The heavy smell of smoke was thick in the air. Accompanied by the smell of blood, demon blood. Demons InuYasha would've recognized right away, had he been awake at the time. Unfortunately for him, with each second he slept the fainter the scent became.
With a slight twitch of his nose, InuYasha awoke only to find the entire hut engulfed in flames. He quickly stood and rushed to the door to look outside. Again only to find the entire village engulfed in flames. Villagers running from on end of the village to the other, dumping buckets of water on the flames, but to little avail.
"Kagome!" InuYasha yelled running over to her, attempting to wake up. He growled when he got no response from her. Thinking that she had just inhaled too much smoke, he then attempted to wake Sango and Miroku up. Growing less and less patient with each passing second he just decided to carry them out one by one.
InuYasha turned to face Kagome, emotions and thought running through his head. He growled before lifting her up in his arms, bridal style. Adjusting her legs and back, he quickly ran outside. Not caring where he took her, he instantly took off towards the forest, just wanting her to be safe.
Ayeden smirked seeing the hanyou running into the forest, and o his delight, InuYasha sat Kagome down against the same tree Ayeden was in.
InuYasha stood, looking down at Kagome, not wanting to leave her at all. Reluctantly he ran back to the village. Once there he found Sango, Miroku, Shippou, and Kirara all already awake and helping to put the fire out. He growled, the shook his head deciding to forget about being mad at them for now.
Back in the forest Kagome was slowly beginning to wake up. "InuYasha?" She asked, hoping more expecting him to jump down in front of he. Instead of one of his crude remarks, she heard a soft chuckle from above. She froze, mentally praying that InuYasha was just trying to creep her out. "InuYasha?" She repeated, standing slowly and stepping away from the tree.
Ayeden grinned and jumped down from the tree, landing in front of his prey. "Guess again, Miko." He said, still grinning at his soon to be meal. "Dog-boy's back at the village, helping to put out the fire. The very fire he brought you here to protect you from. Too bad he didn't notice my scent here."
Kagome looked behind Ayeden to find proof of his words. Sure enough, there was smoke visible in the sky. "InuYasha!" She yelled, forgetting that she was in the presence of a demon, and running off towards the village.
Ayeden growled quickly turning around and grabbing her arm, pulling her back to him. "Either you're too dense to realize that I'll ill you for that, or you just refuse to acknowledge it." He said through clenched teeth. "No mater, I'll just kill you now and get it over with." He said, reaching behind himself and pulling back a dagger. "Don't worry. I'll make it quick and painless."
Kagome's eyes widened as he brought the dagger into view. She tried her beset to keep calm, thinking that InuYasha would come save her. But having no idea that he honestly thought she was safe here he had left her. "InuYasha will come for me." She whispered, not knowing if he could hear her, but she had said it just to reassure herself.
Ayeden smirked, tightening his grip on her arm. "You'd think so wouldn't you? Problem is, he's too caught up at the village to even think about you." He said looking down at the dagger than back at the girl. He slowly raised the dagger to where the point was barely piercing the skin protecting the vein in her wrists. "Now the only problem remaining is how to kill you. Quick and painless, or slow and painful?"
All of Kagome's senses seemed to shut down when he said InuYasha was too busy to even think about her. She shook her head, not wanting to believe that, but at the same time knowing it could be true. "No…" She muttered, not even pretending she cared about that dagger at her wrists. Only when he asked her how she wanted to die did she look up. "You kill me and InuYasha will kill you." She said, glaring at him. Though it had no effect, since her eyes were beginning to swell with tears.
"What's this, going to cry? We can't have that, this is a no crying zone." Ayeden said, slowly piercing vein with the dagger. Immediately after he did so blood began to pour down her hand and onto the ground in what seemed like a stream that would never end. Ayeden smirked, raising her wrists up to himself. He looked at her, then back at her wrist as though examining it. "Now you die." He said just before lowering his mouth to her wrist, sucking on the blood that kept pouring from her wrist.
Kagome attempted to pull away from him, but obviously to no avail. This is how I die? She thought as Ayeden drank her blood. Reality was that she could actually feel her body getting weaker, and there seemed to be no sign of InuYasha anywhere.
A few minutes passed, but Ayeden finally got his fill, which just happened to be all of Kagome's blood. As he let go of her hand all Kagome could do was fall to the ground. "InuYasha…" She muttered, as just a few seconds later her eyes slowly shut, and her breathing slowed to where it seemed like she wasn't breathing at all.
Ayeden grinned kneeling down next to Kagome. He lifted the dagger up above his head. "Just to make sure." He told himself, bringing the dagger down too fast for someone to stop. Not even once thinking about stopping the dagger, he brought it down on Kagome's heart. Blood splurging on him, Ayeden stood. Glancing down at the girl, "I've had my fill, see you in hell." And with that he turned away from her and sped off into the forest.
Back at the village the fire was just beginning to give in. Though that did not stop any of the villagers from running end to end of the village.
"InuYasha! You have to get Kagome. We can handle it here, and she's probably awake by now." Miroku called to InuYasha as he poured water onto a hut.
"He's right. Just go and get her." Sango called from Kirara's back. As Kirara landed on the ground Shippou popped his head from behind Sango's shoulder.
"Go InuYasha." He said, immediately hiding behind Sango in fear that InuYasha would get angered.
InuYasha growled at himself as he looked at everyone. "Fine, just meet us there." He said, as he turned and sped off into the forest. Not once thinking of what could have happened while he was in the village.
As InuYasha got closer to where he had left Kagome, he couldn't help but wonder about the overwhelming scent of blood that his nose. The blood was mixed in with something else, metal, metal used in a sword or dagger. But there was something wrong, the scent; he knew it all too well. Adamantly the owner of the scent did get on his nerves, but he had also grown to care for her. Then again he had grown to care for the others, but nowhere as much as for her. He stopped dead in his tracks, not wanting to go any further, but at the same time he had to so he could verify his assumption. But he were right, he would be faced with one of the hardest tasks he'll ever have to face.
"Kagome…" InuYasha whispered, less than a second after he took off towards her. The scent of blood growing stronger with every step he took.
When InuYasha arrived at the clearing where he had left her, he felt as though he couldn't breathe. Like his entire body just gave up. He slowly stepped over to Kagome's body; the body, which was surrounded in blood and that still, had a dagger in her heart. Breathing heavily, InuYasha fell to the ground next to her.
Slowly reaching his hand out to pull out the dagger, InuYasha couldn't help the tear that rolled down his cheek. As he pulled the dagger out of Kagome's chest, his hands couldn't hold it for even a second. The dagger now on the ground, InuYasha reached over to Kagome, raising her upper body to his chest.
"Kagome. I'm sorry, please forgive me." InuYasha muttered, raising his hand to her head. "I swear I'll kill whoever did this." He said almost expecting a response from her.
Sure, Kagome got on InuYasha's nerves, and at first the only reason that he let her travel with him was just to find the shards. But over time, for reasons unknown to him, he had actually grown to care for her. He felt like she was the only one that actually understood him that could calm him down. So now with her gone, how was he suppose to go on? This would be something only he could answer, given some time.
Holding Kagome close all InuYasha could think about was why everything in his life seemed to go wrong for him. He hadn't done anything to Naraku yet Naraku turned Kikyo against him. He swore he would her his revenge on Naraku, which is why he allowed the others to travel with him.
No matter how hard he tried to act like he hated Kagome, he always ended up showing his feelings for her. Maybe they were odd ways but the fact that he did so, was what really mattered. So now, he'd need to figure out how he could get over this loss.