What Doesn't Kill You Only Makes You Stronger

Disclaimer: We do not own InuYasha or any of its characters.

Chapter Three: Kagome's Rescuer

"Stupid jerk. I'm lost and all alone because of you. I saved your sorry ass!" I shrieked suddenly in my anger.

My foot hit a twig and made me stumble forward. I yelped and smacked into a tree. I cursed and kicked the tree with my foot. I yelped again as my foot began to throb in pain.

"That was smart. Stupid tree. Stupid boy. Stupid arrow!" I grumbled, getting louder and louder as I spook.

I walked around the tree and kicked a small stone that flew off into some tall bushes. I stopped when I didn't hear it hit the ground, instead it sounded like it hit something soft, also human like. Like someone or something caught it.

I watched a tall figure rise from the bushes. I gasped and took a step back. I didn't like this thing. Not one bit.

"Who's the stupid boy? Hopefully it isn't me," the things deep cold voice drifted to me from the shadows and engulfed me in fear and anxiety.

I was frozen in place. I was afraid that it was that boy again. My heart was racing to hard for me to think and my knees were shaking from pure fear.

I don't want to die!

"W-Who's asking?" I stammered, my voice quivering slightly.

"My name is Naraku," he said icily, "what's yours?" he asked with amusement in his tone.

"M-My n-name? It's K-Kagome," I stuttered. I really didn't like this Naraku guy.

Naraku stepped forward into the moonlight. "So you're not Kikyo? That's interesting. You resemble her. Ah, I see. You must be her reincarnation," he replied thoughtfully in a low cold observing voice.

I watched as he slowly circled me and smiled that sort of smile that sent chills down your spine.

I hope he isn't after the sacred jewel, too. I don't need two guys chasing after me. One's hard enough to run from.

"Are you scared of InuYasha?" Naraku asked, drawing my attention back to him.

"InuYasha? I don't know an InuYasha. Who is he?" I asked in confusion.

"InuYasha was that stupid hanyou you broke the curse on," Naraku replied as he slowly grinned at his slight advantage.

The boy popped up in my mind. "InuYasha?" So that's his name? "Why would I be afraid of that beast?" I asked with my confusion diminishing and my anger growing.

"I don't know. Maybe it's because of the jewel you hold inside you. You probably didn't even know you had it, did you?" Naraku asked as he took a step towards me.

"It's inside me? How on earth could it have ended up in my body? I didn't swallow it if that's what you're thinking," I said heatedly.

I saw something moving out of the corner of my eye, but I wasn't certain what it was. I blinked and concentrated on Naraku. He was a handsome man, but he was lifeless and as heartless as a dead corpse. He was hardly even human by the feeling of him.

"No. I wasn't thinking that at all, Kagome. You're Kikyo's reincarnation as I mentioned before. She had buried her body along with the jewel, you see, and it concealed itself in you because of her," Naraku said as if it explained everything.

I sighed. "That doesn't tell me why I have half-demons such as you chasing after me. And it doesn't tell me how I get rid of it. I want to go home. I don't give a damn about this Kikyo person or her blasted jewel," I said in a strained voice. My patience was thinning by every passing moment.

"My… doesn't someone have a temper," Naraku replied in a monotone voice that chilled my blood with every syllable, "why don't you let me take the jewel? I can put more use to it then that mangy mutt can," he said and held out his hand to me.

I stared at his welcoming hand. "How are you planning to remove it?" I asked and looked back up into his loveless, greedy eyes.

I watched a strand of his dark brown hair wave in front of his face in an invisible breeze. "By any means necessary," he answered in a low chilling voice and was in front of me in the blink of an eye.

I yelped and felt his hand dig into my side. I felt his fingers wiggle under my flesh and hit something that made a TINCK sound. I jerked back and screamed "no" at him.

I heard him yell in agony as my hand glowed a purple color all of a sudden. I screamed as I was pushed back by an unknown force. I hit the found and put a hand to my side. The jewel was still in my body. I heard a twig snap and I snapped my head up and stared at the demon boy that was standing over Naraku's fallen body. He turned suddenly and set his amber colored eyes on me.

My breath caught in my lungs as I stared at the boy that had been so keen on getting the sacred jewel, but here he was, saving me from the demented monster named Naraku. Some of his hair blew with the light wind and made him look more like a god then a demon.

"InuYasha!" I exclaimed in a whisper.

"Do you always get in trouble, wench?" InuYasha asked, "first me, now him. If you wined up with someone worse then him then you're as good as dead."

"There's worse?" I asked as I winced from the pain that was shooting through my side.

"You got yourself hurt already? And badly at that. Lucky for you that I came along. You're losing a lot of blood, wench," he said and knelt in front of me.

I scooted away from him or at least tried to. "Please don't hurt me," I whispered and winced again.

"You don't look like Kikyo. Kikyo was cuter. Much cuter," he sighed as he continued to study me.

Why you…Out of nowhere he starts talking about that Kikyo woman again. I wonder if that's the woman that pinned him to the tree. Or maybe she was the one that stole his heart before she shot an arrow through it. Maybe that's why he's so violent.

"You must have loved her, because you talk about her so much," I heard something that sounded close to a growl as I stared into his amber eyes.

"I care for no one," InuYasha growled in response.

"Oh please…" I started to say, but shut my mouth when he was inches from my face, "I didn't mean anything by it," I whispered and clenched my jaw against the pain.

"Feh. Come, wench. I have stuff to do and people to kill," he grumbled and yanked me painfully to my feet.

I gasped and let out a wounded cry as I fell against his chest. "I'm not some kind of dog you can jerk around, you know. I'm human unlike some people," I growled and pushed away from him.

People? What did he mean when he said he had people to kill? Did that woman or man that pinned him to the tree still alive? Is he planning to kill me? Am I going to die?

oOo

Well, that was chapter three. Sorry it took so long. I was busy thinking up chapters for another story and I got caught up. So how do you guys like it? Good? Bad? All right? Well, we love to read those reviews. We hope to hear from you. Love ya.