Thanks to Simli and Animefreak-superfreak for reviewing! I'm glad you liked it. Let us move onward, shall we?
A/N: I do not own Inuyasha, but in my dreams I dominate him.
Bolded text represents events from the past. Italicized text signifies the thoughts of the characters.
A new smell punctuated the air. It was Kagome's, but it was different. He had smelled it before.
Inuyasha got up from the bed. He could hear the shower from her room. His senses were sharpening.
Just then, the top of the sun broke the surface of the horizon, bleeding orange and red onto the black palette.
This new smell became harsh and salty. Inuyasha's nose twitched, and he suddenly sprinted toward the bathroom, his instinct recognizing the scent before he could process it.
Kagome is bleeding…
As Inuyasha sprinted, he flexed his fingers, and his human nails extended like razors into claws. His inky hair became silvery-white and enshrouded an acute pair of ears. The change in his eyes reflected his passage into his demon form. Like the sunlight that split his debilitating nights in two, amber pools speared sparkling brown eyes. He pounded on the door.
"Kagome! Kagome, what's wrong? Open up!"
Naraku stopped smirking and loosened his grip on Kagome.
"That fool…" he muttered. Kagome took her chance.
"INUYASHA!" she screamed, cutting her mouth even more deeply upon the thorny demon limb that limply surrounded her face.
"KAGOME! I'm coming in!"
Inuyasha thrusted his shoulder into the door, but to no avail. Kagome had locked it when she entered the bathroom. Kagome's mother came bounding up the stairs, two by two.
"What's going on here? What's wrong?"
"Kagome is bleeding! She's in trouble!" Inuyasha said, thrusting himself against the door again.
"Mom? What's goin' on?"
A very sleepy Souta wandered out of his bedroom, still clutching a teddy bear in his right hand. He yawned and looked up at Inuyasha and immediately hid the bear behind his back.
"Get him out of here, Mrs. Higurashi!" Inuyasha demanded. "This is getting ridiculous!"
He reached to his side and gently tugged on the handle of his Tetsusaiga, the body of the sword sliding out deftly as if willing itself to fight. With one powerful arc above his head, the door was blown to pieces.
Kagome stood near the window for less than a second. She was covered from her eyes down in black tentacles that reeked of Naraku and were drizzled with her own blood. Her eyes were bulging as if she were screaming out to Inuyasha, but no sound was emitting. The thing that was gripping her had already parted through the window, and, in this second, Kagome was still in the bathroom, hair dripping and silently screaming out to her only love, her only hero. And just that moment, in that exact second of time, morning light poured through her window and seemed to lift her off the bathroom tile, through the window of light and then straight down to reconnect with being to which she was attached.
"KAGOME!"
Inuyasha was too slow to grab her: too slow to keep her mother from fainting and too slow to keep her small brother from screaming. Without explanation or question he dove from the window to the ground below and landed kneeling in the grass. Her scent and Naraku's scent had dissipated. His body was reeling. A searing hatred pulsed through his veins, pumping malice throughout his being. He sprinted to the well, unaware of his own furious screaming…
> > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > >
Inuyasha tore off back to the hut, his toes barely skimming the deep, murky pools beneath him.
I can't find her alone… I need Sango and Miroku…
Inuyasha's ears twitched and pivoted in the direction of the hut. Three voices bickered inside, all indistinguishable save Sango's, whose voice was a little more high-pitched.
"You shouldn't be here! He's going to kill you when he gets back!"
Another voice.
"He just spent the whole night looking for her… he won't be happy to come back and see you here."
Another.
"I have just as much a right to see her and he does. I can't believe he lost her, the dumb fuck… I should be the one ripping assholes."
Koga.
"KOGA, YOU BASTARD, GET THE HELL OUT OF MY WAY!" Inuyasha howled, slamming down the door to the hut. It fell to the ground and shattered into pieces, showering an incapacitated Miroku in wood and straw.
"Hey, watch it!"
He ignored Miroku and marched up to Sango, shoving Koga out of the way and into a wall.
"Watch it, dog-shit, where's Kagome?" Koga said, bouncing resiliently off the wall.
"Sango, we need to leave, now," Inuyasha said quietly and urgently, unwilling to hear Koga' reaction when he discovered Kagome's whereabouts.
"You LOST her? YOU ARE FUCKING UNBELIEVABLE, YOU KNOW THAT? WE HAVE TO LEAVE RIGHT NOW!"
"THIS DOES NOT CONCERN YOU!" Inuyasha growled. "Sango, let's go!"
"I can't leave Miroku and Shippou! They've been deathly ill since the storm last night. Koga can help you!" Sango said, gesturing to the handsome wolf-demon.
"THERE IS NO WAY IN HELL!" Inuyasha screamed.
"Inuyasha, when are you going to grow up?" Miroku muttered. Inuyasha froze and looked at him.
"Miroku," Sango said, padding over to him and helping him sit up. Miroku propped himself up on one hand and looked at Inuyasha from under a dirty mop of hair. He was obviously straining.
"Koga can help you. He cares about Kagome just as much as you do. He will work just as hard to save her."
Inuyasha looked to Koga. He was standing near what used to be the door, arms crossed over his chest, glowering at Inuyasha with unfathomable hatred. But, at the same time, Inuyasha could hear his heart drumming against his chest. His heart was racing for Kagome, for her safety, yearning to find her.
"Inuyasha… for Kagome," Sango said. He closed his eyes, lifted his chin and tightened his fists.
"Come on, we can't lose time."
With that, Inuyasha and Koga fled through the gaping hole in the hut in a race against time and each other for the girl they both loved.
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