Disclaimer: I do not own Inu-Yasha. Under different circumstances I would but unfortunately I do not.

Naraku's Prisoner

Chapter one: A Plan For Pain

By Ethril Dragon

'Why did I listen to that damned monk?' Inu-Yasha ranted inside his own mind. The group had just left the most recent village and had been unsuccessful in finding a jewel shard. Once again the villagers had treated Inu-Yasha as a piece of trash, what with their dirty looks and silent glares. Inu-Yasha glared around him at everyone and everything. He was still in a bad mind even with the village behind them.

Inu-Yasha had tried to travel ahead of the group to avoid the villages, but last time he had done that Kagome had ended up hurting her wrist. After that Inu-Yasha had decided he couldn't leave Kagome alone. Inu-Yasha glanced back at Kagome and growled softly. She was so injury prone he wouldn't be surprised if she broke something by tripping over a pebble. Needless to say, now he had to go into each village with the group and deal with the glares of the villagers.

A few days ago, when Kagome had returned home, Miroku had headed out to search for rumors about jewel shards. Shortly after Kagome had returned, Miroku had returned to report on his findings. Supposedly there was a jewel shard being kept in the shrine in a southern village. The shrine had been a bust. Now they were just wandering south to see what else they could find.

Kagome winced as she walked. Last night she'd been stumbling to the bathroom with the lights off. Normally she could find her way around her home just fine, but this time she had tripped over her lazy cat. Her crash had woken up her family and her mother had taken her to the hospital. Kagome hadn't broken anything, but she'd twisted her ankle pretty badly. She could walk on it, but the amount of walking they'd done today had been hard on her ankle. Sensing that Inu-Yasha was in a bad mood Kagome kept quiet. The last thing she needed was for Inu-Yasha to direct his bad mood at her. She'd rewrap her ankle when they stopped for the night and then take a few pain killers. Maybe they could find a river or something so she could soak her ankle in the cold water..

"Momma what's wrong?" Shippo asked suddenly out of the blue. He had been riding on Sango's shoulder for the past hour. He hopped off of Sango's shoulder and bounced over to his adoptive mother. "You're limping!" He observed as he lightly and carefully jumped up into Kagome's arms. His outburst had attracted the attention of the rest of the group.

Sango came up to Kagome and then knelt down to get a better look at her ankle. Working with sprains was something she'd learned during her training as a slayer. Growing up as a demon slayer had gotten her used to dealing with breaks and sprains. "We have to stop; Kagome can't walk on her ankle anymore." Sango said as she stood up. She sighed and turned to look at Inu-Yasha.

Inu-Yasha felt his anger rise up once more. He dug his toes into the dirt and ground his teeth as he tried to force himself from erupting. "Feh." That one word was all he was able to say without cursing. He felt his shoulders shake as he turned and left the path and headed for the closest defensible position. Tonight was the new moon and he was not looking forward to it.

Inu-Yasha jumped into the tree and watched as Sango carefully lead Kagome into the camp site. Inu-Yasha could tell that Kagome was trying to hide her limp, but the way she clung to Sango's arm told him it was worse than she was letting off. The young priestess really was in a lot of pain. Inu-Yasha cursed and dug his claws into the tree trunk against his back. Why the hell had she kept her pain quiet? Was the wench determined to injure herself even more? And why the hell hadn't he noticed sooner?

Kagome winced as she sat down. Her ankle had swollen pretty badly since leaving the village. Kagome glanced up at Inu-Yasha and she bit her lip to hold back a whimper. Inu-Yasha had given her the cold shoulder all day and now she could feel his anger radiating towards her. "Momma, are you in pain?" Shippo asked in concern. He pulled out the bottle of pain killers from Kagome's yellow backpack and then handed it to Kagome. Kagome smiled and hugged Shippo close in thanks.

Kagome took a couple of the pills and Sango came over to wrap her ankle in a cool damp cloth. Kagome bit back a yelp of pain and then slowly relaxed. This was her own fault after all; she should have turned on a light when she'd gone out in the night for the bathroom.

Shippo curled up in her lap and Kagome smiled lovingly. She brushed her fingers through his hair and sighed softly. With a little rest Kagome knew her ankle would be fine. The real problem was getting the rest when Inu-Yasha was so angry.

For the rest of the day Kagome tried to help around camp, but Sango was adamant about not letting Kagome put weight on her injured ankle. Shippo had been given the task of staying in Kagome's lap to make sure she didn't get up. Sango and Miroku went around camp to get things set up and secure for the night.

It was around dusk when Inu-Yasha finally started moving around in his tree. She looked up just as Inu-Yasha jumped down and then stormed out of the camp. Shippo had fallen asleep in her arms, Sango had gone to find a place to wash, and Miroku had followed after her mumbling about protecting her from dangers in the forest.

Worried about the hanyo, Kagome weakly struggled to stand up. She was panting by the time she was standing and it was an effort to convince her foot and ankle to cooperate. Slowly, carefully, Kagome followed after Inu-Yasha.

Inu-Yasha had stormed away from the camp site, his anger flowing out from him as he felt the last of the sunlight drain away from the sky. With the sunlight went his fangs and claws. His hair darkened and the golden hue of his eyes dimmed to brown. He cursed and slammed his fist into the tree next to him. In his weakened human form he didn't even make the tree shake. The snapping of a twig caught his attention and he spun around, cursing as he saw Kagome stumbling towards him.

"Inu-Yasha…" Kagome began to say. Shippo was still in her arms and she was leaning against a tree to relieve some of the weight off of her injured ankle. "I'm sorry Inu-Yasha. It's my fault we're not safe in an inn tonight –'' She began to say.

"Shut up wench. You are so clumsy I'm not surprised you hurt yourself." Inu-Yasha said, the words hissing out past his lips. The sad look in her eyes calmed his anger for a moment, just enough for him to sigh. "Just go back to camp. We don't need you to get worse and slow us down more." He told her, trying to calm down. Inu-Yasha looked away from Kagome, the sadness in her eyes was too much for him. He'd made her sad by ignoring her and being angry with her for no reason.

Maybe if Inu-Yasha hadn't looked away he might have caught the anger in Kagome's eyes, but he had looked away. Kagome knew she was accident prone, but that didn't mean he had to throw it in her face all the time. She didn't mean to slow the group down! Heck, Kagome had gone almost the entire day without complaining once about her damned ankle. When was she going to prove to him that she was strong and that she was an asset to the group?

One part of her mind wondered about why she was getting angry so easily. This sort of thing happened all the time, and it never bothered her before. "Maybe I wouldn't slow us down if you showed a little more concern." Kagome couldn't stop herself from arguing. Her anger was growing at an alarming rate.

"It's not my job to show concern. It's my job to protect everyone. You make things so difficult with your clumsiness!" Inu-Yasha paused to let out a hiss of breath. "Or maybe you're just a stupid bitch that doesn't remember how to walk!" Inu-Yasha snarled back. His own anger was getting worse with each word. He cracked his knuckles and took a step towards her. "You slow us down with your stupidity."

"Take it back!" Kagome was struggling to keep her voice low, so as not to wake up Shippo. "Take it back or so help me I'll sit you all the way to hell!" She threatened darkly. While he was in his human form Kagome's s-word didn't affect Inu-Yasha.

"Oh please. You won't do worse because you're too nice!" Inu-Yasha countered, his voice almost greasy. "You wouldn't risk hurting me when I'm human." Kagome gasped and took a step away as if he had slapped her. He was right; she wouldn't intentionally hurt Inu-Yasha when he was in his weakened state.

Kagome felt tears in her eyes and she looked away from him. "You're such a jerk!" Kagome yelled as she turned and stormed off the best she could.

The moment she was gone Inu-Yasha felt his anger drain away, leaving him empty and lost. 'What just happened?' he thought to himself as he looked at the spot Kagome had just vacated.

Kagome moved as fast as she could, limping badly as she tried to get as much distance between herself and Inu-Yasha. She made it back to camp just as Sango was returning, dragging a protesting Miroku along by the ear.

Sango took one look at the tear stained cheeks of her friend and knew something had happened. "Kagome, are you alright?" She asked worriedly as she let go of Miroku and went over to Kagome. Shippo turned over in Kagome's arms but he was still sound asleep. "What did Inu-Yasha do now?" Sango asked with a frown?

"Nothing. It's nothing." Kagome said as she sat down on a boulder and angled her ankle in a way to relax the pain.

"You two had another fight, didn't you?" Sango asked softly as she sat down next to Kagome. Kagome nodded slightly and she heard Miroku sigh in the back ground. "Just ignore what he says ok? We're all stressed from searching for the jewel shards and stress always makes him grumpy." Kagome knew Miroku was right, but it still stung to know that Inu-Yasha thought so little of her.

"I-I think I'll just go to bed." Kagome mumbled as she limped over to her sleeping bag and just curled up inside of it, not even bothering to change into her night clothes. After a few minutes, she felt Shippo snuggle closer to her inside of the sleeping bag.

Inu-Yasha arrived some time later. Without his demon abilities, he was unable to tell if Kagome was awake or asleep. Her eyes were closed and her breathing was steady, but that was all he could tell.

"What the hell happened?" Sango demanded quietly, also thinking Kagome was asleep.

"I don't want to talk about it." Inu-Yasha replied, his earlier anger starting to return. His voice was low, but there was a sharp bite to his words. He sat down on the opposite side of the camp from Kagome. Her back was to him so he didn't know that her eyes were open or that tears were slipping down her cheeks.

"You can't keep hurting her like this Inu-Yasha. She's not like you, she's fragile." Miroku told Inu-Yasha from his own spot near the camp fire.

Inu-Yasha cursed and stuck his hands in his sleeves. "Too fragile." He mumbled angrily. The silver haired hanyo looked into the fire, ignoring Miroku and Sango. He took in several deep breathes to keep from exploding. It was none of their damned business how he treated Kagome.

"You need to apologize." Sango told him. Her voice was hard and serious, her words more like a command then a suggestion.

"Fuck off." Inu-Yasha said, his anger making his voice raise. "She doesn't deserve an apology. She's weak and stupid. When she gets stronger, then I'll apologize."

"Maybe I am strong!" Kagome burst out as she sat up, her own anger overwhelming her. "Maybe you're the weak one." With that Kagome struggled to her feet and stormed out of the camp, Shippo in her arms. "Don't follow me!" She called back to the group, her need to be alone to cry clouding her better judgment.

"Lady Kagome please wait! It's not safe," Miroku said as he jumped up to follow after her. He was only stopped by a Sango's shake of her head. If Kagome wanted to be alone, then she had that right. They had Kirara, so if something was wrong they would know.

Kagome stalked farther and farther away from camp with Shippo in her arms. He was still asleep, much to her relief. She didn't want to put him down, not yet. He brought comfort to her in some way. She looked down at him after a while when she finally stopped walking.

Eventually Kagome found a rotting and moss covered log. She sat down with relief, her ankle pulsing in pain. She sniffled and began running her fingers through Shippo's hair, his steady and relaxed breathing calming her. Kagome reached up and wiped away the tears. "Stupid Inu-Yasha." She muttered as she continued combing her fingers through Shippo's red curls.

Kagome closed her eyes and tried to relax. Thoughts floated to and from her mind, blurry and unintelligible. She was able to latch onto one thought finally. The thought was about a dream she had been having recently.

The dream was strange in a way although it was a comforting dream. Kagome would be standing or sitting in the middle of a beautiful field with Shippo playing in the distance with some unknown child. From behind her, Kagome would feel a comforting and warm presence. The person behind her would wrap his arms around her stomach and Kagome would realize she was pregnant.

Just as he began to say something, Kagome would wake up. After she'd turned 20 the dreams had started coming more often. Small details began to take shape in the dreams. A gentle breeze, a jeweled comb, a wisp of black hair from her mate, and other little things that made the dream feel real. Kagome could never see who her mate was, but she could always feel just how much he loved her. The one thing Kagome knew was that she was happy in her dreams; she was always so happy.

Over time Kagome had elaborated her dreams during the day, turning her unknown mate into Inu-Yasha. Days like this though made her wonder if Inu-Yasha really was the man she was dreaming about.

She kept thinking about her dreams and what they could mean. Kagome wondered if Inu-Yasha even had a place in her dreams. So distracted was Kagome that she failed to notice the fact that she wasn't alone anymore. A tall creature with white fur stood behind the tree, watching Kagome as she held her adoptive son in her arms. The creature took a silent step forward and a pair of crimson eyes looked out from behind a baboon mask.

Even before she had stormed out of camp Naraku had been watching Kagome. He had been planning on grabbing her as soon as she was out of range of her companions, but when she sat down he had hesitated. He stood there just drinking in her presence as she sat on the stump with her eyes closed. For years he'd watched from afar, taunting the group, injuring them, but never killing. He had plans for the little priestess, and her death was not part of it.

All that was left of the first part of his plan was to finish splitting up the group that Kagome travelled with. He'd been planting emotions inside of them for the last couple days, and the anger was finally reaching its peak. One last push, and then the guilt and blame would set in. Naraku grinned, his teeth glittering under his mask. Oh yes, things were going just the way he had planned. Soon, Kagome would be his.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~ A/N

So this is the update to the prologue. It's not too much different; just some minor changes that I think make the chapter flow a bit better.

I plan on updating all the chapters of Naraku's Prisoner. Nothing serious! Just minor details to add more depth and flow.