Kagome sweat dropped then sighed. "Koga I'm not your woman." How many times had she told him that?
"Has this mutt face been threatening you again? What did you do to her?" Koga growled and Inuyasha, who growled back.
"I didn't do anything to her you stupid wolf demon. You're the one who's trying to kidnap her!" Inuyasha yelled. This escalated into Inuyasha drawing Tetsiaga and Koga about to throw a punch.
"Enough already! Koga I'm not your woman!" Kagome finally lost her temper and managed to stop the fight.
"Now look what you did you made her mad." Koga glared accusingly at Inuyasha.
"Oh yeah well you're the one who comes barging in like some baka with no brain." Inuyasha shot back. Kagome decided it was best to let them fight it out and went to sit on the hut porch with Miroku. Sango came back and saw Koga and Inuyasha still at each other's throats.
"What are you here for anyway?" Inuyasha finally angrily exclaimed.
"If you must know mutt face, I found Naraku's castle." Koga exclaimed. Inuyasha immediately dropped his fight stance and asked him where it was.
"I can show you if you want, only if Kagome is near me." Koga smirked.
Inuyasha glared "Hell no stupid wolf, she's coming with me." Kagome really was flattered by Inuyasha's jealousy but really sometimes he just went a little berserk.
"Quit fighting, you both are acting like children." Kagome demanded. Inuyasha gave a slight glare, and Koga finally settled on running along side Kagome.
At Naraku's Castle:
Naraku sensed that Inuyasha might come looking for his castle. His never-ending quest to collect all the sacred jewel shards and defeat him was tiresome and yet an interesting game. Life has been wonderful since Raven had accidentally fallen into his life. He'd managed to remove the stupid human heart he has been cursed with, that way he could focus all his energy and affections on Raven. Raven turned out to be a wonderful girlfriend and companion both for him. He'd never felt such adoration and love, she told him all about the time she'd came from. Naraku was about to move his castle; he'd heard reports from Kagura that the annoying wolf demon had been prowling around again.
"You're quiet, is something up?" Naraku turned; Raven had stirred from bed and was looking at him both in a concerned and curious fashion.
"I have to move the castle, Inuyasha is coming for me." Naraku replied. Raven seemed startled by this information.
"How would you find that out?" Raven questioned.
Naraku peered into her eyes "I have spies that see these things." Raven sat cross-legged near the tall windows.
"Are you kicking me out?" Raven sniffed. It was Naraku's turn to be startled. She has been there almost two months. "Why would I kick you out?"
Raven sighed and said, "Because I'm more of a burden than anything else.." Naraku rose at this comment and walked over to the young girl. "You will never be a burden to me. You have no idea how much better my life is since you came into it."
Raven blushed at this comment. "You mean that?"
Naraku nodded, "Of course I do, come on let's go for a walk." Raven threw her arms around him in jubilation and they headed off towards the woods together hand-in-hand.
Back to Inuyasha and Company:
Koga was still very angered by the slaughter of half his wolf tribe. Loyalty and devotion to family ran very strong in wolf packs. Koga was still brooding on how best to set his plan of revenge into motion. It was nearly mid-day when they almost reached the spot where Koga had last seen the castle of Naraku.
"How much further is it?" A very exhausted and sweaty Kagome asked this. The sun was beating down upon the small band of travelers, who sought refuge under the shade of the forest's trees. Kirara was busily lapping water from a small stream, while Sango set down her heavy boomerang. Inuyasha was impatient to find Naraku. He has some heavy revenge to dish out, and he felt in the mood for a good brawl. Kagome was unusually quiet as she sat under a tree watching Shippo play a game of tag with Kirara. Her thoughts were on a certain half dog demon a few feet away from her. ' Maybe I'm just kidding myself hanging around here. He'll probably never want to move on from Kikiyo, there's no room in his heart for me. I have to stay until we find the rest of the jewel shards, but what then? I know I love him, but what can I do about it? He'd probably just call me stupid if I told him.' These thoughts tormented young Kagome's mind. She had a right to her doubts of course. Every time Kikiyo turned up Inuyasha flocked to her with his tongue wagging out of his head. No one really knew the pain it put her through to watch him with Kikiyo, the desperate stabbing pain of desiring a love you cannot attain. Inuyasha stared over at Kagome, her expression was sad and her eyes slightly glazed. He knew she was probably worried he'd run off with Kikiyo if they happened to run into her, he couldn't blame her, he was pretty much a jerk whenever she came around. He still felt it somewhere in his heart that he should protect her.
"We better get moving, Naraku could uproot the castle at any time," Miroku finally stated. Everyone nodded and set out towards the castle.
Back to Naraku:
Naraku had moved the castle far from where it originally stood. Their walks were quiet special these days. Naraku always told her interesting things and she him, but she especially loved how he held her so gently, so securely. She held him tightly now as they stood out at the balcony of the castle. His arms encircled lovingly around her waist, and she holding his hands slightly. She knew what was slowly developing. Kagura had been sent to hold off the Inuyasha gang, but for now all she focused on was Naraku.
"Something's bothering you." Raven whispered softly.
Naraku sighed. "You see through me too well."
She gazed up at him and pulled him to her softly. "What is it Naraku-chan?" Naraku returned her gentle embrace and decided to tell her what was troubling him.
"Inuyasha is very close to finding me and the jewel shards, and when he does he will most likely kill me." Naraku stated.
Raven looked horrified at this prospect. "Why are you telling me this?" Came Raven's shaky voice.
Naraku tightened his grip on her. "Because I don't want you to be left out in the dark all by yourself! I've been hated ever since I was created. I don't want you to be there when the time comes for the final showdown, because they might try to kill you to." Naraku's voice was not it's usual steady commanding air; instead it was faltering and pleading.
"What is it you want me to do?" Raven replied to her love uneasily.
"I want you to leave when you have to." Naraku commanded. She turned away. "Raven, it's for you own safety, kudasai." Naraku pleaded. Raven nodded grimly and turned around to face him. She was determined to keep up a strong appearance, but words failed her as she kissed him passionately on the lips. She poured some vital emotion into this kiss, as did Naraku. He knew most of Raven's past, how she'd grown up in a single parent household, had bad experiences with her first attempts at love's follies, and finally came to Japan as a dream getaway. She'd then explained how she'd fallen down the bone eater's well. Naraku had long since figured out she'd been kidnapped by mistake instead of Kagome, an excellent mistake indeed, in his opinion. The slight breeze lifted both lovers' hair slightly. Black hair intertwined, much like the position the two were in. Holding each other gently, just enjoying their private moment. They knew in the coming months, Inuyasha would get wise and then they wouldn't have much time for their love. But for now, the world turned on the rhythm of their heartbeats.
Back to Inuyasha and Company:
Inuyasha, Kagome, and the others arrived at the site where Koga had seen Naraku's castle.
"There's nothing here!" Inuyasha shouted angrily.
"IT WAS HERE! It must have been moved recently!" This was Koga's irritated and disbelieving voice. It was Sango who crouched low and recognized the tell tale signs that Naraku's castle had indeed been in this spot.
"Koga was correct, these signs are still very fresh." Sango confirmed. Koga looked smug, and Inuyasha muttered "Stupid wolf" under his breath. Sango had had bad experiences with sites that used to contain Naraku's castle. It was where she'd lost both her father and brother Kohaku towards Naraku's power. Miroku was an expert as detecting discomfort, particularly Sango's. They had been able to further and deepen their pre-existing relationship. Miroku was highly protective of Sango, and tried to protect her from any harm if he could.
"Why don't we move on? There's not much we can do, except try to guess where the castle will appear next." Miroku suggested.
Inuyasha didn't seem to object to this proposal, he was adamantly staring Koga down. Kagome had once again become lost in her thoughts that was until Koga started hitting on her again.
"Well, since there's nothing here I must go protect my pack. If dog breath here gives you any trouble be sure to tell me." Koga said. With that, the wolf demon took off. Kagome sighed in an annoyed sort of way.
"Who does he think the is? Barging in here and touching you like that! I'm going to kill him I swear!" Inuyasha ranted furiously. Kagome tried to ignore Inuyasha's ranting, if she burst in and defended herself she usually made it worse. Inuyasha started to become concerned over Kagome's silence; he'd have to talk to her later. It was much later that night; the fire had dimmed to a dull glow, Kagome had difficult sleeping so she tried to walk to clear her thoughts. Inuyasha was awake, however, and caught her before she'd gotten very far from camp.
"Kagome." He called out softly.
Kagome jumped startled. "Inuyasha, why are you still awake." Kagome had not been expecting to be staring into those golden eyes of Inuyasha's.
"You've been quiet lately, it's really unnerving." Inuyasha replied. Kagome's ears received a shock; Inuyasha was concerned for her outside of a battle of jewel shard collecting.
"Why does that matter?" She asked. Inuyasha stared at her disbelievingly. "Because even when you're mad at me you're still usually talking to somebody. You haven't been talking to anybody. There's something bothering you."
Kagome wasn't about to tell Inuyasha what had been on her mind. "It's nothing, I just miss home." That was a half-truth, she did miss her family, but that was not what was bothering her.
"That's not it Kagome, it's Kikiyo isn't it?" Inuyasha asked. Kagome stopped frozen in her tracks, how the heck did he know that? "Kagome, tell me the truth."
Kagome sighed. "Hai, it is. Well I figured once we have the jewel shards collected I'd go back to my own time." Was Kagome seeing things, or had Inuyasha's eyes just shown disappointment and hurt?
"You're going to leave?" Inuyasha sounded disappointed. This was far from the usual tone Kagome had heard from Inuyasha, it was sad.
"Why should I stay Inuyasha? I'm just a shard detector and it's Kikiyo you're in love with anyway." Kagome was shocked at what she just said, and apparently so was Inuyasha.
"Nani?" Came the response of a very confused half-dog demon.
"I um, didn't say anything." Kagome finished lamely. Inuyasha had just heard that Kagome was jealous of Kikiyo, and because of it she'd leave feudal Japan forever.
"Kagome, I don't love Kikiyo." Kagome's eyes finally met his.
"But you said you'd be willing to go to hell with her if she wanted." She said. Inuyasha sighed. "Well I used to want to." Kagome felt her pulse quicken, was he saying what she wanted him to say?
"I still feel I need to protect her, especially from Naraku." He told her. Kagome could understand that, yet she felt herself struggle for words.