This chapter is dedicated to Christina. Without her review yesterday, there would have been no more to this story... This authoress has low confidence in her story telling abilities. The cure? Reviews. :)

Washi- "Eagle"
Sayonakidori- "Nightengale"

Enjoy.

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"You bitch, you killed her!" Inuyasha howled from behind. Turning automatically, Naraku's eyes widened as he watched Inuyasha speed towards Kikyo, sword ready. Why wasn't Kikyo moving!

And before he knew it, he was sprinting towards Kikyo, sword also at the ready. But it was aimed at Inuyasha. Later, he would insist he had probably been controlled by some otherworldly... thing. But for right now, all that mattered was that Inuyasha be stopped.

When his sprint had brought him close to Kikyo, he raised his sword in a deadly horizontal thrust. His sword was held in his left hand while the other outstretched as far as it could go, ready to push Kikyo out of the way at the last minute, right before he ran Inuyasha through. If all went well, Inuyasha wouldn't see him until it was too late. Almost there... his fingers brushed against Kikyo's tattered kimono top and he tensed, knowing he would only get one chance to save her and take care of the meddlesome mutt. Almost there...

And then suddenly, she was gone. Instead of Kikyo's tragic, vacant expression, Inuyasha's ugly face was coming closer and closer. Rage was still evident on the mutt's face, but it was quickly being replaced by confusion at the priestess's disappearance, and fear when he realized Naraku's sword was a mere metre away from his chest.

So intent on avoiding being speared, the half-demons never actually saw Kikyo being sucked into Miroku's wind tunnel. But they instantly knew what had happened when they looked up to see the monk wrapping the purple cloth around his hand, his face a picture of regret.

"I'm sorry, Inuyasha," the monk said quietly. "I just didn't want you to regret killing her later."

Naraku opened his eyes slowly and stared at the dark ceiling, expressionless. He hadn't been dreaming; he hadn't slept since that day when Kikyo died. No, he had just been remembering, as he had been doing for a week. Mainly he was thinking about her deaths. How she had fallen the first time when he sliced her open from abdomen through shoulder. How she had shook from betrayal, mistaking her murderer. And then this time, how her eyes had widened when she realized he had come for her himself. She had been scared, and surprised. And also... sad. Was it because she realized she was going to die by his hand again?

But he hadn't done it. And he wouldn't have gone through with it. His motivation for killing her personally had been misplaced. Nevertheless, she was no longer useful to him and therefore didn't merit protection, nor the effort, however slight, it would take to kill her. He had turned away, letting Inuyasha do whatever he pleased. After all, if he ever realized he had been wrong, it would crush him... and Naraku would love nothing more.

He sat up suddenly, rubbing his sore red eyes. This is stupid, he told himself. It was stupid. He could come up with no reason to explain his inappropriate behavior and the thoughts that had caused him to try and save the priestess. It was a split second decision, and a very moronic one at that, he decided. And it wouldn't happen again. His lip curled in morbid irony. Of course it wouldn't. She was dead.

Something cracked loudly. He turned his head to see that the flask in his hand had crumpled. Rolling his eyes, he called Kagura for another.

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On the other side of the good and evil spectrum, Inuyasha wasn't doing so well in the conscience department either. When he had mistaken Kagome's condition as death, he had been overcome with grief. As he wasn't a patient half-demon on the best of days, it wasn't surprising that the outlet for his misery was violence. He would have killed her. He should have killed her.

He hadn't spoken to or even seen Miroku for awhile; he wasn't sure how long it had been. Days blurred now. Kagome was very weak, but Kaede assured him she was in stable condition now. For now, shard hunting was on hold and Inuyasha's days were spent sulking, checking in on Kagome, brooding, stroking Kagome's hair while she slept, then going off into a corner to glare darkly some more. As for his friends... Miroku had taken off without a word, leaving Sango a tearful mess. Shippou had gone after him, only to wander upon the village a few days later, surprised to find he had been going in circles. Kirara left Sango's side only to visit Kagome. Overall, the usually cheerful group was decidedly miserable.

Suddenly, Inuyasha raised his head, nose twitching. The wind had brought him the scent of a demon. With a little concentration and a whole lot more twitching... he frowned. An eagle? Such creatures were rare, let alone demons of the same form. He looked over to the sleeping girl a few feet away, sleeping peacefully. Of course, he couldn't tell if the eagle demon had a shard with him relying on his own senses. Focusing his eyes elsewhere, his gaze lingered on the dented sword leaning against the far wall. Truth be told, all this sitting around waiting for Kagome to get better and the murderous monk to return was grating on his already thin nerves. He was itching for some action. He sighed, knowing full well it was pathetic that he was hoping the eagle demon would be a 'bad guy', so he could kick some ass. He smirked. So the decision was made. Pulling the fire rat kimono over his head, he grabbed Tetsuiga and left the hut, never seeing that Kagome's eyes had fluttered open.

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Lord Washi sat back into the branches of the tree he was perched in. He was very uncomfortable; due to the increase in the council's meetings, he had rarely had the oppurtunity to be in his eagle form. Now that he had the chance... it felt weird. He shifted, frowning. Why did the oldest of the council members have to do the field work? He was much more comfortable with giving the orders, and dealing with the reports. Watching Inuyasha mope was really uninteresting and the one he was really supposed to be watching was even worse; she wasn't even moving.

He stiffened, feeling the wind give him news. The girl was awake. He sighed in relief. He could leave this accursed tree finally to deliver the good news. Hopefully Sayonakidori, who had been given the job of watching Kikyo's recovery, would also have some good news. Wings spread for flight, he prepared to leave.

A new sound on the wind made him pause. With as much of a snarl as he could muster with a beak, he realized he had screwed up. It had been so long since he had tried his wing at spying. He should have recognized the change in the direction of the wind, bringing his scent directly to a certain dog half-demon's sensitive nose. Washi had no desire to fight. And even if his feelings were to the contrary, the council would be appalled if one of their members was revealed. Speed was of the escence here. With one last quick look at the village he had been staring at for the most boring week in his life, he spread his overly large wings and sped west.

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Naraku was extremely pissed off. More so than usual. So someone thought they would have a little fun with the Naraku's head, eh? Make him look like an idiot then have a good laugh about it? Oh he would show them. He would not be defeated, no matter what this enemy threw at him.

"Damn you, stop breaking!" He yelled as the grey portion of the thin writing utensil broke off again with a snap and flew across the room. Snarling, the angry half-demon threw the small red cylinder to join the broken lead.

"It appears humans in the future are just as stupid and useless as they are now," Kagura observed from the corner. She knocked a larger black cylinder against the floor in disgust. "I can't figure out for the life of me what this does."

Naraku ignored her. "What is the purpose of a writing utensil that allows you to write a single word before breaking?" With a grunt of disgust, he turned to the backpack Kanna had taken from Kagome's bedside when she was asleep. The little girl had thought it would be prudent for Naraku and his mignons to get some sort of idea of what the future was like before they took it over. So far, their progress with the strange devices was beginning to convince Naraku that perhaps the future was really not worth the trouble.

Suddenly, he was blinded. Snarling and shielding his eyes, he saw that Kagura had managed to make the black cylinder produce light. He snarled again. Great, everyone was doing better than he was.

"Give me that," he growled, grabbing the strange light device. To his horror, the light disappeared. With a howl, the black cylinder joined the red one several feet away. He was cursed, there was no other explanation.

Kagura was silent. This was an unpredicted predicament. The plan had been simple. Gather the shards to make the wish to be able to go through the well. Once there, use their combined strength to make the pitiful, swollen population of humans bow down before their rightful master, Lord Naraku. They had all assumed the humans couldn't have progressed that much. But their capacity for stupidity, and for creating even more stupiditiy was simply amazing. And these devices were just from Kagome's bag of tricks. Who knew what else awaited the evil threesome on the other side?

"What we need," Kagura said slowly, pulling at her lower lip thoughtfully, "is a scout."

Naraku looked up, delicate features working in contemplation. "A scout..." He repeated. For a moment, he looked hopeful. But then he realized it was impossible. "No, it wouldn't work. Only Inuyasha's whore can go through the well."

Kagura frowned. "Inuyasha has gone through before..."

Naraku snorted. "That's even worse."

Kagura sighed. Of course, it was a stupid idea. The only other way would be to collect all the shards. Once collected, they could send a scout, but somehow Kagura doubted Naraku would have the patience to wait. Unless they could force Kagome to teach them... but there was so much to teach, and how long could they hold her against her will? Only Kagome... she stiffened. Kagome was the reincarnation.

"Kikyo," she said, not realizing she was speaking out loud.

A crash from the other side of the room made her realize what she had done. Looking up guiltily, she saw that Naraku was staring at her. Bits of shimmering black glass littered the floor around his feet.

"What?" He whispered. Kagura swallowed, making a mental reminder never to say the priestess's name. At least no until she revealed that she was alive, and safe.

"Kagome is Kikyo's reincarnation. Perhaps she would have been able to-"

"No."

"But, my lord-"

"No. Maybe she could have. But she's dead. Think of something else." Without meeting her eyes, he left the room.

She's dead. She's dead. She's dead... She's not coming back this time. His toy- no. His Kikyo. His Kikyo. She was...

An anguished scream ripped through the silence of the night. A silent breeze picked up the sound, taking it to the side of a mountain. Finding a small entrance, it tunneled down through the dark depths, finally reaching a small, dimly lit cave. It then came to the ears of a monk in purple, and the patient in his arms. And finally, for the first time in a week, Kikyo opened her eyes.

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