As they approached the broken little town, with fires blazing on every roof, pieces of shattered pottery scattered across the ground, men's bodies everywhere, some still with a deathgrip on their long, elegant swords, and women and children lying dead in the streets, Xanthas looked away for a minute. This wasn't something he was used to. He'd heard stories of wars…but this was awful. Whoever…or whatever did this showed no mercy at all. If anything, they seemed to get an almost sadistic pleasure out of mangling the dead bodies, as if whatever force drove them was beyond his comprehension.

"Whoever did this…they're not human," said Xanthas, shaking his head.

Sango nodded.

Miroku tightened one hand into a fist. "No, he wasn't. This is definitely Naraku's work. As much destruction as possible…no survivors."

"Naraku makes me sick," blurted Inuyasha. "He didn't even spare the kids…not one. He's a demon, all right. A demon bastard that deserves to die."

Xanthas took a step forward. "Let's keep moving. I don't think he's still here."

Quickly, he looked around, and drew his sword. He got it out of its sheath just in time to block some strange looking purple fluid from striking him in the face. As it hit the ground, the fluid dissolved much of the blood-stained grass before settling.

Inuyasha's eyes narrowed. "Miasma. He's here."

Inuyasha drew his own sword, which somehow expanded as it worked its way out of its sheath. "TETSUSAIGA!"

Miroku spun his staff around, to show that he was ready to fight, too. "Where are you, Naraku? Show yourself!"

A sinister laugh was heard. "Foolish monk. Stupid half-demon. You're not my targets here. But…I'll gladly kill you to get you out of my way!"

Suddenly a strange TWACK was heard, and Miroku fell to the ground. Sango examined him, and found him to be unconscious. "Somebody hit him in the head with something…I don't know how they got past us! Whoever it was was too fast for me to see!"

Xanthas growled. "It's not a who…it's a what. It's a Heartless."

"A Heartless?"

"Yes. Those without hearts. They seek the hearts of the living…strong and weak alike, they aren't picky. They take all the hearts they can. They're mindless, despicable creatures. Miroku's lucky. He surprised the creature. His heart wasn't as easy for it to take."

Xanthas heard a noise. "Heh. Apparently it thinks it can take ME on. Too bad. It's the last thing it'll ever do."

Xanthas swung his sword backwards and held it there for a moment, as it caused the Heartless to run directly into it. The Heartless went limp over the sword. Xanthas used the sword to toss the Heartless over to Sango.

"There's you assailant."

With a twisted, mangled face, it didn't look like any Heartless Xanthas had ever seen.

Sango shouted in surprise. "This isn't a Heartless…it's a DEMON!"

The creature evaporated in a puff of smoke. The sinister voice spoke again. "You mean, it WAS a demon. The perfect marriage of evil. Demon Heartless. A novel concept, don't you think? Even the name is something to strike fear into the hearts of men…before I snatch them away. Or maybe…Heartless Demon is more fitting?"

As another strange noise was made, Xanthas displayed his second trophy before it was destroyed as well. "Maybe. But I prefer 'Dead' myself."

Naraku laughed again, and showed himself, walking up the path. "How clever. But I have something to wipe the smirk off your face."

Naraku reached into his cloak, his black hair flowing in the sour wind, his red eyes glowing evilly. He pulled out something delicately, and displayed it with an evil smile. A small, pink, glowing object. Xanthas froze.

"My…heart?"

Naraku laughed. "That's right, kid. Your heart. I have your heart. And it's right here, in my measly little hand. I'm sure someone as powerful as you could just simply walk over here and take it…don't you think?"

"I'm not here for games, Naraku! Hand it over, NOW!" Xanthas looked almost angry.

Inuyasha smiled. "I don't care about some heart…I'm gonna kill you, Naraku!" He charged.

Naraku frowned in annoyance. "This is not your battle, fool."

He swatted Inuyasha away, and shot spikes from his hands, pinning him to a wall.

Inuyasha dropped his sword, and spat. "Damn you!"

Kagome attempted to fire an arrow at Naraku, but some strange vines erupted from the ground and restrained both Kagome and Sango, and one wrapped around the neck of the still-unconscious Miroku.

"There. That will prevent any unwanted distractions. Now, you say you want your heart back. Well? Come get it back."

Xanthas readied his sword. "There'll be no need to take it by force once I toss aside your dismembered body, Naraku. I'm stronger than you think I am."

"Oh? And why would you need to kill me to get it back, hm? You're certainly fast enough that you could simply take it from me yourself and then kill me."

An uneasy look flowed across Xanthas' face for a second.

"What's that? Oh, you'd rather kill me first anyway? And why might that be? The pleasure? Oh, but you can't feel pleasure…then what would it be?"

"Shut up, Naraku!"

Naraku smiled. "What is it? What is it that makes you uneasy? What are you afraid of?"

"I'm not afraid of anything. I'm more powerful than you can imagine!"

"Then show me."

Xanthas charged at Naraku, swung his blade, and removed Naraku's right arm without so much as blinking. Naraku simply laughed as his arm instantly grew back. His new hand grew terrible claws, which he then used to rend part of Xanthas' shoulder. Luckily for Xanthas, it wasn't his sword arm.

Xanthas took several swings at Naraku, removing different random extremities until eventually he needed a breather. As he panted, Naraku laughed more.

"Fool. I'm not going to let you kill me. You'll have to take your heart by force eventually…or you could just simply die trying to do it the way you are now. Either way suits me just fine."

"I will kill you. That much I know for sure," said Xanthas as he jumped into the air and cut Naraku down the middle.

As Naraku's two halves were falling to the ground, small veinlike things protruded from the wound and weaved together, forming a little bridge that promptly pulled his two halves back into a whole body again. He was apparently VERY skilled in the art of regeneration.

Naraku chuckled. "I see you're going to be persistant. Very well. I suppose I should fight back, but I do grow bored. I think I'll just simply give you your heart back and be done with it."

Xanthas' eyes widened. He tried to speak, but couldn't say anything.

Naraku grasped the heart, and it seemed to vanish into pink dust, but then Xanthas glowed for a second. "There you are. Good as new. Aren't you happy now?"

Xanthas tried to swing the Nothing Blade…only to find that it had vanished. He panicked. He was no longer Xanthas…he was Asher.

Naraku had a sarcastic look of surprise on his face. "Oh, dear! It would appear that sword can only be wielded by a Nobody!"

He stepped toward Asher and prepared his clawlike fingernails. "How unfortunate for you."