Disclaimer: Anyone you recognize doesn't belong to me. Anyone you don't, does. Especially Kusaraku Fujii. He's my pride and joy.

Title: Body, Mind, and Soul

Chapter: Eight – Uh Oh

They landed at the bottom of the well rather hard, Kusaraku landing on top of Kagome.

After catching her breath, Kagome flailed her arms wildly, trying to get out from under Kusaraku's dead weight.

Wait a sec… dead weight?

As Kagome pried him off of her, it didn't take her long to realize that Kusaraku wasn't moving. Examining him, she noticed a thin trickle of blood running down the side of his face from a cut on his head.

"He must have hit it on the way down…" she murmured. She bit her lip lightly, looking down at his prone form. What was wrong with him? Why was he acting like that? He seemed a bit crazed, but still… he didn't seem like Naraku.

"Who am I? The question is, who are you?" Kagome spoke this aloud, looking down at him, trying to figure out what to do.

"Kagome, is that you? I thought little miss high and mighty had to get away for a while!" At the sound of this aggravated voice, Kagome looked up to see Inuyasha's face peering down at her.

She frowned up at him. "Inuyasha, get down here and help me! This guy accidentally fell through the well with me, and I think he's kinda hurt. He's too heavy for me, so…"

"Yeah, yeah. You want me to help take him to the village." Inuyasha jumped down nimbly and threw Kusaraku over his shoulder, causing Kagome to wince at the thought of his head wound.

"Careful, Inuyasha!"

As they made their ways across the short distance to the village, Kagome watched Inuyasha carefully. If she had been wrong, and this was actually Naraku, then Inuyasha would surely smell it… but his nose didn't so much as twitch as he walked.

So, then, who was Kusaraku?

When they got to Kaede's hut, Inuyasha laid Kusaraku down a bit roughly, causing Kagome to wince again and glare at the hanyou. She proceeded to shoo him from the hut.

"Out of here, please. I need to tend to his wounds, I'll explain later. In the meantime… Do me a favor, please, and go ask Sango to come see me here. She might be by the stream where she and Kirara relax when we're here… have her bring some water with her, please, so that I can bathe his wound. I have something I need to ask her. You and Miroku stay away, though… no males allowed in here except for the patient."

Inuyasha frowned, but grudgingly agreed. He still remembered the barrage of sits she'd unleashed upon him when he had tried to stop her from leaving the other day, and his back ached at the very thought of another one right now.

Once he was gone, Kagome looked over at Kaede, who looked at her questioningly. Writing on a piece of paper she'd left on an earlier trip, she said:

I don't want Inuyasha to hear, so keep quiet. I'll explain when Sango gets here.

Once Kaede had nodded, Kagome proceeded to prepare another note for Sango. She didn't trust Inuyasha not to eavesdrop.

When Sango showed up with the water, Kagome thanked her, and simply said that he was a new student at her school who had accidentally fallen through the well with her. Sango looked doubtful, but nodded.

Kagome quickly heated the water, then, bathing a cloth in it, proceeded to gently clean Kusaraku's wound, which wasn't as bad as she had thought, and had already stopped bleeding. When done, she held up her note for both Sango and Kaede to see.

I'm going to show you both something, but, whatever you do,

PLEASE don't freak. I need you to not talk, because Inuyasha might be nearby, and I know how he would react to this. Anything you need to say, just write it on this paper, okay?

Both gave Kagome quizzical looks, but nodded in ascent.

Slowly, carefully, she removed Kusaraku's glasses and undid his braid so that his hair fell in dark waves around him. Looking from Kaede's face to Sango's, Kagome delicately pulled up one of Kusaraku's eyelids so that the eye-color could be seen. Sango let out a gasp and started to say something, but Kagome silenced her by holding up her hand, looking alarmed. Trembling in anger, Sango reached for Kagome's pen and paper.

Naraku! How could you bring him here, Kagome? What

happened! How could you?

Kagome shook her head and wrote her reply.

I thought it was him at first, too. But it's not, I'm sure of it. I've been around him the past few days, and I couldn't detect a thing. His name is Kusaraku Fujii. However, from what he said before we fell in the well, he's been having dreams that… seem to be Naraku's memories… ever since he met me. What could it mean?

Kaede, who had been reading the notes, held out her hand for the paper and pen.

I have a theory on what it could mean.

At their questioning looks, she continued.

Kagome, ye look remarkably like my sister, Kikyo, do ye not? And some of her powers passed down with ye. As soon as I saw ye, I knew ye to be Kikyo's reincarnation. Perhaps the same is true of this boy here. Perhaps he is the reincarnation of that vile Naraku. I would not be surprised if demons had reincarnations, too.

Strangely, this made sense. Nodding, Kagome spoke out loud. "This wound isn't as bad as I thought… it doesn't even need bandaged. Sango, do you want to come with me for a walk? I need to stretch my legs and think and I don't think my friend here will be awakening for a while…"

Sango agreed and stood to leave with her.

Once they were a respectable distance from the hut, and could see that Inuyasha wasn't nearby, Sango spoke.

"What are you going to do, Kagome?"

Kagome looked helpless. "I honestly don't know. I have two options; one, I can just take him back through and refuse to tell him anything… or two, I can tell him the truth about what's going on."

Sango started to answer, but was interrupted by what sounded next. Both girls turned when they heard Kaede's alarmed-sounding yell, and ran off in the direction of the hut.

When they reached it, the sight that greeted their eyes wasn't exactly pleasant.

Miroku stood by, watching. Kaede looked alarmed, and had obviously yelled out for them.

And Inuyasha…

Inuyasha was standing, his hand around Kusaraku's throat. He had the awakened boy lifted off of the ground, his claws digging slightly into his throat, and his lips were bared in a snarl.

"Damn you, Naraku. I don't know how you fooled Kagome, but you must really be an idiot if you think you could trick me this easily. You're stupid to have come here… now I can finally kill you, you bastard!"

Meanwhile, Kusaraku's face was steadily becoming blue from lack of air, and his eyes were filled with unbelievable terror.

Kagome did the only thing she could do.

"SIT, BOY!"

Her voice rang out clear and Inuyasha was, as expected, slammed face-first into the ground of the hut. Only problem was, he still hadn't relinquished his hold on Kusaraku, who looked to be on the verge of passing out.

What happened next was something that no one had expected.

A strange light flashed then in Kusaraku's eyes and an immense wave of demonic energy shot outwards, knocking into everyone in the hut. Each and every one of them (except for Inuyasha, who was already on the ground) fell over, unconscious.

Except for one. Kusaraku, the source of the blast, was still conscious… barely. He scrabbled wildly at Inuyasha's deathgrip around his throat, and was barely able to free himself.

Getting to his feet, Kusaraku looked around, his eyes frantic. They were here!... Wherever here was. There was that one girl, and the monk, and… the dog-eared boy.

He needed out of here before that murderous dog-boy awoke again! Fear still in his eyes, Kusaraku fled, heading not for the village, but for the wilderness.

Naraku was sitting there all by his evil self, contemplating what next to do, when his thoughts were interrupted by another presence in the room.

He looked up to see his white-haired 'daughter', Kanna, standing there, her gaze as blank as deep as always.

"What is it, Kanna?"

Wordlessly, the girl held out her mirror for Naraku to look in it. When he peered into it, what he saw sent a look of shock onto his face, which for Naraku was a rare thing. Reflected in the mirror was… well, it almost looked like himself who was running through the forest, clothed in strange garments, looking like he was determinedly running from something.

Who was this?