Disclaimer: The characters of Inuyasha are owned by Rumiko Takahashi, but this story belongs to me.

Chapter Eight: Demons and Mikos

Kagome… why?

Inuyasha was having difficulty breathing. The arrow in his chest kept him pinned to the tree. He had to dig his claw into the tree to keep from hanging by it.

Demon! Monster! Contemptuous beast! Animal! Die demon!

Why Kagome… why would you shoot me? I thought we were friends…

Her angry bitter words filled his mind. The look of disgust on her face as she faced him tore at his heart. He couldn't believe she turned on him like that. He couldn't believe that she would try to actually KILL him! Why?

Suddenly she appeared from behind the trees where she had just left. Did she come back to mock me? To finish me off?

He was angry. He was hurt. He was a demon thirsting for revenge.

"Inuyasha?"

He watched as her eyes opened wide, filling with tears. He glared at her. Something's not right here. Then he looked at her… REALLY looked at her. Her eyes were softer than before. There was no malice, no hatred. It wasn't her! Kagome didn't shoot me!

"Kagome!"

She rushed towards him, tears streaming down her face as she babbled on and on. He could only catch a word here and there as she timidly tried to figure out a way to free him. Inuyasha kicked himself for believing for an instant that she had betrayed him. But they were identical…

"Kagome," he said softly, looking down at his friend. "I need you to pull the arrow out."

"I can't." Her voice was barely a whisper. Inuyasha was astonished that he could hear her at all. That's when he realized he could hear things he never could before. He could even hear her heartbeat as it raced in her chest. He smirked, cool, another power.

"Yes you can. You have to."

Her fingers trembled as they took hold of the arrow. She pulled but nothing happened. When Inuyasha groaned in pain she let go of it like it had been on fire and backed up.

"Can we… can we break the arrow?"

Inuyasha shook his head. "I tried. I've been trying, but all it does is make it hurt more. Please help me."

Perhaps 'please' is the magic word after all. As soon as he said it, she straightened up and grasped the arrow. She glared at it for a moment, then closed her eyes. Inuyasha's mouth dropped open as her hands glowed pink, causing the arrow to glow pink. Then it just disappeared and he fell to the ground.

Inuyasha clutched his bleeding chest and swore loudly. He heard Kagome frantically opening her backpack and felt her put something to his lips. He obeyed her command to drink it.

Slowly the pain eased, then vanished. Kagome was smiling before him.

"What was that?" he asked.

"A healing potion. Kinda helpful, huh?"

Inuyasha began pulling at the cloth of his shirt to open it up and examine his chest. He noticed that Kagome blushed, but didn't look away. He guessed that she was just as curious as he was.

"There's not even a mark!" he exclaimed. "Where did you get it?"

Kagome sat on the ground before him and grinned. "Well, I found a few bottles in the village, you gotta love raiding the treasure chests in the houses, and some I found after defeating some demons along the way."

Demons? Inuyasha looked at Kagome again. This time he noticed the cuts and bruises and blood. She's been fighting demons?

"You need to drink some, Kagome. It will heal you too, right?"

She shrugged and looked away. "It was the last bottle. I was saving it for something special."

He swore at her colorfully, but she managed to not once look properly chastised. Inuyasha was angry that she wasted the last bottle of healing potion on him. It just wasn't right!

"How do we get some more?" he asked once his temper was back under control.

Kagome shrugged again. "Well, we can fight more demons and hope they drop one, or we can go to a village and rob all the treasure chests we find or hope we find a shop that sells some. I've been getting these gold coins every time I defeat a demon."

Inuyasha smiled an evil smile and cracked his knuckles. "Let's go take down some demons!"

"I was thinking of finding a village…"

"Let's go, Kagome! I smell demons!"

"Inuyasha! The village?"

Of course he heard her, he had his new super hearing thanks to his new doggie ears. He was also enjoying his new sense of smell, strength, and speed too much to stop and pay attention to anything else. While keeping an eye on his companion he raced around the forest area. It felt good to run.

"You're too slow," he complained to the girl as he finally made his way back to her. He grimaced when he noticed her limping slightly. Of course she's slow, you moron. She's badly injured!

He landed in front of her and turned around. He hoped she wouldn't be offended by an offer of a piggy back ride. "Hop on, Kagome. Let's go find that village of yours."

The smile he got was bright and sunny, and it did funny things to his heartbeat.

"The path I was on leads to Kaede's village."

"Kaede?"

Kagome nodded. "Yeah, I'm supposed to find her so that I can find out how to go save my dad from Naraku."

Inuyasha gave her a funny look. "I thought your dad was dead?"

"He is. But you know what's weird?" She didn't wait for him to answer. "My mom, brother, and grandfather are in the game. Or at least, people who look and sound just like them. It completely freaked me out when I first saw them!"

"Why would he make characters to look like your family?"

"And sound like them, too! It's creepy."

"And you."

It was Kagome's turn to give him a funny look. "I'm creepy?"

He shook his head. "Noooooo! I meant that they made a character that looks like you too. She's the one who shot me."

They stood together in silence before Kagome asked, "Why?"

It was a question that neither had an answer to. But Inuyasha was determined to ask Naraku as forcefully as he had to as soon as the game was over. He didn't like the fact that he made a Kagome look-alike who would try to murder someone. Especially him!

"Keh," he said dismissively, hoping to ease the tension. "We'll figure all this out later. Now hop on and let's go find Kaede!"

He was expecting Kagome to hop on his back and they would race away. He wasn't expecting her to blush bright red and stare at the ground. It irked him that she didn't want to touch him. They weren't exactly strangers! Not really.

"I've um….." she looked away. "I'm not sure I can."

He growled.

"Did you just growl?" she asked, looking rather astonished.

"No."

She grinned. "You did too! You growled! What a cute puppy!" Inuyasha was surprised when she reached up and began rubbing his ears.

"I'm not a dog!" He yanked his ears away from her fingers and huffed. He couldn't stop his ears from twitching. It had tickled. And felt a little good. Oh okay, it felt really good, but that isn't the point, dang it!

Grumbling he began stalking off in the direction of the path. Go ahead and let her walk. See if I care if she gets blisters or a broken leg or leeches or something. I don't care! When he didn't hear her footsteps following him he grew concerned. He lied, he really did care.

"Aren't ya coming?" The whimper that escaped her lips had him by her side in seconds in super overprotective mode. "What's wrong?"

Once again she turned bright red and turned from him. It was really beginning to tick him off.

"I can't fix the problem if you don't tell me what it is!" he yelled at her. It bothered him that she didn't trust him enough to help her.

"I uh… kinda… I hafta… um…"

"Spit it out!" He gave her a little shake.

"Eep! Don't DO that! I have to go to the bathroom you idiot!" Once the words were out of her mouth she turned a whole new shade of red.

Inuyasha blushed too. "Oh." He let go of her and shifted uncomfortably. "Well… just go then. There're some bushes over there, I promise I won't look if that's what you're worried about."

"That's not the problem. I just… well… this is a game! My real body is OUT THERE! What happens when this body… does its business? Does my real one do it too? How embarrassing would that be?"

He scratched his head. That never really occurred to him. Then he remembered Sango decking one of the technicians.

"They've taken care of that, Kagome."

She looked up at him, beginning to bounce back and forth in an effort to not explode. "Huh? How?"

"Tubes."

"Tubes? Where?"

"Look, just trust me on this. It's taken care of. Just go to the bathroom before you hurt yourself!" He turned her towards the bushes and gave her a push. "Besides," he called out to her as she danced along to the bushes, "You won't be the only one doing it. I've already done it three times!"

He heard Kagome snicker. "Marking your territory?"

"I'm not a DOG!"