Chapter 5

The uncomfortable silence between them was undeniable. Everyone was holding their breath, as they starred at the pair wrapped in each other's arms, exchanging looks. Kagome blinked, and blinked again, and again and with each flutter of her eye lids, she hoped this nightmare would break away. That she wouldn't be looking in to those eyes, that those eyes would return back to their warm hazel color, instead of the blood red stain they were now.

She finally inhaled, realizing she forgot to take a breathe. "Inuyasha," she whispered as she exhaled.

The growl within him began to build again, as he launched his claws back in to her flesh. She whimpered, not knowing what else to do to bring him back to her. "Inuyasha, please," she was on the verge of tears. She began raising her hands from against his chest to his face, grabbing his cheeks. She tried to pull herself closer to him, but the second she moved slightly, Inuyasha reacted by throwing her across the room.

"KAGOME!" the group all shouted separately as she went flying against the wall. It happened so fast, but she seen the whole thing unravel as she flew through the air. She could see them reacting and about to run to her aid, and as soon as they could react to what happened, Inuyasha had leaped after her, racing against her to the wall behind them.

She slammed against the wall, her head taking the brunt of the blow. Her vision instantly went blurry as she felt her body go limb, as she felt herself falling to the ground. Before she blinked, a pair of hands were around her throat, pinning her to the wall, her feet dangling underneath her. She coughed and fought for air, as her vision cleared, she seen Inuyasha glaring at her, his fangs bared at her. His grip tighten as she scratched at his hands. She knew there was no use. Even at her strongest, she could never over power him, and she was badly hurt and could feel herself slipping away in to unconsciousness. She let her hands fall to her side, surrendering to him, before her eyes closed.

"HIRAIKOTSU!" Sango hollered as the boomerang went soaring towards Inuyasha. Sensing it approaching, he released Kagome, jumping out of the line of attack, as Kagome's body slowly crumbled to the ground. The hiraikotsu whirled about the room, and returned to Sango as she reached a hand out to retrieve it. Inuyasha retreated to Naraku's side, growling profusely at them.

Shippo raced over to tend to Kagome, as Miroku and Sango readied themselves against Inuyasha's full demon wrath.

Shippo patted Kagome's forehead lightly, trying to get some reaction out of her. He could see her chest rising and falling and knew she was at least alive, just unconscious from the trauma. He needed to wake her up somehow, how else would Inuyasha return to the half demon? He thought, she did it before, she could do it again, couldn't she?

Naraku cackled in amusement at the rapid decay in the bond connecting them, simply from him turning Inuyasha in to what he had always been striving for.

Miroku was not amused by Naraku's twisted games. He was truly a monster, manipulating Inuyasha into being so cruel and blood thirsty towards Kagome was barbaric, and low for even the likes of him.

Miroku slammed his staff in to the floor, propping it up, as he took hold of the beads protecting his wind tunnel. "Naraku, this time you have gone too far," pulling back the beads and letting the abyss in his hand appear. "WIND TUNNEL!" he shouted as the wind pulled inwards to his palm. Miroku braced himself, Sango standing behind him readying to jump in. Loose pieces of wood and debris came flying, being sucked up with ease.

Inuyasha and Naraku's feet began to slid across the floor, losing traction. Inuyasha growled as he dug his claws in to his own hands and pulling them back covered in his own blood. He raised it in front of his face, as he watched the blood dripping it's way down his hand and on to the floor. He took a step forward to attack but Naraku cut him off. "Inuyasha," he spoke in a demanding voice, making Inuyasha direct his attention to him.

Wind rushed passed them as Naraku motioned him backwards with the mirror. Inuyasha fought against it slightly but ultimately obeyed and moved out of the way. "Saimyosho!" Naraku whispered as he through a nest egg at Miroku's wind tunnel. The egg flew through the air towards him, and right before it was sucked in to the wind tunnel, the nest erupted, revealing hundreds of poisonous insects.

By the time he closed the wind tunnel, almost half of the Saimyosho were absorbed. He covered up the wind tunnel as quick as he could, sealing it with his prayer beads before he collapsed backwards on to the ground. "Miroku!" Sango cried out, following him to the ground, grabbing his head to support him. He winced in pain from the poison spreading through his arm from the insects.

Sango realized they were really in trouble now. She could tell Miroku was in agony and wouldn't be able to use his wind tunnel anymore with the poisonous insects still lingering around them. She glaced over at Shippo, still trying to wake Kagome up from her brutal attack with Inuyasha. And then she glanced over at Inuyasha.

He was already staring at her, locking his eyes on his next prey. She was alone, she was the only chance they had to get out of this alive. Laying Miroku's head down gently, she picked up her hiraikotsu and prepared to attack. She didn't want to go against Inuyasha, but she had to remember that wasn't Inuyasha, just a ferocious demon and she was a demon slayer, this was what she had trained for. She had to defeat him, even if he was a friend.

"Naraku!" she screamed, as she began to run at them. "You're going to pay for this! HIRAIKOTSU!" the boomerang went barreling towards him.

Sango thought she had him until a red blur flashed in front of Naraku, knocking the hiraikotsu out of his way and colliding into the ceiling, it was lodged just above Naraku. Inuyasha, she thought. He didn't even flinch at her attack, and that made her furious. That he was such a coward he needed Inuyasha to defend him instead of defending himself. That he would use Inuyasha as a weapon against his own companions. How pathetic.

Sango had to get her weapon back. She pulled out her sword from it's sheath and took off for it. Inuyasha came within her path, as she slammed in to him he threw her over his head in the direction of Naraku. She collided with the ground as her back slammed, her sword barely within her reach, as she tried to grip it again and began to stand.

She steadied herself as she waited for another unexpected blow. A low rumbling began to form from underneath her. She seen Miroku begin to rise out of the corner of her eye. Gripping his hand, he slowly rose to his feet. "This place is going to implode. We need to get out of here," before he could finish his sentence, he glanced over towards Kagome, still unconscious, and Shippo darted towards them.

The floor began to buckle as pieces of lumber split in to different directions. Naraku and Inuyasha both retreated from the room without them noticing. Miroku took hold of one of Kagome's arms, Sango grabbing the other when she made it to them, and they pulled her up. Tossing her arms over each of their shoulders as they wrapped their opposing arms around her waist to stable her.

Shippo jumped on to Sango's shoulders as they glanced around at the crumbling room, trying to find a clear path out. Sango felt a sudden shift underneath her, the floor beneath her seeming to give way, reaching her free hand out to steady herself against the near by wall. She stared at Miroku, hoping she was wrong about what was about to happen.

"Sango," Miroku whispered, and before he could say another word, they were plummeting.

Sango groaned as she looked up at the sky, her vision circling. Her body felt heavy, as she tried to move her arms they wouldn't budge. She was barely able to lift her neck up to see the boards that covered most of her before the pain pulled her head back to the ground. She stared up at what she could only assume was the sky, however she was not sure, all she could see was dark grey clouds and ash. The demolition of the shrine left such a haze of smoke that she was unsure where the smog ended and the clouds began. She coughed upwards, feeling something fall back on to her face, blood, she most likely thought.

It was then she realized she couldn't hear any of the others. As she opened her mouth to yell for them, she heard nothing come out, all she could hear was ringing. Nervousness washed over her as she finally grasped the severity of her position. Her eyes closed over as the tears started to form and her breath caught in her throat. She felt like she was suffocating from the weight of the wreckage atop of her and was having trouble catching her breath.

Without warning, a rush of sensation came back in to her limbs. Her eyes broke open to see Shippo and Miroku over her removing pieces of debris. She could tell they were talking to her by their mouths moving and looking at her, but the ringing was still there. She could see the worry on their face as they pulled heaps off of her, and she could almost tell what they were saying from their mouths and there facial expressions. They seemed to be telling her to not worry and that they were going to get her out and that gave Sango so much ease to start to calm down.

As Miroku pulled off the last piece, throwing it over his shoulder, Shippo went up to Sango's head to help brace her neck as she tried to get up. Miroku reached both his hands out to her. Taking them, she took a deep breath as she hauled herself up, Miroku helping as he yanked her off the ground. As she balanced herself, she could almost feel the pressure and blood leaving her head and moving throughout her body, as her arms and legs began to not feel numb and became mobile again and the ringing was fleeting.

Hearing the wind whistle in the trees and adjusting themselves on the mountain of wreckage that use to be the palace. Running her hands down and patting down her body as she went, she examined herself for any other injuries before checking them out. "Are you guys hurt?"

Shippo shook his head, looking over at Miroku. "I'm fine, but he has a bad gash on his leg."

Her eyes shifted to Miroku, scanning his legs to see any evidence of a wound. Miroku turned his injured limb away from her prying eyes, giving a shy grin as he limped. "Nothing too serious."

Sango snorted, knowing it must be worse than she thought if he wouldn't allow her to see, but if he insisted it was fine, she didn't want to heckle further. As least not right now.

Glancing around at the destroyed palace, she wondered where Naraku and Inuyasha ran off to, how they escaped the collapsing building. Kagome! she thought, as her mind was flooded with visions of her, still lying on the ground in the palace moments ago, still unconscious. As she scanned the hills of rubble, she tried to spot anything that would alert her that it was Kagome, however, nothing came in to view and she feared the worst. Guilt came over her. None of them ever worried about Kagome in these situations since Inuyasha was always by her side and there to protect her, until now.

"What about Kagome? Did you find her?" She asked in such a panicked, high-pitched voice that she was unsure if they understood her.

Miroku nodded slightly. "She's alright, when we fell through the floor I hung on to her hand and she landed on top of me, mostly on my leg, giving me that gash from the impact to the ground along with her body weight slamming on to me," Miroku took hold of her shoulders, trying to get her to calm down. He motioned her to take a breathe in and out before he pointed over to one of the trees behind them, where Kagome laid underneath, eyes still closed, with no injuries aside from the ones from Inuyasha that she could see.

Sango exhaled and let out the biggest sigh of relief as she crumbled to the ground, placing her hands on her knees, she couldn't stop the tears from coming as she tried to breath. "Oh, thank god," she managed between gasps of air.

Miroku directed his attention over his shoulder, hearing something approaching them. The breeze that blew through the destruction switched to a chilling howl that ripped through them. Dark storm clouds flooded the sky around them and began to swirl around as thunder drummed. Sango reached out a hand to Miroku, he took it and slowly helped her stand.

Her eyes quickly scanned the area, looking for her hiraikotsu. Dust had finished settling, leaving a thick layer over the rubble. In the horizon, just behind Kagome resting against the tree, she could see a piece of debris bent at an odd angle, and thought there was no way that was a beam or piece from the castle. It had to be her hiraikotsu. She pushed off with her dominant foot, and within a few feet she was tripping over herself, barely having the strength to carry her body the distance between her and her weapon.

"Sango," Miroku mumbled under his breath, knowing that his plea for her to stop would not work, but he could at least stop her from injuring herself further. He limped over to her, letting a hand fall on to her shoulder to let her know he was there for her. "Come on." He persisted, wrapping an arm around her waist, and letting her use his body to help pull herself up on to her feet and he stayed close to stabilize her, as they walked towards Kagome.

Shippo scurried behind them, not wanting to be too far away from them, as a clap of thunder rang through the sky. They could hear rumbling from the clouds becoming louder, and knew that a storm was not far from coming and they needed to take shelter soon.

As they passed by Kagome, Shippo trailed off from following them and stayed by Kagome's side, brushing off pieces of her hair that were covering her face, and trying to rub dust and dirt that was on her from the fall.

Being so close to her, he could see the puncture wounds Inuyasha inflicted on her from his claws. The blood had clotted and stopped pouring out of her arms, but the stain trails of dried up blood were still visible on her arms. He seen bruising all over her legs and thought that was from the palace imploding on them. Then he seen her neck where Inuyasha had his grip so tight around her throat that he had her pinned against the wall without any assistance. He could perfectly make out Inuyasha's finger prints on the sides of her neck, small light bruising beginning to show through the skin.

Shippo scratched at his own neck, imagining how painful it must have felt to have her throat constricted like that from his clawed grip. His heart broke for Kagome, seeing her in this state, all because of the one she loved. She was the last person to deserve such a beating, such torture. Naraku turning Inuyasha in to a full demon simply to hurt Kagome was pure evil. His eyes began to sting from tears building, as he stared at her motionless body, the only indication that she was still alive was her chest slightly moving up and down, and even that was so slight that it worried him with each gap in breaths.

Sango dropped to the ground beside Shippo, breathing in and out heavily, trying to catch her breath. Miroku leaned against the tree on his side, staring down at them, as he panted. "Was it not your hiraikotsu?" Shippo wondered, his eyes going from Sango to Miroku and back for an answer.

Sango snickered so loudly she almost fully laughed, as she rolled her eyes and shook her head. "Oh no, it was my hiraikotsu," she corrected, motioning to Miroku to show him what they brought back.

Miroku moaned, reaching up to his shoulder, he untied what seemed like a piece of cloth and swung the sling around the front of his body to lay the hiraikotsu in front of them all. Shippo stared at it, covered in dust and blood, and in two pieces.

Sango sucked her teeth and she buried her head in hands as she screamed until her lungs needed another breath, then she inhaled and screamed again.

Miroku slunk to the ground with them, letting his body over take him and pulled him until he laid fully on the cold ground, as he stared up at the sky. A rain drop smacked against his forehead and ran away down the side of his face. He traced the drop trailing off his face and then another made contact with his skin, and another, and then another until it was beating down upon them as they huddled under the tree for warmth and to try to stay dry.

"We have to get out of the rain, we will all freeze to death if we stay here." Miroku warned them, as he gathered the pieces of the hiraikotsu, he tied them to his back as he stood up, he looked down at Shippo. "You're going to have to help Sango, while I carry Kagome. Can you do that?"

Shippo nodded to him, and transformed into a miniature horse within seconds. Miroku helped Sango off the ground and on to Shippo, and he bent down and picked Kagome up, cradling her like a child. "Let's head this way." Miroku suggested, as they began walking east of the palace, believing if this was the way they came from originally, they would come across a village or a hut of some kind to shield them from the storm and allow them to rest the night and regroup.

They weren't traveling long when the clouds appeared to just open up and the rain seemed to pour heavier with each step they took, as if someone was throwing buckets on them and as the wind began to pick up, they were completely chilled to the bone. Sango felt as if she would pass out from the cold. Shippo's legs and back were ready to buckle from all the running earlier to find Kagome and Inuyasha and now carrying Sango, who was almost passed out and felt like dead weight on top of him.

Miroku's arms were stiff from carrying Kagome along, unable to really feel his arms anymore, and his legs were so sore, from walking and also from Kagome landing on one of his legs and injuring him with no treatment or rest, and with every step he took he winced in pain, so hoping that the next step would be his last and they would find cover from this miserable weather.

Shippo stopped in a fork in the road, his legs quivering uncontrollably. Sango's teeth were chattering away as she tried to rub her arms for warmth. Miroku was a few strides behind them and as they waited, they both groaned with sadness at the thought of not finding shelter soon, not knowing how much more they could bare before they were spent.

As Miroku caught up to them, he swore he could see a fire flickering in the distance. At first, he thought he was going mad, thought that this was one of the stages before dying, delusions from exhaustion or something. He blinked to clear his sight from all the raindrops that built up under his eyes, and blinked again and with each blink the fire appeared clearer and he almost jumped for joy when he realized what he was seeing was real and he wasn't imagining anything.

He nudged Shippo to get him to look in the direction of the warm flare, as he passed him and hurried towards it as fast as he could. Shippo realized what Miroku was seeing and suddenly got his second wind and had managed to race up to him, as they walked side by side towards the hut that was coming in to view fast.

As they approached, they could see an elderly man and woman, outside gathering wood and plants around their hut. They were almost startled at seeing the state they were in. "Good heaven's, my children," the old man gasped at them, as he motioned the woman to go inside. "Get the fire blazing and heat up some stew for these poor souls."

She did not hesitate for a moment, taking the herbs she had and running in to the hut to stoke the fire and put a cauldron of stew on for them. The man rushed over to Miroku, taking Kagome out of his frozen arms and greeting them quickly. "Inside, my friends, we have plenty of room, warmth, and food for you to rest up, it looks like you've been through a lot."

Shippo and Sango entered the hut first, as they locked eyes with the woman inside. She had grew the fire, set up the cauldron with the stew just starting to come to boil, and had laid out some sheets and garments for them. She reached a hand out to Sango to help her off of Shippo as she smiled softly. "It's not much, but it's something for you all." she quietly admitted, as Sango tightly grabbed on to her hand and didn't want to let go.

"It's more than enough, thank you very much," Sango managed to get out before almost passing out from exhaustion. The woman sat her down in front of the fire, Shippo took a seat beside her, as the woman grabbed some bowls and started to fill them with stew, quickly passing them out. Sango and Shippo thanked the woman before digging in to their bowls of stew. The woman came around them with a pail of water to drink, and blankets.

"Once you're done eating, you can change in to these and get out of those wet clothes," she told them, placing a pair of clothes beside each of them. "I'll hang your wet clothes over the fire to dry, they should be dry by morning for you."

Sango swallowed the last mouthful of her stew as Miroku and the man came in to the hut with Kagome. The man took Kagome to a bed of straw in the far end of the hut, setting her down gently before covering her with a blanket for warmth for now. "Once I am dry, I will change her clothes, thank you for taking her." Sango thanked the man for his kindness, and he and Miroku both sat with them in front of the fire.

"Of sure, my dear," the man agreed, as the woman handed Sango some clothes for Kagome, too. The man took the ladle inside the cauldron, scooped up and poured some stew in to a bowl for Miroku. Miroku took it as quickly as he could without seeming rude, thanking him first and ate as if he had not eaten in days.

Each one of them then, one by one, took turns changing out of their cold, wet clothes, handing them to the woman to hang a few feet safely above the fire to dry. Once they were all done, Sango and the woman took Kagome to change her out of her clothes carefully. The woman grabbed a cloth when she seen the dried blood and dirt all over her, and began to lightly scrub Kagome's skin to avoid any infections from her exposed wounds.

The woman rinsed out the cloth she used on Kagome, and all that rang out was blood. As they pulled the dry clothes on to Kagome, the woman looked at Sango in wonder. "I don't mean to pry, my dear," she promised, as they went to lay Kagome down in the freshly made straw bed, covering her yet again with a blanket to keep warm. "but what in heaven's name happened to you all?"

Sango sat down beside Kagome, as she looked around the room and seen Shippo snuggled up asleep by the fire, Miroku sleeping in another made up bed beside Shippo, as the man cleaned up the hut and got ready for bed himself. She felt, for the first time in what seemed like forever, safe and protected, and able to let her guard down for a minute and it was much needed. Sango gave the woman a soft smile using every bit of energy she had left in her to do so. "It's a long story, but I would be happy to tell you in the morning."

The woman understood completely, she could tell Sango was only mere moments away from drifting off herself. "Of course, my dear, you rest." the woman gave Sango another blanket to cover herself and Kagome with as she left them and went over to join her husband, who was already asleep like everyone else.

Sango laid down on her back, throwing the extra blanket up in to the air and spreading it over Kagome and herself. She checked Kagome's breathing, and seen that she still was. Sango was worried for her friend being unconscious this long, but she also knew she had been through a lot, before they came for her she was Naraku's prisoner, and then everything that happened with Inuyasha, it was all so traumatic that she wasn't shocked if her brain decided to let her rest and stay asleep for a little while, but how long was too long?

She rolled on to her side, facing the fire in the middle of the hut. As she watched the flames flicker up and down and smolder away, her mind went to Inuyasha, and wondered where he was right then. Was he with Naraku running off somewhere or was he running around, blood thirsty and looking for them? Or more so, looking for Kagome, since he got the scent of her blood after hurting her. She didn't know what they were going to do when they came face to face with Inuyasha and Naraku again, all she knew was her eyes were heavy and sleep sounded like such a great escape.