AN: First off, a Big THANK YOU to my lovely reviewers! You have been just lovely, very encouraging! I just hope that soon there will be more of you eventually.

By the by, Fred the Mutant Pickle mentioned that I had written that Inuyasha cared more about Kikyo. I thought, NO WAY! (sorry to doubt you). And then I looked. Sure enough, it was a massive typo/poorly written sentence jumble, which did very much make it seem like exactly that. So, if anyone cares enough to check it out, I have corrected that error. To put it nicely, I am not the biggest Kikyo fan. I feel sorry for her, but usually find myself hating her and all her messing up of Kagome and Inuyasha's relationship, which is definitely the stronger one. To the two people still reading this rambling... Kagome and Inuyasha are (is?) the couple that I love and am devoted to in my Inuyasha fanfiction endeavors. So have no fears in that area! And even better we're moving on!

This chapter is longer than the last two, and has more explanations and something actually happens. Yes, I am proud. I know things might still be confusing, but I do know what I'm doing, so just bear with me and please keep reading. I'll try to make it worth your while.

Um, let's see, I still don't own Inuyasha. But be prepared for the introduction of some original characters in the near future. For now though, the only thing I own is the slowly (but surely) developing plot line. Can you even own a plot line?

Chapter 1: Their Situations

Kagome awoke with a name on her lips, a name which she promptly forgot upon waking. She also awoke with a question she had never thought to ask before. If there truly were other people in the world, and there certainly must be in order to provide for her the life she lived. If there were people, no doubt nearby enough to hear her when she spoke to herself, then why was she all alone? Why was she not allowed to see them? She was lonely, among other things, and something about the whole arrangement seemed…wrong. In short, Kagome had awakened with a startling sense of being. And so, for the first time, she spoke, not to the jewel, but to the mysterious caretakers. And her voice was not the empty peaceful one that she had always used, but one that was curious, lonely, suspicious, intelligent, afraid, angry, and hopeful.

"What's going on? Why am I in here? Where am I?" panic, and confusion. "What…"

Even as she voiced these opinions, the sense of reality that had been so clear was beginning to fade. It felt, to Kagome, as if the world and her very soul were receding away from her, just close enough for her to brush against, but never close enough for her to hold. Her eyes, which had been a deep, warm brown when she had woken up faded back into a pale gray-blue. She frowned and reached for the paper; the folding would calm her. However, she found that after the first crane, the activity was just, well, boring. The senses that had awoken with her that morning didn't fade. She also realized she was still lonely. Faces accompanied this feeling, disjointed though they were. Somehow to Kagome it felt that these faces would help her to reach those memories and emotions that felt locked away. Her thoughtless smile had returned, but the furrow in her brow remained. Swarmed by thoughts she ceased her folding, and didn't notice that the jewel was warmer and brighter.

She felt something strange, like a pulling in her chest. Walking away from the small, soft round table near her bed, she sat herself on the white carpet, unknowingly facing north. She tried to remember what had been so important just half an hour earlier. Failing this, she fell into an uneasy, dreamless nap.

Angrily, Naraku pounded against the table. The guard shivered from his vantage point as far away from Naraku as he could be in the small room, one of several set up to survey the girl. He knew that Naraku had never been one to show a temper, meaning that to those he did show it, a painful death usually followed.

"She…she was different for a minute too, caught it on the video. Her eyes were different, and she, seemed, well, alert. But then she seemed pretty alright. But the jewel's different. But just a little. It looks like it mighta just got brighter."

Naraku was ignoring the idiot, spare a moment to wonder why he employed idiot humans.

Inside he smiled. The part of him that was Onigumo, who he never could successfully be rid of, loved the power. Naraku was, despite his resentment of the human Onigumo who was still a part of him, inclined to agree on this point. He quite enjoyed watching the lesser beings grovel at his powerful, merciless feet. And Onigumo enjoyed rule over those to whom he had been nought but a nuisance and minor terror. Onigumo relished seeing the world through Naraku's eyes; Naraku was still the most powerful demon on the planet.

For two hundred years he had held the planet pretty much unopposed. He had rejoiced in his sweeping, violent take over. It had been hideously easy and almost as fun as killing his two most troublesome foes. Christening the earth of the future world he would one day rule, with the blood and the pained screams of his favorite enemies had made the following carnage all the more sweet.

 Naraku's thoughts turned from these pleasant thoughts back to the matter at hand. The girl should be a practically soulless shell! As she had been all her life, since the soul of the body that held her bound soul had died. She should have moved on too, to inhabit the next girl at all related to her by blood, one who also happened to have any miko power at all. So it had been for two centuries, since the infuriating girl had taken the jewel that was to be his victory and used it to bind her and the half-demon's souls. The sentiment of the wish, that they meet again, had made it even worse.

 Because the battle had taken place in the girl's time period, upon their deaths he had realized himself as nearly the only demon of any power. He had destroyed the well and made that world his, first through subtle politics, trickery, and assassination, then through force. He had stored the idea of their return in the back of his many minds, with the lust for Kikyo and the memories that made Onigumo cringe like a mere human. Then, 10 years ago something unthinkable had happened.

"No, no sweetie please wake up. Kei! No! No."

Naraku looked in on the scene passively. He had no special interest in this girl after all. It was foolish to think that the girl, the one that he did have a vested interest in, would ever return. Her latest soul carrier's early death would change nothing. The girl had never been particularly skilled, as strong as she had been she never had control over her miko powers.

"Kei! She's dead! She- Kei?"

Naraku's head shot up and his eyes narrowed on the room. The room which was now glowing pink. A light that was too familiar. And then eyes shot open, eyes that were no longer the bright blue they had been in life but a dull gray blue, an emptiness. And Naraku would never forget that word, that name, or the way her eyes flickered to a familiar dark brown.

"Inuyasha?"  A pink jewel had shot out of her chest, landing in an outstretched palm that immediately wrapped firmly around it. Then the girl fainted. The mother was quite hysterical. With a silent command she was silenced. Naraku shot a sharp look at his companion.

"Kill her." Four guns fired off, almost in perfect harmony, at the still girl's heart. Naraku narrowed his eyes as the bullets bounced off as sparks of pink fire.

"Naraku-sama…"

"Again. She will die. Or all of you will die in her stead."

 

And they had tried to kill her again. To no avail they had tried to kill her, the thorn that had appeared in Naraku's reign. They had used the most violent and underhanded methods available to him. They had sought out the cave that stored the dormant body of the hanyou. A dormant body which was also found to be breathing once again, to which Naraku had growled in anger and killed all the guards present at the hanyou's resting place. They had tried to enter the cave, tried to destroy it and the dormant creature within. They had brought the girl, unconscious of course, and tried again.

 Failing this, great lengths had been taken to remove the jewel from her. All attempts had been fruitless, and more disturbing, she seemed to slip into being her when threatened or when feeling another strong emotion. So he had built her a peaceful prison in which to live and die. They had erected a barrier around the hanyou's prison, not to hold him, for once again to Naraku's anger, they had not been able to remove the sword from him, but to slow his awakening as much as possible. It seemed to work. The specialist that Naraku had working for him all had predicted that both might awaken on the girl's 15th birthday. But she was past 16 now, and the same as ever. 

Later Naraku had come to hope that maybe, when she died for this second time she would not come back. He was patient, and would wait for this, his ultimate victory. And as a bonus he would have the jewel. He told himself that he had not become that much weaker, to not be able to dispose of a six year old who was barely more than a soulless husk. After all, she had part of the Shikon no Tama. And so he had watched in disgust as the girl's soul had re-made the body. Where once the girl had been blue eyed and brown haired and nothing like the bitch had looked in her own life, the hair darkened, the body and the facial features grew to be one that was all too familiar. Only the eyes had, since that single second, remained gray and passive, rather than soulful brown.

He looked at the image frozen on the screen in front of him. A freeze-frame image of her face, contorted with surprise, eyes open wide. Knowing eyes.

How he hated those brown eyes.

Inuyasha grinned to himself as he raised the now red Tetsusaiga. The first barrier had come down with a simple touch, not from his sword, but from his hand, which he had placed there on a whim, to feel the warmth radiating from it. It had been made by the jewel, or maybe by Kagome. The second barrier he knew was Naraku's. He had vague memories of repeated attempts to kill him. The first barrier was there to protect him. The second had been put in place to hold him.

"Tetsusaiga!" He lunged for the barrier, slamming down the fang in a sweeping red arch against the blackness of Naraku's barrier. It was, surprisingly, more easy than Inu-Yasha remembered to cleave through the barrier. Quite suddenly he was standing in bright sunlight.

"Ahh. Damn it" Inuyasha grunted as he was forced to squint against the barrage of light on eyes that had not seen light for hell only knew how long. He also remembered seeing her, sitting in the sunlight on the rim of the well. Looking beautiful, almost ethereal.

"Kagome. Where are you?" He had awakened that morning with the feeling that she needed to be rescued. Remembering how often he had needed to save the foolish, stubborn, brash girl in life, it was for this reason that he had ventured out of the cave. He had no hope of finding the others. He had left them behind in the past, when he had gone to retrieve Kagome, not realizing that he would be followed.

He spared a momentary sorrow for them then shook the thoughts from his head. He was gratified by the almost complete return of his memories, upon his awakening that morning, or whenever it was that he had awakened. Time had been impossible to tell in the cave, and he could have been awake for minutes or hours before he ventured out.

Eyes now adjusted to the daylight he scanned the surroundings in amazement and horror. It resembled the city that had been visible from this point in Kagome's time. And yet it was infinitely different. He realized that the cave that had housed him had stood over what had once been Kagome's home. With the barriers gone the cave had partially collapsed. Next to the cave was a crater that Inuyasha recognized as the remnants of the well house. And beside that was the God Tree, standing tall and proud as it ever had. It was the only tree visible to Inuyasha. The city was not as it had once been. A concrete jungle rose from the gray streets. Smelling the air Inuyasha realized that no one had passed by his location more recently than a year. Kagome's time had been smelly, loud, and crowded. This world was smelly, and crowded, and loud in its own way. But there was also an oppressive silence that was deafening.

 Inuyasha understood. Naraku had won, and he ruled here. He had made the world after his image, grim, evil, insidious and oppressive. Somehow knowing where he needed to go, Inu-Yasha sped unwittingly toward the heart of Naraku's power. Toward an unassuming complex with no name. The towering fence was unadorned. No sign was necessary. The nature of the complex was unquestionably clear. It was Naraku's base. With a roar Inuyasha leapt up and over the fence. As he descended on the other side he held his sword extended behind him. The sound of the fang on cutting through the metal broke through the bright silence of the mid morning. As an alarm sounded nearby Inu-Yasha gave his most feral grin. Let Naraku send his worst. The bastard was going to pay.

Naraku smiled calmly as a frantic guard informed him (with not a little fear) that they were under attack. He already knew, of course. He had more surveillance on his fortress than any knew. He was calm now, not angry as he had been ten years ago or 200 years ago. It was all falling into place. They would meet again, yes, he would allow that. And then, maybe then, they could finally be gotten rid of. He killed the frightened guard, but without any anger. It would soon end. And he would be stronger than ever. Forever.

"Ku ku ku." He chuckled darkly. If he was lucky, It would end today. If not…well Naraku was patient. And with all the new tricks and toys at his disposal it might just be better for the hanyou to escape today. To see how he coped with the girl's death, to see if finally her soul would darken with corruption. He would see the hanyou's demise. If it took him a while, well then it would only make it that much more painful. It would be nice, for instance, to kill the girl first, to make him watch/ participate. One thing was sure for now…

"I will see your blood burned into the ground, Inuyasha…"

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Um…hmmm, don't know about that. Well Naraku is twisted isn't he?

Anyway, I think you know what I want from you. So I'll leave you to it.

Until next time!