Mister Niceguy

A/N: 05/16/05 – Finally gave this chapter a new title...I hope it makes sense.

Disclaimer: I may not be Galvatron or Cyclonus, and Ms. Takahashi may not be Unicron, but this is the best disclaimer gag I could come up with so oh well...(Oh, and I guess the actual quote I'm parodying here doesn't belong to me either...)

This fic and all of it's moons belong to ME!

...But remember...Inuyasha belongs to her...

Chapter 10: Determination and Last Hope

Having successfully spied on the formation of the alliance against Inuyasha, the airborne figure reflected on what she had seen as she soared through the air.

"The monk and the wolf turning against Inuyasha is a very interesting development. I'm sure Naraku will find this information to be most advantageous..."

Kagura spat out the name of her master. Her thoughts turned from devious amusement at over the results of her espionage to unpleasant considerations of the implications of delivering a report of what she'd seen to Naraku.

'Knowing that Inuyasha is acting far too benevolent and using the monk and wolf's animosity toward the half demon to his advantage would almost certainly assure Naraku's victory against him.' Kagura smiled wickedly at the thought. There was no loss of love between her and Inuyasha's group and she would delight at seeing them all meet their demise. Her sour expression returned as her train of thought continued.

'But as miserable as it is, Inuyasha is the only one who has a chance of eventually killing Naraku. If I relay this information to Naraku and he uses it to kill Inuyasha I will never be free of his clutches!' The prospect of remaining under Naraku's control forever dampened Kagura's mood even further.

Bringing her flying feather to a stop, Kagura pondered on her dilemma. 'So should I withhold what I saw from Naraku? If he discovers I'm keeping this from him...' Kagura closed her eyes and shivered as a bitter memory surfaced in her mind. She remembered how she had been punished for conspiring to kill Naraku in an attempt to gain freedom from him. She briefly relived the days of pure agony, remembering the unshakable and unimaginable sensations of pain brought about by his brutal torture.

'No...' She thought as she opened her eyes again, 'I can't go through that again. But...if I don't risk it, I may never have a chance to escape!'

A strong gust of wind picked up causing her feather to resume its course. 'That settles it. I will risk everything to preserve my chance for freedom.'

Kagura willed her feather to pick up speed and headed back to face her master.

-

With that excitement of the youkai attack finally over, Inuyasha, Sango and Kagome worked to dispose of the ogre's corpse before heading back to the village. Inuyasha had been very quiet since their encounter with Koga. The girls had ceased their efforts to cheer up their friend after a series of half-hearted assurances from the half-demon. As they worked to bury the body, Sango spoke up.

"Something seems very odd to me."

Welcoming an end to the somber silence, Kagome asked, "Oh? What's up, Sango?"

Sango began to explain. "Well, Koga didn't seem to realize that the youkai was already dead until I kindly," Sango smirked briefly "informed him."

"Yeah, you're right. Koga can usually sense stuff like that about demons almost as good as Inuyasha can."

"And yet he couldn't sense that this demon was dead. I wonder why that is..."

Kagome shrugged as she pondered on it herself. Soon they were finished burying the ogre's corpse and they began their short trip back to the village. Walking away, they eliminated any chance that they would notice a particular segment of the ogre's armor.

Where most of the ogre's armor had been marred with nicks and smudges and blemishes as a results of battle, one segment maintained an unusually clear and reflective shine.

Overlooking that oddity, their walk proceeded without incident. The girls quickly dismissed the question of Koga's inability to sense the dead ogre, and they once again became occupied with Inuyasha. He was still being quiet and a sad and distant look still made its home on his face.

Troubled by Inuyasha's attitude, Kagome asked him, "Inuyasha? Are you okay?"

Inuyasha quickly replied, "Yeah, everything's fine." His tone of voice and the speediness of his response led Kagome to believe otherwise, so she prodded again.

"Are you sure, Inuyasha? Koga said some pretty horrible thins to and--" She stopped as Inuyasha turned to face her. His sad look had faded and a small smile but warm smile was left in its place. Kagome began to feel a blush coming on, but thankfully Inuyasha spoke up, distracting the involuntary response, preventing her cheeks from being graced with a red tint.

"Don't worry, Kagome. It's fine. I'm just thinking about some things. Thanks for thinking about me, but I'm really okay."

Kagome struggled to regain composure as she meekly nodded and smiled back. However, she wasn't quite as successful in keeping her blush back and quickly turned her head to the side to hide it.

But Inuyasha wouldn't have noticed anyway. As soon as Kagome nodded her acceptance that he was fine, Inuyasha returned to his state of deep thought.

Koga's words had caused a number of thoughts to stir in the hanyou's mind. Being called a half-breed brought back memories from his childhood, when he was constantly shunned and teased and abused by everyone but his mother. And with those thoughts came the bitter memory of how even his half-brother, Sesshomaru,hated him for his mixed heritage.

Inuyasha was confused by those thoughts. He didn't seem to remember ever thinking about them so openly...he never remember being on the brink of tears from remembering how hated he was before.

'I guess I was just a lot stronger before my injury. I must've been a lot better at dealing with these emotions.'

That brought another thing that Koga had said into focus – something that had hit him hard.

' "WHAT! You made Kagome fight your battles for you, you worthless half-breed! You let your utter WEAKNESS put Kagome in danger!" '

'Maybe he's right. A week ago I wouldn't have had any trouble taking down a measly youkai like that.'

Inuyasha frowned. 'I'm too soft now. I'm no use to anyone when I 'm this weak. I wish I had never...'

He let that thought trail off and befan to look around. He glanced at his companions. Kagome was walking a few steps behind him to his left, and Sango was holding a sleeping Kirara in her arms a few steps behind him to the right. He noticed that both of them were trying to conceal their looks of concern...concern he knew was being directed towards him.

He began to think about that. In the short time since his injury, he'd become much closer to his friends. No longer did he feel compelled to keep them at arms distance, and no longer did he feel the need to hide behind a mask of rudeness and arrogance when dealing with them.

'I don't know why I wasn't as close before, but that's one good that that came out of that injury...'

Inuyasha thought back to the past few days. Images of everyone there when he awoke, all relieved that he was okay. Of playing tag with Shippo, of comforting Sango, and of teaming up with Kagome to catch Shippo in Hide and Seek. He smiled at the new memories he'd made before returning to the somber thought of being too weak to defend the people he now realized he cared so deeply for.

Then he remembered something else, something Kagome had said when she and Sango had first tried to comfort him right after Koga had departed.

' "Don't let what he said get to you, Inuyasha. You're still recovering from your wound. After seing the way you were moving out there, there's no way you would've gotten knocked down like that if you'd've been feeling better!" '

It had been small comfort then, but Inuyasha wondered if her words held any truth. He remembered the pain from his healing wound flaring up up as the ogre's attack sent him plummeting to the ground. When he had thought about that before while talking with Kagome he was still unconvinced that he hadn't failed in his duty to protect them...failed to protect her. In doing so he'd almost missed Kagome marveling at his skillful movements during the fight, but now the faintest memories of her admiration of his battle prowess sprung up. He reached back and fingered his wound as he thought back on that, and a small tinge of pain surged through his body. Even so, his spirits began to brighten.

'Maybe Kagome's right. Maybe it was just because I'm injured and I haven't recovered completely yet. At any rate it means I just have to stop sulking and work on getting stronger.' He surprised the girls as he turned around and flashed them a big smile. Seeing that this one was sincere and that Inuyasha really seemed to have cheered up, they returned it with smiles of their own, happy that their friend was okay again. He turned back around as they approached the village.

'I'm glad that I changed like this...I'm not weaker...I'm stronger now because I'm closer to my friends!'

And with that last thought they reached Kaede's hut where they were met warmly by an excited Shippo and a welcoming Kaede.

-

Kagura walked into the heart of Naraku's lair to find him waiting for her with her sister Kanna at his side.

"So nice of you to join us, Kagura. Kanna has just shown me something very interesting."

Kagura raised an eyebrow and watched as Naraku nodded to Kanna. A series of images began to cycle in Kanna's mirror recounting Inuyasha's battle with the ogre, his confrontation with Koga and the girls trying to comfort the saddened hanyou. Kagura became a little nervous as she watched intently.

Once the images ceased, Kagura directed an inquiring expression towards her master. She tried to ignore the voice in her mind that screamed, "He knows!" and waited for Naraku to make the next move.

For what seemed like an eternity, Naraku said nothing, merely staring at her with a wicked smile on his lips. Every ounce of Kagura's willpower was being employed to keep her from expressing any fear or signs of deception as she fought back the urge to break under Naraku's scrutiny.

Finally Naraku broke the silence. "Isn't it interesting, Kagura? Inuyasha is acting most peculiarly...It seems that he is quite vulnerable right now, doesn't it?"

The sinister sound of Naraku's voice stung Kagura's ears, almost causing her to cringe. Narrowly maintaining control of herself, she answered. "Indeed, it would seem so. How did you come to obtain this information, Master?"

His smile grew wider as he pulled a small object out of fold of his robes. He produced a small shard of metal that gleamed with an impossibly bright reflective shine.

"This is a special metal. Its reflective surface allows Kanna to peer into what it sees by using her mirror. I recently sent an unwitting ogre armed with some of it to attack Inuyasha so I could spy on him. I've been working on distributing it around the region for some time now." The last part was a lie, but Kagura didn't know that.

Kagura's eyes widened ever so slightly, betraying her nervousness. 'With those scattered about, could Naraku already know about the monk and the wolf? Could he have seen me there as well?'

Naraku sensed his incarnation's discomfort and asked, "Do you have anything to add to this report, Kagura? Or should I see if Kanna can pick up anything else...?"

Kagura was facing an internal struggle: should she tell Naraku and throw away her only hope for freedom or risk him finding out about her plans and deceptions on his own.

'He knows something already, I can tell...Is he testing me...?'

Naraku, his malicious smile still ever-present, prodded once more. The amusement on his face was not reflected in his speech.

"Kagura! Speak now!"

The tone of his voice sent shivers throughout her body and for an instant memories of her past punishments flashed before her once again.

'He knows...and if I try to hide it...'

"Kagura!"

"Y-yes, Naraku. I was just about to report on this development...As well as on something more. Inuyasha's change of behavior had made the monk he travels with and the wolf he sometimes fights alongside jealous of the attention he is receiving from the females in his group. They are conspiring against him as a result."

Naraku, pleased that his intuition that Kagura was holding was had been correct and that his bluff had been successful, began pondering on this new information.

"Very interesting...I'm sure I can stir up some sort of excitement knowing this. Thank you, Kagura."

"...It is my pleasure to serve, Naraku." Kagura turned to leave.

"Oh, and Kagura," Naraku called out to her. She stopped and turned back to face him as his voice grew cold. "Do not forget what will happen if you should ever choose to hide something from me."

Kagura looked at the unforgiving glare in her master's eye, then spun around again and resumed her exit.

"Never, Master Naraku."

-

A/N: Another chapter...I've actually had it written for about a week, but I just now got it typed up. This chapter marks the entrance of our favorite evil bastard, Naraku. In other news, I've got the rest of the story basically mapped out and outlined, and I think it only gets better later on. But we'll see how things really turn out. Anyway, thanks for reading.