Disclaimer: I do not own InuYasha. All rights are reserved for Rumiko Takahashi.

We finally arrived at the castle, finding it easier to locate with Naraku's miasma palpable in the air. I pulled out one of my arrows and aimed it straight in the air to purify the poison. The castle was already under siege when we arrived, but the shock I saw on the faces of the troops was unsettling.

"What's wrong?" I asked openly as Naraku's army of demons appeared at the front gate.

"Those are our allies..." Mana answered as she walked up beside me.

"Why are they fighting for Naraku?" I asked with outrage now.

"That would be because of my dance of the dead." Kagura lounged on the top of the castle wall looking bored and unpleased. I was betting that Naraku forced her to help.

"Regardless of who we fight, our main objective is still the same." Sesshomaru stepped forward and unsheathed tokijin. His soldiers followed his lead and pulled their weapons along with Inuyasha who was all to eager to start a fight.

"That's right. Fight your own, Lord Sesshomaru. Kill them as you want to kill me." Naraku smiled evilly at the group as he hovered near Kagura. "Kagura shouldn't you be doing your job?"

Without anymore hesitation the battle began. Cries of pain and terror could be heard along with the clashing of swords. Inuyasha and Sesshomaru both went for Naraku, but a familiar twinge had me running straight for the castle itself.

"I sense the jewel!" I called to Mana who began following after me.

"Be careful, Kagome. I've heard he's known for setting traps!" I realized she had a point, but I wasn't going to let Naraku have the jewel. She rushed through the doors and down the halls until I finally located the room. It was a small and darkly lit room with only one lightened spot. A light shined directly on the almost complete jewel. I was about to step forward into the room when a hand rested on my shoulder.

"You stay here, I'll get the jewel for you." Before I had a chance to complain she pushed me through the shadows in the room, trapping me so I couldn't stop her.

He swung his sword with lethal precision, cutting down the mindless drones in his path. He searched the field for Kagome before he started towards Naraku again. It was unsettling having her out of his sight though he knew Mana would take care of her.

"Fight me Naraku." He was growing angry with the hanyou's persistence in avoiding him and refusing to fight with his own bear hands.

"You foolish demon. Falling for a mortal woman. Now I can destroy you that much easier." He chuckled darkly. "Your miko is about to fall right into my hands and you can't do a thing about it."

He growled and turned to scan the crowds again. No sign of her anywhere on the battle field. He turned and followed her scent into the castle ignoring the laughing hanyou that followed in his wake. He had no time to lose which made him cut through the crowds more forcefully and with much less guilt.

He finally made it through to the castle and wasted no time in locating Mana's aura though there was something strange about it.

I watched Mana step closer to the alter where the jewel rested. There was hesitation in her footing as she made he way across the room. She stopped in front of the alter and lifted her hand to the jewel. Before I could see what happened she let out a startled cry of pain.

"Mana!" I yelled to he but the room was deadly silent now. I gasped in horror as Mana fell to the floor, first to her knees, then her head hit with a loud thud, she ceased moving. "Mana! Mana, are you ok?" I tried to go to her, but the shadows kept me locked in the darker areas of the room. I ran around the edge of the shadows to try to see what happened and fell to my knees at the scene. A stake was jutting out of her chest. My heart almost stopped at the sight of her lifeless eyes starring back at me.

Tears ran down my face and my eyes widened as her body started to seep into the shadows in the floor boards. I continued to cry long after that until someone burst into the room. I lifted my water filled eyes to see Sesshomaru. He had his sword drawn and, by the looks on his face, I knew he could smell the death that drifted through the room.

"I told you... She's dead." Naraku appeared behind him and, without hesitation, Sesshomaru struck the hanyou's arm clean off. "Now, now there are plenty of other human women who, I'm sure, would be delighted to be with you."

"Silence half breed." He growled a menacing growl before he began slicing at Naraku over and over again.

"You can cut me all you want, Sesshomaru, but I will only regenerate." He mocked Sesshomaru.

I stood in the shadows calling out his name while pounding on the shadow screen with my fists, but it was clear no one could hear me. I wanted to tell him to save Mana and that I was still alive. There wasn't much time left. I stood there watching the battle and tried to figure out how I could get out of the shadows. My heart still ached over the loss of Mana and I still couldn't think of a single way to get out of the shadows, but I knew that there had to be a way. There was something that I was forgetting and somehow I knew it was the key.

He wouldn't believe, not for a moment, that she was dead. He couldn't smell her blood at all, though what worried him was whose blood he could smell. Mana. She must have gotten injured protecting Kagome. And if that was the case, he was certain that his miko was still alive.

He scanned the shadows of the room, but there was no sign of Mana anywhere and whenever she brought Kagome into her world, he could hardly even sense her. He growled at Naraku before pinning him against the wall with his sword. "What have you done to them?"

"Well you see I knew your precious miko wouldn't resist the chance to relinquish my possession of the sacred jewel fragment... So I simply left it out in the open to draw her to it. And when she was reaching for the jewel, a trap was sprung that plunged a stake through her heart." His smile grew all the while.

"You shall suffer a slow and agonizing death for your insolence." He said viciously as his eyes began to glow red.

"We shall see." He replied smugly.

"You're going down Naraku!" Inuyasha yelled as he barged into the room with Miroku and Sango behind him. "We're gonna make sure you don't make it out of here alive."

Yet he knew this battle was far from over.

To be Continued...

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-Lala 3