Hello again all!

I have news! I have started to post this story onto Archive of our Own. It's almost a cross-post, but the AO3 version does have rearranged chapters, and a few edits here and there. So, if you prefer to read on AO3, the option is there now. I've only posted the first seven chapters of this story so far, but will continue to update the story until its even with this one, then as I finish chapters, I'll post simultaneously on here and AO3 going forward.

I'm really rocketing through writing the plot of this story, and diving towards the meat of the Inuyasha plot. Im very excited for it to grow and play out for us. We are very close to whats going to be an interesting moment for Naraku and Nori. If you wanna read something else I've written in the realm of the InuYasha universe, go ahead and take a look at the other stories I have to offer. So far I have a Bankotsu story, a Koga story and an InuYasha story, but keep checking in because I have more to come in the future.

Thank you, and off to the chapter!

Miasma

Here the power is ruthless and the truth is deaf. Here the air is filled with the miasma of sin.
-Jean Racine

Considering I had felt the shard when I was, uh… extremely distracted, I thought it would be nearby and quite easy to find.

That was proving to be very wrong as Naraku and I trudged through the dense woods. We'd been walking at this brisk pace for long enough now that I was starting to feel uncomfortable. I wasn't about to stop, though. Not when a shard was so damn close. Boy did I wish I hadn't cut back on training, though.

When I got back to the castle, I was taking daily runs around its perimeter.

"Is it close?" Naraku asked. He'd been asking the same thing every ten minutes since we had rushed away from our camp, leaving the horse to rest with one of Naraku's hastily made golems.

"It's close…er," I replied, not quite so confident with the words I was speaking. I didn't really know how close the thing was. Depth perception wasn't always a winner. I'd stumbled more than once when I thought Naraku's shards were nearer or further away than what they were.

My brisk place slowed when I caught sight of something ahead of us. "That's… not so normal."

A couple of the trees ahead of us were black and withered. Completely dead. A dead tree in a forest wasn't unusual. A line of dead trees in a forest so dense and lush? That was unusual.

"Not a typical sight, no," Naraku agreed, approaching the trees, with me following behind.

The first dead tree we came to was truly a husk. The bark was blackened. Not as if it was burned. It looked more like the tree had just… lost everything, and died from the inside out. It didn't look natural. This wasn't a slow decomposition.

"What did that?" I questioned the resident demon expert.

Naraku hummed slowly, reaching out to crumble some of the fragile deadened bark. "An insect."

"A bug did this? To so many trees?" That had to be some monster bug.

Or a demon, my mind supplied belatedly.

That was an option now.

I looked around, trying to see if I could spot the bug. No such luck, but on one of the not desiccated trees, I spotted something that warranted a second look. I crouched down, tilting my head and reaching out. It looked kind of like an insect egg. A dark brown colour, covered in patches of white fur. But it was huge. It had to be the size of a football. I reached out, and recoiled again at the feeling of sticky slime around the egg.

It clung to my fingers, as did tiny bits of the fur surrounding the egg. Bringing my fingers up closer to my face, I realised what the fur was. Tiny insects. Aphids.

"Is this honeydew?" I questioned aloud. "Hey, Naraku, come take a look at this. They're aphids, but this isn't a typical aphid egg."

Understatement of the century.

Naraku crouched beside me, getting a good look himself. "Demon insects often swarm with their non-demon equivalent," he explained for me.

I side-eyed him, lips pursed together. "Am I gonna have to worry about sharing our room with spiders?" I liked spiders, I did. My tattoo and choice of husband said as much in my mind, but I was fine keeping my room as spider free as was realistically possible. Some spiders weren't exactly friendly, and I wanted to be able to relax in my own home without the thought of them crawling a little too close to comfort.

The glare I received from the corner of Naraku's eye was sharp and chilling.

He stood and gestured for me to rise as well.

"This is unusual. Demon aphids rarely grow this large naturally. I expect if we follow the destruction, we will find the shard."

Well, ignoring my comment was a way of responding to it, I supposed. No joking about spiders with Naraku in the future. Got it.

That seemed like a pretty safe bet. I'd take those odds. "Let's follow the yellow brick road, then."

I shrugged off the strange look I received for that comment, and on we trudged, picking up a quicker pace now we sorta knew what we were dealing with. Close enough to see evidence of something different existing.

It was another half an hour, though, before we got close enough to do something about the demon.

I could hear it before I could see it. What I heard wasn't pleasant. Slurping and groaning that put a wicked nasty image in my head. One that I hoped I could wash out relatively easily, though I had a feeling that wouldn't be the case.

Naraku held out a hand before my chest to stop me from moving forwards, and gestured for me to draw my sword. The noise of the metal ringing against its sheath drew the attention of the beast, half hidden by the tree it was decimating.

It was almost cute. It looked similar enough to the aphids I knew from back when the world made sense and wasn't totally insane bar its gargantuan size, but there was something off about it. Something a little too uncanny valley in its face. I'd never seen an insect's eyes look so damned mammalian as this one's did. It was staring through me and right into my soul.

It was almost cute. If it wasn't the size of a man, and drooling thick brown tree sap. That made it lose its charm somewhat.

"Where is the shard?"

Naraku's voice was low, so I assumed that he was asking me rather than talking to the gigantic beast we were both warily watching.

"Uh… " I scanned the creature, trying to find the familiar purple glow. I squinted when I caught sight of the glow amidst the fluff, saliva and tree sap, but it wasn't right. It was't the pretty deep purple that I knew the shards to be. It was closer to pink. Was it the same thing? It felt pretty much the same. But that colour was so different. "It's in its… skull?"

Did insects have skulls? No, not that I knew of. Did giant demons warped by the power of magical crystals and twisted uncanny valley features have skulls? That wasn't something that I could answer.

Naraku's arm lowered. "Would you like to give fighting a demon another try under a more even matching?"

He was asking me?

I straightened up a little, adjusting my grip on my sword, eyeing the demon I was being gifted. Did I want to?

The first demon I had fought had smashed me, and a good portion of our castle alongside it. I had been absolutely no match for the Tsuchigumo. This demon was a lot smaller than the Tsuchigumo. But this one was powered by the Shikon shard. That made it stronger, didn't it? Did the shards make up the strength lost in size?

Could I take it?

"Masanori?" Naraku prompted. Apparently I was taking too long to decide.

Well, what was the worst that could happen?

"If I fall on my ass, will you make sure I have a good funeral?" I questioned, stepping forwards and bringing my sword up.

He grunted behind me. "You believe me to be incompetent enough to allow my wife to die in battle, even to her own incompetence?"

That gave me a little thrill. While he had called me his wife a few times since he had taken my husband's form, it had always been in the company of others, as a show. He didn't need to keep up the show here, in front of an insignificant demon that was going to die right here whether it was by my or Naraku's hand. Did he think of me as his wife, rather than an elaborate ruse?

I wasn't so sure I really thought of him as a husband. I'd probably spent more time with Naraku than I had Kagewaki, granted, but what I had with Kagewaki felt more like a real developing relationship, even if that development was far too quick and messy for my standards. Naraku had always felt more like a fuck buddy that had pushed past the traditional boundaries through prolonged exposure to the rest of my life, and veered right into a it's complicated label.

Dammit, I never thought I would get into a complicated relationship.

But we were in a time where people basically married the moment they met eyes with each other. Maybe it was a product of the time he'd lived in - the only time and the only experiences he knew. He had no idea that things were different in the distant future - that people could dance around and take things slow. The life expectancy of a person was no longer fetal. People could take their time.

I gasped sharply, ducking and bringing up the sword to block the demon as it launched itself at me.

I didn't want to admit to Naraku that I was too distracted thinking about our relationship to focus on the very real threat in front of me. I could just imagine his mocking now, and I wasn't about to set myself up for listening to that.

The bastard was strong. The rattle of my sword was almost worrying, but I managed to push it back slowly, herding it towards a tree as I tried to figure out how the hell I was going to go about this.

Maybe I should have let Naraku take this thing on.

"Focus, Nori."

Yeah, obviously.

I drew in a deep breath then pushed the demon, unbalancing it and sending it back. When it was far enough back, I threw myself into a slash across its vulnerable belly. It fell back, twitching and bleeding.

I heaved a breath, wondering whether it could be that easy. I didn't trust a demon to stay dead after just a single cut, even if it was a deep cut.

No. Nope, not dead.

Did I get a prize for guessing that one?

The slash on its stomach gaped open, and from within it, a fresh creature, its fur matted to its body with slime that looked like the honeydew the trees had been coated in, came struggling out.

"Uh… Naraku…?" I called warily over my shoulder, stepping backwards slowly as I watched the aphid twitch and jerk as it tried to escape its damaged skin.

"Yes?" Could he sound any more disinterested?

"Care to take over so your wife doesn't end up bug food?" I asked, refusing to take my eyes off the thing as it riled itself up, still trying to get out of its skin-prison. Watching it made me feel nauseous.

"You have the ability to take this by yourself. It is no more powerful than the samurai boys you bested under General Watanabe."

Fantastic. So glad you care so much about your wife, babe. Love you too. Kisses.

The aphid hissed, loud and angry, finally tearing itself free from the shell of its former self. "Ssssshardssssss. I fffeel them. Give them to meeee."

Oh fantastic it could talk now. That didn't make me feel even more unsettled after all. The only thing better than a creepy-cute-but-really-not-cute-anymore bug that stood at five damn feet tall was a creepy-cute-but-really-not-cute-anymore bug that stood at five damn feet tall and could fucking talk.

It launched itself forwards at me, and I took it head on, bracing myself and blocking its creepy reaching arms with my sword. The force it was using to try and get to me was enough that it was cutting itself. This thing was feral. Did it really want the jewel shards so badly that it was okay with mutilating itself for them? What the fuck was wrong with it that it would try and cut off its own arms to get to power?

I was not the best person to talk about unhealthy practices that sacrifice health. My health was not the greatest in med school. I had not been in a good way by the time I came to residency, but dammit, I hadn't mutilated myself.

Seeing its feral face, its proboscis swinging wildly with the movements, reaching for me just as intensely as the rest of it was, was... harrowing. It was scary, and made me feel cold - a chill slipping down my neck and dampening my skin with sweat that had nothing to do with the exertion of trying to keep this thing at bay.

I shoved, sending it backwards and taking a few steps back myself to put some distance between us.

It hissed and jumped again, unrelenting in its mad desire.

Instead of meting it again, I dodged out of the way, turning just in time to see Naraku jump as well. The baboon mask turned on me and I could feel the glare sent my way without seeing it. Both of us took steps backwards, splitting up and forcing the bug to stop and take in which of us it wanted to attack. Both of us had at least one shard on us, and it could feel that power.

Predictably it went for Naraku, who had far more shards on hand.

"The fuck?" I muttered, watching as Naraku lifted into the air, held up by... tentacles...? Tentacles or vines? They didn't look very flesh-like. But they undulated in strange ways, almost slithering along the ground like they were alive. A few lashed out, surrounding the aphid mid-air, holding it in place as it tried to wriggle. His tentacles squeezed the demon, making it let out an ungodly shriek.

I couldn't look away.

Even as I heard the things exoskeleton crack and shatter under the pressure.

Blood splattered around us. I could feel the heat of it against my skin, but still I couldn't look away as the mutilated body of the creature was drawn in by the the tentacles, dragged under the white pelt.

The tentacles receded, and the two of us stood alone in the now quiet forest, the blood we were splattered with the only proof that the fight had even occurred.

My lips parted, and I could feel some bloody gunk drop from the top lip to the bottom with the movement, then slide down my chin.

What... what could I say?

I had no idea what to say. I had no idea what to think, or what to feel, or how to process this at all.

Naraku strode forwards, the bloodied and matted fur moving strangely as he did, with it all clumped together and weighed down. I didn't move as he approached, and leaned into his hand as it came up to cup my cheek.

"You have a fire in your eyes," he spoke, voice low and gravelly. His thumb brushed over my lip, smearing blood over my skin.

The comment drew the feelings I had into sharp focus. my skin was on fire, hot and sensitive. The way my heart hammered in my chest was not a feeling of horror. I wasn't scared like I thought I would be. I wasn't worried or anxious or horrified by the sight of Naraku crushing demons in front of me - like a psychotic child pulling the wings off insects.

The heat I felt spoke of a very different reaction.

I reached up, taking the mask from his face and tossing it to the ground. His eyes had the same heat. The crackling tension grew between us, hot and electric as I grabbed at the bloodied pelt he wore, dragging him along with me as I stepped backwards; leading him to whichever tree my back touched first.

I could feel the crumbling bark of a tree decimated by the now-dead aphid demon press against my back, and Naraku press firmly against my front, sandwiching me in.

Naraku's lips pressed against mine, forcing my head back into the weak wood.

I could taste the sharp tang of demon blood in his kiss.

Information Corner!

Wooly aphids - Woolly aphids are native to Japan and actually really cute, which makes me mad. I hate aphids. Now Nori does, too. One interesting thing about aphids is that they can both reproduce sexually and asexually. Who do we know that absorbs powers from demons and can reproduce asexually...?

Honeydew - Honeydew is the sweet… for lack of a better term poop of aphids. It's sticky, nasty, attracts more aphids and ants to the poor infested plant. It's a gardeners nightmare. I'm not a gardener, but the one plant i ever successfully managed to grow was taken away from me too fast by an aphid infestation, brought into my house by my cat. I was devastated. We don't like aphids in this household.

Yellow Brick Road - A reference to, of course, the Wizard of Oz. I like adding in the occasional pop culture reference, and I especially like making Wizard of Oz references in InuYasha, as a nod to the one in the first episode of the English anime.

Milkshake Bar

Crystal Tsukino - It's good to hear from you! I'm sorry you've been sick. I hope you start to feel much better soon! Naraku's training game was a lot of fun to write, and I like love a good training montage. This second half of the training was also very fun to write. I would also be easy prey for him. It'd be too easy for him to get me, haha. Yes, yes, I can also see that he'd be very into kink! I'm very excited to keep going with this fic. For now, the next few chapters are very clear to me, and I'm excited to get writing again. Take your time to answer me. There's never any rush to! Kissuuus to you too and I look forward to seeing you again!

Fight scenes are hard to write. That is all.

I'd also like to put my feelers out. I've got a couple ideas for new stories running around in my head. I don't intend to post them until I have at least one of these current stories I'm working on finished, but I'm curious to see what people would potentially like to see next. I have ideas for a Miroku romance, and a lesbian Kagura romance. Let me know if either of those concepts are something you would like to read. I'm really into the idea of both, and I think I'll play around with writing a couple chapters for both to see if the concepts stick, even if I don't post either of them.

I freaked myself out researching spiders for this episode, for no reason cause I didn't even include spider info in this chapter. But ugh. I'll never understand Nori's appreciation for them. No thank you.

I did have a wonderful accompaniment to this chapter while I wrote. My friend is learning to play the ocarina, and while we were sat on a call, I was flip flopping between writing this and a chapter of Perfidious (because I couldn't just sit and write one thing, thank you ADHD) she started learning Inuyasha's lullaby because she knows InuYasha is my favourite media ever. I loved being able to sit and listen to the lullaby while I wrote an Inuyasha fic. And I got to help a friend out with practise, too. Bonus!