Disclaimer-Don't own it...him...dog boy...

Chapter 20-Ignited from Fear

The loud music shifted through the thick air as a group of four slowly pulled themselves out from the dance floor, trying to catch their breath from the previous activities.

"Well this was more fun that I expected." Chocolate eyes followed the statement back to her dancing partner. Sango laughed at the expression on Miroku's face, who now sat comfortably on one of the benches. She dropped next to him, calming her raging breaths.

"Well I'm happy that you're having fun. I'm stuck with this oaf all night." Kikyo said, sighing as Kouga glared at her.

"You seemed like you two were enjoying each other's company." Sango watched both teens tense before shaking their heads.

"No way! Like I would want to spend my time with this idiot when I could be with Kagome." Kouga replied.

"Don't worry; the feelings are mutual, except I'd rather go with the cutie Inuyasha." Kikyo replied, sighing at the couple that had stayed on the dance floor.

"They do make a cute couple, don't they?" Sango watched Kagome, who now seemed terrified as Inuyasha dipped her down.

"You wouldn't even think that they were fighting with each other, now would you?" Miroku said. Kikyo shook her head and contained a smile as Inuyasha pulled Kagome closer to him, watching the appearance of pink flush her cheeks.

"It's almost as if they really don't want to be mad at each other." Kikyo replied. She glanced over at Kouga before continuing. "Almost as if they don't want to pretend that they hate each other."

"Will you all excuse me, I saw someone that I wanted to talk to." Kouga ignored the curious looks that his company gave him as he stood up, walking away from the excitement.

"Wonder what's got his nerves in a bunch." Sango said, though Miroku only shrugged.

"Never know with that kid. Sometimes he just gets mad and leaves for no reason." Miroku replied. He fidgeted slightly when he noticed the slightly confused look on Kagome's face. What really troubled him was that Inuyasha was now turned away from them, causing Inuyasha's face unable to be seen. Inuyasha, I hope you know what you're doing.

Miroku watched in slight interest as a child went up to the DJ, whispering something into his ear. He nodded quickly and the child smiled, listening as the song suddenly changed.

"Oka everyone, it's time to slow it down. So grab your partner and head on out." Sango perked up slightly when she heard the song, glancing over at her friends.

"This is such a good song! I sing it all the time when I hear it on the radio."

"You're not going to break out into song and dance around like a fool are you?" Kikyo asked, eyeing Sango suspiciously.

"No, why on earth would I do that!" When she saw Kikyo shrug, she grabbed Miroku's arm. "It's the first slow song, want to dance?"

"Sure, we can't pick on Inuyasha and Kagome from here after all." Miroku replied, glancing over to ask Kikyo if she minded. The words never got the chance to escape, for he buttoned his mouth shut when he noticed Kikyo's sudden absence.

"It doesn't look like it's going to be Inuyasha and Kagome soon, look at who's making his way over to them!" Miroku brought his diverted attention back towards the two on the dance floor, only to see Naraku approaching them.

"This doesn't look good, come on!" Miroku grabbed Sango's wrist before walking in the direction of the confrontation that was about to erupt.

Scene Change

"I can't dip, I don't know how!" Kagome looked directly into Inuyasha's brown eyes as they rolled in annoyance.

"It's not hard to learn, don't worry. All you need to do is lean backwards, I do the hard work." Before she could protest, Inuyasha had let his hands slip into position and he bent forwards, causing her body to bend in a backwards motion. She tossed her head back and closed her eyes, waiting to connect with the floor. When no conflict was made, Kagome opened her eyes to see herself slanted above the floor.

"You can breath again, I didn't drop you." His words seemed soft as she released the air compressed in her lungs. She smiled slightly when he pulled her back up, giggling at the slight frown that settled on his lips. "Trust me a little more will ya, I'm not a weakling."

"I knew you wouldn't let me fall, I just didn't know if I would be too heavy for you to keep up."

"Hate to break it to you, but you're not fat." Kagome blushed at the blunt comment, lightly tapping her finger against his shoulder.

"Could you have said that any louder?" She whispered. He smirked playfully before pulling her closer, causing a small squeak to pass her lips.

"Do you want to find out?" Her cheeks bled pink and she shook her head lightly. "Good, then take my word for it when I say yes."

"You can be such an annoyance sometimes." She replied, fighting the urge to lean against him as the fast paced song came to a close.

"Oh look at you with your nice fancy insults." He watched her glare up at him, finally taking into account the height difference between himself and the girl he held. He glanced up at the DJ who was now speaking.

"Oka everyone, it's time to slow it down. So grab your partner and head on out." Looking back into her eyes, he watched the tides of anger splash them with color. He tried to fight the urge to stare, but this was one fight he couldn't win.

Kagome noticed his gaze, which now stared into her, and felt her heart slam against her rib cages. Could his one look make her forget about how terrible he had been treating her in the past week? When she noticed her eyes had now traveled down to his lips, she decided that this moment would determine her answer. No matter how the outcome, she would stick to her decision until he somehow changed her mind. But when she noticed his lips now bared his teeth, she could tell something was wrong.

"What's the matter?" She mustered the courage to speak to the angered boy, who didn't acknowledge her question. "Inuyasha, are you Oka?"

"What the hell is he doing here?" At the comment, Kagome turned in the direction of Inuyasha's heated stare to stare at the boy she had wished wouldn't come to the bon fire. What made it worse was the fact that he now was slithering his way towards them.

"No…" She whispered, tightening her grip on each of Inuyasha's shoulders. At the feel of her hand's grip squeezing harder, Inuyasha only tightened his hold around her waist and leaned closer to her.

"It's alright; let me take care of it." He whispered, satisfied when her tense muscles quickly relaxed.

"Thank you." She replied, making him nod.

"Kagome!" Sango called out, stopping beside the girl. She grabbed Kagome's arm lightly. "Do you want to come with me and Miroku over there while Inuyasha talks to Naraku?"

"I…I think I can handle this actually. Thanks for the concern San, but I'm going to have to face him sooner or later. And I don't think later would help the situation at all." Kagome kept a straight face, no sign of fear or regret of her decision. Sango only nodded and glanced up at Inuyasha.

"Just make sure she's safe Oka?"

"Like I was going to let him hurt her again." He replied, slightly disturbed at the fact that Sango thought she had to instruct him to watch out for Kagome. As if reading his mind, she sent him a reassuring smile.

"I know I can count on you." She quickly parted when she felt Naraku step into speaking range, walking back towards Miroku. She grabbed his hand as she watched the conversation commence.

"Well if it isn't my two favorite people." The fire that crackled horribly close to the trio left shadows that danced menacingly across the hated boy's face.

"What do you want?" Inuyasha was blunt, not wasting his time with Naraku. The sooner I can get this creep away from Kagome, the quicker I can get her to calm down. Kagome would never admit it, but Inuyasha could feel the vicious pumping of Kagome's heart against him as he moved his hand in circles across her back soothingly, hoping to put some fear to rest.

"I'm surprised Inuyasha, is this how you greet all people?" Naraku was unsettlingly calm, making Inuyasha shift slightly. His glare never wavered.

"Only to those who are not worthy a normal greeting." Inuyasha replied coldly. "So why don't you skip right past the sweet talk and get to your main purpose. I'd love to see what you have planned in that demented head of yours."

"Demented head? Now I have become cross." Naraku muttered.

"Well that makes two of us, now why have you come other than to piss me off."

"What makes you madder Inuyasha?" At the subtle question, Inuyasha only growled.

"What?"

"What burns through your veins more…" A cruel grin coated Naraku's mouth as he continued with his question. "That you couldn't stop me or that I got to her first?"

"Shut up, all I hear from you is trash."

"Oh, did I hit a soar spot? Not exactly healed yet? Does it still itch that you were the cause of all her pain?" Kagome glanced up at Inuyasha, awaiting a strong comment that would make her remember why she had grown so close to him. But what she saw almost took her breath away.

Inuyasha now had his head down, trying to keep his eyes on the ground. Once that spot didn't suit him, he moved on to her shoulder, and continued to move his eyesight everywhere but her face. He can't honestly believe that Naraku did that because of him, Naraku's wanted to do that for so long. It wasn't his fault!

"I think you should leave Naraku." Kagome said, breaking the silence. Naraku's grin was immediately wiped from his mouth.

"But I only came over to dance with you." The statement was not an invitation, but a command. A command that at one point, Kagome would have listened to.

"I'm dancing with Inuyasha right now." She replied declining what should have been a request.

"What did you just say?" The question shook down till her knees, which new felt as if they were made of porcelain and had just been dropped against a hard surface. Taking a deep breath, Kagome squared gazes with him.

"I said, I'm busy right now." Feeling a confidence boost, she continued. "And even if I wasn't busy, I wouldn't dance with you. Never make the same mistake twice; it will burn you in the end." At the sentence, a smile crept onto Naraku's face.

"Oh really? Well I guess I can't fight with your decision." He glanced over at Inuyasha again, who was now mentally cursing himself for losing his nerve. "Hey Inuyasha, you seem kind of close with Kagome. Some might think that's she's really…important to you." Without another word, Naraku turned slowly, dislodging his stare from her own as he left the two. A sense of dread now filled her senses as she let herself breath, looking up at Inuyasha.

When she tried to see his reaction to Naraku's comment, she found herself frustrated that he was now staring at what had once been where Naraku stood. In order to catch his attention again, Kagome moved her hand up to his face, cupping his cheek. Instantly he grabbed her wrist, pulling it away from him.

"Don't touch me." His words sent her into a world of confusion as she tried to speak to him.

"What's wrong, did I hurt you?" She asked, feeling the hair on the back of her neck stand up. Something was wrong, and it was too late to fix it.

"I just don't want you touching me, is that so hard to ask?" He pushed her away from him swiftly, almost as if she was poisonous. His arms were now gone from her hips, and he had turned away from her. "Dancing is stupid, especially when it's with a stupid person."

"Inuyasha, I don't understand, I ju-" He glared at her over his shoulder, but she saw much more than hate in his eyes. Regret was mixed into the deep jaded eyes he now possessed.

"Stay away from me."

"Not until you tell me what's going on."

"Just stay away from me!" He went to leave, but stopped when he felt her hand grab his. Her fingers lace through his rapidly, their hands locked in an embrace. Her voice was even harder to ignore.

"Why do you keep doing this? Shutting me out like I'm the enemy! Talk to me Inuyasha; tell me what's going on." The next sentence was too strong to disregard. "Don't you trust me?"

"Kagome I…" He turned to face her, but was cut off by Shippo, who now came sprinting towards Kagome.

"Kagome I found you! Everyone is going to the camp fire to tell ghost stories and roast marshmallows, and I want you to sit with me." He reached up and grabbed her hand, not noticing that Kagome had been staring at someone else the whole time. "Come on, Sango and the others saved us all seats!"

"I'm coming…" Kagome sent a cheerful smile towards the small boy, but it hadn't reached her eyes. Shippo didn't seem to notice as he tugged Kagome along, leaving Inuyasha alone. It took a moment for Inuyasha to move, but had gone in the opposite direction of the fire. The idea of seeing anyone at the moment was too much for Inuyasha.

Scene Change

"And the legend says you can still hear her screams throughout the camp at night, still searching for her teddy bear. People have had their own stuffed animals stolen, even seen the girl walk into the room. Nobody knows what happened to the actual bear, but what we know is she'll never be at rest until she finds her bear…" At the end of Rin's ghost story, many of the children were clutching onto their animals with fear in their eyes. Some glanced around, while some shut their eyes tight.

As for the older teens, none were scared, but everyone was present. Kikyo had told Miroku and Sango that she went to talk to Rin about the activities before the forth of July, which Rin had verified as true. Inuyasha came back within minutes of leaving, but refused to speak to anyone. He currently sat in back of everyone else, which bothered Kagome to no end.

Did he really think that everything that happened was his fault? Inuyasha was too hard of a character to read, or else Kagome would know the answer to her own question. She'd also know just what he was hiding, and why he kept it secret from her. But his walls were like mazes, and just when she thought she found the right path, she'd wind up in another dead end. And it seemed every day the maze just kept getting bigger and more confusing.

"That was really good Rin, now whose ready for some smores?" Myoga was in charge of the activities for the bon fire, and realized that the children now needed something to distract them from the ghost story. Suddenly the littler kids started to raise their hands, and soon everyone was looking for good sticks to use.

"That was pretty good Rin, where did you learn that?" Kagome asked, watching the older girl smile.

"Sesshoumaru told me it when we first came here. He said I should tell it tonight since he couldn't make it to this part of the bon fire." Rin replied, causing the others to laugh. Sesshoumaru had been forced to dance with one of the older counselors, who in turned stepped onto his foot many times. He was currently resting his feet back at the counselor's cabin, refused to stay immobile tomorrow. It was not the demon way.

The laughter soon died out when Miroku noticed the worried look on Myoga's face. Since Myoga always seemed to help him out, Miroku wanted to know is there was anything he could do to repay the favor.

"What's wrong Myoga, you forget to do something?" He asked. He shook his head and looked at the young group, a kind smile on his face.

"It seems that my mind is going loony. I swore that I brought the marshmallows out here, but I seem to be a couple bags short. Would one of you mind going to get them from the kitchen?"

"That's a pretty long way; I think that two should go just in case." Rin said, looking at her campers. Sango quickly stood up, pulling Kagome with her.

"We'll do it! Come on Kagome, we need to talk anyways." Kagome nodded as she and Sango began walking towards the kitchen. When they were out of sight, Myoga looked at the others and smiled.

"Would you guys mind waiting until the girls get back to make your snacks? We barely have enough for the litter kids, and we will already have to control the eleven through fourteen year olds." Myoga asked.

"Sure, I don't think we're really in a rush to eat." Kouga had returned right before the marshmallow roasting, talking about how he had promised to dance with a couple girls before the dance was over.

"Well that's good. Let's just hope that those two don't take too long. I'm afraid that if they do, the older ones will start to get really upset."

"Don't worry. If you can count on anyone, those two are the two that you should pick first." Rin replied honestly. She truly held a lot of trust with Kagome and Sango, though the others had her respect as well.

"If worse comes to worse, we can always send someone after them to see what is taking them so long." Kikyo replied, gazing up where the moon was too shy to emerge. "All I know is that this was one of the best nights so far."

Scene Change

"Will you talk to me, it's been a good ten minutes since we've left and you haven't said one word."

"So I'm not in the mood to talk, is that a crime?"

"It is when it involves Inuyasha." Kagome threw her hands in the air as she continued to walk.

"Why is it every time I don't want to talk, you automatically bring up that idiot." Sango rolled her eyes but laughed.

"Because every time you don't talk, is it about him?"

"Shut up."

"It's just an observation."

"You know, I'm not some book that you can just read and expect the ending to be the same every time." When Sango sent her a glance, Kagome sighed. "Oka, so maybe it is about him."

"Alright, what did he do now?" Sango asked quickly as she looked towards the kitchen.

"He was really sweet tonight, better than he has been in a while. He was still a little rough and all, but he was better than normal." Sango only waited for Kagome to add the second part of the story. "Then Naraku came over, said a few things, and Inuyasha started treated me like I was nothing again."

"Well what did Naraku say? Anything to offend Inuyasha?" Sango asked. She heard Kagome snort as a response. "I take that as a yes?"

"The real question is, what did he say that didn't offend Inuyasha? All he did was talk about the…well you know."

"Ah I see. So after that, Inuyasha became distant? Do you think it's because he still thinks it's his fault about Naraku?" Sango stopped as she pushed the lock on the kitchen door open. "You think that they would have a normal lock, anyone could lock themselves in here on accident."

"Not really, the door is too heavy to shut on its own. I have to put a lot of my weight into it just to get it open." Kagome pulled strongly on the door, causing it to slide open. "See what I mean?"

"Let's get back to the matters at hand. Have either of you talked to each other since the dance problem?"

"No, he won't talk to me now." Kagome stepped into the dark room, slipping slightly. Kagome couldn't tell what the liquid on the floor was, though she ignored it. Probably some water that got spilled when the counselors were getting water for the fire. "Where do you think the marshmallows would be?"

"Turn on the lights so we can see."

"The switch is on the outside, right next to where you start the oven." The camp was very large, which caused the problem of needing to have two kitchens. Though the newer one had more equipment, the one they were in now, which was very old fashion, was used more. Nothing was electrical in this kitchen other than the lights. Because of this, the switch to turn the gas stove was outside of the kitchen.

"Then just go out and turn them on." Before either could move to turn the lights on, the exit from the kitchen shut quickly, causing them both to jump. "I thought you said that door couldn't be shut unless someone put some strength into it?"

"That's because it's true! Even Inuyasha had a problem opening it today." Kagome whispered, letting her sentence fall into silence. A small shuffle could be heard, though neither girl could pinpoint where it came from.

"Sango, someone's outside." Kagome whispered, grabbing her friend's hand. Sango couldn't answer, fear chocking her. She reminded herself she needed oxygen and glanced around the room, which she now realized seemed much larger at night.

"Just stay quiet, and they won't know we're here." Sango could hardly see, but noticed the vertical movement of Kagome's head. Suddenly, the movement stopped, leaving stillness to creep around the girls.

"Do you think it was just an animal? Do you think it's gone?" Kagome asked. Sango tried to answer, but a familiar smell filled her nose. It seemed Kagome smelt it too, for she covered her nose. "Ugh, what on earth is that?"

"I think…its gasoline." Sango said. As soon as the words flew from her mouth, the smell only got worse. Sango slowly bent down, feeling the floor with her hand. When an oily substance touched her fingers, she pulled up immediately, trying to back away from the liquid. She soon found there was hardly any escape; the floor had been covered erratically with the fluid.

"Don't panic Kagome but…we're standing in a bunch of gasoline." They continued to back peddle until they hit a table island that stood in the middle of the kitchen. Sango's skin crawled with a sense of fear as she realized just what the gasoline could be used for. "I have an idea, sit up on the table."

"Are you crazy!" Kagome only watched Sango hop up onto the table. Kagome followed suit, making sure to keep her feet away from the floor. "What is the matter with you, we're in dresses if you can't tell! Why am I sitting on a table?"

"Kagome, please stop panicking or else I won't tell you why!" Sango yelled, snapping at her friend. She was starting to feel her fear taking over her mind just like Kagome. She shoved away the thought of the bad position they were in as she quickly tried to think of a way to explain the gasoline spill. Maybe one of the stoves is broken and leaking or maybe something just got knocked over! That's it! There's no reason to panic… Kagome's mind did not agree with Sango's thoughts.

"How do you not expect me not to panic? We're stuck in here with no light, surrounded by very flammable gasoline and fire starters everywhere! This is a death trap if there ever was one." The sentence shook Sango's excuses out the window when she realized the reality of the situation.

"…I think that's what it was intended to be." Sango whispered.

"What?" Sango didn't have time to respond, for at the moment the deadliest thing was thrown through a window and into the room. A lit match. "Oh god!" Sango saw a small part of the room light up before she swallowed a scream. Though it was small, she knew it wouldn't take long before it caught onto the rest of the gasoline around the room.

"Sango!" Kagome tried not to cry out in terror as she realized what position they were in. "There's no way out, we can't leave. The fire is right across the doorway! What's going on!"

"I…I think…"Sango's head spun as she realized why the marshmallows were missing. Why they disappeared right when Myoga had approached the group. And the find was much more than Sango could take. "I think someone is trying to kill us!"

Dun Dun Dun DUN! Before you ask, yes this is where I am ending it. Don't kill me! I just thought it'd be good to end on a strong part...and because I'm evil so I still need to keep my reputation. Anyways, will Sango and Kagome die? Who started the fire? How come camps can afford two cafeterias, but no Chinese food? Find out next time!...except that third one, I really have no clue...

Chapter 21-The Saviors from Hell's Fire