TADA! Ok, so I chose to just go ahead and post another chapter today out of the goodness of my heart haha Don't forget: I'll be posting a KenInuTen story on monday! (Kenshin, Inuyasha and Tenchi for the newbies who still haven't figured it out yet lol) I myself think it's pretty interesting and there will be humor, romance and action of course! Be on the lookout for Tamashi No Gemu! :D (NO AFFILIATION WITH HUNGER GAMES OR THAT CONCEPT T_T. Just want to makd that clear because of the title so people won't be expecting something else...but you should still read it :) anyways, onward with this new chapter! R&R PLEASE!

CHAPTER THIRTEEN

Kagura

Naraku was always sending others to do his dirty work. Unfortunately, since I was practically the strongest one of his army that was cast off from his own body, I was always sent to run his errands, more or less. I was cursed with the ability to control the wind but I myself wasn't "free". I wanted nothing more than to be separated from him and not have to answer to him. But I was bound. He held my heart in his hands. If I ever deceived him, he would end me. Even if he felt he had no more need for me to be in this world any longer, he could get rid of me. I hated this life, but I loved to live it.

Summoning all of those dead soldiers to go after Inuyasha and his clan for the jewel shards was a fail from the beginning. I knew the power my Dance of the Dead technique held was powerful, but I was smart enough to know that no puppets were a match for the group. I didn't care to fight them or even be involved in their problems. Knowing that Naraku was always watching, the least I could do was put on a show, which was my only reason for using Dance of Blades on the youngest Tsuyotomi sister. That was enough for me. I stayed afterwards out of curiosity.

I didn't think it was a good idea to recreate Shinobu and Akira. That was low, even for Naraku. But he claimed to know what he was doing when he laid the plan out to me, telling me what my specific tasks were. I actually felt bad for the sisters, but there was nothing I could do to help them.

I was glad he decided to stop them when the sisters were terribly hurt. He was playing with them. He wanted to make them think they would die by their supposed parents' hands. He was sick. One thing I was curious of most was what Shinobu's eyes showed the youngest sister before he head-butted her unconscious and threw her into the woods behind me. Whatever it was, she grew terrified to the point where she couldn't even fight anymore.

I returned to Naraku's castle empty-handed of jewel shards. I was slow to walk through the place to look for him, not in a rush to face him. I passed by a few rooms and Kanna, another piece of Naraku, stood in the doorway of one of them, holding her mirror in her hands.

"What is the matter, Kanna?"

She stood silent and tilted her mirror up towards my face. I looked into it to see Inuyasha's group approaching a village in search of help. They all looked worn out. Inuyasha carried the oldest sister in his arms with her blood all over his front side, a scowl on his face. Then, the image disappeared.

"I sensed you were worried about the well-being of the group." She said softly.

"Hm." I turned my face away from her towards the floor, preparing to walk away. "Thank you."

I slowly walked up to Naraku's room door and it slid open by itself. I took two steps forwards and the door closed behind me.

"Worried about them, are we?" Naraku hid in the shadows in a corner of the room. Because I was part of him, he knew everything I felt, knew everything I was thinking and saw what I saw when he had puppets around. It was nearly impossible to escape him. I was not my own person. I belonged to him.

I couldn't bring myself to answer him. I just looked to my left out of the window at the sun beginning to set, turning the sky mixtures of orange, pink and purple.

"You did a good job today." He spoke again.

"Huh?" I turned back towards him.

"Your holding back made me realize that I need you. If you had fought like I told you to, the sisters would have surely killed you if Inuyasha hadn't."

I was offended. "Inuyasha couldn't ever come close." I spat. I couldn't believe he was even doubting me. Then my mind wandered to the first thing he said. He needed me?

"Your dead soldiers did put up quite a fight. It's disappointing that they were unable to retrieve the shards, though. I guess I will have to take care of that myself. On the other hand, Shinobu and Akira didn't fail me. They put up an interesting fight, don't you agree?"

"Interesting enough." I looked back out of the window. "But…don't you think that was a little overboard?" I dared to ask him. I wanted to know what he was honestly thinking. He may have been borrowing a demon's body and using his collected jewel shards to his desire, but his heart still held the human feelings of Onigumo. Before he was the half demon Naraku, he was a full human man. And sometimes his actions proved it by sparring my life on more than one occasion. I remembered him saying that even as a human he was hateful and deceitful of others, but it was hard to tell since he kept me around all this time. If that wasn't the case, he would have killed me off a long time ago.

"Not at all, Kagura."

"May I ask why?" I chanced once again.

"Recreating Shinobu and Akira proved to me that their daughters were still hurt by their deaths. They are weak against them."

"But, they fought back in the end."

"Perhaps so, but they weren't fighting at their full potential. They wouldn't dare want to hurt their precious parents. They did exactly what I wanted them to do."

"You put them up against their weakness just to see what all they could do?"

"Exactly. They didn't use every aspect of their powers, but I saw enough." He chuckled.

I turned to leave but he stopped me. I looked over my shoulder to see him coming out of the shadows, holding something in his right hand. I gasped and put a hand to the spot where my heart should have been and watched as he teased it with a small squeeze.

"Disobeying me this time saved your life and worked to my benefit. But let it happen again and I will end you."

He opened his hand all the way and my heart disappeared and I took several deep breaths, sweating profusely. I quickly exited his room, closing the door behind me and leaving his castle all together.

Inuyasha

Sakura and Ayame were so worn out fighting against their puppet parents. Honestly, I think I would be too. All four of them moved faster than my eyes could keep up with and they were exchanging blows that sent out heavy impacts through the air and on the ground. I wanted so badly to help them in some type of way, but I respected Ayame's wishes and backed off.

That bastard Naraku was trying so hard to overcome his human heart, he was pulling all sorts of tricks from thin air that seemed to get more evil when he decided to attack without being around. I couldn't wait to get my hands on him and kill him once and for all.

The ground shook slightly as Shinobu jumped into the air and tackled Ayame down into the crater Sakura created when she punched him from the air.

"Ayame!" Sakura screamed, trying to reach her sister. Akira had her tied up, going full force at her so she couldn't help her sister.

When I looked back at Ayame and Shinobu from Sakura and Akira, Ayame was being thrown into the woods. Sakura tried to get to her again but as soon as her feet touched the ground, vines shot up from the soil and wrapped her legs together. She struggled and closed one eye as the vines coiled up her arms and to her neck. Akira leapt down in front of her and jumped back into the air as Shinobu surprised her and rammed his fist into her stomach. She couldn't even scream; the wind was knocked out of her.

I gripped Tetsusaiga and growled. I couldn't watch this anymore. I blinked once and I saw a sword go through her stomach and come out through her back. I gasped and my eyes grew wide at the sight. Shinobu's hand transformed just as Naraku could do.

"Sakura!" I took one step, then two, then broke out into a full sprint to reach her. Time seemed to slow down and I felt like it was taking too long for me to get to her. When I finally did, I unsheathed Tetsusaiga and unleased the Wind Scar at the puppets in front of her, but to no avail. As soon as I swung it, they disappeared into thin air.

I quickly put Tetsusaiga back in its sheath and caught Sakura as the vines holding her up gave way.

"Inuyasha!" Shippo cried, running towards Sakura and I with everyone behind him. "Is she going to be okay?"

I ripped the vines from Sakura's body and was careful when I cut them from around her neck with my claws. I heard her slow heartbeat and weak breathing. I'm not sure why I thought she was going to die. I guess I was just scared at the moment and because her wounds looked so severe. People talked about her and Ayame being the strongest demon's alive so this had to be nothing to her.

"We need to tend to her wounds. We have to find a village." I said, trying to stay calm on the outside.

"I've got Ayame." Sango said, sitting on a big Kilala's back in her demon slayer outfit. Miroku climbed on behind her. "We'll fly ahead and see if there's a village nearby."

I nodded to her and watched them fly north, not back-tracking away from the direction we were searching for Naraku in.

"Kagome, are you okay to ride on your bike?" Koga asked, helping her on.

Kagome nodded. "Yeah, I can manage for a while."

"Alright, I'll go ahead as well and let you guys know if I find anything."

"Okay,"

"I hope you can keep up 'cause I'm not walkin'." I said to Kagome as I took off. I didn't want to waste any time in getting Sakura some help.

"I'll be okay! You ready, Shippo?"

"Ready."

"Hold on tight!" I heard from behind me. I glanced back and Kagome paddled on her bike as fast as she could manage.

"Inuyasha, up ahead!" Miroku called down to me from the sky.

There was a village closer than I thought. I was thankful for the smell of human as we got closer to it. I heard the faint sound of Kagome's bike chains spinning and knew she wasn't that far behind.

When we entered the village we attracted all kinds of stares from people. We were all kind of beat up and splattered with mud so I didn't really care about the whispers. Of course they were going to whisper at the sight.

"Where is the village doctor?" I demanded in a loud voice, looking around at all of the people. Miroku and Sango hopped off of Kilala and Miroku took Ayame into his arms.

"Please, we are in need of immediate assistance." He said.

"And just why should we help you demons?" A bitter old woman questioned us, stepping from behind some villagers.

"Because we're askin' for it and if you dare refuse, I'll personally rip your heart out!" I snapped. I heard gasps and showed my fangs off to the old woman in hopes to scare her. It worked.

"This way," She turned around and motioned us to follow her.

She took us to a large hut and told Miroku and I where to lay Sakura and Ayame.

"Hello, my name is Dr. Gensu." A man who looked to be in his 50's walked inside of the hut and looked us all over. "Will you all be needing assistance this evening?"

"No, kind sir, just these three women." Miroku gestured to Sakura, Ayame and Kagome. "My name is Miroku and on behalf of all of my friends, I am in your gratitude." He shared a bow with the man.

"Oh my, we must get started immediately." He said with worried eyes, looking at Sakura's bloody stomach.

"Please, get out." The woman shoved Miroku, Koga and I out of the hut.

I stood my ground. "What do you think you're doing? I'm not going anywhere!" I protested.

"You must leave the doctor to his work!"

"No way! I wanna stay and watch over them!"

"They have to be undressed! Now go and we'll come for you when we're through!"

I blushed a beat red and still hesitated.

"It's okay, Inuyasha." Kagome said. "I'll be looking after them for you."

I groaned low and nodded, storming out of the hut. I trusted Kagome and so her reassurance eased me just a little.