When Night Falls

Disclaimer: Why don't I own Inuyasha? 'Cause I'm an Idiot.

Here it is! Chapter 3! Oh, wait a minute! I got reviews! Sweet!

Moonyme: Here's your update! Aww… this fic is lovely? Bless ye.

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Silver Mirror: Thank you! Yeah, I tried to make Mushin funny and I guess I succeeded! Yay!

Chapter 3: Trapped!

Kirara darted southward through the sky, carrying her two passengers to Kaede's village.

"How much do you think your spiritual powers have been depleted?" Sango asked Miroku, behind.

"I can feel that it's quite a lot. I used to be able to pick out individual demons… I can't now. My kazaana still works though… I can feel it tugging at my palm, strong as ever."

It was obviously meant to be positive, but the way it came out was negative. Of course, how could anyone speak positively of that?

Sango turned grim at mention of the cause of Miroku's eventual downfall. It was something that she constantly tried to keep back in the deepest corners of her mind, and when it was brought up it painfully brought with it all the things the Kazaana was capable of. She knew very well that there might not be a lot of time left on the world for him, but it was her job as his friend to do everything she could to rid him of that curse. Of course, tings were looking grim. They had no idea where Naraku was hiding, and Miroku was already beginning to show signs of the Kazaana's growth… (remember the whole Mushin-incident… uh… thingie? You know what I'm talking about.)

"Sango?" Sango was yanked out her thoughts by Miroku calling her name.

"Hmm? Houshi-sama, what is it?" she asked.

"Well, it's just you got real silent there, may I question as to why?"

"Oh, it was nothing… nothing at all."

"What are we going to do?" wondered Kagome, eyeing the fast approaching cloud of demons.

"Maybe they'll pass right over us," said Inuyasha, "It doesn't look like they're here to attack us. They're probably weaker demons fleeing to the south."

"But don't forget," responded Kagome, reaching for the string around her neck, "the shards of the sacred jewel. As soon as they sense those they're sure to come after us."

"Shit," swore Inuyasha. He drew the Tetsusaiga. "Guess we'll just have to fight them then…"

"NO!" Kagome yelled, "Not here, we can't put the village in danger!"

"Well what do you suppose we do then?" he retorted.

"We draw them away from here!"

"Fine," huffed Inuyasha, re-sheathing his Tetsusaiga. Kagome hitched her usual ride on his back and they quickly headed towards the outskirts of the village. The demons were getting close now. With one final burst of speed Inuyasha brought him and Kagome to the only uninhabited clearing for miles, the bone-eaters well.

It was just as Inuyasha planted his feet that the blanket of demons passed overhead. The wind they generated as they shot past overhead whipped at Kagome's clothes. There were so many demons… it was impossible to see the clouds overhead. And then… they stopped. The immense hoard of demons hovered above them and everything was silent for the longest time. Then, like a gigantic funnel cloud the demons collapsed around them. In the blink of an eye they had gone from complete silence to being trapped within a whirling vortex of demons. Kagome felt teeth and claws tear at her clothes and flesh as a renegade demon would decide to break off from the swirling mass and take its chances at the jewel shard.

"WIND SCAR!" The five blades of light from the Tetsusaiga darted through the air and literally obliterated a large group of demons.

Kagome shot an arrow that ripped through the wall of demons, leaving a window into the outside world until it was once more filled up with demons. There where so many, hitting them was like jumping into the ocean and trying to hit water. Inuyasha was firing off the Wind Scar now as if he were and enraged, trigger-happy redneck with a twelve-gauge (sorry, couldn't help myself). Kagome was using up arrows as quick as she could fire them, and yet there was no noticeable damage done to the tornado of youkai. The demons were becoming more aggressive in their attack now, more were breaking off from their pattern and entering the eyes of the funnel to attack Inuyasha and Kagome. Slowly, the walls of the swirling mass began to close in on them. Kagome reached into her quiver and gasped.

"Inuyasha! I have no arrows left!" she yelled.

"Damn!" Inuyasha swore as he released another volley of Wind Scar's. But with the vortex of demons closing in around them he was quickly running out of elbow room.

"How are we gonna get out of this one?" asked Kagome.

"Give me a moment," grunted Inuyasha, who had now been reduced to swiping at the demons with his claws.

Kagome and Inuyasha were trapped back to back now.

"Inuyasha… there's something I need to tell you," she said desperately.

"Can't it wait?" he grumbled, splitting another demon with his claws.

"No, Inuyasha, I need to tell you that I lo-"

"HIRAIKOTSU!" Suddenly a gigantic mass of demons were annihilated. Kagome felt a jerk on her arm and then she and Inuyasha were being dragged through the wall of demons. The youkai were so stunned that they didn't even try to hurt her. Then, she was being pulled up and away from the cyclone of enemies. She looked up to see Sango holding onto her arm as she was carried through the air on Kirara.

"SANGO!" Kagome yelled happily. The taijiya smiled down at her and lifted the miko onto Kirara's back in between her and Miroku, who was holding onto Inuyasha. "Thanks Sango!"

"No problem! And at least now the pervert houshi can't grope me!" Sango spat the last sentence. Kagome turned to see that Miroku had a red mark on his cheek. She sighed.

"I hate to break up this happy reunion, but you can't very well leave me dangling here!" yelled Inuyasha from below.

"But there's no room!" Kagome yelled back.

"Don't worry! Houshi-sama will be getting off!" said Sango.

"What?" exclaimed Kagome.

Miroku pulled up Inuyasha onto the little amount of space behind him. "Hold onto Kagome's arm!" he said. Inuyasha did as he was told (for once). Sango then reached back her own hand, which Miroku took. She pulled him forward until he slipped off Kirara and was hanging in mid-air. Sango gritted her teeth at his weight but held tight. Inuyasha scooted forward on Kirara's back.

"What are you planning?" squeaked a nervous Kagome.

"Hold on tight," was all that Sango said in response.

Suddenly, Kirara was flying straight up through the air. Her hold on Sango was the only thing that kept Kagome from falling to her death. She felt Inuyasha holding onto her just as tight. Looking to her side, she saw Miroku hanging downwards right next to her. He gave her a quick toothy smile before looking downward again. Kagome turned her head to see what he was looking at. There was now a large cone of demons shooting upward at them, and it was gaining. Fast.

"NOW SANGO!" Miroku yelled upwards. The taijiya nodded, and then she let go.

Miroku was in a free-fall now. The wind whipped at his robes as he fell towards the cone of demons shooting towards him. He stuck his right hand towards the ground.

"KAZAANA!" Opening the glove that covered his hand, the great wind of his deadly curse began to suck everything in its path. As he fell towards the demons they came within range of his Kazaana and were sucked into its abyss. More and more demons were pulled inwards as he continued falling. Then, just as the last of the youkai were whisked away, something that Miroku hadn't planned for happened. The winds of the Kazaana grasped hold of the ground, and suddenly he accelerating towards the hard surface. Quickly he covered up his Kazaana, but his speed did no decrease. Hurry up Sango… he thought. The ground came closer and closer. This was it… Sango hadn't been able to make it in time.

Just as he came within five feet from the ground there was a sudden, incredibly painful yank at his arm. He looked up to see Inuyasha holding onto his wrist from the back of Kirara. So Sango had made it after all…

His feet touched the ground gently and he promptly fell to his knees and vomited.

"Are you okay Houshi-sama?" asked Sango, running up to him.

"Fine…" he wheezed, "I think that Inuyasha might have dislocated my shoulder though…"

"That can be fixed…" Sango said. She placed one hand on his shoulder and held his arm in her other. "This'll hurt a little bit," she warned, "When I count to three I'll pop back into place, ready?"

"Yeah," Miroku responded.

"Alright, one…" Sango yanked at his arm. Miroku let out a scream of agony before turning towards her.

"I thought you were gonna count to three!" he shouted, sweat gracing his flushed face.

"If I had pulled at three you would have tensed," answered Sango, "and we don't want that."

"Still…"

"Houshi-sama, stop whining! Your arm is better now, right?"

"Yeah, I suppose," he answered, rotating it experimentally.

Inuyasha was watching the whole scene with an amused expression on his face.

"What are you smiling about?" asked Kagome.

"Hmm? Nothing, it's just fun to watch that bouzu whine," he answered. Then he remembered something. "Hey Kagome, so what was it you wanted to tell me earlier?"

A blush crept across Kagome's cheeks as she recalled the thoughts that had ran through her head earlier. "It was nothing important really."

Inuyasha grunted, "Whatever, it's not like I was too interested anyway."

"Hey guys!" yelled Sango as she ran up to them, "where's Shippo?"

"Huh? Oh! I completely forgot about him!" squeaked Kagome (a/n: Don't we all…), "He's back at Kaede's. Speaking of which, we should be heading back."

"Right," the others answered in agreement.

Koga had long since returned to his usual duty of watching over his territory. Except for the darkness, everything seemed normal enough. That was, of course, until the ground shook violently at his feet.

"Probably just an earthquake," he told himself. But another shook they ground, and another, and many more to follow. Eventually, Koga admitted to himself that something was most definitely NOT right. Taking a sniff of the air, he caught a scent foreign to him. Unlike the one he had smelled a day ago, this was most definitely demonic. Following his nose he came to the place where the scent originated. "What the hell?" he questioned, "there's nothing here…"

Then the ground at his feet began to crumble.

"Oh shit."

End Chapter 3

Oooo… ominous, and another cliffy! Yay! Review please!