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Chapter 6

Kagome awoke feeling a small weight on her lap. She opened her eyes to find a small sleeping Shippo laying on it. She smiled slightly.

She turned her head to look over at Sango and Miroku and was surprised to see that the two were holding each other. She nearly busted out laughing when she saw that Miroku had a strange yet perverted sort of smile on his face. Not only that but Sango seemed to have a look of content. Boy they were both in for a rude awakening.

Kagome sat still for a few minutes, hoping that someone else would wake up so she could have someone to talk to, but that apparently wasn't going to happen. They all appeared to be in a deep sleep. She sighed as she closed her eyes and tried to fall back asleep, but her mind wouldn't let her.

The thoughts of how her king had betrayed her were running through her mind. She couldn't believe that she had once thought of him like a father. How could she have been so loyal to a king that was willing to send his servants to death for some stupid new weapon? But something didn't make sense though. The king had never before done such a thing.

She thought back on how the king how acted years earlier. He had always cherished his soldiers and never sent them into a battle they couldn't win or where the casualties would be too high. That was probably the only reason why the humans had managed to last so long. But she also noticed that as time passed her "King" had started to care less and less of the lives of his soldiers. Why was he changing? Was he just getting too old to stay in control of the kingdom? What was going on with him?

Her thoughts were interrupted when Inuyasha began to stir. She felt his head lifted off hers and she was a little happy as a crick was beginning to form in her neck. She turned to look at him and almost laughed at the tired look that was on his face. His eyelids were drooping and he looked like he was in a dream.

"Morning." She said staring at him, trying to not break out into laughter.

"Morning." He replied in a sort of slurred kind of way. He took a massive yawn before leaning back against the side of the cave wall.

"Sleep well?" His response was a slight nod, but she couldn't tell whether it was a yes or a no. "Was that a yes or a no?" She asked again. He responded with another nod though it was still as unreadable as the last one. It appeared to her that Inuyasha was in a sort of trance. Not really paying any attention to his surroundings, and just nodding at whatever she said.

"So you are an idiot." She saw him nod slowly. So her hypothesis was correct.

Kagome's words seeped into Inuyasha's mind after a few seconds then he realized what he had done. "Hey, I'm not an idiot." He almost yelled in her ear.

"Really?" she said in a kind of sarcastic way.

"Yeah really." He replied.

"So then what are you?" Inuyasha opened his mouth to say something, but nothing came out. He closed it not really knowing what to say. "That's what I thought." She turned her head away from him and looked toward the fire. Inuyasha growled slightly and poked her in the stomach.

"Ow." She said as she rubbed her stomach. "What was that for?"

Inuyasha folded his arms before replying. "For calling me an idiot."

"Well it's not my fault you are." She said poking him back.

"Am not." He said poking her.

"Too."

"Not"

"Too". The two continued to poke each other until Kagome suddenly realized something "Inuyasha stop."

"What are you giving up?" He said a smirk appearing on his face.

She shook her head. "No, it's not that." She pushed her hand onto her side. "Notice anything?"

"No, am I supposed to?" He asked.

Kagome shook her head. "You really are an idiot." Inuyasha was about to say something but she cut him off. "I don't feel any pain in my ribs."

"What do you mean you don't feel any pain in your ribs? They shouldn't have healed that quickly." He said as he put his hand on her side. He pushed on her ribs lightly and she didn't even flinch. Inuyasha eyed her suspiciously. "Are you sure that you're not a demon?"

Kagome gave him a lame look. "Oh yeah I'm a demon." She said sarcastically. She shook her head at his stupidity. "Anyway have you ever heard of something like this before?" she said deciding to change the subject.

"No, I haven't." Inuyasha replied. He turned to look at Miroku. "Wake the monk up. Maybe he has?"

"Okay." Kagome said, gently picking Shippo off her lap.

Standing up Kagome felt her legs shake a bit. Not standing on them for a week made it a little hard to walk. Not to mention that her left leg had fallen asleep, making it even more difficult to stand. She tried to shake the kind of stinging feeling in her left leg out but found that it was having little effect. Sighing Kagome half walked half limbed over to Miroku, noticing the perverted sort of smile on his face as he still held Sango.

When she noticed this she thought about waking Sango up and let her beat the crap out of the monk, but since she would have to wait until he woke up again to get any answers she decided against it. So instead she gently kicked Miroku's side.

"Miroku wake up. Miroku." Kagome called. When he didn't wake up she kicked him a little harder and said his name louder but he still didn't wake up. Sighing she took a deep breath and screamed in his ear. "Miroku wake up!" He still didn't budge. She also noticed that Sango wasn't waking up either.

"Didn't realize the she slept so hard." Kagome thought. She then turned her attention back to Miroku. "Hey Inuyasha, do you know how to wake him up?" She asked pointing at Miroku.

"Yeah." He said as he stood up. Walking over to Miroku he bent down to his ear and whispered something in his ear. Almost immediately Miroku shot up frantically searching the cave, his face in a having a perverted look on his face along with a perverted grin.

When he noticed that the thing he had been searching for was not there his smile dropped. "Inuyasha, please do not get my hope's up like that." Inuyasha shrugged.

"Hey it was the only way to get you up." He said walking next to Kagome. "Now do you notice anything different about Kagome?" He asked. He watched as Miroku's eyes peered over Kagome, searching for something different or changed about her even though what he was looking for was right in front of him.

He also noticed that Kagome was beginning to look a little uncomfortable as he continued to stare at her. Though he couldn't quite blame her when a perverted monk was sitting there staring at her.

Several minutes passed and Kagome was growing more and more uncomfortable, and Inuyasha was beginning to lose his patients. His foot began to tap the ground lightly and as seconds passed tapped faster and harder. When another minute passed Inuyasha's patient expired and yelled, "Miroku you can't be that stupid! Do you not see what's wrong with her?"

Miroku turned his attention to Inuyasha. "No Inuyasha I don't." he said dumbly.

Inuyasha shook his head. "How you were one of the smartest people in our village I'll never know." He said to himself. Raising his finger he lightly jabbed it into Kagome's side causing a surprised squeak to erupt from her. "Do you notice anything?"

Miroku shook his head. "No."

"Her ribs aren't broken anymore." He said.

Miroku's head moved up and down in realization. "Oh, yeah that's what I meant when I said that there was nothing wrong with her." he said quickly, clearing his throat. "So is that why you woke me up?"

Kagome and Inuyasha looked at him with disbelief. "Isn't that a little odd?" Kagome asked.

"Yeah it is." Miroku replied.

"Do you know why or how it could've healed that quickly?" She asked.

"No." Inuyasha and Kagome's heads dropped.

"Well a lot of help you are." Inuyasha said sarcastically. He walked over to the cave wall and dropped to the floor. Kagome sat next to him.

The three sat in silence, except for the occasional snore from the two sleepers. The three pondered somewhat how Kagome's ribs could've healed so quickly although Miroku seemed more preoccupied with watching Sango's sleeping figure. Still the time the he did spend thinking about Kagome's increased healing rate had him a little baffled.

It really didn't make any sense. He had heard of demons healing at that increased rate, but for humans that was impossible, unless of course she was a miko, but he shook his head at that. She wasn't a miko. He couldn't sense any energy radiating off her. And even if she was a miko it would take an extremely powerful one to heal at that rate. But then how could she have healed that quickly? it just didn't make any sense.

Then he remembered a passage of a book he once read on mikos: Although most mikos are born with their powers, and begin to show signs of them at about six weeks after birth, the most powerful of mikos don't show any signs of their power until they are about sixteen. And even then the timing is unpredictable to determine when they can actually start to use their powers, or even when they are aware of them.

There have been signs of when a young woman, who has this delayed activation of power, beginning to awaken. They have heightened senses, a sudden ability to sense all demonic energies, humans and those of other mikos, an increase in their archery abilities, and gain the ability to purify.

As Miroku continued to think about what he had read in the passage he found that the words began to fade away. He sighed heavily as he tried to recall the words, but found that it was no use. He was really starting to wish that he had paid more attention to what he read. He knew that the passage had said more on signs and what they could do but he couldn't remember.

He gave up on trying to remember what the passage had reads he tried to think of other ways Kagome could've healed that quickly, but nothing came to mind. He wished that he was back at the village so he could search the library but he wasn't. He searched his memory for anything that could answer the question, and something came to mind.

"Perhaps she's a half demon like Inuyasha?" he thought, but yet again the failure to sense that energy shot that up. He decided it was better to give up on the thought until he could find a place to search for ideas.

"Well since none of us have an obvious answer to this mysterious question I say we put it aside and figure out what we are going to do now." Miroku said as he pulled himself out of his thoughts and looked over to them.

Kagome nodded. "Yeah you're probably right. But I think before we get started we need to wake Sango up." She said.

Miroku put his hand on Sango's shoulder and shook her gently. "Sango wake up." He said. When she didn't respond he said her name again, and shook her a little harder. "Sango wake up." Still she didn't move so he bent down closer to her and spoke loudly in her ear. "Sango wake up!"

Suddenly a loud smack resounded throughout the cave. Miroku looked taken back, and rubbed his cheek gently as he tried to rub the pain away.

"Don't ever get that close again." Sango said a dangerous tone in her voice. As she rose Kagome thought that she saw a slight blush on Sango's cheeks but with only the dim fire light couldn't tell. "What you wake me up for." She asked her attention moving away from Miroku to the other two.

"My ribs are healed." Kagome said happily, but confusion on how was still clear on her face.

"What? How?" Sango asked just as surprised and Kagome was when she realized she was healed.

Kagome shrugged. "Dunno. Just woke up this morning and they were healed, but since no one could think of why or how we decided to think about something else. Like what we are going to do now."

"Good question. What are we going to do now?" Sango asked. The other three shrugged.

The four sat in silence for a few seconds, deciding on what to do. Then Kagome spoke. "Why don't we just keep running?" the others looked up at her. "I mean it's not like we have anything to fight for anymore.

"Yeah but where we would we go?" Inuyasha asked.

"I don't know. Anywhere I guess." She replied.

"The thunder brothers are still after us so before we go anywhere we'd have to kill them first or we'll be harassed for the rest of our lives." Inuyasha said.

Kagome nodded. "Right. Forgot about them." Kagome looked down as she thought about what they could do.

Again a silence over came them. They all thought about what to do and where they could go. But really where could they go? They had all defected in from their own sides and if they went back they would be called traiters and killed. What could they do?

"How did we ever get ourselves into this mess." They all thought.

As they continued to ponder this thing a strange scent caught Inuyasha's attention. He didn't know what it was but he knew that it was strangely familiar. He stood up abruptly causing the three to look up at him.

"Inuyasha what is it?" Kagome asked a slight look of worry on her face.

"I don't know." He sniffed the air, still trying to remember what the scent was. "But what I do know that there is someone or something here." He closed his eyes and focused all of his attention on that one sense, and could barely make out the scent of a demon. "But who is it?" He thought.

For several minutes Inuyasha stood waiting for his mind to start working and figure out what scent he was smelling belonged to. It was so familiar but he couldn't remember whose it was. He could feel frustration building. Whose was it!

Then something hit him. His eyes widened. "Miroku, get Kagome, Sango, and the little runt out of here right now!" He yelled, urgency clearly displayed in his voice.

"Inuyasha what is it?" Miroku asked.

"Sesshomaru." He said quietly.

Kagome saw Miroku's eyes widen as well. "Inuyasha, who is Sesshomaru?" she asked.

When Inuyasha didn't answer she was about to ask again but Miroku answered for him. "Inuyasha's brother." He said. Quickly Miroku picked up Shippo from his sleeping position and grabbed Kagome's and Sango's hands. "Come on! We have to go!" Miroku yelled.

Kagome at first reluctantly moved watching Inuyasha as he waited for some kind of an attack to come. She watched as he tightly gripped his sword his head moved side to side, continuing to do this until he noticed Kagome wasn't moving.

"Kagome get the heck out of here!" He yelled at her. "Now!"

Kagome shook her head. "What about you?" She asked, worry in her voice.

"Don't worry about me! Now get out of here!" He yelled again. When she still didn't move he quickly grew frustrated. "Kagome, I said get out of here!" He saw her shake her head again. "Dang it Kagome listen to me! Leave! Now!"

"But I can't leave you to fight him alone." She said.

Inuyasha stared at her for a few seconds. He couldn't understand why she wouldn't leave. Wasn't she worried that she might get hurt or worse? Did she really think that she could even help him?

He growled lowly. "She's not thinking straight." He thought.

As he continued to stare at her a sudden feeling of danger passed through the pit of his stomach. Quickly he looked back behind him, his eyes directed at the cave wall. He felt that something bad was coming. Then it hit him what it was.

Before Kagome realized what was happening she found herself being pushed backwards, flying through the air. She saw Inuyasha's silver hair glint against the fire's light as she continued to move backwards. She felt his arms hold her tightly and protectively.

Then suddenly a massive wave of energy tore through the cave. The force from the blast threw her to the ground, her head contacting the side of a rock. Almost immediately she felt an aching pain shoot through her head. Her hand reached up to her head, and she could feel a hot liquid run down it.

Blood. She thought as the ache in her head grew.

She looked up to find Inuyasha standing in front of her, a look of concern in his eyes. "You alright?"

"Yeah, I'm fine." She replied, wincing slightly as pain shot through her skull.

Inuyasha turned to the now gapping hole in the cave and saw a figure standing in the middle of it. "Sesshomaru." He thought angrily. "Miroku get Kagome and Sango out of here. I've got something to take care of." He yelled.

Quickly Inuyasha pulled out tetsusaiga and aimed it straight at the figure in the light. "Sesshomaru what are you doing here?" he yelled angrily.

"I'm here to kill you." Sesshomaru replied, his voice cold and hard.

Inuyasha growled loudly. "Give me your best shot!"

"Fine." He replied.

Before Inuyasha could react Sesshomaru disappeared and reappeared behind him. What the!" Inuyasha yelled. Quickly pivoting on his heel he managed to avoid the oncoming strike.

"You let your guard down Inuyasha." Sesshomaru said.

"Shut up!" Inuyasha yelled, running at him.

Sword swinging Inuyasha attacked Sesshomaru viscously his blade whistling through the air. Sesshomaru quickly pushed himself backwards avoiding every single strike aimed at him, seemingly effortlessly. Inuyasha continued to swing hoping that maybe he would get lucky and catch his brother, but with his luck he continued to miss.

"Stop moving around!" Inuyasha yelled. As Inuyasha took another swing he found his blade suddenly stopped and the ring of metal against metal resounded throughout the cave. Sesshomaru stood in front of him the toukijin holding off his attack.

Inuyasha growled angrily. With all his strength he pushed against Sesshomaru, but soon found himself being thrown away. Skidding across the ground Inuyasha used his left hand to steady himself before jumping back up and slashing at Sesshomaru. Quickly Sesshomaru avoided the oncoming slash before slamming toukijin into his side.

Inuyasha withheld a yell as he managed to roll out of the way. Blood poured out of the wound. He found himself having a hard time standing and could feel his body begin to weaken. How could I leave myself that open to an attack? How stupid am I? He thought.

"Inuyasha you're even weaker than before." Sesshomaru spoke. "Maybe you've been spending too much time with these humans." His gaze shifted to Kagome, Sango, and Miroku. "They've made you weak."

"Shut up!" Inuyasha yelled. "I'm just holding back!" Inuyasha could feel his right leg begin to shake heavily as he said these words. It was beginning to take great effort to stand.

Kagome looked at Inuyasha, her eyes held a strong look of fear and worry. She turned to Miroku. "Miroku, what's going to happen to Inuyasha?" she asked.

Miroku looked down at her noticing how strongly her worry appeared in her eyes. "To be honest Kagome I don't know." He looked up to Inuyasha. "The last time these two fought Inuyasha had barely managed to defeat him, and that was only because he had some how managed to create an amazingly powerful wave of energy that nearly obliterated Sesshomaru. The only reason it didn't was because Inuyasha had done it on accident and Sesshomaru had managed to dodge it, and had it hit Sesshomaru would've been no more."

Kagome nodded but and realized that Inuyasha might not stand much of a chance. "So does that mean Inuyasha's going to lose?"

"Ye- I don't know." Miroku managed to catch himself from saying what he really thought was going to happen.

Kagome looked back at Inuyasha to find that he was struggling heavily to stay standing. Inuyasha.

"If you wish to live Inuyasha then I suggest you stop holding back." Sesshomaru said coldly. "And if you do not then I will kill you."

Inuyasha smirked. "Alright then if that's the way you want it." He said grasping tetsusaiga with both hands. He then found that doing so made it even harder to stand. I'll have to finish this quickly. He thought. "Let's go!" Inuyasha yelled.

Running with all his strength Inuyasha swung hard at Sesshomaru causing him to block the oncoming strike. Pushing off him Inuyasha spun to his right and again swung at him again, but only to find that Sesshomaru had managed to block his attack again.

"If this is all you have Inuyasha then I'll kill you right now!" before Inuyasha could react Sesshomaru appeared in front of him and swung at him his blade easily cutting through Inuyasha's coat of the fire rat and the top of his stomach.

Inuyasha quickly backed off, doing his best to avoid every incoming strike but found that his weakened body made it difficult. He could feel the tip of the blade cut into the top of his skin. He had to hold in yelps of pain as he could feel the blade cut deeper and deeper into him as he began to feel his body lose its energy.

Dang it! So many battles in less then a week have really drained my energy. I can't keep this up. He thought as he dodged another slash. As he continued to move he grew frustrated at having to constantly having to be on the defensive. He hated having to do this. Enough is enough.

Swinging the tetsusaiga Inuyasha deflected toukijin away from him and managed to get his claws into the side of his face. Sesshomaru jumped back for a second. "Not bad, Inuyasha."

Inuyasha smirked weakly, "Thanks."

"But this fight is far from over."

"I know."

"Good then lets continue." Sesshomaru charged at Inuyasha again.

"Just waiting on you!" Inuyasha pulled tetsusaiga in front of him and managed to block the oncoming strike.

Quickly Inuyasha pushed Sesshomaru off and struck back only to have his own attack deflected. Sesshomaru then rounded around him and attempted to hit him in the back. Before Inuyasha had even realized it he had managed to dodge the hit and was able to make a quick slash, with his claws, across Sesshomaru's chest. Jumping back Inuyasha felt his legs suddenly buckle. He then could feel all of his strength suddenly dissipate.

I'm losing more blood than I thought. I can barely stand. He thought wearily. Inuyasha then saw his vision begin to go out of focus. It took him several seconds for it to refocus but by that time Sesshomaru had charged at him again and before he could react a toukijin was coming down on him.

Time suddenly slowed as he watched as Sesshomaru came at him with such a speed that he wouldn't even have the time to block the attack. He nearly closed his eyes as Sesshomaru neared but decided to face death and stare it straight in the eye.

As he grew even closer Inuyasha braced himself for the attack that would rend his flesh and slice his bone, and maybe even take his life away, but when it never came he looked at Sesshomaru to find that in between his index finger and middle finger there was a long, straight object in his hands. He couldn't tell what it was for a second until light glinted off its tip.

Inuyasha's eyes widened as he turned over to Kagome. He was surprised yet scared to find her having an arrow aimed at Sesshomaru's heart.

"Hey Sesshomaru, leave Inuyasha alone! He hasn't done anything to you. why do you want to kill him?" Kagome yelled her arm pulling back on the bowstring.

Sesshomaru gave her a cold hard stare. He looked over her. He was surprised that a human would dare stand up to him especially a woman. He didn't expect that. He especially didn't expect her to attack him. Well it appears these humans do have some courage. He thought. Doesn't matter. That still won't save them.

"Woman." Sesshomaru spoke coldly. "Do you intend to fight me?"

"You didn't answer my question." She replied.

Sesshomaru snapped the arrow between his fingers before he spoke, "What has happened between Inuyasha and I is none of your concern. This is only between Inuyasha and I. Now answer my question do you intend to fight me?"

"If you're going to continue to attack Inuyasha for no reason then yes." She replied. Her eyes linked with his and the two held gazes for several seconds.

This girl has great courage. It's a shame she isn't a demon. She would've been powerful. He thought. "Then woman you better prepare." Sesshomaru continued to stare at her. "I'll let you make the first move."

"Fine!" Letting her arrow fly Kagome watched as it impacted his chest, but was surprised to find that he didn't even wince.

Sesshomaru continued to stare at her and found that a look of fear come over her face. He was about to step forward and strike her down but found that a small ache in his chest begin to burn in his chest. He then found that it started to course throughout his entire body. He could feel his blood begin to burn. He looked down at the arrow and was surprised to find that the arrow glowed with a pink aura.

He looked back up at the girl and then back down at the arrow. She's a miko. How could I not sense that? He looked over her and then noticed a small aura of spiritual power glow around her. That's why I couldn't sense it. She's a weak miko. Then he suddenly noticed that the glow around her increased slightly. Not significantly but enough to notice. She's getting stronger. Her power must've recently appeared. I'd best kill her now.

Pulling the arrow out of his chest he charged at her. As he raised his sword he saw a flash of red out of the corner of his eye. Suddenly he stopped and jumped backwards and saw the tetsusaiga slash in front of him.

"Sesshomaru, stay away from her. This fight is between you and me." Inuyasha said as he put the tetsusaiga in front of him.

"Thanks." He heard Kagome say quietly. He nodded in reply.

"Then keep her out of It." Sesshomaru replied.

Inuyasha turned to Kagome. "Listen you need to stay out of this."

"But I can't let you fight him by yourself. You'll die." She said, worry in her eyes.

"I can handle this by myself. I don't need your help."

"But." Inuyasha grabbed her arms.

"No buts!" he yelled. "Kagome I can't risk losi-" he stopped himself. "I can't risk it. Now tell me you'll stay out of this." Kagome stared at him for a second before nodding. "Good." He then turned to face Sesshomaru. "Let's finish this."

"Gladly." The two stared at each other before bringing up their swords and charging at each other.

Sorry it took so incredible long to write this I've been to busy and preoccupied with other things. And I hope that you don't mind my decision to end the chapter here it just seemed like a good place to stop. Well hopefully I'll be able to get the next chapter a lot faster and I apologize again for the wait. Well until the next chapter Bye.