Tailz: ::Glances up tearfully:: M-moogle-chan...you w-wish for me to...to...

Sanji: OO Kill Kagome?

Inuyasha and Tailz: NOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!

Tailz: T.T How sad....Moogle dearest...begging your pardon, but you have absolutely no idea what I've got in mind...please don't be angry with poor Tailzy.

Sanji: Yeah, all of you! Put a sock in it! Every time you gripe at her for being angsty, she keeps ME up at night crying!

Tailz: ::Sobs into his shirt:: WAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHH!!!!!!!!!! IT'S JUST MY STYLE!!! I LIKE ANGST!!!!

Sanji: Look, guys. If you don't like angst, don't read the story, okay? I'm sorry to sound blunt, but there's no point in putting us down every chapter because you don't like the genre. Just don't read it.

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Inuyasha regretted his compromise from the moment it left his mouth. He stared across the clearing from his seat by the fire, glancing at each of his friends in turn. They were all fast asleep. Shippo's arm had been bandaged. Sango and Miroku were fine, he had discovered under inspection. Not a scratch. It was curious, he thought, that Naraku would have left them alone throughout the battle, and not tried to harm them even once. The only thing wrong with them at all was the fact that they'd been sleeping for two days straight.

And that was plenty enough wrong.

For one thing, humans didn't sleep that long, even after battles. Hell, he didn't sleep that long, unstirring, after even the most painful skirmishes. And they hadn't moved once. Their expressions were peaceful, their breathing normal...he couldn't for the life of him find anything physically wrong with them at all. So why weren't they waking? They hadn't hit the tree that hard, had they? Surely, if that were the case, there would've been a broken bone, or at least a bruise. There were none of either.

That mystery was troubling enough, but the main thing on his mind was Kagome. She had allowed him to take a look at her wound two days before, right after the battle. It wasn't quite as bad as it looked—there had been so much blood, and yet the cut itself was only about half as long as her hand. The tentacles were narrow (thank Kami), so nothing had been disturbed; no broken ribs, or anything to that effect. There was the matter, though, that Kagome, being human, was having rather a hard time healing. It would be quite a while before she would be ready to throw herself into a battle again. He had to change her bandages at least twice daily, which wasn't any fun—her expression was so pained, it almost hurt him as much as it hurt her. And since she wasn't awake to help, he had to hold her up, while trying to twist a string of bandage around, and being mindful of how sore it was.

It was so quiet without Shippo's shrill giggles and the others' conversation. The only sounds were normal woodsy sounds—birds, insects, owls. He could hear the fire crackling softly in the background as its orangey flames cast shadows along the sleepers' faces across the clearing. Kagome murmured something in her sleep and turned over to face him, her expression troubled. Inuyasha rose from his seat and went to kneel beside the bedroll.

"Shh," he muttered absently, putting a hand to her shoulder, holding her down. "Stop fidgeting." It was about time to change the bandages again, he thought, and went to retrieve the little white box of modern medicines. Shippo was first, being the easiest. He could hold the kit up in one hand and fix the little makeshift sling with the other. It only took a second. Once that was done, he moved to the more challenging patient.

The sleeping girl was moving again. She trembled and muttered something indistinguishable, even to someone with such good hearing. Probably just another dream, Inuyasha thought, and shrugged it off, unzipping the sleeping bag and pulling it away. Kagome tensed at the sudden change in temperature, and whimpered, pulling herself into a defensive curl. Pain flashed across her features at the pull the movement had on her wound. "Stupid," he muttered affectionately, forcing her to lie straight. "Be still." He pulled her slowly into a half-sitting position against himself. Reaching his arms around her on both sides, he carefully pulled away the blood-spotted bandages and applied the new ones. Halfway through, his hand slipped a little, and the cloth swept across the cut.

He heard a quiet hiss as Kagome bit her lip to keep from crying out at the twinge the motion caused. "Sorry," he said softly, finishing up the bandages. "I'm sorry that you're in so much pain, Kagome...Does it hurt badly?" That was a stupid question, he berated himself. And made even more stupid by the fact that she wasn't awake to hear a word he was saying.

"It's okay." The whisper, unexpected, was almost too soft to catch. So much for not being awake. Inuyasha turned her slowly to face him, his arm around her shoulders for support.

"You're awake," he said blinking. The tone of his voice sounded slightly surprised. "How're you feeling?"

"Fine." She attempted a smile, but it turned into something more like a grimace.

"Keh, don't lie." He shifted a little and helped her to her feet, and began leading her slowly to sit with him by the fire. That was what she wanted—he had guessed by the way her gaze kept flitting hopelessly in that direction. "You're just a weak human, Kagome. You wanna tell me what the hell you were thinking back there with Naraku?"

"There wasn't much of a choice," she countered defensively. "You were busy with those two puppet girls, and Shippo...." She glanced at the kitsune briefly, then at Miroku and Sango. When she turned back, her eyes were anxious. "Are they okay?"

"Yeah, not a scratch on 'em," Inuyasha answered. "And Shippo will heal. Don't worry about him."

There was a moment of silence. "Are...are you okay?" she asked hesitantly.

He scoffed. "Of course, stupid. It's just a scratch." Her dark eyes lingered on his bandaged shoulder, and then traveled to his face, sparkling with the firelight. Something mysterious glimmered in their depths, and Inuyasha felt a shiver pass through his body despite himself. "What is it?" he asked, forcing a bit of a bite into his voice.

"It's just that..." she stopped, biting her lip and wincing. "Never mind. It's stupid."

"What?" Inuyasha persisted. "Tell me."

"Oh...it's just...I had a dream a few nights ago," she began lamely, avoiding his eyes. Inuyasha failed to see the relevance.

"So?"

"Well...in my dream...." She paused. "Well...Naraku was there, and..."

"And what?" He felt a sinking feeling in his stomach that he couldn't explain. She still wouldn't look at him as she opened her mouth and whispered meekly, "Everyone died." Inuyasha froze, his eyes widening in surprise. She'd had a dream that Naraku was coming? So THAT had been why she was whimpering that night... he had wondered...

Inuyasha shook himself from his reverie and glanced back at Kagome. Her back was still facing him, but he could still see her shoulders shaking, and could catch the faint scent of salt. His breath caught. "Hey, wait a minute—" he protested. "Don't cry—"

"It was terrible," she sobbed, and Inuyasha's hand paused an inch from her shoulder. "Everybody was g-gone, Inuyasha...even you..." She sniffled and turned slowly, bringing her dark eyes to meet his. "I called for you but you didn't come," she whispered. "No one came...and Naraku—Naraku was coming closer—" Fear mixed through the tangled expression of grief on her face.

"Kagome?" Inuyasha asked carefully.

She didn't seem to hear him. Her eyes were linked with his, but they looked past him and through him to another world. "He—he said that I—that it was—" The speech broke off into a stifled sob and she covered her face with trembling hands. It was too painful to repeat, especially to him...

—Flashback—

"St-stay back, Naraku!" Kagome shouted. "Miroku! Sango! He's over here!" She expected her friends to come running to her defense, as they always did, or for Sango's boomerang to come flying through the foliage. At the very least she thought she should've heard Shippo, calling back in return. Nothing. She looked around in surprise and called for them again, to the same effect. Her frightened gaze was met by Naraku's evil one.

"They won't come," he whispered maliciously.

"Wh-what?" Her eyes widened in surprise, but she refused to believe what his tone of voice was implying. No. They couldn't be dead. Not her friends. Sango was far too strong, Miroku far too cunning...and Inuyasha was too far away. Where had he gone? To find Kikyou? That was probably it. He always went to find Kikyou.

"You heard me. They won't come for you." He smirked, and she could see all his teeth. His bright evil-red eyes blinked a still more vibrant crimson. "No one is coming for you this time, Kagome. It's just you and me now."

"What did you do to my friends?" She screamed, backing away from the cool, pointy had he extended to her. Hunger burned in his eyes. "What did you do?"

"I?" He laughed harshly. "Don't be so quick to blame me, Kagome-sama. It had nothing to do with me, of course. It had everything to do with you." He paused, then added, with relish, "Well, mostly everything." He held up a hand, in which rested a little shimmery ball of...magic? Something. "Would you like to see for yourself what happened to them, Kagome? Would you?" She didn't say a word.

His smirk widened and the magic glowed brighter. "Here. Let me show you."

An image rippled inside the orb. Kagome could see Sango and Miroku walking down a wooded path together, looking about warily. Sango was dressed in her battle armor and was holding her boomerang at the ready; Miroku's hand was tense on his staff. Their eyes darted back and forth at every forest sound, and their faces were set and determined.

"Someone's coming," Sango murmured, her lips barely moving.

"The aura is powerful," Miroku commented. "Be ready." They kept walking, normally, along the trail, looking in all directions discreetly, waiting. Just ahead, the foliage rustled, and a few leaves fell. Sango and Miroku stopped and waited. Everything was silent. Even the birds hushed. "Show yourself," Miroku called, holding his staff a little higher.

The branches bent, and Kagome herself walked out.

No! Kagome thought. I wasn't there, I was at home, speaking with momma... I never saw Miroku and Sango! Kaede'd said they'd gone to investigate a suspicious rumor... and that Inuyasha had disappeared a day after them, without a word. I know I wasn't there, Kagome told herself firmly. I wasn't.

"No, Kagome, wait." NAraku's putrid breath tickled her ear. "It gets better yet."

"Kagome-chan?" In the orb, Sango's expression relaxed considerably, and the boomerang lowered. "Kagome-chan, what are you doing out here? Where's Inuyasha?" She glanced around, looking annoyed. "He didn't leave you, did he? When I get my hands on him—" She stopped, blinking curiously at the fake Kagome across the clearing. She had reached behind her back to a quiver of arrows, and had fitted one to her bow, which was now raised, poised for shooting.

"Kagome?" Her bangs hid her face from them, but a toothy smirk was visible.

"Now you die, Sango-CHAN. I hope it won't hurt too much." And with that, her fingers released the arrow's tail, and it went soaring, its mark true. Sango fell with a startled gasp, and a look of surprised betrayal in her eyes.

"Sango!" Miroku shouted, quickly kneeling and trying to help her up. "You're not Kagome! Who are you?" The doppelganger looked at him innocently, and raised her bow again, reaching a hand back to pull an arrow. A blazing ofuda scroll knocked her quiver off her back, sparking as it purified the dark energy. Miroku's eyes widened in understanding. "You're one of Naraku's puppets," he said venomously. The fake schoolgirl chuckled, and reached for her bows. Miroku's eyes darted to his staff—no doubt he thought it would be enough to save him and Sango—he reached his hand toward it, slowly—

PING, sang the arrow as it whistled through the air, catching the monk by a purple-clothed shoulder. There was a loud thump as he collided with the ground. He did not arise.

"NOOOOO!" Kagome screamed. "Miroku-sama! Sango-chan! They—they can't be—" She collapsed to her knees, looking disbelievingly at the ground as the beginnings of tears burned at her eyes. "You." She looked at him there, standing so coolly, and for the first time she really felt hatred. She wanted to kill him with her bare hands. And he seemed to find that amusing.

"Now, now," he said lazily, holding out a hand. Kagome felt her body seize up in mid-spring, completely foiling her plot to rip him limb from limb. "If you're going to kill me, let me at least earn it." He pulled the orb forward, right before her eyes, and she watched, horrified, as the fake Kagome left the forest, wiping off a smudge of blood from her last murder. She stepped calmly into the fields—what Kagome recognized as the herb fields Kaede often sent her to.

"Kagome!" That was Shippo's voice. Kagome felt her breath catch. No, not Shippo, she thought, unable to do anything but stare, horrified, as her evil impersonator walked through the flowers and knelt beside Shippo. "Look, Kagome, I made you another chain!" he said proudly, holding up a pretty little circlet of wildflowers. "Do you like it?" the girl in the orb raised an arrow above her head, over his. "Ka—?" Kagome couldn't see the villian's expression, but she could see Shippo's, which moved from confusion to fear as the arrow plunged down and knocked him to the ground, silencing his questioning little voice forever. The daisy chain fluttered to the ground.

"NO!" Kagome shouted, wriggling against the curse. "NOOO! SHIPPO!" She fought with all her strength, but her legs wouldn't move. Her arms wouldn't strangle Naraku as she was telling them to, and her bow was still lying, useless, across the battlefield.

"Be patient," Naraku crooned in his light-as-air careless voice. "We're almost done."

The orb rippled, and the image changed once more.

Kagome saw the unmistakable flash of red yukata, and her heart thudded painfully. "No," she whispered. "No, not...not Inuyasha," she said softly, held rapt by the scene lain before her. Inuyasha was sitting in the clearing near the well, waiting, probably for her to return. He was perched in a low lying tree, staring at the sky with absent, unfocused eyes. His silver hair flicked back and forth as if pulled by imaginary fingers, and he brushed it back without a thought.

"Inuyasha!" His ears immediately perked to attention and his body stiffened. Kagome was surprised he didn't fall from the tree. He leapt from the branch and landed, balanced, on his feet at the ground below. "Kagome?" he bellowed back, following the direction of the scream. "Where are you?" There was panic in his eyes as he rushed forward, in that graceful arching run that almost could've been called flying.

He came to an abrupt stop a few minutes later, sending a cloud of dust up into the air. "Kagome?" he called loudly. "Where are you? Say something!" He sniffed, probably trying to find her scent, and paused, something flickering through his eyes and wiping all thought from them. He whipped around, as if he was being attacked—but that wasn't it. He didn't pull Tetsusaiga from its sheath at his side. It hung there limply, as his eyes widened in alarm.

"K-kagome?"

And it was—her double at least. The filthy creature was standing slackly a few feet away, shaking in what looked like pain. She held a hand to a bloody cut on her shoulder—one of many. Her white school uniform shirt—just like the real Kagome's—was splattered with blood, and hardly a spot was left clean. The faker whimpered realistically and stumbled in a convincing faint, her bow falling loosely at her feet. Inuyasha rushed forward and caught her before she could fall.

"Kagome!" he exclaimed, kneeling with the girl in tow. "Are you okay? Kagome?" there was horror in his voice. He touched her face, his hand trembling as much as she was, and the masquerading stranger opened her eyes. Her lashes fluttered and she whimpered. Naraku's puppet was a brilliant actress. Inuyasha didn't suspect a thing. 'What's wrong with you?' Kagome shouted at him mentally. 'Her scent! Notice her scent before it's too late!'

"Inu...yasha," she breathed, and he tensed again.

"What happened to you?" They both watched as the bleeding puppet girl swallowed and trembled, apparently gathering her strength to speak. It was sickening (for Kagome, at least) to watch the intruder fooling her friend so wholly. His concern was completely real, but her pain—that awful pretender's—was not.

"You're despicable," Kagome hissed to Naraku, wishing wholeheartedly that her arms would move. She wanted desperately to strangle the life out of the cocky enemy that was smiling so smugly at her, enjoying her fury.

"But wait," Naraku whispered delightedly. "There's more."

She was afraid to look, for she knew what was coming. Still, her eyes rose back to the orb just in time to see the final act of betrayal that was Naraku's mark on every scheme. Inuyasha's face was more sorrow and confusion than pain as the puppet pulled her claws from his side and kicked him as he crumpled to the ground.

"Stupid Halfling," she scoffed, and Kagome pulled back in horror, trying urgently to squirm away, to look away. Nevertheless, she heard the voice that was mimicking her own say cruelly, "You honestly thought that I would stay with you? After everything you've done to me? Everything you've said?"

"Inuyasha," Kagome cried, tugging at the numbness that entrapped her body. "I'm sorry! It wasn't me! Don't believe his trick, Inuyasha! Don't—don't—" she stopped and watched as Naraku loomed over her, his tentacles raised, prepared for attack. Two tears rolled distinctly down her cheeks as she told him brazenly, "Go ahead! Kill me. I don't care." She squirmed, keeping eye contact furiously.

"Oh, dearest, how could you think I would kill you? No, not yet. Not just yet." He smiled maliciously. "No, you're much too useful. You will help me locate the remaining shards of the Shikon jewel."

"I won't!" Kagome shrieked, throwing her head away from his repulsing hand. "I will never help you!"

"But you will," Naraku said smoothly. "Kohaku didn't intend to help me either, did he? But I have my ways..." He pulled from the folds of his robes a dark-tainted Shikon shard for emphasis. "Oh, yes, Kagome, I have my ways. You will kill hundreds of people...and I promise you will enjoy it. You'll forget all your pain..."

"That won't work," Kagome snapped. "The fragment will purify if you put it anywhere near me."

"Not if you're dead," Naraku whispered viciously. And he raised his arm for the final blow.

—End Flashback—

"Kagome! Say something!"

She blinked the tears away from her eyes and looked up. Inuyasha's face was an inch from her own, his hands firmly on her shoulders, his eyes staring intently into hers. When had he moved? She hadn't even noticed. Even the memory of the dream was terrible. She swallowed and looked at him steadily, leaning her head forward to rest on his tense shoulder. "He said it was my fault," she told him quietly. "But it wasn't, Inuyasha. I didn't...I would never hurt any of you."

"I know that," he told her quietly. Where had this sudden guilty tone come from? "We all know that. What—" He stopped as she shifted a little uneasily and her cheek brushed against his. "I think you're feverish," he said uneasily. "Look, you should get some rest now."

"I'm not sick," she insisted. "Don't worry about it."

Silence filled the clearing as their eyes met for a fiery instant. Liar, he thought silently, but said nothing, trying to read the unreadable expression on her face.

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Tailz: Sorry it took so long, minna-chan, but I haven't had a compy in weeks...

Sanji: Yeah.... Anyway, review quickly so we can update quickly! Ja!