Chapter 4-

"Wake up, wake up…" Sango said as she shook Miroku's shoulder as he lay sprawled snoring on the wooden floor.

"..Huh…wha…what…" Miroku mumbled waking up half asleep.

"Miroku….Miroku wake up...something's wrong..." Sango said in a worried voice.

As soon as Miroku heard Sango's voice of despair he quickly brought himself to attention. He kneeled forward towards the nervous Sango and laid his hand on her shoulder in a comforting way.

"What is it?" he asked gently.

"Inuyasha and Kagome haven't returned for several hours. I'm worried- what if something happened to them out there. Ever since last night when Inuyasha was sleepwalking he hasn't been acting normal- and then this afternoon when he randomly asked Kagome to go with him? Miroku what if Kagome's hurt…?"

Miroku sat stock still for a moment, thinking over what Sango had just said. Finally getting out of

his trance he replied, "I think you're right Sango…something isn't right here….I suggest we go look for them."

Both of them quickly got up in anxiety and rushed out of the hut. Eager to find Kagome and figure out what was going on.

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The path that lay ahead of them was long and dark. The twisted dirt path curved in many directions, leaving quite a bit of darkness around the edges, making it look mysterious and dangerous. Who knew what was lying ahead of them?

"Let's go here….I see Inuyasha's footprints trailing on this path…" Sango said with her cunning eye examining the ground.

"I agree…let me go ahead…you don't know what's up ahead there…" Miroku answered.

Several minutes had passed by and the both of them had reached a dead end. There in front of them lay a large cave. It was rough and rigid around the edges…but this one was different from most caves they had encountered. Here the entrance was blocked by a large boulder.

"It's a dead end..." Sango said as she walked up closer to the boulder.

Miroku walked up behind her and tapped the boulder to see how big it actually was. "Seems pretty thick," he replied.

"Ya…but this is quite strange…I mean Inuyasha's footsteps lead up to this cave and then they stop…where could they have gone if the entrance is sealed off?" Sango asked questioningly as she gazed up and down the entrance of the cave.

"I think something fishy is going on here…maybe they both went into the cave…and someone blocked off the entrance with this boulder..?"

"…could be a possibility…" Sango replied in a half-satisfied tone.

Suddenly, while the both of them were making up conclusions to Inuyasha and Kagome's strange disappearance they heard a loud scream from behind the boulder…

"Stop Inuyasha…what are you doing!"

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Kagome backed up against the boulder. She had no where to go. No where to escape. She was completely trapped.

Inuyasha kept commencing towards her frightened figure. Kill her Inuyasha, Kill her…

He raised his arm ready to attack, his claws out and ready…Kagome pushed herself further into the wall of the cave, delaying Inuyasha's attack as much as she possibly could. Her whole body shivered with fright and horror, she was paralyzed with fright with no where to go.

What the hell is wrong with Inuyasha…am I going to die? Is Inuyasha going to kill me…? (Kagome)

Inuyasha raised his hand as soon as he was right in front of Kagome…Kagome let out a chilling scream, and with one swift movement of his hand he slashed her hard across her chest…once, twice…three times. Blood spurted out of her….and Kagome fell forwards into Inuyasha's arms.

Everything blacked out….it happened so quickly…at first Inuyasha was right in front of her, then suddenly he started attacking her with his claws. The pain was terrible- as his sharp claws teared into her soft flesh, making her bleed. Not only once, but three times. Three times the pain…not only physically…but emotionally…how could Inuyasha do this to her? Traitor.

Kagome fell into Inuyasha's arms…then onto the hard stone floor of the cave. She lay there in her own pool of blood that had now collected nearby. She couldn't breathe now…she lay face down in her own blood… she was drowning. All she heard was a long, evil laugh echoing menacingly in front of her.

That's it…this is the end of me…who would have thought I would die from the one I love… (Kagome).

Just when Kagome was about to take her last breathe, she felt a strong grip on her shirt. Inuyasha had lifted her up…and was dragging her. Her knees scratched against the rough surface of the cave, cutting her slightly here and there- like sandpaper. She didn't know why Inuyasha was carrying her and where…she didn't care anymore. She couldn't even see through her half-consciousness from all the blood loss and caked eyes which were now covered in blood from her own puddle of it.

Kagome breathed in lightly in and out. It didn't matter anymore…her lung had been punctured and half the air she was breathing in wasn't doing any good to her heart. She groaned out loud in pain as Inuyasha had roughly dragged her over a bump on the floor. The pain was unbearable, if felt like every bone in her body had been broken up into a million pieces.

He had finally stopped. Through her close eyes, Kagome could sense a bright light through her shut eyelids. She heard voices murmuring in the background behind her. Quietly mumbling about something.

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"…THAT'S KAGOME!" Sango shrieked in panic.

"We have to do something- Inuyasha is trying to hurt her!" Miroku yelled.

And with that…Miroku took off the cloth from his arm and opened up his wind tunnel. He knew it was dangerous, but if his dear friend was in danger then he would stop at nothing to save her.

The boulder was heavy; he could feel it on the weight of his palm. Slowly the large, heavy boulder shifted slightly….finally it let loose and it went swirling through into Miroku's wind tunnel. Rapidly as soon as that had happened Miroku shut it and held on to his arm. That had taken more time then he had thought it would. Due to its extremely heavy weight it had taken Miroku longer than usual- several minutes in fact.

As soon as the boulder had budged, Sango quickly dashed over towards the entrance, eager to see if Kagome was still there. Though to her despair she wasn't. Suddenly she let out a loud scream, "Oh my God!"

"What is it?" Miroku yelled in a scared tone as he dashed over to Sango's side.

There leaned Sango against the floor, kneeling down looking at something on the floor. Miroku quickly leaned down beside her. To his shock there lay a large puddle of dark ruby coloured blood.

"It's fresh." Sango replied in a cold tone.

"You don't think Inuyasha…" Miroku said as he looked at Sango with shocked eyes.

Completely ignoring him, Sango looked up at Miroku, with deep hatred and anger enraged in them. "There's a trail…" she said coldly as she pointed to a long slithering red liquid that waved down towards the dark bottom of the cave.

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Kagome heard an old, raspy voice speaking above her. She tried to open her eyes to see who the bastard was, but she couldn't. Her eyes were so covered in blood that she couldn't even move them. She knew that voice wasn't Inuyasha…his voice wasn't that old.

Though somehow the voice sounded familiar…as if she had heard it somewhere before. Not long ago. It had a nice sweet tone in it, but it had been tinted with a great hatred and evil.

Suddenly Kagome felt herself being carried up again. This time it was not as painful as before, since her whole body had become numb to the pain. She felt someone holding onto her and then placing her on a different textured ground. Wood. She was being wheeled away somewhere.

She wanted to scream, yell out in pain, in agony, in hatred- in betrayal. She opened her mouth- trying to waiver out the few words that could come out of them. But she couldn't. Her throat was parched of every drop of water and no sound came out of it. All that she could manage to give out were a few squeaky groans and moans.

She heard someone giggling in the distance as she was being pulled farther and farther away into the light. Inuyasha.

Through the cracked dryness of her throat, Kagome managed to say one word out loud. With her dry, raspy breath she moaned…"why…"

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Miroku was stunned at Sango's eagerness to find Kagome- for her safety. It sparked warmth in his heart for his growing affection for her as she thundered loudly in front of him- running. He quickly shook his head in disagreement. This was not the time to think about this- right now they had to find Kagome and make sure that she was safe.

Suddenly Sango stopped. Up ahead lay a large hole on the side of the cave. A bright light bursted through it, showing another entrance to the cave. Though there was something in the middle of that entrance. Someone was standing there…still...not moving a muscle.

Sango let out a loud gasp. Up ahead of her stood Inuyasha….looking at his claws in horror which were covered in blood. A tear trickled down the side of his cheek and fell on his blood splattered kimono…slowly he shook his head…trying not to think of what he might have done. He didn't want to admit it…he couldn't have killed Kagome…

Suddenly Inuyasha heard footsteps running to the side of him. He looked up guiltily and saw both Miroku and Sango staring at him in utter horror and shock, staring at his body which was soaked in blood.

"….what have I done…?" Inuyasha said slowly looking up in terror.