Sango's scream and Kirara's growl woke Miroku early that morning. He opened his eyes half way before jumping to his feet at the sight. The shapeless flame demon from the previous night had returned, and Sango was doing her best to beat it back with her Hiraikotsu. Miroku threw several exorcism sutras at the demon to give Sango a moment to catch her breath, knowing that they would not last long.

"Inuyasha!" he shouted to the half-asleep hanyou as he grabbed for his staff.

"Hn?" mumbled Inuyasha as he lifted his head slightly and opened one golden eye halfway.

"Where is Kagome?" Sango asked Miroku as she shook Shippou awake.

"She's over there," Shippou answered her, pointing at Inuyasha, who had just become aware of the demon and sprang up. Kagome seeped out of his lap and embrace as he took off, unsheathing Tessaiga as he went.

"Well, that's new," Sango mumbled to Shippou before she raced off to help Inuyasha and Miroku. The demon was bigger this time, and it was a complete blur of flame. Suddenly, the creature circled them all in a fiery dome, the red flames lashing out at their flesh like a prisoner hungering for escape.

"What in the seven hells…" exclaimed Inuyasha in wonder, holding Tessaiga ready. "You should have stayed dead, demon!" he shouted as he, with a mighty swing of the fang sword, sent a wave of the Wind Scar's power at the huge youkai.

"Foolish half-breed," came the reply. The flame creature completely absorbed the attack and released another round of flames to surround them closer. "No attack can penetrate the substance of my-" it began to gloat, but the wall of flame was parted briefly by an arrow shot from inside. Inuyasha, Miroku and Sango turned quickly to see Kagome readying her bow with another.

"Hurry up and find a way to kill it!" she shouted to them. "I can't distract it for long!" She shot her second arrow, but the flames did not part; they condensed into a gigantic ball of fire and flew directly at Kagome!

"I'VE HAD ENOUGH OF YOU!" came the voice of the monster. The flame ball reached her body and passed into it before anyone could even react.

"Oh!" Kagome breathed a second later as she looked to her clenched fist and fell to her knees. She had a look of petrified fear on her face. A wisp of the flame ball's spirit passed out of her and dissolved into the wind.

"Kagome!" shouted Inuyasha as he leaped and landed next to her. "Are you ok?"

A few yards away, Miroku and Sango scanned the surrounding area for any sign of the demon. Upon finding nothing, Miroku rationalized, "The demon must have been destroyed when it attempted to attack Kagome. Passing through her must have purified it." Sango nodded in agreement. Kagome remained silent, a look of terror still on her face.

"Kagome," said Inuyasha soothingly. He took her hand and stroked her cheek gently in attempt to calm her. "What's wrong?" he asked softly.

A whimper escaped Kagome and she opened the hand Inuyasha held. Everyone gasped in awe and fear, for she held a string with a few dark beads and white teeth on it, several falling off the ends because the string was broken. It was all that remained of Inuyasha's rosary and their –her– only means of restraining him. Inuyasha looked down at the place the necklace usually hung and picked off a few stray beads, his face in an unreadable expression.

"M-my hand must have been tangled in it when he leaped off…" Kagome said while struggling to keep her voice steady and willing herself to stop shaking. Inuyasha rose to his full height, cracking his knuckles as he always did before a battle.

"Finally," he said to himself, "my full power is held back no longer…"

Kagome whimpered again in fear of those words. Full power? she thought. I thought they only held his spirit… oh no…

"What is Inuyasha like without Kagome's control?" Sango whispered to Miroku, who shrugged and turned to Kagome herself, who was biting her lip so hard that it had begun to bleed.

"Before they were forced onto him, he came pretty damn close to killing me," she whispered.

Inuyasha turned to face them all, a disturbingly smug look on his face. "It seems the tables have turned," he said slyly, still cracking his knuckles.

"Run," said Kagome to the group a few yards away, but they did not move. "I said 'run', you guys! Who knows what he'll do without that rosary! Get out of here!" Miroku and Sango held their ground, but a strange look had come across Inuyasha's face.

"You heard her," he said acidly. "After all the times I've been stopped from retaliating, you can't know what I'll do or what I'm capable of!" His voice rose gradually until he was shouting, but not in anger so much as indignation. Miroku and Sango reached for their weapons with unsure looks on their faces.

"Do not make us fight you, Inuyasha!" Miroku pleaded, but the rest was at cut off by Inuyasha's bitter reply.

"Stay out of my way!" he shouted, advancing on Kagome. She tried to maneuver backwards, but found herself against the tree.

"Inuyasha," she pleaded as he gripped her hand that held the beads." Please, please d-don't kill me… I-" she stammered, but Inuyasha didn't let her continue.

"Kill you?" he repeated angrily. "Just because I can without you stopping me, you think I'd kill you?" he yelled. "Don't you trust me without that thing? Or do you need to control me just to feel safe?!"

Sango and Miroku stood frozen to their spots. Inuyasha could easily kill all three of them without a second thought, but it did not seem to be his intention to hurt any of them. Inuyasha gave Kagome one final look before throwing her hands down and taking off from the area.

"Kagome!" squealed Shippou, racing over to her from his hiding place behind a full size Kirara. Miroku and Sango followed him over to the petrified girl. Sango kneeled down next to Kagome and hugged her tightly. Miroku, knowing that his consoling would not help much considering the way Kagome felt for Inuyasha, pondered the circumstance for a moment.

"Kagome, what was in that last look Inuyasha gave you?" he asked seriously as he stared off in the direction that Inuyasha had run.

Sighing heavily with tears streaking down her face, Kagome looked up at the monk. "Anger, hurt, and betrayal," she replied. Unable to continue, she collapsed in the arms of her friends and cried.