Naraku smiled at Sota's trembling form. "That's crazy! I could never do something like that!" he shouted. Naraku stared at Sota with such evil, his red eyes burning with hatred, that it terrified him. Naraku's eyes seemed to burn right through him. Sota shrieked in terror as he retreated to the far corner of the cell, trying to distance himself as far away as possible from Naraku, cowering. Naraku was beginning to lose his patience. He sighed and calmly grabbed hold of the handle of the cell door and ripped it open. Sota stared in sheer terror at the advancing Naraku, sweat and tears cascading down his face in buckets ...

Inuyasha woke up with a start and sat up. He was unsure of how long he
was out. It could have been mere minutes, or as long as several hours. He put a hand to his aching hand and moaned in pain. "Damn, what a headache! I'll make Kagura pay for that!" he thought to himself as he grabbed his sword out of the ground and stood up and sheathed the tetsusaiga. "How could I have been so weak?...Oh no! Sota!" he suddenly remembered. He immediately leapt out of the well and jumped back in. There was a flash of blue light emanating from the well. "Oh man! Kagome's really gonna kill me now!"

Moments later he emerged from the well. He immediately began to sniff the air for Sota's scent. He followed it to about fifteen feet within the forest. There was no sign of him nor Kagura. "Sota! Where are you?" he shouted. He waited for a moment. There was no response. Inuyasha growled in frustration. "Dammit! Kagura must have kidnapped him!" he thought to himself. He looked up at the sky. The sun was low in the sky, not quite dusk. "It's a good thing Kagome's not here yet! She's either mad at me about something or other, or she had to stay late after school. Hopefully, it's the latter of the two."

Inuyasha gasped! "That's right! Tonight's the night of the new moon! How could I have been so stupid! Taking that kid to this era. Of all the stupid times for something to go wrong! Sota needs to be rescued, but Naraku can't see me in my human form! I can't let the others know because it will get back to Kagome. She'll never forgive me if anything happens to Sota. What'll I do? It's not long until I turn human! Also, Naraku can't be found unless he allows it! Dammit! That must have been why I lost to Kagura! My powers must have waned because of the closeness to the new moon!" he thought to himself He now realized the full desperation of the situation.

He gritted his teeth. "A fine time for this to happen! I really screwed up big time!" He breathed in then out heavily. He could not believe his failure. In fact, he was furious. He looked up at the sky once again. He suddenly heard the trademark buzz from one of Naraku's poisonous insects. It only took him a moment to spot it hovering nearby. As soon as it realized it was spotted, it took off. "Oh no you don't!" he shouted as he immediately gave chase. "I just hope it will lead me there in time. I'll lose my demonic powers in a couple hours at the most! Sota, please be ok!" he thought to himself. He began formulating his rescue plan, which only consisted of kicking Naraku's ass and making Sota promise not to tell Kagome about his encounter with Naraku.

After a few minutes of pursuit, he ran past his friends, Sango, Miroku, Shippo, and miniature Kirara. He said nothing as he whizzed by. Kirara cocked her head to the side, confused at Inuyasha's apparent urgency, for he failed to acknowledge everyone. Shippo caught on to Kirara's confusion. "What's up with him," he asked to no one in particular, "Usually he'd at least say something. I wonder why he's in such a hurry?" Shippo stared at Inuyasha, who was rapidly shrinking from view. "Hey! Inuyasha!" he called out. "What's wrong?" Inuyasha didn't look back, nor stop. "Not now!" Was the only response Shippo received. Everyone stared, speechless at Inuyasha's behavior.

"What's up with him?" asked Shippo to no one in particular. "Usually he'd at least say something."

Sango nodded in agreement, her hair moving in the slight breeze. A look of concern appeared her face. "It looks like he's chasing something" she said as she looked at the sky in the direction Inuyasha was running. Upon squinting her eyes, she spotted what Inuyasha was pursuing. It was a saimyosho.

"Miroku, look!" she shouted, pointing at the bug, barely visible due to its distance from their location.

Miroku quickly looked in the direction she was pointing and spotted it as well. "I see it! Let's go!"

"Kirara!" shouted Sango.

Kirara let out a mew and was engulfed in flames. It was small at first, than rapidly grew in size and disappeared. In place of the fire stood a giant, ferocious demon cat. Fire began to emanate from her tails and paws. Sango, Miroku, and Shippo hopped on Kirara then immediately took persuit, and in no time caught up with Inuyasha and maintained the same speed, flying a few feet from the ground.

"Inuyasha! Are you crazy? Don't you remember what night it is?" asked Sango, "You should have told us you saw that saimyosho! You have no idea how far that bug will fly before it reaches Naraku. It might be nightfall before we get there, or if not that, it could happen during the imminent battle we face!"

"By the way, you have a look of urgency on your face. Did something happen to Kagome?" asked Miroku.

"Hey! Who invited you?" demanded Inuyasha. "Nothing happened to Kagome! She hasn't returned yet!"

"Gee! I wonder why" said Shippo sarcastically.

"Shut yer mouth, you little runt, before I shut it for you!" growled Inuyasha as he held up his fist threateningly.

"Eep!" cried Shippo as he leaped from behind Miroku onto his back, burying his face in his robes and hanging on for dear life. Miroku sighed and shook his head. "Inuyasha, stop being so stubborn! Your pride prevents you from seeing reason!"

"Inuyasha, you should leave this to us" Sango continued, concerned. "You should go back and wait for Kagome."

"Yeah! If she's still not mad at you." Interrupted Shippo. Inuyasha gave him the "look".

"Eep!" Shippo hid his face in Miroku's robes again.

"No way! Not in a hundred years would I turn down an opportunity to kill Naraku! Especially now!" shouted Inuyasha. He sighed. He knew his friends were coming no matter what. They were dedicated; he had to give them some credit.

"Well, then," continued Sango, "Please tell us anything you know."

Inuyasha paused for a moment and sighed. "Naraku has kidnapped Kagome's younger brother, Sota."

"What?" all three asked in unison.

"I thought only you and Kagome could travel through the well." Commented Shippo.

"Well apparently we're not!" replied Inuyasha in a tone that implied the answer was obvious. "Somehow, my being with the kid enabled him to travel to this era. So let's stop blabbin' and concentrate on our persuit!"

"Agreed!" said Miroku, nodding his head.

"Someone has to let Kagome know about this!" Sango said. All eyes turned to Shippo.

"Hey! Why is everyone looking at me? Why not Inuyasha? He's the one who can travel through the well! We don't know when Kagome will return!" cried Shippo.

"Oh, I wouldn't worry about that" replied Miroku. "Naraku will most certainly wish to see Kagome's reaction first hand. It wouldn't surprise me if this saimyosho were leading us into a trap. Either Kagome will be able to detect Naraku's jewel shards, or another saimyosho will lead you there"

"Ok, but-"

"Then it's decided." Interrupted Miroku as he plucked Shippo from his back and tossed him overboard. Shippo landed on the ground and rolled a few times, covering himself in dirt. He got up and dusted himself off. He jumped into the air and transformed into a balloon and flew back towards the bone eater's well.

"It wouldn't surprise me if Naraku's castle isn't being concealed by a barrier right now" commented Miroku.

Inuyasha nodded in agreement. "You don't have to tell me that! I can already smell Naraku's foul stench!"

Naraku smirked at Sota. He relished the sight of the terrified boy. He then turned head slightly to the side and shouted. "Kyofu!"

"Yes, Master" replied another demon as it entered the dungeon. He then entered the cell stood next to Naraku. He had raggedy, elbow-length black hair, and blood red eyes. His eyes burned with such hatred and evil, it was enough to terrify even the bravest of men. Sota froze in terror at the sight of Kyofu as he approached him.

"Do with him as you will" said Naraku as he turned and left the room.

"With pleasure!" replied Kyofu, smiling...

A/N: So what do you think? Sorry it took sooooo long to update! A special thanks to WindScar from the fanfiction site animespiral for helping me describe Kyofu! I couldn't have done it without her! Also, FYI, I update first on animespiral. The story name is the same, and my penname on animespiral is inuyashafangirl. It takes me a while to update here after that. I hoped you liked the update! Later!