Forest of Truth

A/N- Welcome to one of my newest creations...

This story has been on my mind for a while and it is going to have some angst in it...after all, everyone has their bad times right?

Anyway, InuYasha is Takahashi-sama's creation but I am respectfully borrowing her character's for the fun of it.

Well, I hope you all will like this...

'Thoughts'

'Demon Dog Talking'

Chapter 1: Sharing the Blame

Kagome watched in horror as Naraku's tentacles enveloped Sango, Miroku and Shippou. She wrestled violently with her restraints, Naraku had cemented her to a tree using some new attack he had recently gained.

Kagome's eyes darted from her now captured friends, to the badly wounded demon cat, and the unconscious hanyou at her side.

One of Naraku's previous attacks had rendered InuYasha not only unconscious, but at the mercy of Naraku's attacks. Kagome desperately tried to calm her emotions so she could purify this stuff that held her, but the painful cries of her companions made that almost impossible.

After trying a few more times, Kagome had gathered enough spiritual energy to free herself. The first thing she did was rush to InuYasha's side and attempt to wake him, after a few nudges, he came to.

Shaking his head, InuYasha rushed to his feet and picked up his tetsusaiga. His eyes registered the fact that his friends were now slowly being crushed to death.

Anger welled up in his gut, "Stay back Kagome, Naraku, release them now! This battle is between you and me!"

Naraku simply chuckled evilly at his demand, "I do believe you are correct, but first, I must dispose of our unwanted guests."

Seeing the evil glint in his eyes, Kagome started forward. But she was too late, Naraku tightened his grip and the clearing was soon filled with the painful cries of his three captives as their bodies were crushed.

Satisfied, Naraku dropped their lifeless corpses to the ground and turned his malevolent eyes to rest on the last remaining members of the InuTatchi.

InuYasha sank to his knees next to a sobbing Kagome, his fighting spirit dissipating, leaving the hanyou broken and filled with the deepest sense of hatred for himself.

Kagome curled into a ball next to him, her face soaked in tears of pain and anguish.

Naraku, seeing that they had both lost the will to fight simply turned and left them to their pain, knowing that would hurt them worse than death itself.

What seemed like hours passed as Kagome and InuYasha sat there, both lost in their own train of thought. As night began to fall, Kagome was the first to regain her senses, with great effort she got up and made her way over to Kirara to see if she at least was alright.

Finding her wounded but not dead, Kagome breathed a sigh of relief and turned to look at InuYasha. He was currently staring at his hands, as if he was thinking he was the one who had killed their friends and not Naraku.

Lifting Kirara into her arms, Kagome walked over and knelt before InuYasha, her eyes sparkling with yet more unshed tears. But Kagome refused to cry anymore, their friends were gone now and there was no point in wallowing in selfish misery when others out there needed their help. After all, Naraku was still alive and they now had even more reasons to go after Naraku.

Their friends deserved that much.

"InuYasha…please…help me burry them, after that we can go back to Kaede's village and decide what to do from there. Please help me…"

His sorrow filled eyes meeting Kagome's, InuYasha slowly nodded his head, knowing that she was right.

It took the better part of four hours to make suitable graves for their friends, once they were buried, InuYasha and Kagome made their way back to Kaede's village.

As they entered the village, people came out to see them but the mood of contentedness and joy soon dissipated when they saw what condition they were in.

InuYasha's haori was stained with dirt and blood, while Kagome's shirt was torn in half, blood stained the front from where Kagome was holding Kirara.

Seeing this, one of the villagers ran off to find Kaede. By the time she reached them, both Kagome and InuYasha were sitting inside her hut, both were in their own worlds as they sat there.

"Tell me, what happened to ye? Where are the monk, kit and slayer?"

Unable to stay silent, Kagome curled against the wall and started crying, InuYasha on the other hand surged to his feet in anger and grief.

"That bastard Naraku killed them, that's what happened and I let him! I'm so worthless, I even let my friends down and they have paid with their lives, why wasn't it me? Why them…I'm the one who deserved death!"

The look of worry in Kaede's eyes increased as her face filled with pain and sadness as well.

"I see, ye are not to blame in this InuYasha, neither are ye Kagome. There is no need to blame ye selves for this tragedy, the best ye can do is to find Naraku and take ye revenge for ye fallen friends. So pull ye selves together, Naraku grows stronger as we speak."

Turning towards Kaede, Kagome brushed her tears away as she nodded her head gently, "I understand Kaede, your right, we don't have time to just sit here and feel sorry for ourselves, but…"

Kagome trailed off as she glanced over at InuYasha, he had gone silent and looked to be in deep thought, in the next moment he was out the door of Kaede's hut. Worried, Kagome got up and went after him, she found that he had leapt onto the roof of the hut and he was staring off into the distance with pain apparent in his eyes.

Deciding to give him a moment alone, Kagome lifted the covering before Kaede's hut and looked inside, "Kaede, I'm going to go home for a little bit…tell InuYasha when he comes out of his little reverie, alright? And please take care of Kirara, she's needs time to heal before we start moving again."

Kaede nodded her head and watched as Kagome disappeared as well, 'I hope nothing bad happens to ye Kagome, be safe.'

The wind was strong as Kagome moved through the forest towards the bone-eaters well, it seemed that a storm was coming, glancing up at the sky confirmed Kagome's suspicions. The sky was dark with storm clouds and it was likely that it would be raining within minutes.

Knowing this made Kagome quicken her pace, a minute or so passed before she came to a stop before the well, the normally peaceful valley was now dark and gloomy as if it was reflecting how Kagome was feeling at the moment.

Walking up to the well, Kagome looked down inside it and let out a deep sigh, 'this is going to be hard, after all, I still can hardly believe that the others are gone...'

Feeling more tears starting to well up in her eyes, Kagome shook her head, shaking off the emotions. Steeling herself, Kagome moved leapt over the side of the well.

Expecting the normal blue light and heavy feeling that came from passing through the well, Kagome was shocked when the light turned to a pure white as it pushed her out of the well. Preparing herself for landing on her back outside, Kagome was again surprised when she was lifted straight up into the air and her body was surrounded in a dark purple glow, it seemed to come from within.

She tried to scream but her voice had disappeared, then before her the clouds seemed to come down from the sky and form before her. They formed into a giant demonic dog, but one far different than that of Sesshoumaru, it was also familiar to her.

'But how and what is this thing? Is it going to hurt me?'

Suddenly Kagome was bathed in a sharp pain, her body felt as if it was being crushed and put into a blender set on puree. Then just as suddenly, the pain stopped and Kagome felt at peace, as if all was right with the world.

The demon dog before her seemed to smile as it walked towards her, it voice started to echo through her mind and Kagome new that the creature before her was in fact, male.

'Kagome...you have done much in your life, I give you my sympathies on the loss of your comrades, but you must now move on. As you have experienced, you are unable to cross through the well anymore and you never shall cross the river of time, for you are no longer...human.'

'What?! What do you mean I'm not human?!'

Shaking his head, the demon dog lifted a paw and held if high, a glassy mirror slowly moved out of the paw. It rotated and faced Kagome, what she saw made her eyes widen in horror and surprise.

Her hair had turned silvery white, she had fangs and what looked to be claws, but one feature made the biggest impression upon her. She now had two fluffy dog ears atop her head, 'I'm a female InuYasha! How, how is this possible...what, what did you do to me?!'

The demon dog chuckled as he let the mirror disappear, 'I cannot answer, you must find the truth on your own, all I can do is send you to where you can discover the answer to all your questions. All you have to do is ask...'

For a moment all Kagome did was stare at the demon but that soon changed, Kagome nodded her head, 'Please, send me there...but would you do me a favor demon?'

The demon dog raised an eyebrow as he cocked his head to the side, 'what is this favor?'

Taking a deep breath, Kagome prepared herself for what she was about to do, 'Please watch over InuYasha and make sure he is alright...that is all I ask.'

'Done, now I shall send you to the Hanyou forest, where all the answers wait.'

Kagome nodded her head and with a simple flick of his tail, Kagome disappeared, but to where she was headed…well, that is something that will just have to wait for next time.

A/N- And that's the end of this chapt. I hope that you enjoied this and will review for the next chapt.

It should be out soon...

Till Then...

Ja Ne!