The Fox's Son

Chapter 27 - Strangest Encounter

Naruto and the Inu group were northbound, walking down a dirt path. While Inuyasha took the lead, followed by Kagome and the others, Naruto took the rear, enjoying the scenic route while also keeping watch. Kippou was on top of his head resting while Kirara was on his shoulder, now under the hat, resting beside his neck.

They had been traveling for about a week now. They would get up, break camp, travel by daylight, make camp at sundown, sleep, then repeat the same process the next day. To put it in shorter terms, Naruto was sick of it. On the outside he was calm, collected, and wore a mask of laziness, but inwardly, he felt like a horde of elephants high on steroids and testosterone. He sighed to himself. He definitely needed to relieve some of his pent up energy.

He fought the urge to put them through some training for ninja-style travel, but decided against it. At their current level, they wouldn't be able to handle it and preparing them for it would take months. Time that he didn't have to waste. 'When did humans become so weak...?' he mentally drawled as he continued to walk. He watched as the mutt walked in front of the group with the rest following behind him, chatting animatedly. 'So this is his pack, ne?' he thought as he continued to watch them.

"Come on, Kagome! Just give us a small hint, at least!" Sango's voice ranged in the air.

Kagome had a coy smile etched onto her face. "Uh-uh. It's for me to know and you to find out." she said with a mere head shake.

"While I normally would allow you to keep your secrets until you were ready to reveal them, Lady Kagome, at this time, I must insist that you at least provide some form of insight pertaining to your training with Naruto-san." Miroku chimed in.

Shippou happened to have gotten up just in time to hear Miroku's comment. Now fully awake, Shippou jumped off of Naruto's head and perched himself on Kagome's shoulders. "Aww, you could just one hint, Kagome." the kitling said.

"Where did you come from?" Kagome asked, haven't heard form the kitling for several hours now.

"I was napping." Kippou answered. "But, no changing the subject. Give us a hint Kagome, please?" he asked.

The miko struggled to keep her smile from splitting her face into two. "Seecccrrreeettt" she answered, putting a finger to her lips. She then began walk ahead of her two prodding friends with Shippou still settled on her shoulder.

Naruto chuckled at them. He then smirked as he looked towards the sky. "It would appear that they will find out sooner than they think." he said as he felt several energies coming their way.

He felt Kirara begin to stir on his shoulder. He slowly turned his head to the fire cat and smiled at her. "You sensed them, too, ne?" he said. "Well, how about we deal with the main group and leave the fodder to the rest?" he asked as he scratched under Kirara's chin.

The cat purred and nodded in agreement. The red head smiled at this and the two began to discreetly fall behind.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Kagura was soaring high above the clouds with a legion of demon behind her. The wind sorceress had a simple plan. She was going to take a smaller group of demon to attack from the front while a larger group surrounded the Inu gang and attacked from the rear. Either way, the battle could only result in two outcomes.

Outcome number 1: she would be able to kill either the half-demon, the miko, or the ninja, and postpone her fate.

Or outcome number 2: she would die - a fate that had long been on her heels and had been from the moment she was born.