A/N: Sigh… No fluffies in this chapter either…Funniness….but nothing to categorize as fluff…I'm starting to depress myself…

Chapter 7: Naraku's First Move

Kagome had come back that morning, and all ready, they were on the move. They had heard of a story of a suspicious demon in a village not too far away, and they were keen on checking on it. After all, things had been pretty slow for quite some time.

Kagome's new outfit had surprised everyone, and of course, she had to explain to them what it meant. Though there wasn't much time and they had to be on the move soon, Inuyasha did have time to notice that blue did help out her figure…

He was still thinking about all that had happened the night before, that he seemed out of it for quite some time.

"What's Inuyasha's problem?" Kagome asked the rest of the group.

"He's probably still angry over what Shippou said." Miroku replied.

"Huh? What did Shippou-chan say?" Kagome asked.

The kitsune shrugged. "It was just a joke. I mean, he would rather stab himself with Tessaiga than say that. Well, he would rather stab himself with Tessaiga than admit he said that."

Miroku and Sango nodded.

"Guys?" Kagome asked. "What did Shippou-chan say?"

No one answered her. "But Shippou," Sango said. "There is a matter of language here. Do you even know what 'ravish' means?"

He shrugged. "No. But I get the general idea. Since Miroku uses it all the time when he talks about you."

"Wha—?" Miroku cringed as Sango blazed in fury.

"MIROKU!" she yelled, wielding her Hiraikotsu in a dangerous manner.

"S-sango…you must understand…I—EEEPPP!" He was cut off by a large boomerang colliding with his head. He fell on the ground, practically unconscious from the blow.

Sango repositioned the Hiraikotsu on her shoulder and walked off, holding her head high.

Shippou shook his head. "Baka…"

Kagome shook her head. Miroku-sama is a baka…he'll never learn…Of course, no one's more of a baka than… She looked back at Inuyasha. He didn't even notice the commotion, still lost in his own thoughts. Still…what's up with him?

She walked up to Inuyasha. "Hey, what's going on?"

He shook his head, as if he just noticed she was there. "Huh? Oh…nothing. Just thinking."

"About what?" she asked

He turned away sharply. "Keh. Nothing that concerns you."

Now he's done it…"Oh really?" She placed her hands on her hips. "Might I remind you that without me, your sorry ass would still be stuck to that stupid tree!"

"Look, Kagome, There are some things that you just don't need to know—"

Don't need to know? "Oh, I get it! You went to see Kikyou again, didn't you? You always act like this when you see Kikyou!"

"Wha—wait! It's not what you think!" He tried to get out of the situation.

Kagome felt angry tears fall. "Sure it isn't! What did you do this time, kiss her?"

By now, the rest of the group started watching their argument. "No, Kagome! I swear I didn't kiss her. All we talked about was—"

"It doesn't matter. I don't matter. Well, I hope you two have a happy life together!" She yelled, fully crying. "I mean, it doesn't matter that she's dead—"

Inuyasha burst out, "What if I did see her? WHY DOES IT BOTHER YOU SO MUCH IF I DID!"

Uh oh. I was so caught up in my birthday…and that story I read…that I totally forgot what I was saying…I said waaaay too much…But…Kagome didn't answer. She sniffed and yelled, "B-BAKA! SIT!"

While Inuyasha fell to the ground, followed by a loud yelp of pain, Kagome ran away. Sango chased after her yelling, "Kagome-chan, Kagome-chan!" While Miroku and Shippou stayed behind with Inuyasha. He popped his head out of the hole, and spat out the dirt. "What did I do this time?" he asked.

Miroku shook his head. "You really don't get it, do you?"

"Get what?" the hanyou asked.

Miroku and Shippou didn't answer, but continued on. With Inuyasha yelling from behind them, "Wait! What don't I get?"

By nightfall, they had reached the village. The villagers told them that the demon had been heard in a canyon nearby. They decided to go there. Inuyasha and Kagome still weren't speaking to each other, and it made everyone else in the group uncomfortable. They were camping at the bottom of the canyon, waiting to see if anything would happen.

"The villagers said this demon only moves around at night." Sango said.

"And that is presence can be felt for miles." Miroku added. "Strange, though, I don't feel any jyaki."

Inuyasha scoffed. "Keh!" That bastard's probably to weak to come out and fight us."

Kagome glared at Inuyasha from across the campfire. He's such a baka. He always has to wait til I'm gone to go see Kikyou. Why can't he just admit he wants her more than me and get it over with? I can't believe I fell for the whole birthday thing, or get exited over that story…It was probably a lie anyway.

He looked over at Kagome. "Hey, what are you glaring at me for?"

"Because you're such a baka." She replied.

"Well, maybe I wouldn't be such a 'baka' if you told me what was going on!"

"ME? You're yelling at me for keeping secrets? How about you, when you have to always visit Kikyou when I'm not around!"

"I didn't ask for her to be around last night!"

"Sure you didn't"

"KAGOME…"

"Inuyasha!"

He cringed.

"SI—!" She stopped. "A shikon shard…its nearby…"

"Wait…" Miroku said. "I'm feeling some jyaki…a lot of it!"

Inuyasha grabbed Tessaiga. "Whoever this demon is, I have to thank 'em. Nice timing!"

In the sky, a dark cloud was brewing over the area. Everyone rushed to grab their weapons, as the cloud descended on to the ground. When the smoke cleared, they gasped. After so many months of nothing, they were finally face to face.

"Keh! So you've finally decided to show your face, Naraku!"

Naraku chucked. "Yes, Inuyasha, it has been a long time. Too long, in fact."

The hanyou pulled Tessaiga from its sheath. "Only because you're to chicken to move your sorry ass from your castle. Keh! I bet you're only a puppet!"

He smiled. "Even if I am a puppet, taking you on won't be that hard."

"Wanna bet?" He ran forward. "KAZE NO KIZU!" And a flash of power surged forward towards the puppet, but was instantly stopped by a barrier.

"Did you think, because I am a puppet, I'd be any weaker?" It scoffed.

Inuyasha growled, "Well see how strong you are when I pierce you with this!" The Tessaiga turned to its crystal form.

But suddenly, the saimyoushou darted forward, as if attacking.

"What?" Inuyasha asked, as they came closer, their stingers ahead. "Sankontessou!" and he cut many of the insects as they came closer.

"Eat this!" Kagome yelled, releasing a purifying arrow.

"Kitsunebi!" Shippou easily torched a few.

"Hiraikotsu!" Sango threw her boomerang, but it accidentally hit puppet Naraku's barrier and swung off to the side. She screamed as several saimyoushou darted for her.

"Sango!" Miroku yelled. He thrust out his hand. "Kazaana!" And began to suck in the saimyoushou.

"Miroku, no!" Sango screamed. "The saimyoushou!"

"I don't care!" He yelled, and flinched as he felt the poison enter him, yet he continued to suck in all the bees that were around him.

Inuyasha darted forward. "Baka! Do you want to die?" He grabbed Miroku's hand, forcing him to close the kazaana. Miroku fell to his knees.

"Miroku!" Sango yelled, pulling him to safety.

More saimyoushou darted forward. "Sankontessou!" Inuyasha yelled, clawing many of the bugs. "Damnit, this is taking too long! Kaze no Kizu!" And he blasted many more of them.

Puppet Naraku smiled. "Hmm…what's the matter, Inuyasha? Can't even take a few saimyoushou? You must be weaker than I thought."

He panted. "We'll see who's weaker!"

The puppet smiled. "Yes, we shall." He looked at Kagome. "Give me the shikon shard, girl."

"Yeah, right!" She yelled, aiming a purifying arrow. She shot it, yet all it did was bounce off his barrier.

"Then I have no choice but to take it by force." A tentacle shot out from him and went for Kagome. She narrowly dodged it, but in doing so, she dropped her bow.

She turned just to see another tentacle head straight for her. She screamed.

"KAGOME!" Inuyasha yelled. "KAZE NO KIZU!" The tentacle exploded.

The puppet smirked. "Now this is more like it. You seem much more powerful when protecting that girl. Could it be, because you love her?"

Kagome's eyes widened. That's what I want to know.

Inuyasha didn't answer. "Enough of this crap!" The Tessaiga changed to its crystal form. "KONGOUSOUHA!" The diamond spears pierced through the barrier and into the puppet. The body was torn apart but the torso remained.

It smiled. "You seem much angered by my question. Perhaps you do love her after all…"

Kagome stood up. "Inuyasha! The shikon fragment is in its forhead!"

"Which you won't be receiving." It prepared to fly off.

"Oh, no you don't!" Inuyasha jumped forward, and sliced through the heard. The puppet disappeared, and all that was left was a wooden doll and a shikon shard.

A saimyoushou came forward to take the shard, but Inuyasha quickly clawed it. The others turned around and left.

Kagome walked forward. She picked up the shard. "Well, we got a shard." She said, closing her fingers around it.

"Yeah." Inuyasha said. As he stood behind her. It dawned on both of them that they were on speaking terms again.

They both blushed. "Well…umm…" Kagome said, turning away.

The inu hanyou smiled. "Let's forget about it, Kagome."

"Y-yeah…" What's going on…he almost seems…mature?

Kagome suddenly remembered something. "Miroku-sama!" She ran over to him. "How's he doing?"

"Not good." Sango said. "I'll have to take him to Kaede's."

"Hurry!" Kagome replied. "We'll wait here!"

Sango dragged Miroku on to Kirara and they took off.

Inuyasha picked up the wooden doll. "What I wonder, is why he used a puppet. If he wanted to attack us, wouldn't he have done it himself?"

"Yeah." Kagome said. "Unless…this was all a distraction…He usually wouldn't have lost a shikon shard so easily…"

He nodded, wondering why Naraku would make such a move.

Far away, Naraku watched the scene through Kanna's mirror. He smiled. "She's right…but what she doesn't realize is, they're all ready falling into my trap. Byakuya." His raven haired minion walked into the room.

"Yes, master Naraku?"

"Go out and search for Mouryoumaru. We'll be needing him soon."

A/N: Okay, I lied. There was something like fluff in here, but not enough to be considered "true" fluff. But…next chapter there is some fluff. A LOT of fluff. But its only MS. There is a lot of MS in the beginning, but IK fluff is in there too, and the reason it is labeled IK is because they have a deeper struggle getting to their great moment of fluff. MS is sorted out in the beginning, while IK isn't sorted out until almost the very end.