Ohh…. dang. I just realized, in my last chapter, I left out something in the final sentence. It was supposed to say, "She was his cure" NOT "She was his curse". I'm sorry!
Box Queen: Thanks! I'd hate to disappoint my readers though…
Jerica: Wow…really? I keep thinking mine sucks compared to some of the other Nar/Kag's out there…mostly the one-shots rock. I'll try to answer your questions as best I can…to a degree. I can't give away the story.
Sveta89: o.o I'm glad it's funny…?
Igor Lollipop: Yess! Another reviewer has fallen into my clutches…Mwahahahaaaa! Ahem. I try to keep Kagome as in character as possible…Same with Naraku. My greatest fear is that they become OOC….
Child of the Ashes: I'm sorry…but the entire story is mainly Naraku/Kagome…And they're not trying to be mean, they're just trying to protect her. Though it's not like Naraku could be stopped by a strip of paper…
Disclaimer: I own none except my older, more emotional Kanna. Sorta…
They had managed to reach Kaede's village fairly quickly, considering that they had been attacked by a Fly Demon, a swarm of Hornet Demons, and finally, to her everlasting disgust, a giant blob of blue and green goop that had been almost impossible to destroy.
It had splattered everywhere after a final attack of Inuyasha's Wind Scar, and everyone was completely drenched in sticky, multicolored blobs of goo that were almost impossible to get out of hair and clothing.
She and Inuyasha had decided to, instead of stopping by Kaede's village, go straight to the well. The demons had been sent by Naraku, that much was certain, and the faster she got home the less danger everyone was in.
Inuyasha was still completely silent, not even trying to argue with her not to leave to go back to her time. She shouldn't have been surprised really…he'd sent her home before, but there was always the chance that he would seal the well, and keep her from ever returning.
Her friends were the world to her, and without them she would never have survived this long in the Feudal Era. It was for them that she had done that spell to keep Naraku from harming them, it was for them that she refused to let him tear the cure from her, and it was for them that, if she had to, she would fight tooth and nail to stay here and continue to protect them.
The well was just ahead, a few small trees concealing it from view when she stopped walking suddenly, Inuyasha turning to stare at her.
"Kagome?"
She stared back at him evenly; absentmindedly gripping onto a low hanging branch of a nearby tree in case her plan didn't quite work.
"Inuyasha…I'm not going to leave unless you promise me you won't seal the well."
She sensed the curse springing to his lips, saw the brief flash of annoyance in the golden orbs, and was rather surprised that he actually tried to hide it at all. She knew him too well for him to hide things like that from her.
"Of course I won't seal the well. Without you, we can't get the Shikon back from Naraku, and I can't become a full-fledged demon. Feh. Did you forget or somethin'?"
A frown tugged at her lips, and she didn't move from the spot, continuing to stare at him seriously.
"Inuyasha…Promise me."
He met her gaze, golden eyes clashing with brown as the silent clash of wills, both ferociously stubborn, fought against each other.
He was the first to look away, ears drooping slightly in defeat as he glared at the ground.
"Fine. I promise I won't seal the well. Happy now?"
With a grin that erased all previous traces of her seriousness only moments before, she leaned so that she was directly in his line of vision.
"Yep!"
He scowled at her and jammed his arms into his sleeves, another 'feh' slipping out as he began walking towards the well again with barely audible mutters hanging in the air behind him.
She practically skipped next to him, most of her attention directed on him, and the rest of her attention put into making sure she didn't slam headfirst into any trees. When he stopped dead in his tracks though, eyes wide and staring in front of him, she frowned, her own gaze slowly following his until she spotted just what it was that could stop Inuyasha so effectively…
The well.
Or rather…what was left of it.
The empty wooden well had been shattered into thousands of tiny wooden slivers that covered the ground, while the well itself looked as though something had exploded out of it.
The edge of the well that hadn't been destroyed was bent outwards, large, spidery cracks showing through the old wood as it tried desperately to stick together.
All of this was absorbed in seconds before she crumpled to the ground, unable to look away no matter how horrible the sight was, the way it twisted her heart painfully to look at what was left of the one way she had to get home.
"No…"
Inuyasha was forcibly pulled from the shock of seeing the well that had survived many years of demons, wars, and the sometimes-odd weather patterns, so torn and ruined by the sudden movement next to him.
He turned quickly, watching Kagome simple collapse to the ground, hands clenching the grass beneath them until the ripped and tore the fragile blades from the ground.
If the well had such an effect on him…what must it be like for Kagome? Without the well, she was stuck here…forever…with him. And while he felt sympathetic to the poor girl, he couldn't help the sudden realization of that statement, and just barely resisting smirking.
She couldn't go back home now…she would remain here, in the Feudal Era. But the same way he realized that she could never go back home with the well in such a state, he also remembered the reason why she needed to go back in the first place, and spat the name out with disgust.
"Naraku."
A chilling laugh answered him, the cold sound echoing through the seemingly abandoned forest making it virtually impossible to pin down the man's hiding place.
"Very good, Inuyasha. You really are smarter than they give you credit for…"
The half demon snarled, ears twitching towards even the tiniest sounds as he sought desperately for where Naraku was, fingers curling around the hilt of his ever-trusty sword, Tetsusaiga.
"What did you destroy the well for, Naraku!"
Silence greeted the accusation, the angry words easily overpowered by the all-consuming quiet. He almost believed Naraku had fled, when a mocking laugh finally responded.
"Or…maybe not…"
It was then that he finally appeared, a blur of movement that settled lightly on the remains of the well, white cloth fluttering in the wind but never revealing whether what lay beneath was truly Naraku, or one of his puppets.
Clawed fingers tightened around the hilt of his sword, sliding it in a fluid, practiced motion from its sheath as the old, battered sword transformed into the deadly fang he was used to.
Only the fact that the demon was on the well stayed his blade, the brief worry that he would destroy what was left of the well and the bigger worry he would sat until his back broke by Kagome if he actually did destroy the well keeping his temper in check.
"What do you want Naraku!"
There was no hesitation, no pause before his answer. One single word, one name that chilled the half demon to the very bone, especially hearing it said from that demons mouth.
"Kagome."
He said it so…simply. As if there was no other possible reason he was there except for her. Instinctively, on hearing her name, he glanced down at her where she still sat. He couldn't really tell whether she was staring at the destroyed well, or at the demon on top of it, but whichever it was she was staring, unblinkingly ahead, tuned out to the rest of the world.
It had better be the well.
Jerking his gaze back to Naraku, more than ready to slice him with Tetsusaiga until he was nothing more than bloody chunks of flesh, he blinked when there was nothing there.
He waited, ears swiveling about on top of his head, again searching for a noise, any noise to drown out his furiously beating heart.
Finally, he sheathed Tetsusaiga, satisfied that Naraku had turned tail and run. The moron probably, only came in the first place to mess with their heads…and destroy the well.
Kneeling next to Kagome and gently shaking her shoulder to jerk her out of the daze she was in, he never saw the blur of white as Naraku appeared behind him…
He noted with no small amount of glee as the tentacle burst through the hanyou's gut, missing Kagome by mere inches, that while the spell did, indeed, keep him from harming humans, half demons were a different matter entirely.
True, there was a slight headache as he retracted the now bloody, interwoven mixture of brown vines back into his arm, but that was easily shrugged off. Having everything except your head disintegrated by a purifying arrow was far more painful.
The dog demon fell to the ground, a pained moan slipping from his lips that, interestingly enough, jerked Kagome from the daze of seeing the well in such a state, back to reality.
"Snarls and yells from him right next to you barely even phase you, and a simple, pained moan snaps you out of it…He just doesn't get hurt enough I suppose."
Chocolate brown orbs twisted from the motionless form of Inuyasha to him, staring accusingly at him while at the same time, shimmering with traces of confusion.
Ah, she thought he was a puppet…It would explain why Inuyasha had been so easily disposed of, and also why he showed no pain in doing so.
He pulled the mask away, leaving it to dangle against his back for the moment as he silently relished the look of sudden surprise rippling over her face.
He moved closer, steps smooth and soundless on the ground, and she shrank back, not even stopping when she was backed against a tree, as if trying to break through it.
He paused when he was next to the half demon, one pale hand snaking out and tangling into the silvery white locks, yanking violently upwards until the unconscious hanyou was face to face with him.
A quick glance back at the miko, his miko, proved that every drop of her attention was on him, as it should be.
Nails turned to claws and in one swift motion bloody scratches appeared over the hanyou's face, five identical wounds trailing from cheekbone to jaw, crimson spilling over the dogs face.
"Inuyasha!"
Another twitch of his claws and a sleeve of that disgusting fire rat robe fell away, white piercing through flesh and muscle and nicking the bone just before something collided heavily into his arm, knocking the half demon from his grasp and he turned from his work to stare down at the miko who had dared interrupt him.
"Stop it!"
He ignored her and reached down to pick the hanyou up again and continue when two arms slid around his, physically preventing him from continuing. Crimson turned on brown, something dangerous flickering in his glare as he gazed at the girl.
She faltered, eyes slipping between him and the hanyou, before finally remaining on him. He could hear her heartbeat pounding, the tiny organ furiously beating against the cage of her chest as she swallowed nervously.
"Don't you dare hurt him! I won't let you harm Inuyasha!"
He smirked at the realization that now, back to the way he was used to acting, to the cruel cold demon that she was used to fighting, she feared him. And she was so much easier to figure out when she was afraid.
"You love him."
She blinked, her grip on his arm loosening in surprise, and he had to wonder if maybe today had been too much for the poor girl…
"W-what? No!"
His slipped his arm easily out of her loosened grip, twisting so that he held her jaw between his fingers. Just tight enough to keep her close, to stare into her eyes until he could see the easily manipulated emotions behind them.
"If you didn't love him, then you wouldn't have gone to such an extent to keep me from hurting him."
She fidgeted slightly, her head twisting as she tried to get away, or at least continue shaking her head in denial.
"I protect all my friends! No matter what!"
He leaned close so he was just next to her ear, his breath sliding over the flesh as he whispered.
"You can't save him Kagome…he will die no matter what you do."
His fingers vanished from where they rested against her jaw, and as he stepped back, miasma slithering around him as he prepared to leave, he saw the beginnings of pure desperation in her eyes.
Alright…I know that Kagome simply freaking out to that extent upon finding the well shattered seems slightly OOC…but I have a reason! The well is the only way she gets back to her home, her time, and without she's stuck in the Feudal Era.
While she may want to do that much, much later, if only to stay with Inuyasha, she'd still want to at least tell her family goodbye. They don't know if she's dead, the well stopped working, or is she forgot about them…
Why she didn't snap out of it when Naraku appeared was because she still believes that her spell is there, added to the fact that he hasn't been acting as evil lately…When he was able to harm Inuyasha, it either meant the spell had a flaw in it, stopped working altogether or just didn't protect half demons… Hope that explains it…