-1Chapter 2

"What do I want? I want the shards, InuYasha. The shards and your lives. Starting with yours." Just as Naraku said this, poisonous insects and demons of every kind came bursting out of the forest.

Sango spun around and let hiraikotsu fly. The boomerang decapitated a few before faithfully returning to her. She whipped out her katana and slashed at a few before letting her boomerang loose again. Miroku knocked a few around with his staff, just to make sure they wouldn't reach Kagome who was letting arrows fly into the mass, sometimes killing two or three at once.

InuYasha and Naraku exchanged blows. They went back and forth, getting hits in now and then. Naraku was getting bored, and let his tentacles erupt from his back. InuYasha glared at him. Tentacles? Where in hell had he gotten tentacles? Naraku sent one whizzing past InuYasha who cut it off. It grew back, as did the next three he sent at the hanyou.

They fell into a pattern, and again Naraku got bored. His boredom vanished when InuYasha swung tetsusaiga at his head and almost hit him. Naraku gave an evil smile and sent a tentacle flying through the air towards the three fighting the huge group of demons (which had thinned greatly since they had started).

InuYasha didn't notice until the last second before it slashed through Kagome's arm. She yelped, and Miroku caught her before she hit the ground. She ran her hand across the gash and winced.

"Lady Kagome, are you alright?"

"I'm fine." It wasn't really that big or deep, but it stung. She bit her lip and picked up her bow again and continued to shoot at the demons, but with less accuracy.

Naraku smirked at the expression on InuYasha's face. "Hit a soft spot, have I?" The hanyou gave him a deep glare and started to slash at every bit of him he could reach. Partially because he had hurt Kagome at all, but more from the fact that if Kagome hadn't moved at the last second, Naraku would have ran her through.

InuYasha became more and more infuriated at Naraku as the battle continued, because with every glance toward his companions brought another wound to one of them.

Sango let hiraikotsu go again, and stepped in front of Miroku who had insisted he wrap up Kagome's arm. The demons kept coming, and it was getting harder for the three to kill so many of them.

"Sango!" Miroku shouted "Get rid of the bugs." She nodded and flung her boomerang at the poisonous insects knowing what Miroku intended to do. Kagome let some arrows fly, and purified the remaining bugs. Miroku yanked off his rosary beads, and sucked up the rest of the demons. He swayed a moment, and sat down. Kagome started to bandage some of her friends' wounds, and watch InuYasha carefully.

Naraku was fully aware that the threesome had beat his demons. He was starting to get frantic now. He hadn't expected them to be this strong, but then again he had counted on ripping the rest of the shards from Kagome and running to kill that pathetic wolf Koga to complete the jewel. But InuYasha kept him from going anywhere near Kagome at great physical cost. He kept fighting because only one thought was in his mind: If I don't fight, he'll kill Kagome. And he had promised to protect her. So he fought as best he could, but it was getting more difficult to keep Naraku away, and he was slowly beginning to realize this.

Naraku sent three miasma-filled tentacles toward where Kagome was fixing up her friends.

"Almost done." The miko smiled. She finished bandaging Sango up, and moved on to Miroku. So far, they were winning. But something didn't seem right about it all. She'd expected it to be harder than this. She glanced toward Naraku and InuYasha, only to find tentacles coming toward her.

Kagome screamed and shut her eyes, fearing the worst. But the strike never happened. She only felt a writhing severed tentacle against her leg before it turned to dust. She looked up and saw InuYasha on his knees, coughing. He gasped for breath, but the miasma was thick and wouldn't let up.

No way…This isn't happening. She stared at him intently and noticed something- InuYasha wasn't breathing. She gasped and stood up, tears flooding her eyes. She was about to run to him when she felt an arm holding her back.

"Miroku! Let me go! Let go! INUYASHA!" She screamed and struggled with the houshi who was desperately trying to keep her away from the fallen hanyou. She fought with him until finally she broke free.

Kagome ran over to him and knelt next to him. She was right. He wasn't breathing. The miasma was too thick. She was beginning to cough too. She shook InuYasha, trying to get him to wake up.

"InuYasha! Wake up! Goddamnit, InuYasha wake up!" She shook him violently and heard a small laugh come from the man in front of her. She suddenly realized InuYasha was never going to get up. She stood, her eyes still on the hanyou.

Kagome looked up at Naraku, with the most hateful look she had ever had on her face. "You killed him. You killed InuYasha……" she whispered. That one thought echoed through her mind a few times before being replaced by a new thought.

"I'LL KILL YOU!" She shrieked. Naraku laughed, but stopped when he saw the miko rocketing towards him. He would have killed her easily, but he couldn't. He was too stunned. He hadn't expected her to do what she did next.

Kagome threw herself on top of Naraku, tearing at every bit of him she could reach. Hate burned in her eyes. Miroku and Sango were just as stunned as Naraku. They had never seen Kagome like this. She was scary.

She beat every bit of him she could reach. Naraku finally came to his senses and pushed her off, backing up against the well. He was truly terrified of the miko. He had never imagined that she would act like this. She stood again and tackled him, and they fell into the well together. One of his miasma filled tentacles was ripped off trying to catch the side of the well. The miasma filled the well, and Kagome coughed on the way down, still trying to tear Naraku apart. They hit the bottom and vanished with an unusual soft green glow.

- -

Unknown to Kagome or Naraku, the second Kagome stood up, she had purified the air around InuYasha. He coughed and gasped, air filling his lungs. He sat up slowly and looked, just in time, to see Kagome tackle Naraku into the well. He stood in shock for a moment before rushing to the side of the well and looking in. He saw them hit the bottom and disappear in a green glow. He instantly knew something was wrong. He leaned farther in and coughed, and pulled his head out of the well. Miasma.

"KAGOME!" He found his voice and howled. "Kagome…"

Sango hurried over, knowing something was wrong with the hanyou. She poked her head down the well and didn't see Kagome or Naraku. They had disappeared. She threw her mask at the hanyou.

"Go get her! Jump in the well and help her!" The hanyou strapped on her mask and jumped down the well. Nothing. He climbed out and saw Sango staring at him in horror.

"Lady Kagome…she's not…?" Miroku began. InuYasha shook his head.

"Kagome! InuYasha why isn't the well working? You have to go help her! Naraku'll kill her!" Sango pounded on the hanyou's chest.

"She's…she's not down there. They disappeared…but…it was green and now the well…." For the first time in his life, Miroku saw the hanyou devastated. He put an arm around Sango, who was still crying. She stared at the hanyou, tears flowing down her face. She'd never seen him lose the will to be active either.

InuYasha sat on the ground leaning up against the well. He stared at nothing. Kagome wasn't in the well…and it wasn't working. They were probably both….He couldn't complete the thought. He didn't want to.

He opened his mouth but was silent, as if looking for the words. They finally came to him and he turned to Miroku. "What…what happened after I blacked out?" Miroku had been watching.

The monk sighed. It all happened so fast. "You choked on the miasma and it blocked your lungs. You stopped breathing. Kagome…I tried to hold her back, but she broke away from me and ran over to you. She shook you, but you wouldn't wake up. She…" His eyes closed, remembering the look on Kagome's face. "InuYasha, I've never seen her act that way. She was furious. And she attacked him."

InuYasha was staring at the monk, taking it all in. "Did she use her arrows? Or anything?"

Miroku shook his head slightly. "No…she just…ran at him and she…Kagome tackled him to the ground. Without anything. InuYasha…she thought you were dead. She was…scary." Sango nodded in agreement. "Anyway, he backed against the well after throwing her off and she tackled him again….then……." He gestured with his hand toward the well.

InuYasha stared at him. It was his fault. If he'd only…If he'd only….He couldn't think of what he could have done to stop her. Realization finally hit him. The well wasn't working. They were gone. Wherever they were, Naraku was stronger than her. Kagome was gone, and she was probably never coming back.

"InuYasha?" Sango sobbed. She brought her knees to her chest. "Do you…Do you think she'll be okay?"

InuYasha continued to stare at where Miroku had stood. The monk had knelt down to comfort Sango, but the hanyou never moved his gaze. InuYasha didn't answer her. He wanted with all his heart to say yes, that she'd be fine, but he knew he couldn't. He refused to accept the fact that Kagome had disappeared with Naraku, of all people, and was probably…….dead.