blended in perfectly with the snow. The long dark snout and two black holes for eyes were the only things that made him visible against the white back drop.

Summoning what little courage she had Kagome yelled: "Who are you!" at the motionless baboon.

He said nothing.

Several tense moments ticked by. Inuyashas snarl growing louder with each passing second. The baboon took one large step forward, completely passing underneath the archway and stopped.

That was all he needed. Inuyasha lunged at the solitary baboon. His claws outstretched and ready to strike. He was quick, the baboon thing wouldn't even know what hit him. The distance between them narrowed. Inuyasha raised his clawed hand, ready to lash out against his opponent...

...only to find Kagome standing in front of him instead.

Reeling back and halting his momentum suddenly sent him crashing into a snow pile.

"Inuyasha!" He heard Kagome call from behind him.

Wait, behind him? Hadn't she just been standing in front of him?

He scrambled to his feet as quickly as possible. Just in time to see Kagome running at him from behind. She stopped just short of reaching him.

"Inuyasha, are you alright?" She asked, concern evident in her voice.

"Feh! I'm fine." He wasn't, really. Things were getting weirder by the second. "Where did that fucking monkey go?"

"He disappeared as soon as you ran towards him, I think. I blinked once and he was gone." She said slowly.

Kagome stared at him, genuinely concerned. Inuyasha looked a little strung out. After being stuck in this strange place Kagome didn't know what to expect. Now it was clear that whatever was happening to them wasn't normal for Inuyasha either.

"Inuyasha..." she started, "What's going on?" Her voice held a firm edge to it. Whatever was going on was affecting her. As long as she was involved she needed to know the truth.

"I don't know." He answered honestly.

He was certain he had seen Kagome nearly about to walk off that cliff earlier. However, in all the time he spent here, not once had he ever seen that same cliff or grassy opening before. He was also certain that he had seen the baboon standing under the shrine archway. Kagome reacted to the baboon and said as much. But when he looked up again it was her standing in front of him instead. Yet it seemed she was never there.

Golden eyes narrowed at the ground. It was still snowing. It never snowed here before. What was going on? He shifted his gaze to meet a pair of worried brown eyes. He owed her an explanation. The only problem was- he didn't have one. And the only answers he had were ones he wasn't willing to give.

-B-B-B-

A relentless rattling sound echoed throughout the inside of the shrine. Kagome tossed and turned in fitful intervals of sleep. It took her a few moments of drawn out incoherency before realizing the rattling sound was her own teeth. The snow had yet to stop falling and her teeth chattered together to compliment the falling temperature. The school girl pulled her knees to her chest and groaned in quiet misery.

Inuyasha had allowed her to sleep inside the shrine tonight- given the freezing circumstances. He was leaning up against the wall, sleeping, about an arms reach from her. Brown eyes glanced towards the pedestal in the center of the room. The Shikon Jewel rested peacefully on it.

It's still just a glorified pink pearl...Kagome thought to herself. A strong chill rippled through her causing her to hug her legs closer to her body. She rubbed her hands up and down her legs, vigorously trying to stimulate warmth but to no avail.

Warmth suddenly enveloped her and her body felt heavier. Opening her eyes met her vision with red. Inuyasha had draped her in his heavy, warm, haori jacket. Kagome snuggled in closer to it, greedy for its warmth. She lifted her head slightly to look at Inuyasha. He was still leaning against the wall, eyes closed.

"Thank you." She whispered to him softly and drifted off into a warm, peaceful slumber.

When he was sure she was alseep, Inuyasha cracked one eye half open and gazed at the sleeping school girl.

The image of her about to step off the cliff from the previous afternoon was engraved into his minds eye. Worse, the way he had felt watching her take those tentative steps towards the edge. A shot of dread buried itself in his gut and refused to be shaken.

Authors Note: Tell me what you think! As ever, I appreciate all of you and thank you for reading my story. I apologize for the delay in update. The updates should be coming a little faster in the next few months. Please review!