Chapter 4

(Please note that Naraku was not so easily killed.)

Disclaimer: I do not own Inuyasha.

The mysterious lady was looking at Kagome tending to Inuyasha from a distance. She was fuming when Kagome touched Inuyasha's silver hair. He's mine. Nobody can take him away from me. Never! She thought. With this, she decided to plot an evil scheme to get Inuyasha back to her arms no matter what. With that, she walked away with an evil smile plastered onto her face.

Kagome was combing Inuyasha's hair for him. She had wanted to do so but Inuyasha never allowed her to do so. She looked at him sleeping peacefully and gave out a sigh of happiness. She thought of their future. The feeling somehow was so close, so comforting. She shook away the thoughts when Inuyasha had a slightest movement.

Inuyasha's dream

"Naraku, you can't run away from me this time," Inuyasha said with a smirk. Naraku who was badly injured by Inuyasha glared at him and said," It's no the end yet."

Inuyasha growled at him to return the Shikon Shards to him. Naraku insisted on not returning the shards to Inuyasha. Being an impatient inu hanyou, Inuyasha yelled and sprang to his attack, "Kaze no Kizu" A light emitted out of his Tetsusaiga and destroyed Naraku. Inuyasha finally succeeded in slaying his worst enemy. He finally got the Shikon Jewel. It's the end.

End of Inuyasha's dream

Kagome was awoken by the shaking of Inuyasha's finger. She was shocked and afraid. She began to observe Inuyasha and wait holding onto his hand. There shouldn't not be anything wrong. He is healing very fast. No, nothing is wrong. Wake up Inuyasha. Kagome prayed. Then, she saw Inuyasha's eyes opened slowly. Kagome was so happy and excited that she could barely contain her smile.

"Inuyasha," She said

Inuyasha smiled at her. Kagome yelled for the others to wake up. Shippo got so shocked that he rolled off the table he was sleeping on, grumbling as he tried to get up. The rest of the gang and Kaede rushed to Inuyasha's side. Kaede examined Inuyasha and smiled.

"He's recovering faster than I thought," The old lady smiled.

Miroku and Sango ,unknowingly, hugged each other while Shippo cheered.

There's a little detail they did not notice. Kagome's hand never left Inuyasha's hand.

Kaede advised Inuyasha to rest for one more day before they started to search for the Shikon Jewel shards again. At first, Inuyasha was beginning to protest but somehow, he visualized Kagome will be saying Osuwari if he don't agrees.

Kaede was advising Inuyasha to stay for a day to recover fully from his wounds. The stubborn inu hanyou insisted he's alright. The only way to get him to agree is to say Osuwari. She thought.

Soon, everyone was busy with his or her own business. Inuyasha and Kagome decided to take a stroll to take in fresh air. They were strolling quietly. Inuyasha thought of the conversation he had with Miroku just now. Miroku said that to Inuyasha that Kagome was always by his side when he was in coma. Inuyasha was touched by what she did but why. Why she is willing to stand by me? Inuyasha thought.

" Are you thinking why I am willing to stand by you when you were in coma?" Kagome asked suddenly.

Inuyasha was shocked and nodded.

"The answer is simple. You got injured because of me. You got injured while trying to save the shard from the demon." She simply replied.

Inuyasha was disappointed and replied with an " oh ".

Kagome felt bad. She wanted to tell him that she stood by him because she loved him. She cannot do without him. She needed him. Kagome felt uneasy. But then, she decided to enjoy the walk with Inuyasha and inhaled the smell of sakura flowers.

Inuyasha felt disappointed as he thought she loved him that's why she stood by him. He loved her since day one and never regretted it.

Soon the sun was setting, they decided to head back towards Kaede's hut.

Naraku's castle

"Heard that you have got a deal for me?" Naraku sneered at the dark miko.

"Yeah. Provided you are willing to work with me."

"What's in it for me?" Naraku asked beginning to enjoy the dark miko's suspense aura.

"You will get your Shikon Jewel in the end. I get my Inuyasha back too," replied the dark miko, "Isn't it going to benefit us both?"

Naraku put on an evil smile across his face and started to plan what to get after he laid his hand on the Shikon Jewel.

"You have got yourself a deal."

The dark miko smiled. Move aside Kagome. Inuyasha belongs to me. She thought.

"Finally we are ready to set off again!" Said Inuyasha.

"Now, now young hanyou. Do take good care of yourself," advised Kaede.

Inuyasha nodded at the old lady who had save his life. Not long, the group embarked on their quest for the Shikon Shards which they had put off for quite a long time due to Inuyasha's injury.

The gang came across a village. The village was filled with demon aura. "Be careful," warned Inuyasha, getting ready to attack. They began to stiffen up. The whole place seems so deserted until they found a lady cooking.

"Excuse me, but is there any place we could have spent the night in? Yours will do fine," asked Miroku. The monk was always up for small advantages.

The lady looked up and Miroku found himself to be attracted by her looks.

"You can spend the night here in my humble hut," the lady smiled.

"Thank you for that," Miroku bowed. The gang knew that they could always count on Miroku to get a place to spend overnight. Inuyasha ,however, found the lady suspicious. She smelt of… of… He could not recognize the scent but sure smelt familiar.

Later that night, the lady made sure that the guests she invited were sleeping soundly. She slipped out of the hut and went to meet the dark miko, whom she was appointed to work for.

"Kagura, I want you to take good care of them until Naraku and I decided it was time to take action," the miko said.

"Yes, mistress," Kagura replied.

The sky was darkening the next morning. Sango suggested to stay in the hut until the rain had subsided. Kagura welcomed them as she remembered what her mistress told her. Inuyasha was mad of course. Miroku had no objection as he was busy ogling at Kagura.

Sango was containing her anger when she saw how nice Miroku treated Kagura. Her face turned red and she did not notice that. Kagome, Shippo and Kirara took it as their cue not to annoy Sango right now.

"Kagome nee-san, is Sango alright?" asked Shippo. "I have no idea too," Kagome replied. She knew perfectly well why Sango was angry but did not probe into it.

"Shippo why not you play with Kirara?" Kagome told Shippo as she thought that it was another girl-talking session with Sango. Kirara mewed in delight when Shippo brought out his toy to play with Kirara.

"Sango, are you alright?" Kagome asked the fuming taijiya. "Yeah, I am fine," replied Sango.

"Are you jealous of Kagura?"

"Nope"

"Sure?"

"Yup"

Kagome knew that her friend was lying but could not help snickering to herself.

"So what are you going to do about Miroku after we left?" Kagome asked.

"Hit him with my Hiraikotsu?" Sango joked.

Both females laughed.

Inuyasha sat at a corner watching the hentai monk lusting after the suspicious lady who put them up yesterday. There's something wrong with her. Her scent was funny. Inuyasha thought. She had masked her scent so well. He was utterly disgusted as he watched the monk's action and diverted his attention to Kagome talking to Sango. He knew that she was calming Sango down. However, when would he be able to tell her his feelings?

The rain continued the whole day and it only subsided during the night. So the gang would have to spend one more night at Kagura's hut. Every thing was going as planned She thought. She slipped out of the hut when everyone was not noticing and went to meet her mistress. This time, she saw her mistress with Naraku and she knew that it was time.

Everyone was dreaming peacefully when they heard a high –pitched scream. Inuyasha looked around to see what's wrong and found out that Kagura was gone and so was Kagome.

"Kagome," Inuyasha muttered under his breath.

Shippo started to wail for Kagome while Sango tried to calm him down.

"I am looking for Kagome," Inuyasha said to the group before he went off to search for Kagome.

Kouga was beginning to fall asleep when he heard a scream that penetrated through the silent night. He knew that belonged to his Kagome. He took off leaving his fluttered companions wondering what's wrong.

Baka Inuyasha, he promised to take good care of Kagome. He thought as he ran as fast as he could. He could hear his companions close behind him but he could not stopped for them.

"One thing I can't stand about Kouga is that he always took off so fast. How to catch up with him?" Ginta complained.

"Yeah, and by the time we reached there, he was ready to take off again and we had to run again." Hakkaku added.

Kouga heard what his companions were saying and yelled back, "Stop following me if you can't catch up."

Kagome woke up to find that she was in a dungeon together with Kagura.

"Kagura, what happened?" Kagome asked. "Ha! You will be a spawn to Naraku use later. So shut up!" Kagura snapped.

Kagome knew that she was in danger somehow. Save me Inuyasha. Kagome prayed silently.

XXXX

That's it. See you again for the next chapter. Will Inuyasha or Kouga save Kagome first? Stay to find out.