Where My Heart Lies

The demon watched as the half breed and the human walked together. He seethed with subdued fury. His interest with the girl had increased dramatically. He did not want the half breed around her! She was beautiful and powerful. With the right training, she might be good enough for himself, if not to stand by his side, then perhaps she could provide some amusement. But not if that disgusting mutt soiled her. He would have to seperate them, and then... He smiled to himself. Time would tell.

He still wanted to see what else she was capable of before he went further. He put it in the back of his mind to find the weakness between them. It might become useful.

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Three weeks later, things were peaceful in the village. There had been no more attacks from unknown demons, and Kagome had continued her training. Her powers, once acknowledged , had grown by leaps and bounds. Kaede was impressed.

In the meantime, the relationship between Kagome and InuYasha continued to blossom. Frequently they took walks together, after the evening's training. Stopping at the God tree, or by a slow moving river, they would sometimes sit and talk. Sometimes Kagome would relax herself against the half demon's chest, and the they would just listen to music of the night, revelling in each other's company. The only tension between them seemed to be of a sensual nature, neither sure of how to deal with it. While they revelled in the sometimes not-to-chaste kisses, both the hanyou and the girl were not yet bold enough, or confident enough, to push further.

Kagome couldn't remember a time when she had been so happy, so content. It was obvious to the rest that the couple had moved past their self made restraints. InuYasha was rarely sarcastic, and even if he was, it held none of the cutting edge that it used to. He smiled more. Most of his time was spent around Kagome, listening to her, watching her. He no longer had the urgency to find the jewel shards, willing to wait until the snow melted. In honesty, he wanted to spend as much time as could with Kagome, not wanting to ever lose the feeling he had when he was with her.

Sango had already approached Kagome regarding the change in their behavior to each other. Opening up, Kagome expressed her elated feelings to her friend. Despite sharing her friends happiness, Sango soon brought her back to earth with the mention of the demons Nioaku, Merona, and the voice that the other girl had told her about, as well as the still sealed well.

"Kagome, you will have to tell him. What's more, you also haven't told him about the voice and the other demon's master. I know nothing has happened yet, but it will, and it will be dangerous. InuYasha already fears for your life, Kagome. He wants to protect you."

"I know that Sango. But how can I tell him? He'll hate himself for being the reason I lost my way back and forth to the future, no matter how much I love him. And with this 'demon master', Kaede is soon teaching me major defences. Once I have those mastered, I will tell him. That way, he won't worry so much about protecting me, when I can defend myself."

As much as Sango had tried to reason with her before, it never did any good. Sighing, she let the conversation drop. All that could be done was to wait and see.

One night, at their normal training grounds, Kaede stood next to the kneeling Kagome. At her word, Kagome rose and faced her, slightly puzzled. Normally, Kaede would sit across from her, and they would begin with meditation. What were they doing tonight?

"Come, child. Ye have trained enough for this. It is time to see if ye have gained control of your capabilities."

Following the old woman, Kagome fretted the edge of her haori. She worried that she may not have enough control for what Kaede expected her. Her levistation skills had increased considerably, as well as creating fires. She could now heal with a touch, and removing poison had become much easier. Even the barriers came naturally to her now. Recently, they had begun training her defences. Her miko's arrows were always strong, but that was the most basic form of her attacks. Starting small she had begun to learn to create small orbs of energy. First throwing these at a mark on a tree, Kaede had waited until Kagome could control the size of the orb, then moved to larger tasks. Learning quickly, Kagome was now able to throw these energy blasts at random targets. The largest orb she had created easily took down a large tree. By controling the force she put within it, Kagome turned it into kindling instead of simply burning it down or blowing it up as she had on numerous other occasions.

"Kagome, " Kaede's voice shook the girl out of her musings, "We will test your skills here."

Gazing past Kaede's shoulder, Kagome saw they were in a small valley, not far from the village. The sides were steep and rocky. The valley was closed off at the far end, and sufficiantly secluded. Walking out of the protection of the forest, they were completly exposed to the night sky.

"Kaede, I'm not sure I understand... how am I supposed to train out here?"

"Ye will destroy projectiles, girl. Miroku is here to help." A grin played across the old ones lips. Miroku came out from behind a boulder twice his height and size. Holding the hand that carried the wind tunnel. He waited for Kaede's word. She had approached him earlier with the request, and while he was nervous to see Kagome's powers, as she had shown no one aside from InuYasha and Kaede, he was also quite "keyed up" as his futuristic friend would say. Kagome walked to a point quite a distance behind the monk. He was to raise the boulder with the wind tunnel and pull it towards them, then close his hand and move out of the way. Kagome had to destroy the rock on her own.

"Are ye ready?" Kaede called to the raven haired girl. Staring straight ahead, concentration written on her face, Kagome nodded.

Miroku opened his hand "KAZAANA!"

As the rock flew towards them, Miroku jumped out of the way before it struck him down. Looking back at Kagome, he was startled to see the blue haze starting to outline her body, her hair rippling slightly as she held a spinning blue orb of energy between her hands in front of her.

Kagome braced herself as the boulder came hurtling towards her.


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The demon master watched as the girl focused her energy into the sphere she now held. He had noted her progress of late. She was quite good, perhaps enough to go through a more challenging test. He had long since found the weak point that lay between the half breed and the woman. As of yet, it didn't need to be approached. He was a great demon himself. He had reined in his fervent fascination with the mortal. He could wait until she proved herself.

Tuning to a demon vassal, kneeling on one knee to his right, he saw the creature flinch and he chuckled. The lesser demon mentally checked himself. They all feared their lord, he was just as likely to tear his calws into your flesh as he was to caress a soft cheek, if the mood struck. The blood red color of his master's eyes was broken only by the black irises that took on the shine that only nocturnal animals had. Those eyes were now on him, and looked to be in the process of contemplation. How many times had he seen those eyes shine with malicious glee while torturing an unfortunate prisoner with his cruel whips? The servant suppresed the urge to shudder, fearing the reaction should his sovereign notice.

Raising his eyes to the master, he waited. The demon lord pulled his lips back into a cunning grin. He turned his gaze back to the pool of water where the girl's image was frozen, shimmering. He decided on the perfect test for her.

"Release the Taireny."

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The servant walked down the to the hole where his master's latest creations were kept. Their blood-curdling screams rang out and bounced off walls of the narrow passageway. With the lord's eyes no longer on him, he shuddered freely. He hated going down there, even though he was safe by the iron bars that him from them. Reaching his destination, he looked down from the ledge where the release lever was. Seething, malicious eyes of putrid green looked up at him. They had already been sent the information on who they were to seek out, and their enthusiasm was evident. It was too dark to see anything else. The demon stepped back and pulled the lever. He heard the machinery click into place as the stone walls on the outside pulled back, allowing the Taireny access to the outside. All that crossed the demon's mind as the dreaded creatures exited was pity for their prey.

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Another boulder shattered with crack as the blue shot struck it. Pebbles rained down from the sky where it had once occupied space. Similar shards of rock littered the ground around the three people in the valley. Miroku sat on a smaller stone, slightly out of breath. He had been running almost continuosly as he drew other giant rocks from the ground with his wind tunnel. They had moved from ones slightly larger than himself, to ones akin to the one that had just exploded. Those were slightly larger than a house that could have easliy accomadated up to 6 people. As Kagome approached, he could see her hair settling back and the vibrant aura start to fade as the energy started to subside. Her eyes were lively and sparkled.

"Wow! That was amazing! Such a rush! I can't believe it, now I can actually battle!" Her voice was animated. She turned as Kaede drew near.

"Kaede! I feel so... full of energy! I used to be tired, but now.. it's like I can feel an adrenaline rush while I use my powers." Calming down slightly, she continued, "I mean, I don't feel it now, but it used to hurt a little to try and use that much power."

Kaede smiled at the girl. She had done very well. She still needed more control, the senior woman could sense the younger's grip on her abilities was still a little tenacious, although the girl wasn't aware of it. Still, that would come with more practice.

"Ye did well child. We will practice more later, but for now, I think we've kept the monk up long enough." With a wink to Miroku, Kaede moved to lead them back to village.

A bone-jarring screech ripped through the air. The small group on the ground whipped around to see the sky above them filled with winged demons. Kagome was terrified and revolted at the same time. She had never seen any kind of demon like these. The wings were bony and leathery like those of a bat. Their faces were all similar, something of a cross between a rat and a rabid wolf, with the snout elongated and the lip curled in what seemed to be a permanent snarl to show off vicious looking teeth and fangs. The creatures's skins were a dark, muddy grey, with legs like the hind legs of wolves. Their arms were strung with lean muscle, a savage claw extending past each finger. The beasts looked terrifyingly strong, with no distinction between the male and female members.

Kaede was confused and alarmed. These beings looked to be demons, yet their aura was not completly demonic in nature, and still not even close to human either.

Kagome and Miroku faced the creatures as they started to bear down on them.

"Kaede! Return to the village quickly and get Sango and InuYasha!" Miroku called over his shoulder as he attacked the things with purifying scrolls, then his staff. Kagome was already firing blasts of energy at them, taking two or three down at a time. Kaede assented and ran, creating a barrier around herself. She soon found that it was unnecessary, the fiends were not chasing her. Actually, it was as though she did not exist to them. Taking a moment to analyze the situation, she realized their target. Kagome was defending herself from multiple beasts while only three or four were after Miroku. They are distracting him.... Dread clenched her stomach as Kaede realized who would have set the monsters on them. Fear helped her feet fly to the hanyou and the demon exterminator. She wasn't sure Kagome would be able to come out on top of this new task put to her. Please gods, my strength is in thy hands, and I need ye to assist these old legs!

Meanwhile, the monk and the girl battled with what appeared to be a never ending number of the hideous things. Miroku was tiring, Kagome knew. Ignoring her own fatigue and running towards him, she grabbed his hand, heading for the far end of the valley. As they ran, one of the creatures grabbed her by the shoulder, lifting her off the ground and into the air. The monk was attacked by another set of demons as the one that had hold of Kagome threw her against the steep vallery of the wall. Rushing to her before she could regain her senses, the beast pinned her with his body. Kagome froze. It opened it's menacing jaws and roared. Immediatley, she clamped her hands on either side of it's head. She was angry, scared, and she could feel the power within her responding as it rushed through her veins. Her eyes flashed in anger, blue flickering through. The Tairen male breifly registered this in his animalistic mind before the swift, intense burn scorched through his skull. Azure light covered the creature as he became ashes in the calm hands of the girl. Before it could follow the way of its owner, Kagome grasped the fierce katana that hung at its side.

She ran back to Miroku's side, slashing and jabbing as she went. As the blood of the demons dripped on the ground, and her own clothing, Kagome noticed it was burning the grass, and into her haori. Training her eyes of Miroku she called as loud as she could.

"Miroku hold on! Don't let their blood touch you! It's acidic!"

Her legs pumped harder. The animals were now swarming Miroku as well as herself. The one that had grabbed her had taken her so far. She wasn't going to make it to him in time.

"HIRAIKOTSU!"

The large bone boomerang slashed through the air that was thick with Taireny. Kagome reached Miroku just in time to create a barrier around them, protecting them from the blood that rained down.

Sango and Shippo flew through the skies on the back of Kirara, burning and slashing at the creatures as they darted through them. InuYasha leapt into the air, hacking through them with Tetsiega.

"KAGOME!" His scream was like a battle cry. Out of the corner of his eye, he spotted her dragging the weakened monk under a sparse tree. The demons had not expected any other opponents, and so turned on the new attackers. Good, she's safe. Now to take care of these fuckers. He landed lightly on his feet.

"KAZE NO KIZU" The massive attack swept through a number of Taireny, but a number dodged it. InuYasha felt pain burst through his left side. Looking down, he saw the sharper end of one of the creatures katana's piercing through him. He growled as he reached around and wrenched the weapon free. Spinning around, he sliced the offending demon's head off. Several beasts rushed him before he could attack with the wind scar again, clawing, stabbing and throwing punches.

Above him, Sango, Shippo and Kirara were in a similar situation. Winged demons swarmed them, quickly bringing them down. Kirara landed hard as a Tairen female sunk her fangs up the gumline into her shank. Sango turned and furiously slashed the things head off. Blood spattered onto her, burning her arms. Sango cried out and recoiled, into the arms of another Tairen. Before she could counter, it slashed it's terrible claws, leaving open gashes from her left shoulder to her right side. The kitsune who had been protected by Kirara torched the beast with his fox fire. Taking hold of her companion, with Shippo back on the ruff of her neck, Kirara excaped to the safety of Kagome's barrier.

Kagome hurriedly healed Sango's wounds, but the other girl was still weak from blood loss. Kirara transformed back into her kitten form. Shippo curled up on Miroku's lap. He had acted bravely, but now, with so many enemies surrounding them, he was petrified.

InuYasha was thrown out of the mound of Taireny he had been battling. The wind was knocked out of him as he landed on his back. Not thinking, Kagome rushed out grabbing the back of his haori, and dragged him to the barrier's borders.

The group stared at what faced them. The horrific creatures had decreased in number, but there were still as many as thirty or more. The savage faces leered. Kagome breathed heavily. This constant use of her power had turned the adrenaline. She was now getting tired, the barrier weakend util even Shippo could have walked through with only discomfort. The animals took the chance provided and swooped down at random, slashing with claw, teeth and swords. Her friends were already weakened, yet they protected Kagome.

Anger churned through her. These awful ... things, would slice them to ribbons. They were taunting her and her companions. She could feel the energy of those around her waning, her barrier now gone completly. Fury at the beings flooded her, encouraging her already provoked powers. She clenched her hands into fists. These things wanted a battle, they would get one. Torture and kill the ones most dear to her? I don't fuckin think so..

The Taireny paused in their attack. There was something strange in the air. InuYasha and Shippo sniffed the air. The older of the two immediatley recongnized it. Kagome pushed through the protective circle of her comrades, head down, hair shadowing her eyes. Shippo backed away from her step, afraid of the scent coming from his beloved Kagome. Sango stared. Miroku stood by her also in awe. Even InuYasha was taken aback.

Kagome's aura surrounded her in the intense blue of early morning. The energy radiating from her caused her hair to flow out off her back and her clothes to ripple. Her eyes were the most striking. Again, they had changed. The whites of her eyes were now a pale blue, not just tinged. Her irises of beautiful brown had not just lightened, they had turned to blue, only shades darked than that around them.

Kagome started to create an energy orb between her hands, in front of her chest. The power she felt coursed through her. She lifted one corner of her mouth in a half smile. Her voice was low and implacable.

"I've had enough of your bullshit. You want me that bad?" She started to sneer and raised her voice, "You're master can't come after me himself? Fine. Come then."

The Taireny snarled and shrieked in response. As one, they flew towards the female that pulsed with force.

Kagome felt the cold smile crawl onto her face. She widened the orb until it was about three feet in diameter. The beasts drew nearer. She poured power into the force for a massive blast. The evil creations were ten feet away when she finally released the blast, throwing her arms wide and her head back.

Miroku protected his eyes with one hand and wrapped one arm around Sango as she shielded her face in his robes from the blinding light. Shippo buried himself in Kirara's fur as the cat demon hid her own face in his neck.

InuYasha covered his eyes with one sleeve of his haori. The brightness of Kagome's blast encompassed them all. He could see nothing past it, all he could hear was rushing, like wind or water. Risking a glance at the blast's source, he was stunned at what he saw.

Kagome was smiling. It was the small smile of contentment. What the hell is this that she can feel such release?

With a snap in the air the blinding light vanished. Looking around them, there were no Taireny in sight. Soft ash floated to the ground. They were all in shock.

Kagome stood for a moment longer, arms now hanging at her sides. Her breathing was shallow.

" They're gone... all gone now..."

She dropped to her knees. She was so weary. Her friends rushed to her side, concern splayed on their expressions. Sango placed a hand on her arm. Raising her heavy eyelids to the woman, Kagome spoke just above a whisper

"They're gone now right?"

Sango nodded. Throwing Kagome's arm over her shoulder's, she lifted the slight girl.

"C'mon, we have to get back to the village." She and Miroku helped Kagome onto InuYasha's back. The monk and kitsune would ride with her on Kirara.

Loosly linking her hands around his neck, Kagome sighed as InuYasha started to head back to Kaede's village. She knew her beloved sensai had sent him and the others. She hugged him before slipping into oblivion.

InuYasha's ear twitched. Picking up the pace, his mind ran as fast as his feet. Kagome had said something about those things having a master? He hadn't heard about it. The village crept into view. He resolved to find out about it when Kagome woke up. What the hell is this about a master? Has he attacked before? InuYasha felt his emotions rise. He muttered to himself, but addressed the question to the girl he carried.

"What the fuck does he want from you? And why haven't you told me?"

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Black eyes surrounded by the color of blood watched the events
My, you have done well haven't you? Maybe I will set that little chink in your armor to work

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A/N: The Taireny are my creation, please don't steal them. their name is pronounced tair-EN-ee. I'm going to be posting 2 chapters each time I update. I'm up to chapter 18 in this story now, almost finished 19. so. Hope you guys like (and it took me a while to post even after the site came back online, sorry about that :$) Please leave comment and/or constructive criticism, it is greatly appreciated. On to chapter 9!