Chapter 3: A Battle Between Lovers
Hours later, Sango was sitting by Miroku's side, trying to comfort him through the pain the poison had caused. Miroku awoke and looked at Sango's tear-stained face, and said, "I'm okay Sango, don't worry, if you really want to make me feel better, stop crying, I can't bear to see you so upset." Hearing Miroku's kind words all Sango could do was start crying even harder as she laid her head on his chest. Miroku's first instinct was to grope her behind, but he thought better of it and settled on stroking Sango's hair.
Kaede was tending to Kagome while Inuyasha and Shippo waited impatiently outside. Inuyasha kept looking at the jewel shard in his hand thinking about what Kagome had said earlier about her bad feelings. Could this be what she had been sensing all along? Or was this just the beginning? And what was the deal with this jewel, whereas the jewel took on the aura of the user, this tiny shard seemed to pulse with evil. A part of him told him to throw the shard away it was bad news, but another part told him to keep for a little while longer. At least until they figured out what was going on he rationalized to himself. Kaede slowly walked out the hut, and Inuyasha quickly shoved the shard into his pocket and moved toward Kaede. Shippo saw this movement but was more worried about Kagome at the moment. "Well?!!! Tell us something old woman!!!", Inuyasha exclaimed. "Her ribs are cracked, she'll have to bind her chest for the next few days, but she'll be fine. Truthfulyl she should be dead as hard as she hit that wall." Inuyasha pushed past Kaede and rushed to Kagome's side. She was sleeping peacefully as he approached her, but as he got nearer Kagome face twisted up in fear. "Get Away!!!" she yelled. Shippo rushed in and yelled at Inuyasha, "What are you doing to her?!!!" "Nothing I just walked up towards her, she must be having a bad dream." I'm gonna....leave her alone till she....uh....wakes up. Keep an eye on her ok." And before Shippo could say anything, Inuyasha was gone. Sitting down beside her Shippo said, "Kagome, I think all your worst nightmares are about to come true.
Meanwhile, in the woods, Inuyasha found the well and sat down beside it. He pulled out the jewel shard and wondered why he was so drawn to it. As he held it in his hand, transfixed, off in the shadows, Kikyo stood and watched. "Hmmm, so he was right, Inuyasha couldn't resist the jewel's power. Pathetic." Inuyasha had not even sensed Kikyo right behind him. As he was looking down at the jewel an unknown force lifted the jewel slightly in the air. And before he had time to move his hand away, the jewel and turned it's jagged point downward and flew straight at Inuyasha's arm, cutting deep into his skin and lodging there. "Wha the hell?" Inuyasha thought to himself. In an instant Inuyasha changed, his eyes glowed red and his claws grew sharper. His eyes, one moment ago filled with strength and love, where suddenly filled with hatred and blood-lust. His demon part and taken over and was now stronger than ever thanks to this weird jewel shard. Something in his brain was telling him to go find Kagome and rip her to tiny little pieces. Yet his heart was fighting that thought. Unfortunately, his brain won out and he sped off towards the village, ready to kill every living thing there. Kikyo watched all of this from the shadows. "Let's see how much she loves him when he's tearing her heart out of her chest." And with a wicked laugh Kikyo walked off into the mist.
Back at the village, Kagome suddenly sat up and looked at Shippo. "Get ready, here he comes." Shippo looked at her confused but did as she said and assumed a battle stance. Two seconds later Inuyasha tore the door down, and looked around. "Move, runt.", he said in this horrible voice, "I just want her, she'll be even prettier when her face in wearing a mask of pain!!" And he let out a bloodcurdling laugh. "Run Kagome, as fast as you can, I'll hold him for as long as I'm able" Kagome took Shippo's advice and ran outside. She stopped and screamed when she saw Kaede's body, nearly ripped in two. Oh God no, she thought to herself but she recovered and kept on running back to the hut she shared with Inuyasha. She knew she had to reach her arrows. If it came down to it, she would kill Inuyasha. To put him out the misery of being possessed like that, and she knew as much as she loved him, at this point it was kill or be killed. As she made it too the hut, she ran into Sango. "What's going on Kagome?" "Sango get your boomerang and get ready to fight. Inuyasha is possessed or something!!! He came to kill me, he killed Kaede and now he's fighting Shippo!!!" Sango, working though the horror going on in her brain, got ready to fight.
Suddenly, Kagome and Sango saw Shippo come flying out of the roof and hit the ground. As he skidded to a stop beside them, the girls noticed the four huge claw marks on Shippo's chest. Inuyash stepped outside and looked at them. Sango was horrified to see Inuyasha covered in blood from head to toe. He stepped menacingly toward them saying, "Sango, I only want Kagome, don't' get in my way. If you do, you'll end up like that sack of bones bleeding on the ground beside you." Sango prepared to swing her weapon when Kagome, put a hand on her shoulder stopping her. "I know it's a lot to ask but go inside and take Shippo with you, I can handle Inuyasha, even with cracked ribs." Sango looked at her like she was a fool but did as she said.
As soon as Sango was safely inside, Kagome told Inuyasha if he wanted to kill her so bad, then come on. Inuyasha grinned a evil smiled and told her gladly. He charged at her and swung. Kagome lithely avoided his blow and retaliated with a swift kick to Inuyasha's side. "Bitch!!!" he spat. While he clutched his side, Kagome came at his with a vicious right hook and landed it square on his jaw. "Shoot, when he was teaching me to fight, Inuyasha never said it hurt so much to punch someone in the jaw." By now infuriated, Inuyasha ran to Kagome and at the last instant changed direction and stood behind her. Before she had a chance to move out the way the grabbed her in her cracked ribcage, causing her to scream in pain. "Awww I was right, you're even more beautiful when you're crying." Inuyasha laughed. Through blurry, tear-filled eyes, Kagome turned and face Inuyasha. Suddenly the glow from the jewel imbedded in Inuyasha's arm reminded her of that chill she got earlier in the day when the wind changed, and she felt a nagging feeling like she should have known why all this was happening. All she knew at that moment was she had to get the shard out of Inuyasha's arm, that jewel what was causing all this. Thinking quickly, she knew once Inuyasha got mad, he got careless. "You weak pathetic half-breed, is this all you can do? No wonder your stronger, better, pure-demon. brother Sesshomaru can kick your butt so easily. Maybe I should go be his woman.! Or better yet, Kouga's!!!!!" Just as Kagome expected Inuyasha was in a pure rage after hearing those words and rushed at her. She let Inuyasha tackle her and in the instant his guard was down she pulled out a knife she had hidden in the folds of her kimono and cut the shard out. The triumphant smile left his face replaced with anger. "You'll pay for taking my power away!!!" A second later they slammed into the ground, knocking both of them unconscious. And once again Kikyo watched from the shadows.
Hehehehe,I just had to make Kagome a better fighter this go around!!! AS always please review!!! And I'll post my next chapter as soon as I can.