Sango blinked. "No," she whispered. "No it can't be!" Her voice rose with every word she said until she was screaming at Miroku.
"You killed them! You murdered them! You took them away from me!" Tears flowed freely from her eyes. She stood up and struggled a bit as she limped away into the forest.
'I have to get away from here! Away from him! How could he have done that! Traitor!' Sango sobbed as she leaned on a tree away from the camp.
"Sango, dear Sango," a voice said from behind her. She gasped and twirled around, reaching for her boomerang. She realized a split second later that she had left it at the camp in her rush to get away.
Sango stood as tall as she could and faced the stranger. Her resolve faltered as she recognized whom it was who stood before her. "Naraku," she whispered before blackness took over.
XxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxX
Miroku watched Sango limp from the camp. His heart broke at the sound of her voice accusing him. He wanted to comfort her. He wanted to tell her that it was okay, that he was there to protect her.
It destroyed him. Ate away at his insides, to know that he was the cause of her pain. 'I am so sorry Sango, I didn't want to hurt you.'
"Why?"
The softly spoken question brought him out of his thoughts. He looked over at Kagome. She looked like she was about to cry, but she struggled to keep them in check.
Miroku shook his head. "I didn't want to kill them, I didn't want to hurt anybody. Naraku caused the Wind Tunnel to open wider whenever I disobeyed him. I had to do it. I had no choice."
He looked into the forest. 'That is no excuse you idiot! No one is going to believe that! It was your entire fault! Your fault! Not Naraku's, yours!'
When he turned back again. InuYasha had gotten up to pace around the camp. He hadn't said anything and that worried Miroku. Not even a curse word had left the hanyou's lips.
Miroku watched InuYasha pace as his thoughts wandered freely. Suddenly, bursting out of the forest, a figure carrying a bag stopped in front of Miroku.
"What the hell?" InuYasha exclaimed, stopping his pacing.
The figure was wearing a white baboon pelt and the bag was shaped oddly like a human. Miroku stood up quickly, backing away while he spoke.
"Naraku! What are you doing here? What did you do to Sango?"
InuYasha grabbed Kagome and retreated behind Miroku. "That's Naraku? But, he is a human!" Kagome whispered.
Naraku lifted the head of the baboon up over his head and smiled. "Miroku, you will pay for your deceiving! Did you think that I didn't know how you felt about the demon slayer? How your eyes gave away everything? Fool! Now you will pay!"
A tentacle shot out of Naraku, grabbing Miroku by the throat and lifting off the ground. Naraku looked at InuYasha and Kagome. "Come to my castle, humans, if you want to watch your pathetic friends die!"
Naraku laughed and ran into the forest, taking Miroku and Sango with him.
"No!" Kagome yelled, running after him. She felt a firm hand on her arm and she turned to see InuYasha holding her.
She opened her mouth to protest, but InuYasha cut her off. "We need rest. I won't be able to help them in this form and you are covered with wounds. We both are dead tired and need rest after the battle."
Kagome want to fight with him, fight to let her go to her friend's rescue. However, her logical mind told her that he was right. They wouldn't be of any help in their present condition. Kagome sighed.
"Alright. Let's go build up the fire again." She turned and picked us some dead branches. Once the fire was roaring, Kagome and InuYasha cleaned each other's wounds. They settled down in each other's arms, waiting for morning to come.
XxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxX
The sun rose high over the trees. As the light fell on the sleeping couple, they awoke to a soft nudging.
Kagome groaned and snuggled closer to InuYasha. But the nudging persisted, not relenting until it was too late to hope for more sleep. Kagome opened her eyes and rubbed the sleep out of them.
She looked down at her arm and saw Kirara nudging her arm. "Hey, Kirara! Why do you keep disappearing whenever something interesting happens? Are you a scaredy cat?"
Kirara bristled at the term and mewed in protest. Kagome laughed. InuYasha stirred at the sound of her laughing and saw Kirara.
"You should have been here to help us! We could have used you stupid cat!" he spat out, shaking off the effects of the night of the new moon.
Kagome slapped him and stood up, stretching her muscles as she went. Kirara transformed and roared at them. Kagome smiled. "Okay! So you want us to hurry! Why?"
The memories of the events of the previous night hit her like a rock. "Sango! Miroku! We need to hurry and save them!"
Kagome and InuYasha hurried through their breakfast and hopped onto Kirara. She took off and flew toward the large purple barrier that marked Naraku's castle. InuYasha tightened his grip on Kagome's waist as Kirara gained altitude.
Kagome smiled and a spark of fire went from his hands up her spine. She almost shivered at the pleasant feeling that his touch supplied. Kagome leaned back to rest on the hanyou's torso.
InuYasha smiled also, happy that Kagome wanted to be close to him. His reason for tightening his grip wasn't to get her closer; it was to keep him from falling off. This was higher than he had ever been before and he was scared stiff.
InuYasha whispered into Kagome's ear. "It is really high up here, don't you think?"
Kagome recognized the unsaid statement and whispered back, "I won't let you fall. I promise."
A/N: Ready, group 'aww.' "AWWWWWWW!" This didn't come out the way I wanted it too, but oh well! I put the fluff at the end to lighten up the mood. I can get a little depressing sometimes and everyone needs a good laugh and/or group 'aww' at some point! :-) Happy reading!