A/N Sorry for the long delay in getting this chapter up. Things have been a bit busy lately...but lucky for me I have a little more time now!

The characters Kagome faces in the chapter were created by me. So, no stealing them!

Ch.3 Attack

Miroku and Sango awoke at the same time, Sango noticing that she was being held against a certain monk, and Miroku thanking the gods for letting him awaken in such a position. Sango stared up at the monk, her cheeks turning several shades of pink. "I...uh..."

Miroku couldn't help himself as he felt his hand drift down her back. Just a little farther...almost there. Just as his hand made contact with her backside a very blushing Sango could be seen.

SLAP

"PERVERT!" Sango was already standing up and glaring down at the almost unconscious monk. Her hands were in fists at her sides as she continued to glare at him. "And to think I was about to thank you for last night. You are such an idiot...no wonder you and Inuyasha get along so well."

Miroku looked as if he was hurt deeply by what Sango had said. He rubbed his cheek, which now had a nice red handprint, and spoke with intensity. "Surely you can not truly compare me to Inuyasha, Sango...for I am not as bad as he is." He knew just how stupid Inuyasha was, who else would not see the love coming from Kagome. She made it so obvious, as obvious as she could without shouting it out to his face. But no, Inuyasha still had no clue. Sure, he knew the girl cared for him, but he didn't think love possible from her. "Inuyasha is just a plain fool for not realizing what Kagome's offers him. I do hope one day that she realizes she deserves better than the likes of Inuyasha."

She walked off to get her hiraikotsu and placed it on her back as she usually did, holding the handle with one hand to help ease the pressure. She looked over at Shippo who was now rubbing his eyes with his hands like a little kid, and he slowly stood up and stretched. "I agree with you Miroku. Inuyasha doesn't deserve her...I only hope that she can find it in her to love someone else after she is heartbroken by Inuyasha again." Sango was still glaring at the monk. His grabbing her and then speaking of Inuyasha and how he hurt Kagome did not do well for her anger level.

"Is it time to go back to the village?" His voice was full of hope. He wanted to know if Kagome was back yet and if she had lots of candy for him to eat. Especially those lolli-pops...mmm...those are so good. He also had another reason for wanting to leave so soon. He had an important question for Kagome, and he had a strange feeling if he didn't ask soon, he would not be able to, at least for a long time.

"As soon as Kilala and Miroku are ready." Sango heard Shippo gasp and wondered why he would do so. That was when she realized she was still glaring at everything around her, including the poor little kit. "Sorry Shippo, Miroku was just being his usual self this morning and then we started speaking of Inuyasha."

Shippo nodded in understanding, for he knew well what Sango had meant. Some people just never learn...and Inuyasha is an idiot. He only hurts Kagome, that's all he ever does. With a small sigh, he remembered that they were ready to leave. He looked over at Kilala who was still sleeping and went to wake her up. He started shaking her lightly, but nothing seemed to happen. Her tails twitched a little, but that was all.

"Come on Kilala, wake up! It's time to go back!" Shippo shook her a little more and Kilala's eyes opened a little and she let out a small, pained, mew.

Sango kneeled down beside Kilala and looked at her with concern filled eyes. "Are you alright?"

Kilala tried to stand up, but her legs were shaky and she simply fell on her side to the ground. She gave another pained mew. This should buy some time. Midoriko, I hope this helps. I hope I am doing the right thing here. I could never forgive myself if something were to go wrong just because I made the wrong decision.

"Be strong Kilala, you must do this and I thank you."

Midoriko's voice echoed within Kilala's head. She looked up at the group and mewed again, this time sending chills down their backs.

"She looks sick...is she alright Sango?" Shippo was almost in tears. Kilala was one of the few demon friends that he had, the only full demon friend really. Inuyasha was sort of a friend, but he was too mean to him most of the time to really get that close. Of course, Shippo treated him as a friend, sometimes like a brother when they got into fights and such.

Miroku looked over at Kilala as well. He couldn't sense that anything was wrong with her, but he could be wrong. The cat demon had no reason to pretend she was sick, and she really didn't look or sound well to him. "Perhaps we should let her rest for a few more hours."

"Yes. I'll gather some food for us to eat. I'll be back in a while." Sango took off into the woods with her sword drawn. Hopefully she would find a rabbit somewhere. If not, she could always try fishing by spearing them with her sword. She had gotten good at that over the years of being an exterminator and traveling from village to village helping those that needed her skills.

She had always wanted to be the best for her father. Since she was the oldest, she would one day take over when her father died, since he was the leader of the exterminators. So, she trained and trained, becoming more skilled with each fight. She wanted so much to make her father proud, and she did. She became the best, if only, woman exterminator in the village, and she was happy.

She had even helped her little brother train, and watched him become skilled with his weapon. Though, she could tell that he didn't know if he wanted to become an exterminator. He didn't seem to want to carry on into that life. She supposed it was because he wasn't used to fighting demons and the like, but she sensed that it wasn't what he really wanted to do. But, he too wanted their father to be proud, so he'd come along on his first mission as a demon exterminator, which was what started her entire journey with Inuyasha and the others, it was the day that she lost everything. Luckily, she hadn't been alone for long.

Meanwhile...

Kagome sighed. She had been waiting for a few hours now and still the demon wasn't close enough to her. She looked off into the direction she sensed the shards, but something was wrong. There was only one demon, but there seemed to be something close to it, like a rift or something. Kagome didn't know what this feeling was at the moment, and she was momentarily distracted. "Hmm.."

Something was moving within the bushes, making them shake noisily. Kagome readied her bow and notched an arrow, waiting for whatever it was to show itself. "Aww.." Kagome lowered her bow and arrow when a small, white, fluffy rabbit jumped into the clearing with her. She looked at the ears, one stood up while the other stood almost straight, but the top half flopped down. "So cute...I wonder how it could survive in this era." She hadn't seen much wildlife in this era except for birds and the occasional deer. Luckily she didn't see many terrifying worms and the like.

The rabbit looked at her, its brown eyes glancing at her and its pink nose twitching cutely. Using its long back legs it jumped into the bushes from which it had come. "Hey...where are you going off to?" Kagome asked the now leaving rabbit. For some reason the expression "Curiosity killed the cat" ran through her head which she shook away as soon as it came.

Wondering where it was heading, she decided that there would be no harm in following the creature. She stood up and slung her bow on her back for easy carrying, and placed her quiver of arrows on her back as well. I wonder if it has a family somewhere... Kagome took her first steps into the brushes, pushing them away from her so she could get through.

One branch escaped her grasp and hit her square on the face. "Ow..." she managed to say while spitting out a few pieces of twigs that got caught in her mouth. Well, that tasted nice. Kagome continued on her way. When she passed out of the brush, she saw the rabbit again. A flash of white at the edge of the tree line. She also felt that a demon was close by, and it was the one with the shards. How could I have dropped my senses! Stupid Kagome!

She stretched out her senses again to see exactly where this demon was. OH GREAT! A crash rang through the forest, destroying the trees which were between Kagome and the clearing. She fell to the ground from the shaking of the blast and quickly got to her feat. Ok, there are now...five demons...three ahead of me and two... She turned her head to the side and caught the form of two demons beside her.

One of the demons was a rabbit demon, a very pretty pink female. Her eyes were a dark pink color, and her hair a light pink. She had two floppy ears cascading down with her hair, which was hip length. Her skin was also pink. The only clothing that she wore was a snug tube-top like piece that clung to her every curve. She also wore pink pants that were made of a leather material that also clung to her. I didn't know they had this kind of clothing in this time... On her left forearm there was a gold ring which curled around and she had a fluffy pink tail on her lower back. She had a small nose and three little whiskers on each cheek. Her hands were gloved with dark pink gloves that covered from her fingertips to her elbows. She's a rather beautiful demon...

Kagome turned her gaze to the other demon, a female cat demon, but a kind she had never seen before on her adventures. This demon had light blue hair that seemed to frame her face; it was short and ended at her shoulders. Atop her head was a pair of blue cat ears, much like Inuyasha's, just a little pointier. She wore a blue top, which looked more like a strapless bikini top, which only covered what was necessary. She wore dark blue pants that looked much like Inuyasha's except they weren't as baggy is his, and two bracelets clanged together on the right ankle. She wore dark blue sandals that matched her outfit perfectly. Her arms seemed to end in light blue paws for hands with nice retractable claws. Much to her relief, her claws weren't out and ready for a fight, but that also brought up the question of why they weren't. Wow, she's pretty too...

"You must be the priestess we were sent after!" The rabbit demon said seductively.

"Sent after? By who?" Kagome was a little fearful of these demons. Her powers may have increased, but not enough to fight five demons at once and live to tell about it. Oh, why did I have to come out here on my own?

"Of course," the cat demon purred. Her voice reminding Kagome of Yura, but her voice was smoother. If the demon hadn't been after her, Kagome could have probably loved listening to her talk. "Naraku has sent us after you." Kagome wasn't overly surprised about that fact. She was a collector of the jewel shards and she could sense them, it made perfect sense that Naraku would come after her when she stupidly decided to go out alone.

"He pays quite well to those that do his dirty work." The rabbit demon pitched in. Her voice was soothing; one that Kagome was sure was mostly used to attract men into her trap. Kagome instantly thought of the sirens she had read about in many mythology books.

"You are not part of Naraku?" That was rather odd. Usually Naraku sent his attachments to do his dirty work since he had so many of them. Why did he need to hire them? What is he up to?

"Oh my no. Such a horrid thought, to have come from someone in that manner," the cat demon purred. "No, he sought us out. For he has something special planned for you, Kagome."

"You see," the rabbit demon continued, "Naraku wants you dead, but he knows he can't kill you while you remain human since you are a priestess. So," both demons started walking towards Kagome who was stepping backward to keep them away.

She had walked out into the clearing past the tree line and bumped into something behind her. She turned around slowly and looked at yet another demon. This was a lizard demon, his skin a dark green and scaly. His hands were clawed as were his feet. His neck was somewhat long and his head reminded Kagome of a dragon mixed with a snake in a way. The only thing he seemed to wear was a loin cloth thing around his waist and a beaded necklace around his neck. So, he's the one with the jewel shards...now, where are they?

She looked the demon over and found that they were in his stomach. He probably ate them when eating other demons... She shivered out of fear. The two other demons she saw were behind him. They both looked exactly the same, except the eyes. They were two hawk demons dressed in priestess clothing. They must fool people into thinking they are priestesses and then kill when inside the villages to make things easier... Their eyes were slightly slanted, their noses a little pointy. Their arms were slender and ended with talons. Each had wings on their back; one had purple wings, the other green. Each one had flowing hair the same color as their wings that went down to their calves. Kagome looked them over and knew that she wouldn't win this fight very easily.

"So, priestess," a slithery voice said from in front of her, "we shall introduce ourselves. The cat demon is Rieko, the rabbit demon is Lidra, the two hawk demons are Talona and Shiru, and I am Ryukan, the leader of this gang. Pleasure to meet ya." Each of them made a small bow as their names were said. They sure are formal for people who've come here to attack me.

"What do you want with me?" Kagome looked around at them and noted that they were gathering around her. The rabbit demon and the cat demon each grabbed one of her arms, holding her in place as she struggled against them. She knew she was going to have bruises from this later. The one known as Shiru, the one with the purple hair, grabbed her bow and arrows from her and broke them with her strong talons. Not my bow!

"Lady Priestess, we have come to help Naraku. He's paying us quite nicely to perform our magic for you." The demon group giggled at Kagome and their leader's words. She tried to struggle a little more, but the cat demon forced something into her mouth when she tried to speak. Whatever it was, it dissolved into her mouth and somehow went down her throat before she could even try to spit it out. Instantly, she felt her limbs go numb.

Kagome glared daggers at Ryukan, and he in turned only smiled back at her. "Now, it is time for us to perform our magic, and you priestess, get to witness it first hand." The beads around his neck began to glow and the demons around her backed away from her. They knew better then to be touching her when the spell was completed. He began chanting weird words over and over again in some sort of a chant. The glow from the beads seemed to intensify and blind her.

Her body began to glow as she struggled to keep the spell away from her. The pink light surrounding her began to tinge the skin of the demons around her, but she could only fight this for so long, for the poison they gave her was wearing her energy out. I'm not strong enough yet...where's Inuyasha when you need him? She felt a tingling sensation spread throughout her entire body as her priestess powers began to weaken. Oh no! My powers! They're gone!

She heard a chuckle from behind her and heard whispered words, the spell. Kagome looked around her but all she saw was a light purple light engulfing her, blocking everything from her vision. It's strange...I don't feel hurt. This spell wasn't meant to kill me. No, Naraku would want to kill me himself. They said that I couldn't remain human or my priestess powers would get in the way, and Naraku fears my powers, with good reason. Kagome gasped when she realized what they were intending to do. Oh no...

------

Inuyasha was still stuck in his dream world, a pitch black place. It wouldn't have bothered him so much if he had been asleep. But no, he had to be conscience, just unable to wake up. Man, I hate this. He was getting restless and wanted to kill something to take out his frustration from the lack of being able to move his body and open his eyes. He couldn't even dream up a demon for him to kill in the process; all he had was the darkness.

Kagome is in danger...I can sense it...and I can't get to her. Damn it! Kagome... Silent tears ran down his cheek as he continued to sleep, unable to help Kagome when she needed him the most. I should have told her how I felt while I had the chance, now I won't see her for a long time. So much can happen; she could change her feelings for me. I don't know what I would do if she did...

He had already made the choice that he would stay with Kagome and break his promise to Kikyo. It wasn't as if he had much of a choice to make really. Kikyo was cold and lifeless, where Kagome was alive and was full of life and energy. Plus, he loved the fact that she was so different from everyone else and she wanted to be different. Kikyo had only wanted to blend in and wanted him to blend in as well, as if she was ashamed of him for being so different.

Kagome loves me as a half demon, and doesn't mind all the looks I get. She's even greeted with strange looks from the villagers and still she doesn't mind. He remembered the first time Kagome traveled through a village and the people thought she was a demon. She didn't mind at all really, she knew what she was and didn't mind what others thought of her as long as they didn't think she was evil or something like that. Kagome, when I see you again, I'm going to tell you how I feel. I swear it. I won't stand to lose you. Inuyasha sat there in his dream world and kept his senses alert to what might be happening to his Kagome.

It was then that Inuyasha felt the change within him. The spell...it's lifting. I can go to Kagome! Inuyasha slowly opened his eyes, the spell still made him a little bit drowsy as did all that extra stillness. He stood up shakily and sniffed the air. She went towards the west... With that, Inuyasha took off into the forest as fast as he could using his powerful legs to jump from tree limb to tree limb a little clumsily at first. I'm coming Kagome!

------

Kagome fell to the ground, the purple light which was blinding a few seconds ago, had disappeared. She looked up at Ryukan from her sprawled position on the ground. Oh great...look what you've gotten yourself into this time Kagome. JUST GREAT! She glared daggers at the demons as she slowly stood up.

"Now that the spell is cast priestess," he held up the rabbit that she had followed earlier. She knew if she were to touch it that she herself would transform into a little rabbit, for that was the spell. Whatever she touched or touched her, that was a living animal or something, she would turn into. She had read about the spell, and it took a wise and powerful person, or in this case, demon, to perform it. Just don't let them touch me...or that rabbit. I can only imagine how long I'd last as a rabbit. Maybe if I can make it back to the village and touch a human, I'll stay exactly as I am! Yes, but to get away from these creeps...

He walked over to her, but was blinded by a pink light that slowly ate away his arm, which was holding the rabbit. Kagome was angry and upset, and she was afraid for her life. "I WILL NOT LET YOU DO THIS TO ME!" She closed her eyes and clenched her fists to her sides. A burst of purified energy shot from her body, snapped electrically in the air, and injured the demons around her. They weren't dead, just injured, and it gave her the opportunity to do exactly what her mind screamed at her...run.

She ran as fast as her legs would carry her through the field that she was in. She ran until she was back in the forest and could no longer sense the demons around her. The trees caught at her clothes and tore them in places but she didn't pay any attention. She couldn't believe that they had wanted to make her a rabbit. Kagome could just picture herself all black and fuzzy with a cute little tail. After a bit of running, she realized she had traveled quite far with the help of her priestess powers, what powers she had left. I have to make it...I can't let them do that to me...I won't...let them...

Her legs were starting to go numb from all the stress she was putting on them. She couldn't even hear herself breathing for her blood was pumping so fast within her veins. The only thoughts she had were of escaping and praying that she made it to a village very soon before anything else touched her. She felt her muscles start to give out and she was about to fall face first in the dirt, but something wrapped around her neck and began to squeeze.