Hmmmmmmmmm...Happy early Easter!

Oh, and, I don't own Inuyasha.

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Chapter 9: Choke

Sango, Miroku, Kagome, and the two demons sped towards Kaede's hut on the edge of town, trying to ignore the miasma that was growing stronger around them. When they were about a hundred yards from the elderly miko's home, the purple cloudy substance around them grew thicker and thicker, until Kagome couldn't see any of the rest of her friends.

"Inuyasha!" she yelled as she stopped, turning in circles. There's too much miasma! And I can't tell where the sacred jewel is coming from..."INUYASHA!"

When there was no response, Kagome began to panic. Oh, no...she thought as she hopelessly stood still, unsure of what to do. Her vision was beginning to get a little blurry, and it was getting harder to breathe. The miasma was taking its toll on the young miko's human body...

Kagome rubbed her eyes, trying to clear her vision, and when she removed her hands, she gasped. Kaede's hut had appeared in front of her, with a purple bubble surrounding it. The air was cleared of all the miasma, and it was easier to breathe, but she now had a pounding headache.

Tentatively, the miko walked in the door of the hut, her bow clutched in one hand and an arrow in the other. The sight in front of her was horrible, and Kagome stifled a scream as she took it all in. Kaede was laying on the floor on the opposite side of the hut in a pool of blood, and Shippo was knocked unconscious, leaning against the wall near the elderly miko.

Ignoring the fact that Naraku had to be somewhere close, Kagome ran to Kaede and kneeled down next to the woman. "Kaede..." she muttered, tossing her bow and arrow aside, so that they landed somewhere near Shippo. "Please...be alive..."

After the young miko checked for Kaede's pulse and identified that she was, in fact, living, she breathed a quick sigh of relief and frantically searched for the source of the bloodflow. It was coming from the back of the woman's head, and Kagome tore a piece of the elder's kimono off to wrap around the wound.

She then moved on to Shippo, but found that he was just knocked unconscious. "Thank goodness," Kagome murmured as she hugged the kitsune's small body.

"How pathetic," said a calm voice from behind Kagome.

The miko spun around to face the evil hanyou, who was standing beside Kaede's body, smirking at her unconscious form. "Naraku..." Kagome whispered, trying to contain her anger. "What are you doing here?"

"Kukuku," laughed the evil man as he shifted his gaze to the girl. "Now I suppose it wouldn't hurt to answer that question...Kagome, I am here to take your jewel shards. That was a quite obvious answer, wasn't it?"

"But why did you have to hurt Kaede and Shippo!?" Kagome shouted, feeling tears form in her eyes. "You bastard...they were totally defenseless."

"And you honestly think I care about that? I just had to find a way of getting your friends separated from you, and luring everyone here and then trapping them in my miasma seemed like the perfect way to do so." Naraku's smirk spread to an evil grin when he saw Kagome's eyes narrow in anger and confusion. Why would Naraku choose now to attack? He's never this random...

"At this very moment, your precious Inuyasha is probably being killed by an illusion, and your other friends will be destroyed by my miasma," continued Naraku. He chuckled as she dove for her bow and quiver of arrows, drawing one on the string. "Kukuku, what are you going to do with that? Hit me?"

"Bastard...if I kill you, then my friends won't have to die..." Kagome drew the arrow back even further, pointing it directly at the evil half demon.

Inuyasha stopped running towards Kaede's hut as the miasma around him grew thicker and thicker.

"Damn it," he muttered, coughing into the sleeve of his kimono. "Kagome!" There was no response. "KAGOME!"

When there was, still, no response from the miko, Inuyasha started running blindly forward again in hopes of reaching the hut. Where the hell am I?

The hanyou stops running suddenly as a familiar figure in white and red robes appears in front of him.

"Ki-Kikyo?" he whispered, taking a step closer to the frowning woman. "But...you're dead..."

"Obviously, I'm not," Kikyo replied coldly, fingering the long bow on her back.

"Naraku said he killed you," stated Inuyasha, narrowing his eyes at the miko. This is just an illusion...he thought, gripping Tetsusaiga.

Kikyo smiled as she saw the hanyou's movement. "Are you going to kill me, Inuyasha?" she asked sarcastically, removing her hand from her bow and letting it fall by her side. "Go ahead; I'm defenseless."

Inuyasha shook his head. "I don't need to kill you. You're already dead." He pulled out Tetsusaiga and gripped it tightly between his hands. "Naraku, you ain't gonna fool me with this pathetic illusion!" he shouted, turning to aim away from where Kikyo was standing, now frowning.

"Inuyasha..." she muttered, crossing her arms. "Do you really think I'm an illusion? Or do you just not care about me--"

"Oh, shut up!" he shouted, not even looking at the miko. "I know you're dead because I saw your grave. I searched for your body so I could bring it back to the village and let Kaede bury you, but some monk had already beat me to it. So stop trying to convince me that you're Kikyo!"

"Inu--" Kikyo started again, but Inuyasha cut her off once again.

"WIND SCAR!" he shouted as the Tetsusaiga glowed bright red. The flashes of yellow light pierced through the purple cloud miasma, revealing Kaede's hut about a fifty yards from where the hanyou was standing.

Inuyasha heard a high-pitched scream come from the hut, causing his heart to sink.

Kagome...

The hanyou sprinted as fast as he could to the hut, silently cursing.

Miroku, Sango, Kilala, and Koga had almost reached Kaede's hut when Miroku collapsed on the ground, coughing from the thick purple miasma.

Sango, who had previously put on her demon slayer's mask, immediately stopped running. "Miroku!" she shouted, worried, as she knelt down beside her fiance.

"Sango...I'm going...to put up a...barrier," he said between coughs, covering his mouth with his sleeve in a vain attempt to stop the miasma from getting into his lungs. Damn that Naraku...I've never been in this strong of a miasma before...he must really want us to stay away from Kaede's hut...

"No, that's a bad idea," said Koga, who had been watching the two. "It'll take too much of your energy, monk." He turned and strained his eyes, trying to see through the endless purple. When that failed, he pointed his nose in the air and took a whiff of the miasma, coughing but smiling triumphantly. "I can still catch Naraku's scent. It's faint, but I'll be able to follow it."

The wolf demon turned back to the couple, frowning. "You too go back with the other villagers; you'll just end up getting hurt by Naraku in your condition, monk. Woman, get him to safety, and I'll go after Naraku."

Sango swallowed the retort that came to her throat at being called 'woman' and just nodded. She knew that Miroku wouldn't last very much longer in the miasma, and if they did end up meeting with Naraku he would probably open his wind tunnel, which wouldn't be good for anyone...

"Kilala, let's go," the demon slayer said to her feline friend, who was now a very large cat, ready to fly away.

As Koga disappeared into the thick purple mess, Sango heaved Miroku onto Kilala's back and they flew upwards and out of the miasma.

Kagome stood, poised, ready to shoot Naraku right through the head. This time I'll kill him, she assured herself as she glared at her enemy through narrowed eyes.

Naraku laughed and suddenly disappeared, catching Kagome off guard.

Where did he go? She frantically whipped her head around, trying to pinpoint Naraku's location by the presence of the sacred jewel, but it was impossible. She could sense it coming from everywhere.

"You're pathetic," said Naraku's voice from right behind Kagome. She only had time to scream before two pale, cold hands grasped her neck, making breathing impossible for the miko.

Gasping, Kagome swung her arms in a desperate attempt to hit Naraku. The man responded by lifting her into the air by her neck, causing a pained whine to escape from the girl's throat.

Naraku laughed, but he stopped immediately when a pissed figure in a red kimono came bursting into the hut, screaming, "Kagome!"

The last thing Kagome saw was fear on her beloved hanyou's face before she blacked out, going completely limp in Naraku's grasp.

Oh, man, another cliffhanger...well, I wasn't really intending there to be another cliffhanger at the end of this chapter, but it just kinda worked out that way...hmmmm...oh well.

There's a very slight chance I'll update tomorrow, just because it's the weekend and holidays always put me in a good mood, but I wouldn't count on it.

Happy Easter, everyone!!