Kagome awoke with a start, startled from her sleep by a drop of water falling on her head. The first things to come to her were her memories. She gasped as the pain came flooding back, and she felt as if her heart was in her throat, blocking her breath. She inhaled deeply for a few moments, and regained her composure enough to look around.

She was in a prison, that much was obvious. The bare rock walls suggested that she was deep under ground, and the floor was rough and uneven. Her cell was the only one, but it was rather large. She could certainly move around. Outside her bars she could see a long, winding stairway, beside which a demon guard sat snoring at a desk. His pig shaped face lay in a pool of drool, and Kagome scrunched up her face in disgust. Other than those things, the only other point of interest was a large trap door in the corner of the room, across from the desk.

She was about to call out to the guard, but a small groan silenced her. She strained her ears to discover the source, and was shocked to find it coming from a small girl. The girl lay limply in a shadowy corner, and it looked like she had a broken arm. The dark haired preistess ran over to see if she was conscious, and to her surprise, she recognised her!

"Rin! Oh my God, how did you get here?" She cradled the whimpering girl in her arms, and checked her for more injuries. Luckily, the arm was the only problem. It was horribly twisted, and the elbow was bent inwards. It also looked as if dislocated from the shoulder. "Oh, you poor girl. Come over here into the torch light," she commanded softly, and gently ushered the girl out of the dark.

The weakened child looked at her, and a faint smile formed on her lips. "You're Kagome! I know you from that time you saved me, remember?" After saying this, she coughed hard, and her hand came away with blood.

"Shhh...don't talk, I'll ask the guard for some medicine and a splint for you." She turned and went to the bars of the jail. "Hey! Guard! You can get up and get me a splint right now!" she demanded.

The pig demon started, and fell uncerimoniously out of his chair. He leaped to his feet, aware that the mistake of sleeping might well cost him his life, and was relieved to see it was not the case. He sneered at the girl before answering, "I don't take orders from you, wench!"

Before Kagome could scream at him for being so heartless, a smooth voice came from the blackness of the corner. "Do a the girl says, or I will have you eaten by one of my pets." Both Kagome and the guard recognised the voice, and the trembling pig turned and fled up the stairs.

"Naraku..." Kagome spat. She was surprised at her own voice, for it seemed to be someone else's. She sounded bitter, as if she was full of hate, and indeed she was. This was, after all, the one who had killed her friends and kidnapped her.

"Kagome...I hope you find your room to be of sufficient satisfaction? I had it made special for you."

"You won't get away with this!" Kagome yelled at him, causing him to laugh. his evil laughter only enraged her more, but her curiosity got the better of her. "Why is this girl here? You do know that Sesshomaru will come for her. If you remember, he almost killed you before, but you got away while he fought his brother. You won't escape this time!" She paused to catch her breath after her outburst, and he spoke.

"My dear girl, that is what I have planned. Sesshomaru will come to reclaim his ward, and I will absorb him!" His evil laughter after this statement echoed as he faded into the shadows.

Kagome yelled at him through the darkness, "He is too strong for you, Naraku!" Her voice fell to a bare whisper, "He has to be."

"Don't worry, Kagome. My lord Sesshomaru will come for me. He always comes for me." Before Kagome could respond, there was a loud bang as the pig faced guard tossed some supplies through the bars of the cell.

"You are lucky my master wants you alive, or else I would eat you, little girls!" he snarled. Kagome merely stuck her tongue out at him, but retracted it instantly as the demon licked his lips hungrily. She turned to the girl beside her, who had fallen silent.

"Don't worry Rin, I'll fix you up and protect you." She said this even as her mind was ticking away. I must be of some use to Naraku, or else I would be dead. He must want me to find the jewel shards for him, but I won't do it! I am not a trinket to be used by anyone at their convenience! I'll be damned if I'm not gonna fight this evil bastard. Her mind made up, Kagome decided she would try to focus and figure out some way to escape with Rin.


Jaken dove out of the way as a viscous slash of energy tore into the ground beside him, sending dirt and brocken rocks flying. He looked at his master in fear, wondering if he was actually going to die this time. Sesshomaru was pissed, his eyes glowing red and his fury radiating around him. he let out a loud growl and turned to drive his clawed fist into the cliff wall, but when his punch conected, there was very little resistance as the rock instantly blew apart, disintegrated into a fine powder by the blow.

The main reason for his anger and loss of control was not of Jaken's doing, but he was the only one who happened to be near at this particular moment. Naraku had atacked while Sesshomaru was sleeping, acompanied by the priestess, Kikyo. Kikyo had tried to purify him as he lay, but he had sensed her powers at the last moment, and had blocked her with his sword. While he had been distracted, Naraku's reincarnations had kidnapped his young ward, Rin, to whom Sesshomaru had grown fond of. Of course, no one would ever know about it. He liked Rin for the way that she liked him for him, not for his power or out of fear. He had given her plenty of opportunities to return to the humans, but she willingly followed him around Japan.

"Master, please don't be angry with me!We must focus on trying to get Rin back!" Jaken squealed in fear as the taiyoukai turned on him, but was relieved to see that his lord's eyes were returning to their golden state.

Sesshomaru took a deep breath, and spoke in a calm voice. "Jaken."

"Yes, my lord?" he asked.

"Get Ah-Un, and return to my castle. I will find this Naraku, and I will kill him." Seshomaru growled at the thought, his claws flexing in anticipation. Withought saying another word, he leapt into the air, and flew off into the clouds. Jaken sighed and went to follow his orders, knowing how close he had come this time.


Sesshomaru took a deep breath as the wind blew past him, causing his silver hair to billow out behind him.he was sitting crosslegged on his transportation cloud, contemplating his next move. I will search out someone who knows of or is looking for Naraku. Not Inuyasha... that wolf demon. Yes, he would know where to find him. Sesshomaru was refering to Kouga of course, but he had never cared to learn his name. On the few occasions when they had met, the two had given each other a grudging respect. More of it came from Kouga himself, but Sesshomaru understood that the wolf had to have been semi-intelligent, for he never attacked him. He had stated in plain hearing to his servants that they had no reason to fight each other. As of yet, that had been true.

Sesshomaru was yanked out of his thoughts be the smell of blood, and flew closer to the ground. Dropping and landing lightly on his feet, he sniffed the air intently. His gaze narrowed as he caught Naraku's scent, but also he noticed the smell of Inuyasha's gang. He looked around at the carnage, and was not surprised that his little brother's friends had managed to kill thousands of demons.

He was even less surprised to find the body of the demonslayer, leaning beside the boy who had tried to kill Rin. He smiled in satisfaction that he had finally been killed. A large whole with debris all around it told the demon lord's mind that this is where the monk had died trying to save the demonslayer. His smirk faded as he came upon the small cabin, now no more than a pile of planks and wooden beams, and smelled Inuyasha and that priestess. Glancing at the marks, Kagome had run off into the forest, and Inuyasha had gone in the opposite direction.

Seshomaru came to his hypothesis quickly, and spoke aloud to himself. "Ah, Inuyasha. you have finally chosen to be with that dead preistess, instead of the young girl. Not like it was hard, was it? You never did keep any good friends for very long." His words caused his own mind to work, and he discovered that he himself had a hard time with friends. Something he would change. He stood quietly for a while, before returning to the air. He remained motionless for the rest of his ride, travelling in the direction that the demon army had come from.


Inuyasha and Kikyo walked side by side, enjoying each other's presence. Kikyo had fully brainwashed him, although he put up little resistance as she slowly caused him to forget his friends. it had been three days since his betrayal, and he was as happy as he had been when Kikyo was alive. Kikyo smirked, realizing how ironic it was that she had been the one to orchestrate all of the chaos required to get Inuyasha back.

"We should go somewhere and build a house," she murmered in his ear. He barely acknowledged her, but merely stared ahead.

"Kikyo... I feel as if there was someone I was forgetting, but I can't remember who. This person was close to me, but I can not picture her face. Do you know anyone it might be?" He rubbed his head in frustration, letting out a long sigh.

"Forget everyone else. I'm the only one that you need to be with." She purred,"Don't tell me you'd rather be with another. I couldn't bear it..." Her voice fell, and she lowered her head in feigned sadness.

"Of course not Kikyo! I would never leave you." Inuyasha quickly assured her. He put his arms around her and together they continued their liesurely stroll. He thought for a moment before speaking again, "Kikyo? How would you like it if I was human? I could get the jewel and become like you, you know." He gazed into her dark brown eyes hesitantly.

"Inuyasha, you are so sweet. I think it's a good idea."

"Alright my love, I will get the shards. We must remember that Naraku has some too, so he will get in our way," the half demon remarked.

Kikyo smirked, "My dear, we don't need him now, and we can remove him from our way if need be." I have a few shards in a sacred cave not far from here, so let us go now, okay?

"Yes, let us go."


Sesshomaru stepped over a fallen log gracefully, the only sound of his presence the gentle rustling of leaves and the swish of his robes as he walked below an overhanging cliff. He came to abrupt stop as his nose caught his most hated scent: Naraku. If he could smell hi hated enemy, then that meant that his barrier was gone! He felt his body tense with anticipation of the battle, although his outward looks showed no change, and he strode off at a brisk pace in the direction he thought the horrid odour of the miasma was coming from.