Dark and Wondering

'Where… Where am I? Why does everything hurt so much? Why…' Kagome gripped her sides as unbearable pain travelled throughout her body. Screams tore their way out of her throat to the point where she couldn't scream any more. Everywhere burned, it felt like acid was being poured onto her skin and her flesh was melting off her muscles and bones. It felt like someone was hammering her skull, trying to crush it. And they were never gonna stop. And no one was around to help her; no one was around to save her…. She was alone in the dark; she abandoned her friends for one person. And that person wouldn't even notice she's gone. She wanted to cry, she wanted to hide, and she wanted to disappear. She wanted… No needed… Naraku… Naraku would make the pain go away. He would make it hurt less. He always finds a way.


Shadow was glaring at Kikyo from across the camp fire while Angel was staring at her hande, nervously picking at them, not knowing what to do. Kikyo was staring at Shadow, sometimes it drifted to Angel, but it always landed on Shadow. Shadow's eyes narrowed more, brought up her hands, and growled. "Okay! What the hell do you want?! I'm sick and tired of you staring at me. And it's pissing me off. I don't have time for this shit and I need to try and save Ka-umph!" Angel had covered her mouth and smiled sweetly at Kikyo as her eyes narrowed. "I'm sorry, what my… Friend was trying to say is that our friend is in danger and we need to try to help her before she gets any more hurt than she is now. So would you please hurry this interrogation up?" Her smile was now a grin and her eyes sparkled.

Kikyo scanned Angel's face, and seeing no signs that tell she was lying, she spoke up. "How and why is Kagome in danger?" Angel's grin dropped and her hand slipped from Shadow's mouth while Shadow's eyes widened and she snapped. "Kagome isn't in danger, why would she be in danger?" "I have no idea what you're talking about. They glanced at each other and then then looked to Kikyo who raised an eyebrow. "You were with her earlier today, and you treated her as if she was a friend. Not only that but from what I've heard, she was taken by Naraku. And you tell me she is not the one you need to save from him? You cannot lie to me, speak the truth, or I will make you." She began to raise the bow when Shadow put her hands up in surrender.

"Listen lady, we don't want any trouble, and once again. We're not trying to save Kagome, we're Naraku's pets, remember?" Angel glanced at Shadow, but before she could speak, Shadow continued. "Our friend that we need to save… Her name's Kagumi and she's in danger because of what she did earlier, and I know you saw." Kikyo lowered the bow and drifted in thought. 'Really? Kagumi? If that's what she wants to call her… I'll go along with it.' Kikyo stood and stared at the pair that was looking at her in confusion. She raised an eyebrow at them and when they still stared, she sighed. "Are you not in a hurry to rescue your friend Kagumi? Lead the way and I shall follow. If you try to do something, I will shoot." Shadow and Angel nodded at her, jumped on their feet and Shadow yelled and enthusiastic "Let's go!" before they rushed towards Naraku's castle, Kikyo followed, taking her time as usual.


Inuyasha and the gang arrived at Katakiri village with no other problems and immediately started asking the villagers if they have seen Kagome. Some said no, others said that they heard she had arrived in the village and they put a festival in both her and Lady Kikyo's honor but other than that, no they haven't seen her, and others were too drunk to interpret what the gang was asking. It wasn't until Shippo approached a little girl, that they finally got their answer. The little girl grinned and nodded enthusiastically "Yes! I've seen Lady Kagome! She was so pretty today, like a princess!" Shippo grinned and called everyone over, when they reached the little girl, Shippo had already asked where did she spot her and the enthusiastic little girl dragged him towards the hut Kagome was in earlier. "She was here! She was sleeping when she got here, but a pretty man was watching over her and making sure she was okay! I saw her later in the day but that was to answer her, after that, she disappeared!"

Shippo smiled at the little girl and thanked her before waving goodbye. They all stepped in the hut. It was normal hut, it's tatami floors where clean with little scratches, the hut wasn't that big, but not small either, the whole gang could fit in the area, and sleep very comfortably if need be. Sango, Miroku, and Shippo waited and Inuyasha got on all fours and stared sniffing the ground. His ears perked up when he caught Kagome's faint vanilla scent. He was about to start following the smell, when he caught a whiff of Naraku. He growled and sat up just to glare at the ground. "She was here alright, but I don't think she's here any longer. That bastard was here and I'm pretty sure he took her. Her smell's faint." Everyone except Inuyasha groaned and slid to the floor to think about the next step.

Sango was staring at the ceiling when she sighed, lifted her legs so they were against her chest, encircled them with her arms, and placed her forehead on her knee. "This is ridiculous, how could we have let Kagome be taken so easily? And why did we not notice sooner?"

Miroku sat cross legged and rubbed his hands together in thought. "How could we have noticed? We were saving a village from a horde of demons, we had to split up to take them all out. Innocent lives were in danger. The only difference was that…" He sighed and rubbed his temples.

Shippo sniffled "Naraku was there… Naraku was there, and he took Kagome, and and we didn't notice he was there so we couldn't stop him! Kagome being kidnapped is our fault!" Shippo started crying which cause Kilala to move to his side and nuzzle his face in an attempt to stop.

Inuyasha snapped and smacked Shippo right upside the head. "Shut up Shippo and be a man! Crying isn't gonna do anything! We need to think of how we're gonna get her back. So, any ideas?" Shippo just cried more, while Sango and Miroku sat there in deep thought. They were wondering about how Naraku could have slipped right by them. Inuyasha, though he was concerned about Kagome as well, was wondering about Kikyo and why she was there. As he thought this, he rubbed his stomache which lead to him wincing, then cursing. "That stupid bitch! When I find her, Ima send her to her grave!"

Sango's head snapped up and glared "Inuyasha! Language!" She stared at him for awhile, and as she stared, her eyes wondered to where he was rubbing, which lead her to that mysterious demon who did that to Inuyasha. Sango sat there deep in thought for a while before looking up at the rest of the gang. Inuyasha was still swearing under his breath, Miroku was off in space probably thinking about the girls in the village, and Shippo was holding onto Kilala trying to stop his crying. She gnawed on her lip in thought… 'Who was that demon?' She remembered earlier, they were about to battle, but when Naraku brought out Kohaku, the demon took him away and then Naraku left not happy with the demon at all. Sango sighed, and gazed at the night sky through the square window facing the forest. Wondering where Kagome could be.


Author's Note: Okay. I lied, three chapters in one day. As you can see, I'm trying really hard to make up for lost time. I'm also trying to make the chapters longer, because well... Some people want to read more? And I like more, I think more is good... It has been a very long time since I've seen Inuyasha, like a year or two... So if they're out of character, I'm sorry . Reviews and critiques are always welcome, I need to improve! Thank you for everyone who has read up to this point =] I hope you have an amazing week! All of you deserve amazing weeks! And cookies. I'm craving them right now owo