Alive

Disclaimer: You know the drill. It's Takahashi's.

One Year Ago

The sun is bright, the sky is blue, and the forest is a lush, endless sea of green. Lying down on the grass, next to a sleeping Shippou, Kagome couldn't keep from smiling. On days like this, surrounded by her friends with the sun warm on her face, she could forget about the modern world, school, even Naraku. She was just a normal teenager, relaxing and having fun.

"Oi, Kagome."

She smiled to herself. A normal teenager spending time with her boyfriend… She closed her eyes and let herself imagine it. Indulgence in certain fantasies was perfectly healthy. Everyone did it.

Yes, her boyfriend. Warm fingers and a swift grin, all for her. Butterscotch eyes and a low, rumbling voice in her ear, telling her-

"Oi, Kagome, I can't find the ramen."

She shut her eyes tighter, stretching the moment, the dream, not wanting to slip back into reality. Soft lips, trailing across her neck, licking behind her ear, soft, loving words, meant for her, enveloping her…

"Oi, bitch, wake up!"

Her eyes snapped open to reveal two gold eyes, staring intently at her face with the superficial annoyance he always used to cover his true feelings. Sighing, she sat up, rubbed her eyes, and leisurely stretched.

Gazing up into his eyes, she gently placed a hand on his arm. "Inuyasha," she murmured.

Ramen forgotten, she watched him blush slightly and stare down at his arm where her hand held him. She wondered vaguely if he wished it were another's hand there instead. When he finally looked back up at her, she held his eyes for a moment, before withdrawing her hand. Brushing the dirt off her skirt, she rose and looked down at him. When he gave her that heart-stopping, lost look of his, she broke out into the dazzling smile that served as her own shield against the world.

"C'mon, Inuyasha, I'll go find that ramen for you."

He stood up then, and when their eyes met again, he was again the perfect image of the irate hanyou looking for a snack. Mask in place just as firmly as her own.

"Bout time, bitch."

She turned to walk ahead of him in order to hide her small, adoring smile.

ooOoo

It was when he saw her bow, snapped in two and lying discarded on the ground that he began to worry. That he began to panic.

He raced through the forest, looking for any sign of her, any clue that might lead him to her. He saw evidence of a hasty flight through the underbrush, of scrapes and tumbles as she undoubtedly fled for her life. In the distance he heard a scream and increased his speed, driven by pure adrenaline.

He was half-crazed by the time he got to her, barely in time.

He leapt to get in front of her, to place his body between hers and that of the encroaching oni. It was a huge thing, monstrous. He could smell her fear, her terror. The sensation made him growl, low in his throat. How dare anything frighten his Kagome. He didn't even bother to examine that thought before he instinctively crouched down protectively in front of her, hands working familiarly to ready Tetsusaiga for the killing blow.

Behind him he could hear her panting, practically taste the cold sweat trickling down her face, her neck. He silently gauged the size, the strength, of his eminent opponent. But all he could think of was Kagome. She flooded his senses, blocked out everything but the desire to make that awful, erratic beating of her heart stop.

He saw red, and in one blood-drenched second the creature was dead.

Gradually, her heart returned to its normal pace, and when he turned around to look at her, to inspect her for any injuries, any scratches, any missing hairs, she offered him the most beautiful smile he thought he had ever seen. Ever.

"Inuyasha," she murmured. "Thank you."

Scoffing, he folded his arms over his chest and looked away to hide the sudden blush that had risen unbidden to warm his cheeks.

"Keh. You know I'll always protect you, bitch."

When he finally looked down at her he couldn't help softening. Reaching out a clawed finger under her chin, he tilted her face up to look her in the eyes. "Kagome…" he began, "I'll always protect you. Always."

ooOoo

Snuggling down beneath the fabric of her sleeping bag, with Shippou sleeping soundly, ear to her heart, Kagome sighed contentedly. Warm and safe, that was how she felt. Above her, a certain hanyou perched in a tree, keeping a silent vigil. Encircling her, Miroku and Sango slept, Sango just out of reach of Miroku's wandering hands.

Everyday she sensed her friends' urgency increase, as they steadily gained on their quarry. She glanced over at Miroku, studied his face, his right hand, the carefully cheerful smile always on his face. She moved her gaze over to Sango, saw the pain buried deep in her brown eyes by the flickering light of the fire. She didn't even bother sending her eyes into the dense foliage above her head to examine Inuyasha's face. She didn't need to.

Yes, she thought, this was important.

With a silent prayer to whatever higher entity could hear her, she settled in to sleep.

ooOoo

"Mama, I'm gonna be late!" she whined as her mother stubbornly continued to stuff medicines and treats for her friends into her battered yellow backpack.

"Mama, they're not gonna miss any of this stuff!"

"There!" her mother pronounced as she clapped her hands together, as if to add a touch of profoundness to her accomplishment. "Everything's together, Kagome-chan!"

Softening, she smiled warmly at her mother. "Thank you, Mama."

She was just turning to go when her mother caught her sleeve. "Kagome, don't you have a hug for your mother?"

With a quick, tight hug, she was on her way. She was already in the well-house when she heard her mother call out to her, almost inaudibly from this distance. "Kagome, when will you be back?"

"One week!" she shouted.

By the time the sound reached her mother, she was already gone, disappeared down a magic well.

ooOoo

"Well, I suppose it's a way to get to know people better," she told Miroku as they walked sedately down the forest path. Inuyasha was up ahead scouting, but so far there was no sign of Naraku, and so there was no urgency to move faster. Best to rest up, they had agreed. No use getting worn down.

"Really?" Miroku asked her with a glassy brightness to his eyes.

"Like at a party, when you're just getting to know people… It's like an ice breaker!"

Miroku frowned. "Ice breaker?"

"It's a figure of speech… like, a way to make people comfortable around each other…" Seeing the incomprehension on his face, Kagome gave up. "Never mind."

"But this game- Spin the Bottle- it's a kissing game?"

She eyed him warily. "Yeah…"

Rubbing his hand together, Miroku marched over to where Sango was standing and dragged her over. She exchanged a knowing look with the kitsune perched on her shoulder.

"And can we play it now?" His hand moving with the supernatural speed of a lecher, he quickly squeezed Sango's ass.

The slap rang in the air for at least a minute, echoing among the trees.

Hanging her head, Kagome moved on ahead.

A flash of red caught her eye. Inuyasha… He was back. His hair was a mess, his face sheening with a light layer of perspiration. There was a barely concealed rage, a bloodlust, lurking beneath his eyes, a predatory feeling of tightly wound muscles to him, a feeling of restlessness, one which she easily recognized. He had caught Naraku's scent.

ooOoo

It was bad.

Kohaku's body was like a crumpled tissue on the ground. Broken. Dead. Tears streamed down her face when she thought of him. Sango's beloved brother. Dead. The bruises left on Sango's body by Miroku's desperate desire to hold her back, unwilling to lose her to her sorrow. "Leave the fighting to Inuyasha," he had said. "You can't fight him when you're like this." You have to calm down first. "Bide your time." Just don't throw your life away in one meaningless gesture. Just stay with me.

Naraku was stronger now than he had ever been. There was no doubting that. He now held all but three pieces of the Shikon no Tama. With Kohaku's piece taken from him, there remained only Kouga's two and the one dangling between her breasts.

Something was tickling the back of her mind. Worry prickled there, with the realization that both Sango and Miroku were now essentially out of the battle. That left Inuyasha to fight, and she to help him in any way she could. But he was completely swallowed by a thick, roiling cloud of miasma. While she stood still, helpless, Naraku's searing miasma forced its way into his lungs, burned and melted any and all of his exposed skin. Soon it would reach her, and then her friends.

She was frightened. No. She was terrified. But she couldn't let it affect her. With tears blinding her, with her shirt filthy with blood and dirt, she felt helpless. But she couldn't let that get in her way. Righteous fury filled her. Compassion for her friends, for what they had lost, for everything this… demon had taken from them, from Kikyo, from others she had never even met.

Picking up her bow, she notched an arrow and pulled it taught. Aiming it at the monster's chest, she released it with a silent prayer.

Hit!

The arrow burst through the air, scattering miasma with its pure light and heading towards Naraku. Kagome knew that the arrow couldn't break his protective barrier. Only Inuyasha's Red Tetsusaiga could do that… Yet she hoped… She thought she was imagining it, had to be. Yet… the arrow's aura of purification seemed to be… growing. Instead of bouncing uselessly off the barrier as she had expected, it instead slipped through the force-field, and found its way to Naraku. A maggot-white hand caught it and dissolved the arrow in a clenched fist before it could finish its work. Red eyes locked onto her face and focused in on her.

He held her trapped with the sheer force of his evil gaze. He seemed to have forgotten about Inuyasha altogether. Uselessly, the hanyou threw himself against the barrier, seeking a way in to fight his enemy. But to no avail. Naraku was just too strong.

Lifting a decayed and withered white hand to his face, Naraku snorted. Even when the arm suddenly crumbled beneath his eyes, he did not lose his cool. Instead, he threw back his head and laughed. That was perhaps the worst of it. Ugly, bulbous tumors grew out of his arm as he self-regenerated. In that moment, Kagome knew there was nothing she could do. Nothing at all.

With a thin, ghostly smirk, Naraku glared death at her. There was a sudden pulse of power. That was the last thing she remembered before she succumbed to darkness.

ooOoo

He watched transfixed with horror, even as he himself was tossed, as Kagome's body limply flew through the air before hitting the ground with a loud thud and an audible snapping of bones. Cold dread pooled in his stomach, making it heavy and the urge to empty it nearly irresistible.

Instead, he pulled himself up, first on hands and knees, then just knees, then, finally, relying heavily on the strength of Tetsusaiga, erect. He would not fail her. He would not fail her.

I'll always protect you. Always.

He would not let her down.

Darting forward, sword in hand, prepared to strike, he raced towards her. But he was too late.

In the time it took him to blink, Naraku had made it there first. Staring down at her, the bastard seemed to be pondering something. Inuyasha rushed him, vainly hoping to take him before any more harm could befall his Kagome. But Naraku was just too goddamned fast. Scooping the girl up into his arms, he disappeared in a cloud of dark, curling fog.

Kagome was gone.

In his head, he heard him whisper across his mind.

I've won, now, Inuyasha. She's mine. Next time you meet, I'll have her kill you.

Then… laughter, a dark, rich chuckle, inside his head.

Inuyasha sank to his knees. The thunder rolled and the sky broke.

A/N: Sorry this chapter was kind of slow. It's not really my style to have so many characters happy at once, but I felt that the scenes were all necessary setup for my story. It'll be darker in the next chapter. Shout out to hushisushi, this fic couldn't happen without your support. Thanks to everyone else for reading. Peace out.