Aurora Whisperwind: Hmmm…I was a little disappointed with the number of reviews, but I guess I can't have everything in life, ne? Here's chapter 6 for you! On a side note, this chapter might be slightly confusing, as Kagome is arguing with herself. To help, I've put one side of the argument in italics and the other within '…'

Disclaimer: I do not own Inuyasha or any of its characters. They belong to Rumiko Takahashi. I'm only borrowing them for a while.

It had been swelteringly hot for the past few days. The 'haunted' village proved to be a big disappointment, Miroku just slapped a sutra on a wall and everything cleared up, winning the hearts of the villagers and to Sango's dismay, the young girl's hearts too. Kirara didn't look too good, and Sango seemed to think that it was the coming of an illness. They decided to stay the night there, and see if she would get better the next morning. Morning came with no noteworthy improvement and Sango started getting a little worried. Kagome and Inuyasha volunteered to go to Ginengi's village which was nearby. Miroku was too busy flirting to come, Shippou wanted to stay with Kirara and Sango was worried about Kirara and Miroku.

Kagome laughed to herself, remembering Sango's torn expression as they left. She's so stupid, it's obvious Miroku's crazy about her. I shouldn't be the one to talk, though. I mean, it's so obvious I love Inuyasha but there's nothing I can do about it. At least Sango doesn't have a dead Zombie as a rival. She sighed, trying to shake herself out of those depressing thoughts and concentrated on enjoying her time with Inuyasha and looked forward to seeing Ginengi and his mother.

Kagome suddenly noticed how conveniently they were left alone. She felt the redness rise to her cheeks, and not particularly noticing where she was going, crashed her bike into a tree. "Moron!" screamed Inuyasha, picking her up "What the heck's wrong with you?" She stuttered something, making him look even more suspicious and went on bugging her, finally causing her to snap, creating a heck lot of trouble. Let's just say that villagers henceforth warned travelers passing that way about a deep, seemingly endless gorge.

Ginengi and his mother welcomed them, and gave them the necessary herbs. They were about to leave when he mentioned to Kagome that a beautiful priestess who looked a lot like her had passed through earlier. Inuyasha froze "Kikyou was here? Was she hurt? Was she alright?" Ginengi paused and then replied "She seemed a little weak, but otherwise fine. She went north from here. I tried to warn her that the area was infested with demons, but she didn't seem to be afraid" The debate that followed was one of the worst ever. Inuyasha was all for looking for Kikyou but Kagome wanted to give the herbs to Kirara. Finally, much to Kagome's dismay, Ginengi offered to escort her back to the village.

Inuyasha sped off, muttering a quick thanks. Kagome watched him go, a familiar gnawing at her heart. Her eyes began to water, but she held her tears back. Ginengi kept up a steady talk, but she didn't listen much. Didn't Inuyasha promise her he'd stay with her? 'Don't be silly', a small voice inside her answered, 'He didn't leave or anything. He just went to look up Kikyou, just to see if she was ok. She could be hurt or something' Oh for goodness sake, she's a priestess! She can take care of a few pathetic demons! She doesn't need him! Why didn't she go with him? It wasn't like Kirara was in serious trouble. She could wait. Inuyasha on the other hand could go off to hell. 'Don't be stupid, he won't do anything so rash. He knows that he still has to take care of Naraku' Then what about the last time? He would have been dragged down with Kikyou if I hadn't screamed. 'But still…'

"Go, run and find him" the horrible voice from her dreams commanded. Lost in thoughts, Kagome hadn't noticed that she was surrounded by mist. Ginengi was nowhere to be found. What just happened? Did Ginengi just leave her? Why would he do that? Is any of this real? Was that her father's voice? Was this all a dream? She yelled into the fog for her father. Nothing happened. Her shoulder took on an eerie greenish glow now, and she felt herself slip away. One thought remained now, finding Inuyasha. Everything else sank into insignificance, and the fog cleared.

Ginengi was trying to revive her as she opened her eyes. He looked shocked for a second, and then relieved as he started saying something. Who was Ginengi anyway? What am I doing with him? I'm supposed to look for Inuyasha. Inuyasha. Where was he now? Yes, with Kikyou. I have to find him. But I don't know where he is! No matter, I'll ask this guy. Do I know him? Why am I traveling with him? She stood up.

Ginengi was confused. He and Kagome had been walking along when she suddenly collapsed. He had noticed she seemed upset ever since Inuyasha had left. He was trying to revive her when he noticed the odd glow her shoulder. She opened her eyes just as he was about to touch her shoulder, and he was shocked to notice that her eyes weren't brown any more. They were green, and glowing with the same intensity as her shoulder. She looked at him, her face oddly impassive. He blinked and tried to make her get up so that he could take her back to the village as fast as possible. She stood up on her own, however and said in a cold, commanding voice "Inuyasha. Where is he?"

Nothing made sense. What was wrong with her? Did she forget what had happened? "Kagome, Inuyasha is looking for someone. He told me to take you back to the village so that we could give the herbs to Kirara. Don't you remember?" she narrowed her eyes and then spoke "He did, did he? He left me. He promised he'd stay, but I guess that was all a lie" the anger in her voice was obvious, but what chilled Ginengi was that she didn't sound like herself, she sounded cruel. He tried to take her hand. "Kagome, let's go. We have to leave" she pulled out of his grasp with a hiss, her face now filled with cold fury. "No. I'm looking for Inuyasha. I'm not coming with you. I don't even know who you are"

He tried to stop her from leaving, but was startled when she let of a blast of miko energy, throwing him off his feet. An arrow was aimed at his heart before he could even move a muscle. "Stay where you are" she rasped "Or I'll kill you" Ginengi didn't listen, he couldn't just leave her be taken by whatever was possessing her. "Kago-" he began, but at that second the arrow pierced his chest. The pain lasted for a moment, a moment which was frozen in time. He fell slowly, the pain of the blow overshadowed completely by the fact that he had been shot down by the woman he loved secretly since the day she came to him, and showed him that she didn't care how he looked. She was like a whiff of fresh air; she made life worth living again with her carefree and honest spirit. Her soul was untainted, and she was like an angel come down to earth, capturing everyone's hearts with her obvious beauty and kindness. But she was none of these now, her soul was gone, and her heart was empty.

"Good job shutting up the beast" the voice said, the warmth in her shoulder now subsiding. Kagome smirked at the glow, which was shaped exactly like her coin. "There you are" she said, fingering her sleeve. "Why did you hide from me all these days?" the voice smirked back, but didn't reply to her question. "Come now, we must find Inuyasha before you lose him" she agreed, and walked off, crushing the herbs she had collected and throwing them away, ignoring a small muffled feeling inside her that pointed out thatsomething was wrong. The herbs swayed in the breeze for a while, before disappearing, scattered by the wind.

This chapter was longer than usual, don't you think? Uh oh. What the heck was Kagome doing there? Will Miroku, Sango and Shippou realize something's wrong? And what's Inuyasha doing? I've almost finished the next chapter too, so read and review! I need reviews! Please, please make me feel a little loved? Sniffs

Thank you to everyone who's reviewed so far, you guys have been great!