Spirit of the Wolf

Three

Inuyasha pulled Kagome tight against him, feeling her body quivering in fear. He lashed out with his foot at where he guessed the wolf was, and he felt the wolf being kicked away from them. The wolf pounced back on him, knocking him to the floor. He kept hold of Kagome, and he landed on top of her, dizzy and disorientated. They clawed and scratched viciously at his back, shredding at the skin on his back. His blood trickled down his back. As well as this, he felt a wet substance seeping through to the skin on his legs, and knew it was Kagome's blood.

Miroku had only one idea how to get out of this mess, but he was not sure that would be wise right now. He had no way of warning his friends, he tried desperately to shout to Inuyasha and Kagome but his voiced dried in his throat, making no sound. But I could do it, he thought, I could suck all this mist into my Wind tunnel, and we would be safe. But what if Inuyasha and Kagome get sucked in too? Another voice argued in his head. Miroku flinched; he could never forgive himself if he killed his friends. He was lost, and had only the feeling of Sango's hand in his to comfort him, though even that could not help him make the tough decision now had to make.

The wolf form of Kazuya stood amongst the other wolves that stood at the sidelines of the attack, able to see through the mist, having been the cause of it. Miroku stood looking confusedly about him, Sango holding his hand, swiping behind her blindly with her Hirakoitsu, Shippo clinging to Miroku's shoulders in fear, and Kilala one of her two tiny tails only narrowly being missed by Hirakoitsu as she fought to stay on her shoulders. He saw Inuyasha and Kagome under attack from the wolves on the ground, Sesshomaru nearby, Rin clinging to him as Sango smacked him across the jaw with the giant boomerang. Kazuya in his wolf form growled an evil laugh, he hadn't even had to fight them himself, the so-called world's strongest fighters and they were killed first try by his mist.

Suddenly Miroku made his choice. He threw Sango to the floor behind him along with Shippo who clung to her as he landed, and pulled the beads from his hand, unsealing the curse of the portal in his right-palm. The mist poured into the portal, and Inuyasha stared in horror as he saw what was clearing the fog. Using all the strength in his body, he fought the pull of the wind tunnel, and clawed at the ground, dragging Kagome against a tree, pinning her and himself against it. Sesshomaru snatched up Rin, his whip lashing out from his fingertips and snapping it at a tree, pulling himself and Rin away from the force of the wind tunnel. Kazuya stood back as the other wolves were dragged in with the fog, he was surprised, he hadn't known of this weapon, before his attack. Suddenly the tree Kagome and Inuyasha were pinned to began to be tugged at the roots, and was beginning to be dragged in.

'Miroku stop! Close it!' screamed Inuyasha. Miroku did not hear Inuyasha, and anyway had lost almost all control of his power, and his eyes were closed tight with the strain on his body, the fog obviously overwhelming him. 'Miroku close it!' screamed Inuyasha as his grip on the tree failed, and he and Kagome flew towards the entrance of oblivion.

'Miroku-sama! Close it now!' screamed Sango as she saw Inuyasha and Kagome being sucked in but he could not hear her. She leapt up from the ground, and knocked his hand away, and he pulled the beads back round his wrist, sealing up the wind tunnel.

Kagome and Inuyasha slammed hard into the ground, before Miroku, and Inuyasha got steadily up off Kagome, brushing the dirt off himself. Sesshomaru pulled Rin to her feet, as Shippo hopped over to Inuyasha, hugging him tight.

'I'm glad Miroku's wind tunnel didn't eat you,' he cried. Inuyasha tried not to smile as he slid the kitsune off him, and sat Kagome up.

'You okay?' he asked

'I think so, but…' She looked down at her ankle, teeth marks, blood oozing from the punctures in her skin, and she leant against Inuyasha's shoulder.

'Sango, have we got anything to start a fire with?' asked Inuyasha, as Sango knelt beside Miroku, who had collapsed to his knees.

'We left everything back at camp,' replied Sango. Sesshomaru approached them with Rin at his side.

'I will get them, Stay here Rin,' he said, walking off into the shadows. Shippo hopped onto Inuyasha's shoulder.

'What's with Sesshomaru?' asked the little kitsune. Inuyasha did not answer; he turned to look worriedly at Miroku, who lay passed out in Sango's arms.

'Is he okay?' he asked.

'He's just tired,' replied Sango. Suddenly she felt the perverted monk's hand twitch, rubbing her butt. She smacked him across the head sharply, standing up. 'See, he's perfectly fine.' Inuyasha rolled his eyes at the monk's pathetic attempts at looking injured, as Kagome mumbled something about the sunrise. Inuyasha looked down at her, then up at the sky, and knew that the sunrise would be coming in a few hours, and that they must be ready to follow it by then.

Sesshomaru had brought back their stuff very quickly, and the fire had been burning for a while now. Miroku sat petting Kilala absentmindedly while Sango knelt behind Kagome, supporting her while Inuyasha was dealing with her ankle. Kagome winced as Inuyasha dabbed with a wet cloth at the bite on her ankle, and she squeezed Sango's hand slightly.

'It's not that bad,' Inuyasha assured her, 'it just hit near a vein, that's why it bled so much.' He threw the cloth to the side as the last of the blood was cleaned from her skin and he ran his fingers softy along her anklebone. 'I think…I think that it's broken. Sango, hold Kagome a sec.' Sango held Kagome's arms back, as Inuyasha twisted her ankle, until it snapped back into place. As the bone gave out the snapping noise, Kagome screamed, and Shippo looked worriedly at her. Miroku looked casually over to them, still a little tired from earlier.

'She should be able to walk on it tomorrow, just not very well,' he informed them.

Inuyasha looked at the ground pensively, thinking that he wanted to follow the broken sunrise when it came, but knowing Kagome was not in the right state. Kagome pulled herself out of Sango's arms, sliding pathetically beside where Shippo had now moved, and she sat looking sadly at the fire. Sango stood up, moving beside Miroku to try and stop him sulking, having overexerted himself and receiving no attention or fuss for it from his pontential love interest. Inuyasha walked to Kagome's side.

'I'm sorry you got hurt,' he muttered. Kagome did not look up at him.

'I'm sure you are.' Inuyasha looked at her, trying not to be angry, but Kagome still wouldn't look up at him. 'Take me home now,' she asked her voice full of misery.

'What? Why?' he asked confusedly wanting to know what he'd done wrong this time.

'I don't want to be here anymore,' she whimpered, feeling utterly miserable and wretched at being such a nuisance.

'You don't mean it,' he argued quietly, and acting against his normal behaviour, slipped his hand over hers, stroking along her hand with his finger. Kagome did not respond to this, she just replied to his words.

'I know you want to get going tomorrow, and I can't go because I got myself hurt. I don't want to be a nuisance anymore. You said it yourself; your era is no place for me, so take me back to my own time.'

'Stop saying such stupid stuff,' snapped Inuyasha, pulling his hand away. 'I ain't takin' you home so you'll just have to deal won't you!'

'Why?' Inuyasha stood up, ignoring her, and walked away, disappearing into the shadows of the trees. Miroku and Sango, Kagome noticed had already laid down to sleep, but Shippo looked up at Kagome, having heard every word that was said.

'Don't worry Kagome, Inuyasha is just too embarrassed to tell you he doesn't want you to go,' the little kitsune assured her.

'I wish it were true Shippo,' she replied, quietly, before lying down herself, Shippo snuggling up to her.

Kagome woke not long after having fallen asleep, and her waking eyes were met with Sesshomaru gazing at the fire opposite her, sitting beside a sleeping Rin. Kagome sat up, and he looked up at her.

'No more dreams I hope?' he asked expressionlessly. She shook her head, thinking that she hadn't been sleeping long enough to dream. He waited a moment, and then spoke again. 'Have you ever told Inuyasha that you love him?' he asked. Kagome's head shot up in surprise, wondering how he knew.

'What the…? How did you-'

'I've lived a long time, seen lots of things, and with all I've seen, I've learnt a lot of things. I've seen that look on your face before on the faces of so many others; it only appears if the person is in love.' Kagome blushed slightly, lowering her gaze to the fire. What a thing for Sesshomaru to say!

'I think he already knows, but I…I'm not the one he wants to be with,' her sadness returned as she recalled past times where she had felt even worse than this because of Inuyasha. 'Every time he looks at me, it's like he is always searching for the one thing that isn't there…Kikyo.' She shuddered as she uttered that woman's name, the name of the woman her soul used to belong to, the name of the woman who at every chance took everything away from her.

'Why don't you ask him about Kikyo?' asked Sesshomaru, still no expression in his voice.

'Miroku once asked him who he would choose, and he said both. Besides, he'd never tell me the truth anyway, and I…sometimes I think that…I'm afraid of what he might say.' Sesshomaru studied the true sadness in her usually cheery face. 'I know Inuyasha cares about me, but I don't think he cares about me the way I want him to.'

'And how do you want him to care?' asked Sesshomaru, a hint of warmth entering his cold voice. Kagome fell quiet for a moment, before replying.

'I want him to love me.'

They both looked up quickly, dropping their conversation as Inuyasha stepped back into camp. He looked surprisingly at them.

'I suspected you to be awake,' he gestured to Sesshomaru, 'but I thought you'd be asleep,' he said to Kagome. Avoiding her eyes, he sat away from both of them, looking anywhere but in their direction.

'Where were you Inuyasha?' she asked quietly, hoping Sesshomaru wouldn't repeat what she had just said.

'I went for a walk,' he replied, his usual tone back, before he fell silent. Kagome shifted slightly, wincing as she moved her ankle. 'What's wrong?' he asked worriedly.

'I'm okay, it's just sore. It doesn't seem so bad when you compare it to standing in a tide of burning acid,' she replied, joking with the last part. Inuyasha didn't find it funny, seeing as he had blamed himself for those injuries, him having been the reason she had run into it in the first place.

'Why aren't you asleep?' asked Inuyasha, trying not to think about that time, when Naraku plagued his every thought, though he was hardly free from the monster now, nothing had turned out as it was supposed to. Naraku's body had disappeared before Miroku's wind tunnel could be used on him, and therefore the curse he had placed on Miroku was still active. Kohaku, Kanna and Kagura had all been missing since the demon's demise, and there were still many lost sacred jewel shards of the Shikon no Tama. Nothing was how it was supposed to be.

'I was asleep, but then I woke up,' Kagome replied. Inuyasha did not respond to this, and the same silence fell once more. 'Will you take me home?' Inuyasha did not look up, and he knew Sesshomaru was looking at him.

'No.'

'But why?' Inuyasha faced flushed, not finding himself able to find a real reason.

'Stupid, I don't want you to go,' he replied, getting a smile in return.

'I'm glad you want me to stay,' she replied, laying back down, and falling asleep. Inuyasha got up slowly, pulling the blanket over Kagome, and sitting at her side. Finally looking up at his half-brother, and seeing that he had been right, and the older demon was looking at him.

'Your friend and I were talking,' said Sesshomaru, signalling to Kagome. 'You've done a great job at making her feel second best.'

'I don't want you to talk to Kagome anymore,' replied Inuyasha after a short silence. 'I don't want you to make an impression on her.'

'Maybe it would be a good idea if I did, that way maybe she wouldn't put up with all that you put her through.' Inuyasha's temper was rising, and he didn't know if he'd be able to control it.

'Look, I realise I haven't been the best person, but she knows I care.'

'Maybe, she needs to know why.'

'I…I would…I would never say such things to Kagome.'

'You must have liked it being sealed for fifty years to that tree, because you're heading close to getting back up there again, if you fool with someone's feelings when they're as strong as they've gotten.'

'Hey, shut up will you!' he lowered his voice again as Kagome almost stirred beside him. 'That was Kikyo, and she wasn't my fault.' Sesshomaru gazed coldly at him, the firelight reflecting in his eyes.

'I've never been much of a big brother, and as much as our dead father might've liked it, I don't ever want to be, but I'll give you some advice. Sometimes excuses and blaming things on other people just make you weak, sometimes being strong means admitting that at least some of it was your fault. Someone like her needs someone strong, and I only hope Inuyasha will be that person, or someone else will.' Inuyasha pondered these words for a moment, and then spoke again.

'Did…did she mention Kikyo?' Sesshomaru looked at him almost disbelievingly.

'What do you think?' he asked coldly, before turning from his brother. Inuyasha sat watching the flames dance in the oncoming twilight, lost in thought, the sunrise drawing closer and closer.

Kazuya lurked evilly in the shadows, away from Inuyasha and the others, but close enough to watch them, to hear them, a wide, malicious grin spreading across his wolf form's face. He growled triumphantly, quietly as he learned from his prey's speech, the girl's name.

'Kagome…' he growled, repeating her name evilly to himself, or was it to himself?

Kagome shot up abruptly from such a deep sleep as she heard the rough whispering calls of her own name. Kazuya, from the shadows grinned even further. I think I'll play a little, he thought as he watched her react to his whispers. 'Kagome…' he called, still whispering; only this time, he meant to be heard. Kagome gazed worriedly about her, pulling the blanket further round her as comfort. Inuyasha and Sesshomaru shot up at this whisper, they'd heard it too. Within that second of the brothers drawing to their feet, Tetsusaiga and Toukijin were drawn, the eerie moonlight shining from the swords' blades, warning what would happen to any creature who dared challenge.

'Sesshomaru,' Inuyasha muttered to his brother, to which the older demon turned his head slightly. 'Watch Kagome for me,' Sesshomaru nodded, and Inuyasha walked towards the shadows. Kagome felt uneasy as she watched Inuyasha's figure become further submerged in the darkness, until he disappeared from view.

Kagome stood up nervously, edging closer to the side of Sesshomaru, still holding the blanket tightly round her shoulders.

'I…I don't like this,' she muttered, as the moments of silence passed as slowly as if they were in hell frozen over. As the silence rang through her ears, creating uneasiness as if the air were full of screams of pain, the others began to stir, and stood up nervously as they saw Kagome and Sesshomaru standing nearby, uneasy, and alert. Rin awoke, and made her way to Sesshomaru, tugging lightly on his clothing.

'Sesshomaru-sama?' she asked innocently. Sesshomaru did not pull his gaze from the shadows around them.

'Stand back,' he muttered to her, and she drew back, leaning against Kagome's legs, where Kagome rested her hands on the tiny girl's shoulders reassuringly. As Sango and Miroku walked nervously to her side, Shippo and Kilala on their shoulders, Kagome felt as if the silence were ripping her apart inside, she wanted Inuyasha to come back, but as the silence continued on for what seemed eternity, she found that becoming less and less likely.

Suddenly, a pained scream pierced the silence that surrounded them, and Kagome screamed terrified in reaction, it was her name, and Inuyasha's voice. She went to dash forward, unsure of what she could do; just knowing she needed to try, when Sesshomaru laid a clawed hand on her shoulders.

'He said to watch you, you're not going off into the darkness on your own, understand?' he muttered his voice as cold as ever. Kagome turned angrily to him, slapping away his hand.

'Don't' stand there! Go help him, he's your brother!'

'As you well know, we're not exactly a happy family,' he replied coldly.

'Please,' she begged, 'don't let him die.' Kagome's hazel, glassy eyes met his cold ones, but he did not move, did not allow the desperation in her eyes sway his decision, and he remained silent.

Sango laid a friendly hand on Kagome's shoulder, feeling that she needed to do something, though it may not affect her as deeply as it did Kagome, Inuyasha was Sango's friend too, (sort of anyway), and she wasn't about to let him die.

'I'll go, Sesshomaru may be a heartless bastard, but I'm not letting him die out there,' she stated rashly, arming herself with Hirakoitsu. Miroku lunged forward, and stopped her. 'What?' she asked him with an annoyed tone.

'You're not going anywhere either,' replied Sesshomaru.

'And are you gonna stop me, huh?' she yelled.

'Sango wait, Sesshomaru is right, we can't go charging off into the forest with Kazuya out there. Kazuya is probably just trying to get us all alone, so he can manipulate our fears,' informed Miroku, holding her back from hitting Sesshomaru.

'What? So you are sure this is Kazuya, how do you know, it might be anything. It could just be something like another one of Kouga's tricks, or maybe that bitch Kik-' She broke off as Miroku pulled a hand over her mouth in response to the death stare Sesshomaru was throwing her.

'You call yourself a demon hunter?' asked Sesshomaru coldly, 'Kazuya is a fear demon, this reeks of a fear demon's work; I would have thought that even you would be able to sense that.' Sango seemed to drop her attempts at these words, realising Sesshomaru and Miroku were right. 'Human women, nothing but trouble,' Sesshomaru muttered to himself, so that no one else heard.

'So what are we gonna do then?' asked Shippo in an annoyed voice. 'We can't leave Inuyasha out there to die!' Sesshomaru didn't reply, he stood, seeming to be thinking, though he was watching the shadows warily, on his guard at all times.

Kagome grew more and more worried by the minute, and as she shifted her weight onto her hurt ankle, she realised she felt no pain.

'Hey, I can walk now! How come?' she asked Sesshomaru. He did not look to her as he replied.

'He wants you to be able to go after Inuyasha alone, he wants to pick you away from us, to get you into the shadows, where you'll be helpless. But we won't let that happen.' Shippo hopped from Miroku's shoulder to Sango's so he could get closer to Sesshomaru.

'Maybe we should all go after Inuyasha together; then we wouldn't be in danger 'cause we'd all be together,' he suggested in his usual high-pitched voice.

'No,' argued Sango softly, now also watching the shadows nervously. 'If we all go charging around the forest, we will awaken much worse than Kazu-' Sango's words were drowned out as they heard another pained scream.

'Kagome!' Kagome couldn't bear it, Inuyasha's voice was shredding her senses, and she had to find him, she knew what was out there, she knew what was waiting for her, but she didn't care. She lunged forward, feeling Sango swiping, trying to drag her back, but she missed her friend's grasp by inches, and bolted into the forest, the darkness swallowing up her image as the others called her back, but she ignored them.

She ran and ran, having no idea where to go or what she could do if she found him, just knowing that she had to try. She skidded to a halt suddenly, causing the dirt beneath her to flick up into the air slightly. She turned wildly about, panicking as she realised the darkness around her was now whole, and she could not even see her own hand before her. Fear burst through her body, bringing her heart into her throat, beating wildly, as she also realised she couldn't hear Inuyasha, or even Sango and the others' desperate calls, she was completely alone, and terrified. Against her better judgement, and her own mind, mostly because of the overwhelming fear, she shouted out.

'Sango? Miroku? Shippo…? Inu…Inuyasha?' Her voice faltered as she realised no one could hear her, or at least no one she wanted to hear her. She walked on nervously not being able to see a thing, just walking with her arms before her, feeling her way onward. 'Inuyasha?' she called repeating his name to the nothingness about her.

With every step she took she felt more and more uneasiness, and fear, and felt as if she hadn't got Inuyasha to find, she would have given up, dropped down and broken into tears of hopelessness. No, she thought, he is always there, always strong for me, I've got this one time he needs me, and I'm not going to let him down. She walked on determinedly, suddenly finding the need to convince herself, that the low growls and snarls coming from behind her were just her vivid imagination. Suddenly a particularly vicious snarl sounded, and she burst into a run, hearing hard thuds on the ground behind her as the creature pursued. Suddenly in her blindness, the uneven ground beneath her feet snagged her, and she fell to the floor. She turned from her heap on the ground to look behind her, and her heart stopped. Two big, crimson eyes, like slits were descending upon her, the snarls growing louder, and the creature's white fangs shining in the darkness. She found herself being able to see her attacker, as a light seemed to glow from behind her, her attacker was a large, silver wolf, and she froze in terror as if drew closer. Suddenly the light grew more radiant, and she turned to face its direction. She could make out amongst the radiance, the form of another silver wolf coming towards her, resembling Sesshomaru's dog form greatly only smaller, and not corporeal. Is it a ghost? She asked herself, as it charged towards her with ferocity. She ducked her head down into the dirt, flinging her hands over her head, and felt a shiver as the creature approached, bringing with it an otherworldly coldness, as it glided over her. She turned just in time to watch it charge down the real wolf, and saw the enemy shrink away, snarling into the darkness, away from the radiant, translucent spirit, that she knew now, was protecting her, but why?

The spirit turned to face her, and she felt as if she may have run from it had it not just saved her. It gazed at her a moment, as if trying to speak to her, and then shimmered away slowly into the darkness, only to pause a short way away. Does it want me to follow it? She thought, getting to her feet steadily, and nervously, following the shimmering spirit. It stopped for her every time she fell behind, and she wondered exactly what it was, and where it was leading her. It lit her way as she followed it, making it easier to not fall over, and she noticed that it was not walking, but floating a few inches above the ground.

As she followed the gliding ghost in silence, she heard a dim voice echoed in her ears, and speaking some language she could not understand, but it was unmistakably a woman's voice, whatever it was, and she knew that it came from the spirit. Suddenly it drew away from her, gliding faster than she could keep up, and as it glided away, she saw it pass over something, and she ran towards it.

She dashed forward, skidding onto her knees, and dropping before Inuyasha.

'Kagome…Kagome…' he kept muttering her name to himself, not realising she was here.

'Inuyasha?' she asked sweetly. He didn't look up at her. She leant forward, taking his hands in hers, pulling them gently from his face, making him look up at her with glassy, golden orbs. He threw his arms tightly round her, startling her at his sudden movement.

'Kagome! I thought I'd…I thought I'd lost you!' He said hoarsely, his throat aching from his cries. Kagome leant into the embrace. 'I saw…I watched you die.' Her eyes widened.

'What do you mean?'

'I saw you, he killed you. I thought…it seemed so real.' Kagome took his hands once more, guiding them along her cheek in the darkness, as the spirit had faded away.

'It wasn't real, it was just and illusion, I'm alive, I'm real, and I'm here.' Inuyasha nodded slightly, not that she could see him, and dropped his hands into his lap.'

'So it was Kazuya, he made me see it,' he muttered, mostly to himself.

'Sesshomaru said that he separates his enemies, only to feed them their worst fear,' she told him, only to make him flush in the darkness, and pull them both to their feet.

'How did you find me?' he asked, changing the subject. She was then reminded of the wolf, the spirit, and the voice and she felt it urgent that she tell him, before she forgot anything.

Inuyasha stood listening intently to her encounter, taking in every word. When she had finished he sighed, and she thought she could just make out him scratching the back of his head absentmindedly. 'I think, maybe the spirit wolf was against the other, and that the real wolf, was Kazuya in disguise, otherwise a normal wolf youkai would not have shrank from the light like that, they aren't afraid of otherworldly forces, why'd you think the bastards never run away from us?' Kagome silently agreed with his words.

'Just wish I knew what that spirit was, and why it saved me,' she muttered.

'We'll ask Sesshomaru, as much as I hate to admit it, that git of a brother of mine knows his stuff.' Kagome nodded in response.

Suddenly, pink light shone bright through the trees, lighting up the blackness of the forest. Kagome hissed as Inuyasha let out a short range of swear words that she could imagine her mother, (currently back in present day Tokyo) would have fainted on hearing.

'Inuyasha!' she scolded and he shrugged.

'Feh, whatever,' he muttered, pulling her roughly onto his back, and dashing through the trees.

'What's wrong?' she asked, the air rushing through her ears as he ran speedily through the forest.

'I almost forgot about the damn sunrise,' he replied, almost not touching the ground as he sped on. She heard him sniff the air frequently, and guessed he must be smelling his way back to the others.

TBC