The Shadow Demon Steals A Moment, And Inuyasha Wants it back.

Chapter 1

The group walked through the forest in near complete darkness, the branches rustled over head and an owl hooted from somewhere not far off, they had been so close to the island of the half demons in the middle of the Kyousei Kosui when all of a sudden they had awoken to find themselves in the midst of a forest, forever in darkness.

'This is creepy' murmured Shippo to Kagome, Inuyasha turned back to their small group and said 'don▓t be too afraid, and why are you all whispering its not like this place is sacred or anything!'. Kagome was wondering why Inuyasha had been more cranky than usual, was it to do with what had happened to her at the performing family and what Miroku had said?.

They walked on and on through the dreaded forest when all of a sudden Miroku turned and saw a shadow flash through the little light there was left, he turned to Sango and Kirara and said 'did you see that?', 'see what Miroku? We haven't seen anything since we awoke in this dreaded place apart from branches and leaves'. Hmmm very strange he thought to himself so they carried on.

Sango was deep in thought as they walked on she was thinking about Kohaku and what could of happened to him, was he still alive when she felt a breeze move past her neck, not a normal breeze but one that made her hair stand on end, she turned to face Miroku but when she turned to face him she found nothing, Miroku was no where to be found. She cried out and that made Inuyasha and Kagome turn around they all looked for Miroku but he was no where to be found, not even Inuyasha could pick up his scent.

Meanwhile Miroku awoke groggy and confused to find himself slung over the back of a man in a black outfit with a slit for his eyes and mouth, he was running almost as fast as Kogra the wolf demon but he didn▓t seem demonic and he didn▓t have an evil ora about him, so Miroku thought seeing as he was too weak to do anything he would wait and see what happened. The Man carried on deep within the forest where the tree's grew so close together that they could barely get through without hitting something, when a clearing came into view, it looked like a small village but the people, they were gaunt, like ghosts staring blank eyed into space as they sat on their door steps arms slumped to their sides, nothing made a noise and not even the babies cried, everyone was so pale, and the toys lay abandoned in the road.

Miroku was slowly regaining his strength so when the man in a black outfit placed him on the floor of what looked like a temple he sat up and looked around him, the walls were typical Japanese style and he could hear muffled voices coming from the next room, he got up and walked towards the direction of the voices, he could hear what sounded like a woman's voice deep in discussion with an elderly man and young boy when the door opened and he was caught face to face with the most beautiful women he had ever seen (apart from Sango) she was wearing a black outfit, the same as the strong man who had carried him through the forest, he then realized that she must be the man! He thought to himself 'I would love her to bear my first child!', she stared at him and then turned away and led the young boy out of the room, the elderly man then addressed him 'welcome Miroku to our humble village, I hope my grand daughter Kylar didn▓t give you too much trouble she becomes a bit eccentric when it comes to kidnapping┘ but you seem to be fine and well so I presume she didn▓t give you the strong version of the poison!'

After sitting listening to the old man for an hour he had learnt that the forest in which the village resided had been over run by a shadow demon and as the shadow grew stronger and bigger the more villagers had been put into the trance, it had started off with a baby it had been crying loudly in its crib and his parents didn▓t know what to do, they fell asleep and when they woke up they couldn▓t hear their baby any more, they feared the worst so they summoned the village healer but she said that the baby was alive, the next few days the baby hadn't moved, drank or eaten and it hadn't died. The next week the mother of the child was sitting by her child when her husband heard a gust of wind and the next thing he knew his wife was rendered into the same state as their child within days the whole household had been left in a trance, by the next few months the entire village had been left ghost like, just sitting staring straight ahead, it was then the last of us realized that every time someone's spirit had been taken the shadows around the forest had grown bigger, then the animals began to suffer until now only me, Kylar and Ze remain, we do our best to keep them comfortable and we feed them with soft foods like soup and crushed beans.

Miroku thought for a while then said 'what do you want me to do about this?' the elderly man laughed and said 'you are a monk who's reputation for exorcisms is amazing, we would like you to rid us of this demon and bring our village life again.' Miroku thought hard and said to himself, I may need Kagome with her purifying arrows and Sango may come in useful, Inuyasha would definitely be a help and Kagome and Sango wouldn▓t leave Shippo and Kirara behind so that means I would need the whole group, 'excuse me, umm what was your name?' 'Goro' said Goro. 'Goro, to perform the exorcism I must have my friends with me, they aid me in my exorcisms'. 'very well then Miroku, Kylar come here I need you to bring this young mans friends here, take them one by one, leave the half demon till last, my guess is he'll follow his woman friends scent' 'too true' retorted Miroku, 'yes, Grandfather' Kylar replied.

Meanwhile deep within the forest Inuyasha, Kagome, Shippo, Sango and Kirara were still on the look out for Miroku with no hope they decided to rest a bit and gather energy, Shippo noticed out of the corner of his eye something move amongst the shadows, he thought it was probably a bird so he decided not to mention it, but five minutes later Kagome asked Shippo whether he was alright to carry on but when they heard no response they all jumped up and looked everywhere for him, they couldn▓t even see his trail of mushrooms, Kagome said 'Oh no, Shippo must have disappeared the same way as Miroku, what if it▓s a demon!' Inuyasha noticed the fear in her voice and sensed her tenseness so he said 'don▓t worry Kagome any demon that attacks us will have another thought coming!' Kagome smiled at Inuyasha but what the two of them didn▓t notice was that Sango and Kirara had been injected with a dart full of poison and carried off by a figure in black. It wasn▓t until they had stopped looking at each other that they noticed that Sango wasn▓t there, they both thought that they would be wasting their time looking for her so they retraced their steps to the place they had woken up.

Inuyasha heard a thud behind him and heard Kagome make a small noise, she had fallen over a root that was sticking up above the ground. He turned around and helped her up but she didn▓t look in any condition to carry on so he said to her 'we should probably wait here its pointless to go on and seeing as your just a human you don▓t look like you have enough strength to carry on' Kagome was too tired to argue so she lay down next to Inuyasha and fell asleep. Inuyasha leant against a rock wondering what had happened to the rest of his friends when he felt pressure on his chest he looked down and saw that Kagome had rolled over in her sleep and now lay on his chest her ankle laced around his. He put his hand through her soft black hair and closed his eyes, he could feel Kagomes body leaning against him, her every curve and bend, he thought about her and how he had embraced her on the edge of the great lake, he slowly felt his eyelids closing he went into a daze and fell into a half sleep.

He was about to put his head on Kagomes shoulder when he couldn▓t feel her anywhere he opened his eyes, Kagome had Gone! He sat up and sniffed the air he could smell her scent, he couldn▓t loose it anywhere, the scent led straight into the forest but he didn▓t care he had to find Kagome.
Inuyasha ran blindly through the forest so concentrated on Kagomes scent that he didn▓t notice the brambles scratching his face and branches tearing at his clothes as he raced through the forest, Kagomes scent still strong on the leaves, and the grass. It seemed a bit odd to Inuyasha that Kagome's scent would still be there when the others scent had completely disappeared, but he didn▓t care, he had to find Kagome.

Inuyasha had run for hours when he saw a house in the distance, it loomed out of the mist, and then a whole village came into his vision out of the darkness, the only source of light was a small flame glowing in what looked like a mansion or temple of some sort. He was about to race towards it when he saw a small boy out of the corner of his eye, sitting on the floor cross legged, his wooden horse abandoned on the floor, he looked like he had been there for a while for the grass seemed to grow around him and flowers wrapped around his limp arms Inuyasha spoke to him saying 'hey boy where is this place?' the boy didn▓t answer so Inuyasha asked again 'helloo? Is anyone there? Boy?' this is creepy he thought to himself. As he wandered towards the temple he noticed more people, women men and children all sitting in the same position staring ahead of them, it was like the life spirit had been stolen from them.

Inuyasha was about to run towards the temple and strike it open with tetsaiga, when Miroku ran out. 'Inuyasha STOP!' yelled Miroku across the courtyard. Inuyasha said with a lot of attitude 'what the hell? I come here to rescue you and you seem to be fine?' 'rescue me? More like Kagome┘' Miroku couldn▓t finish off his sentence because Inuyasha had pounced on him and started beating his head while saying 'I don▓t know what your talking about! You, you YOU JERK!'. Just as Inuyasha was going to hit Miroku with a right hook Kagome came running out of the temple, 'Inuyasha stop!' but Inuyasha ignored her so she yelled 'SIT BOY!!' Inuyasha's head slammed to the floor, he lifted his head and said 'why!'.

Kagome grabbed Inuyasha's hand and dragged him to the edge of the village, there she sat down and explained what she had heard from Goro and then told him about Kylar and Ze. Inuyasha looked bewildered when she had finished then he said 'how the hell do you kill a shadow?' Kagome looked at him and said 'I hadn't thought about that┘' they sat there in silence when Kagome felt someone watching her, she turned to Inuyasha and said 'what are you staring at!' he looked away and said 'oh nothing just I wondered were you aware of what you were doing when you were asleep by the rock?' Kagome looked confused and said 'no, why? What did I do! Oh god nothing too embarrassing I hope!' 'it doesn▓t matter' replied Inuyasha. Kagome looked at him and said very seriously 'Inuyasha, what did I do? Tell me' Inuyasha thought I'd better tell her or I'm going to pay!, 'Ok then Kagome, its hard to explain but you kind of rolled onto me, so it was nothing too embarrassing, in fact I liked it. Though DON▓T think I'm like Miroku, because I'm not!'. Kagome looked at Inuyasha focusing her eyes onto his and they just sat there and stared at each other, Inuyasha couldn▓t bear it anymore he had to do something, he moved towards Kagome and took her shoulder and leaned in his hair brushing her face, he heard a gust of wind, then he kissed her, he quickly returned to his normal position when he couldn▓t feel her react and said 'I'm sorry Kagome, I didn▓t mean to be forward┘ sorry'. He turned to look at her and saw her staring blank eyed towards him, her legs crossed and her arms limp.

'Kagome!' shouted Shippo 'Inuyasha I thought you were meant to protect her!'. Sango picked Shippo up and said 'I think Inuyasha feels bad enough all ready' she looked towards Inuyasha who was staring into the forest, his face was un-readable, his emotions were so great that no one could see them, Inuyasha thought to himself 'I have to save Kagome, I will find you shadow demon and I will destroy you.'

Sorry the chapter title isnt very good. wait for the next chapter, its too late to write and i must rest. Here's a little something else, dont know which category to put it in but please comment.

in the cold bleak field where two tree's grow in the river grey two loves row in a boat of love and a dream so great but so many dreams stay forever late

under the tree's their bodies rot a sweet sweet song time forgot the tree's entwined bear the dove of one sad couples faithless love

In the hollow trunks no squirrels play hte silence lingers day by day and yet a presence haunts the path no one to laugh no one to say the eerie splendor ends the day