Chapter 8

"So, Naraku, what do you plan on doing to get that little bitch away from Sesshomaru?" Kagura asked the hanyou on the other end of the room.

Naraku sat on his futon, staring angrily out the window, his teeth clenched tightly as he banged his fist repeatedly on the windowsill.

"I can't say I have a plan right now." He murmured just barely high enough for her to hear.

"I don't understand why you don't just kidnap the girl."

"I want her on my side willingly."

"Does it make a difference?" Kagura asked leaning herself up against the wall.

"No. I just don't want the hassle. She WILL bare my child."

"Why do you need her to bare your child in the first place?"

"Why do you ask so many questions? Leave this room!" Naraku demanded quite loudly.

Kagura glared at the back of Naraku's head as he turned away from her. She left the room reluctantly and walked down the hall. She left the large door to the castle and noticed Kohaku sitting on a bench and staring blankly out into the forest. She made her way over to him and sat down by his side.

"Kohaku?" She called out his name and he turned to face her, his eyes filled with nothingness as if he was a void, "Do you remember anything from your past?"

Kohaku continued staring at her not speaking a word. Kagura sighed and turned from the boy. Kohaku took a big breath and his eyes cleared. She looked up at him and he was back to normal. She could see his childish, yet sad eyes once again.

"I remember…" Kohaku grabbed his head and curled up helplessly.

"What do you remember Kohaku?" Kagura asked him.

"Her face never leaves my mind! She is always there! Who is she?" Kohaku squeezed his head harder.

"Stop it!" Kagura demanded him as she removed his hands from his head, "You will hurt yourself."

Kohaku looked back up at her and once again his eyes were a black hole. She stared into him and could see only sadness and regret. She turned away and looked to the floor fighting the tears that threatened to fall across her face. She and Kohaku had gotten a bit closer.

Every now and then Kohaku would be able to get a piece of himself and go back to being the regular boy he used to be and she was helping him do this. She hated seeing him suffer so much, but what she hated more was the constant emptiness she knew that he felt. She wanted to free him from Naraku and send him back to Sango. She wanted him to be okay and she would help him do this even if it may be the last thing she did.

She also wanted to free herself from Naraku, but had no idea how to do it. Kohaku had a single jewel shard in his back that was keeping him alive. Naraku would surely take that away and kill him if Kohaku went back to Sango. She knew it was the same with her. If she was caught helping Kohaku she would feel her own heart being crushed in the Dark Lords hands, so for now they would lay low and do as they were told.

"I will get you home Kohaku…" Kagura said patting the emotionless boy's back, "I promise…"

Shippo and Kagome were once again getting very tired and didn't know if they could continue to walk at Sesshomaru's pace. Kagome's legs were sore and were beginning to feel numb. Shippo was lying on Kagome's shoulder bored to death and almost falling asleep.

"Are you tired?" Sesshomaru asked not even turning to them.

"How long is it going to take us to get to the place we are going?" Kagome asked him partly out of breath.

"About two more days." Sesshomaru said impassively.

Kagome took in one more breath and fell forward. Sesshomaru turned around and raised an eyebrow at her when he noticed her body lying there limp on the floor. Poor Shippo had rolled off of her shoulder and along the ground.

'At this pace it will take us months to get there… How come Rin doesn't complain this much?' Sesshomaru asked himself.

Kagome lay there on the floor catching her breath as Sesshomaru walked over by her side. He bent down and swooped her up into his arm. Kagome let out a slight squeal because she felt as if he was going to drop her.

"Sorry Sesshomaru." She said knowing she hurt his ears, "You just scared me that's all."

"I am not that incapable with one arm, you know?" He said sighing, "I can still pick a girl up."

"I know that." Kagome said looking away from him. She felt so bad. She didn't even know what she could say around him anymore because everything she says ends up bringing up his arm.

Sesshomaru set her on his back and held her up the best he could. Shippo jumped onto his shoulder and looked back at Kagome and then to Sesshomaru. Kagome could tell Sesshomaru was struggling and laid her head on his chest. He looked back at her and glared.

"What are you doing?" Sesshomaru asked frustrated.

"Do you want it back?" she asked quietly.

"Want what back?" he asked.

"You know… Your arm."

Sesshomaru glared fiercely at her and dropped her to the floor. She landed with a hard thud not having any time to catch herself. Shippo quickly jumped into a tree. Sesshomaru turned to her and his eyes were flashing red again.

"What the hell makes you think that I need my arm back?!" he asked her his voice getting deeper and a lot scarier, "Do you really think I am incapable of holding my own without my arm?"

"No I…" Kagome started only to be interrupted again.

"I Lord Sesshomaru do not need to have both of his arms!"

"SESSHOMARU!" Kagome yelled as she stood up and he calmed down, "I am not saying you are incapable of anything! From what I see you do a pretty damn good job with one arm. I was just offering!"

"I don't need you to offer anything!"

"You said if you had the chance you would want to get your arm back! I just gave you that chance! You could have just said no!"

"Well the answer is no." He glared at her once more and walked away into the same direction, "You follow on your own. I shall not help."

"Kagome are you okay?" Shippo said jumping back down from the tree and on to her shoulder.

Kagome suddenly felt sick and fell to her knees. She couldn't breathe. Shippo looked up at her worried and hugged her. Kagome was fighting to catch her breath. She began to cough hysterically and cried some.

Sesshomaru's reaction was so sudden and it scared her. She thought she was going to truly get hit. She had witnessed Inuyasha's transformation many times and hated it. She could control him with saying sit, but Sesshomaru she could not. What if he had attacked her the way Inuyasha attacked everyone else.

Shippo could not get her to calm down so he ran off to find Sesshomaru. Kagome started to cry violently and fell completely to the floor. Why did he scare her so much? Kagome's eyesight began to fade and all she could see was black. She had passed out.

Shippo returned with an irritated Sesshomaru. He looked down to Kagome and called out her name, but he got no answer. He nudged her with his foot trying to kindly get her to sit up, but once again he got no answer.

"You really scared her Sesshomaru." Shippo told him, "She couldn't breathe. She told me about this thing called adrenaline one time and it can do lots of things to you."

"Why did I scare her though?" Sesshomaru asked.

"Your eyes turned red again. I got scared to because when Inuyasha's eyes turned red he would attack everyone and everything that was living. Kagome could control him to a certain point, but she couldn't do anything if it was you. You are way more powerful then Inuyasha and she knows it."

"Hm…" Sesshomaru smirked as he leaned down and swooped Kagome up again. He tossed her over his shoulder and put Shippo on the other.

"Shippo." Sesshomaru called out his name.

"Yes?"

"For future reference, when my eye's turn red it is because I am angry. You will know when I transform and it certainly wasn't then."

"Oh okay."

"Also… I can control my transformation. I know that Inuyasha can't, but I can. So you two do not have to worry about me attacking either of you."

"Cool! Oh, I was so right… You are so much cooler than Inuyasha is." Shippo said feeding to the Demon Lords ego.

Sesshomaru smirked and began walking once more. Kagome remained passed out on his shoulder for a while. Shippo and Sesshomaru would occasionally have little conversations about where each other were from and what happened to their parents.

Walking along the riverbank, Kikyou and Sango were tired and forced the boys to stop at the next village and sleep there. The two girls were sitting on the shore of a small river that ran passed the town.

"So, Naraku did all that to you?" Kikyou asked Sango.

"Yea… he still has Kohaku with him too." She told her.

"Do you think you can free him from Naraku's grasp?"

"No… If I do Kohaku would die…"

"What do you mean?" Kikyou asked lying on her back.

"Kohaku has a jewel shard in his back that is keeping him alive. If I try to take him all Naraku will do is remove the shard and Kohaku would fall right then. I can't let that happen."

"So you are going after Naraku first?"

"Yes. If Naraku is dead he can't control the jewel shard and Kohaku can live."

"But what happens when we have to complete the jewel?"

"That is the only thing I am worried about, but for now I am just going to concentrate on killing Naraku and getting my brother back."

"That's really nice. I wish my sister was still little…"

"Oh yea. It must be hard… AND a little strange, to know your little sister is older than you look."

"Well yea. I am glad I got to know she lived as long as she did. I did die quite young compared to her."

"Well you have got another chance. Take advantage of it."

"Yeah… If I survive all of this I want to be a norma…" Kikyou stopped talking and looked to the floor.

"What's wrong?" Sango asked her.

"I can never be normal… Not only am I a miko, but I am dead…"

"You aren't dead. Look at you."

"It doesn't matter what I look like right now. I am still, as Kagome put it, a clay pot."

"Oh…" Sango kicked her feet like a child, "We can figure out if we can do something about that."

"I don't know… I would have to go into like… a super giant miko book room!" Kikyou said spreading her arms as wide as possible.

"Do you think it is possible?"

"I hope…"

"What you two lovely ladies doing over here?" Miroku said as he walked up with Inuyasha.

"Just talking." Kikyou said.

"So…" Sango said staring at the boy's who just rudely interrupted them.

"I have a question." Kikyou said, "Do you think Kagome was serious about it being fine?"

"Yeah… She has never lied to us before." Inuyasha told him.

"I hope so…" Kikyou said looking up at the sky as she curled her knees up to her chest.

WEEEELLLLLLL That's another chapter for you all. The more reviews I get the more I post!