Within the darkness of the forest of the mountain, birds flew away as a figure emerged from the shadows of the trees.

Briefly glancing at the birds that flew away at his arrival, Naraku chuckled for a bit before he decided to release some poison miasma in the air toward any animal that was still nearby but hiding. As soon as he released the miasma, the small animals that were hiding suddenly got up from their hiding spots and ran away from the area that Naraku was in.

With a wicked smirk, Naraku looked down at the blue orb in his hand that glowed light blue before he gripped it and chuckled.

As the trees, plants, and any source of life around him withered up and died, Naraku looked up from the orb in his hand and began walking back in the way he originally came from when he first entered the mountain.

Feeling the gentle touch of the wind as she flew on her feather, Kagura reflected on her thoughts on what happened a few days ago.

Taking in the confused and painful look on the wind sorceress's face, Hakudoshi gave her a very callous look that rivaled the look of Naraku. However, unlike Naraku, this one felt much worse than his.

Hakudoshi gave Kagura's heart one more final squeeze before releasing it. Kagura gasped in relief as she felt the pressure from her heart disappear.

"That's for the attitude you gave me earlier." Hakudoshi said as the wind sorceress's heart remained in his hand, "If I were you, the next time an order is given, I would do it right away instead of wasting time arguing it." The heart in Hakudoshi's hand disappeared as the young incarnation watched the struggling wind sorceress on the floor of the barrier trying to keep her heart rate steady.

With a smug look on his face, Hakudoshi glanced back down at the crystal in his other hand and moved away from Kagura.

"Let's be on our way Kagura and head back to see Naraku. We have a long way to go and he will be pleased to know that the rumors were true after all." Hakudoshi said as he made his way towards the way they came in the swamp-like environment…...'

'...How many times will you repeat this until you understand Kagura?" Hakudoshi said with a threatening look in his eye, "Whenever I ask you a question, answer me right away. And whenever I give a command, do it without question, understand?'

"YES, YES!" Kagura cried out, as she continued to hold her chest wanting nothing more than for the pain to stop. "I'LL DO ANYTHING YOU ASK. JUST PLEASE MAKE IT STOP!"

Looking at the desperate wind sorceress on the ground with a cold look of indifference, Hakudoshi gave Kagura's heart one more right squeeze before releasing his hold on it and letting it go.

Feeling the strong hold on her heart vanish, Kagura felt a big pressure release from her chest and took deep breaths as she struggled to steady her rapid and beating heart.

As Kagura remained on the ground trying to calm her heart down, Hakudoshi gave her one more look before turning his back to her to face the forest.'

'What am I going to do?' Kagura thought as she reflected on these memories. 'Somehow Hakudoshi got ahold of my heart from Naraku and he abuses it worse than Naraku. The kid is a fucking monster. Should I tell Naraku about this?'

Suddenly, the image of Naraku turning his back on Kagura as he remained indifferent to Kagura's complaint came to mind. Then another image of Naraku with a dark look on his face as he looked down at Kagura's heart in his hand as he suddenly gripped it came to mind as well, causing Kagura to bring a hand to her chest in response.

'No, I can't tell Naraku because he might be the one allowing Hakudoshi to abuse me in the first place.' Kagura thought, 'What should I do? How can I save myself?' As Kagura desperately reflected on her thoughts, she took her hand off her chest and gripped it instead.

No matter what she needed some way to escape the clutches of Naraku and Hakudoshi with her life. 'What should I do?'

Suddenly, a memory of Sesshomaru at the doors of the Netherworld flashed before her eyes.

Kagura's eyes widen at the memory of how the two giant stone guards bowed to Sesshomaru and let him pass through the doors with no harm to his body.

'That's it, Sesshomaru.' Kagura thought in realization, as she felt her heart rate calm down in sweet relief. Remembering how badly Sesshomaru wounded Naraku to the point that Naraku had to send Hakudoshi and Kagura on an errand to find the Tsubamerokku so he could be protected from the strength of Sesshomaru's sword. 'If there's anyone that can defeat Naraku, it's Sesshomaru. Only Sesshomaru has the power and strength to defeat Naraku and Hakudoshi. But will he help me?'

Remembering how in the past the first time Kagura left the castle without Naraku's permission and found out about the new moon on Inuyasha's human night, she had met with Sesshomaru. That night, she had asked Sesshomaru to help her, but he refused.

'Unfortunately, I have no interest in the sacred jewel.' Sesshomaru said, 'If you wish to become free, use those shards yourself and use them on Naraku…I'm under no obligation to assist you, if you don't have the resolve to go it alone, then you're better off not betraying Naraku.'

'Damn it.' Kagura thought as she gritted her teeth in frustration and balled up her hand into a fist. 'Is there something I can do or use to get him to help me? Like a common ground that I can use to hook him in?' However, as she thought about this, suddenly the image of Inuyasha and Sesshomaru came to mind.

Although the two brothers didn't have a good relationship, the way Sesshomaru made sure to enter into the Netherworld to save Inuyasha's former companions when he didn't have to do that and the way Sesshomaru worked hard to find a way to make his sword stronger to slay Naraku once and for all, says something. It says something about his relationship with Inuyasha.

Now that Kagura thought about it, she remembered something. Something that she thought was useless at the time, but now seemed to be something interesting instead.

Back when Naraku gained his current body and killed Kikyo at Mt. Hakurei, Kagura was ordered by Naraku to watch Kanna's mirror to report the emotional turmoil that Inuyasha and his group experienced during that time so she could find the chance to kidnap Kagome to use the infant to place a corrupted shard of the jewel inside the young priestess. On Naraku's orders, Kagura watched the moment Naraku attacked Kikyo, the moment Kikyo fell off the cliff and died, the moment that Sesshomaru appeared and attacked Naraku, and the moment that Inuyasha appeared after Naraku vanished.

Kagura remembered how Sesshomaru's tone seemed to be a bit intrigued yet at the same time a bit relieved to see Inuyasha still alive.

'It seems that Naraku's main interest was not you, but rather his real objective was to kill that woman.' Sesshomaru said, as he looked away from a confused Inuyasha.'

'Although I thought nothing of it at the time, why did Sesshomaru say that if he truly didn't care about his brother Inuyasha?' Kagura thought, as she reflected on that memory. 'It's almost as if Sesshomaru came to Mt Hakurei to save Inuyasha in case one of Naraku's plans involved targeting Inuyasha, but that wouldn't be the case would it?'

Suddenly the memory of how Sesshomaru stood at the doors of this world and the Netherworld with no trace of fear in his features as the guards stood before him with their weapons drawn came back in mind again. There was something about that, that made Kagura wonder briefly about Sesshomaru, before she shook her head, 'Forget it Sesshomaru is so hard to understand. Perhaps he just feels guilty of the state of his relationship with Inuyasha, which is why he acts so unlike himself sometimes,' With a smirk and a plan already forming in her head, Kagura thought about how she would approach Sesshomaru.' Lucky for me, because of that guilt, I could use it to my advantage to get Sesshomaru to kill Naraku and Hakudoshi for me. Mmh, I can just taste my freedom now.'

However, suddenly at the corner of her eye, something at lighting speed moved.

Immediately turning around, Kagura looked back at the direction where she saw something move. And when she looked back she noticed something odd. 'Was there a mountain there before?' Kagura thought, 'Or was I too lost in my thoughts to notice that there was one ?'

Feeling a bit confused but realizing that she was too lost in her thoughts to truly notice her surroundings, Kagura decided to settle on the belief that there was probably a mountain there before but she was too distracted to notice and continued to go her way. However, as she continued to go on her way, Kagura curiously looked just to take another look at the mountain. However, as she looked back, she gasped in shock to find the mountain behind her gone.

'How could that be possible?' Kagura thought as she looked around, 'So that mountain had moved earlier? Could it be a demon?' Finding the mountain in a different spot that was a bit further than the previous one, Kagura paused as she felt the surrounding atmosphere for something. With eyes full of conviction, Kagura looked at the mountain, 'It is a demon. Because I wasn't paying attention earlier, I missed the demonic aura it was emitting.'

'But why would a demon mountain be moving around so recklessly when it should know that someone might discover it?' Kagura thought, before wondering, 'The way this demon mountain seems to have come out of nowhere with his enormous body, it's almost as if he was taken out of his element…' Narrowing her eyes in suspicion, Kagura thought, 'For some reason, when thinking about this mountain's strange behavior, Naraku comes to mind. Does Naraku have anything to do with this? It's a strange thought but lately, it seems that if something demonic is not behaving normally, Naraku is behind it somehow. And if he is for this case, how so?'

Before any explanation could come to mind, Kagura sensed a familiar presence not too far away. With the idea of not being caught, Kagura opened her lips a bit and immediately began to suck in the air. All the while doing this, she waved her hand around her body, in a circular motion as a gentle current of wind appeared around her.

'There,' Kagura thought as she closed her mouth. Although this isn't anywhere close to the strength of the spell that Naraku uses on himself, this should hide my scent for a while.' Doing this, Kagura released a gush of wind before she flew towards trees and bushes that were nearby and hid there.

A few minutes later, the sounds of multiple footsteps came rushing toward the area of the forest where Kagura had just been.

"Come on out Kagura, I know you're out here!" A familiar voice that Kagura immediately recognized said "Although the scent is no longer here, your scent is what brought me here, so come on out!"

Kagura remained quiet as she refused to move from where she was. She had much better things to do than to be forced to fight when she was not in the mood to.

'Gods…' Kagura thought in silent annoyance as she glared at Kouga and Inuyasha's former companions looked around for her from the distance that they were from her. 'Don't these people have anything better to do than to fight all the time?'

Looking around as she clutched her bow, Kagome turned to the wolf demon and asked, "Kouga, are you sure that it was Kagura that you smelt?"

"Positive." Kouga said as he continued to look around, "Nobody else other than Naraku would have that vile scent that those two carry."

Suddenly. As soon as those words left Kouga's mouth, the ground shook violently as the birds immediately flew away. Then almost immediately a loud voice boomed, "Did you just say the name Naraku?"

Taken back at the volume of the strength of such a voice, Kouga, Kagura, and the group looked for where the source of the voice was from before it spoke again.

"Wolf demon," the voice boomed, causing everyone to look directly at a huge mountain-like creature that seemed to be of the forest around them. This creature had a humongous body that was covered with rocks, trees, and grass that stared at Kouga with huge eyes and a mouth. "So you know of the half-breed called Naraku? Tell me your connection to him?"

Seeing this demon, Kagura held back a gasp as she recognized this demon, 'So this must be the demon mountain that moved earlier while I was flying past it. The way it keeps mentioning Naraku, does that mean that Naraku really does have something to do with its strange behavior?'

The group was extremely taken back by the sheer magnitude of this demon and knew that really only the other way to take it down would be the technique of Inuyasha's sword, the wind scar.

Getting impatient, Gakusanjin spoke again, "Wolf demon, I asked you a question that I expect an answer to. Answer me right now!"

Setting Kagome down and standing in front of her, Kouga yelled back, "Meanwhile, I'm just wondering who you are and what your intentions are with me. I'll answer your question first if you tell me who you are and what you want?"

"My name is Gakusanjin and I am a mountain demon who had his orb stolen by a demon Naraku." Gakusanjin said, "Now answer my question, what is your connection to that half-breed Naraku?"

"Naraku is a vile bastard that has terrorized my wolf demon tribe and my travel mates repeatedly with his selfish actions." Kouga said, "Neither I nor my travel mates here have anything to do with him other than to destroy him on sight."

"Is this so?" Gakusanjin said, "So Naraku has also wronged you as well. That must mean you are an ally instead of an enemy of mine right?" Watching as Kouga nodded in response. "I see…"

"Gakusanjin," Miroku said, watching as the mountain demon's attention turned towards him, "That orb that Naraku stole from you, what does it do?"

"Why do you want to know what it does, monk?" Gakusanjin asked in suspicion of Miroku's intentions, "So you can take it for yourself?"

"No. I only asked so my group and I can know what we can expect from Naraku now that we know that he has the power of your orb on his side." Miroku said. "Just so we won't be caught by surprise by Naraku."

"I see…" Gakusanjin said, "The orb that Naraku stole from me is called the Fuyōheki. It's a powerful orb that masks my demonic aura from being detected by others. The Fuyōheki keeps me from being dragged into unnecessary fights while I'm sleeping. Somehow Naraku found me and stole the Fuyōheki from me while I slept. If you are really an enemy of Naraku as you claim, can you return the Fuyōheki to me after you destroy Naraku?"

"If the Fuyōheki masks demonic aura," Sango spoke drawing the mountain demon's attention to her, "How can we be able to identify it when we see it? Or even Naraku for that matter since he will use it to hide himself."

Gakusanjin made a sound of acknowledgment to the demon slayer's question and brought out his arm and moved it towards Kouga and the group. Not sensing any violent intentions from the mountain demon, Kouga remained still while the group tensed up beside him as the mountain demon's arm came before them.

Then, Gakusanjin shook his large arm and out from it fell these little crystals.

Confused, Miroku bent down, picked one of the crystals up, and examined it.

"These crystals are made from my demonic energy." Gakusanjin said, as he brought back his arm to his side, "They should be able to help you track the Fuyōheki. When the aura of the crystal disappears, it means that the Fuyōheki is close by."

Surprised at the power of the crystal in his hand, Miroku put it inside his robe and nodded to the rest of his group who were watching him.

"Don't worry Gakusanjin," Kouga said looking back at the mountain demon who turned back to look at him, "If we manage to take the Fuyōheki from Naraku, I promise to bring it back to you."

Gakusanjin made a sound of approval and said to Kouga, "Thank you Wolf demon. I trust that you will do that for me. Now, I must leave you and find another spot to rest in since this area seems to be high-traffic."

"High traffic?" Miroku asked, "Gakusanjin, I must ask but did you see a female demon riding on a feather passing through this area sometime before we arrived."

Upon hearing this question, Kagura tensed up but remained where she was as she awaited to hear the answer from the mountain demon.

Gakusanjin thought for a minute before answering, "I did see such a demon before you all arrived but there was suddenly a gust of wind that filled the area and blocked my eyes. When I opened my eyes, she was gone."

"So Kagura was here," Kagome said to Kouga, "but since you lost her scent, do you think she's using the power of the Fuyōheki to cover her demonic aura since she probably noticed us trailing after her and is probably hiding around here waiting for us to leave?"

At these words, Kouga and the group looked around fruitlessly for Kagura before the mountain demon spoke again.

"Although I didn't see where this Kagura went…" Gakusanjin said, "I didn't sense the Fuyōheki on her so I doubt that she has it."

"Then that means that she probably did fly away," Kouga said, as he clenched his hand into a fist in frustration. "Damn it."

Taking his eyes from the attention of the wolf demon, Miroku turned it back to the mountain demon.

"In any case, Gakusanjin, you have our word that we promise to return the Fuyōheki to you after we get it from Naraku." Miroku said watching as the mountain demon nodded, before he turned back to his group, "Since Kagura was here before her scent disappeared, it is possible she could be headed back to Naraku's castle, let's see if we can find a way to track her." The wolf demon and the others agreed with Miroku before they set off on their way in search of the wind sorceress.

The mountain demon turned around and went off to find another spot.

Kagura waited a bit before the coast was clear before she went back to the spot where Gakusanjin's crystals were and picked them up.

'Why would Naraku need the Fuyōheki to hide his demonic aura? When can he simply cast a spell to do so instead?' Kagura thought as she began to reflect on what she knew, 'Does he need the Fuyōheki for someone other than himself? Something that has a lot of demonic energy that he doesn't want to be exposed? But what could it be…?'

Remembering how she saw Naraku's mangled body after he returned from the Netherworld, Kagura knew that it was Sesshomaru that left Naraku in that state. 'But why didn't Naraku die?' Kagura thought as she inspected the crystal in her hand, 'The way Naraku's body was when he appeared before Hakudoshi and I, he should've been dead but he wasn't. Why? Could it have something to do with him requiring the Fuyōheki? But what could it be?'

After inspecting the crystal in her hand and remembering what Gakusanjin had said about its power, Kagura thought, 'Whatever Naraku is hiding, this crystal will help me find out what it is.' Putting the crystal inside her robe, Kagura took out a feather and flew off.

Inside a cave that was next to a valley of complete darkness was an infant that lay in the arms of Utsuho, the incarnation that looked similar to Kanna. However, unlike Kanna, Utsuho had a gray complexion of skin, dark blue hair, and a pink flower in her hair.

Next to her on the ground, the mirror shined for a moment before Naraku suddenly appeared at the entrance of the cave. Turning their attention to the sudden appearance of Naraku, both the infant and Utsuho stared at Naraku as he approached them.

"This Fuyōheki is a powerful orb." Naraku chuckled as he handed it over to the infant who gladly accepted the orb. "I appeared before Sesshomaru who was too slow to recognize me and too slow to attack me before I got away. I bet he was surprised at my power not realizing that it was the power of the Fuyōheki. This orb hides the demonic aura of its owner as it did for the previous owner as it kept him from senselessly fighting me as I faced Sesshomaru. Now that I experienced the power of the Fuyōheki for myself, I'll leave it to you. How will you use it?"

Holding the Fuyōheki in his hands, the infant smirked as he looked back at Naraku, whose smirk only widened in amusement.

Author's note, for some reason it took me a long time to get through this chapter. Today I decided to get it over with and write it out. I'm glad that i was able to get this chapter done.

*Why wasn't there a fight between Gakusanjin, Kouga, and the group like there was between Inuyasha and Gakusanjin?

Because Kouga is not like Inuyasha and doesn't give Gakusanjin attitude or immediately attack him. Although I watched that episode more than six months ago, I remember it being both Inuyasha's and Gajusanjin's fault that they fought but Inuyasha's attitude made it worse.

*Naraku tests the power of the Fuyōheki on Sesshoamru instead of Kikyo because Kikyo is not in this story and I thought it would be more interesting this way. What did Naraku say to Sesshomaru during their encounter? The encounter was off-scene in this chapter but will be reflected on in a chapter or two from now.

If I do not get any alerts on this chapter on this site, this will be the last time I post this story on this site until ff. the net gets this fixed. In case you didn't haven't received the alerts for this story lately, I uploaded it twice last year in 2023. This is a new chapter for this year. Not to worry, I'll be posting this story consistently on ao3 under the same user name as inu557.

Good Reviews encourage me to update the story faster.

See you next chapter!