Chapter 65

The shaman took his time with Kagome. Yasha was passed out and the villagers had knocked out Miroku. To the shaman's dismay, the demon cat had disappeared. But the half-demon that caused him problems was still unconscious.

"You are wicked and evil, you witch.", the shaman said, "renounce your evil ways and I will let you live."

"I am not evil. I perform my witchcraft for good. I help people.", Kagome said to him.

"All witches are evil. My own mother was a witch. I enjoyed torturing her to death."

"And you call me evil. You are the evil one, you fiend."

This back and forth continued between them. Kagome only hoped she could stave them off until Inuyasha came to.

"Why do you travel with half-demons and a monk. Surely he must be a degenerate monk to travel with a group such as yours.", the shaman said.

"I travel with my husband and my son. We are heading to the Shrine of Antiquity in the northernmost region."

The shaman laughed, "Your husband, you say. A half-demon married? You must have taken pity on the his wretched soul."

"I didn't need to pity him. He's strong and brave. He's destroyed hundreds of demons stronger than himself. And he'll destroy you too, if you do anything to me."

This made the shaman laugh harder. That's when he heard the voice,

"Laugh all you want but she's right. I will destroy you of you even lay a finger on her."

"Inuyasha!", Kagome yelled, happily. Her happiness was short-lived however, when she saw Inuyasha was still fighting the poison.

"Well then, my plaything woke up!", huffed the shaman. Aiming his staff at Inuyasha, he fired off shocks of lightening bolts at the half-demon. The shaman laughed as Inuyasha squirmed and writhed in pain. His agonized yells hurt Kagome as she tried to release herself from her bonds.

Inuyasha's eyes began changing to red and his heartbeat sped up. To Kagome's horror, she saw the purple stripes on his face appear and saw his claws lengthening. She looked around at the villagers and saw that they weren't moving. They were definitely under a spell. She frantically tried to pull her hands out of the ropes. As Inuyasha continued his degeneration into the violent demon, Kagome felt something around her hands.

"Kirara!", she whispered as the cat sliced threw her binds. Kagome looked around and found the Tessaiga and the ran to her son. He was starting to come to as was Miroku. By this time, the shaman had noticed she was freed. As Kagome ran to Inuyasha, the shaman ordered the villagers to fire arrows at the witch and half-demon, who by now had freed himself from his binds.

As Kagome reached Inuyasha, the arrows flew. Wrapping herself around him, the arrows struck her back. Inuyasha grabbed the Tessaiga from Kagome and tried to save her from the arrows but it was too late. As Kagome passed out from the shock, Inuyasha went ballistic. He glared at the shaman and the villagers with a look that terrified Miroku.

"Inuyasha, don't! The villagers are under a spell from the shaman. Don't do it!", Miroku yelled. But the plea fell on deaf ears. His hands covered in Kagome's blood, Inuyasha cried out,

"MURDERERS! BLADES OF BLOOD!", he screamed as the blood flew through the air. The blood hit the villagers and struck them down. The shaman, however, he missed. Getting up, Inuyasha attacked the shaman,

"IRON REAVER SOUL STEALER!", He yelled as he destroyed the shaman. Running back to Kagome, he held her close.

"MOTHER!", Yasha yelled as he joined his father, with Miroku not far behind.

Miroku checked Kagome and whispered to Inuyasha,

"She's still alive. Barely. Her breathing is shallow, however. Let's take these arrows out of her."

"No. If you do that, she'll bleed to death.", Inuyasha said.

"I'll only remove the shafts. I'll leave the arrowheads in. That will slow the bleeding.", Miroku said.

Miroku slowly removed the shafts from the arrows so that Inuyasha could hold Kagome easier. The three of them sat there with Kagome for what seemed like an eternity. Eventually, Yasha looked around and said,

"Where's Kirara?"

Miroku looked around and was surprised to see the fire cat gone. "I don't know where she went.", he said.

As dusk fell, the group heard a yell,

"Papa! Yasha!"

They looked up and saw Kirara with Kouga and Kaori on her back. Her passengers hopped off and ran to where Kagome lay in Inuyasha's arms.

"What the hell happened, dog-breath?", Kouga demanded.

"MOTHER!", cried Kaori as she ran and hugged her mother's body.

Miroku explained what happened and Kouga looked at Kaori.

"Kaori, do to your mother what you did with my son. You did it once, you can do it again. I know it."

"Do what?", Inuyasha and Miroku chorused together.

Kaori prepared herself and took a breath. Laying both hands on her mother's body, she concentrated. As before, a bright light emanated from her hands as the warmth flowed into Kagome's body. Inuyasha felt the arrowheads pop out as Kagome's back healed. Kagome's breathing became deeper and more alive. Inuyasha, Yasha, and Miroku watched in amazement as Kagome's eyes opened and color returned to her cheeks. Then Kaori fell over and passed out. Kouga caught her in his arms.

"What happened?", Inuyasha asked, as he looked worriedly at his daughter.

"Your daughter is empathic and she didn't know it. She saved my son earlier. But the use of so much power wears her out. Don't worry. She'll be fine in a little while.", Kouga advised.

Not wanting to stay in the village, the group found a clearing down the road a ways. Miroku built a fire and Inuyasha and Kouga hunted for food. The group decided to camp for the night so that Kagome and Kaori could recuperate. As she healed, Kagome was surprised at hearing about Kaori's ability.

"So my daughter is a witch. The apple doesn't fall far from the tree.", Kagome said proudly.

"Papa? What does Kaori being a witch have to do with an apple falling from a tree?", Yasha whispered to his father.

"HMPH! How would I know. Your mother always comes up with weird stuff.", his father whispered back as Kagome just shook her head.

After eating, Inuyasha went off by himself. Miroku informed Kagome that Inuyasha had killed villagers when he thought she was dead. Understanding this, Kagome went to Inuyasha and just sat beside him. She knew her presence was enough. She didn't need to say anything.

"I can't believe what I did. I was so angry. And I wasn't demon. What came over me?", Inuyasha fretted.

"You did what you had to do. I understand and so does everybody else. We don't blame you.", Kagome tried to reassure him, to no avail. Kagome knew by his posture and the look on his face that he blamed himself and wouldn't forgive himself anytime soon.

The night wore on and everybody had trouble sleeping. At the break of dawn, the group got up and left. They still had to get to the Shrine of Antiquity.