Disclaimer: don't own Inuyasha

Chapter 5

Inuyasha cut through the dense forest and brush, ignoring the pain that was shooting through his overworked legs. He could feel his heart throb from the constant strain of pumping oxygen throughout his body. A pain soon developed in his chest. It felt like it was going to explode. He cursed his body for being so slow and weak.

I have to get to him or otherwise the kid won't have a future. The kid is going to die unless I get to him! He thought. The constant thought of the Shippo dieing gave him an even stronger sense of urgency. Even an image of his death crossed through his mind. The image gave him the strength to push his body even harder. His speed drastically increased, but the pain it brought was almost unbearable. I can't take this much longer. Where is the stupid village?

"I wonder where Inuyasha and Miroku went to." Shippo said to himself. He sat quietly on the floor of the hut the three where staying in. He tossed several tops onto the ground, watching them twirl around and around making himself dizzy. He sighed heavily. "I'm so bored!" he yelled.

The pounding of floor boards alerted him to the presence of somebody. He looked behind him to where the entrance of the hut lay. For several seconds he looked at the entry way and not seeing anybody he shrugged it off and went back to watching his spinning tops. As he sat there he felt a presence behind him. Quickly he turned around, but found that nobody was there. He stood up and looked outside, and surveyed the area around the hut, but he still didn't find anything.

Taking one final look around he started to head back inside, but soon found something grasp his waist and pull him away. He saw the hut begin to move farther and farther away. Trees and bushes were streaking past him, and the only thing he could think was happening was that he was being kidnapped.

He screamed as loud as he could, only to have something else cover his mouth. Instinctively he bit down on whatever was covering his mouth. His teeth sunk into a tough, calloused, skin.

Inuyasha bit back a yelp. For a little guy Shippo could bite hard. "Hey runt, let go of my hand!" he half whispered-yelled. "I'm here to help you now let go."

Shippo looked up at him, his teeth still buried in Inuyasha's hand, and gave him an odd look. Pulling his teeth out he said. "Saving me from what? I don't think that there is anything that I need to be saved from." He narrowed his eyes at him. "What did you do?"

Inuyasha stopped and put him down before replying. "I did something that's going to cause us some serious problems."

"What kind of problems?" he asked. He noticed that Inuyasha was breathing really hard and that his legs were shaking uncontrollably. "Why are you so tired?"

"I'll answer your questions later. For now we need to get to the cave." Inuyasha picked up the small kit as he started to run again.

Shippo attempted to avoid the branches that flew past him. He couldn't believe the speed that Inuyasha seemed to be moving at. Never before had he seen him run this fast. "Hey Inuyasha, why are you running so fast? It's not like anything is chasing us."

"I told you. I'll tell you later when we get to the cave." He said as he winced. The pain in his legs was becoming overwhelming. His strength was waning and he didn't know how much longer he could keep the pace up. He just hoped that he wouldn't run into any unexpected problems otherwise he was going to have a serious strength disadvantage.

A strange, unusual odor invaded his nose. He nearly choked on the scent. It was hard to breath, and he could feel his speed decline. The pain in his legs grew since they were being even more deprived of oxygen. He was glad though that the kit's sense of smell was not yet fully developed, so he wouldn't be inhaling the noxious odor.

Several seconds passed before the odor disappeared. Glad that's over with. He thought.

His speed began to pick up again and he moved through the forest at a lightning speed once again. The odor he smelled smelt strangely familiar, but he couldn't place it. He didn't know what it was, but it smelled like.

His thoughts were cut off as a bolt of lightning cut across him. His eyes widened and his breath caught in his throat. Oh no. He looked over to where the bolt came from to find a smirking Hiten. Inuyasha's eyes narrowed at him, a glint of anger passing through them.

"Inuyasha, what's your hurry? And what are you doing with the little kit?" Hiten asked, his staff rising behind him. His eyes searched Inuyasha over. He noticed that Inuyasha's wounds hadn't quite healed yet. "I see that your wounds haven't healed. Guess that gives me an advantage. Especially since you seemed to be exhausted. Today looks like the day I'm going to kill you." Hiten laughed evilly.

Inuyasha growled angrily. Putting Shippo down he grabbed the hilt of the tetsusaiga and steeled himself. "Shippo, get out of here. Run as fast as you can to the cave. I'll meet you there when I get done with him." Shippo looked at Inuyasha, a look of uncertainty clearly showing on his face. Inuyasha looked down at him, his look telling him to listen to him.

Hiten grew impatient and charged Inuyasha. Inuyasha quickly drew the tetsusaiga and blocked the oncoming strike. "Run, now!" he yelled as he threw Hiten off. Shippo obliged and took off.

Sparks erupted from the clash between the two. Metal rang while wood splintered. Dust and dirt flew up as they ran across the ground.

Inuyasha stepped back, his legs struggling to stay up. This was not good. He could feel his strength dieing. The tetsusaiga was growing increasingly heavy, and his arms were on fire. He resisted the idea of running away, since chances are he wouldn't get very far before having to turn and fight again. Besides, he couldn't let Hiten think that he was weak and cowardly.

Raising the tetsusaiga Inuyasha attacked. His sword connected with Hiten's staff with a strange ring. He felt a pain shoot through his sensitive ears. He had to resist the urge to cover them. Managing to shake it off he continued to attack Hiten and found that the ring died away with each attack, so he didn't pay anymore mind to it. But he couldn't help but wonder what it was.

Quickly he pulled away to avoid an oncoming vertical slash, but he didn't manage to dodge it in time. A long bloody wound appeared across his right shoulder.

Dang it! He thought. I'm not going to be able to keep this up much longer. Not only that but I feel a little dizzy. He couldn't have got me that bad. He felt the pain in his legs increase dramatically. His shoulder began to burn and it was unbearable.

His eyes began to water, and he felt his entire body suddenly heat up. All of the pain that he had was now growing stronger and more painful. He nearly fell over from all of it. He looked up at Hiten to find him laughing.

"What are you laughing at?" he struggled to get out. The pain in his voice only caused Hiten to laugh even more.

"Is it becoming unbearable Inuyasha?" Inuyasha gave him a confused, yet distorted look. He just laughed more. "How can you be so stupid? Do you really think that the pain you're feeling is natural?" Inuyasha's eyes widened.

"What did you do to me?" He said as a new pain erupted in his lungs.

"I'm sure that your heightened senses managed to pick up the ringing right?" Hiten questioned. Inuyasha at first didn't realize what he was talking about. Then he remembered the strange ringing that he had heard when he clashed against his staff. Hiten nodded as he read Inuyasha's pain stricken face. "That ringing is the ring of burning. Once the sound of the ring has entered an open wound it causes an immense burning to erupt in the receiver's body. It's quite painful, as you already know." He said as a dark glint in his eyes appeared, and an evil smirk.

Inuyasha growled at him as much as his body would allow him. Dang it! I can't do anything. This danged pain isn't allowing me to move. I have to think of something. He thought as he stared Hiten down. He growled even louder when the smirk on his face grew. Hiten just laughed.

Before Inuyasha could react he suddenly found himself being thrown several feet into the air. As he impacted a tree he tried to understand what had just happened. He hadn't seen or heard anything, so how did he end up lying face down on the ground?

He struggled to look up and found that Hiten was slowly walking toward him. He hated the fact that Hiten was just toying with him. Walking slowly like that so that he was going to try to make him suffer. He just couldn't stand it. The mere fact that he was being toyed with enraged him, and it made it so much that he nearly stood up. Nearly.

Hiten had to take a slight pause in his walk. He was surprised that the half demon had attempted to stand up. The pain he was receiving should've been enough to stop him from trying. He had to give credit to the half breed. He was defiantly stronger than he or anyone else thought. Oh well. He was going to kill him anyway.

Raising his staff he attempted to strike Inuyasha, but was shocked to find that the tetsusaiga had stopped it. He looked down at Inuyasha holding the tetsusaiga with all he had in order to stop him. Hiten smirked.

"So you have some more strength in you I see." He said moving his staff away. "No matter. You won't be able to block the next hit!" He threw down as hard as he could, knocking the tetsusaiga from Inuyasha's hands before slamming the staff into his stomach.

Inuyasha rolled over onto his side, clutching his stomach. Hiten walked over to him and picked him up. "Well I see the little birdie has no strength to fight." He said mockingly. Though a sudden pain in his stomach shut him up.

Looking down he found a claw imbedded in his stomach. Blood poured around Inuyasha's hand. He turned his hand to cause an increase in pain. Hiten was forced to drop Inuyasha in order to remove his claw, but to his dismay Inuyasha was standing on his own.

Inuyasha smirked. "Didn't think that a little pain could stop me did you?" rearing his other hand back he threw his fist into Hiten's face before pulling his other hand out and grabbing his shirt. He then kneed him in the face and threw him into a tree.

A claw slashed down Hiten's back as he was thrown. His grip was lost on his staff so it rolled onto the ground right next to Inuyasha. His eyes widened in horror as Inuyasha picked up the staff.

"Well, you ready to feel your own ring of burning?" He said as he arched the staff above his head. Bringing down the staff he heard it ring as it impacted Hiten's body. He suddenly saw Hiten drop to the ground in pain. "Not very fun is it? Don't worry though. I won't let you suffer for long." He was about to thrust it into Hiten but a lightning blot struck him and he flew into the air before hitting the ground.

"Dang it. So close too." He said as he blacked out.

Kagome was growing anxious. Inuyasha had been gone for almost eight hours. Where was he? She couldn't sit still for much longer, but every time she tried to get up either the pain in her chest or Sango made her stay put. Several times she insisted that they go look for him but Miroku said no. he said that it would be too dangerous. She was about to say something but as if sensing what she was going to say Miroku cut her off.

"Kagome I understand how you feel, but I don't think that Inuyasha would want us to go looking for him with the thunder brothers out there." Kagome opened her mouth to say something but shut it when he started talking again. "Not only that I don't think he'd let any of us live it down if you were hurt even worse."

Kagome's eyes drifted to the ground. She hated this! She hated not being able to move and making people feel like she needed to be protected. She just wanted to scream. She wanted to scream at the two for making her worry like this. She wanted to scream at Inuyasha for running off while she was sleeping and not telling her where he was going and she wanted to scream at herself for being so weak willed that she couldn't take a little pain. She hated it. She hated the ordeal, her weakness, everything. Her fist clenched.

A hand was placed on her shoulder drawing her form her thoughts. She turned to look at Sango giving her a comforting look. It didn't really seem to work although some of the anguish was beginning to disappear.

A loud thud at the opening of the cave caused the three to jump. Both Sango and Miroku stood up quickly and went to go check what it was.

Kagome watched them disappear into the darkness of the cave. She stretched her hearing ability as far as it would go she heard a gasp and the shuffling of feet. Seconds later she saw Inuyasha being carried on the shoulders of Miroku and Sango while being followed by a small little demon.

Kagome's eyes widened. "What happened to Inuyasha?" she said rather urgently.

"He was defending me from Hiten." The little demon said. "He told me to run so I listened. I didn't get very far when I heard that the fighting stopped and went back to see if Inuyasha was alright. He was laying face down on the ground when I got back to him. He looked like he was attacked from behind."

Kagome struggled to stand up. Once she did she limped over to Inuyasha her hand clutching her side. Kneeling next to him she touched the wound that was across his shoulder. She was somewhat surprised to find that it was already healing. A small smile spread across her face.

She turned to the little demon. "What's your name?"

"Shippo." He said his head down.

Kagome's hand reached under his chin, lifting it up. "Hey it's alright. It's not your fault this happened. Inuyasha cares about you, so he is going to do whatever he can to protect you." She said in a gentle voice. "There's nothing you can do about that." She smiled at him. His mood seemed to pick up after that.

"Sango help me move him over to the side of the cave." Miroku said as he picked up Inuyasha. Sango quickly ran over to help him.

Kagome hobbled over to his side. "Inuyasha?" She asked, seeing if he was awake or would acknowledge her in some way. But he didn't.

"He probably won't be awake for a few hours Kagome." Miroku said sitting down on the right of Inuyasha's unconscious form. She nodded.

"I know. I just wanted to see if he would wake up anyway." She leaned up against the wall of the cave, grunting as she did. "Hey Miroku who's the boy?" She asked in a whisper.

Miroku turned his head slightly to get a better look at Shippo. "That is Shippo. He's a kit that Inuyasha and I have agreed to protect and look after."

"Where are his parents?" She saw both Sango's and Miroku's faces darken.

"They were both killed by the thunder brothers for sport." He said, a bit of anger in his voice that wasn't there when he had explained it all to Sango. Sango supposed it was there now since everything that had been pushed down concerning the death of Shippo's parents was starting to reappear.

Kagome looked over at Sango. "You knew this?" Sango nodded.

"He told me before you woke up." She said her eyes traveling toward the small kit. She looked over him; a dark saddened look was shinning over his face. It was a look of loss that the boy must have worn often since his face shaped so well to it. It looked like the fight with the thunder brothers brought out Shippo's fear in them and made him scared he was going to lose someone else.

She shifted her gaze back to look over at Kagome, who had apparently been also looking at him because a small tear was falling down her cheek. Sango gave her a small reassuring smile. Kagome smiled back.

A groan caused the two to quickly look at Inuyasha who seemed to be attempting to get up. Kagome limbed over to him as fast as she could. "Inuyasha are you alright?"

"Yeah perfectly fine." He replied in a sarcastic tone. Kagome was a bit taken back. She hadn't expected that.

"Don't mind the sarcasm Kagome." Miroku said walking over to them. "He has a habit of being in a bad mood when he gets his butt kicked."

Inuyasha glared at him. "Shut up monk."

"See. That remark just proves my point." Miroku gently grabbed Kagome's arm and helped her over to the wall. As he did he looked over at Inuyasha to find him attempting to stand, but could see that a pain in his back was preventing him from doing so. "Need some help?" He asked.

"No." Was Inuyasha's curt answer.

Miroku rolled his eyes at his ignorance and stupidity. Why must he act like such an idiot? He thought as he watched Inuyasha's attempts to stand. Normally he would just let him continue to fail at standing until Inuyasha asked him to stop being an idiot and help him, but this time he decided to do him a favor. After all Kagome looked to be somewhat annoyed from Inuyasha's behavior.

Inuyasha protested angrily as Miroku grabbed his arm and rather roughly drug him next to Kagome. "Miroku I said I didn't need your help!" He yelled.

"Well you were taking to long to get up and I was getting tired of you making a fool of yourself." He replied as he walked toward the back of the cave.

"Where you going?" Sango asked before Inuyasha could say anything back.

"To get some food." He replied.

Sango walked after him. "Let me help."

Kagome watched her retreating figure before turning back to look at Inuyasha who seemed to be pouting. She rolled her eyes. She then looked over at Shippo who seemed to want to stand by himself. "Hey, Shippo what's wrong?" She asked in a gentle voice. He shook his head. He didn't seem to want to talk. She was about to say something but Inuyasha cut her off.

"Kagome leave him alone." She looked up at him.

"Why?"

"He needs to get used to you before he'll talk. No point in talking to someone who won't reply." He said as he stood.

Kagome nodded before realizing that he had just stood. "I thought you couldn't stand."

Inuyasha smirked. "Didn't think that I was really that injured did ya?" Kagome thought a moment before giving him a slow nod. He walked over to Shippo and bent down.

Kagome watched the two talk in whispered voices. Obviously Inuyasha didn't want Kagome to hear what they were talking about since every time Shippo raised his voice he hushed him. She was trying her best to hear what they were saying, but they were talking too low. She hated the fact that they could still hear each other while barely even raising their voice. It made her jealous of their superior hearing, yet sometimes things aren't meant to be heard. So maybe she was better off having human hearing, though she really wanted to know what they were talking about.

She watched Inuyasha give Shippo a playful punch before standing up and walking back over to her, Shippo following.

"So what did you two talk about?" She asked as He sat back down.

"Nothing that concerns you." He replied.

Kagome gave him a skeptical look. "Really? Then why did you say my name?" she didn't actually know if he said her name but maybe it might get a reaction from him and maybe even reveal what they were talking about.

Inuyasha gave her a surprised look. "How did you hear us? I didn't think you'd be able to." Kagome nearly busted out laughing. She hadn't actually thought that they were talking about her nor had she expected him to admit it.

"So then what were you guys talking about?" she asked a lot more interested in what they had recently talked about especially since it was about it was her.

"It isn't any of your business." He replied.

Before Kagome could say anything a smack resounded through the cave. The three's attention was directed to the back of the cave. They saw that Sango walking toward them, her face a little pink. All three of realized what had happened as she came toward them alone.

"I take it Miroku won't be joining us for dinner." Inuyasha said as Sango sat down, and placed the meat over the fire. She just nodded her face coloring even more at the mention of Miroku's name. They couldn't tell if it was anger or embarrassment, but thought it was better to not ask.

Miroku returned about an hour later disappointed that this time he didn't have a meal waiting for him and found that it had been eaten by Shippo.

"Well serves you right pervert." Sango said looking away from him. She really didn't feel like facing him right now. Laying down she rolled over on her side and closed her eyes. "Goodnight."

"Night." The four said in unison.

An awkward silence past between the four only broken by the occasional growl of Miroku's stomach. They stared at the fire all feeling a little uncomfortable from the silence. And getting a little annoyed from the constant growling of Miroku's stomach.

"Miroku will you just go to sleep so we don't have to listen to your stomach any more?" Inuyasha said annoyed.

"Yeah I was just thinking about that. Well goodnight." The three replied with a quick goodnight.

Kagome rested her head on Inuyasha's shoulder. She smiled when she noticed that he didn't stiffen like usual. She supposed that he was getting used to it. That caused a small smile to spread across her face. Her eyes watched the fire but as they did she felt something gazing at her. She turned her eyes at Shippo who was staring at her.

"What?" She asked.

He didn't answer her for a few seconds and he looked as if he was studying her. She was starting to feel a little uncomfortable as he looked at her. She was about to say something but he suddenly yelled, "Hey wait I remember who you are now. You're that human that I saw walking through the forest with the two demon slayers." He then looked over at Sango. "And there's one of them. Inuyasha why are you with humans?"

Inuyasha sighed. He knew that it was going to be hard to explain to the kit what was going on, and he tried of thinking of the simplest way to that wouldn't go to in depth with how he met Kagome. "Because I made a promise Shippo. I promised Kagome that I would protect her and her companions. That's why." Shippo was about to say something but Inuyasha cut him off. "Shippo it'll be easier to explain in the morning and besides I'm not sure that you'll understand. Now let's get some sleep." He rested his head on Kagome's before quickly falling asleep.

Kagome looked at Shippo to find him pouting. She couldn't help but notice that it looked like Inuyasha's and smiled. "Hey you want to know why we're here?" She noticed that his face lightened up, and he nodded, she then proceeded to explain how she and Inuyasha met and why she and Sango were there with him. He seemed to want to skip through how she and Inuyasha met but after that quietly listened.

"Kagome you know that pink orb you mentioned?" He asked.

"Yeah what about it?"

"I heard that Miroku had given it to Kanna." Kagome shrugged.

"So? I don't care about that stupid thing anymore. If I could get my hands on it I would break it." She said anger touching her normally gentle voice. "Well we should get some sleep. Night Shippo."

"Night." He replied.

Sorry it took me so long to get this chapter out. Just haven't been in much of a mood to write. And I apologize if this chapter isn't very good didn't have much of a creative spurt. Sorry and I'll try to get the next chapter out soon as possible. Bye.