I'm back everyone! Technically, everyone includes one person, and to that one person, I thank you. As a matter of fact, I did finish KH2, but do you know how to get the bonus movie? I've been trying, but I just don't know what needs to get done. Ah well, here's chapter 3! (Oh and just a little side note: No new characters except for a few bad guys and some random heroes that the Inutachi meet.)

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Sango looked over at the unconscious hanyou lying on a futon on the opposite side of the hut. Miroku was currently talking to Kaede about what had befallen Inuyasha and Kagome, unsure of it all himself. When the taijia asked him about it, he told her that he had sensed an unbelievable level of darkness emit from the black portal that he had pulled Inuyasha out of with some of his holy powers. The darkness was so intense, he had said, that it drained nearly all of his powers just to save the hanyou. He had tried saving Kagome as well, but it required more power than he had the capability to tap into. The aged priestess sighed sadly, removing the dry cloth from Inuyasha's forehead to submerse it in a bucket of water beside the futon.

"I fear for the both of them very much…" She wrung out the cloth before replacing it on the hanyou's forehead. Kaede looked at his sleeping form a moment, collecting her thoughts before turning back to the houshi-sama and the taijia. Sango cleared her throat, gathering up the courage to ask the question that she feared the answer to.

"Will they be alright?" Though the taijia was strong willed, she surprised herself when her voice came out a harsh whisper. The priestess closed her eyes and bowed her head solemnly. Her arms linked together behind her back while she began to pace in thought.

"It is difficult to say. Both the heart of Inuyasha and the heart of Kagome have linked, become connected with each other." She stopped her pacing to look at the hanyou again as he cringed slightly, panting and gasping for air. Beads of sweat ran down his head, despite the wet cloth on his forehead. Even in her old age, Kaede had to turn her head respectfully away from the hanyou's bare, sweating chest with extreme modesty.

"Their hearts are highly unstable when they cannot be near each other, without knowing where the other is." Inuyasha's fists clenched unconsciously, his head turned to his left a little bit of the way, his cringe seeming to darken.

"Kagome's heart is no longer with Inuyasha's, though their strong ties are still connected, their invisible bond still existent, her heart is weakening from wherever she has been taken…" She sat down and motioned for the two to follow suit. They did as she had silently requested, sitting opposite her.

"…and that, in turn, is weakening Inuyasha's heart as well. Though both hearts will remain strong so long as they never forget their feelings toward each other…" She sighed sadly as her head bowed low once again.

"…I fear that Kagome's life, as well as her heart, is in grave danger." Miroku was about to open his mouth to say something, but he sensed Inuyasha's youki (demonic aura) sharpen as his head jerked to the right in his feverish sleep. The three of them watched with curiosity as Inuyasha appeared to be having some sort of nightmare due to the fever…

He was walking…walking nowhere in particular, just through Inuyasha Forest, as he had always done. The wind picked up as he stopped, carrying another scent with its gentle breezes…her scent…

"Kagome!" He broke into a sprint toward Goshinboku. She turned to him, smiling warmly, calling out his name. He slowed his run to a light jog until he stopped mere inches away from her. He felt his lips tug upward…kami-sama how her smile was contagious! She looked like she was about to say something, but her smile faded as she caught sight of something falling in the sky above them. He turned and followed her gaze to see what looked like a silhouette of someone's limp body, a mere shadow against the setting sun, falling toward the earth. He blinked at the falling figure for a moment, but his heart almost gave a lurch when he realized that…that falling figure…was him.

He blinked as he felt something stab through his heart. Nothing physically, but it was like someone was crushing his heart, shattering it like the fragile glass that it was. He could only reach out to Kagome in a futile attempt to stop himself from falling as he began to fall backwards. He expected the ground to rush up to meet him, but it melted away into a black abyss that opened up to him with a cold vengeance. Kagome watched with a horrified expression as he faded away. Within an eye blink, the darkness rippled over him, blocking her from his view. He was falling helplessly into the vast emptiness, and there was no one, nothing that could save him now.

Thousands…maybe even millions of tiny yellow orbs surrounded him, watching him, analyzing him. He continued to fall, not knowing what to do about those glinting yellow eyes. Tiny bodies revealed themselves behind the yellow orbs, their frames only about as big as Shippo's, maybe a little bigger. His irises contracted as he felt a sharp pain in his back. His arm shook fiercely as he tried moving his right arm to the Tetsusaiga, but it felt like something was stopping it from moving. He then realized to his horror…

…he couldn't move.

Tetsusaiga rattled and quivered beside him wildly inside its sheath, as if demanding it be released from its scabbard. 'Tetsusaiga…?' He thought as the creatures of darkness swam over him like a wave of emptiness. He felt the air leave his lungs as he tried to lash out at the darkness, but he remained paralyzed. Darkness covered his eyes and he knew nothing more.

"Kagome…" He mumbled, his cringe darkening just before he slowly regained consciousness. Honey-amber eyes slowly revealed themselves as they swept over the area of the hut, stopping to focus on the three other occupants of the space.

"…where is she…?" He cringed as he sat back on his elbows, shutting one eye in an attempt to block out the pain coursing through his body. It wasn't true pain, more like a numbing state that he couldn't bring his body out of.

"Where's Kagome…is she…alright…?" He said in a low voice, thick with pain. The three others looked at each other sadly, refusing to meet eyes with the hanyou. No more words were needed to be said. He knew then what had happened. Miroku had saved him, but let Kagome fall into an eternal darkness.

He pounded his fist into the wall beside him, splintering the wood slightly. It should have been the other way around. He should be the one falling in an everlasting darkness, she should be the one laying here, wondering where he was and if he was alright.

This was wrong. This was all so wrong.

"So…you saved me…but in exchange, Kagome's…" He couldn't finish the thought. He didn't need to.

"Inuyasha-sama…I'm so sorry…I tried…"

"I know." He wasn't angry at Miroku; he knew that the houshi had tried to rescue both of them. He had just been the one that hadn't been entirely consumed by darkness, so he was saved first. When Miroku had tried another spiritual venture to save Kagome, his holy power had almost been diminished, and so…

"If you hadn't told me to save Kagome, I wouldn't have even known that she was there, too." He paused for a moment…so…Miroku had heard him calling out to him, telling houshi to forget about saving him and just save Kagome? His eyes were downcast in agony. How could fate do this to him? How could destiny do this to her? It was one thing to be pulled into darkness, another to be consumed by it. He was speaking from experience.

"Naraku…he's behind this. I'm sure of it."

"Inuyasha…are ye sure…?"

"I heard his voice back there- don't question my certainty." He growled as he tried his best to get up. It took all he had not to howl in pain as he felt a sharp stabbing in his side. He clutched his right side in pain, wincing as he eased himself into a sitting position. 'Damn…why do I feel so weak?' He wondered as he swore a colorful array of curse words under his breath.

"Ye must do your best not to move around for at least a day, or else the darkness that is still left inside you will spread." Kaede warned as she placed a small burner with some herbs beside him.

"Breath in these vapors deeply, child; they will ease the pain and dizziness. The dark aura in your body must not go unchecked." Inuyasha growled again, but didn't fight the elderly miko as she forced him to lie down again.

"Damn…how can you people expect me to just lay here when I don't even know where Kagome is? What do you expect of me?" The hanyou demanded, though there was no force in his voice. His eyelids began to feel suddenly heavy, as he breathed the herbal vapors emitting from the tiny clay pot burner (it sounds like I'm describing Kikyo…n.n) that was placed beside his head. 'Damn…what did she put in those herbs? I'm only feeling weaker…she said these were supposed to HELP!' Even in his subconscious, it was hard to produce any amount of will to fight, to yell, to even oppose anyone or anything, as his body began to numb itself into sleep.

"Just rest, Inuyasha…we'll find Kagome, don't worry." He faintly heard Sango assure him before the hut melted away and he was left to dream of his Kagome.

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-Pant- -pant- whew! That one took some thinking! –sweat drop- no, seriously, stick around for the next chappie, I'm going to go take a Tylenol, now…