A/N: OMG!!! I am SOOOOOOOOOOOO sorry for not writing. As a student in my last year of middle school, soon to be a freshman in high school, I had to take my standardized tests just like everyone else does. On top of that, my teachers are using this end of the year to bombard their students with big projects worth loads of points. And my band teacher has been having mandatory concerts left and right. Eighth graders (like myself) have lots of end of the year festivities. Like our 8th grade Knott's trip which I went to on May 28, and we've got the carnival and dance on June 4th, and June 1st, I have to go with the school band for the annual concert at Knott's. Then we've got to practice for promotion...actually go through with promotion...and register for high school...sheesh...so much to do...so little time...but now, I have found a tidbit of time that I have chosen to use to write this story. So here it is at last, Chapter Thirty: The Corrupted Shard!!! And I'm going to do the Disclaimer the way one of my favorite authors Sanosa does it...(making characters of the series read it...) So I guess I'll have it go in alphabetical order...and that includes people that are hardly mentioned in this story or not even mentioned at all...For 'A', the only person I can think of is Ayame...(The one Kouga promised to marry at the next rainbow moon...) And then there's Abi...but she's like way later into the series...now I wonder if those translated manga scripts are the real thing...they did come with B&W scans and color scans...and they were in Japanese...so I guess they're real...I dunno...anyway...that's right...where was I? Oh yeah, disclaimer...Ayame, take it away!

Ayame: Aki doesn't own Inuyasha. Only Kyo, Hana, Mei Lhi, Hakaru, the plot, Kiori, any characters not mentioned in the series which are just real in Aki's imagination, and the plot. If she had owned Inuyasha she would've killed Kikyo and married Inuyasha and shared him with Kagome, then probably later locking Kagome in a closet somewhere so she could have Inuyasha to herself...and now...Chapter Thirty!!!

Chapter Thirty: The Corrupted Shard

Sesshoumaru walked slowly through an endless expanse of tall, dewy grass. A low fog blanketed the area. Rin slept soundly on Aun's back, Jaken toddling along at the back. The youkai lord suddenly came to a halt as he sensed something.

"Jaken...have you noticed it?" He asked.

"Noticed what, Sesshoumaru-sama?" Jaken replied.

"That scent...it smells of one of Naraku's kugutsu...It's nearby...and the smell of blood lingers in the air..."

Jaken took a whiff of the air, and furiously nodded his head in agreement.

"Yes, Sesshoumaru-sama, you're right. Perhaps we could go take a look?"

"Jaken...stay here with Rin...I will go...alone..."

Jaken nodded solemnly.

'Why must I always be stuck with babysitting this girl?!' Jaken thought exasperatedly.

Sesshoumaru walked faster, his hand clasping the hilt of his sword, Toukijin. Following the scents, his nose led him to a place in the field, surrounded by thick mist. At his feet lay an exact copy of himself. Only this other version of himself was badly wounded.

"So...you're the real one, eh?" The copy said, rolling over onto his back to see the youkai lord better.

"What is your purpose?" Sesshoumaru asked.

"I was created by Naraku, and with a strand of your hair attached to his kugutsu dolls, I was born..."

"How did Naraku get my hair? I, Sesshoumaru, am not foolish enough to let such a thing happen."

"......"

"Speak, or else I shall ease your pain. I want information."

"As you wish...Do you remember your most recent fight with Naraku?"

Sesshoumaru thought back to the fight with the demon.

"And do you recall that he had missed you when he had attempted an attack?"

Sesshoumaru remembered the tentacle lashing out, and just grazing past...his hair...

'So...it was at that time...when you missed that you grabbed it...you had this all planned...even before anything could be set into motion...'

The puppet watched as a flicker of realization crossed the youkai lord's face before the expressionless mask snapped back on.

"You still haven't answered my other question..."

"And what was that?"

"What...tell me, what is your purpose."

"I was sent to attack the hanyou..."

"Hmph...do you mean my pathetic half-brother, Inuyasha?"

"No...the other one...the girl..."

"There is another? Who?"

"She is a half-breed like Inuyasha...Naraku called her...Mei Lhi..."

'She's still alive?!'

"That is not possible. That girl is supposed to be dead."

"She's alive. Now...what was I saying? Ah, yes...I was sent to attack the hanyou girl...and also to crush the miko. You see, Naraku inserted a fake replica of the almost completed Shikon Jewel that he has in his possession into my body. He did put one real shard. Just a single shard...enough so the miko girl could sense it and try to take it from me...but that piece I was given is corrupted. It has been tainted with evil, bathed in darkness...the longer it stays with the miko, the more her powers fade, and each time, a little bit of her soul is absorbed and given to the other miko...the one Inuyasha had loved...the one...if I recall...killed him...that miko is dead. She cannot live without souls. With this corrupted shard, it will take the miko girl's soul piece by piece, and it will be given to the other, so she may live again. Once the miko has all of the other's soul, the other will be nothing but an empty shell...the Shikon shards shall be taken from Inuyasha's miko companion by none other than the one he once loved. The shards will go to Naraku, and he shall complete the jewel. Naraku has already made a deal with the undead miko and the fire dragon, Hakaru. The fire dragon will deal with Inuyasha and his other companions. They will be put out of Naraku's way forever...that is...if the wind dragon, the younger brother of the fire dragon, chooses not to fight. Even still, if the wind dragon does decide to fight, Naraku has a plan to rid of him...by using the hanyou girl...The wind dragon is quite attached to that hanyou girl...she will be bait for Naraku's trap. I have already started it. Soon everything will build upon one another and Naraku will finally have all control..."

"Why are you telling me this?"

"Because...Naraku wanted you to know...or at least...that's what Kagura said..."

'Hm...Kagura...she really does want Naraku dead...so she instructed this puppet to tell me of Naraku's plans so I could stop him, eh?'

"I see...now I must ensure secrecy..."

Sesshoumaru drew Toukijin from its sheath.

"You-you're going to kill me?"

"There is no doubt that Naraku already knows of what you have told me...This is to ensure that you will not go off and alert anyone else. You are going to die soon anyway...I can nearly taste the scent of death on you."

With an emotionless expression, the youkai lord brought down the sword, the copy of himself disappearing, only to be replaced with a shattered wooden kugutsu doll, a long, spidery strand of silver hair wrapped around it. Sesshoumaru picked up the doll's remains and removed the strand of hair from the doll.

"This is mine..." He said, tucking it away as he walked back over to where he left Jaken with Rin and Aun.

"I must warn them..." The youkai lord muttered under his breath.

Inuyasha and Co.'s POV

"Inuyasha, there's something strange about this shard..." Hana said, glancing at a glowing spot around Kagome's neck. "It makes me uneasy..."

"Feh." Inuyasha scoffed. "Of course there's going to be something wrong with it...after being in that bastard Sesshoumaru's hands..."

"I must agree with Hana-sama, Inuyasha. There is something quite unusual about this shard. Why would Sesshoumaru let you have it so easily? Surely it can't be the real Sesshoumaru." Miroku stated knowledgeably.

Kagome glanced nervously at the monk and miko, then rifling through the neckline of her shirt, pulled out the nearly completed Shikon no Tama on a chain, and looked at it for a while before tucking it neatly back under her clothes.

Mei Lhi sighed.

'Not this again...' She thought, her brow furrowing in annoyance.

She looked at her clawless fingernails and sighed again.

"What's up?" Kyo asked.

She sighed yet again before replying.

"Oh...nothing..." She said a little breathlessly.

"You're not still whining about not being back to your half-demon form are you?" Inuyasha inquired a bite of impatience in his voice. "Be happy that you have your ears at least..."

"What good are my ears?! I can't even defend myself! It's pathetic! I don't even have my fangs yet! All I've got are my over-sensitive ears and my idiot brother's eyes!" Mei Lhi snapped, speaking more to herself than to the others.

Inuyasha whirled around.

"What did you say about me?!"

"...nothing...stupid dog..."

The group continued to walk on down a path leading out of the village. Inuyasha shoved his fists into his long red sleeves. (He had donned his fire rat fur the moment it had dried.) Mei Lhi still wore the kimono, Tetsusage sheathed at her hip.

"Kirara? What's wrong?" Sango asked suddenly.

The small nekometa youkai had stopped moving completely and was shivering with fear. The young taijiya picked up the small cat, cradling it in the nook of her arm. She looked to Shippou. The kitsune seemed to be disturbed by something as well.

"There must be something ahead. It's making Kirara and Shippou uneasy...surely, Inuyasha, you feel it too?" Sango asked.

"Yeah...just a little..." Inuyasha answered passively.

"It's strong..." Kyo said. "I'll go check it out..."

In the blink of an eye, Kyo burst into a gust of wind, and then became a gentle breeze as he continued up the path.

When he returned, his neck appeared to be slightly burnt by some sort of acid.

"It's an inuyoukai...I think he's looking for you, Inuyasha. If I'm not mistaken, he's Inutaisho's first born son...which makes him...your...brother?" Kyo said.

"Half-brother." Inuyasha corrected fiercely. "What the hell does that bastard want now?! I bet he's just wanting his shard back...sore loser..."

"He said it was urgent." Kyo added.

Mei Lhi sighed for the umpteenth time.

"Better go see what he wants, then..." She said, walking more quickly, leaving the group behind.

The others quickly caught up to her. The path curved over a small hill and became level once again. The demon lord waited in the middle of the road a moderate distance ahead of them.

Kyo's pace slowed to a stop. Mei Lhi stopped and turned to look at him.

"What's the matter?" She asked.

"Nothing." He lied.

"What did Sesshoumaru do to you?"

"It doesn't matter...now keep walking...I'm going to stay back here..."

"Oh no you aren't!"

Mei Lhi grabbed his wrist and attempted to pull him along. But Kyo pried her long, delicate fingers from his arm, calmly walking away from her.

"No...you go on..." He said.

Mei Lhi nodded in acknowledgement and walked over to where Sesshoumaru waited.

Inuyasha stood next to the demon lord, eyeing him curiously. Sesshoumaru made no indication that he noticed the bad looks he was getting from his half-brother. Kagome stayed silent, putting the kickstand down on her bicycle (which she had accidentally left in the Feudal Era on one of her previous visits) and facing the expressionless inuyoukai.

Miroku, Sango, Hana, and Shippou stood off to the side, waiting. Mei Lhi walked towards her brothers, noting that Sesshoumaru's eyebrow rose slightly when he saw her. A mild expression of interest crossed his features for a moment before the emotionless mask snapped in place.

"I need everyone to be here..." Sesshoumaru said quietly.

Hana glanced at Sesshoumaru, noticing that he stared at something. She averted her eyes to the spot, and saw Kyo leaning against a tree next the path, a few feet away. His eyes were staring mindlessly at the other trees across the road.

Kyo could feel Hana's gaze burning holes into his body.

His eyes glanced over at her for a few seconds before they again stared at the trees.

"Oi...kaze no ryuu...(A/N: or is it ryuu no kaze?)" Sesshoumaru called quietly.

Kyo turned towards the inuyoukai, bowing his head, finally accepting that he couldn't stay out of the conversation, he walked towards the group.

"Now that everyone is here...I can begin..." The demon lord started.

"Question." Mei Lhi interrupted, as rudely as possible.

Sesshoumaru's eyes averted to where she stood.

"Actually, I have several...first, why'd I see you when I was just barely three? I believe it was you, who had Kiori killed?"

Kyo scratched the back of his head nervously. Sesshoumaru's gaze averted once again, now resting on the boy.

"I think you will find your answer with him." The inuyoukai said simply.

Mei Lhi turned to the boy.

"Kyo, do you know something about that?" She asked.

"That guy you saw that you thought was Sesshoumaru...uh...that was actually Hakaru...in an undeveloped form...before he learned he had loads of fire power..." Kyo replied nervously.

Mei Lhi now turned back to the youkai lord.

"Why'd you attack me, then, if you supposedly weren't there when I was young?"

"It was Naraku. He seems to have developed a more enhanced form of kugutsu...so who you saw was merely a puppet." Sesshoumaru answered.

"I don't believe it. If you're so damn superior, then tell me, oh superior one, how'd this Naraku guy do it?"

"He created a kugutsu of me...by means...of this..."

Sesshoumaru pulled out the long strand of his hair that he had put away, from his yukata.

The long silver hair glimmered in the light.

It was Inuyasha's turn for questions now.

"How'd he get your hair in the first place?!" He asked.

"It seems...little brother, that I was foolish in one of my earlier encounters with Naraku, that he happened to grab it, by chance."

"Why are you here? What the hell do you want now? And where's the weird green thing that usually hangs around you and kisses your ass all the time?"

Sesshoumaru ignored Inuyasha's last comment, and proceeded to answer the other two questions.

"I have come to warn you of something...it seems, that Kagura wishes to betray Naraku...and she wants me to help her...I had found the kugutsu in a field and it told this Sesshoumaru that Kagura had informed it to tell me Naraku's plans. So, I, Sesshoumaru, have come to warn you of Naraku's plans."

"Why are you helping us?" Sango asked suddenly. "This doesn't seem much like you either...the kugutsu did a better job of impersonating you..."

"Inuyasha, beware the undead miko...you know of whom I speak..." Sesshoumaru said, the tone of his voice changing slightly. "You, kaze no ryuu, beware of your elder brother, and keep a close watch on her." The demon lord's eyes glanced at Mei Lhi. "Miko, that is no ordinary shard you carry...there is something that lies within it..." He looked to Kagome. "Jaken...we are leaving now..." He finished, now focusing his gaze off to the side of the road where a large clump of leaf growth stood tall.

"Hai, Sesshoumaru-sama!" A voice came from the growth.

The Staff of Heads was just visible above the growth and moved forward towards the demon lord and the rest of the group. Jaken stumbled out of a tangled patch of thorny plants, panting and scratched.

"Sesshoumaru-sama..." Jaken said nervously.

Sesshoumaru silently turned to face the demon at his feet.

"It seems that...that I've-" Jaken began.

"...you've lost Rin?" Sesshoumaru asked.

Jaken burst into tears and bowed at the inuyoukai's feet.

"Hai, Sesshoumaru-sama! I'm so sorry! I wasn't watching her properly enough!" He cried.

Sesshoumaru breathed lightly, almost as if sighing.

"I will deal with you later, Jaken...Inuyasha, heed my warnings..."

And with that, he left.

"Well...that was..." Miroku began.

"Interesting?" Everyone chimed in.

"Yeah...interesting..." Miroku said, nodding vigorously.

A/N: Well, that's chapter 30 for you. Sorry it took so long...but as I explained in the author's note at the beginning of the chapter, I had lots of things to do...plus, my ideas are kind of spread out everywhere...and since it's summer vacation, my brain's pretty much on shutdown mode...I also noticed as I read through some of my chapters, some character's were being cast out of their er...character...so I tried to make everyone in this chapter more like themselves...but I have a pretty difficult time with Sesshoumaru...I'm not a big Sesshy fan, but I try to make characters that I don't understand too well as much of themselves as humanly possible for me...I haven't seen many episodes with Sesshy in it...ok, I have...1-7, 18-102, 110-115. I just don't pay attention to Sesshy. I pay more attention to Inu- kun...lol...anyway, please review! I hope this chapter was good!