#apct

“I hate you!”

“Not as much as I hate you!”

Inuyasha Taisho growled, leaping from the deck to the flailing ropes that had been torn from the rigging. He needed to secure them or they would undoubtedly be screwed. He flipped over the spar and dug his claws in as tight as he could to the mast, feet scrambling to gain purchase. It was only once he had stopped that he could tie the rigging back in place, a surge of water pounding on his back just seconds after he succeeded. “Where is the damn thing?”

“I don’t see it!” Koga Matsuno yelled back. “It’s gone under!”

“Then why am I being splashed?”

“Because you’re a dick!”

Growling, Inuyasha let himself fall back onto the main deck, where Koga stood at the ship’s wheel, trying to steer them towards their destination. He glared at him, drenched and cold. “You’re the worst.”

Koga’s lips pulled back, baring his canine teeth. “Right back at ya.”

“So mature.”

“You started it!”

The ship shuddered within the waves of the sea, and it was violent enough that both stumbled before looking at each other, anger gone.

“Crap,” Koga muttered, just as a massive water demon rose from the rough waters. It looked similar to a long, scale-ridden eel, its stout thin and beak-like. Multiple eyes – red, blood red eyes – bore down on them. It hissed and Inuyasha caught a flash of teal blue in his vision.

“I thought these waters were protected!” Inuyasha snapped, running as fast as he could to leap off of the ship. He took out his claws and attacked the tail of the sea demon before it could deal a blow to their transport. The demon shrieked and Inuyasha was caught up in the flap of its body, tossed viciously back onto the deck.

Koga ran towards him, stepping over his body before taking off to deal yet another below to the demon. The creature dove back into the water, black blood oozing into the sea. The wolf demon made a disgusted face at it. “Maybe the Goddess Suijin is gone. It has been a while since we’ve visited the Sacred City.”

“It’s been a year!”

Koga rolled his eyes. “Try four, idiot.” He offered a hand to the half-demon, giving him an unimpressed look when Inuyasha only scowled at him. “It’s going to come back.”

“Yeah, yeah,” Inuyasha muttered, taking his friend’s hand. Hauled up, the two of them took in their surroundings. Their ship was trapped in the middle of the sea, land far, far away. Their destination was still three days of sailing out. Other than the residual rocking of the waves, caused by the sudden diving of the water demon, it was quiet.

Too quiet.

Inuyasha crouched down, hand flexing. “It’s biding its time.”

“No duh,” Koga replied, but he too readied himself. “It clearly wants us dead. What the hell did we do to it?”

“Exist?” Inuyasha asked wryly. “Usually that’s why they hate me.”

Koga snorted, used to this. Having spent most of his teenage years and all of his adulthood beside the half-demon, the statement was only too true. Even he, in his youth, was biased until fate had intervened and put Inuyasha in his life in a way that couldn’t be revoked.

Irony from the Gods, surely.

“We need to fix the sails before we can move again.”

Inuyasha hummed. “We need to get rid of his asshole before it destroys our ship with us in it.”

“Do you—” But the question was lost as the sea rumbled, giving only a second’s worth of warning before the water demon burst forth, jaws open to reveal rows and rows of sharp, spindly teeth. “That’s not good,” Koga stated, before running at it. “We need a plan!”

“Since when do we ever have a plan?” Inuyasha exclaimed, leaping at it himself. The two of them went for its face, the water demon throwing them off each time they landed a blow. None of them were final, though the demon’s black blood slid down its scaled body. It snapped at Inuyasha, narrowly catching his leg before the half-demon swiped at its eye.

The demon cried out, shuddering.

“Not again, not this time!” Koga yelled out, knowing like Inuyasha did that it would attempt to disappear once more to regroup. They did not have all day to fight the monster; it needed to be ended, now. The wolf demon went for its snout, digging his claws into it. He went to slice it open but the demon, mindless and twitching without any pattern, bucked hard enough to send him flying into the air.

“Koga!” Inuyasha yelled, hanging on to the demon’s back and trying to get a foothold to run or jump or something—

But it was too wild, too strong. With Koga flying, the water demon saw its chance and opened its great, toothy jaw, snapping up his friend in one bite.

“Koga!” Inuyasha screamed, thrown from the demon’s back. He twisted himself enough to land on the deck, feet bracing before he pounced again. Koga had been eaten. Koga was in that thing. The water demon was going to disappear and—

He leapt at its eyes, ignoring the disgusting feeling of his claws sinking into a mass he could never describe because damn, it was gross. But he was angry, pissed off that the demon ate his stupid, idiotic friend who was honestly the worst person in the world but his worst person in the world and—

The creature bucked, screamed and Inuyasha could only hold on for so long before he had to get off, fear of being tossed into the sea and all hope being lost. He flew back, golden eyes watching as the water demon twitched and shuddered.

But this time it was different.

It seemed almost as if it was curling in on itself, face inching down without diving below the surface. It screamed, a cry far different than any Inuyasha had heard. He braced himself on the deck, leapt to the mast to attack, when suddenly the demon’s cry hit decibels that hurt every cell in his body. Inuyasha collapsed back to the ship’s deck, hands covering his dog-like ears on the top of his head, flattening them to his skull as he watched.

There was the undeniable sound of a rip, skin and sinew snapping, and then Inuyasha stared in horror as the rip grew, running upwards and upwards until the water demon’s face was next, exploding.

The cry bit off, vicious, but black oozing blood flew everywhere. He closed his eyes and that was when something hit him, hard and heavy, knocking the breath from his lungs.

There was only the sound of the waves pulling in thick, meaty chunks of the demon, and the waves the ruckus had caused. Their ship tilted dangerously back and forth, but Inuyasha could only open his eyes and stare at what had landed on him. Koga.

Thank the Gods. Inuyasha groaned and flopped back onto the wood, closing his eyes once more. Holy crap.

They stayed like that for a long, long time.

“You are the least comfortable person in the world,” Koga grumbled, lifting his head which had been on Inuyasha’s chest. “How are you this boney when all you do is eat enough for five people?”

“You don’t seem to be moving, you mangey wolf, so shut up.”

Koga groaned and smacked his head back down on Inuyasha’s chest.

The half-demon grimaced. “Thought you were dead.”

“Thing just swallowed me. Didn’t even take a bite,” Koga answered, words muffled. “So I managed to shred it from the inside. Seemed like a good idea at the time.”

“Not your worst.”

“That sounds almost like a compliment,” Koga stated, head perking up. “You were actually scared.”

“Nope. Relieved, actually, when I saw it ate you. I’d be rid of your annoying ass.”

“You were terrified.”

“Ecstatic.”

“Probably shaking in your boots.”

“Only because I was dancing as a thanks to the Gods for blessing me.”

Koga laughed then, rolling off so that he, too, was on his back on the deck. He glanced over at his friend. “You would’ve missed me.”

Sighing, Inuyasha didn’t even answer. He simply moved his arm to punch at Koga’s sternum, a weak thing that rested there after the hit. “I still hate you more than anything.”

“Right back at ya, mutt.” Koga closed his eyes to the sun.

X

According to the history books, the Sacred City was the very first settlement after the rise of the Great Goddess, Midoriko. Once a priestess for her village, she protected the band of humans against attacks from demons. Centuries ago, humans and demons lived with only hatred for each other. Humans feared and hated demons for their unnatural abilities, their looks, and stated that they were mutations of sin that the Gods had sent to test them. Demons pitied and despised the humans, for they were weak and took up resources already precious in that time.

There were battles, many lives lost on both ends. It wasn’t until the Great Goddess, Midoriko, sacrificed herself for the good of all to purge the world of evil that both ends convened and drew up a truce.

It wasn’t perfect. Centuries later, lands still held segregated areas of races, hating the others. But there were many more places like the Sacred City, in which humans and demons lived together in peace. The city was also home to the Shrine of Midoriko, which was where Inuyasha and Koga stood, watching with dull eyes as the tour guide droned on and on about some brick or other.

“I would rather be eaten by that demon again than listen to this,” Koga muttered darkly under his breath.

Inuyasha bit back a laugh, forcing his face into passivity when the tour guide looked directly at him. The woman moved on, and the half-demon smirked at his friend. “It’s not much longer.”

“This is the worst plan you’ve ever had.”

“Better than your non-existent plan because you’re too dumb to come up with one.”

Koga rolled his eyes but said nothing, jostled by the group surrounding them on the tour. They moved from room to room within the Shrine, a building that was more than just a place of worship. It held many areas dedicated to the preservation of history, learning, the sciences and a neutral ground for political conventions.

What they needed was to get into the library.

Their chance came after Koga complained at least three more times, the two of them sneaking off while the tour guide and the rest of their group was distracted by some artist doing a thing with a thing. They ducked under a rope and silently stalked down the halls, Inuyasha comparing their movements with the map in his hand before heading through a door.

“This is it,” Inuyasha whispered, eyes adjusting to the darkness. There were no lanterns or candles lit, so the shelves of books were shrouded. “Find the Forbidden History. We need that book to tell us where the legend says the Jewel is.”

“If there even is a Jewel,” Koga retorted, sorting through the books nonetheless. “Our buyer seems sure, but he also seems a kind of crazy. It’s a damn legend. No one has ever seen the Jewel before.”

Inuyasha rolled his eyes. They’d had this conversation a billion times before. “The legend had to come from somewhere, didn’t it? Have you forgotten how much damn gold he was willing to pay?”

“I haven’t forgotten,” Koga snapped with a hiss. “It just seems like a reach.”

“You’re a reach.”

“Moron,” the wolf demon muttered.

“I see you’re both looking for the Jewel of Four Souls.” The voice was female, unfamiliar, and far too close. Inuyasha whirled around, surprised at being so caught off guard. How could he not have noticed another scent in the room? How did Koga miss it?

But however it happened, there was another person with them. It was a woman, short and petite, covered head to toe in a dark brown garb. Only her dark eyes showed, a stark contrast to her pale, milky skin. In the darkness, he could tell very little else about her.

“Who are you?” Koga purred, a deception meant only to distract while he stepped closer to Inuyasha. Then again, the half-demon thought, it may not have been a deception at all. Koga wasn’t even tense, not ready to fight.

“Just a student,” the woman answered vaguely. “But of the three of us, I at least belong here. If I yelled for the guards, you’d both be thrown into the dungeons.”

Inuyasha hated these games. “But you haven’t, so what the hell do you want?”

“Nothing.” There was a pause, and the half-demon watched as the woman eyed them up and down, one body to the next. Inuyasha couldn’t tell for sure, but she was clearly examining them, determining what to do. They needed her to stay silent, which meant to keep her talking to them.

“We’re not stealing anything,” Inuyasha stated, crossing his arms defensively. “We just need to figure something out and we’ll be on our way.”

“The location of the Jewel of Four Souls,” the woman whispered, sounding almost reverent. It made him cringe. “I heard. You think the legend is true.”

“Offer enough gold and apparently anything can be true,” Koga said wryly. Inuyasha elbowed him in the ribs, hard. What a dick.

The woman laughed quietly. “Oh, the Jewel exists. It’s hidden on the Isle of Destruction, the resting place of the Great Goddess.”

The words caused Inuyasha to freeze. Surely it couldn’t be that easy? The Isle of Destruction was only a couple days away by ship, and not a dangerous path in the least. The Isle was barren, abandoned. If the Jewel was there, why had no one ever retrieved it? “You sound pretty sure of that,” Inuyasha pointed out, hesitant. “But it doesn’t make any sense.”

The woman hummed, touching at her headpiece like she intended to run her fingers through hair. “When the Great Goddess sacrificed herself, her soul ripped from her body and solidified on this plane of the living. Her soul has sat where her body was last seen.”

“On the Isle,” Koga finished, following along. “But why leave it there then? The more you talk, the less I believe it’s true.”

“Because no priestess has ever had an equivalent power to Midoriko, prior to ascending.” The woman shook her head. “The Jewel is pure power, energy from both a human priestess and a great, evil demon. Only like can call to like. Another priestess must find it.”

“And not a demon?”

“Your nature, your auras, are naturally repulsed by the purification a priestess’s power holds. So no, a demon could not find the Jewel. Not in its current form.”

Inuyasha scowled. “You seem to know an awful lot. Why not get it yourself?”

A pause, then the woman looked down to the ground. “I am only a student,” she said finally, like that answered everything. Maybe it did. “You should leave,” the woman urged. “There are guard rotations. You’ll be caught leaving soon if you don’t.”

“You’re awful helpful,” Koga noted, and there, there was that tension that Inuyasha was expecting.

“It’s not often I meet new people.”

That seemed to be all she was going to say so Inuyasha pushed and shoved at Koga, leading him from the room and back down the hallway. The woman was forgotten.

X

“You’re insane,” Inuyasha spat, hands fisted tight on his stein of drink. “You want to kidnap a priestess?”

“How are you backing out now?” Koga hissed, leaning in close so that they wouldn’t be overheard. “The legend appears to be true. The Isle is close. We find a priestess, bribe them with money. It’s a few days and we have enough silver to cover our passage and pay a sum. We find the location of the Jewel, let the priestess go and get our gold.”

“Let the priestess go? It still sounds like kidnapping!”

“We’re paying her; it’s not kidnapping.”

Inuyasha rolled his eyes. “Did you even remember? The priestess needs to be as powerful as the Great Goddess was when she was human. That’s not possible!”

“But it is.” Koga grinned then, canine teeth sharp and glinting in the firelight lanterns of the pub. “While we were separated getting supplies, I did some snooping.”

Groaning, Inuyasha buried his head in his hands. “Oh Gods, not again.”

“And two cycles from now, the city’s Great Priestess Kaede is stepping down. There’s a new priestess and she’s been said to have powers greater than anyone’s ever seen.”

“What’s her name?”

“No one knows,” Koga whispered. “Her powers showed at infancy. She’s been kept at the Shrine’s residency ever since.”

“This sounds like a legend less likely than the damn Jewel,” Inuyasha replied, eyes roaming around the room. No one seemed to be paying them any attention. “What makes you think that this priestess would even take our bribe?”

Koga laughed then. It was warm and familiar, but Inuyasha hated it too. He knew that laugh and it was always given when the wolf demon was about to win. “Because mutt, we can show her the world. Forget silver. We’ll give the priestess an opportunity of a lifetime: one cycle of freedom before she’s confined to the Shrine, in exchange for the location of the Jewel.”

“A priestess that powerful could just keep the Jewel for herself,” Inuyasha pointed out, but he could feel the plan slotting into place. “She could stop us.”

“She could stop me,” Koga stated and yes, his blue eyes were glinting. “But not you.”

The plan was coming together after all.

X

What seemed like a solid plan was actually nothing more than sheer dumb luck. Inuyasha recognized it for what it was because every time the two of them seemed to hit a road block while sneaking into the residency area of the Shrine, those road blocks just…disappeared.

Guards stationed where they shouldn’t have been? Suddenly called away.

Protection runes embedded into the ground? Another pathway was lit.

It made Inuyasha deeply suspicious, and he could tell Koga felt the same because of the way the wolf demon held himself. They crept from building to building, getting closer and closer to the centre. In planning, they knew that the Great Priestess, an old woman named Kaede, would be at the centre-most building. It stood to reason then that the next priestess in line, the one to take over in two cycle’s time, would be next to her.

It seemed like a good idea.

“Ready?” Koga whispered, hands linked to provide Inuyasha with a boost for a particular high window. A window that was hopefully into an empty room.

Inuyasha nodded. He took a few running steps before jumping onto Koga’s hand. The wolf demon helped launch him further into the air and Inuyasha made the windowsill easily, arm muscles keeping him in place as he crawled through. The room was dark and empty, so Inuyasha waited a moment to let his eyes adjust to the lighting. He needed to find the priestess, needed to do so in a way that couldn’t terrify her. Breaking and entering wasn’t exactly standard greeting material but since the priestess never left the residency, they had little other choice. It was why Inuyasha was going in and not Koga, despite the wolf demon being far more charming.

At least if the priestess tried to purify his ass, it wouldn’t kill him.

Hopefully.

It was only when his eyes adjusted that he noticed there was a strange flickering by the entryway. It was dull, barely there, but Inuyasha carefully moved forwards anyways. There was no noise that he could hear, no smells surrounding him. It was like a void, almost, like the person that lived there had no scent at—

“I was wondering how long it was going to take you.”

Inuyasha didn’t jump. He didn’t. He simply gripped the doorway a little harder than necessary. Maybe put a dent in the stone there. Maybe.

But that voice. Oh, but that voice was familiar. Inuyasha couldn’t help but feel incredibly, horribly played. “You.”

“Me.” The woman from the library was seated in a small, soft-looking cushion. She was dressed simply in a farmer’s attire, loose beige pants and a white top. Her hair was long and midnight black, darker even than the shade of her eyes, a rich chocolate brown. Despite the appearance, her voice didn’t lie. “Took you long enough.”

“You’re the priestess,” Inuyasha stated, cocking a brow.

“I’m the priestess.” She nodded and smiling, soft and small. “My name is Kagome.”

He didn’t feel comfortable giving out his name but nothing about her screamed a threat. Actually, he couldn’t get anything off of her at all. It was just like back in the library, but he’d been so distracted by her words he hadn’t thought about it.

“When you’re like me, you don’t give away things that would make another living being notice you,” Kagome stated softly, understanding crossing her features. “My aura protects me from humans and demons alike.”

“Why the hell would you tell us about the Jewel?” Inuyasha asked, uneasy. This felt like a trap and the fact that her aura hid her true intentions made a churning deep in his gut. “You knew we’d come.”

“I hoped,” Kagome answered. She stood up then, slowly and with her hands out. “I want to find the Jewel. I want to bring it back where it belongs, here. And you and your friend are going to take me.”

“Well that’s dumb,” Inuyasha couldn’t help but reply. “Because we have a buyer for the Jewel and it sure as hell ain’t you.”

“I can pay you far more than your buyer can,” Kagome lured. “And if you want to go down the moral path, it’s the right thing to do.”

“We’re getting paid in gold.”

“I assumed.”

“A lot of gold.”

Kagome smiled again but there was nothing soft about it. “Don’t mistake me for some dumb, helpless girl. I know.”

Inuyasha huffed. “Going to pay me with the Shrine’s money? Don’t seem exactly moral,” he spat out.

“My own.” Kagome shrugged then, face scrunching. “Or as much as you can call it my own. A stipend I receive to live within the Sacred City. I spend very little of it because of my training. It’s grown significantly, over the years. Help me get the Jewel and I’ll pay you for it. Handsomely.”

Inuyasha glared at her, trying to read anything off of her. But whether it was her aura or the actual truth, the woman seemed genuine. He sighed, swearing under his breath. Koga was going to murder him. “Fine. But answer one thing for me.”

“Whatever you want.”

“Why the hell couldn’t you have done this before? The Shrine has enough power. Why not send a search party yourselves?”

Kagome nodded, like she expected the question. “Over the last few decades, the Shrine has tried and failed. Funds for these expeditions were significant for the large party that was sent, all of it gone to waste. Now that they have a priestess strong enough to find it, they’re scared. These expeditions are always fraught with danger, rebels who wish to kill priestesses in control. Sending me out would be a mark upon my head no one could protect me from.” She smiled then. “But if we go without permission…”

“We’ll be hunted,” Inuyasha hissed, eyes wide with surprise. “Are you crazy?”

“By the time they find me gone, we’ll be far ahead of them and no one will know our destination.” Kagome didn’t seem concerned and that alone concerned him. “Trust me.”

“I barely know you.”

Kagome nodded again, but she put on her slippers and hefted a yellow-toned stuffed pack onto her back. “But you can trust me.”

And damn it, but he felt like he could. Koga was definitely going to kill him. Growling, Inuyasha made up his mind and crouched down. “Get on my back. We’ll go out the way I came in.”

She did so, the warmth of her body surprising him. “We’ll need to exit carefully,” she murmured. “If I’m seen, they’ll know.”

“And we’ll be extra screwed, yeah, I got it,” Inuyasha groused, hefting her up and heading back towards the window. He peeked out of it, spotting Koga hiding low by a nearby bush. The wolf demon had eyes on him immediately and it took everything Inuyasha had not to grimace.

Definitely murdered.

He leapt from the window, trying to stick close to the wall to control the landing. For her part, Kagome didn’t scream or even tense up. She just held on, thighs locked around his hips. Upon landing, Koga was on them. He seemed almost surprised to see Kagome, despite the fact that that was the plan all along.

“We good?” Koga asked, eyeing the half-demon.

Inuyasha nodded, letting the girl slide off of his back. “Meet Kagome.”

“Pleasure,” she responded and Inuyasha watched as realization dawned on Koga’s face exactly who she was. Alarm flickered across his expression. Reaching out to punch him in the shoulder, the half-demon tried to convey with a glare everything that needed to be conveyed. They’d been in much worse situations before and had come out the other side, maybe pretty damaged but ultimately alive. This was nothing in comparison.

“You are explaining this when we get on the ship,” Koga hissed.

“Looking forward to it,” he drawled, expressing that he was anything but.

“We need to go,” Kagome pressed then, touching him on the shoulder.

At first, it all seemed fine. The pathway they marked was clear. Every once and a while they had to give pause, letting a rotation of guards or other staff of the Shrine walk by. They hid in bushes and building crevices.

Of course, it all had to go wrong eventually.

“Excuse me!”

Inuyasha tensed. Please Gods, no.

“Excuse me! Can you help me with this?” a woman asked from behind them, sounding strained.

“Don’t stop,” Kagome urged, voice hushed, but it was far too late. Koga had turned and even in the dark of night, the firelit markers along the path were enough to showcase that what the wolf demon was wearing didn’t match remotely close to the uniforms of the Shrine workers.

The woman gasped and before either Inuyasha or Koga could react, Kagome was running.

“Follow her,” Inuyasha hissed, chasing after the black-haired woman. The Shrine workers was screaming behind them, alerting the guards. An alarm rose, the sound of bells clanging angrily above them.

“Don’t stop!” Kagome called but Inuyasha had no idea where she was going.

The smell of demons were closing in on them, guards working for the Shrine trapping them. They needed to split up if there was any hope of escaping.

Koga was already looking at him, blue gaze shrewd. They’d been in enough tight situations to know the drill. “Don’t you dare get caught,” the wolf demon exclaimed.

“You either, asshole.”

Koga barked out a laugh but then he peeled off, and Inuyasha was left to chase down Kagome, who was taking a path they hadn’t planned on. Inuyasha knew where they needed to meet, but they first had to get out of the residency.

“Where are you going?” Inuyasha accused.

“Trust me!”

“This doesn’t—” But he was cut off when Kagome made a sharp turn, down some kind of alley that was covered in bags and waste. The black-haired girl raced to the corner and then stopped, pressing herself tight against the wall.

“The smell will cover us a bit,” she explained, eyeing the alleyway’s entrance. “How many are coming?”

“Maybe two?” His ears twitched on top of his head, listening for footprints. “They’re still coming and this is a dead end! What the hell do we—” His words were interrupted when Kagome grabbed at his shoulder and bodily hauled him in front of her, closing her in against the wall. He was shocked by her strength, enough that he couldn’t even demand to know what she was doing. “Ka—”

“Trust me,” she whispered, and then grabbed his face and pulled him into her.

Her lips were soft.

Inuyasha blinked down at the priestess, confused beyond all measure. She pressed against him more firmly, lips insistent and the half-demon felt like it was impossible to refuse. His arms braced against the stone wall and he leaned in to kiss her properly, to see if he could make her gasp.

Footsteps edged along the alleyway but Kagome’s grip on him tightened, like she knew he was going to give them away. He tensed but otherwise didn’t move and the woman pressed against him let out a sound so needy that Inuyasha could feel his whole body flush red at it. What in the name of the Gods above did she think she was doing?

But then the demon made a disgusted sound and moved away, clearly dismissing them. Kagome let go of his face but didn’t let him move, the two of them listening in silence for a minute.

“He’s gone,” Inuyasha murmured then, eyes trained on the wall to the side of her face. He was pretty positive he couldn’t look at her right now. That sound she made was replaying in his mind, regardless of the fact that it was clearly fake and clearly done to aid their escape.

“Good.” Kagome patted his cheek, and the feeling was enough to distract him into looking at her. The woman’s smile was soft. “Sorry about that. Didn’t have time to really explain the plan.”

“It’s— It’s fine. Fine.” Inuyasha nodded and was horrified at himself when his gaze slipped back down to her lips. “Fine.”

“You’ve said that.”

“Uh-huh.”

Her dark gaze was boring into his golden one. It felt like an eternity, like they had all the time in the world, when Inuyasha knew they very much didn’t. They had to meet Koga. They needed to board their ship.

They needed to find the Jewel of Four Souls.

“Are you ready?” Kagome asked, hands slipping from his face. Had they been standing there, so close and touching, this whole time?

“Are you?” he countered.

“I was literally born for this,” Kagome stated, readjusting her pack. She held out her hand. Inuyasha stared at it for only a second before taking it. “Before we go on this adventure,” she said, squeezing his hand, “will you tell me your name?”

This whole time, he hadn’t said it. She’d introduced herself and he’d never returned it. The half-demon licked his lips. “Inuyasha.”

Kagome’s smile turned sharper, like she knew a secret that he didn’t. It wasn’t dangerous or wicked, but genuine. A pure joy, like a revelation having finally opened up. “Inuyasha,” she whispered herself before nodding. She squeezed his hand once more. He could feel the power in her touch, just like he could see the softness in her gaze. What was this woman even capable of?

There would be time to find out, he figured, as they started to run.

Three days to the Isle, and a long ship ride with Koga in between.

In TFOM, there are three major story arcs with the last of them being the climax, or the ultimate showdown. So I have Arc 1, Arc 2 and Final Arc 3. Now what do I need to do to get Kagome and Co to that point? 

See Arc #1: Family Feels and Grief. The first was to get a real understanding of their “world” because it’s not a modern canon-based AU. Its just a modern AU. I needed to develop the characters because they are different than canon. This “development arc” was concluded with the lizard demon - including Sango’s grief to ease and for the four of them to forge that bond. I only started out though with the idea of the four of them becoming close and the closing of Sango’s horror. It’ll still bleed a bit into the rest of the story (one does not snap their fingers and suddenly feel dandy about the death of their loved ones) but the detail is lesser.

Then we have Arc #2: Inuyasha’s Backstory/Kagome and the Jewel. It’s currently under way: this is where the main answers you’ve all be asking about regarding the jewel and Kagome’s scent will have to come in. It also dives into Inuyasha’s past, which you only got glimpses of in the first arc. In one of the earlier chapters of Arc 1, Inuyasha sits at the burnt out shell of a house and remembers how it used to be. There was too much going on in the first arc to discuss it but because I knew I wanted to make this a feature, I could lay the seeds and start to create excitement for when it was time, in Arc 2.

Soon we’ll have Arc #3, aptly named after the big bad. I’m sure you all know it but I’m going to stay hush anyways.

BUT THE ROMANCE! Ah, yes. My favourite part. Sometimes I know where it’s going to come in and other times I don’t. For TFOM, I don’t but I know the earliest that it can show is at the conclusion of the second arc. Before that ruins everything. Why? Because there has been a scene I’ve wanted to write for what feels like 50 years now, and they can’t be together yet for it. SO. Planning.

TFOM is also plot intensive though. Even if I think of something lighter, like A Plan Coming Together I still follow this process. The BIG PURPOSE was Kagome running away with Inuyasha. Okay, in order to get them there I need to set the scene and deliver the goal which means (1) set the fantastical world up with the water demon scene, (2) build up the purpose with their break in to the Shrine to learn about the jewel, (3) be directed to a priestess (Kagome) to suit their needs, (4) bring Kagome in so that they can run away together. That’s it. 

Sounds easy but I know it is not. But this is how I plan my outlines and start a story :)