AN: I was kinda thinking of dropping this story entirely since I'm still not sure the storyline is all that great…but I'll do a couple more chapters before deciding. Sorry I haven't updated in forever, but my computer was broken, and I haven't really had any inspiration. Sorry folks!

Disclaimer: I don't own Inuyasha or any of the other Inuyasha characters.

Last Chapter:

"Hmmmm…I must tell Naraku about this. Do not forget about your mission in that little cell of yours," Kagura said, preparing to leave.

"Wait! You're not going to get me out of here?"

"If I did, where would you go? You still need to complete the mission but if you mysteriously escaped the dungeon, they would suspect something," Kagura explained as she vanished. Kagome sighed in defeat. 'This mission is going to ruin everything,' Kagome thought as she slunk back to the ground. Little did she know that that was a big understatement.

A Mistake Gone Right

Chapter 8: Together Again

Kouga bravely and brusquely opened the door to the King's quarters, despite the guards' protests. The King looked up from his desk full of papers to see him striding towards him with a malice in his eyes, unmatched by any other demon he knew.

"I demand that you let Kaitou go," he said quietly and gruffly. His only response was a chuckle from the King and a sarcastic look that seemed to say, 'Boy, you're insane.' Kouga growled and slammed his closed fist down on the table, bringing his face closer to the King's. "There is no way Kaitou would have done this. She had no reason to! How can you even think that innocent girl would do that?" he yelled.

The King's expression changed from one of amusement to one of cruelty in the blink of an eye. "You dare defy me?" he asked calmly, letting only a hint of his anger into his voice.

Kouga smirked, "Yes, I do. Got a problem with that?"

"No…I don't have a problem with it, but it would seem my guards do," he said, now smiling. With one snap of his fingers, half a dozen guards entered the room and restrained the protesting Kouga. "Since he's so infatuated with Ms. Hitoride, see that he gets the cell next to hers. I'll decide his punishment after I'm through with the girl's."

"He!" Kouga's words were cut off when the guards stuffed a gag in his mouth and began dragging him out of the room. When the guards had left and the door was closed, the King let out a low laugh.

"We shall see who has the greatest power. No demon or human shall stop me."

Inuyasha
Inuyasha glared at the floor as he walked. Something was amiss. Kagome was hiding something from him, something that had to do with Naraku. Inuyasha stopped his brooding when he heard scuffling coming down the hall. Looking up, he saw Kouga being dragged down to the dungeons. A perplexed expression crossed Inuyasha's features. He knew Kouga was an idiot, but for him to get himself locked away? Deciding that he had to find out what was going on, he walked to the hallway where Kouga had come from and saw that the King's bedroom door stood at the far side.

He walked cautiously to the door and peeked it open, since the guards had left to take Kouga to the dungeon. The King was standing with his back to the door, and he had something in his hand. Inuyasha eased the door open a little more, but stopped when the King began softly laughing.

"You think you could sneak up on me, boy?" The King then turned his head over his shoulder and looked at Inuyasha. He seemed to be the epitome of insanity, with a wild, depraved look in his eyes, clasping his hand around the object.

"Well, since you're here, I might as well let you be the first to witness my power!" The King fully turned to face Inuyasha and with a strange force, jammed the object into the top his skull. Surprisingly, he didn't bleed.

"What're you doing, you maniac?" Inuyasha shouted at him, still at a loss as to what had possessed the King to do something so strange.

"What I'm doing…" grinned the King, "is completing my reign over this region!" With that said, the King closed his eyes tightly and Inuyasha suddenly felt an immense pain in his skull.

"Wha…What's going on?" Inuyasha muttered as he clutched his head, feeling that it might explode at any time.

"I'm going through your memories and analyzing your brain. I now have a power greater than any you possess! And it would seem that I was right…this 'Kaitou' is a fake. She's merely a peasant!"

"Yeah…what's it to you?" said Inuyasha, trying, through his pain, to unsheathe his sword.

"I don't think you should do that," laughed the King, and suddenly Inuyasha's hand moved farther from his sword. "Along with my power to read your thoughts and memories, I also have the power to control them!"

"You…bastard…" Inuyasha managed to say.

"I see you're still not completely under my power. Well, that won't last long, boy." Inuyasha sank to his knees, groaning in pain, his head hurting worse than before. It was agonizing and it was getting harder to resist the King's commands. But he couldn't be defeated by a human like him! Inuyasha forced his eyes open and glared coldly at the King, pushing aside his pain as best he could and forcing his hand back to his sword.

"You're just a coward…Normally you'd never be able to even touch me…but you need this tool to do all the work for you!" Inuyasha finally reached his sword and unsheathed it, but even though it turned into the Tetsusaiga, he still couldn't use it to deflect the King's power.

"You don't know what you're dealing with. This 'tool' is a shard of the Shikon Jewel! And if you think that little trinket of yours will be of any help to you, you are sadly mistaken, boy!" the King mocked.

"Damn it," Inuyasha cursed under his breath. He knew he wouldn't last very long if this kept up. He tried standing back up, but the King's power was too strong. Despite the situation he was in, Inuyasha didn't think even once of giving up. He would never admit defeat, especially not to a coward of an old human. But Inuyasha's determination alone couldn't help him. He needed to distract the King somehow.

"What are you planning to do with that power? Use it to make everyone believe you're the greatest being to ever exist, just so you can gain false confidence? You're even more of an idiot than you look like. You'd be forcing the people to show their 'loyalty' to you, when really, they think you're the most moronic person in the world!"

"Shut up!" the King yelled, and the pain increased tenfold in Inuyasha's skull. He was feeling dizzy and darkness was beginning to creep into the edges of his vision. The room was spinning and he was hearing voices in his head.

"Inuyasha, get up!" he heard. Inuyasha couldn't respond. He was in too much pain. The next voice he heard was the King's.

"It's too late for him! I have him completely under my spell! And now you fools will die along with him!" Fools? There was more than one person in his head? Inuyasha was only half-conscious and was having trouble seeing.

"Hiraikotsu!" he heard a familiar voice yell followed by a thud. He didn't have time to wonder what was going on, because all of a sudden he felt someone slap him.

"Ow! What'd ya do that for, wench?" he yelled impulsively, as his vision came back. He was staring into the worried face of Kagome. He looked around and saw Sango and Miroku standing nervously in front of them. The King looked gleeful as he held Hiraikotsu in one hand. Inuyasha suddenly sprang to his feet, completely free from the King's mental grasp on him.

"You bastard! No one knows my thoughts without my permission!" he shouted as he ran toward the King brandishing his sword. "Kaze no kizu!" He swung the sword downward as three large cracks suddenly spread through the ground in front of him.

"You missed," he heard a calm voice behind him say. In the next moment, he was knocked to the ground with a new wound on his cheek. He quickly rolled over to kneel facing the King. "You die now!" the King said as he brought a concealed dagger rushing toward Inuyasha.

Kagome
Kagome looked up as another person was thrown into the jail cell next to her.

"K-Kouga?" she asked incredulously. "What are you doing in here?"

"The King threw me in here. Apparently his guards had a problem with me," Kouga answered as he stood up and brushed himself off. "I don't trust that king…there's something really weird going on around here."

"What I haven't figured out is why the King was down in the kitchen at the time I was. I was just getting a glass of water, but I think the King would have his servants get water for him if he needed it. He must've been down there to do something he didn't want anyone else to do," Kagome said, more to herself than to Kouga.

"I'll bet he's the one that got rid of the cook. But I wonder why…" Kouga trailed off. Kagome stared at the ground. The King did it to get the jewel shard; she just knew it. But why would he need that type of power? He was already King over the land. What could he possibly gain by using a jewel shard?

Inuyasha
"I believe you're the one who'll be dying," Inuyasha said menacingly as he smirked at something behind the King. The King stopped in mid-strike and glared at Inuyasha before turning around. He was in a bad position indeed.

As the King turned around, Sango threw Hiraikotsu, which the King had dropped when avoiding Inuyasha's Kaze no kizu. It hit him hard in the face and threw him off his feet. Inuyasha took this opportunity to strike with his sword again.

"Kaze no kizu!" he shouted and got a direct hit this time. The King stared through unseeing eyes at the ceiling as Inuyasha sheathed his sword. "What a sick bastard," he mumbled as he turned to Sango and Miroku.

"Let's go get Kagome and get the heck out of here," he said as he walked past them. They silently followed him through the winding hallways and down the stairs to the dungeons below. As they approached, the guards stepped forward.

"What do you want?" one of them asked gruffly.

Inuyasha wasted no words on the guards as he merely punched each of them out without wasting time. He grabbed the keys and walked to Kagome's cell.

"Hey Kagome, let's go," he said, capturing her attention, and Kouga's as well.

"Who is Kagome?" he asked immediately. He was ignored as Kagome talked over him.

"Inuyasha! If you let me out, you'll get in trouble," she protested as Inuyasha turned the keys in the lock.

"Not likely. The King's dead," he said, failing to mention that it was he who had killed the King. He opened the cell door and Kagome unsteadily got to her feet and walked out.

"Who's Kagome?" Kouga asked again as the group prepared to leave. His only response was the clatter of key as they hit the stone floor in his cell.

"You can let yourself out," Inuyasha tossed over his shoulder as the disappeared from view.

'Damn you, Inuyasha,' Kouga thought angrily as he picked up the keys.

30 minutes later…
The group had been walking in silence after picking up Shippou and leaving the castle. Kagome was walking with her head down, rolling the newly acquired jewel shard through her hands. She had made an excuse to return to the King's room and quickly found the jewel. Her thoughts were abruptly cut short as Inuyasha's voice interrupted the silence.

"What's going on, Kagome?" he asked simply, not one to beat around the bush. When Kagome didn't answer, Inuyasha stopped and grabbed Kagome's wrist, but not too tightly so as not to hurt her.

"Kagome," he said softer, "What did Naraku say to you?" The whole group stopped and stared at the two. Kagome wouldn't explain, couldn't explain. If Inuyasha knew what was going on, he would hate her, she just knew it.

"Wench, just tell me!" he said, letting go of her wrist.

Kagome sighed, knowing she had no other choice but to tell them. "I have to gather the shard of the Shikon no Tama for Naraku, because if I don't, he'll…" she trailed off, looking at the ground, unable to meet the unwavering stare of Inuyasha.

"He'll what?" he urged.

After nearly a full minute, Kagome looked up, tears shining in her eyes. "He'll kill you and Sango and Miroku and Shippou." There was a penetrating silence after that that sent shivers up Inuyasha's spine. He felt they were being watched.

"Feh, you think that idiotic buffoon can kill us? There's no was I'd let that happen. Don't do his dirty work anymore, Kagome. As long as we have the jewel shards, their power can't be used for evil," he said as he began walking again. Kagome stared after him a moment before smiling and following after him and the group. She just knew that Inuyasha could protect them.

Later that night…
"Can we stop now? I'm tired!" Shippou complained as they half walked, half dragged their bodies through the forest. They were returning to Inuyasha's land, since they had nowhere else to go for the time being.

"Fine," Inuyasha said as he stopped walking. He didn't really want to go back home. That would mean having to face his half-brother, and he really hated his half-brother. The group sat down happily and most soon drifted off to sleep. Inuyasha jumped up onto a tree branch and fell asleep faster than anyone, Kagome and Shippou following soon after, leaving only Sango and Miroku awake.

"They're quite the couple, aren't they?" Miroku asked as he looked between Inuyasha and Kagome.

"They seem that way," agreed Sango, "But you know they'll never admit their feelings to each other."

"Heh, maybe not for a while, but eventually they'll be inseparable." The two fell into a comfortable silence for a moment or two.

"Sango, may I ask you a question?" Miroku asked.

"As long as it's not 'Will you bear my children?'," she answered calmly.

"What do you think of me?"

Sango was surprised at the question. She had honestly thought that he would ask something perverted, as per usual.

"W-What do you mean?" she stuttered.

"Do you think of me as a friend?"

"Of course," she answered, wondering where this interrogation was getting.

"Do you think of me as more than a friend?"

Sango sharply turned to face the monk, only to find his eyes closed and his face looking toward the ground. She felt her face heat up slightly but shook her head free from her thoughts. She looked away and crossed her arms indignantly. "That's a silly question."

She heard Miroku sigh and as she peeked out of the corner of her eyes, saw the monk's expression turn into one of slight amusement. "You're right…it is silly," he said as he lied down and quickly fell asleep. Sango stared at him for a few minutes after he had fallen asleep before lying down as well. Before falling asleep, she thought back to his question.

"That's a silly question, Houshi-sama…of course I think of you as more than a friend," she mumbled as she drifted off to sleep.

AN: Ok, I know that's incredibly, incredibly short, but I just think that's a good spot to end it. The next chapter should be really long, because that's when I'm going to add in Fluffy!
Sesshoumaru: Don't call me Fluffy!
Kaz: Aw, but it's kawaii!
Fluffy: It is not!
Kaz-snickers-
Fluffy: CHANGE MY NAME BACK!
Kaz: NEVER! BWAHAHAHAHAHAHAAA!
Fluffy: Why you insolent human-slashes at Kaz with Tokijin-
Kaz: Ughhhh…
Hinote: I guess since she's immobilized, we should take over, eh, Kasai?
Kasai: Correct, Hinote! And now it's time for Reviewer Responses!

xbittersweet- Kaz's sorry she took so long to update. She hopes you still read her stories though and she thanks you for reviewing!

Serenity- Kaz says no glomping or rabid fangirls! She likes reviews though! So keep reviewing, Serenity!

Xessive- A review is a review, even if it's a forced review! And reviews make Kaz happy! BWAHAHAHAHAHA. Review again, I command you!

Again, I'm really sorry it's so short and I haven't updated in forever, but honestly, I hate this story. But then again, I hate all my stories, so whatever. Well, that's it. REVIEW!