A/N This chapter is dedicated to you! Thank you for reading this, and for putting up with my late chapters! You really are an amazing human being, and never let anyone tell you differently!

P.S I have a legitimate excuse! For the past 3.5 months I have had an exchange student live at my house, and so we've been doing a lot of traveling and family things. Ergo, no time to type or write this : (

CHAPTER 8

Kagome's POV

I felt myself waking up, leaving the beautifully numb abyss behind me. I struggled to stay there, when I felt a surge of evil aura threatening to overwhelm my unconscious mind, but it quickly retreated as soon as I became aware of it. My eyes fluttered open as I made my decision.

I would go down fighting.

The first thing that came into focus was a pair of golden eyes. Not Inuyasha's amber eyes, but a dazzling gold; Sesshomaru's eyes. While I lethargically tried to find my bearings I lazily thought, "He has really nice eyes."

I sluggishly blinked. But this time when I opened my eyes there was a new colour.

Red. It was suspended for less than a second until I felt something wet and warm hit my face. My stomached rolled at the realization that it wasn't just red in liquid form, but blood. Who's blood, I didn't know.

I quickly bolted up, my hand clutching my bow and my arrows were littered around me. I thanked whatever gods existed for that small amount of luck, as a notched an arrow into my bow, and launched it at the source of a nearby evil aura. I didn't even think about it.

It hit its mark, and Sango went down. I froze, unable to breath, as what had transpired before came back to me. I pushed away the darkness that once again threatened to overtake me. I needed to survive first, and then I could worry about fainting.

I forced my mind to shut down, running completely off of instincts, fight or flight. And, in my current situation, flight wasn't really an option. So I fought.

Adrenaline coursed through my veins as I fired arrow after arrow at the evil auras nearby. I knew when I hit someone, yet I never looked long enough to allow my brain to register whom.

Eventually I ran out of arrows, but to my new self that wasn't a problem. My bow was flooded with my spiritual energy and whoever was unlucky enough to come near me would be blasted into next week.

After close to an hour I didn't sense any evil auras that were in motion. I did I quick check, surveying the threat level off each person down. I frowned when I realized that one of the people I shot wasn't accounted for.

That's when I noticed the miasma clearing, and with it most of the unmoving bodies disappeared as well.

"I see you have trained Kagome. That is good. I always did love a good fight." Came a voice from inside the poisonous cloud. A voice I would never forget, Naraku's voice.

"Ha," I snorted at him, feeling bold by my victory, "don't make me laugh, you hate a good fight. You like to cowardly hide away and twist others to do your bidding. You're definitely one sick manipulative bastard Naraku, but you're not a fighter. You like to control your little puppets and stay out of harms way. And I can't wait to make you pay for what you've done." I vowed, a white-pink light literally shining out of my skin with my anger.

Feeling my anger he quickly left, without even a taunt to throw back at me. How pathetic. And to think, I use to be scared of him. I almost outright laughed at the thought.

And that's when I saw that colour again. Red. It had stained the ground, and even some of the surrounding trees. The whole clearing was painted with it, and, now I could smell it. It reeked of death.

Looking around, there was still people unmoving.

Kohaku and Kirara were the first two I noticed. Laying side-by-side, blood around them. I slowly walked over to them, resigning myself to the fact that they were probably both dead. I held my breath as I moved closer to them, but then I saw something that made me stop in my tracks.

They were both breathing, although Kirara was barely hanging on, but what caught my attention was one thing, an arrow. It protruded out of Kirara's side, piercing her flesh and probably the cause of a lot of damage. I knew that arrow, and it wasn't Kikyo's. I stumbled and fell to my knees as the realization hit me. I had shot Kirara. Blood was seeping into my clothes, but I couldn't bring myself to care.

When I finally got my bearing I stumbled over to the pair, gasping when Kirara reared her head and growled at me. She looked me dead in the eye and finally slowly lowered her head back to the ground, whimpering in pain. I took that as all the invitation I needed as I rushed over to help her.

"I'm so sorry Kirara," I cried softly to her over and over, a mantra to keep myself from being overwhelmed with guilt.

I grasped my arrow and swiftly pulled it out, trying desperately to ignore Kirara's hiss of pain as I did so. I quickly and efficiently put pressure on the wound, and tried to do to Kirara what I did with Sesshomaru. It was surprisingly easy to heal Kirara without hurting her; maybe it was because I was so in tuned to her aura now that it was like second nature for me. Either way, I laid my hands on her and watched, as pink sparks seemed to jump from my hands onto her, healing all of her wounds. As soon as she was healed she collapsed, probably from exhaustion.

After I was done healing her I decided to look at Kohaku, who was still unmoving next to her. I gently turned him over so he was lying in the recovery position as I quickly assessed his injuries. He was mostly bruised, and I could tell that he obviously had internal damage, but I had no idea how much. Along with that were minor cuts all over his body and one long gash across his back, from left shoulder to right hip.

Once again I gathered my healing energy into my hands as I placed my hand directly on his back's open wound. Once again sparks leaped from my hands onto his body, easily knitting all of his wounds up. Every cut and bruise, no matter how minor, disappeared. Yet he also didn't wake up.

I forced myself to stay calm; the mind was different than the body. And both of them still needed time to heal their minds and hearts after what had transpired, adding to the fact what I did to Kirara. No! I couldn't afford to think like that. I couldn't be guilty, or else it would eat away at me. And now I had a mission to finish. Except, this time I was on my own.

That's when I noticed Kikyo.

I actually thought it was quite ironic. She was pinned to a tree, one of my arrows through her chest. Just like what she did to Inuyasha, except this time there wouldn't be any waking up.

I walked over to her and slowly tugged my arrow out of her lifeless body. As soon as the arrow disappeared she crumpled to the ground. Slowly her body seemed to almost disintegrate, turning back to the ash, bones and graveyard soil in which it once was.

I stared at her body for a long time, a mixture of feelings welling up inside of me.

Sadness, anger, regret, remorse and a sick sense of self-satisfaction all coursed through me upon seeing her. I pushed the latter into a box in my head. I could not feel that for ending her life, even if she was evil. I couldn't start doing that. I promised myself that I wouldn't turn into Kikyo, So full of anger and sadness. Despite everything that happens I always want to be happy.

But then it hit me.

The people that helped make it easier to be happy wouldn't be coming back. They helped me forget just how evil humans and demons could be.

A melancholy thought hit me; maybe I would turn out as bitter as Kikyo. Looking around at all he carnage and blood stained ground I could already feel myself hardening. I was changing, evolving, but . . . maybe I didn't want to. Maybe I liked being softhearted and naive. Maybe I liked that I wasn't quick to fight or that I wasn't quick to see people as a threat. I liked seeing the best in everyone.

Was I going to lose that about myself?

And that's when I noticed the last body. I rushed forward, my heart beating loudly in my ears.

I knelt on the ground beside his body. I already knew he was dead, knew it as soon as I saw him when I first stepped into the clearing. Still, it hit me like a punch in the gut to see him lying there in a pool of his own blood. I faintly wondered when he had fallen from the tree. I swept his bloodied hair off of his forehead, and then I rubbed his dog-ears. Just like when I first met him. I kissed his forehead lightly, and then slowly got up.

The sky was a light grey, making it impossible to tell what time of day it was. I lumbered away to the village to grab my things, leaving Kohaku and Kirara with a protective barrier. I couldn't let them come with me. This was my fight and no one else was going to get hurt because of me. With that thought I was at the village, and I quickly figured out that it was around midday as many people were outside.

My bloodied presence arouses alarm among the villagers, yet I ignored them. I didn't have time to explain my story over and over again. The longer I took the more time Naraku had to get away and gain more power.

I stopped off at Kaede's hut to find Shippo still sleeping. Smiling bitterly at the thought of leaving him again I gave him a small kiss on the forehead. Then I packed the essentials into the bag. A change of clothes, things to wash, more arrows, and also the tools I needed to make more arrows. As a final thought I stuffed my sleeping bag in my backpack as well and left Shippo cuddling an old stuffed animal I had brought for him.

I had left a quick note for Kaede, explaining the bare minimum and then I grabbed my bike and left. I didn't even change my clothes or bath, which I knew would attract demons, but I couldn't bring myself to care.

As I got farther away from the village I faintly wondered if Sesshomaru was even at the battle or if I imagined that all. If he was, then why did he leave so quickly?

A/N There you have it! I have no idea how long this is going to be, so please just bare with me! Anyways, I hope you like it so far!