Inuyasha lifted his darkened golden gaze.
Kagome was sending up an irritating stream of endless chatter, and while she said she was confidant they would track down her missing friends, her senseless, never-ending babble betrayed her obvious concern.
It was catching.
Inuyasha's eyes darted, and he suppressed a shudder. He told himself Naraku was like a flea clinging to his skin…a flea he desperately needed to get rid of. He told himself he could take Naraku on anytime.
Yet, he thought back to the time Naraku had nearly absorbed Koga. Inuyasha had to admit, despite the rivalry he had with Koga, for Kagome's heart, the wolf Youkai was indeed a skilled fighter and it would take something very powerful to take him down.
" Or very tainted." Inuyasha stopped as the words rolled off of his tongue. The others were staring at him with open surprise. Inuyasha clamped his mouth shut and sniffed the air. An acrid stench stung his nostrils; indeed, the scent of something tainted.
" Inuyasha?" Sango spoke his name quietly, but now Kagome had stiffened too, hands on hips, head tilted.
" I can sense jewel shards. Two of them. About three miles that way." Kagome pointed to her right, the direction in which her head was canted.
" Right!" Battlespirit propelled Inuyasha into an upward lunge. Kirara let out a singing purr of amusement as she leaped after her hanyou friend with the others astride her back.
Shippo, crouched on Kirara's head between her pointed ears, felt waves of confusion overwhelming him. His sense of smell, though not as attuned as Inuyasha's was definitely picking up a scent, overlaid now with the evil stench of Naraku, but still there, however undistinguishable.
Shaking his head, the kitsune decided it must just be tiredness getting to him. They were going after a demon. Why should it seem so wrong to him?

Legs flying, Andrea and I covered what seemed to be miles of turf in a matter of heartbeats.
Our assignments were simple and to the point, etched on our controlled mines like words carved into stone. We were to kill the Youkai Koga and steal his jewel shards. It was an easy and straightforward task, one Naraku assured us we could accomplish with only a bit of hindrance, if any.
Fueled by the tainted shards in our heads and the dark bloodlust simmering in our hearts, we followed the trail Naraku had instructed us on the night before, when we had begun to trek.
Two shapes shot out of the undergrowth before us. They were stumbling with the effort of running, and bloodlust burned in my veins as I fell on the nearest. He let out a rusty cry and fell under my weight, crying to his companion, " Ginta!"
" Hakkaku!"
My eyes distended in disbelief at our luck. Naraku had mentioned these two as Koga's sidekicks. How lucky we found them now!
My blade, Takai, spun out of its sheath and tasted the blood of the vessels near the base of Hakkaku's skull. His agonized wails were matched only by those of his companion as he suffered the same treatment by Andrea's blade, Kurushimi. Blood showered up onto our finely toned skin, and I felt the massive bloodlust filling my already dimmed senses. I could barely breathe for it, my air intakes short and heavy as my blade continued to slice through Hakkaku's soft flesh. I heard the snap of ligaments under my hard blade, and I laughed aloud, a normally melodious sound deadened by the darkness pulsing within me. Andrea was laughing too, a mirthless sound that would normally have chilled me, now made me feel more alive.
Ripping my sword free, I let the body of my victim sink to the ground in a crumbled heap. Andrea did the same, and we charged on.
Now, emerging into a clearing, I saw him. Koga.
He wore a brown pelt and his long hair was pony tailed high on his head. He was speaking to a pair of wolves, his voice deep and gruff. I saw Andrea unsheathed her sword, and I followed her example. Quietly, we stalked forward.
Not quietly enough.
Koga whirled, sniffing.
" Who the hell are you? And why do I smell the blood of my comrades all over your filthy bodies?" His eyes widened. One of the wolves snarled, and Koga spun around to hush it. I took the opportunity to launch my attack.
Warning! Extreme violence ahead!
With a leap and a twist, I planted my feet against Koga's shoulder blades and dug my sword between his shoulders. I wrenched the sword free as dark blood came spurting up, spraying into my face, barely missing my eyes blacked by battlespirit. Andrea's attack came next, this time centered on the wolves. Her blade, lined with jagged, thorn-sharp teeth to the point, hacked through one wolf's shoulder, sending it staggering. Again, her blade bit down, this time into the wolf's eyes. It stumbled to its knees, howling in terrified, pained fury. It turned its head and an old human emotion welled up inside me, like a tiny spark in the darkest night: Pity. I felt pity, seeing the bleeding chasms where the eyes had once been, now torn out and flung across the clearing. I felt pity, and I almost felt human again.
Then it was gone, and I lunged to finish the job, while Koga was still immobilized.
I could have finished it then, but the wolf had to dodge, had to draw out its death. My blade, instead, peeled back a ribbon of flesh. Leaving Andrea to slowly, carefully hack the wolf to pieces, I returned to Koga, eyes fixed on his legs, so that I was ready when he leaped up, blood dribbling from his back, to aim a flying kick, not at my head, but at Andrea's.
Another human emotion; loyalty. I sprang after Koga with a vicious cry.
Andrea was as prepared as I was, though. Giving the dying wolf a kick that clearly dislodged its neck and killed it, she thrust her sword up awkwardly through Koga's gut. He remained impaled for what seemed like forever, and would have been impaled longer, but Andrea used a complicated twist to dislodge him, and as she turned to the second wolf, which sprang with wide jowls for a killing bite, I advanced on Koga.
He sprang, and this time his aim was true. Despite his injuries, I could feel the power rippling through his muscles as his foot connected full-out with my face, bowling me onto my butt. Andrea howled with rage, killed the second wolf with a stabbing of the head, and sprang at Koga herself, sword upraised.
The anger I had toward Koga for striking me, switched over to Andrea, who, in my mind, was stealing my prey. Knocking her aside, I went for Koga myself. Andrea drew even with me, and together we drove ours swords to the hilt in his heart.
Koga's eyes widened. He opened his mouth to speak and divulged a trickle of blood. He slumped forward on the swords and his hand reached for Andrea's throat, as though in his dying moment the wolf Youkai would destroy one of his attackers.
Yet he hadn't even the strength to support his own weight, and his hand hung loose about Andrea' throat. She watched with quiet satisfaction as he bled out, and then together, we withdrew our swords and twisted them to cross and slice into Koga's chest.
His head struck the ground with a sickening crack and he alee there, surrounded in his own blood. A cynical laugh, so like Naraku's, welled up in my chest as I cut the jewel shards from Koga's legs, letting fountains and spurts of blood pour free. Then, dipping my head quietly, I followed Andrea from the clearing, back toward Naraku.
End Violence…for now

Inuyasha's pounding strides faltered slightly. The scent of dark minions, along with Kagome's charting of the jewel shards, was so erratic that the hanyou and Kirara had to change directions on several occasions. For the brief period of about ten minutes the jewel shards remained in one place but moved with such dizzying speed it nearly made Kagome sick, trying to focus on them. They went still, then, and Inuyasha's footsteps halted entirely. He lifted his nose to the wind, and then recoiled as though something had attempted to bite him on the face.
" What is it?" Miroku called. It was Sango who answered, her voice weak with disbelief as she gazed into a clearing not far away.
" Koga…"
And so it was.
Kagome cried out in anger and misery as Kirara set down. Two wolves lay at different edges of the clearing. One, with it's back to them. The other, facing them, eyes widened. Blood ran down its muzzle from a stab wound on its forehead and dripping off of its nose. Miroku dismounted Kirara and knelt beside the second wolf. He turned the hefty body over and then backed, a startled exclamation rising in his throat.
The wolf had no eyes.
In the center of the clearing, Inuyasha was crouched beside Koga, checking the wolf Youkai's pulse while Kagome stood over him, hands over her mouth as tears leaked down her face. Inuyasha looked up, shaking his head slowly. Kagome's face drifted into her hands, and for a moment her vehement sobs were the only noise in the clearing. Then Sango approached, one slow step at a time, and closed the second wolf's eyes as Inuyasha did the same for Koga. Quivering with revulsion, Miroku shut the first wolf's eyes as well, so that it did not look quite so ghastly.
" What did this to them?" Sango choked out. The others looked lost, but Shippo had recognized the scent that clung to Koga's body, and the bodies of the wolves. Yet to tell Inuyasha would mean certain doom for Koga's attackers, who Shippo liked very much.
Renee, and Andrea, had somehow fallen prey to Naraku.
Kagome gave a low, shocked yelp, and Shippo watched in horror as the bodies of Koga and the wolves disintegrated under the powerful strain of miasma. A cry of horror caught in Shippo's throat.
What had his friends, Renee and Andrea, become?

As we ran, I felt Koga's blood clinging to my clothes. Disgusted, I ran faster, feeling the pulsation of the jewel shards in my pocket. Andrea matched my speed stride for stride, so we reached Naraku's castle as one. With a shudder, I passed Kanna, one of Naraku's prime minions, and entered his throne room.
" So you succeeded? Good." Naraku hissed. " Very good, my daughters. Now rise." He added, for we had crouched on bended knee before him. " That is better. Now, are you ready for your second task?"
" We are, my lord." Andrea and I chorused together. Naraku nodded approvingly, and then held out his hand. In his callused palm I placed the two jewel shards, remembering, with relish, the feel of my first kill.
" Excellent. Now, I see, my daughters, that your were only slightly injured. That is good, better than I would have expected on your first mission. Now, you see, there are only four jewel shards left. One lies in the possession of Kagome Higurashi. The other three…are yet to be dealt with." Naraku raised one eyebrow.
" Now, to business. There is a demon I wish for to exterminate…" And while we took the orders without question, I felt my gaze being drawn towards the back of the room. There I saw a boy, probably twelve or thirteen years of age. His head was bowed and his eyes were downcast. But when I looked away I felt his gaze being trained on the back of my neck. It made my skin shiver so much that my whole body locked up. My toe scuffed the floor and Naraku's gaze swung to me.
" Were you paying attention?" he snapped. My eyes flew wildly around the room. Andrea glanced away, and I could see I would get no help from her. Shaking my head sullenly, I braced myself for any punishment that might befall me.
None came. Naraku was watching me with an amused expression, and only said, in a tone of deadly calm, " Do not waste your worries or your poor human eyesight on Kohaku. He is worthless." I nodded, but couldn't help glancing over my shoulder again, only to see this boy, this Kohaku, had vanished into the shadows.
" Now, I must name you, mustn't I?" Naraku went on silkily. He turned to Andrea, stepping before her, and he gazed down at her, long and hard.
" You will be Musume." He murmured, and he cupped her chin in one hand, tilting her head back until he could kiss her on the forehead. Then he turned to me.
" And you…yes, you, my feisty daughter, shall be Otome. I believe that suits you." Something inside of me shuddered as he kissed my forehead. It felt like a bird was trapped in my chest, and somehow, I felt that the
" worthless human" Kohaku could help me free it.
Andrea looked around, seeming disgusted. But then Naraku straightened up, and I knew the next mission was to be assigned now.
" Otome, Musume, it is time you went after the Youkai Sesshomaru. Now, here is the plan…"

Written by WindScar. Please Review! Thank you!