Chapter 2: Beyond the Heart

A young girl with flowing black hair peddled her bicycle slowly towards Kaede's Village. She slowed to a halt and stared off towards the mountains. Her eyes drew quickly towards a huge receding cloud and spotted the glimmer of the Shikon Jewel. "Naraku," Kagome whispered too herself, knowing quite well she may find some bad news. She stood up on her pedals and worked furiously on them. Quickly arriving in the village, she froze from the sight of the complete devastation of Kaede's Village. "No," she whispered as she leapt off her back and ran into the center of the village.

Kagome froze as she spotted the silver-hair Sesshomaru lying lifelessly on the ground. After a few moments, his body twitched and she ran over to his side. "Sesshomaru…what happened?"

The dog-demon winced, "Where's Rin and Jakan?"

Kagome gasped as she realized the two appeared no where. "Sesshomaru, what happened?"

Sesshomaru grunted then collapsed with eyes closed tight. "Kagome!" Kagome heard her name called from off into the distance. From the shrill pitch, she estimated the voice to come from an old time friend. Sure enough, from over the hill she spotted the man with silver hair and dog ears.

"Inuyasha!" Kagome called out to the half-demon as he ran down the hill to her position in town.

"What happened here…Sesshomaru?" Inuyasha stared at his half-brother with gold irises. "Kagome, did you see what happened here?" Kagome shook her head and stared down at the lifeless dog-demon.

Kagome looked up into Inuyasha's face, "We might want to take care of him."

"WHAT? No way! Leave him here to rot."

"Inuyasha, he's your brother, don't you care about your family?"

"Sesshomaru? Family? You're living in a dream world! There is no way I'm going to take care of this slimy, insignificant-"

"Sit boy!"

Inuyasha's body flung to the ground and he snarled with anger. "What did you do that for?"

"Some times you can be so stubborn."

The two felt a chill run down their back as they both heard a dark laughter from behind. "Stubborn. The two of you seem to have that problem."

Inuyasha turned and found a man in a black robe. Kagome tried to distinguish the man's face but to no avail. "Who are you?" Inuyasha snarled.

The black robed figure laughed again, "My name is Xemnas. I came to turn that creature lying before you into a Heartless."

"What?" Kagome gasped.

"You see, I had an encounter with a most powerful foe who destroyed my kingdom. Now I need to start over, so I'll enlist the more powerful Heartless and Nobodies to do my biding."

"Nobodies?" Inuyasha questioned.

"Yes, those without hearts. Now, if you may, let me take my first subject."

"You're not laying a hand on him!" Inuyasha whipped out his Tetsuiga and poised it before Xemnas.

"Oh my, what a big sword. Let's see how powerful you really are."