Authors note: Wow! The first day after it was submitted, and I already got six reveiws! Alright guys, up for a challenge? If I get six reveiws between when this chapter is submitted, and when the next one is, there will be a Honorary Mention, and YOU may be the one who is mentioned. Likely, actually.

Okay, I will say one more time, this is very angsty and pain-filled, but it will not be one of those weepy oh, Inuyasha is dead, now kagomes gonna kill herself fics. The people who reveiwed are as follows:

Fetchboy84

FieryDemonFox

The Lady Winged Night

Tenshi Girl (AKA the lady winged knight)

Tenshi Girl Wrote: There is no WAY that it's over...Curses may SEEM gone...but unless someone like Kaede or Miroku makes sure...

Inu no baka. The curse is still there and you're nearly gonna die! But as you have kindly assured me, not permenantly and maybe not at all.

I write in return: I liked your reveiw so much, I just had to answer it.

Oh course its not over. It being over would ruin the fun! (grins evilly, then blankly stares at screen) Anyway. I may have Kaede or Miroku check, I dont know. I dont really plan how it is. For instance, when I wrote this chappie, I hadnt meant to bring Sesshoumaru into this. (oops!)

Inuyasha is being a bit of an idiot, and thats just like him, isnt it? Well, maybe he will, die, maybe he wont. I already know the answer, but Im not telling! That would ruin it, wouldnt it? Now, agree with me! It would, wouldnt it?! Thats right.

Inuyashas Horsegirl

PS: If I wind up signing something Eternal-Inuyasha, thats because I had to switch account from that for personal reasons.

"No! Please, no!" Inuyasha moaned. He couldn't move. The dark priestess was there, chanting. Cursing him again! He couldn't help moaning. He was human, so weak. And helpless. He had felt this pain before, and would do nearly anything to keep it from coming again. Even moaning like a weakling. Anything was better than this.

"Beg, Inuyasha." Kintaena hissed, the sharp sound escaping from her wrinkled lips. 'That ugly old hag!' he thought in torment. He knew exactly what was going to happen, and that didn't make anything better.

It made it worse.

'I cant be weak' he thought desperately. The black orb, the curse, floated slowly toward him. Kintaena chuckled, and dissipated into only black smoke, wisps escaping and blowing in random directions. The orb floated ever closer. To Inuyashas dismay, it did not dissipate with her.

The curse, glowing blackly as it always did, drew nearer and nearer. 'No! Please..... no......' He thought, struggling franticly to move. He couldn't. He couldn't even take his eyes off the evil black glow. Staring deep into its depths, he saw something stir. The glow stopped moving a foot from his eyes.

He saw something in the orb. Shining back at him like a reflection, he saw Kagome climb out of the well. She paused, and yelled something, loud and long. The she yelled something short. Or at least, her lips didn't move for more that a half-second. He thought for sure it was 'sit!' Nothing happened.

Worried, she walked slowly around the clearing, searching. She suddenly found what she was searching for. Screaming, she ran to what she found. Tears flew back from her streaming eyes. Her mouth remained open wide, and Inuyasha knew she was screaming something. Then suddenly he could hear her.

"INUYASHA! INUYASHAAAAAAAAAAA!!!!!!!" She was screaming. "No! No!" She continued wildly. She shook her head, denying what was now before her very eyes. There he was. Inuyasha saw himself lying there, curled up in a very tight ball. His hands had small pools of blood around them, it looked like he had been clenching his fist in extreme pain.

His golden eyes were dull, he saw, and glazed over with death. A small trickle of crimson blood had crept out of the corner of his mouth. He was dead, in this image. As the picture faded, and the orb began to menacingly creep closer again, Inuyasha knew that this was true. This was his future. To be dead, curled up in a ball, with Kagome sobbing her heartbreak over his body.

Then the orb began to sink into his chest. He felt pain, just as he had that night with Kintaena. It was as bad as then. Only it was slightly more familiar this time. His eyes blurred with tears of pain. This was tormenting. Nothing could be worse than this. Nothing could ever be worse than this.

"No." he said suddenly through ground teeth. It was a struggle to speak at all. "No, that vision hurt more." As if to prove him wrong, the pain intensified. It ripped a scream from his pain-racked body, and he shuddered. His vision swam, and still the pain grew worse. It ws unimaginable! "No......."

He fell unconscious.

"Inuyasha. Inuyashaaaaaaaa." Kagome said. Inuyasha woke with a start. Startled, he opened his eyes and looked around the room. It seemed to be the middle of the day. What? He thought silently. He looked up, and was met by the sight of Kagomes head, her deep brown eyes staring into his golden ones.

Her hair was tied up in a ponytail. This was a style Inuyasha had never seen her in before. She was wearing a pink sweatshirt, and her ponytail was dangling over her neck. It tickled him on the nose, and he sneezed, barely managing to turn his head in time to avoid sneezing in her face.

Was I sleeping? He wondered. It had seemed so real. The pain was so vivid, so much like it had really been. It was terrible. He shivered and hoped that he would never have to go through that again."I let you sleep, because I figured you didn't get any sleep till dawn. Was I right?" She asked. He nodded amiably.

"Anyway, Inuyasha, Kaede says theres been a Kuromiko around, a dark priestess. Apparently shes been cursing people with a sickness only Hanyous can get. The black sickness." She continues. Inuyashas eyes contracted suddenly in fear. The Kuromiko! It wasn't a dream! He thought with a pang of silent terror.

He would never let the others know of his fear, because that would make him seem weak. The only thing he cared about more than Kagome, and more than Skikon shards, was his ego. He was a bit of an ego case. He couldn't help it. He would never let anyone know how terrified he was. Not even if it meant he was tortured again. His mouth went dry at the very thought.

No. He realized. Under pain of that kind of torture, he would tell anything. Anything that was asked to him.

"Inuyasha? Are you alright?" Kagome asked with concern. She had noticed how pale he had gotten. He stared at her with angry eyes. Not, however, the kind of anger she thought.

"Sesshoumaru-sama! Lord Sesshoumaru-sama! I have brought tidings from Bokusenou!" The green toady, Jaken, exclaimed, waving his hands in the air. He is happy about something. Sesshoumaru noted. He didnt miss much. Including the fact that he also seemed slightly, ever so slightly, regretful.

Not enough that anyone else would pick it up, but Sesshoumaru was a Taiyoukai He didnt miss much. Not much at all. Besides, his sense of smell had never failed him before. If he thought he smelled happiness, and regret, then he smelled happiness and regret. Of that he was sure.

"What news do you bring from Bokusenou, Jaken?" It was a question, but from the tone of voice used, you would have thought for sure it was a statement, and not a question. If anything of vital importance is going on, Bokusenou will know. The wind tells him all. Sesshoumaru thought with some satisfaction.

Bokusenou was the only one that Sesshoumaru truly respected, and realized as better than him (as far as knowledge goes). And it was the same way with Bokusenou. Mutual respect was a beautiful thing in their eyes, though Sesshoumaru was too egotistical to admit it to anyone.

"Inuyasha has been cursed!" Jaken cried joyously, obviously pleased with himself. When Sesshoumaru didnt praise him, which only Jaken could expect, he began to look puzzled. "Are you not pleased, lord Sesshoumaru-sama? Inuyasha will soon be dead! It is the black sickness." Jaken informed him.

"This will not do." Sesshoumaru answered thoughtfully. His expression darkened. "This will not do at all! I wished to kill Inuyasha in battle. If he is to die before I am able to, I will not have that pleasure." But that wasnt all. Sesshoumaru had been secretly doubting himself lately. If he had told any of his doubts to Jaken or Rin, he would get a huge confidence boost, of course.

But his pride would never let him do that. He was Sesshoumaru, the lord of the Western Lands. And he had recently proved himself greater than the lords of the Northern, Eastern, and Southern Lands. No one had ever walked away alive. Except Inuyasha. He thought grimly. Was it possible he wanted to kill Inuyasha himself because he wasnt sure he could?

Inuyashas strength had been steadily increasing. Sesshoumaru had already reached his peak, being the eldest. Nearly a year ago, Inuyasha and he had fought. Inuyasha and Sesshoumaru had both gotten away unharmed, yet far too exausted to continue fighting. Jaken opened his mouth to speak in that annoying squeeky voice of his. Sesshoumaru backhandd him into a tree without heasitation.