Author's Note: Aiyaya! What a week! I'm sorry that I haven't been able to update regularly:( A lot of stuff has come up. Thanks for the reviews and for being patient. I don't have much else to blab about so...Chapter 7!

Disclaimer: Inuyasha's not mine! Do you see me holding the leash?

Jakotsu walked out of the forest and towards the tall burly man, who was staring off into a particular direction. He huffed and continued towards him. "Hey, Suikotsu? Did you find us something to eat yet?" he asked.

Suikotsu peered over to Jakotsu out the corner of his eye. "Quiet, something's coming." he whispered loudly.

"What?! Suikotsu we don't have time to fight demons, we've got to find some food or big brother's going to be pissed!" he barked out. Suddenly the wind picked up, blowing his kimono and hair around wildly. "What the-."

Kouga slid to a stop, kicking up dust into the faces of the two undead mercenaries . He glared and crossed his arms with an audible growl. "I knew you rotting bastards were around here somewhere! The stench was overwhelming!" he growled.

Lifting his razor sharp claws, Suikotsu advanced towards the wolf demon. He smirked and said, "Then how about I slice your little nose off!"

Smirking, Jakotsu lifted his Jakotsutou up and pointed it towards him. "Oh, Kouga, this is going to hurt you more than it's going to hurt me. You have no where to run now!" he laughed.

Suikotsu licked his claws with a sick smile. "Jakotsu, why don't you report back to big brother while I get rid of the trash." he suggested, never peeling his eyes from Kouga. He smirked as Kouga glared at him even more.

He was going to protest, but when Suikotsu had that look in his eyes, he would kill anyone that stood in the way of his battle. Jakotsu lowered his sword and winked at Kouga. "Bleed slowly for me, Kouga!" he said strangely as he ran back into the direction from which he came.

His icy blue eyes followed the feminine man into the forest. 'Why did he run back into the forest rather than just go back inside their hideout? They're hiding something...Kagome.' he thought. He was forcefully brought back to reality when Suikotsu and lunged towards him with his razor sharp claws. He quickly jumped out of the way and repeated the process and few more times when the psychotic doctor kept charging towards him. "You're in my way!" he yelled.

"You won't escape this time you coward!" Suikotsu shouted.

Kagome looked around apprehensively while biting her lower lip. She was praying that the jewel shards she sensed were coming from the other members of the shichinintai. She clasped her hands together and let out a barely audible whimper. 'I sensed two jewel shards, then that must be...oh no, anyone but...' "Kouga." she breathed out his name.

Bankotsu stared at Kagome strangely. 'What's she tweaking about?' "Kouga, what about him?" he asked casually.

Kagome snapped her eyes towards Bankotsu. 'Would he be too upset if I asked him to play the ruthless abductor while I play the innocent victim? No...he'd be super pissed...I have to face the music...I guess.' she thought. She sighed and looked straight into his azure eyes. "Bankotsu, I think Kouga is around here somewhere...I can sense his shards." she told painfully. 'Forgive me Kouga.'

Bankotsu gazed at the young priestess in awe. He couldn't believe that she would actually tell him, ally of her sworn enemy, where the jewel shards were. His ears had to be playing tricks on him. "Kagome...you're actually helping me find the jewel shards?" he said, walking towards her.

Kagome gave him a thin smile. She knew that it was horribly wrong to be helping the enemy, but he did spare her life on several occasions. She only hoped that Inuyasha and the others would never find out about this, especially Sango. Sango and she were like sisters and if she found out that she in some way were helping Naraku...Kagome cringed at her last thought. 'I'm a horrible person...I deserve to be punished for this.' she thought with tears nearly stinging her eyes. She snapped out of her thoughts when she felt someone place their hands on her shoulders. When she looked up her eyes met with a pair of sparkling blue ones.

He gazed at her intensely. "Answer me." he said, gently gripping her chin between his finger and thumb.

Kagome shakily nodded her head. "Yes, I guess you could say that."

"What about Inuyasha?" he said, narrowing his gaze a bit.

Kagome felt a sudden pang in her heart. 'Inuyasha...I almost forgot about you.' She remained silent.

Rage suddenly took over him. It was evident that she still held feelings for the hanyou, but what about him? He wasn't going to give her up without a fight, especially not to Inuyasha. Bankotsu let his famous smirk grace his features as he pulled Kagome's face closer to his. "Listen up, I don't know why you're helping us, but if this is some sort of trick...I'll have your pretty little head." he threatened in a sing-song voice.

Kagome laughed nervously. "It's not a trick, I'm helping because I want to." she said quickly. What scared her most of all was that what she had said was actually the truth.

Before he could reply, the sound of rustling bushes entered the area. Instinctively he pushed Kagome behind him and quickly pulled a small dagger from his sleeve. "Don't tell me that Banryuu isn't going to miss out on this action!" he said cockily.

A tall, yet feminine man stumbled from the bushes and in front of the two. He was hunched over gasping for air. "Suikotsu...Kouga...fighting!" he managed to get out.

The shichinintai leader smirked. "The wolf's here, huh?" he said. He glanced back to the priestess behind him. 'She was telling the truth.' He suddenly became overwhelmed with certain emotions he'd only experienced with his brothers...trust. Pushing his emotions aside for a second he looked over to Jakotsu once more. "Jakotsu, take Kagome back inside and bring Banryuu to me." he ordered.

Jakotsu narrowed his eyes with a frown. 'Forgetting Banyruu...that wench must have his mind all screwed up. I can't believe I have to drag that heavy ass...' "Right!" He looked over to Kagome with a sigh. "Come with me, wen...Kagome." He refrained himself from calling her a wench, especially in front of Bankotsu.

Kagome blinked a few times. 'He finally said it, he finally said my name.' Once again she felt someone rest their hand on her shoulder.

Bankotsu stared into Kagome's chocolate eyes when she looked up at him. "Kagome, I'm glad that you're on our side. You have earned my trust now Kagome, that's not an easy thing to earn either." he explained.

She was speechless yet flattered all at once. She didn't believe that he actually put all of his trust into her. She was surprised that a murderer such as himself would trust anyone. 'A murderer...I befriended a murderer. He doesn't think that I'm going to help him on a regular basis, does he?' "Um, I can't help..." she was cut off mid-sentence when a pair of soft ,warm lips pressed against hers. She closed her eyes and leaned into the kiss. 'This must be his way of telling me to "shut up".'

Jakotsu rolled his eyes at the sight. 'This is ridiculous. Their lips are going to fall off at this rate. Bankotsu and Kagome sitting in the tree k-i-s-s-i-n-g.' he thought with a smirk.

He slowly parted away from Kagome's lips and smiled. He turned to Jakotsu again. "Alright, Jakotsu. I'm going to go deal with the wolf."

His eyes widened. "Without Banryuu?!" he questioned.

Bankotsu smirked once again. "I don't need Banryuu to handle that low-class demon. By the time you return with Banryuu, I would have ripped his jewel shards out of his puny little legs by then." he boasted.

Jakotsu nodded and motioned for Kagome to follow him. Kagome ran to him and they took off together. He glanced over to Kagome as she ran beside him. It was nice that Bankotsu put his trust into her, but it took more than a few smiles and kisses to win him over. "Hey wench!" he called.

Kagome sighed and reluctantly answered. "Yeah?" He was already back to calling her that cursed name.

"You better not be trying to pull a fast one over us! I know how you women like to manipulate others for your own personal gain and you'd better not do anything to betray Bankotsu or I'll deliver your head to Inuyasha personally! Got that!?" he threatened with a fierce anger gleaming in his eyes.

Her eyes had widened and she was slowly becoming pale. 'That's the second death threat today! I better keep my word, but...Inuyasha, Sango, and Miroku...I can't betray them.' "Y-yeah." she answered shakily. They continued to run through the forest together.

Kouga swiftly back flipped and dodged another attack from Suikotsu. He didn't have time for this. They were keeping Kagome hidden from him and it was his personal duty to rescue her. He growled. 'Damn it! He's just stalling me! He didn't even strike me once and we've been doing this for almost ten minutes.' A plan suddenly formulated in his mind. After his last flip he stopped moving, leaving himself open for an attack.

Suikotsu charged towards him with blinding speed. "I knew you were slowing down! Now stay there so I can spill your guts!" he yelled. He drew his clawed hand back and thrust it forward, targeted at Kouga's chest.

The wolf prince smirked and quickly fell down onto the ground while kicking the large man before him square in the chin. Suikotsu flew upwards before hitting the ground. Kouga stood up and laughed. "Ha! The bigger they are the harder they fall!" he gloated.

"The dumber they are the easier for them not to notice the enemy standing right behind them." a voice laughed from behind.

Before Kouga completely turned his head around he was punched square in his jaw. The blow sent him spiraling to the ground. He slowly lifted his bruised face from the dirt and looked behind him. "Damn you...Bankotsu..." he muttered before falling unconscious.

The young mercenary smirked while clenching his fist. He looked over to Suikotsu who was slowly peeling himself from the ground. "Hey, you okay?" he asked.

Suikotsu slowly nodded while standing once more. He had been caught off-guard by Kouga, though he hated to admit it. "Thank you for saving my hide, big brother." he said.

Bankotsu laughed. "No prob! Now get on with removing the shards from his legs!" he ordered.

He stalked towards Kouga and lifted his clawed hands, ready to delve them into Kouga's legs for the jewel shards.

"Blades of blood!!!" Inuyasha yelled loudly.

Both Suikotsu and Bankotsu jumped out of the way of the on coming attack. Bankotsu sneered. 'So he's finally here...for Kagome.' he thought as he glared at the hanyou.

Inuyasha drew his Tetsusaiga and glanced down at the unconscious Kouga. 'Serves you right, wolf.' He then fixated his gaze upon the Shichinintai leader. "You little bastard! Where's Kagome!?" he yelled.

Bankotsu continued to glare at him, remaining silent.

Inuyasha scoffed. "What's wrong? Cat got your tongue? Answer me damn you!" he yelled again. He then noticed that Bankotsu loyal companion wasn't by his side. 'No Banryuu, eh? Well, I'm not putting my sword down to be fair.'

Bankotsu crossed his arms and smirked. "So the first thing on your mind is Kagome, huh? What about our shards or even our battle?" he counter-asked.

"What?!" he said in confusion. "That's none of your damn business!" 'What was that about?' he thought.

"I figured that you'd be more interested in our shards rather than the girl." Bankotsu continued.

Inuyasha stared at Bankotsu quizzically. Even though he didn't have his halberd that didn't prevent him from using melee combat. Was he stalling him for time or something? "I ain't got time for chit-chat, now let's get to it!" he yelled, gripping his sword tighter.

Suikotsu walked up to his superior and said, "Big brother, do you want me to handle him until Jakotsu comes?" he asked, willing to fight Inuyasha if he had to.

"No." he said sternly. "Before anything, I want to ask Inuyasha a few questions."he stated.

"I ain't answering shit!" Inuyasha spat.

Bankotsu ignored him and asked, "Do you love Kagome?" he glared at the hanyou with his serious sapphire eyes.

Inuyasha's amber eyes widened for a brief second before they turned into a hard glare. "What the hell does that have to do with anything, Bankotsu. I'm here to rescue her ain't I?" he scoffed.

Bankotsu laughed. "So, that doesn't mean that you love her. We all know that she has a special ability and I'm pretty sure that you're using her solely for that purpose, right Inuyasha?"

"Well, Well, don't tell me you have morals now. You and your band of killers only want to do the same and I'm not going to let you use her to find the jewel shards so you can give them to that bastard Naraku!" he yelled angrily.

Unbeknownst to Inuyasha, he had answered all of his questions. 'So he does use Kagome to find the jewel shards...Naraku was right about that. I'm pretty sure that without her he'll run to that dead priestess.' Bankotsu thought.

"What is he thinking about? Why does he keep talking about Kagome?" he thought.

Jakotsu grabbed Kagome's arm and rushed her into the room she had resided in the night before. "Stay in here and don't leave until I say so!" he ordered.

Kagome tried not to fall flat on her face when Jakotsu flung her into the room. The door closed behind her and she was left alone with her thoughts. 'I don't want to help them find the shards, but Bankotsu gave me his trust...and a death threat.' she sighed. 'Inuyasha, don't be mad at me. I have to help them or else I'm dead.' She snapped out of her thoughts when she heard slow steady footsteps coming down the hall. Kagome ran towards the door and slid it open. "Jakotsu, what happened?" she asked. She gasped when a large hand reached out and grabbed her by the throat. 'No...Renkotsu.' she thought. His grip tightened and she squeezed her eyes shut in pain.

Renkotsu laughed. "Wench, you're coming with me and any protest will force me to snap your neck." he said with an evil glare.

Author's Note: I'll try to update soon!R/R