Disclaimer: If I owned the characters from the story, do you really think I'd be writing these stories under "Fan Fiction"? Use your noodle people. (Mmm…Noodles)

Chapter Four

My heart was beating so fast, I had to catch my breath. I stood there, panting from the news Kouga had just told me. My love and would-be murderer had massacred the only place where I felt truly safe! My haven was destroyed!

Sensing my distress, Kouga placed his hands on my shoulders, bracing me if I fell. "Are you ok?" he asked me.

I nodded silently. I closed my eyes, wishing desperately to wake up somewhere far away from here. Sadly, my dreams never listened to me. And this was no dream. It was bitterly real. The sickening anxiety growing in my stomach was enough to make me wretch. The adrenaline was rushing quickly through my blood.

Kouga let me ride on his back once more, as we entered the massacred village. We looked around for any signs of life, but nothing alive was found. Even the grass on the ground and the nearby fields were singed down to the lifeless dirt. At least, that was the case, until…

I was walking beside Kouga in complete silence. The thoughts shaking tremors through my body was occupying my conscience. I was stooping my head low from the pain, so I didn't notice him at first. I kept walking, until I heard a low growl emitting from him behind me. I turned around to see the wolf demon alert; and angry. He was clutching his fists so tightly, his tanned skin appeared ghostly white. His blue eyes were pointing in the direction of a particular pile of smoking rubble. I followed his eyes to watch the spot he was. Nothing was there, or so I made myself believe.

"There's someone underneath all that wreckage," he snarled. I did not know whether he was growling from the smell of blood, or knowing it was all Inuyasha's fault this happened. But it didn't matter.

I rushed quickly over to the pile of debris, and started to push it away in search of this person. After moving a long, heavy piece of lumber aside, I heard a tortured, hoarse groan from underneath the wreckage. I recognized this voice! My heart skipped a beat. One of my friends was underneath all this debris, and possibly dying!

"Kouga, help me with this!" I called to Kouga. He came to my side before I even finished what I said. Kouga and I pulled through the heaping pile.

The world began to turn in slow motion as we uncovered the mangled body underneath. My heart jolted, almost causing me to fall back. But I stood, trying to recognize the body. It was bloody. The sandy-gray hair in a once neat ponytail was messy and matted with dried blood. The clothes were torn and blood soaked. It was almost impossible to tell what colour the clothes had been before and blood was spilt. After noticing the eye patch on one eye of the person, I knew who it was.

"Kaede…" I whispered in fright. I knelt down beside her, Kouga followed silently.

The elderly woman stirred. I could tell she was in immense pain. I examined the wound near her upper abdomen. I had half-expected the type of wounds she carried. One, deep slash wound still bled across her upper abdomen. It was fresh. This type of deep wound was similar to the one still etched both on my neck, and in my heart.

Her wavering eyes opened and tried focusing on myself and Kouga. Her vision must have been impaired, as she squinted hard to see who was kneeling above her. I detected fear and confusion through her unfocused eyes.

"Why? Why of all people did Kaede have to be the one to suffer the most!" I wept inside. It was disturbing to see someone so fragile and so elderly to be brought down to a helpless, bloody mess. At that time, I would have given the world to switch places with her. But at the same time, I felt the agonizing pity of knowing what it felt like to go through the exact same ordeal.

Confusion, anger, self-pity…and especially betrayal. Why would Inuyasha, my love, stoop so low as to cut an elderly woman's life short? What was he thinking right now?

"K-Kagome…? Is that you?" her hoarse voice strained to speak. My sympathy for her bore down in bitter rain.

"Kaede, are you alright?" I asked worriedly. I could not keep the tears from falling.

Kaede winced in pain. "It is my time, Kagome." She told me simply, but I would not listen. I did not want her to utter those words. I refused to listen to them in fear that she might be right. It was not time for her! My friend, my grandmother…not now. Not here…

"No Kaede! You have to stay with me! You must hold on!" Kouga placed a hand on my shoulder and lowered his head respectfully towards Kaede. It was as if he told me that Kaede was right, and there was nothing I could do, but without speaking it.

"We all have our time Kagome," Kaede told me quietly. "I have been called to leave this world, and unfortunately, there is nothing neither ye nor I can do about it."

"Kaede no! If you can just hold on a little longer…I can get my first aid kit and I…"

She shook her head slightly, obviously being careful not to stir more pain. "Spare your supplies, it will do no good. But Kagome," Kaede looked up at me with the most desperately pleading eyes. Such eyes would haunt me even more than certain golden ones from my nightmares. I nodded my head through streams of tears.

"Kagome, something is wrong with Inuyasha…" The irony of it all sent bitter emotions through my veins. "He is under the spell of someone. I know this. I saw his eyes were different when he…" Kaede moaned in pain, her weak hand clutching at her bloody abdomen. I held her other hand tightly in mine; half-hoping her life would never escape from my fingers. If only life would work in that fashion.

"Be merciful with Inuyasha. It may not be his fault for this." I wanted to protest at her words, but she had a point. But even so, her last wishes for me were ones I did not want to follow through with. Be merciful? Was he merciful to me? Was he merciful to Kaede? If he did not give one damn for the souls of his former friends, why should I for him?

The sight of Kaede was blurry from my tears, as she whispered the words I would never forget. "This is not goodbye, Kagome. We will meet again soon."

One single tree from the village that resided in the middle of the burnt rubble and mess seemed undisturbed and unharmed. The green leaves still remained on the untouched branches that outstretched towards the sky. That was the place that Kouga and I thought would be a good area for a resting place.

Kaede, along with the rest of the villagers that we could find remained under the shade of the tree. I placed a single white flower on each of their graves, as a symbol for my growing sympathy and sorrow for them. I had no idea why, but I felt guilty for the death of so many people.

"Even in a graveyard, there is life." Kouga told me, pointing his comment at the tree. The last of the sun's rays for the day bore down on the tall tree. Twilight soon immersed us. I was still kneeling at each grave, giving a silent prayer when he spoke.

"Life means hope," he said. "If there is life in such a barren battlefield, then there must be some hope for us." He looked down at my silent tears. He was trying to reassure my tortured mind and comfort it, but even he could not fully help me. Even so, I admired his words. Kouga sounded much wiser than he usually let on. He sounded so calm and confident. How could he still be like that after what had just happened? Compared to him, I was an emotional mess.

Kouga pulled me up to face his calm and caring face. His ice blue eyes peered into mine. We both were silent, but his expression said it all. He covered my cold hands with his large warm ones and held them to his chest. My heart was beating so fast that I couldn't stand properly. Was he going to…?

He leaned in closer to my face, his eyes not leaving mine. I was afraid of him getting closer, but the more he came in, the more I wanted him to kiss me. The warmth of him entranced me, and temporarily relieved my mind of sorrow. Everything else in the world was hazy, except for Kouga and me.

He was so close now. He was definitely going to kiss me. I closed my eyes to receive it. But as he drew in closer, a growl escaped from his lips and his shot up away from mine to look somewhere. What had just happened?

"I smell him," he growled. "I smell Inuyasha. He's close by." Kouga gave a sharp sniff of the air. "And he's with that crazy miko woman too. If we go now we can catch them."

My heart skipped another beat. He was close? And Kikyo too? This definitely was not a good thing. If we caught up to Inuyasha, Kouga would definitely kill him. I wanted him to, yet a shred of my heat deep down told me not to.

Kouga held me close to his chest, as he sniffed the air again for the direction of the hanyou and dead miko. He finally decided they went North-East of the village. He picked me up onto his back and he began running towards them at a fast pace. He ran through the dense forest and into the darkness of the night.

"What about Sango, Miroku or Shippo? We haven't found them yet!" I reminded him as he ran.

"We'll find them later. Right now, I need vengeance." He didn't look back at me when he spoke, as he was too preoccupied with finding the murderer's whereabouts.

He dodged a long winding river as he jumped over it and went zigzagging through the wild of feudal Japan. It was a sight to see at night, considering how different it was from the Japan I knew and was accustomed to. It almost brought sorrow to your eyes when you see how much trees and wildlife now will eventually die out and become polluted in the future. If only I could change that, but there are many things that happened in this world that I could not do anything about but watch. My life felt so useless at that moment.

I seemed determined to see Inuyasha again. I wanted to scream in his face. There were so many questions my heart was burning to ask him. I wanted to drown him in all the tears that I had shed because of him. I wanted to burn Kikyo in my hatred. And above all else I wanted to do to them, was ask them why. Why had they ruined my life? Why had they ruined Kaede's life? What was their purpose for this entire massacre?

"Kagome?" Kouga had interrupted my train of thought. He sounded a little worried.

"What is it?" I asked him back.

"Your friends, Sango and Miroku are with the bastard. I can smell them from here." My eyes widened with anticipation.

"You mean they're alive?" I asked in astonishment.

Kouga nodded. "I don't know for how long though. Inuyasha could be murdering them right now." I really did not want to hear that.

He stopped at the edge of a deep forest at the base of a mountain. He pulled me off his back gently as he said, "They're in there somewhere. You should stay here while I go in."

I shook my head. "No, I'm not being left alone again. I'm coming with you." Kouga wanted to argue, but he could see the determination in my eyes and agreed to let me come with him.

Before we entered, a question came to my mind. "Kouga, you said you smelled Miroku and Sango. Did you smell anything of Shippo?"

Kouga thought back. "The little fox demon? No, I couldn't smell him, and I don't now. He probably escaped somewhere."

I hoped he was right. Hopefully Shippo had managed to escape. But I would worry about that later. Right now, my mind was set on getting to Miroku and Sango before anything else.

Kouga and I hesitated to go into the forest at first. It seemed so old, and mysterious. The trees were taller than most, and the air in between them had a suspicious aura. It was a little bit frightening, especially at night. But Kouga held my hand, squeezed it tightly, and leaded us into the dense dark.

I'm doing this for Kaede, I told myself.

A/N: Wow this took longer than I thought to finish. My apologies to all who are waiting patiently for this chapter. I bet you all are mad at me for Kaede dying, but don't worry! I have two reasons for it. #1: She is coming back later on (how, you'll find out soon enough) and #2: ha-ha! I can't tell you or I'll ruin the story for you! Please, please review for me! I could really use some constructive criticism or comments (hint, hint!). Chapter five will be up in the next week or so.