When he heard Kagome start to scream, Inuyasha snapped out of the stupor that watching a woman crumble into dust inspired. He spared one last seething look and angry snarl at Naraku, who was looking entirely too smug, before dashing across the room to stand by her side. Briefly, he considered trying to console her, but decided against it when he looked into her eyes. They were too broken; consoling her would be no simple task. What was most important right at that moment was getting her out of there, now that there was nothing to keep her.

In one fluid motion, he swept her up and over his shoulder, bounding up the stairs to her room. Once there, he mindlessly grabbed a pile of clothing from her wardrobe and a handful of items from her vanity. He hardly knew what he was taking, but he didn't intend to come back, and if there was anything Kagome wanted from the room there was at least a chance that he had it now. He stuffed everything into a large yellow backpack, slung it over his shoulder, and was out the window before even a minute had passed.

From there, he headed straight for the heart of the woods. Specifically, he was seeking the clearing where he and Kagome had trained. When he found it, he skidded to a halt, then gently lowered Kagome to the ground. She slumped out of his hands, looking like a broken rag doll. Worse, throughout everything that had happened, she had never stopped screaming.

Inuyasha didn't know what to do. He tried to soothingly rub her back, but she started to curl into a ball beneath his hand. It was painful to watch her. Finally, the screams degenerated into broken sobs. Her body shook with the force of them.

"Don't cry."

Inuyasha looked around, startled. Suddenly, his sleeve began to bulge and the inside felt too full and too... soft? Out of nowhere, the fox demon Kagome had bound to her sprang forth.

"Where did you come from!?" he asked, more angrily than necessary because of his heightened stress.

"I hid in your sleeve. As an acorn," he said flippantly before turning back to Kagome. "Don't cry. That wasn't your mom."

She looked up at him with grief and confusion covering her face. "What?" she whispered.

"The doll in the middle of the dust. That was a container for the shadow of her soul. It wasn't her."

"How do you know?"

He shifted uncomfortably, as if it was a sore subject. "Where I'm from, not every demon is a slave. So to get more, slave-owners catch them in the wild. Often, when one of the demons they have dies, they bind her soul in a doll like that, and the soul creates a physical body based on the memory of the one it used to have. The body will walk and talk and seem the same, though always a little dazed. But it's not the person you loved. Just a mimicry. Anyway, where I'm from, slave-owners use the doll people to lure other demons out to be captured. So... I've seen them before."

"So you mean... all this time? Everything I've been through has been completely pointless because she's been dead the whole time!?" Kagome choked on the words, then fell silent, letting the impact of everything really hit her.

Inuyasha knew that any words or actions of comfort that he could offer would be worthless, but he lay a hand on her knee anyway. Suddenly, she stood up and roughly rubbed the tears out of her eyes. "That bastard is so much more screwed up than I thought he was," she said, before marching resolutely back in the direction on the mansion.

"Hey," Inuyasha called, rising and trotting after her. He felt the fox demon grab onto his leg. "Where are you going?"

"To kill him."

"Now!?"

"Now!" she screamed. He grabbed her arm.

"No." She tried to yank herself out of his grip, but he held fast. "You're emotional."

"I'll always be emotional when it comes to him!"

"But you're so emotional right now that it could keep you from thinking clearly. And you're unorganized. You have no plan."

"The plan is to kill him!"

"Agreed," Inuyasha growled forcefully. She stopped struggling. "But do it when you're ready. When you have help. When you know you won't die. Trust me, plenty of people up on that cliff right now would love to help you make Naraku bleed. So be smart about it."

She clenched her hands into fists, but nodded. Then she tried to jerk her arm out of his grip again, and this time he let her.

"Let's go back now, then," she said tiredly. "I want to start planning right away."

He nodded, lifted her gingerly onto his back, then grabbed the bag and the fox and took off. After only a few minutes, they were back at the entrance. Inuyasha tried to replicate the bird call that Kouga had made, but ultimately just yelled, "Oy, it's us! Let us in!"

The cliff face split again and they walked resolutely inside. Kouga and Sango immediately appeared and began to badger them for details about where they'd been and what had happened, but Kagome brushed them off.

"I need space right now," she said. "Meet me in Sango's hut in an hour and we can talk about everything then. But for now, just leave me alone and let me think." As she spoke, she noticed the backpack Inuyasha was still carrying and reached for it. He shrugged it helpfully off his shoulders.

"Do you want me to come?" Inuyasha asked hopefully when the bag was fully in her grasp. She shook her head and he nodded in what he hoped was an understanding way despite the spike of hurt he felt at her answer.

"You can, though," she said, scooping up the fox demon, who was lingering uncertainly at her heels. His eyes lit up. Inuyasha grumbled to himself, slightly jealous, but made no move to follow when she strode away. He watched her walk to the edge of the cliff and sit down before he turned away to face the questioning stares of his comrades. Obviously, he had some explaining to do.