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The sun slowly crept over the tops of the trees as dawn made its appraoch. Everything seemed to be peaceful, but not all was as well as it seemed. Inuyasha ran through the forest, with the darkness still coating the land from the cycle of the new moon he was still human. Miroku was right behind him and following them was Sango and Shippo on Kirara.

"I'm gonna kill that b*****d." Inuyasha growled as he ran through the forest.

He didn't care that he was still human. He wasn't going to let this all end this way. He couldn't. He'd promised Kagome he'd protect her and he'd meant it. How could he have let this happen? The question circled in his mind and made him all the more determined to find Kagome and bring her back safe.











The day before .....



Kagome sat beneath a tree with her math book in her lap. She sighed and shut the book. She just didn't get it and of course the fact that Inuyasha was restless wasn't helping.

"Are you done YET?!?!" He asked for the dozenth time that morning.

"Fine, I'm done. I can't concentrate anyway."

How could she when it was such a nice day out? The birds were chirping and the woods smelled plesently of morning dew. It was one of the things she treasured about being in the Fuedal ages. Simple things like this weren't found in her time because of all the buildings. There were still birds, but the morning dew wasn't as obvious as the smell of civilization covered it up. Kagome stuck the book in her backpack and got up, stretching.

"It's about time, you've been at that forever."

"I have a test this week. I have to study."

She sighed. This was an old issue with them. Every time she had a test it was the same old thing. Not that she liked the tests. She admited that much, but she still planned to make a future for herself; assuming she went back when all of this was over. Lately she'd been wondering about that. There were plenty of reasons for her to stay here, in the past, with Inuyasha and the others, but there were plenty of reasons for her to not to as well.

She hefted the yellow back pack onto her shoulders and Inuyasha leapt to the ground.

"Come on, we're going!" Inuyasha shouted to the others.

Sango had been talking to Shippo, Kirara had been napping nearby and Miroku had been nursing his slapped cheek as usual. The group set out from the village. This time they were heading North. They were looking for the last jewel shard. Naraku had most of the jewel and Kagome had a few peices. It wasn't long after they had set off that the group encountered a demon after the shards. It was just a weak centipede though and Sango took care of it quickly enough and soon they were on their way once more. It wasn't until the sun was well into the sky that they reached a forest where they suddenly found themselves surrounded by a group of dog-like demons.

"Well, well, look what's wondered into our territory." Their leader said with a chuckle. His fur was a dark brown with a mix of brown in it. His ears were long as was his snout. A black cresant moon was on his forehead on its side. Inuyasha snorted.

"What do YOU want?" The leader glanced at Kagome.

"Give us the jewel shards and that woman and we'll let you live." Inuyasha drew Tetsusaiga.

"Ain't gonna happen." Sango leapt off Kirara, her hand clenching tightly to her Hirikostus.

Miroku held his staff up in defense, his grip tightening as the group stared at them with a calm indifference.

"I've never seen demons like these before. Just what type of demons are they?" Sango asked.

"Jackels." Inuyasha growled.

The demons pounced on the group; their leader went straight for Kagome, but Inuyasha was faster and leapt between them, swinging Tetsusaiga; causing the leader to duck away. The rest attacked Sango, Shippo, Kirara and Miroku. It all happened so fast that it was hard to say who was winning as crys of pain filled the air. The jackel demons beat a fast retreat, the leader seemed unharmed, but the others were battered, bruised and some were bleeding.

"We will not forget this! We will be back!" Their leader growled before retreating.

"I think we should leave this area." Miroku muttered, he had a few cuts across one arm as he'd not been able to use his Kazaana for fear of accidently sucking in his friends. Shippo was ruffled, but otherwise okay and the same went for Sango, Kagome and Kirara.

"I have to agree. I don't want to run into those demons during the night."

"Feh, they weren't so tough." Inuyasha said as he sheathed Tetsusiaga. Kagome knew he was just saying that though; he'd a cut on his cheek and arm.

"Kagome's right. From what I've heard of jackel demons, they harbor deep grudges easily and over some of the most minor of things that they see as an offense. We'd best get out of their territory as fast as we can before they come back with reinforcements. A few we can handle, but more then that... I'm not so sure." Sango said.

Inuyasha grunted, but he had to admit to himself that she had a point. He wouldn't admit that he'd almost found a match in the jackel demons' leader. He glanced up at the sky. The sun was nearly halfway past noon and Inuyasha began to feel a bit uneasy. It wouldn't be too smart to stay here too long with the new moon phase so close at hand. He didn't think himself vunerable then, at least not anymore, but he didn't fancy himself being outnumbered by jackel demons while he was human either. So, he said nothing after Kagome and Sango tended to Miroku's wounds as well as his own and they set off again. With the new moon so close at hand, Inuyasha was rather glad that they would be out of the reach of the jackel demons' territory soon enough. A few minutes later though he began to get irritate when Kagome had them stop for lunch, which seemed to be forever to him.

Didn't they know the new moon was close at hand? Inuyasha fidgeted as the others finally finished the meal. Then Kagome packed up everything and they were on their way again.

"Do you think we're out of their territory yet?" Shippo asked Kagome as the sun began to sink into the horizon.

"I don't know. You might want to ask Sango or Miroku."

"I don't think that's likely." Miroku said in response before Shippo could ask.

"I have to agree." Sango said. "Demons that are like wolf demons often have a rather large territory. It'll be hard to say whether or not when we'll reach the border of their lands and cross into the lands of some other demon."

"Yeah, it's not exactly maped out." Kagome said thoughtfully, thinking that if it were that would make things easier. They were well into the deep forest when night fell and Inuyasha became human. After walking as far as they could Kagome put a halt to their travels in a clearing.

"Inuyasha, we can't go on like you can. We're not part demon." Inuyasha didn't argue, which was unusual.

"Fine." He sat down under one tree while Kagome and Sango made the fire. Miroku helped, that is until he got slapped again by Sango and was told to keep his distance.

Kirara watched them work and Shippo was digging into Kagome's bag to see what she had for them to eat for supper. Inuyasha was quiet the whole time. Kagome began to wonder about him as he didn't speak during or after eating. He just sat where he was, staring at the fire. He glanced over and caught her staring at him as she was setting out her sleeping bag, the others were sound asleep.

"What?" He demanded more then asked.

When she didn't answer he began to feel uneasy. Then when she turned he caught her expression in the light of the fire. She was worried.

"What is it Kagome?" He asked softly this time.

He knew something was troubling her. As she sat down in the open sleeping bag she replied.

"I can't help but think about what that demon said. What if they find us?"

"Look, you don't have to worry about it. I'll protect you like always. I can promise you that poor excuse for a demon won't touch you."

Kagome smiled slightly, somewhat reassured by his words. She lay down in the sleeping bag and tried to get some sleep. Thank you Inuyasha. Inuyasha watched over the camp as the fire crackled in the silence of the night.

[yeah, well, if it does then I'm not offended. as for the whole paragraph each time a person speaks.... get out of here. I can't do that EVERY time I write a story! how much time do you ppl really think a college student has to sit down and write something like that and then go line BY line to paragraph it just to suit you? sheesh. picky picky! I don't mind suggestions, but I'm a little tired of hearing the same thing. if you don't like it, don't read it! there are more imporant things in life then my spending forever in front of the computer moving things so it's not such an inconvience to everyone else. Besides. I've seen plenty of books that do NOT paragraph every time someone else opens their mouths to speak. argue all you like, but that's just the way it is.]

[Deliberately horrible? That's VERY hard to beleive. I know a few, but I'm not going through my mountains of books when I have other obligations to the world. Sorry to disappoint you in that area, but I don't take the time to memorize every book style I see and every title I read; even if it is a classic book.

I have to say, that I appreciate comments, but after having the same comments over and over again it gets tedious. It's like listening to a broken record. Did I not explain myself? For as much writing as I do I simply do not take much care for the "dialogue paragraphing" (as I call what a person does when they paragraph every single time a person speaks) because I feel it is not as important as my spelling and grammer which I do check throughly most of the time when I write. I simply cannot spare the time to make it perfectly convient all of the time. If you've read my other stories that I have written or participate in you'll realize that it is a regualrity with me. With as long as I sometimes write, paragraphing every time someone opens their mouth is VERY tedius and DOES take a lot of time. More time then you might think. I usually go for quantity when I first write a story. If you were allowed to see the rough drafts of the story I'm going to have published soon you'd realize that I write first and correct later.

Therefore, my fanfics and my rpg does not reflect my writing for my book as it is, as you might put it, paragraphed for all those who speak. It's in proper format and nearly ready for publication. It's not easy to get on and take the time to do all this as I tend to many things while online. My life doesn't revolve around gaiaonline and my stories on it. If it did then I would be more inclinded to actually paragraph each and every time someone spoke because I would have the time to do so. If anyone is confused then likely it's because they are reading too fast. I can tell you right now that one book that reads like I write is a book by Anne McCaffery. I can't recall the title off hand, but that's the format that I've gone by ever since in my first drafts of stories. For a person to get my story throughly and to understand it, they cannot simply skim it like most books, but must pay the utmost attention otherwise they can get lost and confused.

The type of writing I often do is to make people ponder about the characters and their motives. As for the critique, I expect honest ones, just not the same thing over and over. Especially if it's been on one of my other stories. Now that I've explained myself perhaps you all will understand and point out other mistakes I might make rather then that one. I assure you that eventually I WILL get to paragraphing it as you say, but most of the time I wait until I hit writer's block to do that or the end of the story... which ever comes first. I don't expect anyone to inflate my ego, which I have little of really. Though I can get defensive about my writing sometimes. Depends on the content though and how I write it. I don't expect high apprasal when I write, just that a person enjoys the story. I've never gotten high apprasal in my life for anything, why would I expect it here? As far as praise goes, I only see it as credit to the story as being well written, not that the writer (myself) did anything spectacular. As they say "beauty is in the eye of the beholder" and I believe that only a truly good story is seen as a truly good story by the person who reads it, not by its content. Therefore, there is no such thing as a "horrible" book. Now that I've said that, I'll get back to debating what is going to happen next.]

[If you mean me I take that as an insult. Considering what I did say to explain myself. If you will not see my reasoning then perhaps its best you just leave this story and never come back to it. I'm forcing no one to read and I listen to comments. I do what needs to be done when I have the time. If you can't accept that I don't have the time to cater to all my stories all the time then that is your problem and not mine.]