II. Chapter Two

The breeze gently ruffled the flame tendrils of Kurama's hair as he effortlessly hoisted himself out of the well. Taking a good look at his surroundings, he found that the air was much cleaner and the open space was full of greenery and luscious trees. This couldn't be Tokyo, he thought to himself. One of the most striking features of the landscape was a tall, proud tree that stood in his view.

"Something tells me I'm not in Tokyo anymore..." Kurama murmured to himself, staring at his surrounding with confusion. He was just beginning to wonder where the girl and the hanyou had gotten off to, when, from quite a distance, he heard voices.

"Inuyasha!"

Kurama heard panic in the girl's cry and rushed in the direction he estimated it had come from. The scene he came upon was both horrifying and a bit comical. There, suspended in mid-air, was the hanyou he had seen earlier with the girl.

"A ball of hair... It must be Yura's hideout!" The girl's exclamation drew Kurama's attention from the hanging hanyou to where she, too, was suspended in mid-air.

At the same time, Kagome noticed the presence of Kurama as well and gasping in surprise, she exclaimed, "There's more of them!?"

Kurama started and blinked in bewilderment at the girl's comment. Then there was a swooshing sound that tore his gaze from the dangling girl, and his eyes traveled to the source of the commotion just in time to see a young woman swoop down and land perfectly on... air. Kurama blinked again, quite unable to grasp what was going on. But just as quick, his intelligent mind processed what was going on and he realized that this must be the feudal era and that the female demon was using some sort of invisible weapon to suspend both the hanyou and human girl in midair.

"Oh my, what a wonderful prey I've caught!" The woman cooed as she watched Inuyasha struggle against what seemed as nothing at all angrily, but to no avail. "You must be Inuyasha."

Kurama was to confused as to why he couldn't see the offending weapon that was causing so much trouble. Then a realization dawned upon him just when the arrogant hanyou was about to say something nasty to the female demon.

"Are you Yura of the hair?" Kurama asked, his voice smooth but laced with an amusement that was unfathomable.

Both Inuyasha and Yura turned to stare at the young man with red hair standing on the ground beside the suspended Kagome. Kagome's attention was also brought back to the stranger. Handsome stranger. With red hair. And green eyes.

Inuyasha's eyes narrowed in irritation and he asked, "Who the hell are you?!"

The woman stared in interest at the new arrival. "Yes, do tell, just who are you?"

His emerald eyes took in the woman's strange dress and predatorial gaze with emotionless eyes and replied, "Kurama. A pleasure, I'm sure."

Although Yura was slightly irritated by his response, her eyes never left the scarlet locks that seemed to capture her attention thoroughly. Kurama noted this and his eyes darted to the girl known as Kagome in the briefest of moments, though he didn't seem to know why.

She smiled. "A pleasure, indeed. Your hair would be a pleasure to add to my collection. "

Kurama arched an eyebrow at this before proceeding to produce a rose from somewhere in the vicinity of his hair. Yura's expression finally showed a hint of interest, and Kagome's eyes widened in surprise.

Inuyasha snorted.

"He hides roses in his hair?" He scoffed. How girly can you get?! Ohh, I'm so scared! Please don't hurt me with your big, bad rose! Some help you are!"

Kurama ignored the hanyou. Instead, he proceeded to transform the rose he held into his weapon of choice: the rose whip. Kagome's eyes widened even more so, impressed by his elegance and swift movements. Who was this guy anyway? Was he human or demon? Was he there to help them or assist Yura in killing them? And just how the heck did he make a rose do that? There was no doubt about it, this guy was either out of his mind or very powerful. But before Kagome could dwell upon this new stranger further, Inuyasha interrupted her thoughts with a rude comment.

"Well whoever the hell you are, you're not going to be of any help. I can take care of this on my own, I don't need some prissy assisting me!" Inuyasha snarled.

Kurama smirked ever so slightly. "Right. Everything is going perfectly smooth here. You're hanging in the air with no way of escaping while that girl," He paused to glance at Kagome, then, "Seems to be in the same predicament. Quite a job you're doing here, my friend."

Inuyasha's growl deepened at the mocking words and began struggling against the bonds again in a defiant attempt to free himself so that he could tear the so-called, "prissy" from limb from limb.

"Could you please stop arguing and perhaps.. uh, help us?" An exasperated, feminine voice spoke up.

That girl. Kurama glanced up to see her staring back down at him, her eyes were pleading him for help. Her eyes... they were of a soft, sort of... Wait a minute. What on earth? Blinking rapidly, he cleared his throat and smiled graciously at her.

"Of course." Kurama replied. "But in order for me to help you, you must help me as well. You must tell me where the hair is keeping you up so that I may free you."

Kagome nodded and cast a worried glance at Inuyasha, who was still arguing with Yura while struggling against his own bonds. The youkai was mentioning something about rumors and..... Something about Inuyasha being a servant to her?! As if! If it weren't for the subduing beads, she'd probably be ripped to shreds by now.

"The servant of that stupid girl? Me?! Do you want to die?" was Inuyasha's angry outburst. Kagome blushed in frustration.

Well, of all the --

"Please miss, if you want me to help you, then I need to know where to aim my whip." The polite voice spoke, this time more urgently.

Nodding again hesitantly, she drew her eyes away from Inuyasha and back to the polite stranger. Focusing her attention on telling the stranger where the strand of hair that was holding her was, Kagome watched in fascination as he drew back the arm wielding the thorny whip. With a single flick of his wrist, he guided the whip expertly towards where she had directed. Then, Kagome heard a snapping sound as the whip made contact with the thin strand of hair. She was finally released.

Unfortunately for her, she was still hanging in the air. What is up... Must go down. And so she promptly made for the ground. Kagome closed her eyes shut, waiting for the painful impact she was sure to receive when she reached the ground. Her eyes shot open in surprise, however, when she felt warm, strong arms wrapping themselves around her waist in mid-air. Craning her neck slightly, she met a pair of malachite eyes filled with amusement.

Kurama, on the other hand, tried not to look at the girl's eyes. Now that the rustling of grass caught both Inuyasha's and Yura's attentions, they whirled their heads in his direction. Yura narrowed her eyes specifically at Kagome while Inuyasha narrowed his at Kurama's.

"Silly girl! Look what you've done!" Yura tsked and tossed her head to one side, eyeing Kagome with a new contempt.

"Release Inuyasha right this instant!" Kagome shouted haughtily, groping behind her for something. Kurama looked at her in fascination as she finally realized that nothing was clinging on to her back.

"Don't worry, miss. I'll help your friend." Kurama assured her with a quick nod.

"Keh! Help me? As if I need your help!" Inuyasha snarled indignantly.

With that, Inuyasha let out a vicious growl and with sheer strength ripped free of the hair tentacles holding him, grabbed another and used it to swing toward Yura. Not looking the least bit worried, Yura simply produced a red comb and used it to command another swath of hair to materialize and whip toward Inuyasha.

"Same thing again!?" The hanyou exclaimed in disgust, but was soon overwhelmed by the sheer volume of hair.

The gnarly locks of hair rippled over him like ocean waves. When the sensation of hair crawling all over his body subsided, he was entangled again. Only this time he was in a more perilous situation than before with tentacles around his ankles, wrists, and shoulders.

"Feh, damn it." He groaned as he sensed Yura float down behind him. The master of the demon hair reached out and began stroking Inuyasha's hair. "What beautiful silver hair... but look, it's not even cared for properly. It's all roughed up..."

The conversation was slightly disturbing. Especially while Yura stroked Inuyasha's hair and cooed her sympathy for it while Inuyasha was bound and gagged by... more hair. Inuyasha gritted his teeth as he growled, "Shut up!" Then, he threw back his head, effectively head butting his opponent. Kagome winced while Kurama raised a brow in sheer amusement.

Yura, slightly surprised by the sudden attack, fell back. Her dexterous abilities, however, allowed her to execute a little flip and turn, landing safely back on her string of hair. Her weight, combined with the landing, caused the strand to sink a bit before springing back and launching Yura back toward Inuyasha. This time, a more contemptuous look was upon her face.

Withdrawing a sword, Yura swiped at Inuyasha, the blade making contact as she followed through. At this point Kagome had lost all suspicion of the strange flame-haired boy and was currently using him to hide behind as she watched the battle rage on.

"Inuyasha."

Kurama heard the deep concern in the girl's voice as she softly cried out the hanyou's name from behind him. It was strange to acknowledge, but he could practically feel the intense worry radiating from her. But why on earth would she choose to care for a hanyou that treated her no better than dirt?

"I'll just slice you up right now." Yura stated as she advanced towards Inuyasha.

"Please, you've got to help him." Kagome begged, clutching at the back of Kurama's shirt desperately. Maybe it was the way her voice softly voiced the plea or the desperation that pooled within her eyes, he didn't know. Kurama took the girl's plea to heart and unfurled his rose whip once more to intercept the other demon's attack. Startled, Yura dodged the whip and leapt back onto her strand to scowl at Kurama.

"Let go of Inuyasha!" Kagome, who had finally located her bow and arrows, shouted. With bow in hand, she notched an arrow and took aim.

"I would do what she says if I were you." Kurama looked pointedly at the bow and arrow in Kagome's hand. "She seems quite serious."

With a little, 'tsk' and a mocking smirk directed at Kagome, Yura said, "You and the hanyou must be close. It's very peculiar."

"Keh!" Inuyasha scoffed in response to Yura's jab. He then glared at the two forms on the ground, ready to berate Kagome. "I told you not to worry about me and hide somewhere!" He then turned his glare on Kurama. "And you! Didn't I tell you I don't need a prissy boy's help?!"

Yura observed Kurama with a little frown. "I don't care very much about who you say you are, those red locks of yours would make a very nice addition to my collection."

Then she directed her gaze towards Kagome and continued, "Her hair is nothing much to look at...But maybe I should collect hers, too. What do you think?"

"I think that would be unwise should you want to stay alive." Kurama replied, noticing the disgruntled look in Kagome's eyes.

"Nothing much to look at? I use conditioner every day, you know! Don't be so rude!" the girl fumed. Kurama never knew women could be so passionate about their hair before.

In her anger, Kagome released her arrow and then cringed when she saw it fly through the air toward Inuyasha. Obviously the girl's aim needed a lot of tweaking. The hanyou, despite his bound state, managed to dodge it. Barely. Kurama tried to stifle down his laugh, though he was slightly unsuccessful. Kagome blushed furiously.

"Where are you aiming, you stupid girl?!" Inuyasha snarled.

"Obviously not for Yura, that's for sure." Kurama murmured.

Then, Kurama observed in interest as Kagome's arrow arched over Inuyasha and managed to pierce something else upon its descending trail. The arrow glowed and, for an instant, Kurama could make out the outline of a giant ball of hair. The hairball disintegrated soon after, revealing all the skulls attached to the hair it consisted of.

"How could you!?" A horrified Yura exclaimed. "All my treasures!"

"Must be the heads of those runaway samurai's." Inuyasha muttered.

Kurama shook his head. "I fear you are underestimating, there are far too many skulls here."

"Will you shut up?!"

"Don't worry, both your heads will be joining them soon. Your beautiful silver hair... " she nodded toward Inuyasha, then looked at Kurama. "And your fiery red locks. I just can't wait to play with them!"

"Psycho!" Kagome exclaimed angrily.

"As for you..." Yura turned, brandishing her red comb once more. "You, girl, annoy me. Die!"

Yura then waved the comb in front of her. The motion caused streams of fire to coil down the strands of hair and head straight toward Kagome. Frozen in fear, Kagome gasped and closed her eyes so that she could not see what appeared to be a fiery death approaching her rapidly. Moments before the flames reached her, Kurama flung himself at Kagome, wrapping his lithe body around hers just as the flames encircled them both. From his hanging position in the air, Inuyasha watched in horror as the two forms were engulfed in the all-encompassing flame. With Kurama attached to Kagome's body in the most indecent way.