Hope no one minds that the chapter title has nothing to do with the story itself. Actually, the story title comes from the Matchbox 20 song 'Disease,' as I found stuff like 'I got a disease/deep inside it makes me feel uneasy baby . . .' and other lyrics very appropriate for the inner struggle that I'm constantly putting poor Sesshoumaru through. But I was listening to the Beatles when I wrote this, and so I dedicate it to 'Why Don't We Do It In the Road.' The song is basically 'why don't we do it in the road, why don't we do it in the road, no one will be watching us, why don't we do it in the road?' over and over again. So there's really nothing similar to anything in here . . . unless you guys want Sesshoumaru and Kagome to do it in the road . . .

*

I stared at the ceiling all night long, once he had ensured that I returned to my quarters safely. I could tell nothing from his actions (did kissing me count? Because if that was an action, then I liked what I could tell.) nor from his tone, and so confusion reigned supreme. I had started to slip through the slightly open door, totally silent in case anyone was asleep, but he grabbed me by the shoulder and planted a hard, unyielding kiss on my mouth before stalking off into the dark hallway. And then, as though I was tired, I lay down and tried to sleep.

Sango was the first to notice, at the light of dawn, that I was still staring at the ceiling. "Kagome?" she asked skeptically. "Are you awake already?"

I nodded. "Yeah. I'm not really tired right now."

Inuyasha stirred at the sound of our voices. "What are you guys doing awake already?" he asked groggily.

"Nothing," I said automatically

"I guess you got back all right," Miroku commented, his voice muffled by his arms, which doubled for a pillow at the time.

"Fine."

"I don't trust Sesshoumaru," Inuyasha muttered, stretching his limbs. "This is just too weird, letting us stay here when he initially tried to kill me the other day."

"You started it," Sango reminded him. "In case you've forgotten."

"I was mad."

"We noticed."

"You tried to kill each other?" I repeated, almost the most I had said all morning.

"Inuyasha threw a temper tantrum—he thought Sesshoumaru had been the one to take you that night," Sango told me tiredly. "They fought until they could come to an agreement—it must be a genetic thing," she added. "They were both so eager to find a reason to kill each other."

I rolled over, barely paying attention to her words. I was so lost. Peachy keens. What do I do now? Run up to Sesshoumaru and give him a big kiss the next time I see him? . . .Nah. Wait it out. See where it goes—if he wants to push for anything, fine by me. But I'm not going to make the same mistake as last time and get myself thinking that it could happen.

I had to put up with him being indecisive and standoff-ish once. It's his turn.

*

Sesshoumaru

Fool. You damned insane fool! What in the hell did you think you were doing? What do you plan on doing? Certainly you don't intend on carrying on a relationship with this—this human! Do you presume to follow in the footsteps of your father? His love for humans killed him! It started with just scorn from his realm, then disgust, then hatred!

As though I'm foolish enough to even consider keeping her. It will pass.

Will it? You thought this silly attraction would pass, as well—two years have passed, nothing else! You attempted to indulge yourself once before, and your only option was to flee like a coward. Leave her to Naraku.

It is nothing; a simple fetish is all.

Really. Look at what spawned you—you are already at risk of making the same mistake. Don't do it knowingly.

I make no mistakes. Should things turn for ill, then it is because I meant for it to.

So what do you plan to do about it?

I . . .

You don't even know. How do you plan to keep her alive, anyways? Surely you don't mean to protect her yourself.

There was no decent reply I could come up with to counter this new voice in my mind. I did not know if it was my long-treasured dignity or perhaps a conscience, although I saw no reason for it to be the latter. In my many hundreds of years walking this earth, I had not faced problems from my conscience and I saw no reason for it to surface now.

A tug at the leg of my pants, and I met the dark gaze of Rin, a little surprised but too proud to admit it. Fortunately, however, I was pulled from my angst-ridden thoughts, and so I did not dwell on being caught unawares.

"Sesshoumaru," Rin began innocently, "who's the pretty lady?"

"A demon exterminator."

"No," she sighed condescendingly, "the other one! The one that you . . . um . . ."

"From the woods?" I pressed, trying to sound bored for her sake. Any other tone of voice made her suspicious (insightful child; I raised her well), and I had no idea what I would sound like if I quit trying.

She shrugged, still looking straight up. "Yeah, and the one you were—um—" she seemed to be looking for the word and been rendered unable to find it. Her hands released my pants and gestured feebly, but she didn't seem to know what gesture to make, either. "Last night," she explained, "when Rin—I—had to go get water, you were with the pretty lady outside and . . . um . . ." her tiny face scrunched up with concentration before she sighed heavily. "I don't know. You did something—" she put the tips of her index fingers together and held them up, and I suddenly realized what she was talking about. "—and then you took her inside. She's pretty."

The very irrational desire to rub my eyes with irritation and discomfort arose suddenly, but I squashed it. So she had been a peeping Tom, eh? Perhaps she was spending too much time with Jaken, whose business was his own but seemed to be under the impression that my business was his own as well. Rin's little face scrunched up in concentration. "Why do you do that?" she asked plainly.

"Do what?" I asked with an impatient sigh.

"What—what you were doing last night," she explained. "Kissing," she declared suddenly.

"If you plan on becoming a good spy someday," I told her warningly, "I would advise you not to tell people when you've spied on them." Although it was questions like that every day that made me well aware of the fact that Rin was growing up in leaps and bounds, and I was slowly realizing that she would want answers for her question someday. I wasn't her father; why was this suddenly my job? Is that how I was to be repaid for taking her in as I did? I supposed that someday, when the time came, I would sit her down and answer her questions to the best of my comfort zone (which was limited here), or perhaps give her a book to read about it. I certainly had no intentions of doing what my father had done to me when I was barely seventy, which was lock me alone in a room with a cat-demon who hadn't quite learned how to control her retracting claws just yet. He had made for the door as soon as I realized what was going on and bid me an evil 'Have fun' as he slipped out of the room and bolted the door. Very few things can restrain an angry demon such as myself, especially when I was young, but that door and the walls surrounding me did a fine job. I was not permitted to leave for nearly six hours of almost straight torture. Almost. I grudgingly accepted that maybe three minutes of it was worth doing again—many times since my freedom from that prison, actually—but I never truly forgave my father for placing me in a situation that destroyed my pride so. But a tortured child makes for a strong man, I have learned.

Rin moved on very quickly. "When are you leaving again?"

"The end of the week."

"Why?"

"To do business."

She sighed. "Rin never gets to go."

"This time, I envy you." The departure she spoke of was a long-overdue border dispute between myself and the Lady of the Northern Lands, who was insufferable to say the least. She was easily thousands of years old and thought she was the gods' gift to—well, to me, but I have been known for my patience. When your life is as long as mine, patience becomes as natural as breathing.

"If Rin can't go with you, can I go with Inuyasha and the pretty lady?"

Sometimes, anyways.

"They leave in the morning," I told her, "before the sun comes up. If you wish to be up when it's still dark, then you are free to do as you wish."

Her eyes were wide. "Will they leave really early?"

"Yes."

"Will there still be stars?"

"Yes."

"Is it early before the sun's even gone down in the morning?" she asked with fascination. I hesitated a moment before answering that, if only to figure out what the hell she'd just said. But naturally, to Rin, if you were to leave so early that the sun hadn't even gone down, well, then it was very early indeed.

She sighed heavily when I nodded, in imitation of when I was exasperated. "Then Rin will stay and dress up Jaken again. Inuyasha's nice," she added.

"Do not grow so attached to him. He departs in the morning with the rest of his company."

"'m not," she said defensively. "I didn't kiss him."

I began to protest, but thought better of it when I realized that she wasn't even ten yet and it would be futile to argue with her. "You had best mind your own business," I told her instead, a warning in my voice.

The distinct sound of arguing made me look up, and I saw Inuyasha and Kagome making their way to us, deep in conversation. They were far enough away that they seemed out of earshot, but their conversation was as clear as day to me.

" . . . shouldn't have been nosing around in his library anyways," Inuyasha was saying irritably.

"Coulda, shoulda, woulda, did," she said back. "The point is, we need Kaede for this. I've never dabbled in magic before—I'll botch it up."

"She's too old to perform that kind of spell. I don't care what you say, she'll tell you the same thing: she just can't do it anymore. Thirty years ago, I wouldn't have even considered going to anyone else, but hey. I was stuck to a tree and this wasn't a problem. And you've done magic every time you purify your arrows!"

"Yeah, but that's magic from within!"

"No difference, this magic comes from the same place—you just have to use words to convey it."

"And besides, I can only barely translate the language this spell is in. Kaede knows everything ever spoken on this earth, no matter when it happened. I can't memorize an entire spell in another language and hope to make it work!"

"Would you quit arguing? All I'm saying is, this was your idea and we can't rely on everyone and their dog to throw in and help us! I already think it's stupid for Miroku to help. You cast the spell and then I take care of him with the Tetsusuiga, end of story."

"It won't be that easy and you know it. How many thousands of demons will you have to deal with after the spell? Sesshoumaru killed a hundred demons with one clean sweep a long time ago—a thousand is a whole new can of worms. We need Miroku's wind tunnel—and excuse me, but I'm just trying to let everyone get their revenge in," Kagome added sourly. "Now unless you want your brother to hear everything we're talking about, then I'd cork it. We have to talk to him."

How quaint.

Inuyasha folded his arms when they reached me, and I did not grace them with a look. Instead I kept my eyes over the lands I called my own and generally ignored them. "Naraku is close," he told me finally.

"Really. And how do you know?"

"I sense a lot of jewel shards," Kagome said almost hesitantly. "They're outside the fortress and they're not moving, but they're there all the same. He's waiting for something."

Rin glanced up at my fool brother balefully, her dark eyes adoring. Truly disgusting. "Then I should recommend that your party leave before he corners you," I replied in a smooth statement. "The walls here are safe, but not from him. If he wishes, he will enter."

She shifted edgily. "Something's not right," she admitted suddenly, and the ignorant half-breed beside her gave her a skewed glance that clearly said 'What?' "I mean . . ." she reddened under our pressing stares. "It's wrong. He's never done this, just sat around and waited . . . it's freaky, okay? You guys aren't the ones who sense jewel shards, and it's damned weird to feel one just stationary like that—even weirder to feel a lot of them just stationary like that. This is bad. I don't—I don't get bad feelings all the time or anything, but to quote a bad movie, I have a bad feeling about this. He's also here for your jewel shard," she added, looking at me. "All the shards have been collected but yours—that's why we were on our way here. He's not just here for our fragments, he wants yours as well."

"Then he can rip my arm from my dead body."

Rin's grip on my leg tightened. "Can we go with the pretty lady?" she asked, pulling at my shirt and reaching up. Out of a habit I should have discontinued when she was younger, I picked her up as she stuck a finger in her mouth.

"You ought to join us," Kagome said in a strained voice, even as Inuyasha (fool) opened his mouth to protest violently, loudly, and definitely annoyingly. "It would be safer for you and—um—"

"Rin," I told her impassively.

The older girl bowed slightly. "Don't think we've met," she said in as light a voice as she could manage. "I'm Kagome."

Rin nodded slowly, laying her head down on my shoulder in satisfaction that the 'pretty lady' had a name. "I will escort you to the edge of my territory," I told her, "and from there I will leave you. If Naraku desires my shard, then he will have to fight me for it."

"You're a real stubborn person sometimes," Kagome muttered. "Do you have this overwhelming desire to get yourself killed?"

"When you have lived as long and evil a life as I," I retorted, "death is of little concern."

"You're not evil," she said flatly.

My eyes narrowed, and had I not held Rin at that time, I suspect I would have advanced on her in anger, but the child in my arms was incentive to keep me from doing so. "Tempt me," I snapped.

Tension hung in the air like a cloud, although it had little to do with Inuyasha and he seemed to know it immediately. "Is there something I should know about," he asked irritably, "or should I just smile and nod my head?"

"Please don't smile," I told him, "it is truly a hideous thing to behold, and there are children present."

"Hey, asshole, we're just trying to be nice!"

Kagome cleared her throat. "Fine. If you find it so important to see us off and then return, then I can live with that. Maybe you'll change your mind en route."

"I greatly doubt it."

We all turned as the three-legged demon guard came running up to me. "My lord," he panted, winded.

I stood patiently. "Proceed."

"There is a man at the gates, asking to see you," he coughed. "He dresses as a baboon and says he means no ill, but twelve men have fallen before him by simply approaching him. He claims to be an associate of yours."

"Deny him entry," I ordered automatically. "But do not approach him. Leave him where he is and inform him that I have left—but do not attack, unless you wish to be killed."

The man ran off at the orders to inform his troops. The decision to return once I had seen my guests to safety remained cemented in my mind now: Naraku had indeed come for my jewel shard and, no doubt, for the quintet as well. I had heard of the countless villages he had destroyed to get his precious fragments of the Shikkon Jewel, and I had no designs to let him do the same to those kept safe within my walls. I resolved then to leave them at the edge of the forest before returning; I would leave my subjects unguarded for as little time as possible. Their blood would not stain my conscience. They stayed here under the impression that they would be safe, and I would be damned to Hell if they were not. Whatever designs Kagome and my brother had come up with for Naraku could be executed without me, and if they killed him, well, then he was the bigger fool for letting his guard down.

I turned to my brother, expressionless. "If you plan on escaping here before Naraku forces his way in," I told him, "then I should recommend that you get moving. I will take you to the end of the forest, and from there, you are on your own."

He nodded grimly. "Guess we're lucky to even get that," he said sarcastically.

"No, you are lucky to be alive," I countered. "Do not hold the former to luck—hold it to mercy."

*

Kagome

The seven of us made like birds through the forest, Miroku carrying Sango and Shippou, Inuyasha carrying me and Rin, and Sesshoumaru leading the way at breakneck speed. It seemed to me, in a distant part of my mind, that Rin had the teeniest of tiny crushes on Inuyasha—but see if you caught me saying that to Inuyasha or Sesshoumaru, who would probably hit the roof.

"Inuyasha," I said tightly, having given up trying not to be motion-sick, "he's following us."

"What do you mean, 'he's following us?!" he exclaimed.

"Just what it sounds like—he's following us! I don't think he stayed at Sesshoumaru's fortress when he realized we made like trees," I said over the air that rushed by us. "So that means all those people there are probably still alive."

"Unless he threw a temper tantrum and blew the whole place up as an afterthought," he added.

"We have to get to Kaede's as soon as we can," I said through chattering teeth (and I wasn't cold, either). "This is it. If we lose to him this time, we're dead. It's over."

"It wouldn't be if my brickheaded brother would just come with us!"

"I thought you didn't want him to come."

"I don't, but if it means we can beat Naraku, then I'll put up with him for now. Although did you hear what he said? 'When you have slain Naraku with your blade, turn it next to me, for we will no longer have this uneasy partnership.' The minute we're done with Naraku, I've got to start it up with him again! Doesn't he ever move on?"

"Guess not," I called back. "Just be glad it's not him and Naraku at the same time."

"I'll make sure to put that at the top of my list when I count my blessings," he told me cattily.

There was a violent jerk as we ran (not Inuyasha, even though he can be a violent jerk at times), and Rin's head bumped mine. "Hey, be more careful!" I snapped at him.

"That wasn't me!" he called back in alarm.

I heard Sango call out from her place on Miroku's back. "Did you feel that?" she hollered.

Ahead of us, Sesshoumaru turned to look at us. "Faster!" he snapped, almost impatient.

That was when the ground split.

The momentum dropped to nil as we all screeched to a dead halt, Inuyasha in the center flanked by Sesshoumaru and Miroku. I dropped down from his back, as did Sango, readying her boomerang. I reached back and pulled out my bow and kept an arrow between my fingers, sliding it onto the bow but not applying tension. The forest was deadly still around us, save for the gaping rip before us. The air seemed to press in around me, and Sesshoumaru shot an arm out as I stepped forward.

"Take Rin," he growled, "and stay back. Do not lower your weapon."

Then we heard it—echoing in the trees, bouncing off the rocks, tossed around by the wind . . . laughter. Cruel, malicious, throaty laughter. I spun on my heel, taking Rin's little hand and looking around wildly. We shouldn't have brought her, she'll get hurt—

"What to do, what to do," came the rumbling voice. "Inuyasha and Sesshoumaru, here in the woods together, and for once you don't have your swords at each other's throats. Sango and Miroku as well—following your revenge keenly, I see. And Kagome—my, my, as alert and ready for lurking danger as always."

I bristled at the barb, but memories came flooding back to me at his voice, making my eyes fill with tears suddenly. "Why don't you show yourself?" I demanded, making my voice as strong as I could. "Hiding in the woods is nearly as cowardly as anything I do."

A few startled glances from my friends.

"I never called you a coward," he chuckled. "Being weak doesn't mean you won't rush towards danger as though you could actually do some good. I myself enjoy your amusing shows of bravery."

I set my jaw, prying free of Rin's hand and readying my bow. "So then come on out!" I snarled.

The grate of metal on it's sheath echoed behind me—Inuyasha had drawn Tetsusaiga and was glancing around angrily. "Leave her outta this!" he called furiously. "Why don't you take her advice and show yourself?"

A movement in the woods beside me, and an arrow shot into the darkness with deadly accuracy. Nothing; just a tree branch. "No, not over there," Naraku chuckled from all around. "Maybe I'm over . . ."

The air split with the sound of someone getting cracked over the head. "HERE!" We all spun around as Sango staggered suddenly, her eyes wide with pain. Before we could even blink again, Inuyasha had doubled over as though a fist had been driven up into his stomach.

"Kagome!" he exploded. "Get out of here!"

I glanced down at Rin. "Hey, you up to some running?" I asked in a shaking voice.

She nodded. "I can't run fast, though—"

"Not a problem!" I shouldered my bow and picked her up, making to high-tail it back to Sesshoumaru's fortress. We'd barely gotten away, though, before Naraku seemed to step out of the air in front of us, a lash of black energy snapping at us like a bullwhip. On instinct, I spun and bore the brunt onto my shoulder to keep it from hitting Rin, but staggered under the force and hit the ground. Even then, I put the little girl under me to keep her generally safe.

We cowered there for a moment, Rin's little hands holding onto my wrist, but with a violent pull, Naraku had yanked me away from her and thrown me to the ground at his feet. "So noble," he noted, "ready to die for this small thing. I hope Lord Sesshoumaru realizes that he will be in your debt if you keep this up."

A flash of light, and Inuyasha had leapt at Naraku with the Tetsusaiga blazing like the chariots of Hell before him. Naraku stepped aside deftly, very agile in his monkey suit, and the black energy that had taken me down slammed into him from behind. Naraku stepped up to him and wrapped one hand around the wrist that yielded the Tetsusaiga and another around his throat. This was different from Sesshoumaru's poison claws, which sank in and seeped into your system slowly—this was like having your flesh burned off where you stood. This time, the sword clattered to the ground and Inuyasha let out a snarl of pain. His struggles were already growing weak, and just before he would have passed out, Naraku tossed him to the ground in disdain.

"So simple," he chuckled.

"Not simple enough," Miroku called from behind us, ready to rip open the wind tunnel and wreak havoc on the surrounding forest. "I'll end this quickly enough, once and for all—"

The great baboon head glanced into the forest, and what we hadn't noticed before was the slight humming that came from the trees and shrubs, but now it seemed to grow louder, and Miroku faltered.

"Go on, monk. I'm sure that you can get to me before the insects get to you—but your friends are closer to you that I am, and I fear that while I would certainly get pulled in, so would the rest of this group and, unfortunately, the insects you have come to know. It would be a fitting end, however, for all to be destroyed by one who is not their enemy . . ."

His badgering of Miroku, though annoying and definitely infuriating, gave me the moment I needed to steady an arrow and point it right at him. When Naraku finally glanced down at me, I had a look of murder and an arrow that shone pure white with the force of my fury. He hesitated once in alarm, and I took the opportunity to fire the arrow that could end it all. We were so close to each other that it barely left the bow before he—

Grabbed it? Not a chance in hell! Damn it!

With a sudden wrench, and an arrow already in his hand, Naraku snatched up my bow and turned my own weapon on me. The arrow burned black now, rather than white, and seemed to hum with power. "Foolish move," he told me shortly, aiming at my stomach. I took in a deep breath . . .

He didn't shoot it at me. In fact, when it flew into the cool air, I thought he had simply shot it off into nothing, but then I saw the target stagger, and realization hit me.

"No!" cried Rin suddenly, worming out from the hand I had shot out to restrain her.

"Rin, no!" I exclaimed. "Miroku!"

He stepped forward immediately and picked up the little girl, and right in time, because Naraku seemed to finally comprehend that she was really there, and his dark eyes glittered with malice. "Ah, yes, the child," he growled, taking a step towards where Miroku and Rin now stood, the former struggling to keep the latter from writhing free of his grip. On pure instinct and the knowledge that he could not touch Rin, I swung my foot out and around, catching him at the ankles and knocking him to the ground.

"Sango!" I shouted as I saw her peel herself up from where she had first fallen. "Get to Sesshoumaru!" He was moving; the arrow had gone right through the top of his left shoulder, and it was high enough up that it seemed to be above his collarbone. The offending arrow had buried itself in a tree, devoid of any color but its own natural brown. But there was blood, and a lot of it.

I ripped the tiny dagger from my belt, which was sheathed at the back, and dove at Naraku with a burst of insanity (because really—I would never have been brave enough to do that unless I had either been driven to madness . . . or, you know, tortured for three days on end by Naraku), aiming to go right through the baboon skin and into his throat. I must have done something right, because when I hit him, the skin had been emptied—a bad thing to be sure, but it meant I would have been dead on if he hadn't gone Houdini on me.

A sharp pain from the base of my neck, and I collapsed under the shock. "Do not worry about me," Naraku snarled into my ear. "I am the least of your problems. Fear now for your human."

Human? Miroku? No, he wasn't looking at him . . . Sango—

She seemed to notice him as he swooped in on her as well while she treated Sesshoumaru's shoulder, pressing a strip of cloth to it to slow the bleeding. The blood, from this far away, didn't seem quite as black as it always did. Instead, the red was more accented, brighter. He had a look of true pain etched into his face. His eyes didn't open as Sango stood and swung back her boomerang, but she didn't get to hurl it at him, as he batted her aside like a fly, and she slammed to the ground many yards back.

The baboon suit beneath me had not been duplicated; he had simply left it and wore the traditional clothing of the man whose shape he had stolen, and now his eyes burned blood-red rather than gaping black. He hit the ground directly by Sesshoumaru, hauling the demon lord to his feet by his shirt.

"Pitiful," he sneered. "You can't even keep yourself alive without the aide of a human now. Tell me, have you ever felt pain like that before?"

Golden eyes snapped open, darkened with pain until they were nearly amber. "Coward. It takes a cursed arrow to fell me rather than your own fist? You could never truly defeat me."

I felt a swell of pride at his defiance, even though it was looking bad for him. There was a groan from behind me, and horror surged up in me as I saw Inuyasha attempt to push himself to his knees. "What—Kagome?" He seemed surprised to see me, and his voice rasped. The burn on his throat, while not deadly, was certainly a nasty one. It would have to be treated immediately.

"Hey, be still," I urged quietly. "Just wait it out. We can't win this one . . ."

Miroku had made his way to us, one hand securing Rin to him and the other clamped firmly over her mouth. "Kagome, he—Sesshoumaru is bleeding too much to fight properly. If Naraku attacks him, it will kill him."

A struggle and muffled cry from Rin.

"It's okay," I hissed at her. "We'll all be fine, especially Sesshoumaru. You don't think some stupid jerk like Naraku can beat him, do you?"

She shook her head slowly.

"Good girl," I said gently. My hand tightened on the dagger, and I felt a mad desire to—well, do something stupid. I was never one for bravery and fighting uphill like Inuyasha, but . . . I couldn't just sit and let Naraku abuse Sesshoumaru while I twiddled my thumbs. Sango was unconscious on the ground, Shippou trying desperately to wake her, while Inuyasha was close to the same state. Miroku's hands were full with Rin . . .

Do it. Think of what he's done to you—and everyone else. For one reason or another, everyone here has been hurt by Naraku. If you die trying . . . then you died well. Your time to sit on your ASS is over! Am I going to just hang around up here and advise that you do something worthwhile while instead you let your eyes get wide with horrified innocence while Inuyasha saves you? Damn, this is boring!

All right, fine. I got it. With a heavy feeling of dread, and my hands wrapped so tightly around the dagger that I thought my fingers may fall off, I began to creep towards Naraku. Sure, running at him would have gotten me there faster, but inching was quieter.

Almost there . . .

A few more yards . . .

Damn, that was a twig . . .

Just don't cough—no, don't breathe . . .

Now!

I jumped up and swung the dagger, reaching up from behind to slit his throat—but the dagger shattered on contact with his skin and as though struck by an invisible hand, I was smacked to the ground. But whether I was injured or not, he had released Sesshoumaru . . .

His blood flowed more freely now, but only from the one wound I could see. It hadn't been a trick of the light; his blood was redder. The stain across his exposed shirt seemed to spread with every heartbeat, and there was a nagging in the back of my mind. Something isn't right . . . he doesn't seem right . . . already his face had darkened with pain, making the marks that usually stood out starkly fade away and blend in. No . . . the crescent moon was fading, along with the stripes on his cheek. I felt myself freeze when the nagging in the back of my mind began to realize something. Naraku, in the meantime, made no move to attack—he simply stood as my eyes fixed on Sesshoumaru's face and his own eyes turned to me. And more terrifying than the prospect of death was the fact that for once, I could actually tell what was crossing his mind when I saw his eyes.

He was afraid.

What in the hell—

"Oh, I see," Naraku said as though he'd just figured out a bad joke. "You thought I meant Sango when I told you to worry about the human! No, no, dear Kagome . . . I'm afraid Lord Sesshoumaru has more to worry about than just keeping the child safe. I think that for once, he had best fear his own mortality—nay, his own humanity . . ."

I stared at the demon lord before me . . . no, the—the human—and watched realization dawn on his face as well. His face was now an open book of emotion, everything spelled out like it was written in permanent marker, and the fact that I could see his fear was making me want to cry. Not just for him, mind you (as he had a tendency to be a jerk), but because I was finally starting to realize just how much trouble we were in right then.

The arrow, I thought numbly. Sesshoumaru said something about the arrow being cursed—and when Naraku shot it off, it was black, not white. He did something to it when he touched it.

Behind Naraku, I saw Miroku make a run for Sango, who was beginning to stir, if only a little, and hand Rin to her, whispering into her ear fiercely before dashing back to Inuyasha's side. Inuyasha had pushed himself to his feet while all this was happening, and I had noticed the shock that dawned on his face as well when Naraku spoke. Now he was gripping the Tetsusaiga with both hands, ignoring the burns and the pain and making a clean, running sweep at Naraku with the blazing sword.

I made a move for him, rather pointlessly, but Sesshoumaru's hand shot out and grabbed my arm, anchoring me effectively. The sword sliced clean through the demon, leaving behind only his clothes as they flitted to the ground . . . but as the sword passed through, there was a mighty explosion that ripped out from where Naraku had stood (because in true Naraku fashion, he had abandoned the site), and the force of it slammed into me like a ton of bricks, making me crash back into Sesshoumaru, and then we lifted up with the force and I passed out.

*

Blackness was the first thing I saw when I opened my eyes—no, when I came to. The blackness I saw only because my eyes were still shut, and I had a splitting headache. Taking several religious deity's names in vain as I sat up and pried my eyes open, I realized that I was not lying entirely on the ground. I probably hadn't even hit the ground.

Sesshoumaru, on the other hand, was not so lucky. He was actually pinned beneath me.

I looked around, alarmed to see that the sun had set and the stars were out. The moon was only a sliver in the sky; it hadn't quite been a quarter moon the night before, and it was slowly fading into shadow as the nights progressed. Within the next few days, it would be Inuyasha's respective 'time of the month,' although he was fortunate enough that the painters didn't come for a visit at the same time.

"Sesshoumaru," I hissed. He stirred only a little, and I felt a little bit panicked when he did no more moving after that. I crawled off of him, freeing him of my weight, and rolled him onto his back in hopes that he'd get up. I whispered his name again, a little louder this time, and he continued to ignore me, but I think it was because he was asleep rather than unconscious—which was good, I think. Out like a light was definitely better than knocked out.

I gently peeled away the fabric that covered the hole from that damned arrow, hoping even in the minimal light to see if there was anything I could tell. To all I could see, the blood had stopped flowing and it was clotting at a normal rate—normal for humans, anyways. How long could this last? Had Naraku cursed him for life?

I thought back to Miroku's own 'gift' from Naraku—it was a curse laid upon his family until Naraku was destroyed. Why would this be any different? It seemed like a logical curse to place upon the most powerful demon lord I'd ever met—make him what he most hated and make it last until Naraku's death. How clever.

How evil

We were so screwed. Two humans wandering alone at night was a common stereotype: breakfast. Granted, one human was worse off (as I had learned), but that didn't make it any smarter.

A shiver ripped through the man lying beside me, and I turned my attentions from my private thoughts to him. He was moving now, his face creased with pain and probably cold. It wasn't s cold as it had been in his lands, but demons seemed to be very good at adapting. He would probably be more susceptible to hot and cold; I thought suddenly of the many emotions on his face earlier, and tried to figure it out. Humans had emotional barriers just like demons—who ever said demons had them up stronger? It made no sense to me—unless he was a typical guy who suppressed emotion like it was a river stopped up by a dam. In that case . . . humans had a hard enough time keeping emotions carefully corked. The visual image that came to mind was one of the demon's natural powers, whatever they may be, creating a shield around him—inside was strength, intimidation, and power. Outside was the imminent danger, fear, and other emotions that discredited the impassive image. Or, in Inuyasha's case, the stick-up-my-butt image. God forbid the man ever be anything other than anal. But I digressed.

It was only a theory, but it was the impression I'd had since I began to secretly psychoanalyze Inuyasha in my free time—especially after my English class read 'Man's Search for Meaning,' and I went into therapy mode. Freud I was not, but I had my moments. But if I was right, then Sesshoumaru was going to have a few more problems than he needed.

Speaking of the devil . . .

He let out a groan as he tried to sit up suddenly, and I grabbed his good shoulder to support him. "Hey, slow down," I exclaimed. "Don't try to move."

" . . . water," he finally snapped.

I glanced at the stream running though the trees about a hundred feet away, and escorted / dragged him over, both of us on all fours. He just about collapsed face-first into the water once we were waist-deep into it, but I guess he got some down, because then he threw up. I was at a loss, so I did the only thing I could think of, which was pull his hair back out of the way in true fashion to the statement 'real friends hold your hair back when you throw up.' After a few moments of gasping for breath, he dropped back down again, although when he didn't resurface from the swift water, I suspected he had either passed out or was trying to drown himself.

The latter seemed more likely, given what was probably his disposition, and I gently pulled him out of the water and dragged him to a sitting position near the bank. The air wasn't very cold, so I didn't worry about either of us catching a chill even when we were soaking wet, as we both collapsed when the water was ankle-deep but still swift, and I forced him to a sitting position. "Just breathe," I commanded. "You can't inhale water like it's air, you'll choke."

He struggled for a good breath, which was understandable. "Rin?" he managed.

"With Sango," I told him. "Safer with her than she is anywhere else."

"And my brother?"

"I . . . I don't know. Maybe with them. Miroku too."

"What about Naraku?" he finally asked.

I bit my tongue for a moment. "Gone," I admitted. "Inuyasha sliced him down the middle, but he disappeared and then . . . well, there was an explosion of some kind, and I passed out. And here we are," I added anti-climactically.

"And I . . . I'm not—"

"Human," I finished. "Naraku cursed you. I think you're cursed to be human until we destroy him for good."

At which point he promptly threw up again.

I was never really the funky party weasel, so I had never seen one guy throw up so many times in the space of a few minutes, so this was all new, but I did my best and just didn't let go of him.

"That bastard," he snarled, winded. "When I get my hands around his cowardly neck—"

"You won't do anything until you're well," I corrected. "So get used to it. For now, what we need to do is start a campfire and get you dried out. I know that starting a fire in the middle of this damned forest isn't the brightest thing to do, what with all the demons, but we're out of options."

He looked up finally and took in our surroundings. "These are not my woods," Sesshoumaru said slowly.

I turned to stare at him. "What?"

"This forest—it is not one of the few in my lands. All the streams come down from the mountains, and the forests are much thicker. This water—it is considerably warmer than what flows through the Western Lands, and there are no mountains."

I felt a chill that wasn't from the night air. "So where are we?" I asked tightly.

"Either the East or the South," he reasoned. "I cannot be sure until we find a village."

"Well then we wait until morning," I said grimly.

He began to stand up, but he swayed a bit, and I reached up to steady him. "We go now," he snapped, suddenly angry.

"You," I told him in a sharp, parenting voice, "are more vulnerable than you've ever been before. The minute we go tramping through the woods, we'll alert every random demon that we're only two people and stupid. Until you get the hang of being human, we're not going anywhere. Because face it, I don't care what you think you can do, you probably can't, because you're human. So why don't you hurry up and come to terms with it? YOU ARE HUMAN."

And then he threw up again.

Great.