The Guardian

Kagome curled up under the soft warm covers half asleep and half awake. Something soft, warm, and fuzzy lay beside her cheek. Whatever it was; it kept nudging her forehead. A warm wet tongue that licked her nose alerted Kagome from her dreamy state. She quickly sat up and stared down at the orange tabby cat that stared up at her in adoration with dark blue eyes. Where had she seen this cat before and why was it in her room? Then she remembered, wasn't this the same dead cat she'd seen outside her apartment a few days ago? She screamed in terror and flew off the bed dragging the covers with her. The door to her room flew opened. She screamed again when a very tall, muscular man burst into her room looking like he was ready to attack. She took a step back to get away from him and tumbled down in one big heap on the floor. Her feet had become tangled into the sheets.



Inuyasha stood over her scanning the room to make sure she wasn't in danger; then he saw the cat. He relaxed in relief. "I told Shippou bringing the cat to you wouldn't be a good idea," he mumbled.



"Who the hell are you?" Kagome yelled at him in fury. How dare this stranger stand in her doorway and act as if he knew her. She should have been scared, but she wasn't anymore, she was more angry than anything else because once again the "strangeness" had returned and this time it was in her bedroom. He looked very familiar to her.



Inuyasha wasn't bothered by her anger at all. In fact he tilted his head slightly in curiosity. "You don't remember?"



Kagome blinked. She had tried to commit suicide, but something had stopped her. She remembered someone or something carrying her into the sky. "Oh my god, I'm dead!" She glanced back at the supposedly dead cat. "Am I a ghost? Am I haunting my own apartment?"



She could hear laughter coming from the hallway. Someone else was here.



Inuyasha stared down at her. She looked cute tangled up in those sheets. He almost wanted to smile. Instead, he remembered he didn't like her. "You're not dead."



"You saved me! I remember. Are you an angel or something else? Maybe this is all one big nightmare."



Inuyasha sighed. "I said you're not dead," he repeated. "And you're not dreaming either. Neither are you crazy, I know you've been thinking that for the past two weeks."



"Okay, then who are you? And why are you in my room with a dead cat? Wait, you brought me here didn't you?" She quickly checked to see if she was still dressed since he had put her in bed. She sighed with relief when she realized she still had her clothes on.



Inuyasha frowned, offended. "I'm not a pervert! Unlike some of the men, you've been around."



Kagome blinked. He had to be referring to her past since she wasn't dating anyone currently. "Why are you acting like you know me?"



"Oh, I do, Kagome ," he said with a smirk. "I know everything about you, your past, your present and perhaps your future if you cooperate with us."



"Us?" Kagome asked picking up on his last word. "There's more than one of you?"



"You've met us before. Do you remember that day at the Bart station?"



Kagome gasped. Yes she had remembered all too well. Ever since that day, she had begun to see strange abnormal things. "So you're real after all. At least I think you are, I still say I'm going crazy, but I'll play along."



"Kagome, I understand that your feeble human mind has a hard time conceiving what you've experienced, but the sooner you believe everything is real, the easier our time together will be."



"Okay, not playing along anymore," Kagome finally attempted to stand up, her legs were stilled tangled in the sheets and she fell back down. "I will not let whatever this mental sickness is take over me. You are just a figment of my imagination and I will have my normal life back so take your dead cat and go!" She closed her eyes and pointed her finger at him. She fully expected him to be gone if she concentrated hard enough.



The room was quiet. She suddenly heard purring beside her. Something soft and fuzzy rubbed against her other hand which was on the floor. She swallowed as tears began to burn her eyes. Two strong hands grabbed her arms and lifted her on her feet.



"You're not real," she whispered. "None of this is real."



Inuyasha could hear the desperation in her voice. He almost felt sorry for her. "Kagome, open your eyes." When she didn't, he shook her softly. "Open your damn eyes!" He demanded.



She slowly opened them only to find herself staring at a wide chest. She looked up past the broad muscular shoulders, the smooth skin of his neck, pass the most perfect lips she'd ever seen on a man and into the golden eyes that stared down at her intense and serious.



"This is not a dream, you are not going crazy, everything that happened to you is real and everything that is happening to you now is real. The sooner you believe this, the easier it will be for all of us."



Kagome took a deep breath. Whatever was happening to her, she might as well just deal with it. Her mind didn't want to believe a word he was saying, but she didn't have a choice. "Okay, who are you?"



"My name is Inuyasha and the other young man in your living room is Shippou. We were sent here to find and protect you once your powers surfaced."



Kagome shook her head. "Wait, what? Powers? Protection? Who are you protecting me from?"



"I believe you met him earlier today. His name is Naraku and he's evil. He rules over the dark forces on earth."



Kagome remembered the strange man who walked up to her this morning, nothing about him had appeared normal, she had thought he was just another mental breakdown of her mind.



"The manip demons you saw at work were his creation and those same demons nearly destroyed you."



"Why would someone be after me?" Kagome asked, she could feel the fear rising in her.



"Because you're a very powerful force that could bring his entire kingdom down if you knew how to do it."



"The way he approached me wasn't someone that was out to destroy me. He told me he wanted me to join him."



"He probably does want you to join him Kagome, in hell. Narakau isn't dumb, he knows that if he can't destroy you, then he will find a way to turn you and have you rule by his side as his queen. He would be more powerful than ever if you ever changed to his dark ways and then everyone on this planet would be in danger."



"So what is he? The devil?" Kagome asked still not believing any of this.



"You can say he works for him and getting you would place him right by his side as his partner that is if he doesn't use you to overcome the devil himself."



Kagome shook her head. "This is too much… and who are you suppose to be if not an angel?"



"I'm only a youkai. I'm half human and dog demon. Shippou is a fox demon."



"You're a demon?" Kagome asked pulling away from him.



"Not all demons are bad, unfortunately you humans gave us the same name as the bad ones because you don't understand us which is one reason why I don't like your kind. Your logic is unreasonable. Everything that's not "normal" to you, you label it as evil."



"Well if you don't like me, why are you with me?" Kagome raised her head and managed to gracefully step out of the sheets this time without falling.



"Because I don't have a choice in the situation, I have to protect you from the "true demons" in hopes that you will make this world a peaceful place to live in. You are very powerful, Kagome even if you don't look it. Once you learn to control your powers and they reach the maximum strength, you will be able to do great things in the world."



Kagome was intrigued. "Like what?"



"Cure hunger, heal the sick, stop the wars, whatever it takes to preserve life on earth."



"That's impossible, no one can do that."



"You could..." Inuyasha said. "Or you could let Naraku influence you to join him and destroy everything on earth. It's my job to make sure that doesn't happen."



"And how long are you suppose to protect me?" Kagome raised her eyebrow. "No offense, but you're not the nicest person I've ever met. "



Inuyasha smirked. "Thanks."



"That was not a compliment," Kagome thought he was crazy.



"If a nice person was taking care of you, Kagome. You would be dead by now."



"You didn't answer my question."



"Until you die, which probably won't be long seeing you're a weak human and all." Inuyasha said casually.



"What?" Kagome face began to turn pale.



"Well the last human that was born with Shikon no Tama in her body died when it became too powerful for her to control, but I heard she did a lot of good things on earth, she never turned evil."



"Shikon what?"



"Oh right, you don't know," Inuyasha went to stand by the window. "The shikon no tama appeared inside of you when you turned 21. I suppose your body was finally mature enough to carry it. It's the thing that gives all life forms their energy to live. For example, that annoying cat that's following you around was dead, you touched it and brought it back to life."



Kagome stared back at the tabby cat that stared up at her as if it understood everything that was being said. It let out a soft meow. Kagome fainted.



Inuyasha turned around to see her lying unconscious on the floor. He stared down at her in confusion. Shippou ran up the steps, growled at Inuyasha and gently picked up the unconscious girl.



"What the hell is wrong with you telling her she's going to die? Kaede was wrong, you don't understand humans at all."



"And you do?" Inuyasha asked sarcastically.



"I have the common sense to know you don't tell a girl who's already shocked and confused that something inside of her is going to slowly kill her! Besides, you don't know if the same thing will happen to Kagome. She seems strong enough to carry it."



Inuyasha narrowed his eyes at Shippou. "You are growing attached to the human," he pointed out.



Shippou blushed slightly. "Sorry, if I'm not as cold hearted as you, Inuyasha, but we've been watching over her for a week and she's a nice girl. What's not to like about her?" Shippou suddenly realized he was actually holding her in his arms. His eyes glazed over. "Wow, she's so beautiful..."



Inuyasha, rolled his eyes and took Kagome out of his arms. "The last thing I need is for you to start acting like a puppy around her. She's a job, Shippou, you should only see her as such. If you get emotionally attached to this human, you will not be able to think logically if Naraku was to attack us."



Shippou sighed and walked away. In a way, Inuyasha was right, but he realized his speech was too late. He did like Kagome. How could Inuyasha not like her when they watched everything she did. Perhaps, he had already gone off the deep end and lost what little emotions he had. Had Inuyasha really turned into just a living shell of himself?



Inuyasha watched Shippou leave the room and turned to the girl in his arms. Holding her so close had been a big mistake, her sweet scent was intoxicating, he wanted to bury his nose into her neck and inhale her into his body. Shippou was right, she was extremely beautiful, but he could not let his attraction to her sidetrack him.



He walked over to the bed noticing how light she was in his arms and laid her down. He ignored how fragile and innocent she looked as he picked the covers off the floor and placed them over her. He forced himself to walk out of the room instead of stand over her and gaze down at her like Shippou.



"Damn witch..." Inuyasha said not liking what he was feeling. "It's just the power of the shikon no tama," he reasoned with himself. "It's not her at all. I barely know her..." Then again, he realized that was a lie. He knew everything there was to know about Kagome. "It's not her dammit!" He yelled and slammed the door shut.