Yays, a new chapter.

Save Me From Myself

Chapter Thirteen: What Makes Humans Weak

We found out that the jewel places a curse on any human that touches it. That explains why Shippo could touch it, and why InuYasha had a harder time touching it. It doesn't make sense, though. Why would Naraku put this curse on me? Just to torture my emotions? Why doesn't he just kill us? He could have easily killed me when he put the jewel in my back, instead of just harmed me, but he didn't. Is he going soft, or is he planning something much bigger than what we've ever dreamed of?

Up until the day that we went off to find Naraku, my sense of doom had been mounting. Sure, I was doomed already with the curse of the Bachiatari Jewel, but what was going to happen afterwards? What then?

- - -

The group of travelers set off in the morning, getting an early start to finding Naraku. No one complained when they left; all of them just wanted to defeat Naraku so Kagome wouldn't have to suffer any more.

Kagome's shoes kicked up dirt and dust as she walked the slowly narrowing trail. It was obvious that the trail wasn't used lately, or it was just used sparingly. Birds twittered over head, flying around and fleeing when they saw the group of youkai and humans.

If Kagome didn't know better, she would have thought that things were back to normal. But the few changes that seemed like nothing to some people were huge to her. The only people who didn't seem to walk an extra foot away from her were InuYasha and sometimes Shippo. Kirara would jump on her shoulder sometimes and offer her comfort, but usually stayed with Sango, but that didn't change anything much. Kagome often caught Miroku staring at the spot in her back where the jewel rested, and that gleam in his eyes was either pity, or desire to try and get rid of it.

The miko sighed.

This wasn't getting any easier for her, that was for sure. She turned her head towards InuYasha, who felt her gaze and did the same as she. The hanyou's eyebrows furrowed as he scowled, saying, "Whaddya want?"

Kagome just smiled and said, "I just wanted to thank you."

"Thank me? Why do you wanna do that?"

"For being there for me... For never giving up on me, and for not changing the way you act towards me," Kagome said, her smile sweet and her eyes sparkling with emotion.

"Keh... It's what you did for me, I gotta return the favor," the hanyou replied.

"Well, you don't know how much it means to me."

InuYasha silently sighed. Believe me, I know exactly how much it means.

- - -

As they continued to travel, the sun gradually rose to eliminate the traveler's shadows, and to make blankets of shade underneath the trees.

As Kagome tried to find a snack in the many pockets of her backpack, InuYasha stopped, his nose high into the air.

Kagome hardly noticed, but when she was going to ask him if he wanted anything, she stopped and noticed his pose. "What is it, InuYasha? What do you smell?" Kagome asked.

Miroku and Sango stopped as well, and Shippo sniffed the air to try and catch whatever InuYasha was smelling.

"Naraku," said the hanyou simply. "Though, it's just a puppet."

"Naraku usually sends puppets if he wants to tease us with information," Miroku explained.

Sango nodded and said, "I suppose we should destroy it before it does anything."

So they traveled towards the puppet, a little faster paced than before.

They came across a clearing that the fake Naraku sat in, smirking at them evilly.

"Okay, what do you want?" InuYasha ordered, yanking out his sword.

The fake Naraku smirked. "Have you noticed a similarity in circumstances when Kagome changed?" Naraku asked, his smile widening when he saw the looks on everyone's faces. Kagome's eyes widened, and InuYasha glared. The hanyou wasn't going to chop the puppet up to pieces just yet, though.

"What do you mean?" Miroku asked.

"Every time Kagome transforms, there is one reoccurring factor," he explained, his tentacles crawling on the ground towards them. "The thing that makes humans so weak. Emotions. Strong, negative emotions is what triggers the transformations. And those emotions will just keep getting worse as time goes on!"

InuYasha held onto his sword tighter. "You... bastard!"

Kagome was watching Naraku with wide eyes.

"There is also one more thing that can cause your miko to transform," Naraku said, grinning now.

Kagome gasped; she started to feel strange.

"Me."

Once Naraku had said that single word, Kagome screamed out in pain, her head pounding and wings tearing out of her back once more. Her clothes quickly became tattered by the claws that had grown and grasped at every place that hurt while she was transforming.

Kagome stopped screaming once she finished transforming; the youkai in the jewel had completely taken over her body. She started to laugh quietly and stood, making the others step back from her.

No one moved. Miroku and Sango got their weapons ready, in case they had to fight back, and Shippo hid behind Kirara. InuYasha just stood on the other side of Kagome, shocked at what she had become once more.

Kagome glanced at Naraku's puppet and smirked before taking off through the forest.

InuYasha's eyes widened. "She's heading for a village!" he shouted, the scents of the villagers reaching his nose. He put away his sword and ran after Kagome, not even looking back to the puppet that took Naraku's form.

Sango used her Hiraikotsu to cut off the golem's head, and it broke into many little pieces.

Before vanishing into dust, Naraku said to them, "If you try to pull the Bachiatari Jewel out, her memories of all the times she transformed will resurface, and just think how broken she'll be when she remembers that!"

Naraku vanished and Miroku called to Sango as he hopped on Kirara. Sango joined him, and they set off to stop their friend, and hopefully they'd be in time.

Chapter End