Konnichiwa, minna! Another chapter is here for your enjoyment. –sweatdrops as no one is really listening- That's ok. I'll let you go on and read...

Oh and by the way, I know it must be SOOOOO annoying to have some thoughts is italics and some not...it's not something I can help though. Stupid QuickEdit... If anyone knows how to fix this, please tell me!! Thanks!!!

Disclaimer: Nope. Don't own it. But I DO own Kyoko.

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Inuyasha walked through the streets, searching for the headman. "Where can I find the headman?" he asked one of the men.

He gave him a curious look before answering, "He lives in the sixth hut on the right."

Inuyasha nodded his thanks and walked quickly down the street. He reached the hut and knocked on the side of the house. "Hello?"

The headman moved aside the flap and nodded to Inuyasha. "Hello. Who might you be?"

"Inuyasha."

He nodded, his grey topknot bouncing. "Come inside." Inuyasha followed him in and stood beside the door, facing him.

Without invitation, he sat down and the headman followed suit. "I need your help. I have a...friend who is in trouble. She was attacked by a demon and is turning into a demon now. My village priestess sent me to you, saying in order to save her I must pick some fluxweed at the new moon."

"What is her name? Your village priestess?"

"Kaede."

"Ah, I know Kaede. Because she is an acquaintance of mine, I shall help you. You need some fluxweed, ne? I'll give you a stalk to take back. It'll be the same as picking it and it'll live longer this way."

Inuyasha nodded, "Thanks." He left the hut with the plant, feeling better than he had in days.

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Kagome's pain spurts began to return and she quickly ran into the woods to muffle her cries. They hurt so much worse that night than ever before. She screamed and cried, tears crawling down her cheeks. She clutched herself, trying desperately to ease the pain, but to no avail. It was so intense that she fell forward on her knees, gasping for breath, until finally it consumed her and she collapsed onto the ground in a dead faint.

Inuyasha returned, hearing her cries, and, dropping the plant off in Kyoko's arms, raced away in the direction of Kagome's voice, and that was how he found her.

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"Kagome!" he cried, running instantly to her side. He shook her gently back to consciousness and she opened her eyes, moaning softly. "What happened?" he asked urgently; the worry was evident in his eyes.

"My body started its 'changes' again and I must've fainted from the pain. It hurt worse than ever this time..."

"Feh. Obviously tolerance to pain isn't one of your new demon powers."

Kagome opened her mouth to retort and 'sit' him when she realized something. "Inuyasha...were you worried about me?" she asked, eyes searching his face for answers.

"Yeah," he answered nonchalantly, "So what if I was?" but his eyes softened as he said it.

"Nothing," she said happily, "Just glad you care."

"Feh," he answered, turning his head.

She flashed him a warm smile and put her hands on his shoulders to steady herself as she stood. He turned pink at the touch, but Kagome didn't seem to notice, as she was too busy attempting to stand as well as fight her own rising blush. She finally managed and together they slowly began their journey back to the camp. Suddenly, Inuyasha stopped as he got a whiff of something strange.

"Kagome," he realized, his eyes widening, "You're a hanyou."

"What?" she asked.

"Your transformation's halfway done! You're a hanyou, like me!"

"Oh no!"

"What's wrong?"

"I'm a hanyou!"

"What's wrong with being a hanyou?" he demanded.

"The fact that I'm not half-demon! I can't be demon at all or I won't be able to go home ever again!"

Hurt passed through Inuyasha's eyes for a fleeting moment. "Is being a hanyou that bad?"

Kagome saw the hurt in his eyes and instantly regretted her words. "Inuyasha...I'm sorry; I didn't mean it that way. Being a hanyou isn't that bad at all." #Besides, it gives me an excuse to stay longer here with Inuyasha.# She smiled and her cheeks stained pink.

"What?" Inuyasha asked, raising an eyebrow.

She blushed harder, "Nothing."

"Oh, and I got the plant. We can head back when the sun rises."

Kagome nodded.

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Sango and Miroku rode for almost the rest of the day when they came upon a village. "This should be where they are. Let's go ask the villagers if they've seen them." Sango nodded and Kirara descended and landed, transforming back into the small innocent kitten she usually was, after letting off her passengers. They entered the village and approached a young woman.

"Excuse me," Sango asked her quickly, before Miroku could try anything, "Have you seen a hanyou in a red kimono with silver hair and dog ears?"

The woman paused and shuddered slightly, "Yes, I have. They were in here two days ago."

Sango smiled at the woman, "Thank you, miss."

"If you don't mind me asking, but what do you want a pack of demons for?"

"That is our business," the tajiya answered rather sharply. "Come on, Houshi-sama, we have to go."

They left the town and Kirara sat straight up, mewing. "What is it, Kirara?" Sango asked her companion, "Do you smell Inuyasha?"

She mewed again and transformed. The pair climbed on her back and prepared to search for him in the air. After a while, they found him and his group walking down a dirt path. "Inuyasha! Kagome!" Sango called out.

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Kagome and Inuyasha both looked up. Kagome waved, "Hey!"

Kirara brought them down to earth and they continued on foot. The two groups exchanged stories and showed each other the materials they had retrieved. Kagome had placed the plant in a pot to keep it alive.

Suddenly, Inuyasha stopped. "I smell Naraku..."

Kagome wrinkled her nose in disgust. "So that's what Naraku smells like. Ew, gross!"

They whirled around, searching for the telltale baboon pelt. And sure enough, they found it, standing near the side of the road.

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Naraku smiled as he sat beside the window in his room. Outside, miasma and evil clouds hung above the castle, hiding the sun and darkening the atmosphere. This was how he liked it. He pulled a wooden doll from inside his gi and, pulling a hair from his head, wrapped it around the head. He stood up and thre it out the window. A swarm of his saimyosho, poisonous demon wasps that he had created and held completely under his control, flew to it and caught it. It flew as a small black cloud to a far village. The wasps let the wooden doll drop to the ground. When it hit the ground, it disappeared in a puff of smoke and was replaced by a man whose entire body was hidden by a white baboon cloak. It was a golem of the man in the castle, so many miles away.

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Naraku walked along until he reached a village where a young, but quite powerful, priestess lived. He stepped into her hut and found her sitting peacefully by a fire. She looked up as he entered. "Who are you?"

He smiled evilly under his cloak, "My name is Naraku. I have a favor to ask of you."

"Of course." She stood up and faced him.

"I need you to cast a curse upon someone. It's quite powerful."

The woman smiled and shook her head, "I'm sorry, sir, but I do not approve of cursing people."

"It is very important that you curse this particular person, though."

"I'm sorry, but it is never just to curse someone. Good day."

Naraku chuckled, "You seem to have misunderstood me. I do not take no as an answer."

"Well, I do. I will not curse this person."

"Then do me one last favor before I leave. Will you please turn around?"

She hesitated and nodded slowly. "Alright," she agreed uncertainly. She complied with his wish. Naraku pulled out a shard of the Shikon jewel and held it up between his thumb and forefinger and moved to put it in her back. Just before he placed it in, it burned a deep blood red. When he finished, she turned back around and her eyes flashed red for a moment. She gasped suddenly. "What...what have you done to me?"

"I have placed a shard of the Shikon jewel in your back. I hope it will help to strengthen your powers."

Her eyes flashed red again and she was now completely under his control. So far, Naraku's golem was doing well.

He explained to her the details of the curse and she nodded silently and began to work. Naraku handed her the strand of Kagome's hair and she set to work.

The young priestess took the hair and placed it on the ground at her feet. She closed her eyes and concentrated. The hair glowed a bright red and rose up from the floor to rest, floating in midair, before the woman's face. It began to pulse with energy, its red glow turning darker and darker until it was a deep red-black.

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Forty miles away, Naraku's other golem smiled as a red light began to surround Kagome's body. "W-What's happening?"

Inuyasha immediately turned to Naraku, "You bastard! What are you doing to Kagome?"

The golem smiled and spoke from beneath his cloak, "I'm not anything to her; someone else is. A priestess is placing a curse on her. And no, it isn't Kikyou, though the irony of that would be simple delicious." Inuyasha growled, but stopped when a fainter light of the same red hue as Kagome's began to surround him.

All of a sudden, two boys appeared beside him. Kagome turned and looked surprised at the sight of them, especially the second one. She spoke their names, as if in a question, wanting to verify if they were really there, for there before her stood, in a line, Inuyasha, Kouga, and Hojo.

They both smiled at her. Inuyasha growled at them. Kouga scowled and the human named Hojo stepped back a bit in fear.

"They're illusions," Naraku explained. Everyone stared at him.

Kouga was a wolf demon. He had slightly tanned skin and a muscular, lean build. He looked like a normal human boy with the exception of his elfin-like ears and his grey-brown wolf tail. He also went barefoot, much like Inuyasha and Shippou, but had silver plates that he placed on the tops of them, like faux shoes. He wore leg bands and an armband on his right arm made of wolf fur, similar to Kyoko's. On his left arm, was an armband that looked like a thick bracelt. It only covered his wrist. He had shoulder guards and a wraparound skirt-of-sorts made of the same grey-brown wolf fur. His chest was covered by a breast plate. The bottom half was black and the top half was black, the two colors separated by a thin stripe of silver. He had a grey-brown band wrapped around his forehead, and his black bangs hung over the top of it. The rest of his ebony hair was pulled up into a high ponytail that fell down to his mid-back. His blue eyes were often card and cold in battle, but could also hold such compassion that women's knees went weak. Finally, as a final touch, he held a sword stuffed into the wolf fur sash tied around his waist.

Hojo, on the other hand, was a simple human. He was from Kagome's era, so her surprise at his appearance was expected. He had a light skin color that contrasted nicely with his ear-length brown hair. He wasn't particularly muscular, and looked slightly out of place next to his demon counterparts. He had big, blue eyes that never seemed to hold even one ounce of anger or bitterness in them. His naïveté was appealing, as was his almost boy-like innocence. He wore a baby blue short-sleeved T-shirt and a pair of fairly baggy light brown pants. His shoes were a shiny dark brown with tan laces. He smiled at Kagome warmly and she hesitantly smiled back. He was a bit slow when it came to Kagome's non-existent affections for him.

Kagome's body began to pulse. "What's happening?" she asked a second time.

"The curse," said Naraku, "You now have a choice, Kagome. Choose, young miko."

"I have to choose between Inuyasha, Kouga, and Hojo?" she asked, confused.

"Yes. If you choose Inuyasha, you will remain a hanyou; if you choose Kouga, you will turn into a full demon; if you choose the human boy, you will turn human. Whomever you choose, you're soul will be tied to them, and eventually, so will your heart."

Kagome looked scared by the time he finished. #Who will I choose?#

Inuyasha's heart sank. #She'll choose Hobo so she can be human again, and then she'll fall in love with him... Wait! I don't care if she falls in love with Hobo! Feh!#

Kagome looked from one to the other, beginning to look panicked. Sango stepped forward and placed a comforting hand on her friend's shoulder. "Who does your heart choose?" she whispered.

Kagome turned to her, feeling helpless. "I don't know," she whispered back, "It says Inuyasha because I love him, and Hojo because then I can be human again and see my family. It's either Inuyasha or my family... And it says Kouga because then, at least, I'll be able to take care of myself and Inuyasha won't have to keep saving me. And besides, he's been nicer to me now that I'm turning demon."

Sango smiled, "Inuyasha's being nice to you now, while you're a hanyou, and you can take care of yourself this way. Also, you'd be able to visit your family every new moon, when you turned human."

Kagome smiled, "Good idea. Wait..." She turned back to Naraku and raised her voice. "If I chose to be a hanyou or demon, would I maintain my miko powers?"

Naraku smiled, "No, for only humans can be mikos. You lost those powers a while ago." Kagome's eyes widened as she realized that he was right. She couldn't sense his jewel shards.

"I can't...sense the shards anymore," she said softly, confirming the golem's words. Her eyes saddened as she turned to Sango again and lowered her voice, "Now what?" #The only reason Inuyasha sticks around is because I sense the jewel shards. If I lose that power, he'll leave...# The mere thought scared her.

Sango squeezed her shoulder. "Then," she whispered, "it is a decision you must make between your family and Inuyasha. What does your heart say?"

She bit her lip. "Inuyasha. But he doesn't love me back. He loves Kikyou. I choose my family because they at least love me in return." Sango's eyes saddened at her friend's blindness but she said nothing, merely nodding slightly and nodding, stepping away.

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Inuyasha could see them talking, but for some reason, he couldn't hear them. #Damn curse. I wonder who she'll choose. Probably Hobo.# His ears dropped at the thought.

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Inuyasha loves Kikyou. I won't waste my heart on him any longer. But the thought of losing him...I can hardly bear it... And yet, I almost feel ready to give up my family for him. I'm ready to give up everything for him...And I'm the only one won who'd be affected. Losing Inuyasha is almost worse than losing my family. Inuyasha... Do you see Kikyou or me when you look my way? I love you, Inuyasha... I can't bear to lose you. I have to be strong. Kagome turned back to Naraku. There were tears in her eyes. "I choose..." she began half-heartedly. Everyone held their breath.

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Alright, that's it for chapter 5 hehe. I have the next chapter written out already. But I'm going to put a bit of time in between...

And this chapter I have a contest!! Hehe

If you can guess who Kagome will choose, I'll give you a cookie!!!

Recommendations: 'Inuyasha and Kagome Are They Meant To Be?' is an awesome awesome fic by Storm-Maker. I def suggest you check it out!!!

TaintedInuShemeeko – Lol. Glad you liked it hehe. Yea, it's fun writing them together hehe. I always love it when you put out a new chapter

LadySword04 – Aww thanks –grins- Yep, there won't be that much action with them, since this is primarily an InuKag, but I'll put in a bit. But fear not, there'll be lots of InuKag hehe. I know it was awesome to finally talk to you again hehe. –hugs and grins-

StaryKagome – Aww thanks! Hope so! I'll try! Hehe. Thanks for the review!