Angsty chapter…what can I say, listening to Evanescence messes with my feelings…--'.

Everything seemed to freeze. The wind, breathing, feeling, life seemed to freeze in that millisecond. Kagome looked at InuYasha, her soft hands tense of the handle of the bow, her face a pale remembrance of its former owner. Her eyes were what surprised him the most. They looked like they had no free will in them, no strength, no happiness, nothing, just a deep emptiness. He stood frozen, and suddenly felt like he had been thrown back into a nightmare…back into that memory he had tried time and time again to forget…that day that he had been pinned onto the Sacred Tree by Kikyo. Except it wasn't Kikyo shooting the arrow it was…Kagome.

Then the millisecond was gone. Kagome let go of the arrow.

InuYasha didn't move. He couldn't. Then he felt it, the sickening sound of the arrow sinking into his skin. He could sense Kagome's spiritual powers, though tainted with evil, in the arrow. But he didn't do anything. He just stood there, staring at the one woman who had managed to get through to his heart after he was sure that it would never feel anything but anger and pain. One word escaped his lips. "Kagome…"

Suddenly something inside of Kagome snapped. She could feel it deep inside her head, a small voice saying softly, then getting louder and louder, "The fragment, it's inside your body, you have to get it out, The fragment, it's inside your body, you have to get it out, THE FRAGMENT, IT'S INSIDE YOUR BODY, YOU HAVE TO GET IT OUT!" She could hear another voice beyond the one that was screaming at her now, saying, "Finish him off Kagome, now." She could feel her hand reach back to take another arrow from out of her quiver. She could see herself take aim, her hand become tight on the bow. But she wasn't going to give in. She wasn't going to let Kanaye take control of her any longer. She knew that the power of the shard was to powerful for her to overcome while Kanaye had control of her spiritual powers. There was only one way to stop all this.

She let go of the bow. It fell to the floor with a loud clatter. She could hear Kanaye say to her from behind, "What are you doing? Finish InuYasha!" She closed her eyes, ignoring him.

She took her arrow, and in one quick motion plunged it into her heart, where she was certain the shard lay.

There was a sudden shock of bright light shot up from the arrow, as the tainted shard became purified from inside of her. The shard shot out of Kagome, and landed on the ground. There was no move made to pick it up.

Kagome instantly felt herself be freed from Kanaye. "I-InuYasha…I won't hurt you now." she thought. She felt almost relieved. But the wound she had inflicted upon herself was taking its toll. Kagome could feel her heart become weaker. She fell to her knees, knowing she was close to death. She could hear Kanaye saying, "Stupid girl, she managed to break free of the shard's control. Heh, but it came with a price." Kagome struggled to hold onto her life, she could almost feel Miroku, Sango and Shippo's shock and sadness. She tried to open her mouth, and tell them not to worry about her, and start worrying about themselves. She tried to call out to InuYasha, but her vocal cords failed her. She closed her eyes, accepting the fact that she was going to die. She knew that she was still clutching the arrow that she had driven into her chest, and she let go, letting her hands drop down to her side. Kagome forced her eyes to open to look at InuYasha for the last time. He was staring at her, his hand on the arrow she had shot into his shoulder, staring at her in a mixture of disbelief and shock. "I'm…sorry." she thought before feeling the quiet cover her mind.

That's when the fury that had InuYasha had been hiding all this time was let loose. He growled with the ferocity of a rabid wolf, and raised Tessiaga right above his head. "KAZE NO KIZU!" he yelled, sending the 5 streaks of light hurling towards Kanaye. But as they reached Kanaye, they turned dark black, and increased in speed and power. Kanaye created a force field just as they were about to reach him, but this new turn of events caught him by surprise. The attack seemed to get to him, his eyes widening as the Kaze no Kizu pushed against his force field, making it weaker. "So InuYasha's anger has increased his powers to new levels…" Kanaye thought. He broke the force field, and instead used his own spear to force the attack away. But Kaze no Kizu just formed together to form a large ball and returned to InuYasha's sword.

InuYasha kept his eyes hidden, breathing heavily. "That bastard…Kagome…" He wasn't looking at her, but he could see her image play in his head over and over again. Her soft loving eyes stared at him again in his mind, as they did just before he had died. He almost couldn't completely comprehend it, that Kagome…was dead. "Kanaye…" he said, in a voice that didn't sound completely like his own. "I'm going to pull you apart piece by piece, I'll torture you, I'll make you wish you'd never touched Kagome." Tessiaga started pulsating, waiting for InuYasha to give the word. "I'll never forgive him." thought InuYasha, and raised his sword again. The wind began to swirl around Tessiaga, first slowly, but then gaining momentum. InuYasha raised his head, and looked straight at Kanaye, who looked straight back at him, his cold eyes glaring. "This hanyou…he seemed pitiful at first, but now…I'm not sure it would be wise to think of him as such. He has power, and now it is beginning to collect inside his soul, and form something greater than any monster I have come across."

InuYasha watched as the winds collected faster and faster around his sword. He waited until they were at the peak of they're power, and yelled, "KAZE NO KIZU!" Once again the streaks of light, resembling more claws of death now, shot straight at Kanaye. Kanaye jumped out of the way of them, instead of deciding to block him off. He stared down menacingly at InuYasha as he floated in the air, and made a quick cutting movement with his spear, sending 10 of his black energy balls. InuYasha watched from his position on the ground as the balls were thrown at him. InuYasha knew that it was time to try Dragon-Scaled Tessiaga. Tessiaga changed its colour and texture rapidly to fit its name, and just as the energy balls approached him, he raised his sword in position to suck them in.

"I won't let you down Kagome." he thought.

Tessiaga started shining brilliantly, and suddenly all the energy balls became sucked into Tessiaga. It began pulsing, the power of the balls swarming inside of it, slowly becoming part of the sword. InuYasha watched with surprise as Tessiaga's form changed, and it turned into a dark metal. He could feel the power surging through his hands, his mind, his heart.

He could feel Tessiaga urging him on to unleash its new found power, pulsating frantically. InuYasha raised Tessiaga once more, feeling his entire energy blend into Tessiaga's, forming an invincible power. Tessiaga began to glow with a soft light, know that the time was near to fight with all that it could give. To fight for all that InuYasha loved.

To Be Continued…

Waaaaaa, it's 10:27 p.m. and I'm really tired...I know this part is sad, and I tried not to leave it at too bad a cliffhanger, but I swear I'm DEAD TIRED. I'm really getting excited about this story, I actually can't wait to get going on the next part, so you can be assured I'll keep posting. See ya tomorrow!