"Something you couldn't steal fox?" "No. Rather a scenario in which the possessor became more intriguing then the possession."

Simple

She wiggled her toes at the feel of natures all natural carpet, she was a simple creature to take pleasure in such simple things. It was unfortunate that pleasure in simple things was less then prominent in her mind, forthright was what she felt when flesh made contact with the earth, and not the physical touch, but a spiritual one. She'd felt it now for a week and a half, and worst of all she'd no clue as to what it was or even what it possibly could be.

A pressure. It was as though someone was pushing something into the earth. Whatever it was seemed to scramble to the surrounding foliage, taking refuge in the trees, and other such living greens. But the moment it entered the earth, the earth accepted it contorting it to become one. The energy of the earth and the energy of it become whole. And before she even had a chance to really feel it, it was gone.

And that was all she could discern. Her friends had waved off her concerns after all their foul tempered pack alpha would have scented a threat, being part dog demon and offspring to one of such high caliber had its perks. She had even taken precautions, querying her other companions about it. But her questioning had resulted in nothing but reassurances to her face, and whispered worries of her mental and physical state behind her back.

She was fine damn it!

Perhaps fine was too strong a word, but she would be fine.

With grace none would be jealous of the pale woman child plopped to the ground curling her legs to her chest and heaving a sigh, a curtain of black hair hid her from the world as she rested her forehead against her knees. Blue grey eyes slid closed as she felt herself relax in a way she hadn't in nearly a week and a half. But the at ease feeling dissipated quickly as thoughts swarmed her head like an angry hive. Most prominent was the fear of it, and what it could be, the possibility that the ever scheming Naraku had once again thwarted death. It had happened before, several times in fact. No… something instinctual whispered to her, this new unfelt threat was… it was different, no less dangerous but… far less… dark?

She stood suddenly, scaring a brown bunny back to his burrow, letting out a frustrated strangled cry; she bowed her head and began grabbing fistfuls of hair and pulling in aggravation. "Maybe… maybe I am going crazy, I mean even Kikyou feels nothing, and she is the highly skilled and trained priestess. We are the same, at our core at least, cut from the same cloth as it were. We have nearly the same abilities, the same reservoir of power, hell even our genetic appearance is uncanny. If I can feel this thing then why can't she? Perhaps I'm feeling nothing at all?" Allowing her body to greet the earth once more she folded her arms behind her head, laying comfortably staring at the swirling colors of the sky as the sun set, reviewing several facts and possibilities in her head.

First, a fact, Naraku was dead. He'd finally rid himself of his humanity, replacing his human heart with the completed jewel. Only to succumb to his baser instincts, he'd forced all rational thought from his mind, he hadn't been prepared for the overwhelming rage that had swelled through him, and in the end he'd lost control. And so with the Jewel as his heart he became no more than an overly large target for both Kikyou and herself. Two arrows were all it had taken, one from Kikyou's bow, to clear a path for her own. All in all the final battle had been incredibly anti climatic. But everyone was alive and revenge had been fulfilled and that was all that mattered. Should Naraku have had a backup plan it was her belief that insanity would have hindered deployment of said plan. So no Naraku.

But it wasn't all peaches and cream.

The jewel had been shattered… again.

Though they were collecting the shards, it certainly wasn't the hasty pace it had once been.

Second, a possibility, perhaps she was merely exhausted and feeling things due to said exhaustion. Soon after the final battle a God, King Enma, had made a request; split humans and demons into separate realms by means of a barrier, his reasoning being fear for human safety. No simple feat rest assured. And it wasn't as though she could have denied the God with a simple, "I'm sorry I can't, I have to catch up on school work and the like, you understand right? But hey, maybe Miroku or even Kikyou would be willing to help you. Say you wouldn't happen to know the derivative of F(x) would you?"

No derivatives would have to wait. For sure the god would not.

So nights were spent reading old scrolls and writing out potential spells with the help of both Miroku and Kikyou. And late nights were spent attempting to grasp the basics of math with help from none but a book written in a foreign language known as mathematics. At least one of them was going well. One guess at which.

At this rate she would flunk out.

Third, another possibility, since Naraku's demise InuYasha had become cocky, far more than he had been previously. It was possible that a low level demon or even a human who was spiritually aware was stalking their group. With his current attitude InuYasha would feel it beneath him to deal with something so pathetic. Someone needed a swift kick to their ego, not mentioning any names of course.

Hell for all she knew it was one of Kikyou's souls stealing underlings following obediently behind the group waiting to pass on information and rumors of the jewel.

It could be a lot of things… but instinct told her it was something powerful. Something to be feared.

There was one more fact.

Odd things had been happening. Odd as in her possessions would suddenly disappear. Such as when she was bathing, she was positive she had brought a towel with her, only it was gone when she had need of it, only to reappear at their camp site, lying innocently folded next to her pack full of necessities. Or when she had wanted to do some catching up on her studying often times her pencil or even her entire sheet full of answers would disappear, only to reappear after she had restarted said paper. Her friends chalked it up to her clumsy forgetfulness. Which was a possibility even she was willing to admit, but at such times when her possessions would vanish that feeling, it would swarm her senses, well as much as it could anyway.

How very frustrating.

It was also a possibility that it was targeting her, thus the reason why only she could feel it. But that was as far as that reasoning went, it's not like she was in possession of the jewel any more. No that privilege went to Kikyou, the more responsible protector, said privilege had been Kikyou's since she had joined the group nearly a year and a half ago.

Okay that wasn't completely true; she was in possession of one shard. Not that anyone but Shippo was privy to such knowledge.

A smile lit her face… Shippo… recently Shippo had had several slip ups where he had called her 'mama'. It warmed her to think that the tiny kit held feelings similar to her own. Her thoughts and her entire body seemed to relax at the more comfortable subject.

Her smile brightened as she felt the kits approach.

"Kagome!" His childish voice squeaked out. The woman child, dubbed now as Kagome, sat up, just in time to catch the kit as he pounced, only to tumble back to the ground at the added weight.

No longer was Shippo the tiny kit whose tiny stature allowed him to perch on her shoulders, rather he had grown, still small enough to pick up, but far too large and heavy to carry for great distances. She supposed that two years could do that to a person, or demon.

"Kagome! Guess what!" Shippos tail twitched sporadically an indication of his excitement, if of course the face splitting grin wasn't enough of a clue.

"What?" Kagome's own grin was nearly a mirror to the kits; he seemed to have that effect on her.

"…I can't tell you it's a surprise! But just so you know I found it!"

"But Shippo!" Kagome whined. "That's unfair!" Kagome pouted in false despair to Shippo who was now resting his head on her lap grinning wildly as Kagome ran a hand through his rusty colored locks.

Sitting up rather suddenly he grabbed Kagome's hand, forcing her to stand and be drug along like a much beloved toy. She was toted past the clearing were they had set up camp for the night, Sango and Miroku smiled and waved as they ran past, InuYasha and Kikyou were not in the vicinity, a small pang of sorrow went through her. But she quickly squashed that emotion as the humidity around them suddenly spiked, she could see the steam slinking about the trees, a hot spring! She let out a squeal of joy; it had been ages since they had found such a wondrous rarity.

Bathing in streams when it was only mid spring, well simply put, running in and quickly dunking ones head definitely didn't count as bathing, at least in her book.

When at last the hot springs came into view she noticed that her things were already set up, towel, soaps, shampoo, and any other possible necessity she may be in need of. Kagome could help but to stumble when Shippo stopped suddenly releasing her hand as he did so, grinning happily at her reaction. "Surprise ma- Kagome!" He held out his hands as if show casing a car or some other over priced expensive item. For her part Kagome clapped smiling happily, before pulling Shippo to her chest in a tight hug. "I know you've been a little uhhh… stressed, so I found this for you!"He spoke, his voice muffled by her bosom.

"Thank you little one, you certainly know how to make me feel better." The two cuddled for a moment longer before the kit wiggled out of her grasp, gave her a peck on the cheek and pranced away, explaining that he had already made use of the springs, that this was her time alone, and he would ensure that no perverted monks conveniently found their way to where she was bathing. Kagome released a giggle and waved to the kit till she could no longer see him.

It was nice, the shear warmth and comfort the spring provided was more than enough to ease her muscles and her mind. She hadn't noticed how tense she had become. As she slunk lower into the water she found that not even it could spoil her contentment.

It was a long while before she finally slipped out of the springs.

In the end she perched upon one of two large boulders in only her undergarments and the upper portion of her priestess garb, not yet ready to return to the group. She sat slouched eyes closed and hair acting as a curtain to hide her reddening face, she shifted her robe close in attempt at modesty, it was suddenly closer.

Right in front of her in fact. All she had to do was open her eyes, and there would be proof that she was in fact not crazy.

When at last curiosities grip on her was too much to take she opened her eyes.

Her first impression was InuYasha.

But that comparison was quickly squashed. InuYasha may have been tall but he had nothing on this seven foot tall demon. The demons hair was somewhat whiter compared to InuYasha's slightly gritty sliver. His eyes where narrowed and cool, like a piece of finely polished gold jewelry to InuYasha's liquid gold wide eyes. InuYasha and the demon both had ears- the demons being significantly larger-, but there was something the demon had that InuYasha did not, and that was a tail, it was twitching spasmodically behind him.

And where InuYasha was handsome, this demon was beautiful.

Beyond his physical appearance there was something else she noticed. His aura, or rather lack there of. What she was able to discern was that his aura was being pressed into the ground, where the earth would not contort it but rather use it, such as it would any other nourishment.

Thusly hiding him.

She could then come to the conclusion that- "Your ability lies in plants, or the earth in general. That is why it so readily takes in your aura."

"Perhaps."

"You've been following our group for a week and a half now. What is it you want?"

"I feel that should be obvious." There was another thing she could cross off from his likeness to InuYasha, he seemed stoic, but not cold in the way Sesshomaru was.

But he was right; it was pretty obvious what he was after. "Perhaps you should explain it to me, I'm afraid my pathetic human mind is unable to grasp your at insinuations."

His lips twitched at that. "I would be far more inclined to believe in your words but alas you've already disproved of any lack of intelligence, you've deduced my skills for one, detected me the moment I began following your little group, and finally those odd papers that you wrote show at minimum some intelligence." He paused. "Though I find myself puzzled with a single aspect, why is it you have yet to scream? From what I've been able to discover from simple observation of you and your group, you are the least trained."

She scolded at him. "Would you like me to scream?" She regretted her words the moment the left her mouth, her face heated to an unnatural red as the fox grinned having obviously twisted her words. "Please rid your mind of any perversions."

"Ah, 'tis hard not to think untoward thoughts lady, when you are so ripe for the picking." He managed a chuckle at the petite woman's odd squeak and even odder facial coloring, and for a moment he couldn't stop his curious fox mind from wondering exactly how far that blush extended. Reacting to his amusement Kagome closed her eyes and pressed her palms to her cheeks, forgetting the number one rule when dealing with a potential enemy.

Never take your eyes off of said enemy.

The moment Kagome's eyes closed the fox seemed to phase out only to reappear directly in front of the blushing priestess, perching on the second boulder, nearly nose to nose with her, and when at last her eyes opened the sound of her hitching breath and thudding heart flooded his ears.

"Now priestess you will tell me whom in your group is in possession of the jewel." His breath was hot on her face and she could help but gulp at his proximity.

Knowing if she was to get away from the situation she would need to lie her way out she calmed herself with meditative breaths. She said nothing till the pounding in her ears lessened significantly.

If one is to lie to a demon then one must speak truths.

"What jewel?" After all, our group is possession of shards, not the completed jewel.

His golden gaze held her own for a moment before he blinked and snorted. "Were I any other demon I may have taken your answer at face value… but-" He grinned. "I am not any other demon. You may have spoken half truths to fool my nose, but there are other ways to tell if one is lying. For instance when you answered your eyes flickered to the left, this would indicate a made up answer. Looking to the right would have indicated a remembered voice or image, and thus you would be telling the truth. You countered my question with another question, in an attempt to stall, so you could gather your thoughts. But most of all you hesitated in answering at all." She opened her mouth to speak but never got the chance. "And now you are going to get defensive, you're going to deny knowledge of the jewel rather than defend your honor. Just more indications that you are lying." Kagome snapped her mouth close, feeling her heart sink.

She was going to die.

"Now everyone has a price at which they can be bought lady, tell me what is yours, hmmm? I have gold, vast amounts in every form and shape you can imagine, would that appease your greed? Or if your preference runs towards jewels I've an abundance of those as well. I've silks in every color you can possibly imagine, and even some you can't." Confusion coursed through her, was he offering an exchange?

He grinned at her confusion. "Your face shows puzzlement, as I've stated before I've been tracking your group. In that time you've nearly perished twice, you've no fear of your own death, no self-worth, but should another's life be threatened, particularly the kits, you are the first to preach the value of life. It would be pointless to wave death in your face when you've no fear of it. And I am not so lowly as to threaten the health of neither your kit nor any child, but I am not above provoking your greed or self indulgences."

"Speaking of self indulgences." The grin that split his face frightened her more than the thought of her potential impending death. "The smell of your innocence certainly seems to slink about you, it is most intoxicating. I could remedy that, hmm?" His mouth was suddenly right next to her ear, his warm breath sent shivers down her spine. "I could make you scream till your voice was raw, and still you would want more. I would make it so you compare every other sexual experience to our one long night. I could have you begging."

It was then that Kagome panicked. In a single jerky movement she hit the fox in the face starling him enough that the minute force of the hit was enough to send him off balance and into the springs with a large slash. Surprised at said splash she lost her balance and began to wave her hands frantically in an attempt to regain stability which only succeeded in tossing her off the rock and on to the ground to which she replied with a started yelp, loud enough to catch the attention of her companions.

And that was their first meeting.

Over the course of the next couple of months as spring slowly waned into summer they had several more encounters. And by the third visit Kagome was sure the demon, had knowledge of who was in possession of the jewel he sought, if he did though he said naught.

End Chapter One

This is going to be a short story probably only three chapters.

Please Read and Review.