Chapter 3- Bridge: Delve into the Mind of Evil

Disclaimer: Again, the ownership of said characters belongs to someone other than me.

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Naraku looked around. This might just do.

He was in what would later be called the Amazon Rainforest but to him it was just another place.

"Humid," He mumbled. "But tolerable."

The forest was dark for the large, sunlight-greedy leaves above kept most light from peeking through. Tall trees surrounded him sporting a variety of mosses and parasites. Under his feet was hard ground that he could easily walk on. Birds flew overhead chirping almost happily at the new arrival.

Naraku nodded. This'll do.

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Shippo was skipping along beside Kagome when he felt a small tickling on his neck. Moving his hand to the irritation he slapped a mosquito flat.

"Annoying little bugger," He mumbled before moving on.

-

Naraku ran. He ran for his life, his sanity, and his clothes.

"Nobody told me there'd be BUGS!"

Now normally, Naraku could deal with mosquitoes, he had a hoard of them at his command. But no, these were different. They didn't die! They were like...like... Kikyo! You thought you killed them when in truth they were hiding behind your ear!

Red. Blue. Black. Yellow. Orange. Colors flashed before Naraku's eyes as the creatures that proceeded to attack him from all sides surrounded him. He released miasma... it only seemed to empower the poisonous creatures. Even the spiders with which he felt a special kinship began to annoy him.

So, Naraku took a deep breath... And screamed.

-

Better... the next place had to be better, Naraku decided. Somewhere where bugs didn't exist. Somewhere not so... moist.

-

Miroku stretched a little during the short resting time they had. Smacking his lips, he found he was thirsty. So reaching for the bag at his waist he took a long, refreshing drink.

-

Finally, the perfect place. Perfectly quiet, perfectly dry, and perfectly free of bugs. OK, so the Sahara Desert wasn't the most interesting place but maybe Naraku could get some rest.

So, settling into the sand, Naraku sat.

And sat.

And plotted evil.

And got bored of that.

So he sat.

Naraku felt the heat beat on him and, believe it or not, he began to sweat. Around him sat sand... okay, so there were a few cacti here and there but mostly it was just sand. And do you know what staring at just sand does to someone after a while? You start imagining things.

"Die! Die! Die!" Naraku began to viciously attack a cactus. "Inuyasha! I told you not to follow me!" Then, "Ki-Kikyo! I'm sorry! You looked like Inuyasha!"

By this time night was falling and the air turned cooler. Naraku's sanity slowly came back to him as the night set in. He decided to find some water. So, in the darkness he walked... and stepped on a cactus. "Ow!" Naraku desperately tried to pull the thorns from the flesh on his foot. They stuck for a while but pretty soon his superiority won out and all he was left with was a sore foot.

"Maybe I won't get water tonight," Naraku muttered angrily and using one of his tentacles, he smacked the cactus hard. Liquid streamed from the broken plant. So, sniffing it, Naraku took a drink... and spat it out. "What is this stuff?" He tried to get the taste out of his mouth by spitting but he only succeeded in annoying himself further.

"FINE!" Naraku yelled at the ominously starless sky. "I'll just go to sleep!" And sleep he did... That is, until early the next morning when the heat began to fry him.

Naraku let out a low sound, almost a growl, at the place he had chosen for his vacation. But, in his opinion, he was a rather second-chance-y guy so he decided to give the desert one last chance.

However he conveniently forgot when he made that decision that he had absolutely nothing to do.

-

Sango walked beside Kirara. Looking at the monk to her left, she didn't pay enough attention to where she was going and ran--smack! --into a branch. For a moment she saw black spots before her eyes and her head throbbed but pretty soon she felt reassuring arms around her and she settled into Miroku's comforting embrace.

-

Three hours. He had been staring at the sun for three hours. What else was there to do in the desert?

"I give up," Naraku stood up to leave. But there was one little problem... he couldn't see anything. "Wha-?" Blinking and looking around Naraku strained his eyes to see something, anything. But nothing appeared.

"Shoot," Naraku rubbed his eyes and tried again. Nothing. "I'm bl-bl-blind!" Panic washed over him like a river. He began running in circles in a blind (no pun intended) rage. "It's all that Kagome's fault! All her fault for breaking the jewel in the first place! Yes. I know, when I get the jewel I'll get my sight back... but how will I get the jewel? Oh shoot, oh shoot, oh shoot, oh shoot."

So frantic was Naraku's panicking he didn't even noticed when he began to see bits of light before his eyes. Yes, his sight was coming back.

"-I'm gonna kill the sun, yes, that's it. I'll kill it. It doesn't deserve to... to..." Naraku blinked the world slowly came back into view. "Oh."

No one ever ran that fast from a desert.

-

Kagome clasped her hands tightly together around Inuyasha. The hill before them was a little higher than usual and she didn't want to risk falling off of her hanyou friend's back.

-

Naraku stretched and grinned at his new vacationing home. The mountains. They would later be called the Himalayas, home to Mt. Everest, the highest mountain known to man; but all Naraku saw was lots of caves for him to plot in a quite a few mountain-dwelling creatures to torture.

"This is the life," Naraku laid back on a particularly large rock and sighed. "So peaceful... hey, since when did I like peace?" Naraku stood up suddenly. It was quiet...

-

Inuyasha sat at the top of a hill and threw rocks absentmindedly down the slope. Kagome sat nearby cooking their lunch. One of his rocks missed and hit Shippo (who was currently chasing a few interesting snails) on the head.

"Oww!" Shippo whined running to Kagome.

Inuyasha groaned and waited for the 'sit!'s to come.

-

Then, there was a rumbling overhead and Naraku was completely buried in a rockslide.

"Ow..." Naraku whined from several feet under. "Why'd I have to go and open my big mouth and curse the peace?"

After a few 'die pathetic hunks of rock!'s and a lot of released miasma Naraku was free of the pile of rocks. Then, looking around, Naraku found a spot with no rocks overhead. Actually it was a pretty high spot and Naraku (like anyone would) felt a sort of rush as he felt the wind blow back his hair.

"I'm king of the world!" Naraku shouted at the top of his lungs.

Unfortunately, Naraku's excitement was to be short lived for as soon as he had caught his breath from such a loud yell another rumbling was heard. Naraku at first thought he was safe for he had truly picked a spot safe from rock falls from overhead...

That's when the cliff fell out from beneath Naraku's feet.

Naraku grumbled a few choice words as he dislodged himself from more rocks. Brows wrinkled, a frown was set in, and a decision was made.

"The next place I go, will have people."

And so, Naraku took off in search of a place with the human life-forms he so despised yet were smart enough to know when a place is just a little bit too exotic.

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End Chapter 3

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Sorry, sorry, sorry. It took me so long to update because… well, (wince) my muse was mean and didn't inspire me enough so I could write. But I do hope to get back into a regular rhythm! The chapter title was from my brilliant sister. In case you didn't notice the little flashes to Inuyasha's group depicted minor cases of what was about to happen to Naraku. Look closely and you'll see! –The Author