Inuyasha ran through the forest as fast as he could. He wanted to get away from them, from her. Deep in his heart he wanted to believe that she was alive, that everything that had happened was just a nightmare and he was soon going to wake up. "Wake up... Wake up..." he repeated and unconsciously he was slowing down.
The more he was getting away from the fight the more Inuyasha was wandering why he was running and why the hell he wanted to wake up. Finally he stopped. 'Why am I running?' he asked himself and raised his hands to look at them. He looked at how long and most likely sharp his claws had become and smirked.
Soon his smirk was replaced by a frown. That girl was making him feel really worried. Why was he so enraged when Kouga said her name? Why did he want to run when he saw her? "That's right." he said. "There's no need to run from them. I'm much stronger. I could've killed them in no time." he cracked his fingers and turned to look at the direction he had come from.
Unnoticed to him the shards in his haori started glowing. Again that girl's face appeared in front of him. 'What was her name?' Inuyasha thought and scratched the top of his head. "I don't have time for this. Now it's time for Naraku's piece of the Shikon no Tama." saying that Inuyasha ran off again.
In a dark room, leaned to the wall, was sitting Naraku. He was wearing his baboon skin. Kanna was standing in front of him, holding her mirror. He reached toward the mirror with his right hand and trailed his index finger across the glass. A few small waves appeared on the glass and slowly a vision started to clear.
"Inuyasha..." Naraku sighed as the hanyou appeared in the mirror, running through a forest. "I admit that he caught me unprepared this time." the evil demon continued silently looking at the glass with a thoughtful expression.
'What do I do with that annoying hanyou?' he thought and looked at the running Inuyasha. 'He has seven Shikon shards, he's full demon... At least he doesn't have Tetsusaiga... Should I kill him or...' a rather pleasing thought ran through his mind and he involuntary smirked.
"Kohaku." he finally said and the boy entered the room from a secret door in the wall across.
"Yes, Naraku-sama." he said and half kneeled in front of his master.
"I have a work for you." Naraku said with the smirk still on his lips and sent Kanna away.
Around noon Inuyasha finally stopped running. He was by a hot spring with a small waterfall near it. "That wolf's blood is all over me." he growled out and went to the spring. Inuyasha kneeled down and looked at his reflection in the water. One of his newfound evil smirks formed on his lips.
Inuyasha stared at his face for a while and then stood up. Without removing his clothes he entered the water and went to the waterfall. 'Now, how do I find Naraku?' he thought as he closed his eyes and let his hair drip on his face. 'He sure knows I have his shards. Most likely he'll come to get them. But not by himself.' after that thought, Inuyasha frowned and crossed his arms in front of his chest. 'Whoever he sends, I can't kill him. I'll use him to lead me to Naraku.'
"Yes." Inuyasha smirked again and growled. "I'm waiting for you, Naraku."
In the same forest where Inuyasha was, Kohaku was jumping from tree to tree, heading toward the hanyou. 'I wonder what Naraku is up to this time.' the boy thought and stopped on a tree to look around, just in case if someone was following him. He opened his right hand and looked at what was in his palm. 'He made this shouki crystal look like a Shikon shard.' after a while Kohaku just shrugged and leaped to another tree.
As Inuyasha was under the waterfall his head suddenly snapped up and his eyes shot open. "So, he sent that brat." the hanyou growled and exited the water. He shook all the water off of him and cracked his fingers. "I smell two shards. This should be easy."
Soon enough Kohaku jumped at the spring and looked around. He could feel Inuyasha's presence but couldn't tell where he was. His youki was everywhere. The feel of it was so intense that it was almost tangible. 'My God, Inuyasha's youki could match Naraku's now.' the boy thought and as soon as he did that Inuyasha came from behind him and stopped only a few meters away.
"Looking for me? Or trying to avoid me?" the hanyou growled out and Kohaku spun around. Inuyasha made a step forward and the boy jumped a few meters back.
"Inuyasha, what happened to you?" Kohaku pretended to be in shock.
"I see... Trying to avoid me." the hanyou smirked and looked toward Kohaku's right hand. "What do you have there? A new shard for Naraku?"
As soon as Inuyasha had said that he jumped toward the boy. He was too fast for Kohaku to react and the hanyou hit him in the stomach so hard that he dropped the shard in his hand. The boy fell in the spring and the shard on the grass. Inuyasha snickered and went to pick it up.
"Eight." he said and placed the shard inside his haori. Then he walked toward Kohaku who was just coming to his senses. "Get up, brat." he said and grabbed the boy by the collar of his uniform. Inuyasha dragged him out of the water and threw him on the grass.
"Inu...yasha..." Kohaku coughed a little before looking at him. "You can't escape after stealing one of Naraku-sama's shards." he said and wanted to stand up but Inuyasha kicked him in the side and he fell back down, coughing.
"That bastard is thinking that he can beat me? Well, he's wr...." Inuyasha suddenly stopped, feeling a pulse run through his body. His right hand went to his chest where he put the new shard and he felt it pulse again. The hanyou thought for a minute and smirked to himself as he heard a familiar voice call his name and try to convince him in becoming his servant.
Kohaku turned to look at him and saw the purple glow coming from the hanyou's haori. Then Inuyasha went closer to the boy and took his weapon, which was still on his back, and threw it in the spring. "Actually I want to go to your master." he said and grabbed Kohaku by the neck, bringing him up. "That's what he wants, isn't it?" he asked and the boy slowly nodded. "Lead the way then."
Inuyasha released Kohaku's neck and the boy immediately jumped away from him. "Follow me." he said and started jumping from tree to tree, followed by Inuyasha.
"Excellent." Naraku laughed, as he saw in Kanna's mirror everything. "He still has his own motives to come to me, but the closer he gets, the more powerful my influence on him will become." the evil demon laughed again and waved his hand at Kanna, sending her away.
Unknown to him Kagura heard everything behind the secret door. She flinched at the thought of Inuyasha becoming Naraku's servant. But what could she do? She couldn't warn him – in this condition he would rather kill her than listen to her. She couldn't warn his friends either... She couldn't even get out of the castle without being noticed or fallowed by the Saimyoushou. Kagura cursed as she silently moved away from the door.
'But when I think about it...' she thought as she was walking in the corridor. 'Naraku's too obsessed with his current plan – he didn't even notice me when I was eavesdropping. Maybe I will be able to get away from here...' with that Kagura decided what to do and she hurried toward the exit.
It was around sunset and Sesshoumaru was standing in front the cave. They still hadn't moved from there and he was getting really impatient this time. After Inuyasha had run away they had stayed only to help Kouga and ask him what had happened, but that wolf ruined everything. He was so persistent wanting to join them that Kagome had to promise to take him with them in order to tell them what happened.
Now Kouga was peacefully sleeping in the cave, recovering from his injuries and they couldn't leave him while he was asleep. Kagome wouldn't let them and Kouga knew that. For the first time in his life Sesshoumaru was enraged. He wanted to yell at someone, to break something. 'No wonder why my brother is so loud and easy to get angry...' he thought and sighed, trying to calm himself.
Inside the cave the others were sitting around the fire and Kouga was sleeping not too far away, his legs were bandaged. Jaken was arguing about something with Shippo and Rin, Miroku was trying to get to touch Sango's butt but always got a bump on the head. Only Kagome was silent. She kept staring at the fire.
"Kagome-chan..." Sango started and the girl looked at her. "Kagome-chan, are you alright?"
"Yes." Kagome gave her friend a weak smile. "I'm just thinking."
"Don't worry, Kagome-sama." Miroku smiled at her. "We'll find Inuyasha and get him back no matter what happens."
"I hope so." the girl smiled again, and then turned her look toward the exit of the cave. "I wonder what Sesshoumaru's thinking about this. I'll go ask him." Kagome said and before her friends could protest she was out of the cave.
"What do you want?" Sesshoumaru snapped as soon as she appeared outside, but didn't turn to look at her.
"I..." Kagome swallowed hard, startled by the coldness in his voice. "I just wanted..."
"I agreed to wait for that wolf, so leave me alone..." he said and didn't move from his place.
Behind him Kagome felt anger rising in her. Although she was kind of afraid of him, finally, she just couldn't stand his ignorance and lack of concern for his brother. She stomped to him and pulling his hand turned him to face her. Sesshoumaru's eyes widened in shock and surprise when she slapped his left cheek.
"Don't you care at least a little about him?" Kagome yelled at the startled dog demon, tears of anger forming in her eyes. "He is your brother! It doesn't matter he's a hanyou!" she took a deep breath and continued. "Why do you hate humans so much? We can be much stronger than many demons... Look Sango-chan, Miroku-sama, even me! If you hate humans so much then why do you keep Rin-chan with you?"
When Kagome had exited the cave the others had silently crawled toward the exit of the cave to listen what was happening. Jaken passed out the moment she slapped Sesshoumaru and the others felt a shiver of fear run down their spines. Only Rin seemed to be calm but Kagome's last question caught her attention.
"It's not that." surprisingly Sesshoumaru started. "A human must earn his respect from me. Rin has done that, you and your friends too. Inuyasha is too stubborn to accept this as a fact. That is why I keep acting toward him the same as always."
After Sesshoumaru finished talking Kagome just stared at him, unbelieving at what she had heard. Suddenly she felt her anger replace with happiness – she had made the great Sesshoumaru-sama open up for her. Now, more than ever, she was sure that nothing could stand in her way. If she could make Sesshoumaru talk, she was sure she would be able to make Inuyasha come back to her.
TBC