There wasn't any time to protect each other, tentacles shot at them from all directions with the occasional demon part laced in. Proof the real Naraku was nearby, no doubt preparing to take the rest of Kagome's soul.

The thought created a growl deep in InuYasha's throat as he alternated between slashing with his sword and his claws. The entire forest seemed to be a mass of brown root like objects with long snake like youkai occasionally snapping at him. The brief scent of Kagome's blood came to him and he yelled her name.

" I'm fine," came the muffled exclamation from a surprisingly short distance away, " he just nicked me."

A dark chuckle rose from all the puppets.

" Your bitch will be mine InuYasha."

He saw red

VvVvVvVvVv

Kagome fought harder to reach InuYasha. Her purifying arrows worked but the destroyed flesh was soon replaced by more. Every puppet gone was replaced.

He must have stockpiled them. How is he controlling them all? He should be weakened by separating his mind so much!

Another line of red appeared on her legs, blood slowly oozing down.

Dammit! Forget the arrows

She pulled out the knife. She wasn't sure she would be able to use it like her arrows or only as a regular knife but she had to try.

VvVvVvVvVv

InuYasha snarled and whirled, slicing in half puppets and demons left and right. He had to reach Kagome but in the mess he couldn't see her and the smell of demon and Naraku blotted out any smell of her except for whiffs.

" I'll take her soul," a puppet got right up next to him, " and while her body lies there empty I'll have it as well."

InuYasha slashed it in to, wanting to scream in rage.

" Kagome," he yelled desperately, " where are you?"

VvVvVvVvVv

" I'm over here InuYasha," Kagome yelled, slowly being overwhelmed. Her knife had some effect but not as much as the arrows and it appeared that mere cutting wasn't going to work.

Suddenly a demon slapped her against a tree and she yelped in pain. Before she knew it she was wrapped completely, even her face covered.

She screamed his name.

VvVvVvVvVv

More and more demons, some of them a part of Naraku and some of them not, swarmed him. He blew away hundreds and before the energy was even gone more popped up.

Oh gods no!

Icy fear gripped him as the smell of Kagome's blood washed over him unexpectedly and he heard his name called and then silence.

" Kagome! Kagome!"

" She's mine now," another of Naraku's puppets spoke to him, " My human heart can appease itself with her body and I shall appease myself with her power."

A slashing claw brought the puppet down as InuYasha ran foreword panicked. Flashes of brown came snaking up and entangled his legs but before he could regain his balance his sword was flung from his hand by a piercing bite. A puppet stepped foreword as InuYasha became thoroughly bound and strapped the now untransformed Tetsiga to InuYasha's back.

" Can't have you transforming now can we," a low voice came from the side. Whipping his head around InuYasha saw the dark hair and piercing eyes of the real Naraku as he stepped from the shadows.

VvVvVvVvVv

Pain

Kagome's world was pain and crushing pressure. She could feel each rib in her chest bend and then snap, and her knee joints creeked and then started to pop.

Pain

The pressure eased unexpectedly and she felt herself drop to the ground. Her hand still clutched the arrows she had been attempting to use to free herself but her mind was too dazed to put them to use.

She felt a large cold object coil around her again and pick her up.

VvVvVvVvVv

InuYasha attempted to yell, but a knob of Naraku's flesh and squirmed into his mouth and immediately swelled to the point of dislocating InuYasha's jaw. Yellow eyes widened as the limp form of Kagome was yanked foreword. Struggling viciously against his bonds his eyes teared he saw the various lines and cuts, dark purple bruises on almost every available section of skin.

She brought her head up to see herself being brought face to face with Naraku.

She lashed out. There was no thought there was only instinct and her first instinct was that she had to get Naraku away from her. She lashed out with her hand to slap him. The pain as one of Naraku's tentacles peirced her right forearm was so intense that Kagome couldn't even scream. The long brown tube immediately swelled, bending the two bones outward until they snapped and her lower arm exploded in a spray of flesh. She tried to process what had happened but could only stare blankly at the ruined flesh of her lower arm.

InuYasha screamed in anger as he strained against the binds holding him to the tree. Strained until, one by one, they snapped and he was free. He rushed towards Kagome, ripping apart everything that stood in his path. Brown appendages latched onto his legs, tripping him unexpectedly.

" Now now," Naraku smiled as InuYasha was slammed into the tree, and his sword, again. " Such an uncivilized display. I will deal with that offense soon enough."

" Kagome," InuYasha yelled, his eyes leaking tears as Kagome went limp. Her arm dripped blood heavily and Naraku brought her closer for the final blow.

Naraku smiled with a sinister pleasure. The culmination of all his plans was here, hanging from his grasp. Inside that weak ugly human was the one thing that could give him the world on a platter. He reached one of his human hands foreword to take it. He could almost feel the act he was about to do. He desired nothing more then to reach into her chest and rip the steal beating heart from her body to free her soul for his taking. His hand touched her chest.

And something plunged into his right ear. Her left was clenched around the arrows she'd stop using in favor of the knife. She'd slammed all of them into the side of his head, her eyes closed tightly as she willed them to purify everything they touched. Every ounce of energy she had left she threw into his body.

Naraku screamed in rage as his head started to fray and come apart. He shoved his hand foreword to slice up her chest but was off balance and cut her stomach. Dark red blood oozing from her stomach and angry brown eyes were the last thing he saw.

InuYasha dropped to the ground as the fleshy appendages that held him started disintegrating. He rushed to Kagome, leaping over writhing demon bits and slowly transforming piles of sludge to the pile of green and white that lay near the steaming, hissing remains. He searched desperately for a sign of life from a body that gave every indication of having been drained dry.

There. The bloody stump of her arm was still bleeding. He gathered her up in his arms and prepared to leap away before a hand grasped the front of his robes.

" Wait, InuYasha," Kagome gulped out without opening her eyes, " the jewel. We cannot leave it. To your right..."

He could have cared less but the practical side of him took over and he carried her over to where she had pointed. It took him but a moment to find the one piece of Naraku that hadn't turned to a pile of black poison. Reaching into it he extracted the jewel with a plopping noise from the flesh, he leapt into the air.

" I'm taking you home Kagome," he whispered as he lept twice, three times into the air until he was at the well. He hadn't realized they were so close but of course Naraku would have wanted to be close to his link into the future when he was victorious. Long moments passed once he entered the well and as soon as they emerged at the bottom once again and he was leaping out of the well house.

Directly into a mass of police tape. Officers were scattered around the wide open shrine and all turned to look at the loud noise caused by the splintering well house door.

He lept into the air ignoring the shouts that erupted. He knew where the hospital was, he'd had Kagome tell him about it at one point when she was visiting Sota's friend. Such knowledge could prove useful and it was now. It wasn't as well located as the well however and would take more then a few moments to reach. He could feel Kagome's weak pulse falter against his hand holding onto the stump of her arm and his own heart lept in fear. The fear of losing Kagome had always been strong but the panic that touched him now as he could feel her sliding away from him was beyond description.

There. He landed on a building near by and searched for an entrance. The place where the ambulances that Kagome had also told him about would be the best place. They could fix her. They had to fix her. Victory would be hollow with no one to share it with. His eyes spotted a red and white van pull around to the side and he followed it quickly to the entrance.

vVvVvVv

The noise the bay doors made as they slid open caused the nurse to look up, ready for the usual banter with the ambulance driver. The site that greeted her however was anything but the usual.

" Help her!"

Yellow eyes looked into hers for a long moment before she looked down and gaped in horror. A girl in a school outfit sliced to ribbons and covered in blood. One of her arms appeared to have been ripped off. Her brain commented in a off-handed sort of way that his red outfit was why she hadn't realized he was covered in blood before her training kicked in.

" Put her over here," she yelled, rushing to a stretcher and yelling down the hallway in a frantic voice for doctors. Once the girl was lying down she started trying to stop the blood that was oozing quickly from a wound that look half burned. In a few long moments she was assisted by the doctors summoned from a nearby patent's side. She looked up only briefly to see that the boy was no longer there but a long bloody trail of footprints led outside.

VvVvVvVvVvV

Decided to revamp/flesh out the ending, I didn't like how rushed it seemed.