Inuyasha is not mine.

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Chapter 13: Wind Tunnel

Kagome kept her eyes on the black shadows that were all she could see of the trees around them the entire time they walked back to the hut, as if expecting someone would jump out at them at any given second. Inuyasha was a bit more relaxed, though he was still scanning the forest as well.

There's so many of them, he thought, deciding that it was best not to tell Kagome just how many there really were. Why the hell would they all be around here? Kagome had the Sacred Jewel back in her time, so they couldn't have been attracted to it...

He was forced out of his thoughts as Kagome tightened her grip on his hand and leaned further against him as they continued to walk. Inuyasha turned to look at her, his eyebrows raised slightly in surprise. She was still looking at the trees though, her eyes wide with anticipation and fear.

Inuyasha squeezed her hand slightly before picking up the pace a little. They were nearing the village, and the scent of demon was even stronger now. Damn it, he thought. If only Kagome had waited for me here...this wouldn't have happened...

The two walked briskly through the black forest until they reached its end, near Kaede's hut. Sighing with relief, Kagome pulled the hanyou up to the hut. As soon as they walked in, the miko's relief blew out of her.

Kaede was still in the same state she had been in when Kagome had left, except now there was a different figure laying next to her. "Mi-Miroku?" Kagome asked, looking questioningly over at the other people in the hut.

The young kitsune jumped up and ran over to Kagome, hopping on her shoulder as Inuyasha released her hand. "Kagome! Inuyasha!" Shippo shouted as he hugged the girl's upper arm. "You've come back!" Kagome could sense sorrow through his apparent delight at their return, and she turned to Sango.

The demon slayer was sitting next to Miroku's unconscious form with Koga, Ginta, and Hakkaku leaning back against the wall opposite her. "Sango..." Kagome said, causing her to look up. She had tears in her eyes, and the miko could see stains from the tears that must have previously been falling down her pretty cheeks. "What...what happened?"

What's going on? thought Kagome as she stared at everyone's blank, sad faces. Naraku's dead...we're supposed be happy.

Sango opened her mouth to speak but found that she couldn't as more tears threatened to pour out of her eyes, so she buried her face in her hands and turned back to Miroku. Koga saw her dilemma and spoke up instead. "The monk's wind thing didn't disappear like it was supposed to," he said, causing Kagome and Inuyasha to gasp. "Well, it did disappear, but then all these demons appeared. They kept attacking, but then the demon slayer threw this powder stuff on them and they ran away. And, well, the monk..."

"Miroku's been unconscious ever since," Sango whispered, cutting the wolf off. She looked back up at Kagome, a few tears escaping to trickle down her cheeks. "All of the...the demons that Miroku had sucked up into his Wind Tunnel just suddenly came back out of them. The Wind Tunnel's gone, but...he won't wake up..."

Inuyasha's eyes widened slightly. That's why the scents were so familiar...we've fought all of them before...

The hanyou frowned in concentration as he tried to remember all of the demons that Miroku had sucked up into his Wind Tunnel..."Damn it," he muttered. "Miroku used his Wind Tunnel a lot..."

Sango sighed. "And apparently he used it a lot before any of us met him," she reported sadly. "There were a lot more demons than I can ever remember seeing at one time, and...I didn't recognize most of them." She turned back to gaze helplessly at Miroku.

Inuyasha snapped his teeth together to keep from cursing again and, instead, looked over at Kagome. She had been surprisingly silent during his conversation, and she had her eyes fixed on Miroku. The fingers of her hands were curled tightly into fists, and she looked extremely angry.

"Kagome..."

"Damn Naraku," she muttered through gritted teeth, her eyes glazed over with her rage. When did she start cussing? Inuyasha wondered idly as he raised his eyebrows at the girl. "He's already messed with us enough! He's finally dead, and we still have to worry about all those demons!"

Inuyasha had never seen Kagome this angry. She was nearly trembling with the rage that boiled inside of her, and he knew that if Naraku were alive now she would personally hunt him down and let him die a very painful death.

The hanyou grabbed one of her fisted hands and she looked over at him, almost glaring. He curved his lips up in a small smile and looked into her enraged eyes until she relaxed and sighed. "What do we do about it?" she asked him before turning to face Koga and his companions.

Koga shrugged, while Ginta and Hakkaku just shook their heads.

Sango spoke, and everyone turned to look at her. "Isn't it obvious?" she asked, looking up at Inuyasha and Kagome with an angry expression similar to the miko's previous one. "We need to destroy those demons!"

Kagome looked over at Koga, Ginta, and Hakkaku and saw them all nod in agreement at the demon slayer. Next the miko turned to Inuyasha, who wasn't looking at Sango--he was gazing back at Kagome with questioning eyes.

The miko softened her expression and nodded slowly before turning back to look at Sango. "Okay," Kagome said.

A few minutes later the gang was ready to depart. Shippo was to stay with Kaede and Miroku just in case they woke up (and because Kagome didn't want him to get hurt fighting the demons), but the rest of them were standing outside the hut, waiting for Inuyasha and Koga to lead the way.

Before she had come out of the hut, Sango had kissed Miroku on the cheek, whispering, "I love you," in his sleeping ear. And then, after Kagome had grabbed her bow and a quiver of Kaede's arrows, they had all headed outside.

But before they left, Inuyasha remembered something. "Kagome," he said, turning to the miko. "Do you still have the jewel?"

Kagome nodded, opening her palm to show him, and then frowning. "Where should I put it?" she asked, realizing for the first time that it probably wasn't the best idea to hold it the entire time she was fighting.

Inuyasha shook his head and shrugged. "You should keep it with you," he said, causing Kagome to sigh.

They all stood there in silence for a moment before Kagome gasped. "Wait a moment," she said. The miko disappeared into Kaede's hut for a minute before returning with a small pouch in her hand. She held up the pouch, showing it to her friends. "Gramps gave this to me for my birthday last year and I completely forgot about it!" The small drawstring pouch had string attached to it.

Kagome placed the small purple jewel inside the pouch and pulled the string tight before placing it around her neck. "Okay," she said, patting the necklace lightly before stepping over and climbing onto Inuyasha's back, hugging him tightly.

Sango jumped onto a transformed Kilala's back as Inuyasha and the wolf demons began to run in the direction that Inuyasha had indicated the demons were now gathered. He was fairly surprised they weren't all killing each other, but then again most of them were probably just set on destroying the monk for sucking him up in the Wind Tunnel.

Not really knowing exactly what to expect, the group sped off towards the demons with hopes that Miroku and Kaede would wake up, and that they could all get rid of the demons quickly and without any more injuries.

But the latter hope vanished quickly as they ran up to the top of a hill, looking down at a small valley below them.

"Oh, my," breathed Kagome.

Each one of their eyes widened as they all took in the sight in front of them. Hundreds of demons of all shapes and sizes were spread out around the valley that was dotted with trees, and every last one of the demons had noticed their presence.

Eyes of every color stared up at the group of seven demons and humands that stood ready to battle.

Inuyasha swallowed hard and turned to Koga. The wolf had been gaping at the demons below, but he shook that expression off of his face. The gape was replaced with a smirk as he turned to face Inuyasha. "This should be fun, right, mutt?" he asked.

The hanyou scowled at the wolf. "Feh, whatever," he replied, turning away from the wolf to look at Kagome, who had hopped down off of his back. She was gazing at him with a worried expression on her face, but it went away as soon as he looked at her. He grabbed her hand and gave it a small squeeze before releasing it again. "We'll finish them off quickly, Kagome," he said softly. "And then we can figure out what to do with the Sacred Jewel."

Kagome smiled and turned back to face the demons, a confident expression now written across her face. She lightly touched the pouch that still held the problematic jewel, and then started walking down the hill towards the demons with all of her brave friends following closely behind.

We'll end this now, Kagome decided determinedly as she walked towards the battle.

Well, I guess that was kind of a cliffhanger there at the end...sorry, everyone.

I'll try to update soon--I'm on spring break now (most people had it last week, but my school is strange, so...whatever) and I'm not going anywhere, sadly, so I'll probably be writing a lot. Or maybe it'll be the opposite. I'm not really sure...