AN: Right, I know I said one week at the latest, but I've been busy…sitting on my butt my whole dang summer. Okay, you caught me! I went into one of those slumps where you think "Why am I writing this? What is the purpose?" And you wander around aimlessly wondering about the meaning of life and the purpose of lint that clings to your sweaters....you know the feeling. But I wrote the chapter! Yay! Depression Slump #261 is over! ^_^ Right…I'll stop babbling and upload this fic. Enjoy!

Pressure on All Sides

            There were vampires all around him. Inu-Yasha snarled and swung his Tetsusaiga in front of him. The force it had was enough to wipe out vampires ten meters around him. But still they swarmed, fangs bared, trying to sink them in his skin. The Tetsusaiga could deal with large numbers of vampires, but it would wipe out his strength that he needed to fight Naraku. Now he knew how Kagome felt when she'd been cornered by those vampires…

            Kagome! Inu-Yasha suddenly stopped. How was she doing? With a sudden burst of strength he lashed out with the Tetsusaiga and cleared a path through the swarm. Inu-Yasha ran through and scanned the room.

            She was across the room from him, firing out arrows at rapid speed. But even she was getting tired. Inu-Yasha wanted to run towards her, but then he stopped. Something was wrong. He reached up and grabbed a fistful of long hair and looked at it. It was silver. Inu-Yasha looked at his reflection in the sword and his amber eyes widened.

            Something cold touched his throat, and he looked up. The silver tip of Kagome's arrow was nestled under his chin, her bow drawn. Her eyes looked furious. She was mouthing something, but no voice came from her lips. Inu-Yasha squinted to read her lips. "She conned you, dumbass," she was saying. What? That didn't make sense.

            Or maybe it did. But how would Kagome know that?!

            Suddenly a sword pierced Kagome's side—with quicksilver speed Inu-Yasha ducked, so that when Kagome released the arrow it whizzed through his curtain of hair. Her lips open in a silent scream, she fell to her side, her hair covering her face.

            Menacing laughter filled the air. He glanced up and saw Naraku, a victorious look on her face. He pointed at Kagome and laughed harder.

            Inu-Yasha scrambled to Kagome and wrapped her protectively in his arms. He didn't know who'd killed her, but there was no way Naraku was having her! He was aware of her chest against his, and how he didn't feel it rise, felt no breath come from her nostrils, heard nothing from her heart. Almost tenderly he pushed back the hair from her pale face…

            And found that she was not Kagome.

*          *          *

            The sound of Naraku's hysterical laughter faded as Inu-Yasha jolted up from bed. He was covered in a light layer of sweat and breathing heavily, as if he'd gone out on a jog. His black hair stuck to the back of his white shirt.

            God, what a strange dream…Inu-Yasha rubbed his temple with his fingers. He noticed his hand was trembling. What the hell does it mean?

            He'd been fighting in a room against a whole storm of vampires. Then he gets silver hair. Then he tries to help Kagome, but she turns on him and mouths, "She conned you, dumbass." Then sometime kills her and Naraku laughs, and he hugs her and finds out she's not her.

            Maybe he shouldn't have eaten that leftover pizza last night.

            Inu-Yasha groaned and flopped back on his bed. He buried his head under his pillows. If Kagome was now turning up in his dreams, then things were really going for the worse. He squeezed his eyes shut and thought of sheep, ice cream, Playboy, anything to get his mind off the present—and the past. Why on earth would he have such a strange dream.

            Suddenly he shot up again, his eyes wide. It couldn't be that time yet…he'd just had it! But all the symptoms were there…

            Oh, shit.

*          *          *

            "Monty Python?" Kaede asked. "What on earth is that?"

            "It's a British comedy group that makes the funniest movies on the planet," Myouga replied. "I have two tickets here for a re-release of Monty Python and the Holy Grail tonight, if you'd like them."

            Kaede snorted. "Tonight's my weekly bridge meeting with the ladies. It's one of the few days I don't have to be making silver arrows. Why don't you use them?"

            Myouga suddenly looked excited. "For the past few nights after out search, Takada and Falcon are claiming they can see the blurred outline of the black castle popping up in different places. I think our search is nearing a close."

            "Myouga!" Kaede looked shocked. "You aren't serious? Do you think Kagome's ready?"

            "Positive. As you know, I've had Kagome fighting the other vampire slayers of my skill for the past week—she wipes the floor with them, especially now that her powers have increased. And we have Inu-Yasha too—just think, Kikyo's revenge is so close at hand…"

            Kaede looked down, trying to still the tears. "So you're going to search tonight?"

            He nodded. "But it would be a waste to throw away these tickets…"

            The door to their house burst open. "Oy, Kaede!" Inu-Yasha yelled from the kitchen. "Is this pot full? I'm gonna have some tea, okay?"

            "Help yourself!" Kaede beamed. Myouga immediately sprang into action—he shot down the stairs and snatched the cup from Inu-Yasha just as he was about to sip. "What are you trying to do, kill yourself?" he scolded his student.

            Inu-Yasha scowled. "I had a bad dream that I'd rather forget, and I'm figuring Kaede's tea is probably a safer way than prescription pills."

            "That's what you think." Myouga tried to throw the tea down the sink, but Kaede whapped him on the head with a spatula. "Enough, Myouga! If Inu-Yasha wants to drink my tea, then let him! At least someone knows good tea when he sees it."

            Myoua grumbled as a big lump formed on his temple. "Fine. But if the boy dies the whole vampire hunter community will have your blood." He paused and thought about the irony of his sentence.

            Inu-Yasha took a few sips and squeezed his eyes shut. For awhile he just stood there, as if fighting an internal battle. Then he opened his eyes and smiled. "Phew, that really worked." He coughed once and set the cup down. "Thanks, see ya." He turned to go.

            "Wait! Inu-Yasha!" Myouga called out. "Do you like Monty Python?"

            Inu-Yasha snickered. "Who doesn't?" Myouga scampered over to him and slapped the two tickets in his hand. "Take 'em, none of us can use it. Tell Kagome there's no training today, something else has come up. In fact, ask Kagome if she wants to go with you. She loves Monty Python."

            "Right." Inu-Yasha slipped out the door. He looked at the two tickets in his hand, and shoved them in his pocket. Since the night he'd bought her that figurine, they hadn't talked about what he'd done. Inu-Yasha couldn't confront her or ask her what she thought of it, since he was confused enough about it himself. He still couldn't believe he'd done that. Maybe that was why he was dreaming of Kagome. Besides, like he was really going to ask Kagome after a hella-scary dream like that…

*          *          *

            "Can't. I have to clean my landlady's floor if I still want to live there. It takes off a quarter of my rent," Miroku said as they waited for Kagome to get their food. Normally it was the girl who sat at the table and waited for the guys to bring it over, but Kagome had kept changing her mind and screwed up their orders, so as punishment she had to go get their food. "Besides, it's strange for two guys to watch a movie together. Strange for me, anyway. I've never sat next to anyone in a movie theater who didn't have breasts."

            "For crying out loud, Miroku, it's Monty Python, not Shakespeare in Love. Unless you get all touchy-feely when you see a killer rabbit mangle Arthur's men," Inu-Yasha muttered.

            Kagome returned with a tray of their fast food. They were sitting in the food court of the mall. "Double cheeseburger, fries, and soda," she announced, unloading the tray. Miroku took the said food and began to chow down. "Big Mac, fries, and soda…that's me." With some hesitance, she lifted up a quite soggy-looking wrapped burger. "Uhm…really really really rare hamburger?"

            "Me," Inu-Yasha said, as if none of them had guessed. He took the burger from her and began unwrapping it. "Yum."

            Miroku cleared his throat. "Uhm, Inu-Yasha, if you hadn't guessed, that burger looks too rare to be good, excuse the pun. You could get salmonella or some other nasty disease."

            Kagome had lifted the bun off his burger and was prodding it with a fork. "Eww, if you press down on it there's still blood that oozes out!" She stuck out her tongue. "No wonder the guy behind the counter asked if you had insurance. How can you eat that?"

            To demonstrate, Inu-Yasha took a big bite and started chewing. Kagome fought the urge to retch by stuffing several french fries in her mouth. Miroku settled for a few deep breaths. Inu-Yasha nodded slowly. "This is a good burger." He saw his friends' disgusted faces. "What? I'm the guy who eats mystery meat, remember? I feel like a he-man. For some reason I'm craving something really really raw." He grinned, and Kagome covered her eyes with her hands.

            "So get sushi. It's classier and it doesn't make me want to barf when I watch you eat it," Miroku muttered with his eyes squeezed shut, as if willing himself not to puke. He opened them, saw Inu-Yasha licking the blood off his fingers, and stood up abruptly. "If you'll excuse me, I'm going to eat somewhere where my friend isn't eating half-cooked cow. Later, Kagome." He picked up his tray and moved away.

            "What's his problem?" Inu-Yasha muttered, taking another bite.

            Kagome raised her eyebrows. "He's got a weak stomach. But what's your problem? You're eating raw meat, Inu-Yasha! Anyone can see it's not cooked—much. Why are you doing this?"

            "I don't know. Because it tastes good?" But Inu-Yasha wasn't meeting her eyes. He couldn't possibly tell her about what was going—she would hate him. Or worse.

            But it couldn't be "that time" yet. The last time it had occurred was when Kagome started training with Myouga's partners. That was a week and a half ago, right on time, the end of the month. It was way too soon, this month had barely started, so why was he getting all the symptoms now?

            He pushed it to the back of his head. The meat was calling.

            "What's this?" Kagome reached over and took the two tickets from beside his tray. Her eyes lit up. "Oh my gosh, Monty Python! Inu-Yasha, how did you get these tickets? The Holy Grail, too! Not as funny as the Flying Circus, but certainly near the top…"

            "From Myouga," Inu-Yasha replied. He saw how her face lit up at the sight of the tickets, and the words just spilled out, "Want to go with me?"

            "Are you serious? I'd love to go!" Kagome beamed at him. Inu-Yasha half-smiled back. Suddenly her smile faded. "…Inu-Yasha, this isn't a date, right?"

            Would it be bad if it was? But Inu-Yasha just shook his head. "No, it's not a date." Besides, he couldn't date her anyway. After sharing that hug, the past had hurt him so strongly he couldn't think of Kagome like that night again. "It's just a night of Monty Python." Another thing to add to his problems. He was eating raw meat, he'd had a disturbing dream, and now he was going to the movies with Kagome. Inwardly he wondered to himself how long he could keep the secret.

*          *          *

            For the tenth time that day, Inu-Yasha reminded himself that it wasn't a date. No, it wasn't. No matter how many times Miroku teased him and sang "Inu-Yasha and Kagome, sittin' in a tree…" he would never believe him.

            But when Kagome came down the stairs looking like he'd never seen her, those ten times didn't seem like enough. She was wearing a beige colored skirt that stopped mid-thigh and a white jacket, unzipped halfway to reveal a red tank top underneath. Her hair was set normally—long and down, her usual style when it wasn't tied for sports. Instead of a duffel bag, she carried her bow and arrow in a more fashionable messenger bag.

            Usually Inu-Yasha wondered how she could ever get a guy. Now, without realizing, he was wondering how she couldn't.

            Mrs. Higurashi, who'd been chatting with Inu-Yasha while waiting for Kagome, smiled widely when her daughter came down. "Kagome, you look gorgeous! Doesn't she, Inu-Yasha?"

            "Huh? Oh, right. Considering she looks like a train wreck the rest of the time." Kagome shot him a glare and bared her teeth when her mother wasn't looking.

            Instead of taking her side, her mother laughed. "I agree. Kagome, you should dress up more, you're lucky Inu-Yasha's giving you a chance."

            "What did you do, brainwash her?" Kagome muttered under her breath towards Inu-Yasha. Then she smiled at her mother. "Mom, it's not a date, we're just watching Monty Python. Like I'd ever date Inu-Yasha."

            Mrs. Higurashi smiled. "Ahh…denial…your father and I were in denial when we first met…you'll get past it, you'll see." She grinned innocently at them. "Can I cajole you into posing for a picture?"

            Kagome's cheeks were flaming. Inu-Yasha seemed to be enjoying her embarrassment and wrapped an arm around her shoulders. "Of course, Mrs. Higurashi," he said charmingly. "We'll pose for as many as you like."

            Well, if he wanted to play it that way, then fine. Kagome smiled and wrapped Inu-Yasha's arm around her shoulders tighter, digging her fingernails deep into his skin. She felt him suck in a deep breath and make a squeaky noise, and laughed evilly to herself—a man could survive a vampire attack but was powerless against a woman's fingernails.

Mrs. Higurashi snapped picture after picture, wondering wistfully to herself if Kagome would ever find herself a nice boyfriend and making a mental note to show these pictures to Kagome once they developed. They made an excellent looking couple.

*          *          *

            It wasn't until Inu-Yasha realized what a nice neck Kagome had that he knew something was wrong. He looked up at the sky—there was a moon, so why was this happening? But the symptoms were coming again, and this time a lot worse.

            They sat in the theater, watching the French soldier insult King Arthur and his "k-niggits" from atop the castle, then proceed to throw cows at them when they insisted for the Holy Grail. Inu-Yasha could barely concentrate. Every time something funny happened (in a Monty Python movie, every three seconds) Kagome would tilt her head back and laugh long and hard. And Inu-Yasha's eyes kept traveling to a spot just above her black choker.

            He knew only one way to stop the symptoms. But there was no way he could do it now, not in front of everyone. Inu-Yasha grit his teeth and clutched the handles of his seat tightly so that his knuckles turned white. He was getting incredibly thirsty.

            "Inu-Yasha?" Kagome's voice made him look at her. She touched the knuckles of his right hand with a finger. "What's wrong?"

            If she touched him again he knew he would break. Inu-Yasha stood up abruptly. "Bathroom," he said shortly. He weaved past the other moviegoers and headed straight for the men's bathroom. There he leaned against the cool wall.

            What if she finds out? What if Myouga finds out? What will I tell her? What the hell do I do?

*          *          *

            Kagome was still snickering when the movie was finished. Along with the crowd she and Inu-Yasha filed out of the movie theater. He'd stayed in the bathroom for quite awhile, but he managed to come back before the castle with the horny maidens. She didn't ask him what took him so long, but she did notice that he looked more relaxed and laughed a lot more when he came back.

            Yeah...actually Kagome didn't really want to know.

            She lifted her hands to her cheeks. "Man, they're so sore from laughing so hard. This is why I love Monty Python."

            "Me too," Inu-Yasha agreed. "Ready to go?"

            "Wait, I want to stop by the bathroom first." Kagome headed towards the bathrooms, but saw a huge crowd at the bathrooms. Some policemen were there, surrounding a young man with short black hair who looked dazed and confused. Kagome frowned and tapped the shoulder of the person in front of her. "What's going on?"

            The person shrugged. The young man had a hand pressed to his neck, and he kept repeating, "I'm OK, I'm OK…no I didn't see my attacker…" When he withdrew his hand, Kagome saw two puncture marks. Her jaw dropped, and she immediately whirled around and made her way back to Inu-Yasha.

            "Someone's been attacked by a vampire!" she said, pointing towards the bathrooms. "Had you been earlier you could have found him…"

            "Actually I did," Inu-Yasha interrupted. "It's a young man, right? He was already knocked out when I got there, but the vampire was still there. I killed him. I just didn't bring the man out because you know how police get, they might think it was me or something. Besides, it wasn't a serious bite, he's not going to die or anything. Now can we go?" Before Kagome could answer, he grabbed her hand and led her out of the movie theater.

*          *          *

            "So you're telling me you've found Inu-Yasha?" An Inu-kai vampire asked in a cool voice.

            Naraku smiled. "He's taken up quite an interesting profession…vampire slaying, I think it was."

            Lord Sesshoumaru, the son of the master of the Inu-kai castle, snorted disdainfully and finally turned his head towards Naraku, acknowledging his presence. "Does he really think he can defeat us? He can't even find us." He didn't mention how they couldn't find Inu-Yasha, either. Unlike Naraku, they kept their castle isolated so that no human could enter—not after the attack by Myouga and Kikyo sixty years back. But that also meant that no vampire could leave the castle until they opened it again.

            "He's teamed up with a girl named Kagome Higurashi." The expression on Sesshoumaru's face showed that he cared little. "She is an exact replica of Kikyo, in both looks and power, sworn to take revenge against your clan."

            Another snort. "Humans have become more foolish over the years. A Kikyo replica, you say…So what is your purpose in coming here, then?"

            Naraku's smile grew wider. "I need Inu-Yasha out of the way so that I can get to Kagome. I want her. I want her power. So I thought we could form an alliance of some sort. You open your castle to the humans, and you will get Inu-Yasha, and I will get Kagome. I know how your father has been looking for him." A glint flashed in his eyes at the mention of the Lord Inu-kai, one of the first and most powerful vampires ever.

            Sesshoumaru's golden eyes hardened, but Naraku continued, "It will be easy. Barely any fighting will be involved. Once Kagome finds out about Inu-Yasha's true identity, she won't be so hard to claim anymore. Humans are easily swayed."

            "Fine. I'll open the castle for those human fools. It will take much of our time, perhaps a entire day, and much human blood. It will be ready in three days." Sesshoumaru looked bored. "How much damage can Inu-Yasha and a Kikyo lookalike do, anyway?"

            "Let's see…his Tetsusaiga and her purified arrows…" Naraku pretended to think. "Quite more than you might think. I've already sent some of my own clan down there to attack. They should be there at any minute now."

            "I hope you know, though," Sesshoumaru's voice cut through Naraku's evil chuckle. "About Inu-Yasha's condition?"

            "Yes…the last occurrence happened two weeks ago. Also, my entering the castle caused it to be slightly visible to the mortal world…I am sure Inu-Yasha's been feeling it someway or another."

            "If I open the castle, our presence would cause the change to occur again," Sesshoumaru said coolly. "You might be dealing with a different Inu-Yasha."

            Naraku continued his evil chuckle where he left off. "Don't worry. I can deal with a pitiful halfling. But I'm betting my reaction will be quite different from Kagome's…when she finds out."

*          *          *

            As soon as Kagome felt an odd brush of wind she plunged her hand into her bag and pulled out her bow. She locked it into place and quickly drew an arrow. When she looked over at Inu-Yasha, he had his glowing Tetsusaiga held in front of him. The sky above them was lit by a sliver of moon and the light posts, but otherwise the street was deserted.

            She closed her eyes. While she'd been training with Myouga's friends, they'd taught her to feel for a vampire's presence. Her eyes flew open. "To your left!" she cried to Inu-Yasha. He swung as a vampire zoomed in from nowhere. The vampire shrieked as he was sliced in half

            After that a swarm of them lunged from the bushes and sky. Kagome loosed her arrow at a vampire—the power she unleashed formed a comet around the arrow and knocked out two or three vampires. She fitted another one in place and let go.

            "Kagome! You okay?" Inu-Yasha shouted as swung at the demons. Kagome nodded and dodged a vampire's punch, retaliating with an axe kick. A bunch of vampires whistled, and she remembered she was wearing a skirt. Crap…

            "Inu-Yasha, let's blow a path," she muttered when their backs bumped. He nodded. At the same time, he swung and she shot an arrow in the same direction. The vampires exploded and flew out of the way and the two hunters ran through the now open path.

            They leapt up walls and bushes and ran down roads, occasionally kicking off the fast vampire. They dodged around cars and shops until they entered a series of alleyways. There were no lights in the area except for the moon, and they found themselves constantly tripping over things on the ground. "Shit!" Inu-Yasha growled. "We'll never get through like this." Kagome shushed him and nearly crashed into a wall.

            After they'd almost lost each other by running in separate directions, Inu-Yasha grabbed Kagome's hand. Behind them they could hear cold laughter from the vampires—"We're gonna kill you, Inu-Yasha! Naraku's gonna have Kagome, you don't deserve her! Not after what you did with—"

            Inu-Yasha ran faster. Kagome was unprepared for the sudden speed and stumbled after him. Suddenly her leg hit something thin and sharp—like the lid of a garbage can—and she yelled in pain, then quickly covered her mouth with her free hand. In front of her Inu-Yasha cursed again, then began twisting and turning through the alleys.

            Kagome was becoming exhausted. She half-shut her eyes and felt for vampire aura. When she found none, she tugged on Inu-Yasha's hand. "Let's slow down, I can't feel them anymore," she said breathlessly. They ducked into an alley that was smaller than the rest. She fell against the wall and took some deep breaths. The excitement of running faded, and the pain of her injury sank in. She lifted her leg and clutched at her calf. "Inu-Yasha, did you have to run so fast?"

            "Unless you want to marry that son of a bitch Naraku then yes," Inu-Yasha grumbled. "Here, let me see what's wrong."

            "No, I'm OK."

            "Don't be so stubborn."

            "Do you always have to save me? I said I'm okay."

            "But it's bleeding!"

            Kagome looked up at Inu-Yasha. Her hand was covering the wound, so there was no way he could see it was bleeding. And the light of the moon was weak. "How did you know that?"

            "I—I smell it," Inu-Yasha replied after a pause.

            "You smell it? But how—" Kagome stopped and looked up. The wall they were leaning against wasn't as tall as the buildings, so it gave them a good view of the moon. Someone or something was crouching on the top of the wall, obscuring the moonlight with their body. He, or it, seemed to be waiting.

            Slowly Kagome sank down to the floor. Her white jacket was especially visible in the night. If she took it off, the sharp movement would be detected. How would she hide it?

            Almost automatically she put her hand on Inu-Yasha's shoulder and pulled him towards her, shielding her body with his own. He began to protest, but she put a finger against his mouth. Their foreheads were touching, their noses almost. Kagome closed her eyes and remembered the last time they'd been this close, on the hill at school, regarding each other with contempt. Obviously they didn't think that anymore.

            "What are you doing?" Inu-Yasha whispered against her finger, although it was so soft he was practically mouthing the words.

            Kagome looked up at him, eyes bright. The finger against his lips trembled. "What if Naraku captures me?"

            Inu-Yasha remembered her fear. Although Kagome had gotten stronger, the fear instilled in her since childhood was also strong. Looking at Kagome like this, when they weren't being obnoxious, made Inu-Yasha want to protect her. And normally he'd never felt like a protector to anyone…except her…for one brief crazy moment Inu-Yasha wanted Kagome to cry so that he could kiss her tears away again…

The thought was jarred out of him as a loud cawing echoed through the night. Above them, a black crow spread its wings and flew over them, his harsh shriek jarring the night. Kagome looked up and saw the grinning face of a demon vampire peering from above the wall. "Nowhere to run!" he shouted. Then there was a loud crash. The wall beside them began to crack.

            Too late Kagome realized the wall was going to crack apart and fall on top of them. There was another loud crash, and finally the wall broke. Inu-Yasha grabbed Kagome's frozen body and ran towards a large dumpster near them. He quickly threw the lid open and he and Kagome dove on the ground, under the little triangle the lid created, as concrete fell around them, hitting the lid and pressing it down on Inu-Yasha's body. He cried out in pain and got to his knees, so that he shielded Kagome from the concrete and carried the weight of the debris on the lid on his back.

            From outside: "Shit! We were supposed to capture them, not trap them under concrete! Here, fool, try lifting it!"

            "Aaarrrgh! It's too heavy!"

            "What'll we do?"

            "What else can we do? Go back to Lord Naraku and tell him. It's not like they can move around in there."

            "You're right. Mwahahhahaha!"

            The laughter of the vampire grew fainter until it disappeared completely. Kagome's daze cleared up, and for the first time she really understood where she was. She looked up, eyes wide, at Inu-Yasha, whose teeth were clenched and arms slightly trembling. And she realized what he'd saved her from.

            "Right…so now what are we going to do?"

            ~So if you still don't know what's up with Inu-Yasha…I don't know what else to tell you. ;-)