Shikuro: A Caribbean Fairy Tale

by Inuma Asahi De

Inuyasha was as bad as pirates came, according to his legend. Kagome was a woman of propriety, destined to marry for her family's honor when all she wanted was to live on the sea. What happens when their eyes meet by chance or perhaps by daring fate?

89. Ashes and Dust

Blanket Disclaimer: The writer does not own any characters created by Rumiko Takahashi but like everyone else wishes she did. All original characters or concepts are the author Inuma Asahi De's (with the exception of historical figures).

Chapter Eighty-Nine

Ashes to Ashes and Dust to Dust

Inuyasha stared at the vessel that was only a few yards away from the Shikuro now. Part of him couldn't quite comprehend why Kouga had remained so close to the island with his armada. It seemed far more practical for the man to have gone home and yet, here he remained, an entire fleet of men anchored and waiting. "Probably waiting for my failure." He thought dryly to himself and crossed his arms over his chest.

At his side, Miroku glanced towards his father and held back a strained smile. "It's not so bad." He commented lightly and Inuyasha growled in response. "The worst he can do is be an ass."

"That's all he'll do." Inuyasha muttered as his vessel began to turn slightly, preparing itself to come up alongside Kouga's ship. Licking his lips, Inuyasha glanced back towards the island and bit the inside of his cheek. There was no doubt that the snake demon warden had discovered their great feat and knowing the vindictive nature of the species he was certain the man would be coming for them or, at the very least, prepared to kill them if they came back. "This is just—the worst possible outcome—time—everything." He told himself, the sensation of his heart pulling painfully in his chest making him pant for a second.

"You okay?" Miroku whispered suddenly, the sound of his father's abnormal breathing catching even his human ears attention.

Not really able to speak at the moment or better yet not wanting to, Inuyasha simply nodded his head and shook off the painful sensation. A loud call from overhead told them that the anchor was about to be placed and Inuyasha forced himself to inhale sharply. "Let me do all the talking." He commanded Miroku, the boy turning and looking at him as if somewhat surprised.

"Don't you think in this particular case," He started to argue, trying to make eye contact with his father but the man didn't even give him a fleeting look. "It might be better if I talked?"

Inuyasha inhaled sharply and dropped his arms to his side feeling pretty tired all the sudden. Raising a hand up to his face, he rubbed his eyes, the stinging sensation of his own exhaustion somehow waking him up just a little. For whatever reason, in that moment, he realized he could not remember the last time he actually slept. "I haven't slept—in days." He mumbled the words, not even realizing he had said them out loud.

"Otou-san?" Miroku blinked rapidly with confusion.

Coming back to himself at the sound of his son's voice, Inuyasha turned his head and finally looked at him. "Miroku." He spoke the name as if he hadn't even realized the boy was beside him. "Sorry, I wasn't listening."

Miroku sent him a clear look of both worry and fear before he reached over and touched his father's shoulder. "Are you sick or something?" He asked bluntly even though he had never once known his father to catch even a cold in the eleven years he had known him.

"Sick?" Inuyasha tilted his head slightly surprised by the word. "No—," He actually smiled and let out a little chuckle but the sound was absolutely creepy in his current state. "I'm not sick." He snorted and laughed slightly again as he brought a hand up to his neck and rubbed absently. "I'm never sick."

Feeling highly uncomfortable or just confused perhaps, Miroku dropped his hand from his father's shoulder and raised an eyebrow. Without a word he moved the hand up towards the Captain's forehead making Inuyasha actually jump.

"What are you—?"

"You don't have a fever." Miroku whispered off handedly as he removed his hand quickly before Inuyasha could swipe at it. "Still—are you sure you're feeling all right?"

Inuyasha growled but otherwise didn't comment as the ship finally came to a halt, the waves of the ocean pushing against the bow and making it rock. The dog demon's golden eyes looked out instantly over the gap that separated the two ships, his eyes taking in the already prepared form of Kouga. The blue of the man's navy collar and the white of his proper crisp jacket were both ruffled slightly in the wind making him look, for lack of a better term, pompous. The two demons made eye contact over the gap, Kouga sending Inuyasha a glare that seemed to say in no uncertain terms that he was not welcomed, not in the least.

Feeling suddenly very old, Inuyasha looked at Miroku out of the corner of his eye. "Maybe you should talk."

-break-

Kagura felt like she was in a daze, her whole world spinning in front of her face. Her hands shook and her knees felt weak as she took each and every step. Clutched desperately between her fingers was the letter Kaede had left her in death and the letter she had left for some unknown woman, Kagome O'lionsigh. Even with the letters so closely connected with herself, however, she couldn't help but ignore their importance. There were far greater things of even greater importance.

The floorboards creaked underneath her feet and she jumped from the sound, her breath coming out in gasping pants from fear. "Kami-sama." She whispered the word but she wasn't entirely sure what had provoked her to say it. Bringing both her hands straight up she allowed them to touch her face, the edges of the pulpous paper rough against her delicate skin. She stopped moving all together in order to catch her breath, her shaking knees and the fabric of Hiten's pants she was wearing actually sounding loud in her ears.

"How?" She whispered in English, the sound of the word echoing in the darkness around her making her gulp and quiver again. She couldn't explain why she was so scared but she knew exactly why. "How did I never-u see?" She looked up at the ceiling above her head but closed her eyes before she could dare look through the brown boards again. She didn't want to see again; never again.

Sniffling slightly, the wind demon lowered her head away from the ceiling before she opened her two eyes. The Shinigami one danced about in her head seeming to mock her and she growled but the sound didn't last long.

"Kagura?"

The wind demon's hold body tensed up and she nearly realized the full force of all her elemental power in the direction of the speaker. Luckily for him, the sound of his voice had been enough to tell her subconscious that she was in no danger. Just managing to control herself, Kagura whipped her body around. The image of Hiten banaged, bruised, and dressed only in a pair of loosely fitted pants, greeted her and she sighed with heavy relief. "Hiten-sama." His name left her lips with such gentle happiness that the man across from her had to smile.

"Kagura-hime." He replied, his tired body tilting until he had to brace his forearm on the wall to keep from falling. "I woke up and you were—." He paused and scrunched up his face, his mind not working as fast as it normally did. "Gone." He finally managed to say, his eyes flickering opened to look at her.

Kagura sent him a kind smile in return before the entirety of her own face turned into a petrified look. "What are yuu doin' out of-fu bed!" She growled low in her throat as she stepped towards him. One of her hands disengaged from the letters, her mind leaving them in favor of fussing over a man she loved.

"I had to find you." Hiten argued back as she approached. He tried to push his body away from the wall and stand on his own but the second he did, his swelling brain threw him off balance and he tipped forward.

Rushing quickly towards him, Kagura caught him, the letters falling to the ground as she supported his body with her own. "Hiten-sama!" She scolded, her voice coming across as heated and concerned all at the same time. "I would-u have come back-u." She told him as he relaxed into her hold, his head laying atop her soft breast.

"No guarantee." He mumbled into the two soft mounds as he closed his eyes, his tired mind not able to stay awake much longer.

Biting her lip, Kagura brought a hand up to pet the top of his head. She knew in a condition such as his she really shouldn't allow him to sleep and yet, it was hard for her to bring herself to wake him. "Oh, Hiten-sama." She whispered the name softly and he growled, the sound almost like a purr as he snuggled closer to her.

"My head—." He mumbled as he forced himself to move closer to her, his lazy arms coming up to wrap around her. "Hurts."

"I know-u." Kagura spoke gently as she rested her cheek against the top of his head, wrapping her arms around his shoulders. "Hiten-sama need-o go back-u to room." She told him but the man didn't respond; he was already asleep.

The even sound of his breathing as he inhaled and exhaled made Kagura relax as if she was being lulled to sleep by his natural lullaby. Glancing towards the wall, the wind demon debated turning herself so at least her back had something to rest against. It seemed easy enough and so she carefully turned her body, not disturbing the thunder demon in her grip in the least; she was far too skilled for that. The cold wood scrapped against her clothes, snagging them as she turned both herself and Hiten until their backs were against the wall.

A wave of exhaustion hit her the moment she found herself in the new position and she sighed. Her eyes flickered shut, even the Shinigami one, and she felt her body begin to succumb to the idea of sleep. Hiten shifted on top of her slightly, grunting as he buried his head farther into the side of breast. He mumbled something incomprehensible and the sound vibrated against her ribs making her feel even more content. Her eyes felt heavier and heavier, the stress of everything making her body shut down.

"Sleep."

She seemed to hear some far off voice, the sound echoing all around her beaconing her into blissful sleep. It wouldn't hurt to relax for just a moment, to let everything turn into beautiful blackness for just a moment. It wouldn't hurt at all. It couldn't, not when she felt this warm and this comfortable and this tired.

"Just for a moment."

Her eyes fluttered closed, Hiten's warm body snuggling even closer to her. Absently, she felt a memory of something important dance just in the back of her mind but she ignored it. She couldn't stand to think of it, not yet, not now. She didn't need to think of the letters on the ground in front of her or Hiten's concussion, or Kagura's death, or even Naraku up above. For this one precious, singular moment, Kagura simply needed to sleep, her mind unable to take any more information in to process.

"Sleep."

And Kagura did.

-break-

Inuyasha stood in Kouga's cabin the wolf demon himself sitting across from him in his desk chair. The room was minimally decorated, which went against the general lavishness of the Italian before him. The curtains were blue and the desk was oak and the wall hangings were all representative of Kouga's crest in one way or another: a wolf reared back, its claws extended, and it whole body bright silver. There were a few decorative swords and an old battle helmet but beside those few personal possessions there was nothing, not even a bed. It was an exceedingly dull room but luckily, their current topic was not dull at all.

"De prigione," Kouga leaned back in his chair and brought a hand up to his chin rubbing at it thoughtfully despite the fact he didn't yet have a beard; he was still too young. "Is-a tat bad?"

"Yes," Inuyasha nodded once and glanced towards Miroku who was standing with his arms crossed over his chest and his eyes burning towards Kouga. "It's—it's not fit for even—," He stopped and turned back towards Kouga who was already snickering.

"Dogs?"

"You know what I mean," Inuyasha bit out the words and resisted the urge to simply jump across the table and knock the man out. "I haven't even been talking to him for ten minutes and I want to kill him." He thought to himself as he placed his hands behind his back, a diplomatic stance that allowed him to hold onto his own wrist so he wouldn't actually spring on the other man. "Kouga—you can smell it can't you?" He began again trying to impress into Kouga the horrors he had witnessed only about an hour ago, maybe more.

"De smell of-a shit e morte?" Kouga bit out the words and made a show of wrinkling his nose. "It clings to voi—," He waved a hand in Inuyasha's direction and blanched as if he was going to be sick. "It's disgustin'."

"I know." Inuyasha replied back as civilly as he could. "It also clings to the people of that prison," He continued hoping to appeal to Kouga's since of righteousness or something similar. Although he highly doubted Kouga had anything of the sort when it came to humans. "They're innocent people," He pressed on watching as the Italian raised an eyebrow not appearing to really care one way or the other. "I mean, their only crimes were so bluntly insignificant that if a demon would have committed them we all would have turned the other way."

Kouga turned his chin away from Inuyasha quickly as if acting out his words for him. The wolf demon's blue eyes closed for the barest of seconds before snapping open once more, they looked this way and that hastily as if debating something that Inuyasha was unsure of. Finally, he sniffed deliberately and pulled a face from the smell of death and feces coming from the two men who hadn't bothered to bathe in their hurry. "De 'umano deserve-a what dey get." He spoke bluntly but there was something unconvincing about his words.

Stepping forward, angry at what Kouga had said Miroku tightened his fist. "They did nothing!"

"How-a you know?" Kouga whipped around and looked directly into the human boy's eyes.

"Because we were there." Inuyasha stepped between the two breaking the eye contact before his pup could be permanently damaged in some way.

The gold and blue of their eyes meeting was a dangerous sight in and of itself. Both sets of demonic eyes seemed to shine in the sun, deathly. Inuyasha's chest heaved slightly as he looked at Kouga but not from the encounter or even because Miroku had nearly given him a heart attack. Reaching up, he placed a hand over his heart and rubbed subconsciously for a moment. It was an action that both Kouga and Miroku noticed but didn't bother to comment on.

"There's a man there," The dog demon began slowly. "Who's imprisoned because he fathered a demon child."

Kouga opened his mouth as if he was about to say something but suddenly, surprisingly snapped it shut.

Unsure how to handle such a strange incident Inuyasha licked his lips and glanced at Miroku who could only shrug. Unsure, Inuyasha turned towards the man again watching as he made it a point not to make eye contact with Inuyasha. "I know you think," The dog demon began again slowly, hating every word he was saying. "He deserves to be punished for that but—."

The wolf demon snorted cutting off Inuyasha's words as he leaned back in his chair and looked deliberately away from the other man. His blue eyes turned out the window, their sharpness able to see things Inuyasha couldn't help to see because of the human blood within them. "Io," He began slowly in Italian, the word hanging in the air as if it would attack at any moment. "Don't-a know what-ta think."

The words made Inuyasha's mouth completely snap shut in surprise as he looked at his cousin. "What the hell?" He thought as he looked at the man. He seemed somehow small in that moment as if he was no longer a king but had somehow reverted into someone far too insignificant to have such substantial power.

"Tell mio Meticcio." The old name slipped from his lips but Inuyasha didn't even bristle from it. "Who-o killed-a Costa?" He looked directly at Inuyasha, his eyes staring into the other man telling him without words that Kouga already knew. After all, if he could smell the shit and death stink of the prison, he could smell Kohaku clinging to Inuyasha's jacket.

"Sango's brother." Inuyasha didn't bother to sugar coat the truth. "The boy killed Costa and—."

"How," He paused for a moment, his mind rushing through the words he wanted to say, unable to come up with the English version. "Anni aveva?" He shook his head, not bothering to say the rest of the sentence in English.

Inuyasha froze from the interruption confused by what Kouga was saying. He side glanced at Miroku who looked back at him completely confused because he didn't speak Italian. "You mean Costa?" He asked for clarification, refusing to believe that Kouga would ever concern himself with the age of Kohaku, a human.

"No—de girl-a brother." Kouga pushed himself up from the chair and crossed the short distance to the window, his back turned to them. It may not have seemed like a significant event but the fact that Kouga was turning his back on Inuyasha spoke volumes. It was an act of trust and acceptance in the demonic word, of course it could also represent removal from the pack but Inuyasha highly doubted that was the meaning in this case. "Quanti anni aveva." He repeated the Italian phrase in its entirety this time, not bothering to speak English.

"He's sixteen—at least." Inuyasha offered up the age not bothering to speak Italian, he knew Kouga would understand the English.

Kouga shook his head quickly and crossed his arms over his chest. "Not now," He explained Inuyasha feeling truly confused. "When he kill-a Costa."

Finally able to understand the conversation, Miroku stepped forward and held up a hand. "Eleven."

"Eleven—?" Kouga actually sounded surprised but the surprise faded within an instant, replaced by amusement of all things. "An eleven 'umano kill-a Costa." The wolf demon actually laughed, truly laughed at the information. "Patetico."

Inuyasha raised an eyebrow in complete confusion. "Kouga?"

"Patetico." Kouga repeated the insult and raised his head up as if to mock the dead man. "How he kill-a Costa?" He asked but it was apparent this was a rhetorical question and there was no reason to answer.

Not sure what the hell was wrong with his cousin, Inuyasha quickly jumped back into the conversation. "It doesn't matter, Costa's dead and that's it." He explained matter of factly as the wolf demon slowly turned towards him. "But," He bit his lip and looked down at the floor. "The boy's dying now." There was a particular slant to the word, as if he wanted Kouga to truly hear the deeper meaning. Sure enough, the wolf demon turned and looked at him full on, his eyes telling Inuyasha to continue. "Sango's brother," Inuyasha whispered the information softly as if Sango could hear even back on the ship. "Kohaku is dying."

"He's dying?" Kouga said the words so clearly and with such a flat sound that it almost seemed like he was reading them from a book.

"He spent five years in that hell hole." Inuyasha stepped towards Kouga looking at the other man with firm and truthful eyes. "Because he killed the man who raped his older sister—the woman who practically raised him as if she were his mother." Something in his words made Kouga gulp loudly and inhale sharply all at once. "And now he'll die for that." Inuyasha felt anger begin to well within him as he closed his fist tightly, the knuckles cracking. "I can't imagine how many more people—humans—will suffer the same fate."

Kouga started to open his mouth and spew the same words his father would have said in Inuyasha's face but he stopped as Miroku stepped forward and looked right at him.

"It could been anyone," Miroku spoke the words, Kouga knowing exactly who he was referring to. "Anyone could have committed such a crime but since he was human, he'll die for it."

Kouga didn't say anything, he only slumped back into his desk looking wholly thoughtful and then suddenly very old. He brought a hand up to his chin and carefully soothed his fingers over it as he looked away from the other two men. His mind turned with memories and thoughts neither Inuyasha nor Miroku were privy to. Finally, after what seemed like an eternity, he turned back towards them his blue eyes seeming to be darker somehow than before. It was almost like they were shadowed by some sort of haunting memory. "Meticcio," He began slowly, deliberately, saying the word as if it was the most important word anyone would ever hear. "Who built-a tat prigione, you know?"

Inuyasha narrowed his eyes and looked straight at Kouga already perfectly aware of who had commissioned the prisons production. After all, Kouga had told them very plainly only the day before (if that). "You did." He licked, his body tensing as he prepared for the inevitable argument but it never came.

Instead, Kouga smiled his blue eyes turning darker and darker as thoughts swirled in his head. "No," He spoke quietly as if his words were somehow shameful. "It wasn't mio—tat was-a lie." He turned his head away and sighed roughly as he admitted that truth.

Taken aback, Inuyasha's eyes darted towards an equally confused Miroku before looking back at Kouga. "What?"

"Mio padre," Kouga looked up at them, his eyes haunted by the word. "Meticcio never met-a padre ma—," He paused and cleared his throat already knowing that what he was about to say was sacred to the man in front of him. "Your madre did."

Inuyasha completely froze at the word, his body going stiff as he looked directly at Kouga. His grandfathers and his mother all had never told him that she had visited this place. It seemed all too unlikely, his grandfathers never would have brought Izayoi some place that would scrutinize her or hate her. "They would have protected her at all cost."

As if sensing the need for further explanation Kouga shifted in his seat. "Io met-ta her too, she was minute and carino." He smiled strangely as he described Inuyasha's mother as 'tiny' and 'cute' both words Inuyasha never thought he'd hear Kouga use in regards to a human. "Mio padre cursed her." He spoke softly with a frown but the sting of the words still made Inuyasha bristle. "Hated her—because his brother call-a her his pronipote." Kouga snorted on the word for 'granddaugher' as if he was laughing at it but the sound was not a happy one. "And tat was-a wrong," Kouga's voice became thoughtful as he tilted his head back and looked at the ceiling. "Because she was-a umano."

The words hung in the air for several seconds as Kouga continued to look at the ceiling above his head. His blue eyes searched every plank as if the wood grains were his mind or soul. Finally, he tore his eyes away, the answer he was looking for not quite there.

"Io don't-a know why Io listened to padre." Kouga spoke but his words made little sense to Inuyasha or Miroku at first. "But Io did and-a," He snorted and crossed his arms over his chest almost defiantly. "I learn-a to hate her too."

Inuyasha didn't know what to say or what to feel. On the whole, he was distinctly uncomfortable in that moment but he wasn't entirely sure why.

"Io hate-e everything." He spoke evenly even though his words were truly tilted. "I hate-e her umano blood-a, I hate-e she mio familia, I hate-e her son." The quip didn't go unnoticed by Inuyasha but in that moment he ignored it. "E never thought-a why, I never did."

"What?" Miroku spoke quietly, so quietly that a human would not have been able to hear the word.

"It-a doesn't matter." Kouga said suddenly not bothering to explain his reasoning as he pushed himself up from the chair. "Io will help you, Meticcio." He smirked suddenly, the strange twist and turn in logic making Inuyasha blink once, then twice in wonder. The wolf demon snickered slightly and licked his lips at the sight, amused.

"Why?" Inuyasha couldn't help but ask completely confused by the sudden change in a man that had hated him his entire life. Shoot, he had probably hated him before he was even born.

"Per il gusto di farlo!" Kouga said and released a loud laugh as his blue eyes sparkled.

Completely confused, Miroku looked at his father open mouthed. "Huh?"

"For the hell of it." Inuyasha translated quickly before looking over at his son not really knowing what the hell to say to that. "Sore wa kantandatta." He just managed to say 'that was easy' in Nihon-go.

"Hai." Miroku agreed as he eyed his cousin worriedly. "Hotondo kantan sugiru." He added the words, watching as his father nodded in agreement. It was almost too easy.

Kouga rolled his eyes in response, not understanding a word they were saying. "There-a tempesta comin'." He pushed himself up out of his chair and looked out across the ocean towards the building clouds. "We should-a 'urry, get tis done."

There was neither time nor will left in either man to argue.

-break-

Kagome wrapped her hands around her middle as she took in a deep and ragged breath. "The Shikon jewel." The words didn't even quite register in her head as she thought them, they almost seemed distant and out of reach but they were there and they were real. "Why—how—what's happening?" Her voice caught and she quickly covered her mouth with her hand. "I can't let it hear me—can it even hear?" She wondered and yet knew it was utterly possible that it did.

She reached up for her throat subconsciously, her fingers massaging over the hollow of her neck. It was almost as if she expected the jewel to suddenly be underneath them within her grasp once more but that wasn't possible. The jewel wasn't around her neck in this place, wherever she was, it was outside in the grip of someone she didn't know; an occupant of her body she had never met. Her mind raced as it tried to figure out what to do.

"I can't even think." She shook her head violently and the hair stood up on the back of her head suddenly.

Quickly, she turned around looking at the darkness behind her but she saw nothing. That did not mean however, that nothing had been there. There was no doubt in her mind that something was watching her every move. Unnerved, she gulped and moved her hand from her throat to one of the curls of her hair. Nervously, she twisted it around her finger for a few seconds before she dropped it and closed her eyes.

"The Shikon jewel is watching me." She forced the thought into her head, not allowing herself for even one second to deviate from the task at hand. "I don't know how—I don't know why but it is." Her hands shook slightly but she ignored them in favor of opening her eyes slightly. "No—that's not true—I do know why, at least, I think so."

Her eyebrows crinkled and she looked out into the blackness that was her prison. There was only one reason the Shikon jewel would be watching her and that was obviously. It was keeping her in control. Her body shivered as she remembered the pain of energy sticking her, at first she had thought it was her darker half exerting some kind of violent control on her body but now that she thought of it, that didn't make sense.

"If it's just me, if the darker half is another side of me," She pursed her lips, keeping the dark thought deep inside her mind. "Then it shouldn't be able to control me." She bit her lip as her thoughts raced, pushing against her skull fiercely. "It can't—I'm stronger than it but—."

A sudden sound somewhere behind her made her jump and twists her body around with a dark glare. The glimpse of something out of the corner of her eye was enough to let her know she was being watched and being watched far more closely. Shaking a little, not from fear but a building rage she couldn't even comprehend, Kagome felt her heart start to pound against her ribs.

"If the jewel's controlling me." The anger started to turn to fear before she could help herself. "That's a different story." She felt her heart sink in her chest as all the anger melted away, replaced by a sick realization. "There's no way I'm stronger than the Shikon jewel." A wave of loneliness consumed her body and she brought her arms tighter around herself: confused, alone, and overtaken by helplessness, she looked out into the black.

-break-

"That was too fucking easy." Inuyasha grumbled as Miroku and himself stepped back onto the Shikuro. The man behind him nodded his agreement but Inuyasha didn't see the movement of his head at all. "I can't believe he had a change of heart that quickly."

"It is—improbable." Miroku commented as he jumped onto the deck, coming up next to his father's shoulder. "But—I guess it just goes to show, you never really know anyone."

A sudden flash in Inuyasha's vision made his heart clench tightly. He could just see Kagome with her gentle smile and her bright grey eyes before she was suddenly replaced by a poor replica. "Damn it." A small voice taunted him in his head and he felt a lump form in his throat that he couldn't possibly help. "Ain't that the truth." Inuyasha grumbled under his breath, his voice a bit shaky.

Beside him, Miroku frowned, the sound of his father's voice breaking for a moment completely unnatural. "Otou-san?" He said the word quietly so as to not disturb the men around them or alert them to any problems with their captain. "Daijōbu desu ka?" He asked quietly in a language he knew no man (other than Myoga and Totosai) would understand.

Inuyasha started to reply but stopped himself before the truth could actually jumped from his lips. Inhaling deeply, he held his breath for several seconds, gaining precious control over his body before he dared to speak to his son again. "Hai." He replied in his native tongue and then changed the subject quickly. "Your Nihon-go is getting pretty good." He commented, the compliment a true one but also a cover up.

"Arigato." Miroku sent him a cocky smile and for a moment Inuyasha smiled back, a light feeling building in his heart.

The love for his son (for just a brief moment) overwhelmed the heartbreak in his chest. Reaching over, he ruffled Miroku's hair as he had so often when the man had been but a pup. The human frowned playfully in response and swatted the Captain's hand away making the man laugh. "You think you can just swat at my hand, huh?"

"Damn right!" Miroku joked and reached up for his father's hat as if he was going to take it.

Inuyasha released a playful growl and ducked out of the boy's reach before he could even get near the hat. "Insolent pup." He chastised but, as normal, there was not one hint of actual chastisement in the dog demon's voice, only love for his pup.

"Well, gotta do what I do best." Miroku replied with a laugh that made Inuyasha smile, the smile didn't last as long as Miroku had hoped, however.

Out of the corner of his eye, Inuyasha noticed someone watching them and turned just in time to see Kagome leaning against the nearby wall beside the entrance to back hallway, which lead to his and Miroku's cabins. She was dressed as she normally was once more, her jackets, man's pants, and the boots Inuyasha had bought almost a year before looking entirely normal on her person. It was her face, which didn't. She had one dark eyebrow raised above an equally opaque eye and her lips were twisted into some sort of mocking smirk. It was an expression that never should have spent a moment on Kagome's face and yet it was there right before his eyes and it was overwhelming. Once again his heart tightened in his chest and he held down a gasp as air rushed from his lungs.

"Full grown men acting like children?" It sounded like a question but Inuyasha and Miroku both instantly knew not to answer it. "Amusing."

"Entirely." Miroku replied and tried to smile at least for his father's sake but it came across as very stiff and entirely forced.

"So," Kagome began as she crossed her arms over her chest, her shoulder still leaning against the wall. "How were negotiations with the wolf king?"

Inuyasha cleared his throat, the sound loud on the deck as he crossed his own arms over his chest, the feeling of security it brought making him calmer. "Interesting." He told her and glanced over at Miroku as if asking the other man to expand.

"Increasingly so." Miroku added as he looked at the two, seeing the tension in the air like it was an actual knife in Kagome's hands. "He's agreed to help us, with everything."

"That's nice." It didn't sound like she actually thought it was. "When do we leave?"

"Immediately." Inuyasha told her, his voice sounding normal once more but not overly so.

"Excellent." Kagome smiled and turned around, uncrossing her arms to wave backwards at them. "I'm gonna tell Sango so she can prepare."

"What?" Miroku called towards her, his whole body moving forward in surprise.

Kagome stopped waving and looked at them over her shoulder. The look on her face was, to put it lightly, dangerous. "We're coming with you." She spoke slowly as if she thought he was too stupid to understand.

"No!" Inuyasha immediately exploded as panic gripped his whole body. There was no way he would let Kagome leave the ship at the moment, not when she was so unpredictable.

The crew around them froze, men stopping in their task to look at the argument at hand. They had never seen the Captain's woman behave in such a way. She was a sweet and kind soul they had come to realize, who was soft spoken, albeit sometimes pretty fiery but never like this.

Kagome's eyes narrowed dangerous from the sound of the word and she fully turned her body back towards them. The look on her face was one that Inuyasha would never be able to describe, even much later when she had asked him, he would have no words to explain it. In fact, the only thing he could say about the look was that it was dark, so dark that for a moment he thought all the light had gone out of the world. "You do not tell me what to do."

The crew and Miroku both turned back towards Inuyasha to see what he was going to do none of them quite knowing how the moment was going to play out. The crew could easily see the feared dog demon exploding, growling, spitting, and putting the girl straight back in her place but Miroku knew better. There was not one bone in Inuyasha's body that could ever hurt Kagome, changed or not.

Inuyasha stared, he couldn't breathe, his heart was knotting in his chest and for a second he thought he was literally experiencing heart failure. He had never once in his life known such a tremendous pain as this one. His hands tightened around his body in an attempt to control the unnerving sensation and he inhaled deeply trying to make it look as if he was controlling his temper and not something else, something far more frightening to him.

Kagome quirked her head to the side and started to smirk as if she had won. The crew began to mumble and Inuyasha's ears twisted under his hat to hear them. He knew he had to do something, if he didn't do something then they, his crew, might turn on him. Like a flash of light, a memory of a similar incident attacked him: the day she had come on the ship, the day he had exposed her as a woman and marked her as his own. Had they really changed so much that they were back at square one, the very first day?

He didn't have long to ponder the thought though before he heard the first whisper of the crew. "What's he doin'?"

"He ain't puttin' her in place," Another man said, the sound of his voice accusing. "That's fer sure."

Inuyasha clutched his fist against his rib cage where his hands wrapped around his body. His heart tightened again in his chest and he closed his eyes for just a moment making it seem like he needed time to control his temper but really it was because of something else. "My heart." He thought the words, the sound of them loud in his head. "She's—she's breaki—." He stopped the thought immediately and snapped his eyes opened, the pain in his chest making him angry and frustrated and—.

Heartbroken.

"Damn it woman!" He exploded the words so loud that the crew actually jumped back away from him in shock. "I'm fucking sick of this shit." Even the creature controlling Kagome stepped back at his words in shock, she had never known him to lose his temper. The dog demon stepped forward and glared down at her. "After all this time," He bit out every word, taking another step towards, grabbing her arm and pulling her hands down so they no longer crossed her chest. "You still haven't learned your god damned place!"

The creature in Kagome started to panic but the sensation stopped when she realized he was barely pressing down on her arm. "He doesn't mean it." She knew instantly but kept up the act, liking where it was going.

"Come on." He tugged on her arm, turning them towards his cabin, she came willingly.

"Captain!" Miroku yelled behind them, true fear sounding in his panicked voice. "What the h—."

"Stay out of this Miroku!" Inuyasha snarled over his shoulder, turning to look at the boy straight in the eye. "Sore wa, norikumiin no tame no kōida." He spoke rapidly, breaking his own rule about speaking Nihon-go in front of the crew but it needed to be said, he had to reassure Miroku that he would never hurt Kagome and that it was 'Just an act for the crew.'

The words calmed Miroku down just enough and he bowed his head so that no one would be able to see his face. "Yes, sir." He responded and glanced up just in time to see his father disappear with the girl in tow.

-break-

The cabin Inuyasha shared with Kagome felt strange as he stepped into it, dragging her behind him. It felt almost as if it were no longer a place of sanctuary but instead a place of undeniable horror. For what reasons he wasn't sure, all he knew was that the moment he crossed the threshold of the door he felt undeniably uncomfortable.

He let go of her only long enough to close the door, slamming it unintentionally. The swords on the wall and the ink pens on his desk shook in response but he ignored them in favor of turning towards her. He couldn't help the gnawing sensation that jumped into his gut as he looked into her black eyes, which shimmered in the half light from the window. He inhaled sharply, the now all too familiar sight making his chest constrict with intense pain; a pain he was just now starting to understand.

Bringing a hand up to rest above his chest, he pressed slightly, soothing the ache unsuccessfully. "What—," He tried to speak but the words wouldn't come up from his throat.

She smiled, amused and clicked her tongue before turning away from him, walking towards the window. Her fingers grasped the curtains, yanking on them until they opened fully, the fabric straining from the abuse. Immediately, the sun burst into the room the bright light darkened only by distant clouds. "A lovely day." She commented as she looked outside the window, staring at dark clouds as they built on the horizon. "Don't you think?" She turned and looked at him over her shoulder as his breath caught.

Her eyes were sparkling with a disgusting mirth that made his skin crawl. He felt his legs begin to go weak and he clutched his fist at his sides. Hastily, his eyes turned towards his desk chair and he crossed the short distance. He felt her eyes watching him as he moved, the hairs on the back of his neck actually standing on end from the scrutiny.

"You look," She stopped for a second as he turned towards her, one hand already on the chair prepared to sit down. "Tired." The statement echoed throughout her, a distant sound deep within her mind telling her that someone else had heard the words as well. "Don't you even dare." She warned the real Kagome inside of her as she felt the girl push towards the surface of her mind.

Unable to think of even one response, Inuyasha slumped down in his desk chair and put his head in his hands desperately. "I am." He told her, the muffled sound making her smile but luckily he couldn't see the tortured look. Pulling his hands just an inch away from his face, he glanced up at her his face looking older than it ever had. "What's wrong with you?" It was a plea more than a question.

Trapped within the confines of her mind or perhaps her soul, Kagome's heart nearly shattered at the sound of his voice. "Stop it!" She screamed at the creature controlling her, begging and pleading as she tried to break through. "Leave him alone!" She pressed even harder as the sound of Inuyasha's dull voice tore into her. "Please!"

"You don't have nearly enough power to make me." The creature whispered inside her head as she brought her hand up and touched the jewel with just the tip of her finger. The resounding scream made her smile slightly but the look soon turned into a frown as she watched Inuyasha before her. Carefully, she tilted her head to the side and frowned slightly but the look was not the one of sympathy the true Kagome felt, this was the look of the jewel. "What's wrong with you?" She turned his own words against him.

Pulling his hands completely away from his face, he looked up at her urgently. "You're killing me." He told her as the pain in his heart grew even stronger, feeling for all pretenses as if it was about to be ripped from his chest.

Although Kagome couldn't see his face, she could hear the pain in his voice and it killed her. "You have to stop," Kagome pleaded with the creature as she listened to the sound of his broken voice. "You're hurting him."

"Shut the hell up!" The creature took hold of the jewel, pushing more power from it into the trapped Kagome. "I won't tell you again." At her mercy and unable to escape Kagome screamed in response and everything went quiet, making the creature smirk. "I don't see any blood." She snickered as she spoke, the mockery lining her voice making him growl. "So how can I be killing you?"

The words bit into Inuyasha's very soul and his will began to leave him. "You have a point—there is no blood that you can see," He dropped his head, his chin touching his chest and his elbows bracing his knees as if disappointed she didn't understand. "I suppose there shouldn't be anyway." He sighed heavily and looked out the window, the clouds outside were still not completely black and deadly; they were a subtle, beautiful grey.

For a moment he stared at the swirling mass watching as the grayish clouds flitted between the lighter ones and the darker ones. They seemed somehow whimsical and soft, gentle and kind, all at once. His heart lightened in his chest as a particular shaded cloud came into his view, it was smaller than the rest and somewhat hard to see but its color was endearing. Flecks of what looked like blue mixed with white and black, dancing in a continuous swirl of mixing color, which made his whole world light up for just one moment. The moment couldn't last for long however, and soon the cloud began to change, the beautiful grey growing darker and darker until it was completely consumed, gone, forgotten, and none existent.

His heart fell in his chest and he closed his eyes in an attempt to hold onto that memory for just a moment longer but it slipped away. Tired, he opened his eyes once more and sighed. "I miss Kagome." He spoke suddenly the words pained as they left his lips.

The creature that wore her face legitimately frowned at his words and she crossed her arms over her chest. "I am Kagome."

"No," He spoke softly, his head barely turning to look at her. "You're a poor imitation of Kagome." He pulled his eyes away from the window finding it too entirely painful to continue watching the clouds change. "She would never act like you."

She growled and placed her hands on her hips, her eyes narrowing in a glare. "So, I should act a particular way just to please you?" She bit out every syllable but Inuyasha actually didn't flinch, not even once. "Maybe this is how the real Kagome acts," She pressed further but still he didn't react as she thought he normally would. "And you just never knew it."

"No," Inuyasha shook his head as his heart grew even heavier and his eyes began to droop slightly. "I'm so tired." He told himself as he reached up and rubbed the back of his neck. "You're nothing like her." He finally told the poor replacement for Kagome, his words so pathetically sad that it should have torn at her own heart but it didn't even faze her. "Kagome's sweet and gentle and kind and I—I—." He stumbled on his words and stopped himself before he could say more.

"Love me?" She spit out the words, the mocking quality of her voice sparking something within him. "Is that it?" She pressed on, adding a little laugh as she noticed the way his shoulder's tensed. "Am I breaking your heart?"

Within her, Kagome's existence suddenly flared, screaming at the top of her lungs. "Stop it!" But it was too late, the damage was already done.

"Shut up!" Inuyasha finally snapped, throwing himself upwards and out of the chair as his whole body quacked with anger. "I don't know what the hell is going on with you," He turned to look her directly in the eye, her dark irises angering him even further. "But you're not Kagome, I refuse to even think for a moment that you are!"

"What do you know?" She threw the words back as she crossed her arms under her chest and grabbed the jewel in a desperate attempt to control the person within her.

Kagome pushed against the pain as the jewel's energy was thrown at her from every angle but she refused to back down. "I won't let you do this," She yelled, she kicked, and punched within the blackness but the sensation of pain brought about from the jewel was overwhelming. "No!" She tried to scream as she gritted her teeth against the power but it was on the verge of hopeless.

On the outside, unaware of the struggle within Kagome's body, Inuyasha snarled and clutched a fist, fully prepared to smash something into pieces but he refrained. "I know that Kagome," He gritted his teeth, forcing himself to breathe deeply, to gain some sort of desperately needed control. "Would never want to act like this." He whispered the words and she snorted in return. "This isn't who she wants to be."

The girl before him openly laughed and held onto the jewel a little tighter, needing to ensure herself that Kagome was under control. "Foolish dog." The words stung far greater than they should have but he ignored the pain as she continued. "She wants to be however I make her."

"Never!" He snarled violently and before he could stop himself picked up the nearest object and threw it against the wall. Luckily it had only been a book and instead of breaking it merely fell and landed in a heap of rumpled pages. Breathing heavily, he crossed the room his whole body blinded by some sort of undeniable rage. The moment he reached her he grabbed her, his claws biting into her shoulders as he pulled her closer to his face. "This isn't you Kagome!" He tried to speak into her, not to the creature that faced him but to the Kagome that had to still exist somewhere inside. "This isn't who you want to be." He pleaded and his grip on her loosened as he tried desperately to see the girl he loved. "I know that." He looked into the darkened orbs wishing, praying that they would change. "I know you."

With a giant explosion of energy, the Kagome inside finally, for the briefest of moment's gained control, fighting her way to the surface. "Inuyasha!" The beautiful grey of her irises burst forth as she said his name, her hands grabbing onto his jacket, pulling desperately at the fabric.

"Kagome?" Inuyasha whispered as he looked into those eyes, seeing all the love in her heart directed towards his face. "Kagome!"

She tried to smile but the look was sucked from her face as the jewel flared around her neck, sucking her back down, trapping her within her soul once more. The woman snarled and yanked herself from his grip. "Don't ever touch me again." The harsh words echoed in the cabin followed by the sound of a loud smack as the flesh of her palm met the flesh of Inuyasha's poor left cheek.

For a moment, Inuyasha recoiled, his brain unable to process what had just happened or why Kagome had suddenly slapped him. But the moment of confusion lasted barely a second before realization dawned on him. Shaking his head roughly, he reached for her grabbing her by the arm, forcing her to make eye contact with him. "She's in there isn't she?" He pressed and the girl reached up and grabbed the jewel so hard it should have cracked.

"No," She fired back, her voice laced with malice as she glared at him. "She's gone." She spat the words out, the sound burning like acid as it hit his ears. "She's dead." She continued on as she held onto the jewel as hard as possible, forcing the true Kagome within herself back down where she belonged. "Let it go."

"Not for even one second." Inuyasha snapped as he looked straight into the blackness of her eyes feeling suddenly rejuvenated.

"You can't stop me." She told him plainly as he pushed herself away and bared her teeth as if she were a wild dog. "And you never will."

"I'll try till the day I die." He punctured every word with all the truth he could find within his soul.

The sound of it made a look of shock actually cross her face in that moment. The room went silent and the two stared at each other as his promise rang in the air between them undeniable. Outside, a man shouted loudly announcing they had already reached their destination. It seemed impossible that their conversation (if it could be called a conversation) had lasted the necessary twenty minutes it had to have taken to reach the island once more.

The woman took a step back away from him but her eyes never left his own. "We need to go." She told him but he still didn't move, his bright gold eyes staring her down. "It's time to take care of Sango."

"You don't even care." He spoke coldly but she ignored him.

Turning her back on the dog demon, trusting he would not be able to hurt the body of Kagome (even if she wasn't currently in charge of it), the creature moved towards the bow resting on the wall. Gingerly, she took it into her hands, the wood straining slightly under her touch as if it too didn't trust her. "This shall be an interesting fight." She commented and turned her head to look at him once more. "Don't you think?"

Straightening slightly Inuyasha sent her a stern glare. "We're not done." He told her but she merely smiled at him as if amused.

"For now we are." She told him plainly and licked her lips as she started towards the door. "That is," She paused for just a second and spoke the words over her shoulder. "Unless you want Sango to suffer. This revenge must be very important to her," She tried very hard not to laugh as she spoke but the sound of amusement was still in her voice. "Especially with her brother dying."

Inuyasha felt a wave of hatred for the woman in front of him consume his very soul. "When this is over," He told her, each word like death on his tongue. "I'm gonna—."

"What?" The woman interrupted him as she crossed her arms over her chest, the bow dangling from her fingers. "What can you do—hurt me?" She mocked as she tilted her head back and had the audacity to laugh. "You couldn't if you tried." She spat the words and turned towards the door once more, opening it without a second thought. Within moments she had disappeared, leaving Inuyasha standing alone in his cabin.

He felt the pain in his chest amplify for a moment and growled low in his throat knowing what she said was true. "I could never hurt her." He admitted to himself as he imagined lying even one hand on Kagome, whether she was herself or not. He raised his head and looked out the window once more, the blackness of the clouds was growing even blacker if that was at all possible. He gulped and closed his eyes. "So what do I do?" He asked those clouds not daring to look at them because he knew they had no answers.

-break-

On the deck of the Shikuro, against Inuyasha and Miroku's wishes, Sango and Kagome gathered with beside them and the wolf king fully prepared to strategize. Down below Myoga sat at Kohaku's side, desperately trying to keep the boy alive for as long as he could in hopes of Sango returning before he died. If anyone was capable of keeping the dying alive though, it was a demon such as Myoga whose extensive knowledge gathered over an extraordinary lifetime would be nothing but helpful.

With his arms crossed over his chest Kouga turned towards Inuyasha, raising an eyebrow as they looked at the island. "So-a we're goin' attack, Meticcio?" He asked as he looked out over the still quiet island. Even though it had been at least an hour and a half sense they fled the island with Kohaku, it appeared they had yet to be discovered missing.

"No." Inuyasha explained calmly as his eyes scanned the island also. The island looked for all pretenses calm but everyone standing there knew that looks were more often than not deceiving. "You're gonna get all the humans out," He explained calmly hoping Kouga would shut up and just listen to his orders. "And we're going to kill the warden." He added as he scented the air gingerly, the smell of donkey was still heavy disguising the horrors that rested underneath it. "There are no guards, so it shouldn't take but Miroku and—," He glanced at Sango who was sending him a look that seemed to say choose your words carefully. "I mean us." He quickly recovered even though he hated the idea. "Shouldn't take but us."

Sango sent him a smile of agreement even as Kouga's disapproval hit the air.

The wolf king growled at the order and snorted once as he crossed his arms over his chest. "Io refuse-e to deal with de umano."

Inuyasha (as well as the three humans on deck) rolled his eyes at the old prejudice and turned towards Kouga smartly. "You're the only one who has the man power to do it." He motioned towards the fleet of ships that was behind them.

A good ten had agreed to come along on the trip but that was all Kouga could really spare currently. With the people of Serdenga probably hot on their trail, they needed some form of defense heading back to Kouga's kingdom to protect his people. Obviously, to Kouga's men that was the more important mission; not helping some stupid humans locked up in a prison for killing demons. Therefore, they had gone back with Kouga's second in command, his wife, who was apparently a more terrifying leader than Kouga (which was the main reason ten ships had stayed versus only a few).

"We certainly can't try to fit that many humans on Shikuro." Miroku chimed in as he crossed his arms over his chest and glanced at his wife. The woman was standing with a strange closed off look in her eyes. "It's killing her." He thought, wanting to jump towards her and hold her and comfort her. "It's just not fair—after everything she's been through—this," He thought of Kohaku down below and growled. "Is not right."

"Should-a bought a bigger nave." Kouga commented sarcastically and Inuyasha felt his eye twitch in annoyance.

"I didn't buy it." The dog demon commented dryly as he resisted the urge to clock Kouga over the head.

Raising an eyebrow Kouga glanced over the ship before commenting. "Tat explain-a lot." The wolf king smiled as he spoke as if wishing to provoke a reaction out of the other man.

Before a reaction could come however, the sound of Sango's patients literally snapping made all three men turn towards her. "Dear lord, will you three stop acting like vindictive women?" She snarled, her dark brown eyes practically glowing with her rage.

"Sang—." Miroku tried to speak but Sango wasn't going to take anything, not at this moment.

"I don't care if you don't like your job wolf-boy." She took a step forward towards Kouga staring down at him with such malice in her eyes that the wolf demon actually took a step back. "But if you want to keep your bullocks attached to your body, you'll fucking do it!" The words tore from her throat, so violent that Kagome behind her (or whatever was behind her) had to hold back her laughter.

Completely thrown off by the sudden outburst Kouga held his hands up in front of him as if in surrender. "She-a is like-e Ayame." He commented and turned towards the two other men, an actual dazed expression on his face.

"I told you so." Miroku mumbled dryly recalling their previous conversation as Sango turned towards him, a dark glare on her face that made his mouth snap shut.

"We don't have time for this." She told them darkly as her head turned hastily towards the island. The clouds were building behind it becoming thicker and darker with each passing moment.

"Sango's right." Kagome chimed in as she leaned against the railing and licked her lips. Deep inside her, the faint sound of a trapped soul rang out but she ignored it easily, the jewel around her neck glowing ever so slightly under her clothes. "We need to move—now." She turned back towards the men just in time to see Kouga giving Inuyasha an actual look of pity.

"Io just have-e deal with one." He told Inuyasha quietly so that the women could not hear or Miroku for that matter.

The dog demon pushed his ears down under his hat before responding with an equally quiet: "Lucky." Clearing his throat and righting his body, Inuyasha looked out at the island. "After we kill that snake and get all the humans out, we'll destroy the damn place."

"How?" Kouga asked bluntly as he lowered his arms from his chest and side glanced at his cousin. "It-a made of pietra."

Inuyasha rolled his eyes but nodded his head in understanding none-the-less. He glanced towards the confused Miroku before supplying the translation. "It's made of stone—I know." He turned back to Kouga sternly as he reached down and shifted one of his many guns until it was in a more comfortable position. "That's why we're gonna do it from the inside out."

"We've done it once before." Miroku explained although he didn't elaborate on when or where they had used this strategy. "We set fire to the inside where everything's tapestries and wood." He nodded his head once sharply and turned towards his cousin Kouga. "The stone um—," He cleared his throat slightly as he stumbled over the Italian word. "Pie-u-tra might not melt but the inside will be destroyed."

Kouga shook his head in understanding, his lips actually drawn into a line of appreciation. "Buono." He clicked his tongue to the top of his mouth and looked behind himself towards his awaiting vessels. "Moi men won't-a like it, ma they'll listen ta orders or die." He shrugged his shoulders and a devious smirk formed on his face that actually made the other people standing on deck skin crawl.

"Alright then," Inuyasha tried his best to ignore the wolfish or better yet sadistic look. "We don't have much time before that storm comes."

"So we better hurry!" Sango growled as her foot tapped impatiently on the ground.

Inuyasha glanced at her but didn't comment before he looked towards Kagome. She was standing silently off to the side as if she were observing the group more than actually participating in it. Looking bored, however, she turned taking her eyes away from them and repositioning them on the island. Her dark pupils and irises surveyed the landscape, looking at it as if she could see something they could not. She tightened her grip on the boy, her expression growing even darker if it was at all possible before a smirk settled on her face.

Inuyasha felt his heart sink a little bit in his chest, the pain settling in his stomach for all of a moment. He had no idea how much more he could take before the pain consumed him entirely.

-break-

A leaf crunched under Inuyasha's foot as he crouched in the bushes, his eyes staring out across the path. Quietly, he raised his hand to signal those behind him to come to a stop. He heard their bodies halt instantly, all three humans knowing better than to disobey an order from him in this situation. His eyes traveled the length of the path and his nose sniffed at the stale donkey laced air. Even though it was the same path they had walked only two, almost three hours before, it felt surprisingly different already.

The sound of birds and little woodland creatures meet his ears but not the sound of anything else. Slowly, he reached up and grabbed his hat straight off his head, his ears springing back to life after having been cooped up so long. Free from the constraints they danced quickly, swiveling this way and that as they picked up every possible sound he could hear. In the distance, he swore he heard the sound of Kouga's ships on the breakwater but he knew that was impossible. Even his hearing was not that good.

"Still, he better hurry." Inuyasha thought to himself as he continued to listen for any movements in the forest around them. "He's gotta get a lot of humans out in a very short amount of time." He crinkled his nose from the thought, hoping that Kouga wouldn't change his mind once his men got their first whiff of that hell. "I certainly thought about it." He grimaced and looked over his shoulder to check on the people behind him.

They were all staring at him, which was only slightly unnerving, their eyes following his every move, even Kagome's. For a moment he watched her as she looked at him, the darkness building within her soul shining brightly albeit enigmatically through her pupils. He resisted the urge to frown and instead sighed before turning away from her once more. A wave of loneliness consumed him for a moment and he had to take a deep breath before it left him.

"Try not to make a sound." He whispered quietly and continued forward, moving softly against the ground, crouched like his ancestors before they began to walk as humans do.

The dirt scrapped under their feet as they continued down the path, moving slowly in the direction of the prison. They must have been a sight to see, three humans and a dog demon huddled close to the ground, their bellies practically dragging in the dirt. They didn't look nor feel suspicious at all.

Inuyasha's ears suddenly twitched involuntarily on his head and he froze a strange feeling shooting up his spine. He froze, not even bothering to signal to the three humans behind himself. He felt the hairs on the back of his neck stand on end and an odd sensation form in his stomach: an old instinct he couldn't ignore. "Something's wrong." He spoke quietly, the snapping of a nearby twig making him nearly jump. His head whipped around and he looked towards his three companions, all the seriousness on his face telling them not to make a sound.

Miroku nodded at him and simply lowered himself to the ground not bothering to make any longer as his eyes began to scan the trees. Beside him, Sango did the same, her eyebrows knitted close together and her expression stern as she inhaled once deeply, waiting for the inevitable. Kagome on the other hand, held her chin up, her eyes looking out across the island with unknown purpose.

The look made Inuyasha frown deeply. "What does she know?" He wondered as he deliberately followed her gaze but saw absolutely nothing. "Damn it." He groused internally before a sudden nose, or really lack thereof made him freeze. The sound of birds that normally haunted his ears when he stood on land was gone, replaced by the sound of only wind and silence; and then, only seconds later, a roar, an ear splitting roar of infinite and furious rage.

"Well, I think he knows." Miroku said without preamble as the sound tittered off followed by a loud warning bell.

"Who could he possibly be alerting?" Inuyasha wondered out loud as he listened to the loud ring, almost like a church bell, go out across the island. "There's no one to alert here."

Behind him, Miroku started to agree before something only a few feet away from them caught his eye. "Um—."

Inuyasha's ears turned away from Miroku before they even acknowledged the sound of his voice. He heard the step of a hoof, the loud intake of air before a whine was released from a mouth.

"Che cos'è allora?" The words were spoken with a thick accent and a slight whine in between each syllable.

Inuyasha turned his head slowly behind him, just in time to see the strangest creature he had ever in his life observed. The first thing he noticed was that it was actually taller than him, its fury navel starting where his chin did. It wasn't the creature's height that made it strange however, but instead the creature's appearance. It had all the characteristics of a normal man: shoulders, a head, demonic ears upon the side of it but down below where legs and knees and feet normally would have been arranged was an entirely different and improbable body. It had four long legs and a giant horse like body with grayish fur covering it. It had a tail, swishing about its uncovered rear, a little wisp of black hair at the end of it that matched its curly black hair on its head. And the definite sign that 'it' was in fact a male between its legs.

The dog demon's face grew blank from the sight. He had seen demons who were half horse and half man, creatures more connected to the animalistic side of them than other demons. Never in his life, however, had he seen a creature quiet like this: half man and half, it had to be, donkey.

"At least now," The humans turned and looked at him as he spoke, horror on all their faces even Kagome's. "I know why it smells like donkey here." Was all the dog demon could think to say before the creature charged.

-break-

Kouga froze as the sound of the alarm bell rang out in his ears. His men, a few choice ones following behind him (and by a few that means at least fifty) all froze as well, their ears tilting this way and that as they looked out across the strange island. They had decided, after much negotiation, to find the backwards route into the prison, the one Inuyasha and his family had used to escape the trap. From what Inuyasha had explained as they departed not twenty minutes before it would be far easier than going in the front.

Personally, Kouga would have rather gone in the front, kicked the snake man's ass, and then continued on. For whatever reason, however, he had chosen this time to simply do as Inuyasha wished, probably because of the girl and the look on her face. "Si merita la sua vendetta." He commented to himself knowing it was true, 'she did deserve her revenge.'

"Il mio re?" A man behind him whispered and Kouga turned around in time to acknowledge him with a simple nod of his chin.

"Non perdete tempo con esso." Casually, he told him not to worry about the alarm as he lifted his head and smelt the air. He could just trace his cousin's scent amongst the strange smell of donkey. Suddenly, Kouga's eyes widened from his own thought as he remembered exactly what that scent was made from. Turning in the direction of the Shikuro he grimaced. "Mi dispiace." He apologized silently to Inuyasha already knowing the hell he was in.

Unfortunately, his apology would do little good and he knew it.

-break-

Inuyasha jumped backwards as the large half donkey, half demon creature reared up on its hind legs and hurled itself towards him. Its front hands reached out and its front two hoofed legs pulled themselves upwards as if they wanted to trample him. "Get out of his way!" He screamed as he grabbed Kagome and Miroku grabbed hold of Sango, more out of instinct than necessity.

The strange creature laughed as it slammed its body into the ground causing the whole earth underneath it to shake violently. "Io knew-a," The centor like creature spoke in clearly broken English as it made its way forward towards Inuyasha. "Io knew-a voi were trouble-e." It bared its flat teeth the sight just as menacing as sharp teeth as it looked at Inuyasha.

Holding Kagome close to his body Inuyasha bared his sharp fangs back and glared at the creature. "You don't wanna mess with me." He told it as he felt Kagome's body heat so close to himself seep into his skin for the first time in, what felt like, decades. "She's so warm." He thought absently as he pulled her a little closer. "I missed that warmth."

The creature before him laughed loudly at Inuyasha's words and crossed its arms over its great chest. "Io do as Io volere." The creature told him roughly and Inuyasha felt his throat go a bit dry.

It was clear to him already that this was not the most intelligent creature in front of him but it was a verily strong one: a dangerous combination. Slowly he let go of Kagome not noticing the bored expression on her face as he stepped in front of her and glared at the now smirking creature. "Stand down." Inuyasha spoke firmly as he widened his legs, preparing himself to spring up and out of the way if necessary. "I'm never gonna get close enough to actually attack barehanded." One of his hands inched closer to one of the guns at his side as he eyed the best before him. "I gotta get him from here, right in the heart."

The creature lowered its head and stamped one of its hooves to the ground hard as it looked at Inuyasha straight on like a man and not sideways like a donkey. "Venire." It spoke the word so slowly and so deliberately that Inuyasha knew now was not the time to talk.

Shifting his weight backwards, Inuyasha grabbed the gun at his side holding it up so quickly that any normal creature would never have seen the shot coming. His finger was on the trigger before the humans could blink and the shot was fired before anyone could even gasp. The sound rang out all around them and Inuyasha just started to smirk before his eyes caught the strangest of smiles on the face of the creature across from him. The bullet flew through the air, its aim perfect but aim in that moment didn't matter. Horrified, Inuyasha watched as the centor tracked the bullet perfectly with its sharp demonic eyes and laughed.

The bullet hit the creature dead on, right at his heart only to literally and dreadfully bounce off his chest. Inuyasha nearly felt his jaw hit the floor, he heard Miroku actually wheeze in horror behind him, followed by Sango's gasp only a few precious seconds later.

"Damn." Kagome muttered just behind him and Inuyasha felt his heart stop in his chest as he agreed.

"Damn." He barely had time to say before the creature was charging straight at him. The dog demon growled low in his throat and held his ground knowing that Kagome was right behind him. "Kagome move!" He commanded praying that the girl would actually listen to him but instead he heard the strangest thing he had probably ever heard in his life.

"You move." Kagome said calmly as she looked towards the charging creature bored. "I can handle this."

Completely stunned by Kagome's command Inuyasha's body went lax and he started to glance over his shoulder at just the wrong moment. On any normal day, Inuyasha would have never allowed himself to present such weakness but currently there was no hope for him. His mind was shot, his senses were dulled, and his heart was aching violently in his chest. He had no hope in that moment to be anything else but ill prepared.

Sensing his weakness, the centor raised its front lets up as it had before and braced its human arms at its side before it shot its legs straight in front of itself. The impact of the creature's hoof on Inuyasha's shoulder was worse than any bullet wound Inuyasha could ever recall having suffered (even the one that had been in his stomach was nothing compared to this.) He felt the bones in his shoulder snap and everyone else heard the loud crunch that rang out.

The dog demon's mouth opened in a silent scream that never was released. Without taking even a moment to let Inuyasha suffer the pain of his shoulder dislocating, the centor allowed his human like hands to descend upon Inuyasha's throat.

"Otou-san!" He heard Miroku and he heard the sound of Sango's strangled scream.

He could just see them out of the corner of his eye, Miroku already moving in and Sango with a gun already in her hand. "I wonder," He thought vaguely as he watched he cocked the gun preparing to fire the useless bullet. "Where she got that gone?" Perhaps it was the lack of oxygen flowing to his brain in that moment, but Inuyasha couldn't help but smile slightly from the strange thought.

A gasp tore through him ripping the strange smile from his face just moments later as his feet were lifted off the ground. His shoulder ached and the separated bones made a strange scrapping noise as they were rubbed unnaturally together. The bizarre sensation of something pressing against his neck flittered into his brain and he opened his mouth to speak but found his voice unusable. He felt his vision begin to fade as he realized the creature was chocking him for the first time. It had all happened so fast that it felt unreal as if he were dreaming and all of this were just a nightmare. The very thought made him feel somewhat relaxed.

"It's a dream." He told himself as he felt his eyes begin to drift into the back of his head, consciousness slipping away. "It has to be—Kagome—," He saw black cobwebs begin to fill his vision as he finally blacked out. "She would only be like this in a dream."

The scream brought him back to life instantly and he found himself on the ground in a heap but he had no idea how he had gotten there; he didn't recall being released or thrown or falling. The world around him was fuzzy and his shoulder was hot with pain and his throat felt strange as if he was sick but he couldn't recall ever being sick. Dizzy and a bit nauseous, Inuyasha tried to push himself upwards with his busted shoulder and growled from the pain the action called, his body clasping once more.

Face flat in the dirt he groaned, the feeling of bits of grass brushing against his skin almost mocking. Moaning, he shifted to his other side and managed to right himself through the horrific feeling of bones grinding on bones. His ears twisted on his head as he heard the sound of someone pleading, begging for mercy in Italian. Confused, he scrunched up his eyebrows and turned his head, the world seeming to follow behind him like he was drunk.

"Kagome?" The word sounded strangled on his lips as he looked on in disbelief. The miko was standing, her expression completely blank as she held the bow against her body with one hand and pointed the other one directly at the centor's chest. Energy was collecting in her fingertips, dark and black and hot. His skin crawled from the sight as he watched the centor back away his hands held up in front of his face in a clear sign of mercy.

"Pietà." The creature whispered over and over again as it backed away, every instinct in its body telling it exactly what that energy could and would do. "Pieta."

Kagome shook her head at the creature, her dark eyes shining as the energy in her hand began to swirl, becoming darker and darker. "Sorry," Her voice was so calm that it made the hairs on the back of even Sango and Miroku's necks stand on end. "I don't speak Italian." She released the energy in one great movement, the centor not having even the slightest chance of living through the blow.

The energy hit him square in the chest, ripping through his ribs and heart and lungs and other internal organs until it tore open the flesh at his back and sailed into the air. His scream echoed through the whole of the island, the sound of his death making every bird and every little woodland creature scream along with him in fear. But, as quickly as the scream had started, it stopped and the centor's eyes went blind with death. Sightless, he dropped to his knees, a small trickle of blood falling from his lip to his chin before he fell forward. His body hit the ground with one giant thud that made Inuyasha, Sango, and Miroku all feel sick to their stomachs.

"There." Kagome turned, her expression completely unaffected in that moment. "It's done."

-break-

The first thing Kouga noticed about the prison was that it smelt like what he had always imagined hell would smell like. The air was thick with the scent of death, pain, despair, anguish, urine and feces. His hand shot up to cover his face and he squinted into the bleak black of the small hallway Inuyasha had described to him less than fifteen minutes before.

Behind him one of his men whined and coughed before gagging loudly but Kouga ignored the sound. He had to or otherwise he too would have succumbed to the urge to vomit. In the distance he heard the low moans and cries of people, of humans, the sound twisting in his ears until he was positive it was jumping down from them and into his heart.

The sensation was a strange one that made Kouga, as a demon, exceedingly uneasy but he ignored it in favor of pressing forward. His boots slid against the grime that coated every stone and the wolf demon did his best to ignore the sound. He had no desire to know what coated the ground of the prison and with any luck he would never actually know firsthand. His sharp eyes glowed in the dark as they ascended the first staircase, fifteen of his most trusted men walking behind him, barely holding in their lunches as they moved.

The sound of someone crying up ahead made Kouga freeze, his blue eyes narrowing as his ears tilted towards the sound. "Madre!" The desperate reverberation of a full grown man crying for his mother made Kouga feel sick.

Deep down inside, the fact that the man was human began to disappear, replaced instead by the fact that the man, was a man. Kouga gritted his teeth, the hatred he had for his father gripping him even tighter as another distant cry hit his ears, this one more powerful than the first.

"Babbo!"

It had been centuries since he had heard that particular word for father, a name only daughter's gave their fathers. Her voice echoed all around him, the sound so pained and so tormented that he felt as if it would rip him to shreds. What could she have done to end up here: a girl crying for her daddy into a bleak and horrific smelling perpetual night?

Kouga gulped slightly and shook his head no longer caring what she had done, all he knew was that he had to set her and the others like her free.

-break-

Everyone was frozen, their expressions a mixture of shock and horror as they looked at the corpse that rested on the ground at Kagome's feet. He was face down and blood was slowly beginning to pool underneath him to the extent that if he wasn't dead, it was certain he could have drowned. At first, no one knew quite what to say. From his spot on the ground Inuyasha tried to open his mouth but the feel of the centor's now dead hands on his neck made his throat ache too much to talk or at least that was the excuse he allowed himself to use.

Miroku stood in complete bewilderment, his hands drawn up ready to throw a punch that was now useless to all of them. Shaking, he allowed his hands to lower, his eyes staring at the centor's dead body, waiting for it to somehow magically come back to life. "Impossible." He thought to himself, mouthing the words unable to actually say them, just like his father.

Beside him, her eyes wider than a tea saucer, Sango stared at the small girl who had just killed a beast twice her normal size. "How?" She thought to herself as she stared at Kagome's blank expression, the girl appearing totally unaffected by the slaying of the beast. The gun in her had trembled, the mechanisms making a metallic sound as they rattled. "How could she do that—?"

The thought swirled in her head but it wasn't a matter of power; Sango was no fool, she knew Kagome had that kind of power, she had known it probably longer than anyone else, sense the beginning.

"How could she—?" She stopped the thought before it could progress any further. She knew that wasn't a matter of how, no, this was a matter of why.

It was with that thought in the forefront of her mind that Sango gritted her teeth and sunk her weight into the ground strength pouring into her every limb. "Who the hell are you?!" The words left her mouth quickly as she pointed the gun in her hand straight at Kagome.

Kagome turned towards Sango slowly, her eyes dark as a starless night. One delicate eyebrow rose in response to the question and she smiled. "I'm Kagome." She answered plainly and Sango shook her head slowly in disbelief.

"No—," She cocked the gun and pointed it at the girl with tense arms and focused eyes. "No you're not."

The girl across from her laughed but the sound grew suddenly stuck in her throat. "She right!" A voice screamed somewhere deep inside of her, pushing, and clawing, and biting as it drug itself back to the surface of her consciousness. She clutched the bow tightly and a look of concentration jumped onto her face. The Shikon jewel around her throat that had somehow come out of her shirt glowed dark, blistering heat radiating from it as it burned brightly. She gritted her teeth and suddenly, a strangled yell ripped from her throat into the air. "Stop it!" She stepped back quickly, her hands coming up, reaching for the jewel around her throat unsuccessfully. "Enough, of this," It yelled even louder, the sound so Kagome like that it tore at Inuyasha's heart. "Let me go!"

Sango lowered the gun as she watched the strange movements in disbelief. Behind her, Inuyasha struggled to push himself upwards, his breathing shallow as the pain in his shoulder flooded his whole body.

"I won't!" The voice changed, furious and deathly. "Back down foolish girl!" It commanded as the jewel grew darker and darker around her throat matching the deadly expression that had set in her eyes. "Enough, let me go!" The voice changed again and suddenly the head shot upwards looking straight at the other members of the tiny group, beautiful grey irises staring into them. "The je—."

Her head snapped downwards and a hand snapped upwards grabbing for the jewel and holding it so tightly that the chain groaned under the strain sounding as if it would snap at any moment. Her whole body shook violently and then went unnervingly still. Inuyasha snarled and forced himself to his feet, the ground seeming to shift underneath him, threatening to let him fall on his ass.

"Kagome!" He called to her, the sound of his voice making Sango and Miroku both jump.

She raised her head in response and looked directly at him, the blackness of her eyes so deep that her pupils no longer seemed to exist. Her expression went blank and she inhaled once deeply before straightening herself. "We need to hurry." She spoke calmly as if nothing had happened at all. Blankly she took in Inuyasha's barely standing body, the man staring her down with his sharp eyes. Gingerly, she straightened her back and popped her neck from side to side. The loud crack was unnerving to hear.

Without waiting for the creature to say another word or for Sango and Miroku to recover the dog demon grabbed his arm. Pain shot through him in that moment as bone grinded against bone but he ignored it fully. In one swift motion, his shoulder snapped back into place, the sickening crack making the bile in Sango and Miroku's stomach turn. Kagome, on the other hand didn't even wince. "Let her go." Inuyasha spoke firmly as he took another step forward, dropping his hand from his arm.

Kagome tilted her head to the side, "You're useless even with that arm put back in place." She dodged the question ignoring the looks of complete bewilderment around her from Sango and Miroku.

Ignoring her, Inuyasha took another step forward, standing only a scarce five feet away from her as he looked into her eyes. "Can you hear me?" He spoke carefully, unnerved by the black that met him. "I know you're there!" He tried again but the woman across from him merely chuckled mirthlessly.

"I believe we're been down this road once before," She ducked her head slightly and looked up at him from between her lashes, a look she knew he secretly adored from the real Kagome. "Inuyasha?" Her voice was smooth and seductive and made Miroku and Sango both shiver.

Inuyasha opened his mouth to speak but froze before a single word could leave his mouth. The hairs on the back of his neck were standing on end and his hands were shaking unnaturally. He felt his stomach turn once as every instinct in his body told him to run. His ears turned quickly as a twig snapped in the underbrush to his left and he drew his hands into quick fist, ignoring the pain that ran up his arm from the action.

Across from him, the creature that wasn't quite Kagome froze as well, instincts that no human should have had telling her not to make a sound. Her black eyes darted this way and that, catching sight of the two other humans who were also unmoving across from them. Sango and Miroku might not have had demonic instincts but they were no fools. They knew that a forest should never be silent.

Inuyasha lowered his body weight into the ground, his golden eyes scanning the trees around them as his nose twitched unconsciously. "Snakes are impossible to scent." The fact jumped into the back of his head making him growl low in his throat as he turned and looked into the undergrowth. "But they can smell you very well." The thought made his hands tightened to the point of popping his knuckles.

"It's coming." Kagome said suddenly and Inuyasha turned to look at her, watching as those black eyes once again looked out away from them, staring at something that appeared to be nothing.

"I knew I shouldn't have trusted you—," The snake's voice seemed to come out of no where, its location impossible to pinpoint. "But I did—I let you in my prison." The proper English was strange with the slight hissing sound following it at the end. "And you repay me by stealing a prisoner."

Miroku edged a bit closer to his wife as he looked in every possible direction trying to see the creature. He remembered that the warden had been a deep green color as was every single plant around them at the moment. "I can't see him at all." He began to panic as he grabbed Sango's elbow and inched them backwards. He could tell at least by the sound that the creature had to be in front of them at the very least.

"That wasn't very—," The creature paused as if thinking, its voice somehow coming at them from every possible angle as it spoke. "Respectful of you, now was it?"

Irritated, Inuyasha gritted his teeth and clutched his hands into angry fist. "You're one to talk about respect!" He yelled into the forest, a distant bird squawking as it made a frightened retreat.

The snake hissed but didn't say a word, the sound echoing around them. Kagome held onto her bow a little bit tighter and lowered her body weight closer to the ground in a way the real Kagome would have never understood nor known to do. The bow in her hand glowed faintly as her energy began to accumulate within the red wood, preparing for the inevitable. "Show yourself!"

Inuyasha glared towards Kagome but the sound of a nearby branch teetering under an unknown weight made him snap his head away from her.

"I've never had one person escape." The snake hissed, the sound coming from all directions, seeming to bounce off the trees eerily. "Not," It punctuated the word with such intensity that Inuyasha felt his skin call. "Even," The next word was practically all hiss and not truly verbiage. "Once!"

The strike came without warning, the snake darting out from somewhere amongst the trees, aiming its fangs right at Inuyasha. Instinct alone stopped the dog demon from being bitten by the extended fangs of the snake demon as he bent his knees and sprang upwards, dodging the attack. The full force of the snake's attack went straight into the dirt that had been underneath Inuyasha's feet only seconds before. Rocks and soil flew into the sky as the snake man pushed himself up by his strange human arms, his sharp eyes staring straight at Inuyasha. "You're fast," The creature pushed itself up, its head swaying back and forth as was customary of its breed. "But not fast enough!"

It sprang forward again, its long fangs extended and dripping with poison. Crouched down on the ground, Inuyasha pushed himself backwards once more, dodging to the side of the creature as it coiled its body prepared to strike. Before it could however, a shriek from behind Inuyasha made both men flinch.

"Get down if you want to live!" Kagome screamed, the sound of her voice so unnatural that it made Inuyasha nearly freeze in midair. He turned his head towards her just in time to see the arrow flying straight towards his head. Horrified, Inuyasha twisted sideways despite the fact he was airborne, barely managing to get out of the way of the certain death that was soaring towards him. The arrow flew straight towards its mark, the snake demon watching it with a slight wave of confusion in its eyes before they widened in understanding.

"Bitch!" It screamed as it just managed to dodge to the side, the arrow missing it by a hair's width. The creature's scream ripped through the forest as its dark eyes turned straight towards Kagome, glaring down at her. "How dare you!?" It yelled the sound the snake equivalent to a snarl as it turned all its attention on Kagome.

Inuyasha felt his body jerk awake as he saw the creature turn towards Kagome. Without a second thought he started towards her, needing to protect her, his feet hitting the ground so quickly that it didn't even feel as if they had a chance to touch the dirt before they rose back up again. The snake's giant mouth opened even wider as if it were prepared to eat Kagome alive. Inuyasha's heart pounded in his chest as he raced towards the creature fully prepared to throw himself between the two in order to insure her survival.

The arrow on Kagome's bow glowed a deep and deadly black as she pulled it back past her ear prepared to release it. Inuyasha caught up to the giant snake, grabbing for it at just the same time Kagome released her arrow into the air. The blackness of her energy was utterly terrifying as it launched itself straight towards the dog demon and the snake.

A twisted smile formed on her face as she realized that the creature and Inuyasha both would never be able to get out of the way in time to miss the oncoming arrow. Her hands began to drop down, the bow falling towards her sides as she smirked, delighted by her own work. Inside her, she allowed the real Kagome time to see the tragedy as it unfolded delighting in the terror that built within her soul. "Enjoy the pain, Kagome." She whispered just as the arrow hit the snake demon straight on.

The explosion of dark energy consumed everything around it instantly, including the dog demon who was trying to save her. The strangled sound of Inuyasha's scream tore into Kagome's heart, ripping at every single bit of muscle as her whole world froze. Image after image of his face flashed before her eyes. She could see him smirking as he punched a man in the face, she could see him with his eyes closed as he slept soundly in the bed beside her, she could see him as he smiled warmly at Miroku fatherly love in his golden irises, and she could see him as he looked up at her his face drawn into the most charmingly boyish smile.

"Otou-san!" Vaguely, she heard Miroku's scream but even the sound of it didn't stop the images from playing in her head.

She could see him with his black hair and his brown eyes on that first moonless night staring at her with worry and fear of rejection swirling in his eyes. She could see him as he hugged his grandfather, little tears no one else would have ever seen prickling in the corner of his visage.

She could see him that very first time looking at her from the boat beside Sango. She could see the way his golden eyes had flashed in the light as he stared at her, already in love with her. She only just realized that now but it was true, he had always been in love with her from the very first moment their eyes had met. It had been fate, daring and tragic, fate.

She could see him as he looked at her, his face drawn in anger, yelling at her before words she had never thought to hear left his mouth:

"Damn it Kagome." He had snapped, unable to deal with the emotions running throughout his own body. "I'm looking at you right now and all I can fucking see you." He had let the words flow unhindered as they raced about his head begging to finally be said. "And I love you."

Something inside Kagome broke as she heard those words echo all throughout her, consuming her as the sound of his voice filled her very soul. "I love you!"

The creature controlling Kagome's body gasped as she felt her whole world freeze. Tears formed in her eyes that she couldn't explain and the jewel around her neck began to glow but not with darkness. Forcing herself to look downwards, her eyes widened in disbelief as she saw the Shikon jewel turn from black to white, pure brilliant white, the color of freshly fallen snow.

"No!" She yelled but the sound was trapped in her throat as another sound jumped up to take its place.

"Inuyasha!" Kagome screamed at the top of her lungs, the sound so loud that it could be heard for miles and miles around. The jewel's whiteness became blinding, burning Sango and Miroku's retina's as it consumed the whole of the clearing becoming brighter and brighter until it every tree and blade of grass was washed in white.

The sound of glass breaking filled the air and Sango and Miroku, consumed by grief and disbelief all at once, both cried out as they were thrown to the ground. The jewel around Kagome's neck cracked straight down the center unable to handle the power of the energy coursing from Kagome's body into its very being. Kagome's anguished scream echoed all around her as the beautiful whiteness continued to destroy the very fiber of the jewel. Crack after crack graced the gems surface, the structural integrity of the object nearly completely destroyed as Kagome continued to scream, the sound becoming hauntingly beautiful.

And then, in one last heart stopping moment, her scream died on her lips all of the whiteness she had produced seeming to fall to the ground and shatter. The jewel around her neck littered with cracks and chips turned to the color of white stone. Kagome's grey eyes looked out at the world as if seeing it for the first time, tears streaming down her cheeks as her hands shook with grief.

The Shikon jewel around her neck, covered with cracks and fractures, trembled once as if it were afraid, before it simply gave in, froze, and turned to dust.

End of Chapter

Please Review

A/N: I hope everyone liked the chapter. With it, this story arch will start to come to a close, but not before some well deserved fan service begins! Be prepared for some amazing love filled moments as well as some true shockers that will last our characters a lifetime…in a good way. And, on another note, Sesshoumaru and his lovely unnamed wife are just on the horizon!

Bonus Point:

Why does Kagome cry for Inuyasha the very first time, leaving the dog demon speechless?

Last Chapter's Bonus Point:

Kouga mistook Inuyasha and Kagome for mates. Congrats to the winners.

AiydanWarrior, Menarie, cristine44, Heartz of Darkness, Asian Delicacy, AKEMI SHIKON, Glon Morski, Cagome, DemonChild94

Next Chapter:

Love

See you then!

UNEDITED

POSTED

11/25/2013