Kagome groaned as she opened her eyes to take a look around her. Her entire body ached and she was sure she would have a bit of a bump on her head later. Her eyes were unfocused as she pushed herself up.
Inuyasha saw Kagome trying to move and rushed to her side and kneeled beside her. "Good, you're awake," he said as he grabbed her arm and helped her to her feet. She stumbled a few steps before she fell backwards into Inuyasha's chest.
Kagome groaned and clutched her head as she tried to push herself up but ended falling backwards. "My head, it hurts," she said as she leaned against him before falling to the ground still clutching her head.
Inuyasha didn't respond but he just looked around him at their surroundings. He knew that this was his home but there was something about it that didn't seem to be right. Something of great importance was missing from it all. He had this eerie feeling that something had happened during the battle.
'Naraku!' Inuyasha suddenly remembered the battle since he too had just regained consciousness when they were thrown towards the tree because of Naraku's attack. "Where's Naraku?" Inuyasha growled as he looked around frantically. He couldn't smell him anywhere. He also couldn't locate there friend's either.
Kagome finally got over the headache that's he was feeling and stood up and walked over next to Inuyasha. She too felt that the place looked the same but that there was something missing as well. "Where's the well!" Kagome yelled since she noticed that they were in the area that the well should have been.
Inuyasha looked around and noticed that they were in that area as well. "He looked in the direction of the village but didn't see anything there as well. "The village is gone to," he said trying to keep his voice calm.
Kagome looked in the direction of the god tree as well looking for something familiar about this place but saw that it was missing as well. "The God tree as well. What is going on? Where is everything?" Kagome said panicking since she had no clue as to what was going on.
"This has to be some trick from Naraku to get rid of us," Inuyasha said as he gripped the tetsusaiga to cool his nerves. "We shouldn't stay here, you never know what is going to happen," Inuyasha said as he grabbed her and started to drag her without her giving any form of resistance.
The two of them walked on for what seemed like forever. There was nothing there that except the landscaped that made them think that it was the feudal era. Everything that they had come to know about was gone.
"What happened? Where is everything? Sango, Miroku, Shippo, and Kilala, they are all gone. What has happened while we were out? Did Naraku win and destroy all that we have come to know?" Kagome asked as she trembled at the thought.
"No, we couldn't possibly have been out that long. There would be some sort of destruction if that was supposed to happen. Plus I don't think that he would leave us alive if it happened. Something else must have happened here," he said looking around him trying to spot any form of attack.
"This is the feudal era but something about it seems wrong. I can't think what it is except for all the things that are missing. It is like it is but isn't the one that we have been searching for the shards in," Kagome said following close behind Inuyasha.
They walked and walked and then they walked some more. The place was very quiet, quieter than it normally was with all of the demon attacks. It gave an eerie feeling to Kagome but she felt safe since Inuyasha was around.
The two of them came to a stop when they saw something was lying in the middle of the road. A gasp escaped Kagome throat and despite Inuyasha trying to hold her back, she ran to the injured man. "Kagome, don't!" he yelled but she didn't listen to him and he growled and ran after her.
Kagome carefully kneeled next to the man and looked the man over. He had similar flowing silver hair to that of Inuyasha and Aaron when he was in his true form. 'Silver hair seems to be becoming more common,' Kagome thought but dropped it when she saw a large gash across the man's chest. "Are you ok?" Kagome asked the man as he groaned in pain.
"Kagome, just leave him be. He may be injured but he is a demon," Inuyasha warned her but became annoyed when she didn't seem to care. "He'll be fine! We really need to find the others," Inuyasha growled out but she continued to ignore him.
Kagome tried to help the man sit up. One of his eyes cracked open and he looked at Kagome. "Why aren't you afraid of me? Why would you help a demon when all else would run?" the man said in a weak voice.
"Because I think that unless given a reason not to, everyone deserves help when they need it," Kagome said as she grabbed some bandages from the backpack she had with her. It was smaller than her normal one. She just grabbed it before she left because she knew they would be in need of some after the battle was over.
Inuyasha sniffed the air. There was something about this man that really grated on his nerves. He felt like he knew him but he was sure that he hadn't seen him around before. "We're wasting time!" Inuyasha said losing more and more patience by the minute.
"You should learn some manners from the young lady," the man said with a laugh. He had no intention of hurting them. It just wasn't what he did unlike a lot of the other demons that he knew of.
"Inuyasha sit!" Kagome said making Inuyasha slam into the ground hard. "Please forgive him. He can be a little impatient at times, too much in fact for his own good," Kagome said making the man laugh and wave his hand so as to say forget about it.
"I have a son that is exactly like him, except that he is far to blunt for his own good. He doesn't like to show any sort of emotion around anyone. Not even me, his old man," the man said as he cringed in an attempt to stand u when Kagome had finished bandaging his wounds.
"You shouldn't stand sir," Kagome said in a worried voice. The man just waved her worry off. "You are stubborn as Inuyasha," she mumbled under her breath because they both had a tendency to continue on despite any injuries that they had.
The man walked towards the center of the clearing that they were in and put together some sticks and started a fire. "I thank you for the help young lady. Your strange medicine is doing wonders for my injuries. Please allow me to show my gratitude," he said with a small smirk as he left and came back a few moments later with a dead animal in his hands, "by giving you some food. You look hungry," he said as he started to shred the skin so only the meat was left.
"Thank you. I wish all dog demons were as kind as you. There's the stubborn ass Inuyasha over there, the emotionless Sesshomaru," she said but didn't notice his eyes seemed to grow more interested at the ladders name. "Then that weird kid Aaron who showed up. You seem the only kind one out of all of them," Kagome said sitting next to the fire he started.
"There are just about as many personalities for demons as there are for humans. We tend to express ourselves more since we know we have the power to do so. Some humans tend to do that as well. Our appearance is really what separates us most from humans," he said keeping the meat roasting over the fire.
"I didn't really realize that until now. It is nice to have some civilized conversation every now and then," she said looking towards Inuyasha who turned away with an 'hmph' looking like he wasn't listening to the conversation.
The man couldn't help but hold the chuckle. "You're a priestess aren't you?" he asked her and she looked shocked but nodded her head anyways. "I have something you might like," he said pulling something out of a satchel at his side. It was a small seed. "I have done everything to make it grow, but I just can't seem to do it. Maybe you can," he said placing the seed in her hand and closing her hands over it.
"Um… thank you," Kagome said placing it in her backpack. "I will do what I can," she said with a smile and took the meat that he offered her. "Come over and eat Inuyasha. I am sure that it is safe," Kagome said and was surprised when Inuyasha came over with little resistance.
"You should both get some sleep. It is dangerous around here at night," he said walking over to a tree and he leaned against it and closed his eyes. He kept his ear trained for any sounds so that he would be ready if anything attacked.
"He's right Inuyasha," Kagome said laying down in the soft grass and closing her eyes. She opened them and looked at Inuyasha as he leaped up into a tree and stared up at the moon. 'What is wrong with him?' she asked herself before closing her eyes and falling to sleep.
Kagome and Inuyasha walked down the path back towards where the village should have been. The man was up when Kagome got up but was rather quick to leave. His wounds were already fully healed.
'Oh yeah, I just remembered,' she remembered the man saying before he left. 'The seed that I gave you requires certain things for it to grow. I however do not have what was needed. It is supposed to take a great deal of energy to grow, and also it needs the source of life that binds our two races.'
Up until this point, Kagome had no idea what he meant by that. "The source of life that binds our two races, what did he mean by that?" Kagome asked herself as she stared at the small seed in her hand. She had no idea what it was supposed to be.
"Don't go too deep into what he said," Inuyasha said as they came to the spot where the god tree was supposed to have stood. The ground was flawless as if nothing had ever been in that spot before. "You don't know anything about him," Inuyasha grunted out as he leaned against a tree.
Kagome ignored him and kneeled towards the ground. The place didn't seem right without the god tree there. Yet she knew that she couldn't do anything about it. The tree was gone and she had no idea how to bring it back.
Digging a small hold into the ground, Kagome placed the seed in the trees spot and covered it up. Her hand suddenly seemed to glow on the spot where the seed was buried. 'A great deal of energy is needed to make it grow. I hope that mine will be enough, but what about the other part?' Kagome asked herself as she stared at the small mound.
"It's blood. The source of all life is blood," Inuyasha said stepping forward towards Kagome. "Although I think it is pointless to try, I guess I will entertain you," Inuyasha said cutting his hand and allowing the blood to fall onto the ground.
"I feel I may not have the energy required for it," Kagome said before an idea came to her mind. She grabbed the jewel shards from around her neck and took them out of the bottle. "Maybe this will help," she said trying again. She was surprised when a small plant suddenly came out of the ground. "That was fast," Kagome said in surprise.
It was suddenly as if everything was clear to her then. "Inuyasha! I think I know what happened and where everything went. When Naraku attacked, we were thrown into the god tree. I don't think everything disappeared. I think we were sent further into the past. Then that would mean that this is the god tree," Kagome said with wide eyes as she stared at the small plant.
"I had some suspicions about that as well," Inuyasha said staring around him. "I wasn't sure until we met that man. He shouldn't even have been alive anymore. My father was supposed to be dead," Inuyasha said as he sat down upon the ground.
'I underestimated his intelligence,' Kagome thought as she stared at him. "How do we get back? There is no well to use and we don't know of any other way to get back," Kagome said with a sigh as she sat down next to Inuyasha.
As if answering to her call, the plant seemed to glow slightly before it engulfed them in a blue light. It was just like all the times that they used the well and she knew that they were going back. "Ok, forget my question," she said before they hit the ground right by the fully grown god tree.
Naraku stood there staring at them with confusion written across his face. He had just seen them disappear and then suddenly reappear from out of no where. "What was that?" he asked himself as he took a step back. It wasn't out of fear but to study what was going to happen next.
Inuyasha stood up and stared at Naraku with anger radiating around him. "Now where were we Naraku?" Inuyasha said pulling out his tetsusaiga and holding it towards Naraku waiting for the perfect moment for him to strike.
"Come now Inuyasha. Even though you are a bit stronger, do you actually think that you will be able to defeat me?" Naraku asked with a chuckle as he took a step forward fearlessly. "This battle will be over soon," he said before he lunged at Inuyasha.
Holding the sword in front of him to block them blow. Inuyasha spun around and slashed at Naraku after Naraku's attack was finished. "You're right, this will be over quickly. WIND SCAR!" Inuyasha yelled sending the blast of energy at Naraku.
Naraku was barely able to escape the line of fire and had his left arm blown off as a result. "Not bad, but no more games," he said lunging at Inuyasha but he managed to get out of the way but Naraku wasn't going after him. His target was Kagome.
He had her around the throat before Inuyasha could react. "I will take these," he said ripping the jewel shards from around her neck. "With these I will finally have the completed jewel," he said with a chuckle as he saw Inuyasha hold himself back for fear of something happening to Kagome.
Kagome winced in pain when Naraku grabbed her arm causing a gash to form on it. He then threw her to the ground strangely leaving her alive. "Why didn't he kill me?" Kagome asked herself as she looked at Naraku.
"You two shall be present for my rise to power," he said pulling out the rest of the jewel shards and holding them in his hand before closing it around it. When he opened it, the jewel shard was once again whole shining in its tainted glory. "Isn't it beautiful? With this, I will rule all of those around me and you can't do anything about it," Naraku said but couldn't get far before that hand was cut off as well courtesy of Inuyasha. He was surprised by the sudden attack.
"I don't think so," he said standing up with Kagome. He readied the tetsusaiga and Kagome readied herself with her bow. "Do it Kagome!" Inuyasha yelled as she released the arrow. "Backlash wave!" he said firing onto the arrow causing the two energies to combine.
"It's too large," Naraku said as he saw it coming at him fast. "No!" he yelled as it hit his body. It consumed his entire form tearing it apart piece by piece not leaving anything left for him to regenerate himself with like before. All of his servants were dead so they couldn't help him.
Inuyasha watched with glee as the backlash wave engulfed Naraku. "This is it!" he yelled as the attacked started to clear up. Dust was everywhere so he couldn't see what had happened to Naraku.
The dust cleared up and there was no sign of Naraku. All of the miasma in the area evaporated from around them. On the ground laid the completed jewel shards. As soon as Kagome picked them up they glowed a healthy pink color from being purified.
"We did it!" Inuyasha yelled but he suddenly noticed something wrong with Kagome. His suspicions were right as well since seconds after he laid eyes on her, she collapsed to the ground. She laid there unconscious with an almost dead look to her. "Kagome!"