Alright, I'm back. I know I didn't get five reviews for the last chapter yet, but something really screwy and annoying has been going on with the e-mail alerts on as of late. Yeah, so basically, I'm being forgiving. Um, I just got back in to town from Toronto(seven hours in the car!) so sorry for any lateness.

Erin: It's no different from your usual slow updates...

Hey! Ignore her, I have a little inside information for all y'all.

Erin/shudders/ NEVER do that again!

Alright, alright. Anyway, this story is about to get in to the final showdown in this chapter and the story will probably have four more chapters. I'm also working on a new one-shot fic and you can expect that in a few months after it's smoothed out. I'm hoping it'll be funny. So, everybody ready to witness my very first battle sequence that I've ever written? I'M NOT!

(Eeek! I'm actually worried!)

When Kagome returned to their camp site, she was surprised to find only Miroku sitting before the fire.

"Ah, Kagome," Miroku smiled, having just been torn from his thoughts.

"Where's everybody else?" Kagome asked, looking around the clearing once more.

"Oh, they should be back soon. I wouldn't worry."

Something was strange with the way Miroku was grinning, but she paid no mind.

After a few minutes passed, sure enough, the muffled voices of Inuyasha and Sango could be heard in the distance.

"... seen a ghost."

"Dammit, was she mad?"

"No, just a little shaken. Then she started to mutter happily about something that sounded like puppies."

"Oh, kami..."

"Don't sweat it. So, you know what you want to say later?"

"Do I really have to do it today?"

"Yes! Sshh, we're getting near the others."

Moments later, a happy Sango and a rather jumpy Inuyasha walked in to the clearing.

"Hey, Sango, Inuyasha. What were you talking about back there?" Kagome smiled at the two, but her smile quickly faded when she noticed that Inuyasha was totally and utterly avoiding looking her in the eye... much like he did after he had just seen Kikyo.

"Oh, nothing," Sango chanted musically, not noticing Kagomes saddened expression. Yet it did not go unnoticed by Inuyasha. He stopped for a moment, wondering why she looked so down, when he felt a sharp pain in his foot. Sango had stepped on it... hard.

"OW! What! Oh! U-uh... Kagome?" Inuyasha stuttered, gulping loudly.

"Hm?" Kagome mumbled in response, still not looking up.

Inuyasha looked around at Miroku and Sango, both were looking at him, eyes wide with giddiness, nodding their heads furiously in encouragement, edging him on.

"C-Can I, uh,... talk to you?" He managed out, his eyes shut tight.

Kagome looked up surprised. She noticed Inuyasha's bright red face and embarrassed expression, and the fact that he was fidgeting with his hands and twitching his foot.

"Um... okay?"

Kagome followed the blushing Inuyasha deep into the nearby woods until they came to a steep slant. To fall off didn't appear fatal in Kagome's eyes, but it would hurt. She glanced at Inuyasha, who was looking over the edge to the base(or the edge of the cloud line) of the mountain. It had taken them four days to scale as high as they had, but they had taken the safer, easier, yet longer route and paced themselves well.

"K-Kagome? U-Um, I, uh... well... You see..." Inuyasha paused and shook his head vigorously. To Kagome, he looked annoyed with something, whether it was her, himself, or something different entirely, she couldn't tell.

Her thoughts were suddenly disturbed by a sharp pain in her forehead. It was excruciating. She found herself no longer listening to Inuyasha, but clutching at her head, with the ground rushing up very fast.

"KAGOME! KAGOME!" She heard a voice yelling over and over, she felt strong arms wrap around her, shaking her, yet it was all distant. Everything was fading away. It was like she was sinking lower and lower into a deep pool of cool, freezing water. She felt everything go numb, like nothing truly mattered. Then a voice rang out, clear as day.

There, now doesn't that feel better now that you're no longer attached to your body?

Kagome recognized the voice, but didn't really care who it was. She just wanted to drift away.

It'll be easy to kill Inuyasha like this.

Kagome suddenly felt a wave of realization at the voice's words. It was Naraku he was going to kill Inuyasha! She tried to fight, she tried to scream. Finally, after all her struggling, she could see through her eyes, but that was all. She saw Inuyasha's amber eyes gazing down with concern at her. Summoning up as much strength as she could, she muttered two quiet words into the hanyou's ear;

"Get...away..."

Long claws dug into the flesh of Inuyasha's abdomen. He looked down in shock at who had stabbed him. Kagome... and yet, not Kagome. Her eyes her glazed over, blood shot, and red, her once short, human fingernails had grown into long demonic claws, sharp as daggers, and she was grinning with malicious amusement.

"What's wrong, Inuyasha?" Kagome mused in a dark, almost seductive, voice. "Am I too much for you?" She ran her claws upward, digging deeper. The blood ran thickly down her hand and on to her uniform, staining it with his blood.

Inuyasha made a gagging cough and leapt backwards, removing her claws from his body and steeping out of reach in the movement. He stepped backward slowly and choked out,

"Who are you? What have you done to Kagome!"

She laughed malevolently at his words. "Why, what ever do you mean, Inuyasha?"

She charged and Inuyasha reached for his Tessaiga. His hand on the hilt, he hesitated. Dammit! He thought. They're using Kagome's body. If I use the Tessaiga, I'll kill her!

As he hesitated, Kagome took the chance and struck Inuyasha hard in the chest. She was alarmingly fast and strong, and the blow knocked him off his feet and over the edge of the cliff.

"Oh, you won't escape me that easily, my little half-demon." Kagome took chase after him, running down after the falling Inuyasha. His body eventually stopped at the base of the mountain. There he lay, unmoving, when Kagome landed beside him. Sitting on her heels, legs apart, she lazily rested her head sideways, looking down at Inuyasha, on the back of her wrist, which was supported by her knee.

"Little hanyou, are you dead already?" Kagome was grinning, her face showed pure, unbridled, evil, and yet tears flew freely down her cheeks.

(Inside Kagome's mind.)

INUYASHA! INUYASHA, WAKE UP! GET UP! SAY SOMETHING, DO SOMETHING, ANYTHING, JUST PLEASE, PLEASE BE ALIVE!

He won't awaken.

YES HE WILL! HE HAS TO! INUYASHA! INUYASHA!

He's dead. He's dead and you killed him.

NO! NO, HE CAN'T BE! INUYASHA, WAKE UP!

He never will. His eyes are closed forever. You can't save you or him.

SHUT UP! INUYASHA!

You're mine, and with out Inuyasha, there's no one who can stop me. I can do anything I want to do with you... anything at all.

NO, NO! SHUT UP, SHUT UP, SHUT UP! GO TO HELL NARAKU! DIE!

Oh, like Inuyasha is now?

HE ISN'T DEAD! HE CAN'T BE DEAD!

He can, and he is, and it's all your fault, Kagome.

NEVER! INUYASHA!

(Back outside, in the real world.)

"...Inuyasha..." Kagome whispered slowly in her normal voice, her eyes, if only for a fraction of a second, flickering back to their original state.

Inuyasha's eyes snapped open. He shot up and grabbed Kagome by the shoulders, pinning her arms to her side.

"Wake up, Kagome! Fight it! Break free! This isn't you! Kagome!"

Kagome broke her arms free and stabbed them into the back of Inuyasha's shoulder blades in the top of his back. "Shut up!" Kagome screamed in the dark voice again. "Shut up!"

"No!" Inuyasha ignored the searing pain in his back and stomach. "You have to fight it, Kagome! I know you can do it! Come on!"

"SHUT UP, YOU STUPID HANYOU!"

Kagome slashed at Inuyasha's face, giving him long gashes across the left side. She struggled and managed to escape his grasp. Then, charging once more, she ripped at his chest, ripping his haori in twine. He winced in pain, but took hold of her once more, this time, in a tight embrace.

"I know you can fight it. Break through, Kagome! Don't let it beat you."

Kagome screamed, struggling, fighting, stabbing, doing anything and everything she could to escape Inuyasha's grasp, but she failed.

"Kagome! This isn't you! WAKE UP!" Inuyasha became more and more forceful in his words, aggravating her efforts more and more.

(In Kagome's mind.)

"I know you can fight it. Break through, Kagome! Don't let it beat you."

Inuyasha! I am fighting it! I am!

He's dying.

Shut up! You're going down Naraku!

Look at all the blood he's lost, Kagome, it's all over you. His time is running out.

"Kagome! This isn't you! WAKE UP!"

He's trying so hard, and yet... tick, tock, time is speeding by so fast.

SHUT UP! YOU CAN'T CONTROL ME! INUYASHA, HANG IN THERE!

Look at him, he's so pale, so weak. Tick, tock, tick, tock...

NO! HE'S STRONG! I'M STRONG! YOU'RE THE WEAK ONE, NARAKU!

Tick, tock, tick, tock, tick, tock...

Naraku...

Tick,

You...

Tock,

Can't...

Tick,

Control...

Tock...

ME!

(Back to reality.)

Kagome screamed at an unearthly level as a great burst of energy left her body. Small sections of her skin began to raise and split open, each cut releasing a chunk of the shikon no tama. Her breathing was heavy, her eyes closed, and she collapsed into the arms of the one holding her.

"Kagome?" He breathed.

She open her eyes and slowly looked up at him. "He's gone." She smiled.

"But for how long?" A low voice called. As Inuyasha turned around to the man behind him, the man seized him by the throat. "Doesn't seem that I'm gone after all."

"N-Naraku..." Inuyasha croaked from lack of oxygen as he clutched desperately at Naraku's hand around his neck.

"Great to see you again... Inuyasha."

(End of chapter12.)

DUN, DUN, DA! So, that was my first battle sequence ever, and it was kinda gory, don't you think? Mucho, mucho blood. Well, it's around midnight, but I've had enough Coca-Cola in the past few hours to keep me going, so I'm going to start chapter 13 right away! That make you happy? REVIEW!

KagomesWish

Beta:

Erin

a.k.a Black-Massacre