(Hey guys. I decided to write more SessKag. What can I say, I'm obsessed. This story has a tad bit of mature content. Language, blood, guts, etc. In the story, Sesshomaru's a tad ooc, and his back story is a tad different. More on that in later chapters. Anyway, reviews are appreciated, and I apologize for spelling and grammar errors, my computer doesn't always catch those. Also I don't write lemons, so please don't ask me to. Without further ado, the first chapter of Broken.)

...

The scream shattered the silence of the forest, where (previously) not even crickets chirped. It wasn't so much a scream as a loud, guttural wail, laced with anguish and deepened by heart wrenching, soul shattering, insanity causing pain. It was a sound one could never forget hearing, and one that no one would ever forget making. It was the voice of heartbreak, and there was only one person in all of Japan who could possibly understand that pain as much as the source of this scream. And luckily for the screamer, he was close enough to hear it.

...

Sesshomaru's head snapped up when he heard it. He knew that voice, the voice of his half-brother's miko. He heard Naraku's cruel laughter before he smelled him. He got fluidly to his feet and left Rin and Jaken with a quiet "Stay here."

He ran. No one would get between him and Naraku. His honor had been challenged, and he couldn't let anyone else do what he was sworn to do, kill Naraku. And he found himself compelled to help her, this girl, the only one who could possibly understand pain such as what he endured. Oh yes. He'd heard that type of scream before. It had come from his own lips.

...

Kagome Higurashi stared, wide-eyed and paralyzed by Naraku's miasma, as her friends where killed, one by one.

First Sango. Tentacle through the stomach.

Then Miroku. Impaled with his own staff.

Shippo. Choked to death by Naraku himself.

Finally InuYasha. Half vaporized when his own Wind Scar was reflected back at him.

That was when Kagome screamed. The paralysis poison should have made it impossible, but in that moment, when the love of her life was killed in front of her... Well, Kagome's grief overpowered even that of Naraku. But it couldn't last. She felt her throat close up, and she couldn't scream again, or breathe for that matter. Naraku had told her it would happen.

If you try to resist the paralysis, it will kill you. So by all means, struggle away.

She'd been selfish. Feared for her own life. She was a priestess, she probably could have purified the miasma. She could have saved them. Now it was to late. Now they were dead. She felt like she would have thrown up if her body could move.

She felt the miasma slowly seeping into her lungs. Her heart was the only part of her that could still move, and even that was slowing.

Let it be quick now.

...

Sesshomaru could smell it. Blood. Blood, fear, and deep sorrow.

She is still alive.

He stepped into the clearing and saw it. The slayer, a huge hole in her stomach. Dead. The monk, a golden staff protruding from chest, and limbs bent at odd angles, as if he'd been thrown. Dead. The kitsune, red marks on his neck and blue lips. Dead. Half of his brother, the other half gone. Dead. They all oozed blood, and the forest floor was covered with it.

He heard her heartbeat and turned. It was steadily slowing, and she seemed to be wrapped in a green mist. She didn't move, didn't breathe, didn't blink. The sound of her heart was the only proof that she was alive, and even that was fading.

"Naraku!" he said, sensing the hanyou's presence. His voice was laced with anger, more expression than he'd ever allow in any other situation.

Sesshomaru didn't care about that. Anyone capable of causing such pain was lower than scum, lower than dirt. Anyone capable of making an innocent feel what he had felt all those years ago, and still felt today, years later, anyone that unexplainably evil...

Sesshomaru couldn't finish that though. He had to focus. Naraku had to die, and he had to die couldn't allow this scum to go on living.

"Ah. Sesshomaru. How kind of you to join us. I was hoping you would arrive so I could kill you. All that's missing now is the wolf."

"This is despicable, even for you."

Naraku had the nerve to laugh, "And?"

Sesshomaru felt it then, uncontrollable rage. He'd never been this angry in his life. Not at his half-breed brother, his father, the band of seven, anyone. He'd always heard that you see red when you get angry, and he did. His rage dimmed his thoughts, and he took a moment to realized the red was his eyes. He could transform right now. Kill this lowly half-breed. Get revenge.

But the fear laced with the girl's scent stopped him. He was here to help her. She was already terrified, traumatized, scarred for life, and alone. He was most likely the only one who could help her, and he couldn't do a thing if she was scared of him.

...

Kagome was utterly terrified. Sesshomaru was here. Naraku was here. Yet, for some strange reason, she couldn't muster any fear towards Sesshomaru. He was on her side. She knew he was strong. She wouldn't have been afraid at all, if not for the fact that she couldn't breathe.

She felt her mind dimming. Her vision blurring. Her ears ringing. Her body going numb. Her thoughts made less and less sense, even to herself.

So... tired. Need air. Sesshomaru... here? InuYasha... Sango... Miroku... Shippo... Gone. Can't... breathe. Help... Broken... Mom... Jewel shards... InuYasha... I'm coming...

Just when she though it was over for good,she felt air flow into her lungs, and her heart began beating regularly again. She threw up on the ground, coughing, retching, hyperventilating, and sobbing all at once.

Fuck. I can't do it. I can't-

There was a hand on her shoulder. Her sobbing stopped abruptly, but she continued to shake like a leaf.

"I-" gasp "-thank you-" cough "what happened?"

"Naraku is gone for now, though I can assure you he will be back."

"I-"

She collapsed into his arms (arm. Whatever!)

...

Sesshomaru looked around. What he saw was enough to make even him avert his gaze. He looked into her face instead. The face of Kagome Higurashi, and he saw a reflection of his own. Grief was etched into her features, even in sleep.

I will help her. And in return, perhaps she can help me.

(What do you think? Please review! Sad chapter, but it's the foundation for the whole story.)