-Missunderstood-

Well... It's been a while since my last update... I got a new computer! Yay! I'm so happy! But the only drawback was that I lost everything that was on my old computer.. sob and there's the fact that I'm still trying to get used to this new one...but alright.. On with this story...

Thanks to :

Kagome1015 : California is wayy more fun than staying at home all day.. Isn't it

Punkgirl2582

Shadowww15 : wow, that sucks...school doesn't start for me until... Sept. 6

--

Chapter 23

--

After that little incident, Kagome took the chance to find Sango..A.S.A.P. to fill her in. There was so much missing to this puzzle. She ran down the hall and right into the door of their room. She groaned, nope today was not going to be a good day...

"Hey Sango!" she started, sliding the door open once more, "We have to talk."

Sango looked at the girl at the doorway and then the monk that she was holding up by the collar of his robes. She dropped the poor guy down onto the ground and left, not even sliding the door shut on her way out.

"What is it Kagome?"

"I saw Kagura just now."

"You what? And you didn't even call me!"

"Well...you were sleeping..."

The two of them were just wandering around now, hoping that it would help straighten things out. Luckily Inuyasha was no where to be seen so they could talk without having to look back every five seconds.

"Alright, let's get everything straightened out first."

"So, Naraku's still alive." Kagome started.

"And so is Kagura." Sango added, they slowly made a list up of all the incidents and clues they found during their little journey with the boys.

"We were supposed to get all the jewel shards for him, and kill off Inuyasha and Miroku..."

"But then Sesshoumaru showed up and said that Naraku was still alive somewhere and..."

"Ohhh this is so not getting anywhere! We are just saying the same few points over and over!"

Sango too sighed in defeat. This was by far the toughest mission they had ever gone on. None of the other quests had cause them this much trouble. The girls were silent for a moment, both of them trying to figure out anything else that might relate to this case. That's when Kagome had her sudden flashback, of the little boy.

"I just remembered something!"

"Hmm?" Sango looked up at Kagome from her own thoughts, "What?"

"Earlier today, when I was talking to Kagura, we were interrupted when you slapped Miroku by the way,"

Sango gave her a grin, "What? He deserved it!"

"Of course he did...anyways, when she got up her feather and took off... she wasn't alone. There was a little boy on the feather beside her! He looked pretty young though, like someone aged 11 or 12."

"11...or 12? What did he look like? Do you remember?"

"He had brown hair tied up into a ponytail at the back, freckles and he also had brown eyes, but he looked kinda out of it, as if he was being controlled by someone."

"Re-really?"

"That sounds almost like...like Kohaku! But it..it can't be right? I mean...he died...a long time ago..."

FLASHBACK

A number of demon slayers had been called out to kill a spider demon who had been attacking the castle at a certain village on a daily basis. The Lord there had summoned the best, and only the best demon slayers of her (Sango's) village. Said that it was a very strong demon and didn't die very easily.

That night, Sango, her father and a few other demon slayers took Kohaku with them. It was only his first hunt, but together all of them made up a great team. As they kneeled in front of the Lord, waiting for the demon to emerge from wherever, the Lord had made a comment about Sango and Kohaku..

"I see you have brought along a girl and a young boy."

"Yes. They are my daughter and son, but I assure you we are the best of the village slayers."

Just as her dad had finished saying that, the spider came out, it was flying down from the clouds. Weapons were immediately launched into the air and slicing through the skin of the spider. Kohaku was the first to be attacked by it. He was drawn helplessly up into the air by the demon's sticky thread.

"Kohaku!" One of the nearby slayers called out to him and threw his weapon at the white string, efficiently cutting it so that it would release Kohaku. But the damage had already been done. Without any of the other slayers noticing, Kohaku was already under 'his' control.

After a few more minutes of struggle, Sango decided this was her opportunity to make a move.

"Coming in!"

She threw her boomerang straight for the creature's head, it went spinning, right over it's skull, cutting it almost in half. The Lord's guards were nodding in approval. The rest of the slayers cheered and began to cut off a few parts of the demon, which they would bring back to their village so they could make more armor and weapons.

It was then that Sango knew something was wrong. A certain scythe that was connected to a chain had been thrown and succeeded to slice right through a member of the team.The weapon was thrown again and again, until the only member left of the once triumphant team was Sango. Even their own father lay on the ground, with the others, blood still oozing from where they have been cut.

"K-Kohaku...why? What have you done to Father and the others? Kohaku why, why did you do this?"

She was answered by the scythe, which had been thrown at her. She blocked it quickly and moved so that she could get that dangerous thing away from her little brother. As she was in the midst of blocking, she noticed a thread strung through Kohaku's neck, he was being controlled by another. Following the thread up she saw that it lead right up to the Lord of the village.

"You!" she cried out furiously, "You are the cause for this!" She pushed the guards away with her bone boomerang and despite their calls to stop her she continued on. It was only when Sango was so close to swinging her weapon down on him did she feel the sudden pain of a sharp object, cutting into her back, piercing right through her skin on contact.

She turned around painfully to see that it was Kohaku holding the chain that led up to the scythe.

"K-Kohaku.." she choked out and started towards him instead of the Lord, but she couldn't make it and so collapsed onto the ground.

"Sango!" She did however hear the anguished cry of her brother who began to run up to her, but he didn't make it to his destination either, the Lord's guards can be credited with that much.

Arrows had been shot and embedding their points into his body, at least 5 of them had hit his chest and he went back, falling to the ground, blood seeping from the corners of his mouth. As weak as she was, Sango managed to crawl over to where Kohaku was and brushed his bangs aside.

"Sister...I'm so scared."

"Shh..it'll be alright Kohaku...don't-" Sango was cut short by another round of arrows that were shot, meaning to end both of their lives. And after that, everything went blank for her...

When she woke up again however.. Sango realized she was already buried.

END FLASHBACK

"Sangooo! Hey! Buddy! Pal! Are you ok? Heyy! She's not waking up... what are we going to do?"

"Let me handle this." Miroku as brave as he was, stepped forwards and snaked an arm around and behind her.

POW

And he was sent flying. Sango shook her head, trying to lose the horrible memories that plagued her mind.

"What..what just happened?"

"Wow! Good job Sango! I give that one 9.5!"

"Keh. 9.5? I'm giving that one a full 10."

Sango looked at what her friend were going on about, Miroku had hit a wall, and damn nearly going right through it too.

"Did..did I do that?" Sango asked running over to Miroku. He was currently laying among many other pebbles and many layers of dust. That is pebbles and dust that once made up the wall...

"Houshi-sama..I'm so sorry! That must be a reflex or something by now... you do it so often.."

Sango's voice went from a pitying tone to an almost dangerous one. She wasn't exaggerating when she said 'so often'. Sighing, Kagome went over to the unconscience houshi and pulled out her first aid kit. She needed to go home to put more medical supplies in soon. Taking out the disinfectant, Kagome began applying the liquid to his cuts.

"Ouch! Kagome! That really stings!"

"I'm trying to be gentle!"

Miroku shut up after that, allowing the occasional whimper to escape. Inuyasha stood by and watched Miroku try to keep in his screams, does that stuff really hurt that much or was the monk just a sissy...?

"There. All done. Kagome used up the rest of the gauze and bandages for his wounds. Miroku was now leaning against a tree prodding a rather nasty cut on his left arm.

As soon as Miroku was done sulking, Inuyasha urged everyone to get going. Quote: 'There are jewel shards out there, and they aren't just going to find themselves you know. Same goes for Naraku. As much as we all want him to kill himself, it just ain't gonna happen!'

Everyone knew Inuyasha was right so they all went to their rooms to gather up whatever belongings they had. Sneaking out the backdoor, the shard hunters made their hasty escape and kept walking until they found another dirt path to follow along on. They wander along until dusk, and if they were lucky, then they would find a demon with a jewel shard or any other enemy with a shard. It was always a silent trip.

Inuyasha led the way with Kagome beside him, Sango usually tried to stay behind the monk so nothing 'unexpected' would happen. No one wanted to waste any extra energy dragging an unconscience monk behind. It wasn't that hot of a day today, despite the fact that it was mid-summer and it was the afternoon right now. Kagome kept up with everyone else even though she had to lug around her giant yellow backpack. Sango too had to carry around her bone boomerang and sometimes even the monk that she knocked unconscience with her own hands.

Kagome was still having a major headache about this whole Naraku thing... if only the others knew..

"Oi! Kagome! Where are you going?"

"Hmm?" Inuyasha sounded so far away.. She turned around and saw that he actually was reallyfar away. Apparently, the others had stopped walking a while back and she continued.

"Oh! Sorry! I wasn't paying attention.." Kagome began her walk back when She felt something she hadn't for a long time. The same tingling sensation that first led her and Sango to Inuyasha, Miroku and Shippo.

"There's a jewel shard nearby..." Kagome muttered to herself. She was planning to tell Sango this and just Sango. It didn't matter if they were all a group together, Sango and her were still partners.

"Did you say something Kagome?"

"Huh? Well I thought I sensed a je- wait a second ! You aren't San- Uh umm.. Never mind!"

Kagome walked away from the hanyou as calmly as she could, She almost told Inuyasha about her special powers! And then what? He'd just use her as some sort of jewel shard detector? No way!

Walking over to Sango, Kagome proceeded to tap her on her shoulder. The other girl turned around averted her attention from the monk to her friend.

"Yes?" She was hiding her uncertainty about the monk who had just slowed down to walk behind her. But of course, Kagome could see right through it. She pulled Sango to a stop at the side of the path and began whispering into her ear.

"I sensed a jewel shard...It's not far from here, should we go for it?"

Sango frowned and paused for a little, the gears in her head were spinning at a faster pace now. How were they supposed to get away from the guys without being too suspicious? Well there was only one way to do it.

Sango smiled and whispered her plan to Kagome, Kagome smiled too and they both walked back to the boys. Inuyasha keh-ed and continued walking.

"We wasted too much time here, so lets get a move on!-"

Before he could say another word, Kagome and Sango both stopped and shouted at the same time, and quote loudly if I must add,

"BATHROOM BREAK!"

"Wha...?" Inuyasha was at a loss of words while Miroku just stared at the disappearing figures of the two girls.

Kagome and Sango walked off into the bushes and ran after they disappeared from Inuyasha and Miroku's line of sight.

"Alright Kagome, Where to?"

"It should be just up ahead .. Actually."

The two of them kept up their pace, they wanted to finish this quickly so that they would have the boys worry or try to find them or anything along the lines of that. It wasn't long before the two of them appeared at a clearing, demon in the middle of the field.

"Hey! Ugly!" The demon turned around to face Sango.

"Yeah you!" Kagome added in, there was no better way to piss off a demon than to call it names.

"Me!" Apparently, the monster was gifted with speech. "How dare you call me ugly, when you little worms live no longer than 100 years? You have yet to learn the true meaning of beauty!"

"Wow, what a deep demon!" Kagome gasped, not everyday you see something of this nature, especially if it was a demon.

The creature faced the two girls now, exposing its gigantic body to them, And so Kagome searched it, but found no jewel shard.

"It.. Its not there Sango!"

"Its...its not! But then where..?"

Reflexively, the two of them dodged the giant clawed hand the demon sent their way as they continued to think about where the shard could be if it wasn't in that particular demon. There wasn't another youkai anywhere!

((Inuyasha and Miroku))

"So. How long do you think they are going to take?"

"Well..You just don't know when it comes to girls."

"Keh. Like you do?"

"I never said that!" Miroku took a few steps back and feigned insult. "You're so mean to me Inuyasha!" Miroku began his fake sobs.

"Huh? Miroku! Hey! Not now! Not you too!" Inuyasha started towards his friend, he put on hand on his back and... kneed him in the stomach. Not hard, Inuyasha does keep his mind about things even when he was being violent. He knows that humans are more fragile then demons.

"Keh. Quit your stupid whining and lets go see what taking them so long."

"Some..friend."

"I knew bringing girls along with us on this journey was a bad thing. Maybe we should just leave them right now."

"N-no... let's go check on them..."

And so, Inuyasha and a now slightly crippled Miroku pushed aside the branches of the trees and began to go down the path the girls had taken only a few moments ago. And what they found was not girls washing their faces in the nearby stream.

--

Sango swung her hiraikotsu, deep demon or not, this one was going down! The boomerang swung fast, cutting the demon's right arm off.

"AarrrGGHhHh!" the monster cried out in anguish, other hand coming up to hold the bloody stump that used to be its arm.

"You will pay for that!" The youkai launched forward at a speed that could not be seen with Sango's eyes, "Humans are such troublesome things!" Claws out a flexed, Sango only realized what was happening at a much too late time.

But Inuyasha already saw what was coming, he knew that something bad was going to happen if he didn't act fast, and so he started sprinting for Sango.

"Sango! Watch out!"

Inuyasha drew the Tetsuiaga and pushed Sango away. She fell onto the ground along with the other arm of the demon. It cried out again before Inuyasha Wind scarred it's body into dust. Hand outstretched, the shard fell directly into Inuyasha's hand

Turning around to the two girls, Inuyasha put on his well known frown and put his sword back into its sheath.

"Care to explain what was happening here?"

--

"You told us that you wanted a bathroom break and we end up finding you fighting some demon."

"Well.. It just came out and attacked us?"

"Yeah right Kagome. Nice try."

Inuyasha put the shard into his special bottle and pushed the cork in tightly. Wouldn't want any of them falling out now...

"Wow, it looks like you have a lot there Inuyasha, Exactly how much do we have now?"

"Huh?"

"Oh yes, that's right, Kagome has the ability to see the shards...forgot about that." Miroku started. The other conversation was getting a little too awkward.

"Keh. Its not that special."

"Oh really now Inuyasha?" Kagome was talking in her 'sweet but dangerous' voice again. This did not usually mean that good things were going to happen in the near future.

--

Kagura was seriously mad, how dare that other girl, Sango interrupt her fight. And what the heck made her retreat so fast? But anyways, the deal was made between Inuyasha and herself. It didn't need to include any others. Kagura turned around to check on the boy beside her.

Now she wasn't going to put him into any serious danger but Kohaku will serve as a major trump card. To her anyways. No way Sango would want to attack her precious, little, Brother.

Kohaku was currently laying down on his back looking up at the stars. He concentrated on specific ones as if he was trying to memorize the special way each individual star glowed. Like that was possible. Kagura on the other hand was worried, about many things. Will this pact of hers with Inuyasha last? How much time did she have left until Naraku starts to come after her? And more importantly, when he catches her...would she ever get to see even the most simplest things in life again?

((Naraku))

"Kagura, what do you think you are doing? Joining sides with the people who I want dead. Is this your way of defying me?"

Naraku set up a few golems, he actually had about 5 copies of himself running all over Japan and doing bad deeds. As soon as one was destroyed, he would create another, and so on. Right now, there was one that was unmistakably close to Kagura while another was nearer to Inuyasha.

Saimyousho in there air, It was really weird how Kagura didn't notice any of them.

"Or maybe...she doesn't want to notice them. Hmm this could prove to be more difficult than I originally planned it to be."

He shifted over to a drawer and pulled yet another hair out from the top of his head. Completely the opposite of what Kagura had hoped, it looked like Naraku wasn't about to run out of hair anytime soon.

He took out yet another wooden figure and placed it on top of the sill where the other 5 are. Tying the hair securely around the doll, Naraku let himself smile.

"This one...This one is going to help me kill off Kohaku. It's not fair if she gets yet another ally that is only surviving from my sacred jewel shard now...is it."

--

-End

Slightly longer chapter.. I just finished re-reading all the chapters to this story, it really seems like I'm beating around the bush, not really getting to the point, its probably getting pretty boring for you guys huh? Well, I'll make sure to get to the main point as soon as I can k?

wow! 79 reviews! I wonder who is going to be lucky reviewer number 80?