A/N: Here's part six! Thanks to everyone who has reviewed so far! I'm glad so many people seem to enjoy this story so much!

>>>>>>

Don't Cry for Me
Chapter Six

Kouga sighed deeply. "Where are Kagome and Inuyasha?" He asked. "Trust me...I am pretty sure that they are going to want to hear about this..."

"What is it, exactly? You still haven't answered that question..." frowned Miroku.

"I don't plan on explaining myself twice, monk. Where is dog-face and Kagome?" Kouga repeated.

"We're right here," frowned Inuyasha, coming out of the forest with Kagome following closely behind. "What do you want, Kouga?"

Kouga took a deep breath. "I needed to tell you guys something."

Inuyasha blinked and nodded. "What?"

"We...as in all of us...have problems. I came to give you my jewel shards. Kikyou will be along a little later with Kohaku so that you can remove his. It has to be done quickly, so that the jewel can be purified before he realizes what is going on...so that he can't get it..."

"Who are you talking about, Kouga? What exactly do you mean?" Kagome wondered out loud.

Kouga shook his head. "It isn't Naraku if that's what you are thinking," he began. "I thought about that at first, but I found out recently that Kikyou took out Naraku's baby just before Sesshoumaru and Kagome went after Naraku himself...which, by the way, I still think was a crazy idea, Kagome..." he added.

Kagome frowned. "Don't change the subject, Kouga. You came here to warn us about something, so if you're going to, you need to tell us what is going on. If not, let us be so that we can figure it out on our own..."

Kouga blinked as though he had been slapped, and again shook his head. "I'm getting there..." he assured them. He cleared his throat loudly and continued. "Our new problem goes by the name of Akumaru. I'm not entirely sure if he's after the jewel shards or not...but what I do know about him has compelled me to bring mine to you. He is intelligent..." Kouga coughed, "and he feeds off of positive spiritual energy..."

Kagome cocked her head sideways. "What? How do you mean...?"

Kouga looked toward the ground. "I mean that he gets his kicks off of absorbing the life energy of spiritual beings...priests...monks," he looked to Miroku, and then to Kagome, "and priestesses..." He sighed. "Once he realizes how powerful you and your friend Miroku are, he will certainly be coming after you..."

"And Kikyou? He hasn't gotten to her, has he?" whispered Kagome.

Inuyasha glanced at her in curiosity. "Kagome..." he began.

Kouga shook his head. "He feeds off of life energy..." he repeated. "Kikyou has had no problems with him because technically, she does not walk among the living..."

"That makes sense..." Kagome nodded. "What are we supposed to do about all this?"

Kouga was quiet a moment. Finally, he held out his hand, dropping his jewel shards into Kagome's hand and looking away quickly. "Take these and fuse them with the rest of the jewel. When Kikyou stops by with Kohaku, fuse that shard with the rest of the jewel as well...and then get rid of it as quickly as possible..." Kouga frowned. "And Kagome, I would suggest that you and your friend here be very careful. I don't want to here any more bad news with your name connected to it...all right?"

Kagome nodded slowly. "All right, Kouga. We understand." She swallowed. "And...thank you," she added as he turned to leave.

Kagome's mother approached as soon as Kouga left. "What was that all about?" she wondered.

"Our new set of problems..." Inuyasha smirked. "Where did the old woman go?"

Kagome's mother stood thinking for a moment. "She just returned to her hut. She was looking for a weed of some type earlier...but I think she found it. Why?"

Inuyasha sighed deeply, and began to walk toward Kaede's hut. "I'll let her know what's going on." he called out. "Then I think it would be a really good idea if we didn't all stay here like a bunch of sitting ducks..."

"What are you...?" Kagome's mother began.

"It's a long story, mom." Kagome sighed.

She blinked. "We should return to the future, shouldn't we?"

"Not if you don't want to..." Kagome frowned. "This guy won't be after you guys, so you should be safe here as long as you stay inside the boundaries of the village...and I...I plan on staying here, anyway..."

Kagome's mother nodded. "I understand." She laughed. "I doubt your grandfather would consent to our leaving right now, anyway. I believe he has grown rather attached to the old woman," she blushed.

Kagome smiled. "That's good for him," she nodded.

Inuyasha emerged from Kaede's hut, and took a deep breath. "All right...We should probably try to be out of here tomorrow morning. I don't want to draw any attention to the old hag. Her power has quite a kick to it...and no one who lives outside of this village needs to know that..."

Kagome nodded slowly. "Come on, Inuyasha," she whispered, taking his hand in hers. "It will be all right. Kouga has already warned us. Let's make some food and wait for Kikyou to show up. There is no need to worry about something we can not help tonight..."

"Kagome!" Her mother called. "Aren't you going to tell me what is really going on?"

>>>>>>

"So, his name is Akumaru? I wonder what kind of hole he crawled out of?" Sesshoumaru thought out loud. "I've never heard of a demon like him before..."

"Lord Sesshoumaru..." whined Jacken.

Sesshoumaru blinked. "What is it, Jacken? You have interrupted me yet again..."

"It is Rin, Lord Sesshoumaru..."

Sesshoumaru stood in sudden alarm. His eyes grew wide. "What about Rin, Jacken? What has happened? Where is she? Is she all right?" he demanded.

The toad Jacken gulped, and looked away for a moment. "I do not know, master..." he whispered with a squeak. "She is glowing..."

Sesshoumaru allowed his face to show a small bit of confusion. "Glowing? What on earth do you mean by that? Have you done something?"

Jacken shook his head vigorously. "No, Lord Sesshoumaru! I do not know what is wrong...Rin is glowing blue..."

"Blue...?" Sesshoumaru whispered.

"Yes, master...blue..." Jacken repeated.

Sesshoumaru frowned. "Bring her to me, Jacken. Tell her we are going on a trip. I am going to take her to see the old woman at the village where Inuyasha and his pack are staying..." he decided.

>>>>>>

"Kikyou is here..." Miroku pointed.

"There is no need for an announcement, monk," Kikyou shook her head.

"Kohaku..." Sango smiled. "I am glad to see that you are doing all right..." she wrapped him in a hug.

Kikyou nodded. "Here is the jewel shard that was once in his back...with Naraku dead, I thought it would be safe to remove it, and I did as soon as I knew that his wounds would be all right. He has had a great deal of time for his wounds to heal...and I do not expect that they will hold him back any longer. There are scars, but other than that, he is all right..." Kikyou reported. "He did well in battle..." she added, almost proudly.

Sango nodded. "Thank you, Kikyou. I trust you have already heard of Akumaru?" she asked.

Kikyou nodded. "Of course I have...but that demon has no effect on me. My sister and my reincarnation may find him to be a bit difficult, however..." she added under her breath.

Sango nodded again. "We've heard..." she frowned. "We will be leaving the village in the morning so as not to draw attention to Kaede..." she told her.

Kikyou smiled. "That is nice of you. My little sister is getting rather old.."

"I'm not that old, Kikyou..." Kaede laughed as she came out of her hut.

"Yes, but the demon will certainly come after you if he realizes who you are...or what you are, I should say..."

"Speaking of that..." The group turned to see that Sesshoumaru, Jacken, and the little girl Rin had suddenly joined their midst.

Inuyasha blinked. "Sesshoumaru? What's wrong?"

"Rin. She was...glowing...blue. I saw it for myself. I decided it would be wise to come here and ask the old priestess her opinion about it..."

Kaede stared at the young girl. "Blue, you said?" she asked.

He nodded. "I thought it peculiar..."

"It is a good thing." she smiled. "Well...if you do not take into account that Akumaru demon that is lurking about..."

"What do you mean?" Sesshoumaru frowned, his head cocked to the side.

Kagome smiled. "It is a good thing, Sesshoumaru. I think Kaede is trying to say that Rin has a spiritual gift. Maybe she is some type of priestess...?" Kagome suggested.

Kaede nodded. "She very well may be..."

"But..." Sesshoumaru began.

"She will be all right, Sesshoumaru," Kaede assured him.

"I must find this demon Akumaru..." Sesshoumaru whispered, more to himself than to anyone else around him.

Kagome sighed. "Sesshoumaru, if you insist on looking for Akumaru, might I suggest that we take Rin with us?"

Sesshoumaru's eyes widened to the size of dinner plates. "But you can't possibly..." he stammered.

Kagome held up her hand. He stopped talking. "She will be fine, Sesshoumaru. I understand that this demon is after me, but he's also after Miroku, and Kaede...I have been well trained by Kaede, and none of us are going to let any harm come to Rin. I don't think it's a good idea to leave her with you when you have never dealt with this type of power. I could help her...and we could protect her while you searched for Akumaru..." she gestured to Inuyasha and the others that were standing around her.

Sesshoumaru looked down, where the young girl Rin was clinging to his pants leg. He sighed deeply. "Rin...you are going to go with Lady Kagome for a while, all right?" he told her.

Rin looked up at him, and after a moment, she nodded with enthusiasm. "Yes, Lord Sesshoumaru. Rin will go. You will come back for Rin, right?"

Sesshoumaru nodded. "It is just for a little while...until you learn how to control your..." he searched for the words, "your...gifts. Lady Kagome is going to teach you. You need to listen to what she and Inuyasha say..."

"Rin will behave." The little girl smiled.

"Then I will be leaving now," Sesshoumaru nodded to the rest of the group.

"As will I..." Kikyou added, waving and following Sesshoumaru into the woods.

>>>>>>

"Kagome...this really worries me..." Inuyasha whispered into her ear. "I don't like the idea of this guy sucking the life force out of you, or Miroku, or Rin...or the old woman...or anyone...but especially you...I don't want to lose you again. This time, if anything happens, Sesshoumaru isn't going to be nearby to help out..."

Kagome smiled nervously. "Inuyasha...try not to worry about things like that. I don't plan on leaving you anytime soon...and I doubt Miroku or Kaede or anyone else plans on it, either."

"That's the point, Kagome. You don't have to plan it for it to happen..."

"Be positive, Inuyasha," Kagome whispered, snuggling herself into his chest. "I'm not scared of anything. I'm not even that worried about this Akumaru guy. I don't need to worry, because I have you to protect me...and you've not failed me once..." she smiled.

Inuyasha nodded slightly. "I know..." He grinned slightly and placed a small kiss on her forehead. "I can't help but be protective of you..." he told her.

"Mommy!" Shippo called, running into the hut. "Oh, I'm sorry..." be blushed, and turned to walk from the hut.

Miroku entered shortly after he left, a smile on his face. "Well, I guess that answers my question about what you and Kagome were up to out in the forest earlier, huh?"

"Damn you, monk! We didn't do anything! Keep your mouth shut and get those thoughts out of your head right now!" Inuyasha growled.

Miroku shook his head. "No one said you did anything, Inuyasha...I'm just proud of you because you finally admitted your feelings to Kagome..."

"Kagome...now there's a name I've heard several times today..." came a voice from the hut entrance. The three of them looked up.

Kagome nearly screamed. Standing in front of them was a demon with long black hair. He could have passed for human if not for the purple and blue markings on his face and forehead. He carried on his back a moderately-sized sword, and hanging from the belt around his waist was a small tie bag of some sort.

He smiled at the two of them. "Wasn't too much trouble finding you here..." he smirked. "No one even noticed...except the little fox demon...he noticed...he just didn't pose a problem to me..."

Kagome gasped. "Shippo! No...you didn't..."

Miroku took a step forward, his staff raised. "Who are you, and what are you doing here?" he demanded.

"If you've hurt Shippo..." Kagome frowned.

"He got in my way..."

"Damn you!" growled Inuyasha. "What do you want? You smell like a rat to me!"

"Kagome!" It was Sango. The unnamed demon stood between her and Kagome, Inuyasha, and Miroku. "Are you all right? I think he's Akumaru..." she began, drawing her katana.

Kagome shook her head. "I can already guess that," she answered, ignoring the demon standing between them. "Find Shippo...I think he's hurt...and then get my family and Kaede and Rin out of here as fast as you can, all right?" Kagome told her.

"But..." Sango stammered.

"Go, Sango!" Inuyasha commanded.

"All right..." she whispered reluctantly.

The demon seemed not to care that Sango was retreating. His eyes were fixated on Kagome and Miroku, and he still had that same smile on his face as he did when he first arrived.

Inuyasha growled and pushed Kagome behind him protectively.

"Get out of my way, you useless half demon," Akumaru snarled in anger. "I'm not interested in you. I want the girl...and maybe the monk when I'm done..." he smirked. "If you stand in my way, I will have to kill you..."

"Well then, you will have to kill me, because I'm not moving..." Inuyasha replied, pulling the tesseiga from its sheath.

>>>>>>

A/N: Yeah, I know...sorry about the cliff hanger...but I couldn't help myself. Please review and let me know what you think, and the next installment will be up soon! The rest of the song which was used in the first several chapters will appear in highlighting the events of the next couple chapters...