Deep Dark Forest

Disclaimer: I do not own Inuyasha in any way. The talented Takahashi Rumiko-san does. I only own stories that unfold in my head.

Editor's Note! (E/N from now on yah?): Yo! 'Tis me! WaterLillyofLife! Just call me Lilly from now on, yah? I was planning on doing some funnies…. But I figured out that I wouldn't be that funny! *cries* n e ways… I am the editor and if there are spelling or grammar mistakes… don't blame Clover-chan! IT'S MY FAULT!!! *cries again* oh, and jus so u kno, dis is me first editing job (apart from school essays and stuff… but that's a 'duh' statement) Oh! Oh! Oh! I don't edit notes made by me or Clover-dahling, yah? N e ways… I'll leave u to this story, personally I didn't know she could write this well but she can! I even got caught up in the story when I was editing. *sweatdrops* oops… oh! Rambled again! I'll be hopin that Clover-doll gets some good as well as helpful reviews… *gets a serious and evil look of face* if you dare flame without reason or a good enough reason I'll hunt u down and flame u back, yah?! *goes happy again and waves* c-yer ppl!

Chapter 1 - Escape and Broken Pieces

The land was being covered in a blanket of darkness as the fires of the sun slid down over the far horizon. At one village people were preparing for the night, eating their suppers and mothers putting their children to bed. Old men could be heard talking and walking, clattering in their getas. Discussions of the day's activities and what would happen the next could be heard. The hot summer nights were more pleasant than the summer days, for the lack of light seemed to ease the tired souls of farmers and town workers from the constant heat. However, the infamous hot humid mist lagged in the air. Both men and women looked up to the starry sky, gave thanks to the gods, and made their way into their homes to sleep. It was a quiet night— for them at least. No demons and evil spirits were threatening them tonight and for that the villagers were thankful.

No one could imagine that somewhere in the deep woods, something dark and powerful was fighting to take procession of the good.

Down a long a narrow, winding path leading away from the village a faint noise could be heard. A rustling of leaves. Animals, as silently as possible scurrying away, afraid for their lives. Going deeper into the forest, the canopy of tree branches and lush leaves hid all the stars from view. How skilled the forest gods were in creating their own enclosed world! Outside the forest barely any sounds would be heard, and sights would not be seen. The forest hid its secrets. Whatever happened there would stay there, among the age-old trees.

Near the heart of the forest, almost no one was there— no one in their right mind. An evil miasma mixed in with the humidity and cursed the air that it was constraining. For a moment the whole area was dead silent. Total darkness. No lights from above, no wind moving its fingers through the stiff air, no smell of pines or giant redwoods or maples or the petals of flowers.

In that terrible silence, all she could hear was her heartbeat, rapidly rising in its rate. All she could sense was the lack of space to breath and she felt the desire for air overwhelm her as tight dark and cruel coils tightened around her, threatening to steal the source of life right out of her. She couldn't even cry for help, and she could not move and inch. She couldn't see anything, only the dark— the darkness of the coils and the evil surrounding her. At a last attempt to do anything she tried to bring together any energy she might have had and ball it all together but it was no good. The lack of oxygen in her lungs had made her whole being weak and she felt her sight get darker than it already was. Her head fell limp inside the tunnel of coils and she was squeezed into unconsciousness. The coils sensed this and unceremoniously let go its grip on her, causing the body to drop a few feet to the hard ground. With a thump the girl toppled near another female body, apparently in a similar state as she. In the darkness it was difficult to see anything, but the girl had some kind of powerful aura around her. A dim light surrounded her and it showed blood covering her legs and part of a green short skirt, as well as shoulders of a white school uniform top. The articles of clothing had tears in some places where the coils had wrapped abound her.

The other girl lay too, motionless except for eyelids struggling in their subconscious to open. Her long dark hair lay halfway around her, while some was tied up in a high ponytail that seemed to come loose. She had tight black clothes on and the armor of a youkai exterminator over them. One of her arms has been cut and blood was slowly dripping from the skin and surrounding cloth. A small white cat-like creature nuzzled her nose in the girl's hair, licking at the wounds. It had a gash on its front paw itself. Next to her a man in black and purple robes was crouching down, tightly gripping one hand covered with prayer beads. He had a short ponytail on the back of his head and large beads of sweat trickled down his face. The last of their group member, a small demon fox boy, stood shivering out of sight behind a tree. The others had all made him stay there, in the fear that he would get hurt, but now the others were all injured...

Ku ku ku... Now laughter filled that horrible silence. Ku ku ku...

"Hmph, in the end she was only a human. To think that a dirty scum could ever do anything that could harm this powerful lord was a grave mistake." The source of the voice turned to directly face a being clad in red robes and holding a huge sword that seemed to have been made of a great fang. The being clutched his sword tighter and glared at the voice.

The voice had once come from a figure that looked like a human. A man with dark eyes and a mean scowl. Long black hair and white skin which seemed to be perfect. He had a sense of elegance around him, a cool, assured, determined barrier that seemed to be impossible to get through. If one would not have known that this man was capable of the cruelest evil, one could only marvel at his perfection and call him handsome, but only if one did not know him.

That form of a man was now transformed into a huge greenish black monster. Tentacles reaching every this way and that, blending in with the thick vines of the trees of the forest. Yet his tentacles were muscular and had spikes coming from them. Capable of lightning fast speeds, if these tentacles got a hold of anyone, they could be sure that the end was near. The being was surrounded in bits of all kinds of demons and now the only human looking portion to him was his head. Even the arms seemed unnaturally long. To say the least, he looked like a mutated insect ready to strike at any moment. And yet an insect is the wrong comparison to make. Even a mutated insect could not explain the power this man had. With a flick of a hand he could send thousands of youkai flying at his enemies and obeying his orders. He could bring people to hate each other and destroy themselves. A pure evil, known by the name of Naraku.

It was the voice from this being, which ran through the night air.

"Ku ku ku.... Inuyasha, make it easier on yourself and just simply hand over the last shard. Or do you want to share the same fate of the other humans." The silver haired soldier named Inuyasha growled. "Or perhaps I should go ahead and end their miserable little lives.... ku ku ku."

Inuyasha glanced over to where the other three lay. Damn, Naraku had them in a bad situation again. The ears on the top of his head could just pick up the light sounds of breathing from his companions. Even in the dark, he could see the girls laying on the ground and the other young man struggling to stay in the conscious world. Damn the Saimyoshou... their poison always got the better of Miroku. He thought back to how the now doubled over priest had tried to suck in the tentacles rushing towards Sango, the exterminator girl, with the black hole in his hand. The overgrown insects had swarmed out of the depth of Naraku's mutated body and flown so willingly into his hand, determined to poison his whole being. Inuyasha remembered the look of anguish he had on his face, maybe from the pain, or from the fact that he couldn't protect Sango. Sango had then thrown her Hiraikotsu at Naraku, but of course Naraku had sent it back to hit her instead, knocking the lights out of her eyes. She had landed on the ground of the clearing and that was when her hair had tangled out of its binding and left her there. Hiraikotsu, after hitting its owner, had flown off into a far corner of the clearing. Kirara, the white cat in her transformed state, had growled angrily at Naraku, but with a swipe of a tentacle, was sent flying back, only to knock down the trees in her path. How the tree gods screamed their pain at the impact! But to any living ears, all one heard was the crunch of broken trunks and the loud rustle of disarranged leaves. Kirara had transformed back, limping back to take care of her owner.

Inuyasha remembered how Kagome had tears in her eyes as she lifted her bow up and pulled the arrow back, screaming "Don't ever touch my friends!" Just as she had let go of her magical arrow, Naraku had grabbed hold of her waist and began to squeeze tightly around her, covering her small body with more and more of his disgusting rough tentacles. Her arrow had barely hit him because he had jerked out of its way, but the arrow did come in contact with a part of him, sending bits of his right side of his body flying everywhere. Inuyasha remembered that he could do nothing to stop Kagome's pains and his attacks were leaving little damage on Naraku.

'Damnit. Why was nothing working?' The only thing he was confident about was that Naraku did not have the last of the shards yet. The last shard of the Shikon no Tama was tucked away in his haori. He had managed to let Kagome lend it to him because the whole gang knew that Naraku would be attacking for Kagome. At least he would not get stronger than he already was! And yet, as his mind traveled away from these thoughts and back onto the opponent ahead of him, Inuyasha realized that Naraku had grown aware of the location of the shard. He felt the presence of his eyes glaring down upon him.

"Inuyasha.... going to all that trouble to hide the last piece of the jewel from me... wasting time and energy, did you truly think that I would not become aware of its location? Putting your so-called comrades in the state they are in… are you not ashamed?"

Naraku's tentacles sped toward the hanyou and went in for the attack. Inuyasha jumped up just in time to a few feet away, but it was no use. There were so many of the tentacles and only one of him. With nowhere to go and unable to see in the very dim light, Inuyasha swung his sword around and yelled

"Kongousouha!" Hundreds of crystal shark spikes sped up toward all the tentacles. Some ripped Naraku's flesh but the monster didn't seem to be worried in the least bit.

"Inuyasha... you can't kill me. Now, enough of these games! Hand over the shard!" Tentacles flew toward the hanyou at lighting fast speed so only a blur could be seen in the dim light. Inuyasha brought his sword down in front of him, but it was too late. All too soon he felt the sharp pain and the drip of blood down his clothes. Looking down, he saw the terrible tentacle sticking out of his middle.

'It can't end like this.... not now! That bastard Naraku, he was aiming for the shard... and missed by only an inch. Damn, I can feel the bits of broken glass stabbing me, from that weird container Kagome keeps it in.'

Naraku's tentacles had started to wrap around Inuyasha and his sword, getting tighter and tighter.

"This is your final moment Inuyasha..." Naraku squeezed around Inuyasha constricting some of his air. Inuyasha, with tentacles all around him and through him as well, gave only a feeble sound. The glass jar with the shard was under his haori on the right side of his chest and the glass was poking at him. He could barely feel the sharp bits cut into him as he was wrapped more and more by Naraku. And then... it happened.

There was all of a sudden a violent shudder as boiling blood started to pulse inside Inuyasha's body. There was an enormous amount of white light as the shard made contact with Inuyasha's skin.

The pain, the constricted feeling, everything was gone in a matter of a second. The next seconds were a blur as Inuyasha ripped apart the tentacles around him and grabbed a hold of his sword again.

"NARAKU! YOU WILL PAY!" Inuyasha charged at the only human-resembling part of Naraku and sliced with his sword. Instead of being killed like anyone would have been if they were attacked, or at least seriously wounded, Naraku had escaped, by making his body dissipate and let the attack pass. The slice of the Tetsusaiga had cleared the canopy of the trees and now the light of the stars above showed through.

Chuckling almost, Naraku reformed his body and went straight towards Inuyasha with his tentacles again. Inuyasha hacked all of them to shreds but he knew that he could not kill Naraku, for he had learned recently that his heart was hidden in another location. The situation sunk in and Inuyasha was all of a sudden overwhelmed by fury. Fury that his friends were hurt, fury at what Kagome had to go through, fury for the fact that he could not end it all right here and now, and fury that he had no more strength.

Inuyasha felt himself get hit with a ball of heat so great he did not know what hit him. He figured that this was another one of Naraku's attacks but he was wrong. It came from himself. The white light that the shard of the Shikon no Tama had given off earlier changed to black. The fury of his soul and the miasma all around him had corrupted the shard. It was out of Kagome's hands, out of those purifying hands!

"GRRRRAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA" Inuyasha yelled as he felt the new power corrupt his mind. He picked up his sword and in a crazed state, flung it dangerously in all directions. He rushed towards Naraku and aimed for where his heart should have been.

'What the-? I can't stop. I can't control my body anymore. No! That puts Kagome into danger! NO! Stop!!!!!!!'

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Inuyasha lost all control and hell broke loose. Slashing every which way, it was amazing that he did not cut up his friends… much. Miroku flew back as a small cut appeared on his left cheek. Inuyasha noticed a new thin red line appear on Kagome's sleeve and the reality hit him that that came from him...

'No! Damn it all! I'm hurting them! Kagome!'

Miroku coughed as he tried to stand up. The pain was unbearable. Yet he knew he had to protect Sango, Kirara, and Kagome from Inuyasha. With all the strength he had left, he put up a barrier. But he knew that it could not last much longer.

"Nnnmmnmn...." A sound same over from the body of Kagome.

"What? Kagome-sama?" Miroku questioned and turned his head to see Kagome slightly move.

"Nnnnnnn… That hurt……" She slowly brought a hand to her arm where she had just been cut.

Miroku realized that Inuyasha's cut had caused her pain enough to wake up from her unconsciousness. Not the smartest way, he figured, but as luck had it, she had not been more injured and she did wake... maybe there was hope...

Kagome opened her eyes. She was still lying on the ground, but now had her mouth open when she saw what was happening. Only one thought ran through her mind. 'I have to do something. I have to help Inuyasha!'

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With all the sword's cuts flying around, and hitting everything, even Inuyasha got hit once. But all it did was cut up his robes. Finding it hard to move and too hot with the disarranged clothing and power, he flung the top part off. Naraku was getting his body cut up but was not dying. Inuyasha couldn't feel anything anymore. No pain, No emotion and not the tentacle that hit him full force in the back until it was too late.

"Damn you halfling" was all he heard from that voice of the enemy. His body jerked forward at the impact, but he had too much energy to fall over from it. There was another violent shudder and the shard sprung from his body. Almost in dead silence, the shard dropped to the earth in a twinkle of a sound. Inuyasha's, Miroku's and Naraku's eves all went to the tiny darkened jewel. Naraku swiftly went in to pick it us, seeing that Inuyasha fell onto the floor.

Grunting, Inuyasha felt all the pain, all the emotion that had left his body return in full force and found it hard to breathe. 'It can't end like this, it CAN'T!'

Naraku picked up the last shard and held it in his fingers.

"Don't touch that!" He managed to get out. He took his sword one more time, and giving it all he had swung it and aimed at the shard. The sword came crashing down and the whole clearing was blinded by yet another light. Yet, this light was different, it not just a blinding light, and nor was it a corrupted light filled with darkness. It was... a mixture of both, and there was something more to it, A bit of purifying power? It seemed to come from another place altogether. But from where? And how? Inuyasha let the thoughts pass as he could start to see through the light again.

When the light died down, They all saw what happened. Naraku had been pushed back by the force and seemed to be drained of power. The jewel he held in his had seemed all of a sudden smaller... 'Wait, smaller!?' Inuyasha thought. And then he saw it.

There on the ground was the other half of the jewel. Right in front of him. He reached out for it and was rather surprised that Naraku had not attacked him again. He had no more energy left. That last blinding light had weakened him more than he already was.

He looked up, and saw Naraku fall to the ground and make a fist around his jewel. Then out of thin air, Hakudoushi appeared and made a barrier around them both. In the matter of a second, they were both gone, and all that could be heard was that voice.

"Keep safe that piece for now, Inuyasha. I will come and collect it from you in due time..."

'Damnit... he escaped....'

Inuyasha laid down and held his half of the jewel tight. A figure half crawled over to him. She was intent on getting to him that she didn't notice she was scratching her knees on the forest floor. She made her way over to his body finally and the small fox demon kit scurried towards her and hugged her. After a moment, she put him down next to her and brought her attention to the lying half dog demon in front of her. He was covered in blood and she could see the big wound on his back that must have gone through to the front of his body.

When Inuyasha thought he would be overcome by tiredness, he felt a hand on his shoulder.

"Inuyasha...?"

He jerked his head back, or tired to, to see who it was. Just before his vision became blurry, he saw a girl with raven black hair and a strange costume not typical of the feudal era crouch over him. Next to her, was a furry tan colored ball. 'Must be Shippou.'

She put her hand on his fist and he let his hand get loose. The shard went into Kagome's hand.

"Kagome..." Inuyasha whispered as he let his head fall down and his body into unconsciousness.

"Inuyasha..." She spoke and looked at his form in the starlight. Opening her hand, she looked at the jewel. "Eh? Its only half of the shard we had… its a broken piece...."

A/N: Well, there you go. My first chapter of my first story. Review and tell me what you thought about it please! If you didn't like it, don't flame me, but give me constructive criticisms! Then I can make it better. Well, thank you to WaterLilyofLife for editing it! I hope you all liked it. Yes I know, the battle was strange..... but it wasn't too bad was it? Inuyasha used a shard, the last shard broke in half, and where did that other light come from? I'll write more later, I will try to update as much as I can, but maybe once a week? I dunno yet. But in the meantime, send in reviews!

-Clover131

Some Japanese words:

geta: Japanese wooden soled shoes

youkai: demon or spirits

Haori: outer coat of traditional male clothing

Shikon no Tama: Jewel of Four Souls

hanyou: half-human half-youkai