Kagome leaned onto his chest as they rode, which believe it or not caused Inuyasha to blush. She decided to be bold and took his hand; he took hers as well as they headed in the direction of Kohaku. Sango eyes were totally concentrated on her young and possessed brother. A large looming castle came into clear view.

"Naraku." Inuyasha growled. Kagome sat straight up; this was the climax of the adventure. Raven had disappeared nine months ago, and the jewel shard was near completion. She had made up her mind to stay in the feudal era with Inuyasha, but still go back to her time to visit her family. A towering looming castle came into view. Sango gracefully dismounted the cat demon Kirara as Kohaku dropped his scythe. The rain had drenched him to the bone.

"Kohaku!" Sango called urgently.

"Sango, sister." He replied. Sango's tears flowed, wiped away by the impending rain.

"You remembered!" She bent down and embraced her young brother tightly. "How can you still be so loving with me after what I did?" Kohaku's sad and regretful voice asked.

"It wasn't your fault!" Sango replied.

"You mean he was controlled by me." A tall figure emerged, revealing his long flowing hair. It was Naraku, the worst enemy of all present.

Before the battle:

"Naraku-chan you can't!" This was the voice of a desperate girl, tears flowing as freely as rivers down her cheeks.

"I have to do it now or later. If I wait, they might kill me in worse ways." Naraku rationalized. Raven's tears intensified. This was a bit more than Naraku could take so he embraced her.

He tried to console her. "Gomen, but I must. I want you to get out of this castle." She looked up at him, her eyes looked scared. He touched her face both in a loving and reassuring way.

"No harm will come to you, I promise." He promised.

She clutched him tightly, as a dying woman.

"Kudasai don't leave me!" It was a plea, a plea for him not to meet his sudden death.

He gave her a single sweet kiss. "I must I am sorry." He hugged her close and breathed in her scent. She kissed him desperately, but he pulled away.

"Get away as soon as you can." He whispered, leaving his young love to sob on the castle floor.

Back to the battle:

"NARAKU!" Inuyasha growled as the rain intensified and lightning crashed in the distance. A fierce wind had appeared and the trees were moaning noisily.

"So it comes to this at last." Naraku said tonelessly. Inuyasha's hand drew for Tetsiaga. Kagome's hands quivered near the arrows she carried on her back. Sango had her boomerang, and Miroku glared, clutching his hands with the rosary beads. Shippo was cowered in the distance. Naraku made his first move, thus the battle began. Miroku was taken out by Naraku's spell, and Naraku had managed to make Sango's attacks ricochet on her. Kirara was paralyzed by poison. Kagome concentrated hard and shot an arrow, which wounded Naraku. "YOU shall pay dearly or that!" Naraku cast a binding spell that caused Kagome to almost cease breathing, and then faint.

"KAGOME!" Inuyasha called in alarm, and swung angrily and blindly at Naraku. "YOU foolish half demon! You expect to defeat me? You shall die here and now! Then I will own all the jewel shards!" Naraku declared and clutched Inuyasha by the neck, which he planned on strangling. He never got the chance as an arrow hit him.

"Naze? I hit her with my spell!" Naraku spat thinking the arrow had come from Kagome.

A woman with black hair and in a red kimono tackled him. "I will defeat you once and for all! Now Inuyasha!" It was Kikiyo.

"But you'll get killed to!" Inuyasha called out.

"That is not of importance! Now do it!" Kikiyo barked. Inuyasha managed to give Naraku a strong swipe with his sword. Naraku was turned to ash along with Kikiyo. Kohaku was released from the spell Naraku had on him, and he still lived. The castle vanished. Naraku was finally dead.

Inuyasha ran over to Kagome and picked her up. "Are you alright?" He asked in concern.

"Hai, but did you just defeat Naraku?" Kagome struggled weakly. Inuyasha nodded. The others were stirring. Sango rubbed her head, and Miroku looked at his hand in bewilderment and joy. The wind tunnel no longer existed and to everyone's surprise Sango kissed Miroku in broad daylight. Miroku had long since dropped his hentai manner. Inuyasha clutched the still weak Kagome tightly. "We almost have everything." His voice was soft, and Kagome understood.

Raven in the woods:

She shivered violently as the broad wood loomed over her. She cried hysterically, she'd watch the castle disappear and him die. He was dead; she would never see her love again! Catch me as fall, say you're here and it's all over now. No one's here and I fall into myself. The truth drives me into madness. I know I can stop the pain if I will it all away. Don't turn away, don't give into the pain. Don't try to hide, though they're screaming in your name. Don't close your eyes; God knows what lies behind them. Never sleep never die. I'm frightened by what I see. But somehow I think that there's much more to come, immobilized by fear. And soon to be blinded by tears. I can stop the pain if I will it all away. The rain had stopped about an hour ago, but she was drenched head to foot and racked by grief. She opened her eyes wearily. Despite the little sleep she'd managed, she was exhausted. She was emotionally dead; she longingly wished she had been in the castle when it fell. Her emotional pain was far too much for her to bear at the moment. That's when she heard distant voices in the distance. They sounded mostly non-chalet and joyful.

"Now all we have to do I collect those two shards from Koga," came the voice of a male. Raven panicked, she was hardly sheltered, she decided she better run for it. The problem was, she barely had the strength.

The same voice came again "I hear something over here." Raven felt fear grip her, they were headed in her direction. Her throat went dry. Out of the brush emerged a young woman, a man with dog-ears, a man who appeared to be a monk, and a woman in armor.

"RAVEN! Thank God you're still alive!" The young girl with black hair embraced the scared girl. It took Raven's mind a long time to register whom it was embracing her. Raven finally hugged back

"Kagome, you're alive." Raven said throatily. Kagome had thought Raven had been killed.

"What happened to you?" Asked a concerned Kagome. Raven's eyes flashed pain "I can't really talk about it now." Raven croaked. She turned away painful memories trying to overtake her.

"Raven?" Kagome wondered what was making this so hard for her. "Your soaked, why don't we go get you changed?" Kagome offered kindly.

Raven nodded and thanked her "doomo arigato." They walked back to a village where Raven changed and Kagome talked to her. She wasn't going to press her; the girl would talk when she was ready. They mainly talked about the differences between American and Japanese high school curriculum.

She asked Kagome if she'd ever had a crush on a guy before Inuyasha. "Well not really. There was this boy named Hojo who kept asking me on dates. I never really liked him as anything more than a friend though. Anata?" Kagome asked. Raven thought for a moment "I had some minor crushes and romances, nothing serious though." Kagome had figured something happened at Naraku's castle.

At that moment Raven sighed, "That was before Naraku though, with him everything changed."

Kagome put a hand on her shoulder. "I'm here to listen if you want to talk about it." Raven proceeded to tell her long narrative of the months they'd been separated. She didn't flinch when she told Kagome her and Naraku had fallen in love, she also described the last moments she had with him at his castle.

"I was so scared after I saw him die and the castle dissolve. I just was out here by myself drenched in rain." Raven began to sob. Her tears finally overcame her and she began to cry as Kagome hugged her.

"It'll be okay Raven." Kagome soothed. She patted the young girl's back as giant sobs made her body shake. She felt an immense relief of her pent up emotion. Kagome felt pity and empathy for the American girl. She'd just lost her first love, and now she felt naked in a world still foreign to her. Kagome promised to keep the information Raven had just revealed to her confidential. Kagome was fast becoming Raven's closest friend. They were from the same era, and about the same age.

"I just don't know what I'm going to do now, I mean you're staying with Inuyasha, Sango is going to marry Miroku, and me well I'm sort of left out in the dark. I really don't have anywhere to go, my best friend will have been long gone by now." Raven said.

Kagome looked thoughtful. "Why not stick around the feudal era? You could always hang around Kaede's village." Raven didn't consider that such a bad idea, she could probably learn a lot. That was until Koga joined the little band of travelers.