Inuyasha let go of Kagome, startled. "Why are you so scared?"
"You killed them… All of them. How could you?" Kagome choked back dears as she thought of her friends. Images suddenly flooded into her mind. Sango and Miroku in each other's arms, lying in a pool of their own blood, their finals breaths escaping their lips. Shippo struggling to stand, to defend her. Tears sprang to her eyes and the air was knocked out of her lungs by some unseen force. She tried to stand, only to fall to her feet.
Inuyasha tried to put his arm around her. Kagome pushed him away. "Why? Tell me why or leave me be." She swatted the tears from her eyes.
"Kagome, It's not what you think. The people I killed weren't our friends. They were demons, in disguise. I was trying to save us." His eyes bore into hers.
"I don't believe you." She could sense something wrong with him. As she tried to pinpoint it, she saw the shards embedded in his arm. "What have you done? I can see the shards of the Shikon Jewel. How could you betray us this way?"
"Kagome, our friends are still alive. I can take you to them. Please, come with me." He offered his hand.
Kagome hesitated, unsure. She didn't know what to believe. If her friends were really still alive, she had to see them. Could it be true? Could they really be alive?
Kagome stood. "Take me to them."
Inuyasha grasped her hand and led her out of garden, then off the grounds. They went into the forest, deeper and deeper…