"Inuyasha!" Kagome's cry for the hanyou raged through the battlefield as he was thrown mercilessly against a boulder in the distance. The sickening sound of his back and skull cracking against it made the tears in her eyes overflow. He wasn't moving. Naraku's puppet sneered over head as he floated about, cocky enough to have let his barriers drop for now. Tentacles were everywhere and so was the blood which unfortunately was not his. Kagome, having taken Inuyasha's orders for once, had been hiding not too far from the scene in a nearby shrub and was forced to watch as her friends launch into battle. She had forced herself to stay optimistic as she watched them struggle to kill the puppet. Normally it wouldn't have taken this long but everyone was tired. It hadn't even been two hours ago that they had taken down a rabid bear youkai in a neighboring village and while Inuyasha had allowed them a rest before they started their trip back the Kaede's since he, though he wouldn't ever admit it, was tired as well. However, it wasn't long enough for everyone to be strong enough to put up a full on fight with one of Naraku's puppets.

When Sango and Kirara were knocked out of commision, Kagome could hardly stand by and watch anymore. She had grabbed her bow and jumped into battle. Inuyasha, of course, had seen her immediately and yelled her to 'hide god damn it!' which had been a long enough distraction to get him thrown across the battlefield. Miroku had tried to get to Sango, see if she was ok but before he could pick her up in his arms, one of Naraku's tentacles slammed on top of him, crushing his to the ground over and over, like a more painful version of Kagome's osawari.

Inuyasha was able to get back up again and ran straight for Kagome, who seemed to be next on Naraku's 'to take out' list. Naraku held up his hand, allowing it to grow into fleshy-like spikes. He loomed over her and he nearly plunged them through her throat if Inuyasha hadn't jumped in front of her and taken them through his chest. Despite having missed his intended target, Naraku seemed none the less satisfied with his work and threw Inuyasha aside.

And that's where they were at the moment. The stench of blood and sweat filled her nose and Kagome did the only thing she could think of. She ran straight for the forest directly behind her. As much as the others needed her, she needed to actually live to be able to help them. The trees, however, provided little cover from Naraku as he unleashed his miasma upon the forest, causing the trees to blacken and die. Cough and covering her mouth, in a futile attempt to keep herself from breathing it in, she screamed as a tree crashed before her. Squinting her eyes as they watered, she clambered over the obstacle only to get a few feet away and stumble over a rock protruding from the earth. She fell to her knees and her bow tumbled out of her hands and landed a few feet away. As she turned to crawl over to it, she saw the puppet loom over her and a feeling for foreboding washed over her. Her labored breathing suddenly stopped as she felt her throat close in worry. In a panic, Kagome covered her mouth again realizing just how much of Naraku's miasma she could have inhaled by now. Her cough resumed and Naraku laughed menacingly above her.

"Nowhere to run now little girl."He said smugly and Kagome's eyes became half lidded, suddenly finding it hard to keep them open. A slimy tentacle shot clean through her shoulder and she screamed in pain. He retracted it slowly only to draw out the burning. Her vision became blurry and she was seeing black spots.

"K-Kagome!" A small voice called out to her and she looked to her right to see Shippo there, obviously terrified but quickly approaching her.

"N-No.. Shippo run!" She wearily called to him in a weak voice but either he chose to ignore her or he did not hear her. He ran in front of her and spread his arms wide, trying to protect her.

"Don't worry, Kagome. I'll protect you." He said. His eyes were wide and his breath in short pants but he did not move.

"You think you can stop me, brat?" Naraku smiled. He tried to knock the fox kit aside but Shippo allowed a bit of his fox fire to burn off the tip of the tentacle and spread up it. Naraku frowned and quickly attempted to put out the fire. Shippo looked back at her and nodded to the side where her bow was and stared back at her. She quickly got the message and got to her knees and sprinted towards her bow. Naraku's eyes widened and a bit of worry made an appearance.

"Runt." He growled and swatted Shippo to the side and approached Kagome.

"How dare you!" Kagome quickly pulled one of the few remaining arrows from her quiver and aimed at Naraku, grimicing and clenching her teeth as the wound in her shoulder grew. Pushing back her pain, she let the arrow fly. It didn't have to go very far as Naraku was no more than 10 feet from her. It implied itself in the puppets thick skull and a blue light exploded as did most of Naraku's head.

"Kagome! Hit the ground!" She recognized a voice and launched herself to the dirt just in time for a storm of wind and light to fly over her. The body was nothing more than ash now.

Shippo pinched his eyes shut tighter as he started to rise. The sunlight was far too bright. He rubbed his eyes before opening them and looking up at the sky that was once again a pale, beautiful blue. Naraku must be dead he concluded. He sat up and looked about to see most of his friends laying beside him save for Kagome.

Kagome! He jumped to his feet, though still a bit woozy. He had to make sure she was ok! He searched frantically for his adoptive mother, calling her name once or twice. Suddenly he saw her kneeling before a small stream and he rushed over to her.

"Kagome!" He called, tears in his eyes and relief in his voice. She seemed surprised for a moment to see him but a soft smile grew on her face and she held her arms out to him, allowing him to jump into them and squish him to her bare chest, save for her bra of course. His nose scrunched up as he inhaled the strong scent of the chemicals she used on her wounds.

"Be quiet, ok? I don't want the other to wake up. Besides, I have a bit of a headache." She laughter sounded strained and quiet but he was ok with that, as long as she was alive.

"What happened?" She sighed and shook her head.

"After you were thrown to the side, I was able to grab my bow and shot him in the head. Inuyasha showed up and used the Wind Scar to destroy him completely. I'm still not completely sure how he was able to make it so far with his wounds but.." she cringed and looked over at the hanyou in remorse. "when I made it over to him, he was already passed out. I grabbed you two and went back to Miroku and Sango and brought you all here with a bit of effort. Everyone is all cleaned up and I'm just waiting for them all to wake up."

"What about Naraku's miasma? Is it all gone?" His eyes tearful

"Oh well, I think it's dissipating from the forest. The trees-" he cut her off.

"I meant the stuff in you."

"Oh. Well, I think my body, if I focus hard enough, can purify a bit of it at a time but I think I'm down for the count for now. I keep coughing up blood so…" She looked back down in the stream at where her shirt and Inuyasha's white robe(which she had wrestled off of him while trying to keep her face from catching fire) were floating as she tried to scrub some of the blood and grass stains out of them. It wasn't working very well. She'd need some peroxide.

"Keh. Then you should be resting too, wench." Inuyasha stood over her, his voice gentle despite his words. His head turned away respectively and his arm stretched out, offering his robe to her. Shippo could still see the blush on the hanyou's face, though, and he smirked up at him.

Kagome sighed, her face had a bit off a blush too, and took the garment from him, pushing her arms in the sleeves carefully.

"How did I know you would be the first one to get up? Go get some more rest, Inuyasha. You need it the most." She frowned at him but kept her tone soft.

"Keh." He scoffed at her comment and sat next to her, not breaking the glare they shared. Kagome broke first and sighed, wrapping her arms around around his neck as she pulled herself into his lap.

"U-Uh, Kagome?" He stuttered stupidly.

"Just shut up ok?" He mumbled into his shoulder. He felt her tears drip against his bare shoulder and resigned, wrapping his arms around her. He lowered his nose into the crook of her neck and closed his eyes, trying to enjoy the calm. Shippo, feeling left out in the exchange, tugged on Inuyasha's sleeve, his eyes big. Inuyasha looked down at the young youkai and scowled before sighing. He opened one arm up to him and Shippo jumped up into the embrace allowing Inuyasha's arm to wrap around him.