Cry for Me

A/N: My entire starter A/N is in the beginning of last chapter. For bigger A/N on both this chapter and the last please read the bottom of the page. The only thing I have to say here is 'yeah… this chapter's title is rather random…' Thank you.

Disclaimer: Any recognizable material does not belong to me… bummer.

Previously: Too long. Go read the last chapter. Please. She was not alone.

Cry for Me… Just for Me

Slowly, Kagome lifted her head from the pillow, fear making her body impossibly still. "What?" She asked quietly not sure she had even heard the voice.

She gasped as something cold and wet slithered over her hand, jerking her fingers away and hearing the thump of whatever had been there falling onto the wood. She sat up slowly, her eyes wide and searching in the dark. But she couldn't see anything. She screamed when the thing slithered around her neck and started to squeeze. Grabbing frantically at it she dashed it to the ground, scrambling backwards until she hit the wall, her sheets kicked off the mat.

"Little girls are so much prettier when they cry…" The voice rasped as Kagome tried to keep her heart from bursting. "So much… tastier."

"Where are you?" She asked, trying to sound brave and failing at it miserably.

"Somewhere close to your heart…" the thing whispered and she could hear it inhaling deeply. "Ahhhh. That's good."

Kagome scrambled away again, shrieking at the voice whose breath she had been able to feel in her ear. It was close. Moving away from it, she ran into something else that was warm and soft and crumpled beneath her. She fell to the floor, lying on top of a body. It was still warm… 'Oh no.' Those wild green eyes, open and staring… 'Get away from me…' she couldn't speak… his crazy smile was coming back, the insane cracked grin and pale, reaching hands. And she couldn't move away.

"You can't scream… I've made sure that she won't wake for a very… long… while." The thing said. "A girl slayer could not defeat me…"

'Tetsuya…' Kagome closed her eyes and took a gasping breath. "Who are you!" She shrieked.

"I am the one who waited for you…"

She stiffened as something started slithering up her leg… cold as ice, leaving her skin numb and heavy. She couldn't feel her entire lower leg. And she couldn't move. "What are you doing to me?" She whispered.

"Ka-go-maaay…" The thing said, and she could hear the pleasure in its voice. "I waited hours for the two men to leave you, such foolish young men to leave behind the girl…" it was almost to her thigh, and now she couldn't breathe. "And leave another to protect her." He laughed coldly as she felt the heavy weight moving over her skirt and slithering up beneath her shirt. "The slayer could hardly keep her eyes open for an hour, leaving you here to be tasted."

"It's Sango…" Kagome realized suddenly, feeling the steady rise and fall of the body beneath hers on the floor. It was Sango… and she was still breathing… she was alive. So why hadn't she woken up yet? "Wuh- what did you do to… ugh!" She cried out in pain when the thing bit her at the bottom of her ribcage, she could feel it sucking the blood from her body like a leech. "St-stop it!" She cried, still unable to move, her entire lower body numb and her arms paralyzed.

"Ah… so good to taste you." It said, licking a thin, stinging tongue over the wound. "You are worth the wait." It said, the pleasure in its voice disgusting to her as she tried to move but failed. It was as if she were frozen in ice… and all she wanted to do was scream.

"No wonder it fell in love with you." The thing hissed, slithering father up her body leaving a searing pain in her stomach where he had bit her before. "The filthy hanyou…" Kagome's eyes widened as it continued to explain. "You are too pure for him…"

"Get - away - from - me." Kagome said, the words barely formed as her whispers puffed them off her lips. And the ice snake slithered up to her heart. Somehow she knew that if she let it bite her there, she was going to die…

"Tasty." It said in its deep, raspy voice and she could feel the head leave her chest to plunge into her heart. "I will rip you!"

'No…' She thought to herself, closing her eyes, "Don't touch me!" Without warning, a bright purple light flashed from the inside of Kagome's body, illuminating the whole room like a burst of lightning. She heard the thing on her chest cry out and watched as it was flung across the floor. It landed with a thump, and she could see it writhing, its body still infected with the purple glow. Eventually the light dimmed and the thing gave a shuddering, sickening sigh. She could only hope that it was dead.

Shakily, she got to her feet, the feeling steadily returning to her limbs. As she breathed in deeply. She tried to pull herself together again, staring into the darkness, her hands still shaking before she remembered – "Sango!"

She fell to the floor and shook the body on the ground but Sango didn't respond. "Sango!" She yelled louder than before, but still nothing. Standing up, she desperately felt the wall for the window she knew was somewhere nearby… ah, there. She grasped the tiny latch between her fingers and pressed, setting the doors free and pushing them open to let the moonlight stream in.

When she looked down again, Kagome gasped slightly, bringing a hand to her mouth as she stared. Sango was so pale… she was so deadly pale. Wordlessly she dropped back down to the floor.

"Sango. Sango!" She said, shaking her head while she shook Sango's shoulders. When nothing happened she stood back up and backed away slowly. 'She's not waking up… she's not -' "Uh!" Her body went completely still as she stepped on something cold and wet, her eyes widened as she slowly lifted her foot back up again and turned. What she saw was almost enough to make her throw up. "Oh… ew." Was that what had attacked her?

The demon snake was three feet long at least, and its head was now twisted brutally the wrong way, its eyes wide and yellow and popped from the sockets, thin trails of blood leading back to the imploded skull. The skin was long and cruel and black, its mouth torn open at an impossibly wide angle, frozen in a silent, gaping scream. And inside the mouth its fangs were still tinted pink with blood… her own blood. To think that thing had tried to eat her heart…

Suddenly she remembered the way she had felt when it slithered up her body: cold and paralyzed and unable to move. Was that why…? "Sango." She said, walking over to her friend and crouching down to her face. The slayer's eyes were closed. "Can you hear me?" She asked, hoping that the snake had at least left her with that sense. But even so, it was worth a try.

"I'm going to go get help." Kagome said, trying to sound reassuring. "I'm going to go get Inuyasha." But… she felt bad just leaving her there. What if there were more of those evil snake… things? She shuddered, catching a glimpse of the mangled body that was still lying behind her. "And I'll take you with me." She said, reaching down to awkwardly sling the slayer's limp arm around her shoulders. She was surprised at how hard it was to stand, but somehow she managed.

Kagome's breathing halted completely as a trace of something returned to her. For a fraction of a second she was alone in a cave with another woman… who was also weak and her body broken, and just like Sango's was now, Kagome was supporting the other woman's weight, trying to save the other woman's life even though a part of her… didn't want to.

She was snapped back into reality without warning, shaking her head and refocusing on her job. She had to find Inuyasha and Miroku, and yell at them for leaving Sango and her alone. And maybe with any luck, she'd be able to forget about that dream too. It always helped to look on the bright side.

"Where did it get to?" The black haired man asked, his patience wearing very, very thin.

"We don't know." A second man admitted, this one younger, his armor gleaming in the moonlight like the rest.

"We lost track of it in the forest." A third man admitted, just as ashamed as his partner was while they reported in to the first, who was roughly the same age as the two of them, but clearly in charge.

"How the hell do you 'lose track' of that thing?" The leader demanded, angry. "It's sent is so damn strong that you should be able to detect it from miles!"

"We're… we're sorry." The second man said, unable to make any excuses, knowing it would be fruitless. "We'll get it right next time."

The leader ran a hand through the hair that fell into his eyes before turning around and making a noise of frustration. "Fine." He said, his voice as hard and cold as ice. "I'll go track it down myself!"

The second and third man watched silently as their leader fled down the mountain, whipping up a whirlwind of silver dust in the moonlight – the only sign that remained of his tracks.

Meanwhile, deeper in the same woods…

"Would you stop doing that for a moment and take the time to asses the situation?" Miroku said tiredly, a deadly bored expression dragging down his face. For the past hour and a half he had watched Inuaysha pace the length of the clearing and then come back again. Over and over and over and over and over...

"You're the one to talk about taking the time to asses the situation!" Inuyasha countered, looking at Miroku in disgust. "How can you be so damn calm!" he asked, frustrated.

Miroku continued to watch as Inuyasha paced tirelessly back and forth and back and forth and back and forth. It had been two days and the hanyou still hadn't calmed down enough to take the time to breathe. Two entire days. Give it a few more hours and it would be three. Personally, Miroku hadn't been even a little surprised when Kagome told them her story. Her whole story, from start to finish, whatever she could remember. That was including everything Naraku had done… and everything Naraku had said.

To say that Inuyasha had lost it when he heard a certain part, however, would be a gross understatement. Inuyasha had been infuriated, outraged, blood-thirsty and he still was. How dare he lie to Kagome that way? How dare he tell her those things? How dare he even lay on filthy, fucking finger on her! He'd rip the fucking bastard to pieces and then kill him again!

Two days later and Inuyasha still out for blood. What was worse was that he now looked like a very big cat in a very small cage. Miroku knew that the hanyou was almost just as frustrated as the day when he had found out, the only difference now was that he had had forty-eight hours to get his emotions under control. But every once and a while he let them slip. "Being un-calm wont' exactly solve the situation." Miroku said, knowing it was useless but trying anyway. "And that pacing that you're doing won't accomplish anything either." He added darkly. "Unless of course you're trying to dig a trench."

"Would you just shut up for a second, you god damned… you - Argh!" Inuyasha turned on his friend and glared hard at him, his golden eyes flicking to the repulsive bruise still spread across Miroku's neck before he got control over himself again. He did this by kicking the nearby tree so hard that the wood cracked up the center. He didn't want to leave another bruise on Miroku's throat. "Damn it! Where the hell is he!"

"Naraku, you mean?"

"Who the hell else would I mean?" he drawled venomously.

Miroku shrugged and tried to pretend as if he didn't know how much he as irking Inuyasha. "You could have meant anybody."

"Could you take this seriously!" Inuyasha asked, snarling. "You're passing this off as a joke!"

"What Kagome said changes nothing about my relationship with Naraku." Miroku said reasonably. "Solving the issue would be working with Kagome, not killing Naraku. Him telling Kagome that he loves her – don't look at me like that, I'm helping – achem – him saying that to her only makes our job regarding Kagome harder, but it ultimately has no affect in our dealings with him… And you realize, of course, that we haven't even found Shippo or Kaede yet?" Miroku asked, leaning his head against he tree.

"Of course I realize that." Inuyasha snapped, rubbing his fingers along his prayer beads absent mindedly.

Miroku smirked, remembering a day ago. "Still upset that she remembered the word?"

Inuyasha's ears flattened. "Stupid bitch. Figures that the firs thing she remembers about me is how to flatten me into the ground."

Miroku smiled. "It was an accident you know. You should have seen it coming. Technically she didn't remember at all, she discovered it quite by accident – you could tell from the look on her face. Plus, it must be some sort of relief to you, knowing that you share a link with her again."

"I could have done without this link." He grumbled grouchily. "And plus, none of that would have happened if you weren't flirting with that girl."

Miroku smiled before changing the subject. "Well then, I know this seems unreasonable, but why don't we do the logical thing for once and find Shippo and Kaede before you go on your hunt for Naraku."

Inuyasha grit his teeth together angrily, trying hard to keep himself from giving Miroku another bruise. "No."

"Well, consider this: what if Kaede knows what's actually going on? What if she knows how to get Kagome's memory back? Even Shippo may be of some help. After all, he was important to her. Maybe he'll help her regain her memory."

"She'll be fine for a few more days without it." Inuyasha said, "And she doesn't have to remember anything about the runt anytime soon. As if her discovering the word wasn't enough…"

Shwing! Crack!

"OW!" Inuyasha whipped around, staring wide-eyed at the monk who had just cracked the hanyou's skull with his staff. "What the hell was that for!" Inuyasha demanded.

"Your idiocy." Miroku answered. "Listen to yourself, Inuyasha. You're so bent of revenge that you aren't even thinking of Kagome."

"Don't start this again." Inuyasha said, defending himself. "You know she's the only person I ever think about!"

"No." Miroku interjected coldly. "The only person you ever think about is yourself."

"I -" Inuyasha started before closing his mouth and letting the air fall out from his chest. Slowly he sat down and crossed his legs. "I just need to beat the shit out of something." He admitted quietly. "And I can't even… think straight ever since she told me about it. It's like…" he sighed, "It's like my blood's on fire or something. I'm just so… pissed."

"You're infuriated with him for touching her." Miroku said knowingly. "And you're jealous of him because she believed herself to love him in return."

Inuyasha's expression grew nasty while he turned his back to Miroku. "Well you don't have to go out and say it." He muttered, seething. "Bastard."

Miroku raised an eyebrow. "For your own sake of safety I'll assume that you were referring to Naraku just now. Not me."

Inuyasha didn't reply, he just grew very still.

"Inuyasha," Miroku said heavily after a moment of silence. "You have to-"

"Do you smell that?" Inuyasha interrupted, his voice low and dark.

"What?"

"That smell… I know that smell…"

"What."

"That demon… that's the snake from two days ago." Inuyasha said, standing up. "He's back by the hut. With Kagome…" 'She's in danger…'

A muscle in Miroku's jaw flexed as his grip tightened on his staff. 'Sango…'

"We have to get back." Inuyasha said, his eyes set dead ahead. "Now."

"After you." Miroku said.

In the forest, a few miles away:

The black haired leader stopped so hard and fast that the whirlwind around him cut against his skin. The pain did nothing to tear him from his shock. It couldn't be… "That scent." The man breathed, his blue eyes wide. "I know it…" He knew it so well. It was imprinted in his soul.

He turned, his dark, shadowy figure sheltered from the moonlight by the cover of the trees but the expression on his face was still readable. Even in the pitch dark. Shocked disbelief and just a little bit of hope… just barely a little. This man, so very young and so very strong, still had enough courage left to dare himself to hope.

Who knew how many times in the past year he had thought he picked up the scent, only to find that his mind was playing tricks on him, again. That the very wind he created was teasing him, again. And that the fates were trying desperately to drive his mind insane… again. He inhaled deeply, the muscles in his body painfully taught, every sense alert. It was her…

She was coming closer. And… he felt a pit in his stomach weigh down his body in dread. So were the demons and friends…

'She is not safe.' He thought, the only thought that he was capable of that moment in time. The one thought of her occupying his whole mind. That was how deeply he thought of her. And somewhere inside himself, a part of him knew that it was a fool's game to allow himself luxury of indulging in irrational thought. Because he knew that she was dead. And yet when he allowed it, the devastating ache in his heart was unreal to him. For the first time in months. It was her scent.

Almost as soon as the dark haired man had appeared in the middle of the woods, so he started off again, running faster, running harder than he ever had in a very long time. Because he had to get to her first. Because he had to see her again. Because he had to save her.

And he would get to her first, see her again, and he would save her. Nothing was going to stop him. Nothing ever stopped him. The wolf-prince, Koga. Not when it came to Kagome.

A/N: Don't worry, I'm going back to fill in the gaps. Basically what I did is I fast forwarded two or three days in the plot of the story. Because I guess I just like to do that sometimes – jump ahead a day or two and then go back and fill it in. It gives me some freedom. In fact I'm reading this wonderful book now that does that a lot and I think it's inspired me majorly to write this way. Plus, it's the only thing so far that's helped me with my writer's block. ;) Anyway, hope you all liked.

Oh and by the way, the memory dream in the last chapter not a real scene in Inuyasha, its one of my own. I hope it was okay. SPOILER ALERT! Do not read if you plan on watching Inuyasha the Movie II and don't want a spoiler!: I know that not all of you have seen the second Inuyasha movie "Castle Beyond the Looking Glass" so you might be like 'second kiss? What about the first one?' well the first one already happened in that movie, so please don't kill me for not giving them a first kiss because they already have one (Thank God too, do you know how hard it would be to write a realistic first kiss for those two? I mean I think I pretty much bombed the second kiss as is and I mean… come on: that's the second kiss… shouldn't be nearly as awkward to write,)

Also (last I promise: I was really worried that I watered down Inuyasha in this last chapter, what with him admitting his feelings and all to Miroku. If it outrages any of you please let me know and I'll try to make him tougher the next time I post.

Anyway, love you all – really I do – and I wish you all a happy new year! 06! Ciao! And my birthday is coming up soon! Yay!