A familiar Stranger

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Sango and Miroku started a fire while Kagome and Shippo got food out for everyone. Meanwhile, Inuyasha and Kaida where checking the perimeter of the camp to make sure none of Naraku’s forces where going to overhear the conversation. Inuyasha kept a close eye on Kaida; he kept wishing she would do something suspicious just so he would have a reason to kill her. As Inuyasha and Kaida came back with the group, everyone was anxious with what Kaida had to say.
“I’ll say this in the shortest amount of time and I’m not going to soften any of my story. I come from a time when Naraku has managed to collect all of the jewel shards, where everyone around the campfire now is dead, as well as Sesshoumaru.” Kaida said flatly. The whole group was speechless. How was that possible?
“How can we all be dead?” Kagome asked.
“Well, let me start with you Kagome. Tomorrow you’ll meet a youkai and Inuyasha will manage to kill him, but in doing so, part of the youkai goes flying off fatally pinning you against a wall. After you died Kagome, Inuyasha just stopped caring and he was killed shortly there after. Sango, Miroku and Shippo kept searching for the shards, but they were all soon killed as well. That left Naraku a cleanyingying field to collective all of the jewel shards.”
Everyone was trying to understand all that Kaida had just said. How was that possible? How could she know all this? Was this another one of Naraku’s trap?
“You can’t prove any of it.” Inuyahsa said as flatly as Kaida has told everyone the information.
“I realize that Inuyasha. But you have to trust me. I’m going to at least be with you until tomorrow. To make sure Kagome survives and sees next week.”
“I DON’T NEED YOUR HELP TO PROTECT KAGOME!” Inuyasha shouted.
“Obviously you do need it Inuyasha because where I come from everyone here is dead and I’m sure that you’re that you and Kagome are going to be the ones to kill Naraku. But you can’t do that if you’re lifeless! I refuse to see you all die again! I did not make the sacrifice I made to have your ego get everyone killed! The fact that I beat you fast last time, knowing that you kept your left side open should be enough to convince you!”
“You could easily been following us for a time now and watched me fight enough to know that!” Inuyasha barked back.
“DAMMIT INUYASHA! I could have killed you at any minute I wanted! The reason I knew you keep your left side open was because I’ve fought you before and you made that fatal mistake with me! That’s how I knew!”
“You mean you killed Inuyasha?” Mirkou asked plainly.
Kaida sighed. Kagome’s eyes where watery.
“You killed Inuyasha?” Kagome asked Kaida.
“You would have done the same thing in my place. Inuyasha was out of control over losing you and he was killing everything in his path! Unfortunately he ran into me and started a fight. It wasn’t like I could just let him kill me.” Kaida said in her defense.
“That still doesn’t prove anything! She could be making it all up!” Inuyasha said not believing everyone believed her outrageous story.
“..and the fact that Miroku is going to sneeze about 4 times in a row in about…5….4…3…2…1…”
*crickets *
“Sneeze huh? You’re full of shi—“
Aaacchooo, aaaccchooooo, acchooooo, acccchoooooo.
Everyone looked at Miroku.
“aahh…well…must be my allergies.”
“Couldn’t you have held it in Mirkou???” Inuyasha said as his eye twitched with anger.
“Like I said, I’m going to hang around for a couple of days, just to make sure. I’ll take the first watch for tonight.” Kaida said as she stood up and headed for the woods.
“I’ll keep an eye on her.” Miroku said as he followed her.


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“Inuyasha, do you think she is telling the truth?” Kagome asked him after she made sure Shippo was asleep. She was worried since Shippo hadn’t said anything during the ‘adult talk.’
“I dunno to tell you the truth. Frankly I think she’s lying.”
“But how do you explain her knowing about where you keep your defenses down or that Miroku was going to sneeze?”
“She could have just seen in on Mirkou’s face, and like I said, she probably has been following us around to the point where she knows how I fight.”
“Well, I guess we’ll know tomorrow...”
“Why do you say that Kagome?” Inuyasha asked.
“Because tomorrow is the day she said I was going to die.” Kagome said with a blank expression on her face.
“Kagome, I wouldn’t let anything happen to you.” Inuyasha said getting closer to her.
“I know Inuyasha.”
He watched Kagome lay down with Shippo and it puzzled him why he couldn’t smell that Kaida wasn’t lying.


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Miroku and Kaida found their spots for the look out points and made themselves comfy. Both of them were quiet until Mirkou couldn’t help but be noisy.
“So you saw us all die?”
A sad smile wiped across Kaida’s face, as if she could see it all happening.
“I guess you could say that.”
“What really happened Kaida?”
She was quiet for a while. Not knowing really where to begin or whether she should really go into the details. She really hadn’t planned into telling everyone who had killed Inuyasha.
“I didn’t say exactly how Kagome was killed. She did get pinned to a rock and everything, but I didn’t say what she said. Inuyasha ran over to her took out the piece of the youkai that had pierced her middle. When he took it out, Kagome just collapsed on the floor and Inuyasha knelt beside her. Her last words to Inuyasha were that she wasn’t angry with him and that she knew it had been an accident. She also said Inuyasha should go with Kikyo now that she wasn’t going to be there for him. I’ve never seen Inuyasha like the way I saw him that day, in total shock, having Kagome in his lap, dying. We buried her next to Kaede’s hut. Inuyasha was left to the task of telling her parents. Whether he did or not, I don’t know. After that, he just wandered randomly attacking anything and everything. Not really caring whether he survived or not. Not long after, that’s when he ran into me, and well...you know how that went. You, Sango and Shippo kept looking for the shards, although you weren’t making a lot of headway. You collected one shard about every 3 months. In one of the last battles against a youkai that had a shard, Sango had wounded it, and Shippo was trying to get the shard out where it was visible on its head. The youkai got a little close to you for comfort I guess, and you used your Air-Void. Shippo wasn’t able to get away and was sucked in….you closed it when you realized what you had done. Sango also noticed and ran toward you. She put her guard down because since you had sd upd up half of the youkai, I guess she figured it wouldn’t move. But it did. It sung around and sliced Sango in half, it died after that. You stood there, not moving for a while. I’m suppose you decided to do what you did next; you opened your Air-Void and stood there until it sucked the rest of the youkai, sango and eventually you. I would have been sucked in too if I hadn’t of been careful.”
“Oh..” was all Miroku had to say.
“That’s what happened. Mind you, it didn’t happen in a week’s time. But after that, there wasn’t anybody who wanted to stop Naraku,” she said, “I guess that’s a mistake we made.” Saying the last part more to herself than Miroku.
“You said you make a sacrifice coming back Kaida. What kind of sacrifice? There is a demon I know of that will grant you the wish of going further into time, or back into time. But usually, the price of that is something you value a lot, usually that means your life or someone you love. Is that the way you came? Through the time demon?” Miroku asked with interest.
“Yes it is Miroku. You were the one that told me about the time demon.”
“I did? You didn’t mention that in your story.”
“I didn’t?” Kaida said with an innocent smile, “Well, a couple of months after Inuyasha died, you and I met up in the forest and I recognized you as his friend. We began talking and you mentioned that you had visited the Time Demon earlier. But she said that she wanted Sango’s life in as payment, and you decided ast ist it.”
“You must have loved something more that your own life. Or else you wouldn’t be here.” Miroku said trying to not think about Sango not being in his life.
“I did.” Kaida said shutting her eyes hiding the tears behind them.
Miroku, seeing the sadness in Kaida’s face, decided not to go into details. The rest of the night went quiet. Inuyasha replacing Miroku, (although Inuyasha was watching Kaida more than anything else) then Sango replacing Kaida, (even though she watched Kagome most of the night) and finally Inuyasha and Mirkou were left to watch the sun rise together.