Chapter 3: Kikyo's Revenge and the Love Cure

Disclaimer: I don't own anyone in this story, so please don't sue me.

A/N: Sorry for making you wait, but chapter three's finally up!

With Kagome

Kagome walked down the leaf strewn path, wondering where InuYasha was off to. Maybe off to see Kikyo, but what for?

To make out with her of course, you idiot, heartless Kagome said to herself in her mind.

"Shut up, you stupid thought!" Kagome slapped her head, therefore giving herself a big headache. "Ow..." she murmured before abruptly stopping. There they were, Kikyo and InuYasha. Surprise of all surprises, InuYasha wasn't doing any hugging with Kikyo. But he might hug her later.

Kagome ducked behind a tree and watched. She knew she should have washed herself so InuYasha couldn't smell her, but luckily he was too engrossed in what he was doing.

Gee, if only I could get to that other tree, Kagome thought, eyeing a tree that would enable her to hear what the two were saying. But I'm afraid that InuYasha will catch a glimpse of me.

After a moment's hesitation, she finally darted out from her hiding place and quickly settled down in her new one. Nobody had noticed anything yet. That was too close for comfort. Now she could hear what Kikyo and InuYasha were talking about.

"InuYasha, you...you don't want me to walk around on this earth anymore?" the priestess seemed close to tears.

"To put it mildly, yes. I also want to see you off, so you won't feel lonely," Kagome noted, with pleasure, how insincere the dog demon was. He was losing his knack for telling lies.

"Oh..." Kikyo looked down at the ground, and then looked up again, a raging fire burning in her eyes. "I'll get that reincarnation of mine! I'll make sure she meets her death! Oh, why did she HAVE to be reincarnated and stuck with you?" she looked close to killing something.

Just then, Kagome felt something crawling up her leg. Looking down, she saw a humongous cockroach crawling towards her face!

Kagome couldn't stand it much longer. Finally, she gave out a little squeak of fright, and turned her vision to see the other two staring awkwardly at her hiding place. She crouched lower, wishing that she could evaporate into the ground, disappear from these two. And when InuYasha saw her there, he would probably get all mad at her.

Suddenly, Kikyo sprang forward and revealed Kagome's hiding place. Kagome, feeling helpless, looked up at the priestess, fear flooding into every inch of her body.

"What are you doing here?" Kikyo asked quietly. "Never mind. I'll simply kill you, easy as that. Remember, it seems that Naraku also sees you as the greatest nuisance."

The teenage girl shivered. Out of nowhere, renewed anger and strength flooded out of her body, just as easily as if it were the fear she just had.

"OH, SO YOU THINK YOU'RE THE CENTER OF THE WORLD, HUH?" Kagome jumped to her feet, surprising everybody in the vicinity. "WELL, YOU'RE WRONG, BUSTER! WE'VE ALL GOT THE WORLD'S POLLUTION LEVELS AND THE IRAQ AND AMERICA WAR TO THINK ABOUT!"

Seeing InuYasha's puzzled look, all her anger seemed to fade away. She smiled tentatively and explained calmly what the pollution levels and the war was about.

All of a sudden she felt a sharp pain behind her. Kikyo had struck her with an arrow while she was explaining, and the wound was bleeding profusely. The hanyou's jaw had fallen open in horror and surprise.

The teenage girl fell to her knees, her vision turning blurry. The last thing that came from her mouth was the word 'InuYasha'. She had not wanted to die this way, but then again, all her troubles would be over. Finally blacking out, she fell to the ground, a warm, soft mattress...

Wait a minute! Now she was in a tunnel, light on one side, darkness on the other. Which should she run to? Many demons voices nagged at her, telling her why she should go this way or that.

Finally, one helped her make a decision. The precise words were, "If you go to the dark side of the tunnel, you shall live again in the normal world and see InuYasha again." This voice sounded strangely like InuYasha's. She was tempted, but she sat down to look at her options.

She could go in the direction which pointed to Heaven, or earth. Wait; in fact, she didn't even KNOW which one was Heaven and which one was earth. Oh man, this was going to be a long day. After a big sigh, she decided to make decision with the voice that mentioned InuYasha. Maybe that would decide her fate.

She could follow the voice, and hope that the voice wasn't lying about the dark side of the tunnel being earth. However, something else was there to bother her: that voice could really be lying, and she wouldn't forgive herself if she ended in Heaven. She would never be happy. And on top of that, she somehow knew that once you ended up somewhere, the portal would close and you would never be able to change your mind again.

After what seemed like an hour, she stood up. This was it. She would assume that little voice wasn't lying. In other words, she would take the dark path.

Finding the strength to walk, she got took one step after another. To make her short walk fun, she hopped about happily, playing 'Hop Hop Bunny'. For once, she didn't think it was a dull and childish game.

Finally, she reached the end of the journey. One more step and she would be out of the tunnel. Kagome took a deep breath and stepped.

Blinking at the sudden brightness, she soon realized she was in an area with a beautiful blue sky and lush grass. Everyone was crowded anxiously around her, and InuYasha had his back to her, therefore facing a faraway hut, probably Kaede's hut. Kagome felt a stab of pain as she thought InuYasha still didn't love her. Oh, how painful it was to love someone who didn't love you back.

"Lady Kagome, thank goodness you're alive," Miroku smiled weakly. "InuYasha even cried over you and said he knew that you were in a tunnel. Correct?"

"Yeah, he was right," Kagome replied. How did that hanyou know where she was?

"He also told you that you'd be able to see him again if you went through the dark path," Miroku continued. "Was he right again?'

"Yeah, he was right again," Kagome absent-mindedly took some chocolate out of her pack and began to munch it thoughtfully.

Sango, her best friend, laughed. "Imagine it, friend! InuYasha, using himself as bait!"

Now she came to think of it, Kagome laughed heartily. It was funny. InuYasha simply retorted with a "Feh!"

Then, in a quiet voice, Sango added so only Kagome could hear, "I think InuYasha loved you so much that he put himself as bait for you!"

This sentence caused Kagome to hit Sango on the arm, and the demon exterminator yelped in surprise. Everyone else looked at the two.

In Naraku's Castle

"Kagura, there's a little something I've noticed about you," Naraku said, examining his finger nails.

"What, oh mighty one?" Kagura somewhat sneered, hatred dripping from her mouth like honey drips from a bee's hive. Luckily, Naraku didn't notice. Or that's what SHE thought.

Squeezing her heart tightly, Naraku replied, "Take your previous words as an example, my dear. I seem to have noticed that you, of all people, have been acting very cold towards me.

"And...?" Kagura cocked up one eyebrow in question, despite her heart's condition.

"Don't act sassy with me, Kagura. If you don't want me to make you a pool of flesh, then you'll have to do something for me that will show your loyalty..."

With InuYasha and co.

The gang were finishing up lunch when they suddenly heard a loud 'crash!' from outside.

Rushing outside, everyone saw Kagura with a horde of demons waiting outside for them.

"To protect the world from devastation, to...I mean...oops," Kagura blushed and covered her face with her fan. By then, everyone had either burst out laughing or an anime-style sweat drop. Nothing could be as embarrassing as reciting the team rocket chant in public.

After the laughing was over, Kagura regained her confidence and said, "Naraku wants the Shikon Jewel you have. If you don't give it over, you'll suffer pain beyond imaginable."

This immediately caused tension between the two sides. Kagome, completely forgetting that she still had her b.o. to think about, loaded her bow and aimed. InuYasha drew his sword and lunged forward at the Wind Witch.

"Kaze no Kiz-AAACK!" InuYasha dropped his sword and fell to the ground, coughing. The smell this time was Naraku's stench unmercifully doubled two times over. Shippou, also smelling the stench, clung onto Kagome's leg, and as a result fainted. Kagura seemed to notice it, too, for like Kikyo, she sprinted away into the woods, yelling, "I will get you next time, shrine maiden!"

This sentence caused everybody but Sango and Shippo to look at Kagome, completely confused. InuYasha had that 'I-will-find-out-your-secret' look on, whilst Miroku had one of pure question and innocence on. Kagome smiled weakly and gulped. Things were NOT looking good for her. Oh why, why did Kagura have to say that?

In Naraku's Castle

Naraku paced back and forth in his private room, thinking. Onigumo would never have thought about this before, but now he came to think about it, what Kagura had told him sewed a little seed of fear in his mind: Kagura had told him that the woman who dressed strangely in that half-breed's pack had armed herself with a stench unimaginable to even a demon's wide variety of smells.

Scowling, Naraku absent-mindedly crushed an ant crawling around nearby. If this girl meddled in his master plan, he would never succeed. He had to get rid of her somehow.

Night-time At InuYasha's

Kagome lay in her sleeping bag, arms pinned to her sides. She couldn't risk it anymore. She'd have to get in the habit of using deodorant now. Even though she hadn't used it for 2 years now, she still had to get into the habit again. Getting out of her sleeping bag, she quietly crept towards her backpack. Lucky she was wearing her tank top, as the night was warm.

InuYasha also lay awake, wondering if it had been a good idea to kill Kikyo once she'd sent Kagome to that light and dark tunnel. Of course it was a good idea. InuYasha smiled, remembering how he had saved his Kagome with a Love Cure his mother had taught him about...

Flashback:

"InuYasha, in case you love someone, remember this cure. It is a very complicated one, unknown to most sorcerers," the mother smoothed out her son's blankets in the mansion of his father.

"Feh, Mother, I will never love anybody but you and Dad," InuYasha feh'd.

"Yes, but anyhow, I will teach you. You have to think about how much you love that person, and how you want to cure her. Cry over her a few times, letting three drops fall on her cheek at the most. When she smiles, you will know that she is in the tunnel of light and dark," his mother continued, pausing for breath. "Then say to her, 'Go to the dark side of the tunnel if you want to see InuYasha again.' You can only use your own name. That is called a Love Cure. Just remember that." InuYasha, however, had already fallen asleep.

End of Flashback

The hanyou suddenly heard a small shuffling. Opening his eyes a tiny bit, he saw Kagome rise from her sleeping bag and creep towards her backpack.

Probably for a midnight snack, the dog demon thought, but he kept his eyes on Kagome. He stifled a small gasp when he saw Kagome taking something unidentifiable out of her bag.

Holding his breath as she lifted her arms, InuYasha saw Kagome do something odd.

"Sst sst" went the spray can. Funniest of all, InuYasha saw her put it on her underarms A nice smell suddenly wafted from Kagome to InuYasha's nose. Unfortunately, the smell was too much for him. He sneezed.

Looking up in surprise, Kagome relaxed when she saw that InuYasha was still asleep. Maybe he had been spying on her...the girl shivered, thinking about how bad things would be if InuYasha found out about her dark secret.

InuYasha felt the urge to rub his nose clean of the tingly feeling. Finally giving in to his urge, he began to rub hard, and immediately felt better.

The teenage girl was in a shock when she saw this. Was he actually spying on her? She was in deep trouble if he actually was! He was actually rubbing his nose in an unInuYasha-like fashion. And the hanyou was actually moaning happily about it, too!

Creeping over, Kagome pulled his blankets off. InuYasha looked up, startled; he hadn't expected Kagome to do that.

Seeing the look of fear and surprise on InuYasha's face, Kagome began to yell, and her speech included 24 sits. Oh, she was going to give the dog demon a big spanking after that! Surprisingly enough, nobody had woken up whilst this was taking place. They were snoring just as deeply as ever.

"What did you see?! Don't lie, because I know you were wide awake!" the poor girl cried, waving her arms around like as if she were a windmill.

InuYasha was about to reply when suddenly something swept Kagome off her feet. He sat there, frozen, as a big shadow towered over him. For once, he was paralyzed; nothing could make him budge one bit.

Watching in horror, the half-demon sat and watched Kagome, muffled, get dragged into the depths of the forest. And, of course, Sango, Shippo and Miroku were still sleeping.

Finally, he stood up and growled. He was going to get his Kagome back, even though she had sat him 24 times over. Ha, it served her right; she shouldn't have sat you 24 times in a row, said evil InuYasha, feeling very pleased.

"Shut up, you evil little thing," InuYasha roared, finally losing patience with everything around him. "I'm going to get Kagome back, and whilst I'm doing that, you'd better BE QUIET!"

And with those words, he bounded off with Tetsusaiga into the woods.

A/N: Cliffhanger yet again! However, I don't think this one is as effective as the last two...anyways, please review!