Disclaimer: I do not own the characters.

A/N: Sorry for the long break, but we are back at it, hope you all enjoy and please send a review my way.

Chapter 5

~*~ 2 weeks later ~*~

They were all sitting around a small, flickering campfire after a long day of searching for Naraku and the jewel shards. The trees that formed their sheltered clearing swayed around them, making ominous shadows. Kagome and Inuyasha were finally starting to get use to their switch in powers. Inuyasha was spending countless hours trying to show Kagome how to handle Tetsusaiga, but was having a difficult time, due to his lack of demon energies. Kagome was also having her own problems with random flares of demon energy that would send her to her knees in pain. Her human body was not coping well with this extra power. The others were starting to worry that they would not find a way to put them back to normal before it was too late.

A small kettle boiled merrily over the fire; in stoke contrast to the general mood of the group. Sango, Shippo, and Miroku had worry painted on their features almost every time Kagome or Inuyasha looked at them. Kagome tried her best to ignore the looks for it was only deepening her own concerns, to the point of desperation. As usual Inuyasha got angry with any of them if they acted in this way towards him, so he now appeared to be in a constant state of fury.

Sango was sitting near Kagome as the two worked on putting together the food for the group's meal.

"Do you want this cut for the soup?" Sango asked quietly as she peeled away the tough skin on the root in question.

"Hmm?" Kagome looked up, being pulled out of her thoughts. "Oh, that. Ya, that will be fine."

"Is anything wrong?"

"No, I was just thinking of some of the different things we could be eating if I was able to go home for a bit." She sighed.

"Well you can go home if you want."

"No, no I can't. No one in my time looks like this," Pointing to her dog ears and jagged lines of colour on her cheeks, "I would only draw unwanted attention and I may not be able to travel back to my own time like this."

Sango put down her knife to squeeze her friend's shoulder reassuringly. Kagome gave her a half-hearted smile in return.

"We will have you back to normal soon." She stated, picking up the knife again and peeled the last of the skin off the root before passing it to Kagome. She stopped abruptly while pouring the now cut root into the boiling water, her ears twitching as a growl escaped her throat.

"What is it?" They all asked at once, each looking at Kagome with a worried expression, even Inuyasha.

"Naraku!" She hissed.

"I smell him to." Shippo said, as Kirara grew from her kitten size to full height, hackles up.

Miroku looked at the two of them, and then back at Kagome. "How far away is he?"

"A few kilometres at most." Kagome said as she glanced over the group with a nervous eye, "Are we ready for this?"

"Of course. Now let's go!" Inuyasha paced impatiently, as the others nodded agreement and grabbed their things before heading out of camp towards Naraku.

~*~ One hour later ~*~

"So, you've finally decided to come and find me?" Naraku laughed up at the group as they flow to where he had stationed himself in a clearing.

"You Bastard!" Yelled out Inuyasha, as he unheedingly jumped from Kirara's back; new sword out of its sheath with a distinctive metal ring that filled the surrounding air. They all held their breath, not knowing what would happen, but they all expected the worst. Next thing everyone knew, Inuyasha was yelling a string of profanities at Shippo as he floated him to safety in his 'balloon' form.

"Come on Inuyasha. Give me a break; we both know that you would not have survived that jump in your human form." Shippo floated up till he was even with the rest of the group. And they all landed as a group, attacking Naraku before they reached the ground. His barrier flared brightly around him, as his evil laughter filled the clearing.

"Shit! I forget about the barrier." Kagome cursed, as she split her glare between Naraku and Tetsusaiga. With a fair amount of concentration on Kagome's part Tetsusaiga started to flicked red, before staying a solid, pulsing red. A fanged smile split Kagome's face as she rushed forward slashing the sword out in front of her. Naraku did his best to dodge the head on attacks that she just kept swinging at him, but her speed was much faster than that of Inuyasha. All it took was a miss step on Naraku's part and Kagome slashed the sword through the barrier like there wasn't anything there at all.

"You haven't won yet." Any eerie calm penetrated Naraku's voice, having the effect he had hoped for. They all stopped up just long enough for him to re-project himself into the centre of their group were everyone, excluding Kagome, was standing around Inuyasha. He took their next instant of confusion to grab Inuyasha, disarming him in one swift movement and holding said blade to his throat and used it to guide him away from the group. Inuyasha straggled, but only having his human strength, he couldn't get away.

"Let him go." Growled Kagome, as the others starting to reposition themselves around her. No one could attack, for fear of hitting Inuyasha, but despite this Kagome took a step forward, Tetsusaiga held out in front of herself.

"I would stop right there if I were you." Naraku cooed at her, "Unless you want to see Inuyasha die." Holding his sword tighter to his captive's throat, making a small bead of blood run down the curve of his neck, before disappearing under his shirt. Kagome stopped short, looking a bit more like her old self, determined yet scared.

"Kagome get out of here. I'll deal with Naraku; you take everyone else and leave." Inuyasha yelled at her, as he tried to break away from Naraku.

"I'm not leaving without you." She unknowingly took a few steps forward.

"Kagome come back. I'm sure we can find a way to help him." Sango's appeal falling on deaf ears, as another peel of Naraku's laughter rippled through the clearing.

Kagome's anger flared. "Naraku," She growled, pulling her sword closer to herself and swinging it up and behind herself before charging forward.

"STOP!"

The loud clash of metal on metal reverberated around them all. "You should have listened to you friends." Naraku hissed, throwing Kagome across the clearing and jumping back a few feet himself. Kagome managed to pull herself up just long enough to see the flash as Naraku sliced the blade across Inuyasha's throat. The clearing was filled with his scream, cut short and replaced by a wet gurgling, then silence.

"No!" Kagome screamed, falling back to her knees. The others closed their eyes, so not to see the sad image of their friend in a cramped bloody mess on the ground. Tears ran freely down all their cheeks. That only other sound in the clearing was Naraku's laughter.

"You Bastard!" The others looked up in shock in the hatred morphed voice; none of them would have believed it was Kagome speaking if they had not seen her speaking themselves.

"Oh no." Miroku barley voiced this when the others saw what he had seen happening to Kagome through her aura alone. She had left Tetsusaiga lying on the ground, which had reverted to its rusty, useless form. Miroku had seen the spikes of Demonic and Miko energy flaring around her body before the effects were outwardly evident. First, she gained a feral look and stance and appeared ready to rip Naraku to shreds. Although before she could take a step, she crippled in on herself wrapping her arms around her middle, shaking in pain too intense for her to even scream. Naraku looked on, with a triumphant smile on his face, as the others all ran over to Kagome.

As they got near to her though, she pushed herself into a bent over, shaky standing position, much like that of an elderly person. "Stay back!" She breathed at them.

"But Kagome…"

"No, stay back!" She cut off Sango's concerned voice. She pulled herself into a straighter stance, breathing heavily.

"That's not possible." Miroku started in disbelief.

Sango turned to look at him. "What's not?" Worry making her looks haggard.

"The two energies have somehow fused together…Kagome's body should not be able to handle those kinds of stresses, let alone all the energy being released from that." Sango just looked back and forth between the monk and her friend.

"Naraku!" Kagome called out. "It's time we end this." Crouching into a low stance, she looked steady and confident, no hint of the pain she had just withstood. In the next moment, before Naraku had even responded, she rushed forward. She slashed at him with her now reddish glowing claws. Naraku, not expecting the direct attack took the full force of the blow, staggering back clutching his chest.

"How…?" Was all he could manage before the next onslaught of swings hit him. He threw up his hands attempting to ward her off. His' screams cut through the air.

"That's right! Scream! I want you to scream till you throat explodes!" A demonically warped voice hissed out of Kagome's pursed lips. Naraku attempted to lash out at her, even throw her away from him, to no avail her rage kept her from noticing.

After his screams had died away, the other timidly stepped towards their friend. "Kagome, you can stop now." Miroku said to her back, as she still slashed at the body on the ground, no longer recognizable as Naraku. "Kagome?" He gently placed a hand on her shoulder. She stopped almost mechanically, slowly standing and turned towards him. He started to sigh in relief as he noticed her aura returning to normal, but stopped short as she faced him. Her eyes were vacant of all emotion, almost made her look like she had no soul. Face and cloths were all drenched in blood. Sango looked away, and Shippo just shook his head, backing away tears streaming down his face. Kirara tried to comfort the young demon, but he didn't notice.

Kagome barely looked at her friends as her blank eyes looked over the clearing but fluttered when they run over Inuyasha's body. She took a stiff step forward, then a few more, until she reached his body. Kneeling slowly, hands before her like a person about to pray, she looked at him. After a moment she reached out her hands and laid them on his chest. She stayed that way for a while, before a light glow started to shimmer around them.

"What is she doing?" Sango turned to the Monk and asked.

"I think she trying to heal him," A sad look stole onto his face as he watched, "She can't help him though, he beyond her powers reach."

The group looked on sombrely as their friend continued to try and bring back Inuyasha. After what seemed like an eternity to them, the glow seemed to flicker, then when out completely. Kagome fall over to her side, but never hit the ground, as the hands of Miroku and Sango caught her. They carefully picked her up, almost as though she would crumble in their hands.

"Kirara!" Sango called to her partner, who was there in a moment, "I want you and Shippo to take her back to the village, make sure that she gets taken care of." Kirara looked to Shippo, who was whipping his eyes.

"We will." He said before jumping up on to Kirara back, just behind where the other two had placed Kagome, who in her state, slumped forward on to Kirara's neck. Shippo sat starting at Kagome's prone back for a moment before encouraging Kirara to leave.

Sango and Miroku watched Kirara from the ground, before committing themselves to the task ahead of them. They spent several hours gathering wood from the nearby trees and piling it up around the remains of Naraku's body. It didn't take long after that to set the pile of brush on fire. Then they moved on to the more sombre task of burying their friend. It was a long, heartbreaking job for the pair. It took them till the early morning of the next day to finish. They both sat for a long time by the fresh grave, weeping over their loss. It was well into the afternoon before they started to make the long journey back to the village.

~*~ 4 days later ~*~

"Ye are finally back, I see." Kaede said to the dust, weary pair who walked through her door that early rose-coloured morning. Both Sango and Miroku inhaled gratefully the deep, homey, and rustic scent that was Kaede's hut. On this morning the smell was laced with that of honey and warm rice porridge, a very welcoming scent to the two travellers.

When both were settled, and each hold a cup of warm tea in their hands did conversation of the obvious start.

Miroku asked the question that had been on the pairs minds their entire walk back. "How is Kagome… did you have any luck with her, or is she still in the same state?" Kaede give a small sigh.

"There has been very little progress, she's either not here in spirit or when she is, she is in a rage, not wanting to hear of the truth. I think it will take a great deal of time to deal with her state, but in the end, she is the only one who can help herself see the truth her heart already knows." The elder Miko stated as she went about her normal early morning dealings and chores. After several long moments they heard movement coming from the curtained off area of the hut, followed by a small anguished moan.

After a few moments Kagome emerged from her sleeping area, ears flattened to her head, eyes down cast and dampened with tears of despair. The others in the room became silent as she entered. Kaede went to the girl led her to the hearth and sat her down before handing her a cup of tea. "Drink up, Child."

Miroku and Sango watched Kagome for a few moments judging where her mind was before speaking again. "Where is Shippo hiding at, it seems odd that he is not hanging around the hut somewhere." Asking out of concern for the young kit, Sango took another look around the small hut to see if the kit was not hiding in a corner, sleeping.

"He is asleep in the other room, Kagome barely let him out of her sight since they returned with Kirara the other evening."

Kagome looked up at the familiar faces sitting around the hearth in the hut before speaking up. "Where is Inuyasha...Why did you not bring him back with you?" This was spoken in such a quiet voice that the rest of the group almost did not hear what she had asked, but they looked at each other trying to think of the best way to answer the girl. "Why did you not bring back his body for us to place in the village. Did you just leave him out there at the mercies of the wild, where wolves or other animals could dig up his remains?!" her voice getting higher and more distressed sounding as she spoke. Sango and Miroku did their best to console Kagome telling her that Inuyasha's grave was in a safe place where he would come to no harm.

"Where is it at? Take me to it." She demanded as she stood, looking more like her old, determined self.

A look passed between the other three. "Child are you sure that you want to do that, when the wound of his death is still so fresh?" Kaede asked, face creased with concern.

"I don't care, I need to see where you have placed his grave." Looking down, as tears fall from her face. "I want to say my goodbyes, so that he can rest in peace…" She trailed off, looking pleadingly at her friends, hoping they would understand.

Glances were shared between the companions and they both knew what the other was thinking. "We can take you, but we all need rest before heading back. Also, there is the problem that even though you destroyed Naraku, we have to face the fact that he was most likely one of his puppets and he is still at large." Miroku sombrely stated. "We are far from full fighting form at the moment and he very well may use this time to attack us."

With the smallest of nods, Kagome retreated back into the other room, leaving the others to rest and prepare for their trip in the morning.