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"GIVE ME THE JEWEL!" 

"We don't...have it!" Kagome shouts, doing her best to stay with her sprinting. 

"Yeah, so get lost, Ugly!" Hikari shouted soon after. Probably not her best decision, but the demon lady let out this screech that could probably definitely cause ears to bleed if she were right up next to humans.

"GIVE IT TO ME!!" The centipede woman roars.

Somebody has to help them! Help would be on its way soon and they'd be saved! Maybe the well is a beacon for their hope.

Hikari's heart thundered within her chest. She kept her sprint quick, obviously, if she didn't she would be eaten by that thing.

"Whoever you are, SOMEONE HELP US!!"

Hikari nearly stumbled at Kagome's sudden outcry. But...the second she did, the blonde felt a shift in the air. Like a pulsation or something. A heartbeat or rhythmic drumming. She couldn't decipher if it was an impending doom she felt or if it were something relieving. Who was she yelling out for, anyway? 

"GAHHHH!!" 

"Watch it---KYA!" Hikari knew the demon's movements, she wasn't aware of it, but she knew what the demon was going to do before the demon knew what it was going to do. 

The blonde tackles her friend just as the centipede woman goes for the attack with her centipede body. The ground beneath them explodes from the impact of the tail, dirt showering everything around.

Hikari and Kagome let out yelps, falling downhill, rolling and colliding with each other until the very bottom of the grassy ground. Hikari's body ragdolls over Kagome's. The weight of the fall grounds them for a moment before they recuperate and sit up.

"You okay?" 

Each girl nods, looking the way they fell.

"Hey there, Kikyo."

Eh? That voice---

The boy pinned to the sacred tree appeared to be awake. He glares down at the girls with these golden amber eyes. Hikari felt a little awestruck by how radiant and vibrant his eyes were. She felt like she'd drown in his eyes if she were to keep gazing.

"Whatcha waiting for, Kikyo?" He dryly grinned, flickering his attention to and from Kagome to Hikari. "The Kikyo I know wouldn't waste her time. Just do her as you did me."

Kikyo? Wasn't that the name of Kaede's older sister? 

"You're alive?" Kagome marvels, getting to her feet.

"You look pretty dumb there, Kikyo."

Hikari shifts on the grass, watching her friend stare the boy down. The energy in her drained from all that running she did. Cardio was never her strongest point, to begin with, but all those gym classes made her somewhat adaptable to sprinting like a maniac.

"What're you talking about? My name is--"

"She's here."

Hah? Hikari didn't have any reaction time when the creepy crawly centipede tail whacks her into a prickly thicket. Her scream was practically silent as the thorns snag her clothes, skin, and hair. She squirmed to get out of the painful pointy sticks and leaves.

"Kagome!" She screams when the centipede woman focuses on her friend.

"Give it to me! The Sacred Jewel!" Mistress Centipede shrieks, these huge fangs erupting from her mouth as she lunged at Kagome. 

"Look out!" Hikari shouts, lightly wincing in pain.

Out of nowhere, the demon's lower half is impaled by arrows and spears with lines of rope at the ends. A huge sigh of relief for the blonde noticing the villagers and Kaede appeared to save their asses. Kagome stumbles back a bit from the shock.

"We got it! Now pull!" 

"How disappointing, Kikyo", the boy mentions Kikyo again, enraging Kagome.

"That's it! Kikyo, Kikyo!" Kagome burst infuriated. "I am not Kikyo! I'm not her, whoever her is!"

"Yeah, right! If you aren't her, there's no way you could smell so much like-" He sniffs the air as Kagome marches up to him, realizing it. "You're not her."

"I know!" Kagome glares at him. "My name is Kagome! Ka-go-me!"

The silver-haired boy averts his gaze, "You're right. Kikyo was cuter. Much cuter."

"Why you--" Kagome goes to yell at him when suddenly Mistress Centipede comes back, seizing Kagome with her human arms. "AHHH Let me go!!"

Instinctively, Kagome grabbed the nearest thing she could get her hands on... Inuyasha. Or at least that's what Hikari hopes his name is otherwise she'd feel ridiculous.

"Lady Kaede...Inuyasha is..." The villagers and Kaede are caught off guard by Inuyasha appearing to be conscious.

"I'll devour you whole...Sacred Jewel and all!" Mistress Centipede grins hungrily, going in for a bite.

"Stop it!" Kagome shouts, thrusting her hand at the centipede woman's face, a mystical purple glow sends the demon flying, dismembering it.

She falls to the ground and looks at her hands in grim shock.

Hikari couldn't help but wipe her eyes. Had she really just witnessed her friend magically defend herself against that thing? Why did it feel pure and searing? 

"I did that in the well, too..." Kagome said aloud.

It was then her right side began to glow, which left everyone baffled. 

What was that glowing? Hikari fumbled to her feet now. Her brows knitted together and honey eyes grimly narrow at her friend.

What was happening to her?

"The jewel!" It came quickly and no one could stop the centipede demon.

She swoops down, seizing Kagome with her fangs. The tooth sunk into the girl's side, splurting blood everywhere as she was briefly airborne. She tumbles to the ground like a heap of clothes...and with a bloody, glowing pink jewel.

"The Shikon no Tama!" Kaede seemed a lot shocked.

"Hurry, give the jewel to me!" Inuyasha tried to coax.

"What?" Kagome seemed dazed, adrenaline-fueled, and unaware of the pain she was probably in.

"Give me the jewel!" Inuyasha tried again, but this time neither he nor Kagome was lucky.

Mistress Centipede wrapped her tail around the sacred tree, crushing both Kagome and Inuyasha. 

"Finally!" The demon purred, lowering her head to consume the jewel. "It is mine!"

What was she doing?! Hikari's body couldn't move, but yet...

"Hey, Ugly!" Somehow, with a tiny bit of courage, Hikari curve balls' a decent-sized rock at the demon. The rock smacks right in its face as it slides its tongue out to grab the jewel.

Mistress Centipede hisses at Hikari and wraps her tongue around the jewel. She swallows the jewel and her body steams like a chicken on a roaster.

"Not good!" Hikari felt bad about this. Like an impending doom bad.

"Yes! My powers have returned!" She cheers gruffly, her body quaking just before the sound of tearing flesh echoed in the area. 

The human torso of the demon sheds its pale skin, now having this deep and dark crimson. Its eyes are wide and round, hungry too. Its fangs are sharper, and its tongue is longer. Despite it having shed itself, that one arm it was missing did not regrow. But maybe five arms are better than six anyway.

"Ugh...gross..." Hikari grimaces, her face twisting with disgust. 

Her honey orbs retreat to Kagome and Inuyasha. Her friend was reaching up to grab the arrow.

"Nay, Child!" Kaede called out. "If the arrow is removed, Inuyasha will be free to kill us all!" 

"Yeah?" Inuyasha growled out. "With me, at least you'll have a chance at making it!" He looks down at Kagome. "What about you? Are you ready to die?"

Without another thought, Kagome clamps her hand on the arrow. It glows brightly at Kagome's touch, suddenly vanishing with purple light.

The centipede demon growls, tightening her tail around the tree. Suddenly, every bit of the body was sliced into large pieces and bits. Hikari yelps, diving to the ground to avoid being hit by the demon debris.

"DIE!" Inuyasha lunged at the centipede woman, his claws sharp and talon-like. His power expands beyond himself, cutting the demoness in half.

Screeching in pure agony as its body is ripped apart by Inuyasha's claw. The earth trembles when the halves collapsed.

"Wow..." Hikari breathed out, scrambling to her feet and trudging over to Kagome, stepping over demon parts while she was at it.

Ugh...That really was gruesome...Hikari felt her stomach churn at the chunky bits of centipede parts, including the smell it emitted.

"Eek!" Hikari jumped as the head trembled. "It's still moving!"

"Hurry, Child! Look for the jewel, we must remove it before she revives!" Kaede and her villagers warily approached the fallen body.

"Whoa! Tell us you're kidding!" Kagome and Hikari search the parts as quickly as they could.

"Um...it's that one!" The blonde points at a twitching part.

Kaede moves toward the bit, presses into the flesh, and takes out the glowing jewel. The centipede parts begin to smoke immediately, suddenly decaying into nothing but bone.

"The Jewel." Kaede hands said jewel to Kagome.

"It's actually real..." Hikari peeks at the orb in her friend's palm. "Grandpa was right!"

"To humans, it's just a useless thing, " Inyushas smirks wickedly, stomping on some bones. "Why don't you hand it over? It'd have more use in my hands...unless you want to die by my claws."

So he's not the good guy?! Hikari gaped at him, her body frozen in arising fear.

"Whatever ye do, " Kaede and the villagers ready their weapons. "Do not let Inuyasha take the Jewel."

"Then it's your funeral."

What? 

Inuyasha pounces. His sharp claws crate the ground as he swipes at the girls. They dodge just in time.

"I'll cut you in half!" He threatens, crouching at the broken earth.

"You're really trying to kill us, aren't you?!" Kagome yelled, purely out of shock.

"Well, if he weren't, he wouldn't have attacked us, " Hikari rejoins Kagome, ready to fight though she knew this wasn't a fight she'd win. "You're a bad boy!"

"Keh, what am I, a dog?!" Inuyasha jumps, swiping at them again, slicing the trees nearby.

"HOLY SHIT! HE CUT THEM LIKE BUTTER!!" Hikari panicked, the blood draining from her face.

The flesh is one thing, but trees?!

"Want me to scratch your backs?" The silver-haired boy cracks his knuckles, smirking cruelly.

"No thanks!" Hikari scrambled backward throwing her arms up to protect herself from his next attack, "Ah!"

It happens quite quickly, and it sends Inuyasha back. Tiny dots...or were those beads? Inuyasha lands on an uprooted tree root as the beads settle around his neck.

"What the hell? What is this?!" He grabs the beads and attempts to pull them off or break them, futilely. 

"Hurry, speak the word of subjugation!" Kaede yells out.

"Sub...what?!" Hikari rolls out of the way and onto her feet again.

"Hurry!" Kagome sprints to dive just seconds before Inuyasha's claws crash into the earth.

"Huh? Hey!" Soon, Kagome, who still has the jewel, runs off with Inuyasha chasing after her. "Kagome!" 

"Hurry, Child, " Kaede motions for the blonde to follow.

At a bridge, overlooking a small, but a flowing river, Kagome has dropped the jewel. It rolls over the wooden passageway.

"How can you subdue me when you can't even sit up?" The boy grins as he lands on the bridge, and goes to the jewel.

"Subduing word...subduing word..." Hikari murmured, trying to think of a word as fast as she could. It wasn't easy for her to think when she was sprinting like her heels were on fire.

On the path overlooking the bridge, Hikari skids to a stop, clutching a tree as she catches her breath. 

"SIT BOY!" Kagome lets out.

The beads around the boy's neck glow, magically forcing him to faceplant into the bridge's boards. The sheer impact of Inuyasha's faceplant caused the bridge to break, dropping him into the rapidly flowing waters.

"Really?" Hikari jumps down Kagome's level, a hand over her wildly fanning heart. 

"What?" Kagome looks at her and goes to retrieve the jewel. "It worked, didn't it?"

Hikari puts her up hands in surrender. "I'm not saying anything."

"That's what I thought," Kagome replies, all feisty.

AND END.