Inuyasha leaped across the rooftops of the buildings and telephone poles while Sota clung to his back. The two soared through the air as the half-demon ran as fast as he could in the direction that Kagome had fled. Sota was a bit surprised that Inuyasha had no trouble getting around the huge city with all its flashing lights and loud noises, but it seemed that he knew he was doing.
"Hang on tight, kid!" Inuyasha called as he jumped over some buildings at an incredible height. "It's a long way down!"
"I guess I wasn't strong enough to pass through the hidden well, huh?" Sota asked.
"Lucky for you," Inuyasha answered as he landed on another telephone poll, then jumped down from that and ran along the roof of an office building. "Cuz in my world, there areplentyof monsters that would just LOVE to have you for lunch."
"Huh?!" Sota questioned as Inuyasha jumped off the building and landed on the roof of a moving truck.
"Whoa!" Inuyasha cried as he wobbled a bit, but kept his balance nonetheless. "Phew! I'm good."
"Hey," said Sota. "Do you know where to find Kagome?"
"Sure, I do," said Inuyasha. "I'm not human, remember? I can track scents from miles around with this nose of mine."
"I don't know if it helps," said Sota, "but Kagome cut her fingers on some glass while she was running away from the Mask."
"Heh," Inuyasha smirked. "You don't gotta tell me that. I can smell the blood from way back in the well." He then stood up, tall and confident. "Fear not. I'll rescue Kagome before she gets into any real trouble!"
As he made this declaration, Sota thought back to when Kagome talked about Inuyasha earlier that morning during breakfast.
"Well...he's kinda rude...actually, a lot rude. He can be pretty childish and he's got a big ego. He's pretty stubborn and hardheaded, too...but there are some good points to him. For one thing, he can actually be pretty helpful...and he can be kinda nice...in his own brash way."
'He really is everything Kagome said he'd be,'thought Sota as he tightened his grip on Inuyasha's haori.'Sure, his outfit's a little out of date, but I think that Inuyasha really is the only person I can trust to save Kagome!'
Meanwhile, at a construction site, Kagome panted as she ran along some iron bars, having climbed up there to avoid the Mask of Flesh. So far, it seemed she managed to evade the monstrous mask for some time, but she knew she couldn't outrun it for very long. She prayed mentally that Sota had gotten Inuyasha in time.
'Please hurry, Inuyasha!!'she thought, but just as she was about to turn and run, she gasped in horror upon seeing that the Mask of Flesh had leaped up off the ground and had landed right in front of her, leaving her trapped!
"Oh, no!!" she cried.
"Give me the shards of the Shikon Jewel!!" the Mask demanded as it advanced toward Kagome, who whimpered as she backed away.
"IRON REAVER SOUL STEALER!!"
SLASH!!!The Mask's blob-like body was suddenly cut in half as Inuyasha and Sota appeared, just in the nick of time!
"Inuyasha! Sota! You're here!!" Kagome exclaimed in relief.
"Your brother came and got me," said Inuyasha.
"Sis!" Sota cried as he ran up and hugged her.
"Thank you, Sota!" Kagome said as she embraced her brother. "I knew you could do it!" She then looked him right in the eye. "See? You really can be brave!"
Sota nodded his head, feeling a bit proud of himself. However, it was not the time to be relieved, just yet, for the Mask's "body" began to pull itself back together.
"Who dares to attack me?" it asked.
"So," Inuyasha began as he looked over at the Mask of Flesh, "is that the Noh Mask that the kid was telling me about?"
"Yeah," Kagome nodded. "Inuyasha, the Mask has a shard of the Sacred Jewel in its forehead!"
"Oh, really?" Inuyasha asked as a smirk creased his lips.
"I am the Mask of Flesh," said the Mask. "Centuries, I was carved from a tree that had a fragment of the Sacred Jewel of Four Souls embedded in it. Ever since my creation, I craved human flesh...hence I devoured my creator and many others before I was sealed away! Now, I wish to have a living physical body that will not rot...thus, I must gather more shards of the Sacred Jewel!!"
"So that's why you were after these shards!" Kagome realized.
"Heh," Inuyasha chuckled as he cracked his knuckled. "I don't know how many humans you've devoured, you blob of flesh..." He then lunged for the Mask. "BUT IT'S TIME TO LOSE SOME WEIGHT!!"
WHAK!!!Inuyasha punched the Mask in the face...or so he thought, for he found his wrist caught in between rows of hook-like teeth that went down horizontally inside the Mask!
"W-what the-?!" Inuyasha questioned.
"You've fallen into my trap," the Mask. "Now...become one with me, half-demon!" It then pulled Inuyasha into its blob-like body!
"Inuyasha, no!!" Kagome cried.
"K-Kagome! Run!!" Inuyasha shouted before he was completely drawn in.
"Now for you, girl," said the Mask as it flew toward Kagome. "Give me the shards, NOW!!"
"AH!!" Kagome shrieked as she tried to hold the Mask back, falling backward as she did.
"Kagome!!" Sota cried.
"Sota, quick!" Kagome urged. "Take these jewel shards and get outta here!" She then tossed the jewel shards to Sota, who caught them in his hands before he turned and ran away as fast as he could, but the Mask soon gave chase.
"Give me those shards, boy!!" the Mask shouted.
"Sota, look out!!" Kagome called after her brother. "It's right behind you!!"
Sota panted as he glanced back, but then he tripped and fell down on some wooden boards, accidentally dropping the jewel shards as he did.
'The Mask is after this bottle,' Sota thought. 'Maybe I should throw it away! ...No, that won't work! If it gets these shards, who knows what'll happen?!'
With that, he picked the shards back up and kept running, but he ended up hitting a dead end. One more step and he'd end up falling over the edge. As Sota turned around, he gasped in horror upon seeing the Mask, almost upon him!
"YOU'RE MINE!!!" the Mask yelled.
"SOTA!!!" Kagome screamed.
Just as it seemed like that Sota was going to meet the same fate as the Mask's other victims, a red blur suddenly burst out of the blob of rotted goop and blood and darted right at the object!
"GET DOWN, KID!!!"
Sota gasped before he dropped down, just as something cut right through the Mask, cutting it completely in half!
"NOOOOOOOOOOO!!!" it screamed before it disintegrated into dust...leaving the Sacred Jewel shard behind.
"That takes care of that," said Inuyasha, holding the Tetsusaiga against his shoulder.
"Oh! You destroyed the Mask!" Sota exclaimed. "You did it, Inuyasha!"
"Heh," Inuyasha smirked. "All in a day's work. So, you still got those jewel fragments, kid?"
"Uh-huh!" Sota nodded as he held up the bottle. "Right here!"
"That was too close," said Kagome as she picked up the shard.
'The Mask said that it had a shard of the Sacred Jewel that was sealed along with it for centuries...could it be that there are shards that are scattered here, even in modern times? Just when I thought that things can't get more complicated...'
Suddenly, she winced slightly in pain before she looked down at her hand, which was still bloody.
"Oh, right," she said. "I was so busy running for my life, I forgot how much this hurt."
Then, Inuyasha grabbed her hand before he took a look at it, causing Kagome to gasp silently.
"Inuyasha?" Kagome asked.
"Hmm..." Inuyasha hummed before he opened his mouth and began to lick the blood away, causing her to shudder a bit at the feeling of his tongue scraping against her fingers.
"Ew, gross," Sota grimaced.
"I-Inuyasha, what are you doing?!" Kagome asked.
"Shut up and hold still," said Inuyasha as he tore off a strip of cloth from his sleeve, then began to wrap it around Kagome's hand, causing her to blush slightly.
"Inuyasha..." she whispered.
"There," Inuyasha said as he tied a knot on the makeshift bandage. "That should do."
Kagome blinked at her hand before she looked up at Inuyasha...who gave her a soft smile as the sun began to rise behind him, giving his hair a shiny, silvery glow as the wind blew gently.
'Wow...'Kagome thought.'I don't know if it's the morning light or something...but he actually looks pretty...handsome.'
"Wait a minute," said Kagome before she looked to the horizon. "Morning light?!" She then gasped in horror. "Oh, no!! It's morning already and I still haven't studied for my test!!!" She then hurried off down a flight of stairs.
"H-hey, Kagome, where are you going?!" Inuyasha asked.
"Thanks for your help, Inuyasha! It's been a slice!" Kagome answered. "I owe you some potato chips, okay?! Now do me a favor and take Sota home for me!"
"Uhhh...okay," Inuyasha muttered before he felt a slight tug on his sleeve, causing him to glance down and see Sota, who beamed at him with a light blush on his cheeks.
"You know what?" Sota asked. "I've got a new hero...and I bet you can't guess who it is~!"
"...Oh, man..." Inuyasha bemoaned.
Later that afternoon, Kagome, through some miracle, had managed to get through her math exam and after getting a bit of shopping done, she made it back home, filled up her backpack with all sorts of essentials, such as notebooks, textbooks, some extra clothes, three barbecue potato chips for Inuyasha (she figured he deserved an extra one for saving her and Sota), and some cups of instant ramen. Her friends did ask about her bandaged hand, but she told them not to worry about it and that she was just a little clumsy.
"Sis, you're leaving?" Sota asked with Buyo clinging to his shoulders.
"Yeah, I gotta get going," said Kagome as she tried to drag her large backpack to the well house. "I was going to wait until tomorrow, but I think I better go now. Besides, I don't have anything else to do here for right now, anyway!" She grunted as she tried to heft her oversized backpack over her shoulders, but nearly fell to the ground due to its heavy weight.
"Whoa!" a voice called as a hand reached out and caught her and the backpack. "What are you tryin' to do, Kagome?! Break your back?!"
"Huh?" Kagome muttered before she turned and saw Inuyasha. "I-Inuyasha, you're here!"
"Gimme this," said Inuyasha. "If you don't mind, I'll do the heavy lifting around here."
Kagome blinked at him in surprise before a playful smile appeared on her face.
"Well, aren't you a gentleman?" she asked.
"Keh!" Inuyasha scoffed as he walked to the well house. "Whatever."
"See you later, Sota," said Kagome. "And don't worry. Mom will be home with Grandpa in a little while."
"Right," Sota nodded. "Bye, sis!"
As Inuyasha and Kagome entered the well house, the former glanced over at the latter before he cleared his throat.
"Uh...hey, Kagome?" he asked.
"Yeah?" Kagome asked back.
"...The other day, when you left," Inuyasha started, "why'd you kiss me?"
"I...I kissed you?" Kagome asked. "I don't under..." She then gasped in realization. "Oh! On the cheek!"
"Yeah," Inuyasha affirmed. "So...why'd you do it?"
"Well, I...I...umm..." Kagome muttered. "Uh...why did I kiss you?"
"...You don't even know?" Inuyasha asked before he sighed and rolled his eyes. "Whatever. Let's just get going."
"Uh...why do you ask?" Kagome asked.
"It doesn't matter," Inuyasha replied as he climbed over the well. "Come on. We got things to do and shards to hunt."
"...Sure," Kagome smiled before she joined the half-demon's side. "1...2...3!"
On that, they both jumped into the well, returning to the Feudal Era, once more.
