A/N: And so I am coming down to the end of my semester. Finals, moving out of my dorm room, going to work…(siiiiiigh). (wow that was written a while ago…)

Disclaimer: Nooooope

Last Chapter: The lizard demon attacked Kagome in the night, but Kilala ate it. Kagome slept later than usual, and in the afternoon a centipede demon attacked the group. Inuyasha, Kilala, Miroku, and Sango fought and defeated it, only to discover that Kagome had disappeared while they were distracted, and she beat the living daylights out of Shippo, who was watching over her to boot. Mrs. H received a lecture from Shinku about fate, and humankind's inability to leave things alone in the form of a scratchy retelling of The Tragedy of Oedipus. If you don't know it you should, it's excellent. Older than Shakespeare and cleverer too if I may say so.

Rampage

Trees towered around and over Kagome. A few were changing color, maples. Their leaves were preparing already for wintertime. Some were orange, but most were bright, fiery red—like Inuyasha's haori, or like fresh blood spurting from a wound. As she walked by them the colors leached together, oranges, yellows, red, and green. It was like viewing her world through a kaleidoscope, or perhaps through teary eyes.

The old woman led her on through the forest, over the brown, decaying leaf litter. Hills covered in ferns, some still green, others folding over onto themselves, dying away as if burned. Their colors ran together as well, making Kagome feel dizzy. Everywhere she looked the world was distorted.

She pulled away from the old woman's cold, clammy touch and bent over, holding her stomach.

The old woman stayed close. "What's the matter, child?" it was Kaede's voice, raspy, hoarse, and deep.

"My stomach." Kagome groaned. She tried to make her vision clear as she stared at the ground, willed herself to see the individual leaves coating the forest floor. There was nothing but decayed brown and the occasional strand of green, what she assumed was grass. "I can't see right."

She touched Inuyasha in her mind again, Please, what's wrong with me? This isn't Kaede…

Was he really Inuyasha?

Of course I'm me! The hanyou answered immediately, sounding irritated and insulted that she could entertain such a thought. And of course that's Kaede! Look Kagome, the poison is getting to you—it's making you see like that. It's making you think we're the enemy.

Kagome closed her eyes, fought dizziness and nausea. Why aren't you with me?

His answer was filled with tenderness, concern: I will be, as soon as I can.

"Child, it's just a little further." Kaede said, reaching out to her. "Just up that hill."

Kagome lifted her gaze, trying to follow the old woman's finger and the direction she was pointing in. The hill was a blob, a blur of browns and greens and grays. Light shimmered in from the canopy above and Kagome choked at it, averting her eyes. "I can't see it."

"I will guide you." Kaede reached out and grasped Kagome's arm. Her touch was cold and damp, almost slimy.

Kagome gasped and pulled away, half stumbling. "You're not Lady Kaede!" she gagged, doubling over, trying to hold back the contents of her stomach. "Why would the others have you lead me away like this?"

She turned, trying to head back in the direction they'd come, but Inuyasha's voice invaded her head, powerfully, shouting with panic.

Kagome! No! Go with Kaede, please! Dammit! The demon is going after you, run Kagome! Run!

"Child—you are too ill to journey on your own. You must come with me." Kaede told her, also sounding urgent.

"You're not Kaede." Kagome repeated, groaning and leaning against the nearest tree. She tried to push herself off, to disobey "Inuyasha" and "Kaede" by heading back the way they'd come, but her mind reeled. Dizziness swept over her—and something else too. Her extra senses, those of the miko, rose up within her. A demon was approaching, just as Inuyasha had said. It was fast, rushing toward her.

Fear made Kagome stumble backward. The leaf litter tripped her, she started to fall…

Warm hands took hold of her shoulders from behind, catching her. Kagome blinked and, with a rush of relief that broke over her like the sweat after a fever, recognized the blaze of red cloth, the brightness of silver-white hair, the peaks of dog ears, and the honey of keen, hawk-like eyes. "Inuyasha…"

She felt his warm arms scoop her up, gently. "I've got you Kagome."

Kagome grasped his haori and snuggled into him. With each breath her limbs grew heavier, her heart slowed. Her eyelids dipped shut, her body fell limp.

A wind rushed up over the couple from down the path. It was a rough gale, born suddenly. It shook the trees, disturbed the leaf litter and sent it flying. Dead leaves pelted Inuyasha and tugged at his hair. He stood, unmoving for the moment with the unconscious Kagome in his arms, staring down the path with a dark smile on his face.

The wind died as abruptly as it had come. Light, feminine feet set themselves on the path ahead of Inuyasha only a few yards away. Barefoot, they stepped forward, rippling a red and white striped kimono with each movement.

"It's about time." A deep, but young female voice complained.

"You would do well to keep quiet." Inuyasha warned her, but his voice was no longer that of the hanyou's. It had dropped and become smoother, silkier, smothering.

Kagura snapped her fan closed and the old woman—a corpse—that she had used to stand in as Kaede, fell uselessly on the path. "What do you want me to do now?" she turned round on the path and stared down it, narrowing her red eyes. "Am I to distract Inuyasha?"

"No, he doesn't need to battle us. There will be enough of our scent here that he will understand what's happened to his precious miko." Not-Inuyasha adjusted Kagome in his arms, smirking down at her limp body.

"And why not just kill her now?" Kagura demanded, crossing her arms impatiently and tapping her fan.

"Where's the fun in that, Kagura?" Naraku asked, chuckling sinisterly. He tapped Kagome's chin, caressed her face almost lovingly for a moment. Kagura watched him with narrowed, observant eyes. Naraku lifted his gaze then, inhaled quickly. "We must go. Inuyasha is coming after her."

Inuyasha barreled through the forest on all fours, sniffing. The scent was not hard to follow, he knew Kagome's distinct flavor very well. The other scent, however, bothered him. It was an old woman—a dead old woman. He crossed footprints, Kagome's slender feet and a thicker shorter set that must've been left by the old woman.

A dead old woman who left footprints…?

Panic was starting to swarm over him, driving him onward faster and faster. He had nearly crested the final hill when he caught two new scents—but in truth they weren't new at all. A chill passed through him, and rage as well. He raced upward, throwing up hunks and clods of dirt and dead leaves as he went. There was a shape ahead, lying on the ground, but Inuyasha knew it wasn't Kagome. The scent of death was strong inside his nostrils, setting him on edge.

The old woman's footsteps ended where she'd fallen in a heap, very clearly dead. Flies already buzzed over her body, trying to land and lay their eggs. Why would Kagome follow this old dead woman?

But he already knew the answer, it was their in the two new sets of footprints and in the new scents. Kagura and Naraku. Kagura had reanimated the old woman and somehow convinced Kagome to follow her. There were no signs of a struggle that he'd seen other than the torn wall of Kaede's hut and Shippo's injuries, but those were all things Kagome herself could've done. The footprints never spoke of a struggle between Kagome and the old woman, only one leading and the other following.

It hadn't been more than two minutes ago that Kagome had stood here…

Inuyasha felt his shoulders sagging, his ears drooping, and his heart hammering. There was a tightness in his chest, perhaps like a heart attack, something Kagome had told him about while she was studying in one of her silly textbooks. He groped within his mind, searching for their link…and found nothing.

His claws dug into the earth, he gritted his teeth. "Kagome!"

His call echoed off the trees, spooked the birds out of their roosts in a loud clatter of wings. When a couple flew over his head, Inuyasha leapt at them slashing. Feathers and blood flew through the air; one of the birds fell out of the air like a stone, in pieces.

Naraku had taken Kagome from him, right out from under his nose. He'd failed her and the unborn pup growing within her. Thoughts, emotions, everything, spun uncontrollably inside his skull. He tried to think coherently, tried to plot out a plan to bring her back, to save her, but the panic and the grief were immense, swallowing all of his logical thoughts. Over and over he touched the link, and over and over found nothing there.

Blindly he returned, still on all fours, to the last spot where he could see her footprints. They scuffed the leaf litter, falling or stumbling. Then there were no more tracks. No other scents, just Naraku and Kagura. Kagome had been barefoot, weaponless.

Roaring like an animal, Inuyasha lashed out at the nearest tree, slashing out its trunk. The thing creaked and groaned and then cracked, lurching to one side. Inuyasha rammed his body into it, forcing it over the rest of the way. He didn't stay to watch it fall, but rather tore out the guts of the next tree, sending it to join its partner.

Where would Naraku take Kagome? Why wouldn't he stay to fight? They'd come in this perfect moment…

The pieces of the puzzle eluded Inuyasha. He attacked another tree and let out another helpless cry: "Kagome!"

Kilala had taken to the air, with Sango clinging to her back. In Sango's lap the unconscious, beaten Shippo groaned, slowly regaining consciousness. Sango didn't pause in her search of the world below when she tried to speak to the kit. "Shippo—you're awake?"

"What?" he muttered, moving only weakly, touching his face tentatively and then yelping with pain. "What's going on?"

"I was going to ask you that." She pinched her lips together, troubled. "Do you remember what happened? Do you know where Kagome is?"

Shippo held tightly to Kilala's fur as they dove sharply through the air. His head throbbed, everything hurt. The only answer he could summon up was a moan.

"There he is." Sango murmured, and Kilala growled. Their descent steepened, the tree tops came closer. Shippo watched as a few of them wavered, slightly at first, and then violently, the whole tree shaking. He heard the crack as it snapped and started to fall.

And then Kilala entered the canopy and set down in the forest. Sango shouted, "Inuyasha!"

The hanyou was moving between the trees, attacking them. His ears were flat against his skull, his eyes narrowed down to slits. He didn't move as a human, but rather more like an animal, bounding on all fours. When Sango called his name he didn't respond, as if the word had no meaning to him, as if he didn't recognize it at all.

"Dammit." Sango cursed, "He's gone mad."

Shippo swallowed nervously, "W-what?"

Sango ignored him and urged Kilala forward. She clung tightly to the fire cat's mane. Her face was set, grim, and determined. The cat anticipated her master's needs. She moved alongside Inuyasha, growling to get his attention.

"Inuyasha!" Sango yelled, "You must listen to me! Calm down! Naraku wants you to react this way! Inuyasha!"

The hanyou whirled at last to face her, crouched low, like an animal. He bared his teeth like a dog and growled. "Where would he take her?" Inuyasha shouted, so loudly that both Shippo and Sango cringed. "Where!" he roared, and turned his back on them, lunging at the trees again.

Kilala made a small, low noise in the back of her throat, expressing hopelessness. Sango drew a deep breath and sat back, trying to straighten her posture with as little pain as possible. "We have to get him to stop this."

"How?" Shippo gulped.

Sango released her grip on Kilala with one hand and grabbed hold of hiraikotsu on her back. She let it fly, shouting a warning with it. The massive boomerang whipped through the trees and cut in a circular path around Inuyasha, cutting into some of the trees he was closest to. This drew his attention more than words ever could: violence, threat, an enemy. He whirled round to face her, crouched on all fours. He didn't spring, which told Sango he wasn't completely mad, not yet anyway.

"Inuyasha!" Shippo yelled, "Snap out of it! Knocking down trees isn't going to help us find Kagome!"

The hanyou was no longer seeing them clearly. He growled, brandishing his claws and baring his teeth just before he rushed at them. Kilala leapt out of the way, but with only microseconds to spare. Inuyasha slashed at a tree on the opposite side of the path. A small furry mammal, a rabbit or a rat, squealed and tried to run away through the underbrush. Inuyasha caught it with one bound and tore the innocent creature limb from limb.

Sango watched him with an unwavering, grim gaze. "Shippo—I want you to run and find Lady Kaede and Miroku. Tell them to bring something to force him to sleep."

"Sango?" Shippo asked, choking with shock and rising grief.

"Go!" she batted at him with one hand, "Now!"

The kit jumped from Kilala and dashed away as fast as he could. Inuyasha spotted the movement and turned to chase him, but Kilala blocked his path. The hanyou snarled and slashed blindly, wildly, at the fire cat. "Get out of my way!"

"No! Inuyasha, focus on my voice—we'll find Kagome. Do you hear me?"

He heard her, but to the hanyou it was only noise, meaningless noise, wordless sounds rising out of a human's throat. And that human stood in his way. He snarled at her, fixing her in his sights, gazing at her with eyes that had lost their pupils, becoming blood red.

Naraku carted the peaceful, limp body of the reincarnated priestess deep into the small human palace he had claimed—for just this event. He continued to wear his false form, Inuyasha's appearance. The red-robed, white-eared and bright hair of the hanyou was unmistakable inside the darkened, shadowed walls of the palace. Black-inked paintings decorated the fusuma screen walls, appearing dark and perhaps crusted, like dried and ancient blood.

Kagura followed him, arms crossed, her face set in a sour, embittered expression. She watched stonily as Naraku stepped into a small room in the far back and set the sleeping miko onto the floor neatly. He took the time to arrange her limbs, lying her arms at her sides, straightening her long legs, even smoothing the girl's messy, dirty green kimono. Kagura watched silently, her eyes narrowed carefully.

Naraku paused before stepping away from the girl. Slowly, he reached out and took a gentle hold of her chin with his falsely-clawed fingertips. Then, as if she'd burned him, Naraku pulled back, making a tiny hissing sound.

"What is it?" Kagura asked, shifting position and taking a step forward, as if ready to either attack her master or offer aid.

"This girl…" Naraku began, speaking in Inuyasha's voice except with a slower pace, a deeper pitch, and delicately enunciated words, "I had not realized…"

Kagura saw Naraku's hands twitching at his side. At first she thought it was a sign that he was beginning to reject the false form he was wearing, but when his hands curled into fists and he stepped back from the girl's body, she realized it was something more profound. Naraku's face, or rather Inuyasha's, was set in a cold, solemn glare—and the glare was directed at the girl.

"Is there something wrong?" she asked, letting herself relax and reveal her genuine interest. "This is the girl you wanted, is she not? She possessed the ability to see the Shards of the Jewel…"

Naraku flicked his red—even in his false form mimicking Inuyasha those eyes were dark, blood red—and the little motion silenced Kagura's questions. "Leave, Kagura."

The wind demon blinked for a moment, baffled, and then turned her back on him, stepping out of the room and moving down the hall without another word.

Alone inside the room, Naraku's shoulders shuddered for a moment, and a fine layer of dust fell from him, like water from a dog's coat when it shakes. The dust scattered when it hit the floor, vanishing into thin air. Now Naraku stood in the room without his false form. Dark-haired and red-eyed. He drew a slow, deep breath, stretching faintly as his body relaxed and became comfortable in its real skin again.

At last he turned his attention back to the sleeping miko. She had the soul of a priestess, through and through. That had always been true of her, but one thing had changed. Kikyo's soul had joined with this miko some time ago, as had been apart of Naraku's plan. Their two souls could not exist indefinitely apart from one another, and because this miko was still living she had the right-of-way. For years Kikyo had held onto her own tiny bit of their shared soul, the bitter, broken, and mournful thing that it was, and she'd functioned almost as a living creature.

And during that time she had always been a thorn in his side. Time and time again he'd tried to kill her. Kikyo's powers terrified the demon within him, but there were remnants of Onigumo as well, and he was weakened in Kikyo' presence. It was hard to kill her, and so, as was his style, Naraku found a way around it.

As he'd lost most of the Sacred Jewel in a battle some time ago—that Jewel now rested around this miko's neck, purified and controlled—Naraku had lied low, plotting. He feared Kikyo's purifying powers, and longed to be rid of them, but dared not engage her directly, especially without the help of the Jewel. His minions encountered the priestess sometimes, and gradually Naraku became aware that Inuyasha's group and Kikyo rarely crossed paths. In fact, the dead priestess avoided Inuyasha and the others. He came to realize that this was because Kikyo could only withstand her reincarnation's presence for a short period of time. Any longer and her scrap of a soul tried to leave her for its larger, and living half.

The miko before him had been like a well to Kikyo. The reincarnation fed Kikyo, and her living presence had kept Kikyo's soul tied to the earth with more strength than she otherwise ever would've had. When Kikyo was gravely injured in battles with Naraku or other foes, she needed only to lie in wait as her soul drew increments of power from her reincarnation's larger soul. In other instances the reincarnation herself healed Kikyo—she was the only one that could.

The reincarnation was Kikyo's greatest strength, and her greatest weakness. Naraku realized attacking Kikyo was pointless. It was like stripping the leaves from a tree. As long as the roots remained, it would live onward, making new leaves. Instead of stripping away leaves, he had to rip out the roots. So he sent out the snake demon, fatally poisoning Kikyo's reincarnation. Kikyo, realizing that the well-source of her soul was dying, was irresistibly drawn back to it. She had joined with her reincarnation, losing herself as Naraku had planned, and at long last relieving him of that thorn in his side.

But although that had gone according to plan, the miko he'd captured now, Inuyasha's mate, was not as he'd anticipated. The weakness inside Naraku still looked at her with desire, with something bordering on tenderness. Not only did she appear as a look-alike to Kikyo, which he'd already known, but now she felt like one to him as well. Kikyo's added soul into the reincarnation's made her powerful and dangerous. Originally he'd hoped for the opposite, that Kikyo's soul would be drowned out in the reincarnation's, and her power would be lost. But it seemed that with Kikyo's contribution added into the mix, the reincarnation was just as powerful as Kikyo, perhaps even more so now that she was whole.

He tentatively touched on the link that Eki the lizard had died to get him. The girl's mind was blurry and unclear, but her dreams were of Inuyasha's arms, the safety and security of them. Naraku smirked smugly. Yes, you are safe here, miko…

Deep within her mind, shielded away so that she was unaware of him completely, Naraku could feel the real Inuyasha, clamoring for her, desperate, and mad with worry and grief and the sense that he had failed her…

Chuckling, Naraku left the room, walking down the dark hallway slowly until he found Kagura relaxed against the walls, snapping her fan open and closed, open and closed. When she heard his footsteps she stopped and slid the fan into her robes. "What do you look so happy about?" she demanded, frowning.

Naraku didn't bother to dwell on her usual bitterness, her usual plots of escape and freedom and the flowing wind and whatever else it was that entertained her. Instead he plunged right into business. "Adjust the wind, Kagura. Let Inuyasha scent his miko here and come after us."

Kagura's lips turned downward, she opened her mouth to say something else, but Naraku had already turned his back on her and started down the hallway again. With a quick roll of her eyes, Kagura stepped outside and reached to the back of her head, plucking one of the small, downy feathers that grew there.

"If he wants wind, I'll give him wind." She muttered.

Inuyasha leapt at Sango and Kilala, snarling like an animal, claws raised and flexed in a position that was ready to draw blood—ready to kill. The fire cat yowled and twisted away from him, evading the hanyou's vicious claws. Sango held onto her mane tightly, gritting her teeth with fresh pain. If she fell from Kilala she would be at Inuyasha's mercy, his insanity, and his speed. She was in no condition to keep him at bay for long, and she couldn't kill him.

"Inuyasha!" she called again, breathing roughly, "You now I'm not your enemy, please!" she watched the hanyou whirl back to face her and Kilala in their new position and crouch, preparing to spring. How had Kagome reclaimed the hanyou when he'd been too far gone? How had she snapped him back into his senses…?

Sit.

It wouldn't work, she knew, but she tried it anyway as Inuyasha launched himself at her, flying through the air like a spirit, like a cat pouncing on prey. "Sit!"

The hanyou faltered, cringing and moving away from her, growling. He shook his head, making his ears flop loosely. He remembered that word, remembered its power over him, but now that it had been used without result he would start to forget it. For now, however, Inuyasha was stunned and forced to recall the woman in charge of that word and its power over him. His eyes cleared as he lifted his gaze to Sango and Kilala. He blinked dazedly and then his arms started to shake.

"Kagome?" he breathed her name, remorsefully, and his whole body started to quiver, from his toes to his ears. He was searching Sango as if he couldn't recognize her, as if she were a stranger to him, and the longer he looked the darker his expression became as he realized she wasn't Kagome.

"Inuyasha, listen to me! Try to think clearly! We'll find Kagome—but we need your nose! You have to stop attacking everything…" her lips parted, exposing her clenched teeth in a silent maw of pain and frustration. Inuyasha was fast losing interest in her. His eyes were darkening; the gleam of intelligence was fading. His shaking was turning into more violent, enraged spasms. His claws flexed, readying themselves for the kill.

And then, abruptly, there was a rushing sound, the trees that were still standing around them whooshed and sighed in a fresh breeze. Dust flew up into the air, making Inuyasha's breathing change into a wheeze as it irritated his sensitive nose. Sango lifted one arm up to cover her own nose and eyes. Kilala winced, blinkingly. The breeze carried a stink of decay with it, a rotting odor. Sango could only smell it faintly, but Kilala and Inuyasha caught it at once. Sango felt the fire cat stiffen beneath her and in the same instant, Inuyasha let loose with an inhuman noise, a howl that made the fine hairs all over her body stand on edge.

Losing all interest in her, Inuyasha turned his back on the fire cat and the demon slayer, facing the wind. He was panting and crouched on all fours. He growled out a word that Sango barely recognized as an intelligible word: "Naraku."

He rushed into that breezy wind, into the shadow of the trees. He rammed into one, clumsily, and slashed at it with his claws, sending the innocent tree falling as its trunk splintered into a thousand pieces of bark, splattering sap, and dust.

"We can't let him go yet, Kilala." Sango ordered, holding on tightly. The fire cat yowled and raced forward, taking flight. She wheeled through the air, maneuvering until she was ahead of and parallel to the rampaging hanyou below her. Trees shuddered as Inuyasha passed through them, branches bowed and shook as he leapt from them or landed on them. Sango released her grip on Kilala with one hand and reached for Hiraikotsu. She took a deep breath and nudged Kilala with one foot, directing the fire cat lower and perpendicular to Inuyasha's path. They descended, threading their way between the trees at high speed.

The hanyou was leaping forward, a red blur, like blood spurting from a fatal wound. Sango took aim and lifted the boomerang, shouting as she let it fly. "Hiraikotsu!"

It carved through the trees, splintering them and knocking them into Inuyasha's path. The clumsy, rage-driven hanyou crashed into one of them as it was falling. He didn't cry out, merely slashed furiously, cutting the tree into pieces. But other debris was falling down around him, and not all of it could be avoided. A massive tree branch careened down from the canopy, smashing into Inuyasha just as he forced his way through the first falling tree. It caught him, knocking him to the ground, and pinning him.

The boomerang whipped through the air, finding its way easily back to its master. Sango extended her arm and caught the weapon, though the effort made her cry out and stumble, nearly falling. She pulled on Kilala's mane, signaling her to land.

Kilala landed about twenty feet away. The wind ruffled her mane, tossed her two tails about. She made a low sound in her throat, a noise of concern or doubt as Sango grunted, heaving herself off of the fire cat's back.

"Go get the others, Kilala—hurry." Her face was grim, her jaw squared and tightly clenched.

The fire cat's ears lowered worriedly while her eyes watched the trees, still clattering and thudding as they landed in a heap of destruction. As they came to a rest, they continued to move, not with gravity any longer, but now with an upward force created by a snarling, vicious hanyou that had taken leave of his senses.

Sango slapped at Kilala's flank. "Go…"

The fire cat ducked her head in agreement and leapt into the air, vanishing swiftly into the sky with a last roar of fire. Sango watched her go for one moment too long…

The heap of fallen trees split apart, flying wildly in every direction. Splintered pieces of wood flew in every direction like shrapnel from a bomb. A sword-sized piece flew past Sango's face, smacking into a tree a few feet away from her and driving itself into the trunk, deeply. Sap bubbled out around it. Sango's attention was drawn to the impact in that microsecond, and then in the next she was aware that this was not the only piece of shrapnel…

Pain hit her in several places. Along her side, in her leg, in her forearm. Sango stumbled, barely catching herself with one hand on the ground. She bit her tongue, forcing herself to keep the cries of pain inside. Her eyes focused on the ground. Ants scurrying, a little caterpillar chewing on a blade of grass, a fern ducking near her face, its feathery touch brushing her cheek…and if she looked a little to her left she'd see the little dribble of crimson red as well as her blood spilled into the tawny dirt, disturbing the ants.

A snarling sound reached her ears and Sango collapsed a little more, catching herself on her uninjured knee and turning to the source of the noise. Inuyasha was emerging from the fallen trees, stepping over them slowly, stiffly. He was seemingly uninjured with his run in with them, and for that Sango was both pleased and full of despair at once. If the hanyou was still running at peak efficiency physically—she was doomed.

"Inuyasha…" she choked out his name, wheezing. "Please! It's me, it's Sango…"

He glared at her, golden eyes narrowed, but only for a moment. his interest in her waned almost at once as the wind picked up, blowing the stink of Naraku toward him and…something different. His face transformed from a simple glare to a raging snarl filled with pain and disgust. "Kagome…"

He howled again, dropping to all fours and crushing a few tree branches between his claws. They cracked and splintered, six inched thick but breaking under his grip like toothpicks or hay.

Sango watched him, whimpering and grimacing with pain, struggling to hold herself up. Her blood was beading as it hit the ground, like red pearls. She grunted, pushing herself up and snatching the large shrapnel that stuck out from the tree at her side. Standing upright hurt intensely, white hot pain shot through her side as the splinters and daggers of wood moved with her muscles. More blood splattered, pushed out with her effort.

Inuyasha tensed, leaping into the trees above them, ready to move on in his desperate, mindless search for his mate.

Sango saw and sensed the red blur moving above her, getting away. She slammed her right shoulder into the tree, wincingly, and reached with her uninjured right hand for Hiraikotsu. She let it fly off balance, using everything she had left within her to do it. The boomerang smacked into Inuyasha, pushing him out of the trees mid-leap. The hanyou fell heavily to the ground with a growl. Hiraikotsu landed nearby, sticking into the ground by one end, pointing upright like a monolith to its fallen prey and its fallen master.

Trembling, Sango fell onto her side. She cried out as she landed, feeling warm, sticky wetness coating her entire left side. Breathing hurt, moving was agony. When she finally summoned the courage to look at her side, Sango whimpered pathetically. There was shrapnel, bits of wood, sticking out of her everywhere. She looked like a porcupine.

Inuyasha was snarling, growling, sounding less like a bipedal humanoid creature every passing second. He was on his feet again, this time with her destruction in mind. Sango could feel his footsteps thumping on the ground, moving toward her. The popping sound of his knuckles reached her as well.

She tried to speak but her voice was weak. There would be no way for her to escape Inuyasha. They would have to kill each other. Sango closed her eyes, fighting tears of both pain and hopelessness as she reached for her belt, for the small, thin sword she kept there. She gripped the handle and positioned herself so that she would be able to roll and thrust it at the hanyou with minimal effort…

"Sango!" a male voice shouted, high pitched, frantic. The demon slayer blinked once, letting her eyes be blinded by the light from the now open canopy, the sunlight peeking down. She saw Kilala's form, the fire leaping around her feet. She was coming in close, swooping overhead.

Something heavy landed next to her in the next second, and Sango found herself blinking at a set of sandals and dark, purple black robes. "Inuyasha!" Miroku shouted, thrusting out his hand in warning, "Stay back!"

The hanyou was too far gone to respond. He cracked his knuckles again, preparing to strike. He lunged forward and Miroku hefted his staff, slugging the hanyou across the face. Inuyasha backpedaled, snarling. His nose was spurting a small amount of blood now, completely ignored by him. Miroku had lifted his arm again, showing the cursed palm warningly. He was gripping the prayer beads that controlled the wind tunnel and resting his staff against one shoulder. "I won't let him harm you, Sango." He murmured.

Sango had not yet released her grasp on her sword, but she found herself trying to chuckle, though no sound came out and the movements of her chest only caused more pain. "Too late, Houshi…"

From above them, Shippo's voice cried out: "Look out!" Kilala flew overhead, whirling and whipping past the demon slayer and the monk. She roared, coming in low. Shippo was perched on her head, holding a small cloth, carefully wrapped. As the fire cat raced toward Inuyasha, the hanyou ducked, rolling away, and Shippo shouted, "Fox fire!"

The hanyou wasn't his target; instead his little flame was aimed at the sack he was holding. The cloth burst into flame and Shippo threw it away from him and Kilala. It flew through the air, landing several feet shy of where Inuyasha had stopped rolling, rising to his feet again. The sack burst open explosively as it hit the ground. A mist and fog rose from it, expanding outward rapidly. The fog engulfed Inuyasha, letting the others see only his shadow and hear his deep throated growling.

Miroku knelt over Sango and tentatively tried to take a hold of her. "I have to get you away from here…" his violet eyes skirted over her form and fear took hold of his face like a mask. There was no place to grab Sango. She was covered in grit, in wood shrapnel, and blood. Touching her in any way would only cause more pain and damage. He choked, feeling dread and grief trying to well up in his throat. "Sango…"

"Leave me." she ordered through gritted teeth.

"The mist is poisonous to humans." Miroku protested, touching her uninjured shoulder with one hand, and her cheek with the other. "I won't leave you here." He steeled himself for what he had to do, closing his eyes and drawing a deep, shaky breath. "Forgive me, love." He reached out and grasped a few of the wood projectiles sticking out of her and pulled them out.

Sango screamed through her gritted teeth, her hands clenched into fists, her eyes closed tightly. Miroku's own filled with tears as he tossed aside the first handful of shrapnel and reached for another. They fell as he tore them out and Sango's body snapped taut, her second scream was somehow worse than the first.

In the fog, Inuyasha was moving sluggishly, slashing blindly. His eyes were streaming, his breathing was shallow. Each step taken was wobblier than the last. Kilala circled overhead, yowling to distract him while Shippo peeked over her side, watching everything from his safe perch. "Miroku and Sango!" he pointed and tugged on Kilala's ear.

The fire cat landed beside them, her eyes were locked onto the rolling, thick fog. Inuyasha's shadow was still visible, lit by the sunlight streaming through the ruined canopy. It wavered, stumbled, and at last fell flat, disappearing. The sounds of his attacking the mist, the shadows projected onto it by his own crazed mind, disappeared. The mist kept spreading, expanding with the wind that still brought the stink of Naraku on it.

Shippo was shouting on her back, "Hurry Miroku!"

The monk took Sango into his arms, pressing his arms around the largest of her bleeding wounds, trying to staunch them. Blood spilled over his robes, over his hands. Sango was limp now, unconscious. He dragged her to Kilala and hefted her, as carefully as he could, onto the fire cat's back. He sheltered her against his chest as if she were a child. Blood dribbled onto Kilala's white fur.

As the fire cat leapt into the air and circled over the carnage below, escaping the poisonous mist, Shippo glanced back at the monk and the unconscious demon slayer. Miroku was holding Kilala's mane tightly with one hand and steadying Sango with the other. His face was grim and silent tears clouded his eyes, spilled down his face. They cleared pathways of clean, polished skin as they passed over his cheeks, washing away the grit from their battles.

The kit whimpered helplessly, feeling his own bruises from Kagome's strange attack aching him. Big tears formed in his eyes and he shed them unrestrainedly. He half-curled up onto Kilala's head, crying into her fur, filled with despair.

Lady Kaede sat outside of her ruined hut, squinting her single eye through the sunlight. Her hands, as yet unwashed from Shippo's frantic visit demanding something that would put Inuyasha to sleep to stop his madness, were still full of the mixed herbs she'd used. One sleeve was gone as well, given up to the same cause, cut away by a frantic monk.

Minutes had passed since they'd left to rescue Sango and stop Inuyasha, but to Kaede they felt like years. An entire winter, spring, and summer had passed over and she had been left sitting still, waiting for their return or their failure. Her bones ached anew with the oncoming of wintertime, with the approach of the fall rains, bitter and cold and cleansing.

At last she heard the ripping, roaring sound of Kilala's fiery feet as she flew by overhead and circled, landing in front of the hut and the waiting priestess. Kaede opened her eye slowly, refusing to feel either hope or dread. What she saw wasn't cause for celebration, but she suspected that none of them had died, which was in itself, only a little bit of good news. A wound could still kill, as could disease or fever or the herbs she'd mixed to restrain Inuyasha.

Miroku came first, carrying Sango swiftly forward, clutched in his embrace like a sleeping child. But Kaede's single eye was still sharp; she caught the blood over Kilala's fur and staining the monk's robes a dark, evil black. Kilala walked forward after him, Shippo perched on her head and sobbing, and laid out over her back was a red clothed shape, trailing a mane whiter than Kilala's own cream fur.

"Lady Kaede." Miroku murmured, his voice was thick, his eyes red rimmed.

The old priestess nodded, "Take her inside, I will only be a moment."

The monk nodded and walked past her for the hut. He moved as one carrying a fragile, priceless treasure. To think, Kaede thought, that the demon slayer could ever doubt the foolish monk's love for her…

She heaved herself up from the ground and approached the fire cat. From inside her sleeve she produced a necklace strung together with delicate bird bones and riddled with teeth from the centipede demon that the others had slain only minutes before. She held it out to Shippo. "You must place this around Inuyasha's neck, child."

The kit was crying softly, but now he lifted his green eyes to her perplexedly. "But, Lady Kaede, he already has one…"

"This one will be under your control, child. It will be the only way to keep him here. I have altered the spell to clear his mind of emotion and to dull his youkai half." She held it out to the kit in shaking hands and watched as Shippo sniffled and cautiously took the thing, handling the brittle necklace as if it might bite him.

Kaede reached out and grabbed the hanyou's arms, pulling him from Kilala's back and lying him flat. She knelt, groaningly, at his head and laid her ear to his lips, listening. When she pushed herself upright again she nodded and gestured to Shippo. "Now, child. While he sleeps…"

Shippo leapt from Kilala's head and hurried forward on all fours, only keeping one hand held up with the necklace dangling from it. He reached Inuyasha's head and, as Kaede lifted the hanyou's head up, he slipped it around his neck with shaking, quaking hands. As Kaede let Inuyasha's head lay flat once more, she said, "You must choose the command now—make it one you will say frequently. He will need the spell often."

Shippo had begun to cry again, whimpering. He stared down at the hanyou who had so often chased him, teased him, and bopped him over the head. It was easy to choose. "Stop." He muttered thickly, through his tears. "Stop, Inuyasha."

The new necklace lit up, glowing white. As the spell activated, Inuyasha's dog ears quivered, shrinking and spurting a tan, flesh toned color briefly and then returning to normal size and color. His body shuddered and then he released a long sigh, his body relaxing.

Kaede nodded. "You have done well, child." she heaved herself up from her knees, groaning again with the effort. "Watch him." With that she turned and began walking to the hut, ready to attend Sango's wounds and Miroku's heartache.

And I am done!