Kagome was startled awake sometime later. She tried to sit up and get her bearings, disorientated fear clouding her memory of her company and location, but Inuyasha tightened his hold on her and shushed her quietly.

"Hey hey, it's ok. I've gotcha."

Hearing his voice calmed her racing heart and she looked up to see his face. In the deep darkness of night his eyes glowed predatory and inhuman, but also with warmth.

"Inuyasha? Where are we?"

"We're in a tree... we haven't slept alone the last two nights... I thought... I'll put you down if..."

She answered by snuggling up under his chin, basking in the heat that always radiated from him, and tangling her fingers in one of the long strands of silken silver hair trailing over his shoulder. His heartbeat picked up under her cheek and he just felt so solid and real and alive. Her soul mate was alive. He may not believe in soul mates himself, but she knew this was exactly where she was meant to be, and the happiness that hummed through her to the core of her being left her giddy as she drifted back to sleep nestled safely against his chest.

It was the best sleep she'd had in ages.

—————————————-

"Kagome, wake up."

A soft, gentle voice intruded her pink, fuzzy dreams. She ignored it and simply nuzzled back into the warmth surrounding her and faded back into sleep.

"Kagome, we have to get up now."

"Mph." She attempted to turn away from the voice, but something squeezed her and held her fast, keeping her unable to move.

Light, tentative kisses dropped across her forehead, nudging her bangs aside, soothing her back into sleep once more. The opposite affect it was supposed to have.

"C'mon wench. Wake up!"

"Leave m'lone."

A husky chuckle vibrating under her ear made her made her eyes finally flutter open. Sleepily she lolled her head back to see his face. He was staring at her with a goofy sort of grin and a touch of disbelief behind his eyes. She frowned at him and poked her lip out like a pouting child.

"You're mean. I was sleeping so well."

He chuckled again and slid out of the tree, helping her stand upright while the rest of the sleep clouding her brain tapered off.

"Sorry, but we really need to get back on the road if we're going to catch Naraku. And I thought you might want to use the hot spring again before-"

She was off like a shot, darting through the bushes straight for the warm water, leaving Inuyasha behind and amazed that a human woman could actually run that fast.

————————

The peaceful haze that had encapsulates them in their little camp last night burned off quickly as the sun rose higher and they got closer and closer to Naraku.

According to Inuyashas nose, he hadn't gone too far before he'd needed to stop and rest. And then he apparently hadn't started his journey again, not realizing that they could track him easily.

He was shocked and angry when they rushed into the clearing he was sitting in. He stood quickly, his tentacles bursting from wherever they hid when he wasn't using them and miasma pouring out on the ground around him. Kagome slid from Inuyasha back and got her bow ready.

"So, you idiots found me, how clever."

"Hard not to find a moron who runs in a straight line and then camps out in the open. I barely needed to track you horrific stench."

Naraku snarled and pulled out the little spherical hive he'd thrown at them last time, but as it flew through the air, Kagome pierced it with a purifying arrow that turned it to dust.

No longer ready with a diversion to help him escape again until he'd gained more power, Naraku launched into an attack. Inuyasha slashed at tentacles but Naraku was able to grow more in their place. Kagome kept an eye out for open shots where Inuyasha wouldn't be put at risk and sent purifying arrows directly at Naraku, but he simply sacrificed a few more tentacles that merely grew back again.

The constant barrage of purity did start causing him to slow down, which was a boon to them since fighting both of them was already a strain when he was at his strongest.

Naraku seethed at the unfairness of it all.

Without the jewel he was too week, and he'd yet to find anything that could offer even half as much power as the fabled Shiloh was supposed to offer. He had to keep looking, keep gaining power, keep getting stronger.

Then he could kill this stupid half dog and his bitch of a miko.

In the meantime...

"So, Inuyasha, how did you manage to find that horrid bitch Kikyo's reincarnation after I killed her? That's who she's got to be, and I'm not so stupid not to figure it out. How'd you convince yet another pure little miko to sully herself with the likes of you?"

"Shut up, you don't know anything. Leave Kagome out of this!" He growled in response, sending out a large wave of yoki blades from his claws. Naraku only managed to block most of them with his tentacles, wincing as a few strays sliced through his clothes and skin. He was weakening fast; he needed to get out of here.

"Kagome? Is that her name?"

"I said leave her out of it!"

He slowly drew Inuyasha closer to Kagome's position, wanting her to hear his taunts as well, hoping to sow enough discord between them that he could slip away.

"Ah, so protective of the little copy. Does she know how you use her? Have you told her of her predecessor that she's been substituted for?"

Kagome gasped and Inuyasha raged.

"No! Kagome, don't listen to him!" He attacked with increased fervor, nearly crazed at the scent of Kagome's hurt and sadness. Naraku laughed and dodged as best he could. Taking a few hits was worth this, as he would soon be on his way to a new hiding place.

"Poor, poor girl. Accepting the love of a mongrel, and its all a sham."

"Shut up!"

Kagome nearly choked on the torment that swept her soul.

'Being used... as a substitute... is that what I'm doing?' The thought destroyed her. She'd been so caught up in being complete once again, at no longer having that gaping, throbbing emptiness in her soul that she'd never even considered the possibility that she could be using Inuyasha as a substitute for the man she'd lost. He was just as much her soul mate as Kisho had been, their connected red strings were proof of that, but did that mean she'd come to love him honestly? He was too good and pure and kind and had been through too much to deserve any less than to be truly cared for. She felt sick, so so sick that she could be using him that she didn't notice when Naraku had angled himself close enough to strike at her with his gross mass of tentacles.

She flew a short distance and struck a tree, her head snapping back and cracking against the hard bark.

Inuyasha's horrified cry of her name was the last thing she was aware of before darkness took her away.