Disclaimer: I do not own Rumiko Takahashi's work, Inuyasha.

A/N: Here's the combined chapter I mentioned in the previous entry. This one is probably the first of a few dramatic scenes. Just a warning is all. Enjoy!

Naraku's Revenge and Kagome's Suffering

Chapter 13: Broken Kagome

Inuyasha leaped and flew from building to building toward the well. The closer he was to his destination, the stronger the smell of Kagome's blood became.

This can't be good, Inuyasha thought worriedly. If her blood is this strong, then her injuries must be fatal. Marimu will pay for this! Oh, Kagome, please be okay.

He quickened his pace until he was nearly out of Miroku, Sango, and Shippo's sights.

"I wish I knew what was going on," Sango said as Kilala tried to catch up to the half demon. "I couldn't get a good glimpse at what Inuyasha saw off the hospital roof. I had heard the man about a girl falling, but that couldn't have been Kagome, could it?"

Miroku felt the same. By the time he looked down from the roof, there were too many people in blue jackets around the area to even have a clue what the situation was or how it occurred, for that matter. The sounds of the old man's voice trail on and on about a girl jumping made his skin crawl too.

Shippo, on the other hand, was able to see the mess below even if it was for only a second. Unfortunately, he was in the same predicament as Inuyasha; he knew it was Kagome's blood, heard the insane old man yell about how she jumped, and her body was no where to be found. For this reason, he remained quiet. Why bring up a tragic mystery when there wasn't a conclusion yet?

After many leaps, Inuyasha could clearly see the shrine ahead. As intoxicating as Kagome's strong scent of blood was, he quickened his pace. Please be alive, Kagome!

One final leap made him glance toward the shrine steps below. A lengthy trail of red blood tracked a jagged line among the white towering steps.

Inuyasha become more nervous, worried, and afraid with each second while in midair.

With so much blood loss, she doesn't stand a chance, Inuyasha thought. He quickly changed his attitude and promised himself he would save her, no matter the cost.

He landed with ease between the shrine gate and the God Tree.

Inuyasha coughed. The red scent was atrocious now. After a few more rough coughs, he clenched his stomach. He had completely forgotten how ill he was.

Marimu will pay for both of our illnesses, he thought when he remembered the full-blooded demon's gas that made him ill and the fact he had made some poison run through Kagome's system, nearly killing her.

He stopped his thoughts and walked closer to the tree and placed a hand on it to lean against. If she were poisoned, she sure as hell wouldn't be bleeding and moving after jumping out of a building. Inuyasha finally quit thinking. The noxious fumes, the feeling in his stomach, and now a headache forming wasn't what he wanted right now.

With the realization that he was still ill brought his symptoms to the surface again. He could already see drops of his sweat falling on the shrine grounds. The churning of his stomach quickened, and his headache became a massive jackhammer on his head.

While watching more drops fall, he began to smell honey and lilacs, but drenched in a blood-like scent. Inuyasha slowly lifted his head to see a horribly disfigured young girl in a long, light blue, wrap-around shirt.

He stood upright from leaning on the tree, forgetting his sickness, and could only whence at the sight and condition his Kagome was in.

She was cut everywhere, from her face to her toes. Yes, even her toes were mangled.

Inuyasha didn't understand why she wasn't wearing shoes like she normally did.

Each of her cuts were more like severe gashes, leaving large trails of blood down her arms, legs, and weird clothing.

What made Kagome look worse was her legs. He could easily tell they were broken, with both of them in dislocated places and the sound of bones cracking with each step she took toward the center of the shrine grounds facing the God Tree, eyes covered by her bushy bangs for her head was bowed.

The next image he saw was somewhat strange and more confusing than how she was able to come back home seemingly alone. In her left hand were her bow and one arrow down by her side.

At this point, Kilala had appeared at the shrine gate with her comrades now dismounting from her back.

"Oh, Great Buddha!" Sango said as she held tight to her boomerang with one hand and covered her eyes with the other.

Miroku tried to look away too by staring at the ground clenching his golden staff. What he found there was a wide-eyed, frozen kitsune. He quickly bent down placed Shippo's head to his chest to keep him from staring at his repulsive looking adoptive mother. Then he quickly asked, "Inuyasha, how did—"

The half demon broke his statement as his own thoughts played over his tongue like keys on a piano playing music, "Kagome, where is Marimu? How did you escape from him? How were you able to survive the fall back at the hospital?"

All his theories that came to this event was that Marimu struggled with her, she jumped in order to get away, but the poisonous demon picked her up and carried her here. But beyond that was a complete mystery to him. It was possible that Marimu was going to take Kagome back to the Sengoku Era to his master, Inuyasha thought, but the demon told him that he was to kill her, not bring her to his boss.

Kagome never replied to his question. She was completely still as a statue. Her body slumped a little to the side as if the bow and arrow were weighing her down. Her blood had slowed but everyone could tell that too much had already overflowed from her pale body.

The demons physically present were glad Kagome stopped moving. The sound of her cracking and breaking bones that followed each of her lingering steps was unbearable to their sensitive ears.

Using the opportunity to stop her from walking any further, Inuyasha ran to her and lightly grasped the girl by the shoulders, shaking them carefully. All the while, never noticing her warm blood and cold flesh against his clawed hands. Her blood continued to flow, oozing between his strong fingers that could easily tear a demon in two.

Shippo finally pulled away from Miroku when he heard Inuyasha's footsteps. He knew something more was wrong with Kagome. He could feel it, but his young mind couldn't express it or explain it. Whatever the problem is, he thought, I know Inuyasha or Miroku will figure it out.

Miroku was surprised to see his half demon friend run to Kagome's injured body. He knew something mysterious and evil was surrounding the shrine grounds. There were only two explanations for these strange auras: either Marimu was lurking in the shadows somewhere and all this was a trap or—

Sango just felt like someone had punched her in the stomach. She didn't care if Marimu was around or not. All she cared for right now was Kagome. Inuyasha had run to her best friend, but all Sango could feel was the guilt weighing her down. Before, she was only focused on the battle and not the main objective. Now, this realization made her feel downgraded as she slid to her knees. Tears were forming from her eyes. How could I have been so foolish? She asked herself. She glanced up to her injured friend to find some kind of answer.

Sango was closer to her victimized friend than any of the other riders from Kilala's back. That's how she was able to see it. Kagome's eyes were clouded with very little life in them. I know those eyes, she said to herself. Where have I seen them before? She, just as quickly as a finger snap, recalled her family battling at the Lord/Naraku's castle. One by one, her friends and father were murdered. Sango followed the movement of the ax-and-chain weapon returning to its master. She was horrified to see her own brother, Kohaku, was the one who killed them. She saw those eyes, his yellow eyes, were clouded and with no life—wait! That's when he was taken over by the spider demon. Then that means—.

"Inuyasha!"

The half demon turned his head to face the monk, loosening his grip on the girl in the process. Miroku tried to warn his half demon friend that this could be a trap and not to let her deformed body distract him from letting his guard down. He knew it would for himself if he were the silver-haired demon.

Using the moment to her advantage, Kagome leaped with God-like speed twenty feet back.

"Inuyasha! Kagome is possessed!" Before Sango could finish her sentence, the mangled girl quickly loaded her arrow to the bow and let it fly without a second thought.

Inuyasha never saw the arrow coming. He felt the burning sensation on his demon blood. He first glanced at the arrow in his chest then up to his attacker. Kagome! He thought. She was in the exact same pose as Kikyo!

He tried to reach out to her to give her comfort, her warm blood slipping from the tips of his claws and open palm. He knew she wouldn't have done it. There was no way. From the beginning when he heard she jumped out the window and could still move from the fall that something wasn't right. Why didn't I see it? He screamed to himself. Is this what Sota was talking about? Is this what Kagome knew was going to happen to her?

Inuyasha now realized that Kagome had sacrificed herself. He knew this before he passed out from the hit of the arrow. He knew her moods and how she always stayed by him no matter what. If he yelled at her made her sad, or felt he had let her down, he would see it in her chocolate eyes. To his dismay, they were now a grayish-brown. Sango's right. Kagome was possessed. Unfortunately, he didn't seem to have the strength to snarl at whoever made her suffer: whether Marimu, where ever he was, or his master, whoever he or she was.

He remembered what her brother told him before going into battle with Marimu, "She told me to tell you that she doesn't want you to die."

Then Inuyasha slipped into unconsciousness with only the suffering Kagome on his mind.

To Be Continued…