Heeey, did you miss me? As promised, here is the sequel, ready to go. Bear with me as I update, I write the chapters as I go – it will take a few days (sometimes a week) between updates. You have been warned.

I do write reviewer replies, but this time (for those who have read my other stories) I will put them at the bottom of each chapter. You'll be able to get stuck into the chapter right away instead of scrolling past all those annoying little notes. Yay for you!

The pairings – I write traditional pairings (I/K, M/S) but this fic is going to take a little detour along the way. IT IS NOT GOING TO ULTIMATELY BE A KOUGA/KAGOME FIC. You might not believe me further along the line, but it's true.

So, whack this story into your favourites list and keep an eye on it. It should be nice and long. Okay, enough from me. The story awaits!

Disclaimer: *grumbles* Not again? D'oh. I don't own Inuyasha. Happy, you meanies?

What has happened so far…(from 'Under Control)

Sango fell under Naraku's mind control in exchange for the release of Kohaku. The rest of the group raced to get to her, only to find her turned against them. On the way some interesting things happened, such as Kikyou finally leaving the world as we know it, Sesshoumaru attacking the group in search of the Tetsusaiga, the rosary getting taken off, and Inuyasha and Kagome finally 'getting together'. (Ack! Nothing naughty, get your minds out of the gutter!) Miroku fought her while Inuyasha and Kagome went to catch Naraku. Kagome blasted Naraku to kingdom come (but not dead – darn) just in time to stop Sango from killing Miroku. They finally admitted how they felt to each other – awww. Now the whole group are back to normal…or are they? One thing might throw life off track – Kouga still has two shards. The problem is, Naraku knows. And he's as mad as hell at our favourite miko. Now how are the good guys going to manage this one? We'll see…

Tempting Fate

Chapter 1: Back in the Game

Inuyasha desperately ducked beneath a tentacle that was aiming to knock his head off, cursing the whole time. Despite himself, he flinched as something big and heavy whistled past him, reducing a hapless house to matchsticks. As the slimy thing drew back in preparation for another blow he made a run for it, dashing at top speed to find cover behind a house along the way. He skidded to a rather surprised stop when he nearly slammed into Sango who had obviously had the same idea. Crouching down behind the painfully inadequate shelter, he barked out, "Where are the others?" For a moment she didn't answer him, choosing instead to sneak a look at their opponent. Fortunately, before he grew too impatient, she replied, "The last I knew, Miroku was stuck down by Kaede's hut, Kohaku was in the outskirts of the forest – I don't know where Kaede and Shippo were." The hanyou grimaced at the news; they were spread out over a large area. Too far apart to help each other right now. It was only by sheer luck that he had stumbled upon Sango in the first place.

The attack had begun with virtually no warning. All had been as it should be in the Sengoku Jidai; the shard-hunting group were occupying themselves around Kaede's village with various activities while waiting for Kagome to return from her time five hundred years in the future. Sango had been training with Hiraikotsu, Miroku had ostensibly been meditating (while he had in fact been watching Sango the whole time), and Kohaku and Shippo had been using Kirara for 'stalking practice'. Inuyasha, as usual, was waiting most impatiently by the well clearing for his chance to go and get Kagome back again. Not a hint of darkness was in the air that balmy afternoon. However, all that changed from one minute to the next when a row of houses on the outskirts of the village suddenly burst into flames. Before everyone knew what was going on, a wave of lesser youkai flooded the streets and the battle was on.

Inuyasha couldn't really care less about the smaller youkai – he knew that his companions were more than capable of handling those. No, in his opinion the far greater nuisance was the puppet that was currently attempting to make him into a pincushion. There was something not quite 'right' about the situation, but he couldn't put his finger on it yet. In the distance (it seemed a long way off through the smoky haze) he spotted the flare of blue light that meant Miroku was using his ofuda to try and ward off youkai. 'I wonder what he's gotten himself into now…?'

Miroku was currently one extremely worried – and really ticked off – houshi. His wards were having no significant effect on this puppet, and he could tell that the nearness of the battle to the village proper was preventing Inuyasha from using the Tetsusaiga as he would have liked. To top things off, he couldn't see his friends anywhere and had no idea how they were faring. He watched in consternation as the grotesque thing focused on a target closer to it and lashed out with a tentacle, hoping that it was unsuccessful. 'Now that I think about it,' he mused, 'that monster hasn't really been getting in very many direct hits. It's as though it's looking for something – or someone – in particular. How odd.' His eyes narrowed as he caught a glint of light flashing on metal …it was coming closer to his position. He readied himself, bringing up his shakujou at a defensive angle. "Friend or foe?"

"Feh! Friend, you moron," came the welcome reply. "You're just asking for trouble, calling out like that all the time. A youkai would just take you down without answering, you know." Miroku grinned.

"Yes, well, it's not like I can actually see who's coming. It might be silly, but how would it look if I put a strong ward on one of our friends by mistake? That would be highly inconvenient, not to mention embarrassing." Miroku swung his shakujou around at a great pace as he spoke, dealing out blows to the marauding youkai who dared to come close. Behind him, Inuyasha did the same. "Inuyasha, we need to draw the attack away from the villagers. Shall we head for the well?" The hanyou frowned, then nodded. Hopefully Sango and the boys would pick up on their direction and follow when they could. Miroku frowned as Inuyasha leapt away into the murky fog. 'All very well and good for you, but how am I supposed to get there? I – ack!' He jumped as a huge figure landed directly in front of him…Kirara. 'Well, that's one way of getting somewhere. You wouldn't leave Sango if she weren't okay, would you?' Dismissing his worried thoughts he climbed onto his impromptu steed and took off in the direction he had last seen his friend.

Kagome stretched her arms wearily above her head and tried once more to focus on the homework in front of her. 'Mou, I still haven't caught up on everything I missed while we were looking for Sango a while ago,' she thought tiredly. Fortunately, her teachers had all been considerate enough to keep copies of the work she had not been in class for – some, out of the kindness of their hearts, had even devised extra work for her to do to make up for her lengthy absence. Joy, indeed. She glanced over at Buyo who was currently dozing off on her bed, making the most of the afternoon sun. "Hmph. Lucky cat," she groused sourly. "Why can't my life be as simple as yours, hmm?" Well, when she thought about it, she didn't really want that at all. A simple life would mean no Sengoku Jidai, no adventures…and no Inuyasha. No, the simple life would be too boring to contemplate.

She lazily allowed her thoughts to wander away from algebra and back to her friends in the past. "I wonder what they're doing right now?" she asked Buyo whimsically. The cat just cracked one eye open as if to say 'what are you asking me for?' and went back to sleep. Kagome rolled her eyes at the animal and returned to her daydreams. 'I bet they're all just hanging around, enjoying the peace and quiet now that Naraku seems to have disappeared.' The group had been blessed with relative inactivity following the retrieval of Sango, no doubt due to the purification that the evil hanyou had suffered at Kagome's hands. Unfortunately there was no doubt that he wasn't dead, as Miroku's kazaana was still present – but he was sure to be greatly weakened by the devastating attack. He was currently presumed to be in hiding, recovering his strength. It was fervently hoped by one and all that he would need a long time. 'Speaking of time…'

"Inuyasha should be here by now, yelling at me to 'get moving already!' I wonder where he is?" She had been shocked when her hanyou friend had agreed to let her stay as long as necessary to catch up on her schoolwork this time. She would have thought that the hanyou would have been impatient to get the final shards from Kouga…somehow. Funnily enough, he hadn't even mentioned it when working things through. The arrangement had been, that if she was needed he would come and get her – otherwise he would come at the end of two weeks…by far one of the longest periods of time that he had left her alone over the years. 'Two years, and look how much has changed,' she thought happily. Her smile faded when she looked back at the clock. 'I hope everything is alright.'

Sango bit back a curse as she looked around for the boys, Shippo and Kohaku. It was simply impossible to see through all this smoke! A faint rattle of chains and an answering 'thud' alerted her to the fact that Kohaku had resorted to using his chain blade in this battle. Her younger brother generally shunned that weapon as a rule, preferring not to live through the memories that the blade evoked, but using his sword was evidently out of the question if he wanted to stay out of the reach of attacking youkai. She began to make her way towards the sound, encouraged when a burst of blue flame (accompanied by a shrill cry of 'Kitsune-bi!') appeared close by as well. Darting between piles of wood that had once been homes, she gradually drew close enough to see what was going on.

Her brother was more than holding his own against his opponents, doing his training proud. Shippo, she was somewhat surprised to note, was also doing quite well. Apparently all those hours he spent 'sparring' with Kohaku had paid off. 'Although,' she thought with no small amusement, 'he's a bit small to do much more than trip people over right now!' Indeed, that was exactly what he was doing. The two of them were working as a team; Shippo would get in their way, keeping them in one spot long enough for Kohaku to aim and throw the blade accurately. Testament to their success rate was the number of groaning enemies that lay strewn about where the duo stood. Nodding once in satisfaction, she raised her voice over the din of the fighting. "Kohaku! Shippo! Over here!" The youngsters looked around to find out where the shout had come from, then dealt with the last youkai in their sights before heading over to her. "Ane-ue, what is it?" Kohaku panted roughly. Shippo didn't say anything, preferring to try and catch his breath first.

"The main bulk of the fighting is moving towards the well. Miroku and Inuyasha are there, so we'd better go and back them up. Agreed?" She was answered with two definite nods. As the trio raced towards their destination Sango caught sight of Kaede attempting to herd a group of women and children to safety, bow and arrow firmly in hand. She fleetingly met the old woman's eye in a wordless question, nodding when the miko motioned for her to keep going. The look on her face was fierce – 'If any youkai dares attack those kids, it won't know what hit it,' the young warrior smiled grimly. As the bedraggled group of fighters caught up to their comrades a deafening roar had them reaching for their ears.

"KAZE NO KIZU!"

They had reached the well clearing just in time to see Inuyasha try and cut down the enemy puppet. However, to their dismay, the powerful attack didn't do much more than dispose of some of the tentacles that were waving around. To their horror, the puppet just smiled and watched as his appendages quickly regenerated. Inuyasha hastily leapt back from his foe and nearly knocked Sango over in the process. "Inuyasha!" she called, "it's not enough! It won't go away if we just cut it to bits!"

"Why the hell not?!" he snarled in a fury. "What are we missing here?" Sango eyed the youkai who were slowly advancing on the beleaguered fighters.

"It's no good…we need Kagome-chan!" Inuyasha spared a startled glance at her then shook his head adamantly. "Inuyasha, she's the only one who can purify this thing! We'll cover for you while you go and get her –"

"NO! There's no way I'm bringing her into this! We'll figure out some other way. Got that?" he demanded harshly. He gathered himself up for another assault on the puppet when it suddenly called out over the din, "The miko is not here!"

The miko? He couldn't mean….Kagome?

Before they could properly register the significance of that remark, the puppet was gone. Without warning the lesser youkai simply turned tail and fled the area. Miroku breathed a sigh of relief as the saimyoushou did the same. Wiping his hand across his brow, he jogged over to where Sango and Inuyasha were standing. "This may sound silly, but…did you hear that?" Kohaku frowned.

"The puppet was looking for Kagome-sama," the boy stated worriedly. In reply Inuyasha just curled his fists tighter and tighter until the knuckles were white. Sango looked at him in concern, but had to say what she thought. "It may be dangerous, but we should get Kagome-chan here with us so that we can look out for her…" She stopped talking when the hanyou started speaking again, first quietly, but growing in volume as his anger mounted.

"For the last time, I will not go and get her. It's too dangerous here right now, and – " He broke off as a familiar scent reached his nose. His eyes flashed to the well in the middle of the clearing as Kagome's yellow bag came flying over the rim, followed by the girl herself. She blinked at the sight of all of her friends standing nearby. "Hi everyone. What's been going on?"

Kagome was getting worried. Night would be falling soon and there was no sign of Inuyasha anywhere. Coming to a decision, she packed all of her books away and gathered provisions for her latest trip down the well. Once she had everything together, she made her way downstairs. Her mother looked up curiously as she came into the kitchen in search of some food to take with her. "Aren't you leaving a little late today, Kagome?" she asked with a smile. Kagome peeked at her around the cupboard door and grinned. "Why, mama, anyone would think you wanted me to leave!" she joked. Mrs Higurashi just laughed and walked over to see what her daughter was picking up. 'Ah, the usual…candy, soda, ramen, ramen, ramen…' She tapped Kagome on the shoulder to get her attention. "I thought you said Inuyasha would come and get you this time. Where is he?"

"I don't know, actually," Kagome shrugged. "But I'm not going to wait for him all day…er, night. He gets on my case about being late all the time – now I get to do the same to him!" She giggled, then stopped as her grandfather entered the room.

"Going away again, Kagome?" he asked.

"Yes, Jii-chan," she sighed. 'At least he can't try and put demon wards on Inuyasha if he's not here,' she thought wearily.

"Hn. Well, good luck, have fun, and all that. Now where did I put that medical dictionary?…" His voice grew fainter as he left the room in search of the book he was apparently so fond of. Kagome 'eeped' and raced over to the door. "Jii-chan, if you give me anything disgusting, I swear I'll…I'll…glue all your ofuda together!" A wry laugh was her only answer. When everything was finally ready, she kissed her mother goodbye, yelled a brief farewell to her brother (who was playing video games and was therefore not aware of anything that was happening) and walked down to the well house.

She emerged on the other side and was surprised see clouds of smoke drifting over the mouth of the well. Her worry mounting, she heaved her bag over the side and scrambled up the vines as best she could. As her head popped up into the fading light, she was astonished to find her friends standing very close to the well. They looked tired, she noted, and some of them had swords in their hands. Also, one look at Inuyasha's face told her that he was, in no uncertain terms, not exactly happy to see her just then. She gulped inwardly, blinked as innocently as she possibly could and asked then what had been going on. Her answer came in the form of a flying bundle of red fur and green eyes. "Kagome!" She 'oofed' slightly as her breath was knocked out of her by the enthusiastic kitsune, who hugged her so tightly around the neck that she was afraid she would pass out from lack of air shortly. When it became apparent that he would not be letting go anytime soon, she somewhat awkwardly clambered out of the well and slumped on the ground. Kagome pulled Shippo away from her slightly to try and get a good look at him. "What's all this about, Shippo?" He just tucked his head back under her chin and refused to answer. Sighing, she looked to the others for a bit of a clue. Sango took a deep breath and finally said, "Naraku is back. One of his puppets attacked the village today. He..uh," she looked at Inuyasha as if to get his permission, but didn't get any acknowledgment. "He was looking for you, Kagome-chan. He left when he found that you weren't here." Kagome felt her eyes widening at what her best friend was saying. 'Looking for me? I guess that makes sense – I did just about kill him a few weeks ago. Wait – he attacked the village?' She rather unceremoniously dumped Shippo on the ground as she darted over to where her friends stood. "Was anyone hurt? Are the villagers alright? What about Kaede? Is – " Miroku mercifully interrupted the flow of frantic questions.

"The villagers are fine, if a bit shaken up. Some houses will need to be rebuilt, but a few days work will fix that. None of us are wounded, just a bit…tired." Well, she could tell that just fine – they were all drooping somewhat in the absence of pumping adrenaline. Inuyasha, however, simply looked mad. He was fairly vibrating with anger that he was, by some miracle, holding in. Miroku slipped one arm around Sango's shoulders and began to guide her away from the other couple, beckoning for Kohaku and Shippo to follow. When the pair were finally alone, Kagome laid one cautious hand on Inuyasha's arm, frowning in consternation when he seemed to flinch away from her touch. "Inuyasha, why are you so angry at me?" He remained silent, not trusting himself not to yell at her. Finally, she grew tired of just standing there and carefully enfolded him in a hug around the waist. Resting her head on his chest, she smiled when she at last felt him loosen up enough to return the embrace. "Can you tell me what's wrong? Please?"

"I – you…feh. You shouldn't be here Kagome. It's too dangerous now. Go home." She didn't release her hold on him, despite the temptation she felt to reach up and pull on his ears – hard. "I'm not going anywhere, and you know it. Right? Besides, we have to figure out how to get Kouga's shards without fighting him for them. That's why Naraku is attacking – he knows his time is running out. I can't help you with that if I'm stuck at home. No arguments, Inuyasha. I'm staying." Kagome felt him take a deep breath as if to argue to the point, but then he let it go. She felt him rest his chin on the top of her head and smiled. Tightening his arms around her slightly, he mumbled, "I missed you, you know." She grinned.

"Really?"

"Mm-hmm. Two weeks you've been gone. I thought I was going crazy." She giggled and tugged on his arm.

"Let's head back to Kaede's hut – er, it is still there, isn't it?" She smiled with relief when he nodded. At least their mentor's home was still in one piece. They began walking…and then he picked it up. A decidedly familiar scent – one that he despised. 'Oh, not today…after the day I've had…I'll rip him to bits, I swear.' His fears were realised when a racing whirlwind sped towards them from the forest. Before he knew what was happening, the wolf youkai was holding Kagome – his Kagome! – by the shoulders and asking her if she was alright. And there was only so much of that that he would put up with…

"Oi! You mangy mutt, get your hands off her! She's fine, if you couldn't tell!" Kouga just growled at him and looked back at the girl.

"Kagome, I saw smoke coming from this direction. Are you sure you're uninjured?" he asked quickly. Inuyasha swore he could feel steam coming out of his ears. It didn't help when Kagome simply smiled at the wimpy wolf and told him she was fine, thanks for asking. "Good," Kouga smirked, "I just wanted to make sure that my woman was safe. I don't trust that Inukkoro to take care of you in a fight!" Inuyasha didn't notice that Kagome looked a tad resentful about that last remark – he didn't care about any of it any more. He was tired, battle-sore, smoke was still making his eyes water and now this weakling wannabe prince was trying to move in on his Kagome. In a move that anyone could have seen coming a mile away, he snapped. "That's it! I've had it! Kagome is not your woman, never has been, never will be! Now get away from her before I cut your rotten hands off!" He stepped away from Kagome and began to circle the wolf youkai, drawing Tetsusaiga at the same time. "If you want her, you'll have to fight me for her first!" Kagome gasped at this, but he didn't hear it. Kouga just grinned at him and flexed his claws.

"My pleasure – Inukkoro!" Ignoring Kagome's pleas for them to stop, the two combatants leapt at each other…each intent on showing the other who was boss around here.

The boys are up to their old tricks – so who will win the fight this time? Remember, Kagome can't 'sit' dog-boy any more. Chapter 2 up soon – review and it may come a bit faster!

Next Chapter: A Hard Bargain