A/N: ok so im posting two chapters in one day, because although I really wanted to leave you guys with a cliffie, I then realized that that it would be just downright mean, so I decided to post up the two chapters at the same time. Because what with my long hiatus and all, I figured I've been mean enough to last me a long while.

Thus begins my phase of extra-niceness!

Yeah… I know, I'm weird.

Disclaimer: No recognizable material belongs to me.

Fragment of Doubt...

"Sit boy!"

… Slam.

He'd made a strange noise on his way down. Kind of like a half yelp, half screaming thing.

His voice cracked. His hands flew out, his legs gave way and he abruptly body slammed the ground.

… What the-?

Kagome stared at him, his body covered with dirt, his little silver ears twitching in time with his fingers. And then she couldn't stop laughing. Her hand clamped hard over her mouth as she watched him struggle up, biting her lip against he constant stream of laughter that was sipping out into the air.

"… Oh hell no…." Inuyasha said very slowly, refusing to believe what had just happened. "No - fucking - way!"

That only made it worse. Her stomach started to ache, she was laughing out of control, bent forward, unable to stop. And feeling better than she had in a long time. She was crying. And for once, it wasn't because she was sad.

Did that big crater in the ground really mean what she thought it meant? There was only one way to make sure, right?

"Oh, Inuyaasha." She sang.

He could hear the stupid smile in her voice.

"Don't you dare!" He tried to scramble up to -

"Sit boy!" She chirped, and he slammed deeper into the ground.

Kagome took a shaky step away, one arm around her stomach, the other over her mouth. Oh… this was just too perfect. It didn't make any sense to her. But really, who cared?

"Sit boy!" She stifled through giggles.

"Nuh-!"

"Sit boy!"

"Urk!"

And just once more… because she really needed it. "Sit - boy!"

"QUIT IT ALREADY!"

…

'If only he were here right now…' Kagome thought in dazed anger. "I'd sit him into the dust." She whispered. Some strange part of her realized that whispering was all she could do…

The air around her was getting thick, hard to breath. Her black world growing blacker. … And where was she again?

There was a loud hiss from behind her, as if to answer her. Oh… right. Snakes… she was being eaten by snakes… snakes were nice.

"Kagome!"

'Kagome…' She thought, barely opening her eyes to see foggy images dancing around her head. 'Is that my name…?' She frowned weakly. 'No… I don't… think so.'

"Kago-may!" Someone grunted, and it took her a long time to realize that it wasn't her. Oh… so then she wasn't alone? She stared lazily at the ground, not really seeing anything. That was nice…

She didn't particularly like the idea of dying alone…

Elsewhere…:

"So nice to see that you've returned, Kagura."

"… My pleasure." Her voice cold enough to kill.

"So. How did you enjoy your little outing?"

She ground her teeth together in anger and opened her fan to try and hide the hate on her face. So he knew. "I was waiting for you to call me back. You left me behind when you moved the mansion."

Naraku gave her a cold, cruel grin. "Oh, Kagura." He said, still smiling that cruel, icy smile on his face. "You can do so much better than that."

Her insides chilled.

"So." He said. "You want to know my secret don't you?"

"Secret?" she echoed, her voice hard. Honestly, she couldn't give a damn about it.

"Yes. The secret." His sick slate blue eyes seemed to dance. They flashed garnet for a second, mirroring her own. And she hated it. "Didn't you ever find it strange?" He asked.

"What." She snapped, unable to hide the malice for much longer.

"Kagome." He answered.

She didn't trust herself to speak, so he continued without her.

"No matter how many times Inuyasha and his friends tell her the truth about who she is, she can never stop herself from doubting them?"

Kagura's eyes narrowed. She didn't like this. "What are you talking about?" Her fingers curled tight around the base of the fan.

"Inuyasha. Miroku. Sango. The dreams. No matter how much proof she receives of her actual identity, she can never bring herself to believe it." His smile grew more self-satisfied. "Didn't you ever wonder as to why?"

'You're planning something…' Kagura thought. 'What the hell are you up to now?' Kagura stared, only half sure as to how she was supposed to react.

(Elsewhere…)

"Get off her!"

Did she know that voice?

"Kagome, can you hear me? You're being eaten! Kagome, wake up!"

'Eaten…?' She thought vaguely to herself. 'Me…? What am I eating?'

"Kagome!"

Oh… there was something about snakes… right… snakes.

"Kagome!" A second voice rang out through the air, different from the one who had been calling out to her before. And much, much more familiar. She knew that other voice.

"Inuyasha…" Her throat was so stiff and unmoving that she had issues recognizing her own voice. The other voice… it was Inuyasha. Inuyasha…

That bastard. He had been the royal idiot who had gone of in the middle of the night, leaving her to be eaten by… snakes? Oh. Right. She was being eaten by snakes. … Wait, she was being eaten by snakes?

Suddenly realization snapped into her, and she started to wake. Snakes. Oh, God. She remembered. She'd been running through the woods, and…

And she could feel them, slithering over her body.

"Get… off of me…"

There was some sort of fight going on above her… she could feel the movement. And something, inside her, building up… so strong. The mouths biting into her skin.

"GET OFF OF ME!" Her scream echoed, the dam in her body breaking and a white-purple light exploding. She felt the weight that had been pressing on her dissipate, screaming echoing in her ears. And the smell… of burnt flesh.

"The amber didn't just erase Kagome's memories." Naraku said, the wicked grin now frightening. "It also prepared her body to be implanted with a tainted sacred jewel."

He might as well have slapped Kagura in the face.

"Wh-what?"

Naraku watched her for a while, taking pleasure in her shock. "You remember the curse of the dark Miko?" Naraku asked. "She implanted tainted shards in Kagome's body to kill her. Her spell failed. But the failure lay in her lack of power over Kagome's sacred powers…" he smiled. "So I've implanted the entire Shikon jewel inside her, to suppress her memories… and also to keep her from ever being able to believe in the possibility that she could be Kagome."

'…You… sick bastard…'

"If you'd been watching her," Naraku continued. "You would see. Every time a memory starts to return to her, she loses consciousness. Her world swims, her vision hazes, she gets nauseous… blacks out. All because of the jewel. However…"

Kagura watched as Naraku's smile started to fade.

"Kikyo's reincarnation is powerful. She's capable of remembering little things, if she enters a dreaming-state, and starts to purify the jewel. I took this into consideration. I designed the jewel so that it would leave a haze of doubt on her mind once she awoke." He smiled again.

Kagura wanted to slap him. "And if she purifies the jewel? What then?" She challenged him. It was a dumb move.

Naraku tossed his head to the side. "Why do you think I sent those snake demons after her? To collect her blood. As she purifies the jewel, I pour more of the blood they bring me on the single shard I kept to myself, and the entire jewel becomes tainted once again." Another cruel laugh – if you could even call that a laugh – escaped from his chest. "She will always remain in doubt… over who she is."

Kagura stared…. Then… did that mean that Kagome couldn't help her gain her freedom?

"You're silent." Naraku said, staring at her hard.

Kagura met his eyes and frowned. Something was different… "Why are you telling me this?" She asked. 'It's not in your nature to share you plans with anyone… you hate to explain yourself… so what are you doing now?'

He smiled. "Because I'm sending you… to tell Inuyasha."

For the second time, she felt as if he had flattened her with a freight train. For the longest time the only thing she could do was stare in shock. And then she finally managed to gasp, "Wh-what?"

(Elsewhere…)

When Kagome opened her eyes, she was wide awake. And she was also floating in mid-air. The wind that she couldn't feel was coiling her dress around her legs, sprawling her hair out around her face. Below her, on the ground were thousands of dead snakes. Charred, fried,… scorched. Their bodies twisted cruelly around each other… it was slaughter. Sango lay unharmed in the clearing, the bright purple light that seemed to be coming from… well from her… her body, illuminated the entire forest.

And below her was a man with dark black hair and startlingly azure eyes… staring right at her.

And, for a moment, she knew exactly who he was.

"Koga."

A/N: Since I haven't posted in such a long time, I figured that I'd keep it going. So I'm posting up two chapters at a time. Please though, it would be so cool if you got up and stretched around at this point or did something else just for a bit. Get a glass of water… have an apple. Whatever…. Or just read this incredibly long author's note. . That ought to do it.

As she floated down to him, he felt the peace wash over him. This couldn't be real. He had to be dreaming. There was no way that Kagome, the real Kagome, was actually there, in front of him. Floating down from the sky no less.

But he didn't give a damn about it.

He felt the doubt come into his mind, and then leave when he heard her say his name. It was so good to hear her voice again.

When Kagome put her toe to the ground, the strange purple glow that had surrounded her vanished, and she was normal again. She looked at him with open russet eyes. Kagome's eyes.

Before she could say or do anything, he grabbed her into his arms and held her more tightly than he'd ever held anyone in the world. He could feel her in his arms. He could smell that clean scent on her skin. He could touch her again…. And she was alive.

After a moment, she gasped and put her hands on his chest, pushing him back, with startlement.

Their eyes locked and she stared at him with such completely different eyes that for a moment he didn't know her. Her expression had changed. Terrified shock.

And from her lips, came the last thing he ever expected her to say to him.

"Who are you?"

( Deeper in the Forest )

The bright flash of purple light hadn't, actually, reassured Inuyasha. It scared the hell out of him. The purple light meant sacred powers. Sacred powers meant a fight.

A fight meant that Naraku was probably involved.

And that meant that he had been stupid again.

It meant that he had left her, alone. Again. And if anything had happened to her this time, he just didn't think he could handle it. He knew he wouldn't be able to handle it.

"He said he loved me, you know." She'd said to him that night that she'd decided to stay with him.

It was hours after she'd remembered that damned word again, and they'd been traveling, making fairly good distance. When they set up camp and went to bed, Kagome went out to sit on the hillside of their camp, watching ocean of stars above her.

And he'd sat out there, right next to her.

Because he'd be damned if he was dumb enough to let her use some dumb excuse like star-gazing as her newest get away plan.

"You don't have to worry about me running off you know." She'd said, with a raised eyebrow and half-lidded eyes of annoyance and suspicion.

"The hell I don't." He spat back from his place on the ground, lying back with his arms linked around his head, a makeshift pillow. .

She sighed heavily. And then he saw her smile out of the corner of his eye.

"I could just say-"

"Don't you even think about it!" He snapped, body going tense, and she laughed, making his heart do a funny thing inside his taught chest.

They'd sat there for hours, her staring at the sky, not even moving an inch. After a while he wondered how someone could spend such a long time staring at the same damn thing without losing patience.

But just as he was starting to get the hang of it she'd said something.

"He said he loved me, you know."

He turned the words over in his head slowly, stared at the stars as if they were something completely new and then felt his flesh start to grow hot.

"What?"

She bent her knees up to her chin and plucked a strand of grass out of the ground. She fingered it absent mindedly, seeming a little sad. "Naraku. He loves me. He… he kissed me."

He'd spoken very slowly… enough to chill both their blood. "And… You didn't say anything to me?"

Inuyasha's fists tightened. How he'd hated her then. How he'd hated her. Hated himself. Despised Naraku. He had never thought, until that moment, that it was possible for him to feel any more disgust for Naraku than he already felt.

He had been so wrong.

Perfect hatred.

It was something that he doubted anyone else had ever felt. Or else the world would have been a much uglier place.

And he hated them too. Because they'd never have to hold on to the pain of hating someone as much as he'd hated everyone when Kagome had told him what had happened between her and Naraku… what Naraku had told her.

Perfect hatred. More than anything else, he realized… hurt.

(A/N: Lalala… im being SO ridiculously dramatic here oh well)

It had only been a whisper.

But it was still enough to shatter Koga's world. "What?"

"Who… are you?" She repeated again, her voice just as soft. And when he looked into her eyes. He saw no recognition… no warmth… only fear and mistrust.

And he felt his own cold knife of fear start to form in his gut.

He pulled her a little closer to him. "Kagom-"

"Get the fuck away from her."

Koga's ice blue eyes hardened in the dark before they ever met the glowing gold ones.

"Inuyasha." Kagome said his name, almost without thinking, and it made Koga's insides writhe. She recognized him…

Tetsuigia's tip glinted in the moonlight. Inuyasha held it out with one hand, pointing it directly at Koga's heart. They could have leveled each other with their eyes.

"You." Koga' s voice was so dangerously low that it made Kagome shiver. "What are you doing here?" He asked, pulling Kagome closer to his chest. His hands firmly holding to her waist, hers resting uncertainly on his shoulders. They had nowhere else to go.

"I said to get – the fuck – away from her."

"Heh." Koga laughed, but it was cruel, and hard, and the emotion behind it wasn't anything that ever belonged in laughter. His fingers tightened protectively on her. At least she hoped that it was protectively.

"Tell me what the hell's going on first." The man with black hair demanded.

"You step away from her."

"No."

"Damn it, Koga, get you away from her!"

"You tell me what the hell is going on!" Koga's voice had risen to match Inuyasha's, and for a moment, Kagome felt like the two of them were the same exact person, screaming at their reflections.

"She's alive. And she's back, and she's with me, and that's all you need to know about it!" Inuyasha snapped, taking a step forwards. "Now let her go!"

"… No." Koga's hard blue eyes slashed with cruelty for a moment, directed at Inuyasha's. "You've got to be insane if you think that I'd willingly give her back to you after what you did." Koga clenched his teeth together, drew back his head in disgust and then shouted. "You who let her die three years ago!"

Kagome felt as if someone had impaled her heart with a knife. Silently, she turned her head to look at Inuyasha. So it was true… everything Naraku had said to her about him had been true. He'd tried to kill her three years ago. He'd murdered Testuya's parents. Kagome… didn't even exist. And he'd pretended to care about her.

The hot tears that spilled into her eyes stayed trapped there as she glared at him. "I trusted you." She whispered hoarsely, trying to start at him, the hatred buried with her tears. "I trusted you!" She screamed then, finding her voice and throwing herself at the cage of Koga's strong arms. "You lied to me!" She screamed, senselessly, her throat aching and raw. "You lied! You lied! Murderer!"

"I didn't!" Inuyasha shouted, starting at her. "And I'm not a traitor!"

It wouldn't occur to her until later that she had never called him a 'traitor' but instinctively that had been his reply…

Koga jumped back, Kagome in his arms and all. He used her own weight against her and swung her bridal style into his arms. She fell backwards unwillingly into his hold.

"Inuyasha…" She said softly as they sailed through the air. 'How could he…? How could he?' She never took her eyes off him as he glared up at them. When they finally touched the ground again, they were a good seven feet away.

But still close enough for her to see his eyes.

And he was furious.

"I don't know what's going on." Koga said when he touched the ground, his eyes on Inuyasha's. "But I'm going to find out. She's with me now. And she's going to stay here. Right here. And I'll die before I'll give her back to a useless piece of filth like you!"

"Then I guess you're going to have to get ready to die!" Inuyasha launched himself towards them, his sword drawn, aiming for Koga's head.

The Prince stepped easily out of the path. Kagome had barely even felt them move…

He was so fast.

"Damn it!" Inuyasha turned, his silver hair moonlit and swirling in his wake.

And Koga punched hard into the silver haired boy's gut. The hanyou coughed up a spurt of blood and hit the tree behind him hard… a dark red flower starting to blossom through his shirt.

"Bastard…" he coughed, wiping his mouth with the back of his wrist. The blood was a sick, dark smear on the back of his hand.

She tried not to scream.

"I can smell the blood coming from that wound I just re-opened." Koga said, coldly. "You must be in a lot of pain. Honestly," he spat, "What kind of idiot goes out of hiding with a wound like that? You're pathetic, hanyou."

Inuyasha glowered at them.

And suddenly, she felt dizzy.

'Not a demon…' Inuyasha's voice circulated in her head, and she had to fight off the dizziness that always sucked her into unconsciousness. 'Not a demon, but not human either. … I didn't belong with anyone… so I did what I had to do… used force to carve my own place in the world. You can't trust anyone, because you're a pathetic hanyou. … I had a place in the world after a while. But it was only after that I realized that I was the only one in it. And it was too late to change anything about it…."

"Inuyasha." She whispered, her eyes rolling up, and her body going limp as she collapsed into Koga's arms.

"Kagome." Inuyasha coughed, a trail of blood dripping from his lips, as he struggled to stand up.

Koga ran.

Inuyasha, tried to follow, and hit the ground hard. "Kagome!"

"I don't understand." Kagura said. "Why would you want Inuyasha to know about this! What will that do!" She demanded.

In the dark room, Naraku only smirked, staring her down. "You have your orders, Kagura. Now deliver it."

She bit the insides of her mouth with her teeth to keep herself from losing control. The taste of blood shocked her body back.

"But first… wait to see the results of this battle Inuyasha is going to have with the demon prince tomorrow."

"… Understood." Kagura said, and he knew that she was practically shaking with anger.

"You are dismissed."

Grudgingly, she turned on her heel and started for the door. But when she pulled her fan to her chest, whipping the bamboo sheet away from the frame, he stopped her.

She caught the edge of the curtain with her hand, but never turned her face to him.

"If Inuyasha should live, then you are to give in the message in a day."

"… And if he dies?"

"... You can't deliver a message to a dead man."

She could hear the amusement in his voice, but she didn't have to cover her hatred with a fan this time.

"Fine." She said stiffly, and left.

"Oh, Inuyasha." Naraku said, looking down at the patterns that the moonlight set on the floor. What will you do? I wonder." Naraku said, now alone in his cold, hard room. "Will you remove the sacred jewel, once you realize it's what's keeping you apart?" He laughed and tilted his head against the beam. 'For if you do pull the jewel from Kagome's heart… you are sure to kill her...'

A/N: Bum bum bummm!Lol. I love doing that. - Oh and by the by, one of my altime fav reviewers just popped back up, returning to this story! It made me sooooo happy that i read it like, five times. ForgottenAngel, I love you. 3

Disclaimer: Any recognizable material does not belong to me.

Next time: The Scar in my Heart

"You never could protect her decently, could you half-breed?" Koga sneered. 'I always hated you for it'. "Let's see if you still have that scar I left you the last time we fought… three years ago. On the day you let her die!"