The sounds of a shovel digging in the ground filled the empty tattered and destroyed temple grounds.

With a haughty look on his face, Hakudoshi stood over the now opened graves of the fallen spiritual man and his disciples as constant shovels of dirt landed by his feet. In the last open grave, Kohaku was digging through it to find whatever Hakudoshi was trying to look for. He had already made Kohaku desecrate the graves of the disciples of the spiritual man and didn't care to fix them once he saw that the bodies inside were not what he was looking for.

As Kohaku dug through the last grave, he was filled with so much indignation that had to calm himself a few times so Hakudoshi wouldn't realize that he wasn't under Naraku's brainwashing anymore.

'This is sick…' Kohaku thought as he continued to dig through the last grave, 'The bodies of these people have not even fully decayed yet and yet Hakudoshi wants me to go through them.' Secretly glancing around without moving his head as he dug, 'What happened here for Hakudoshi to return here to seek out the bodies of the dead? Did he hide a jewel shard or did he find something that he could use for Mōryōmaru?'

As Kohaku kept digging, he finally felt a soft surface within the ground that he knew was a body. Digging some more before he dropped his shovel and began to clear dirt off the body, Kohaku's eyes widened in surprise at what he saw right before him.

There laid the mauled and disfigured body of the deceased Goryomaru—the spiritual man of the temple.

"Good," Kohaku heard Hakudoshi say from behind him, "You finally found him. Now carry him out of there so I can give him to Mōryōmaru."

The involuntary shudder of disgust that Kohaku had done must have been seen by Hakudoshi, because the next words after that were, "Actually, I have a better idea." Hakudoshi said in an amused tone, "Get out of the grave so Mōryōmaru can get the body himself. This way, the retrieval would be quicker and simpler than the other way."

At this, Kohaku nodded and silently climbed out of the grave. Upon getting out, Kohaku silently stared at Hakudoshi with eyes of suspicion before he quickly masked it with a forced look of indifference. 'Does he know?' Kohaku thought as he quietly looked for a sign from Hakudoshi that showed that his cover was blown.

"Mōryōmaru." Hakudoshi said as he turned to face the humongous humanoid creature behind him. "Come over here and eat your meal."

The humongous humanoid creature, Mōryōmaru, walked past Hakudoshi and Kohaku and looked into the grave. Without hesitation, Mōryōmaru stretched his hand down and picked up the desecrated disfigured body and brought it towards his mouth. Sounds of flesh tore apart, bones snapping and cracking and blood dropping upon the ground filled Kohaku's ears as he watched in horrified disgust at the scene before him.

However, remembering who he was with, Kohaku forced a look of indifference on his face and glanced at Hakudoshi to see if his cover was blown. As he looked at Hakudoshi's face through the corner of his eyes without turning his head, he realized how focused Hakudoshi was on Mōryōmaru and didn't seem to suspect him even for a second. At this, Kohaku breathed an inner sigh of relief.

However, as soon as Kohaku went back to looking at Mōryōmaru eating the dead spiritual man, Hakudoshi glanced at him without turning to face Kohaku.

As Hakudoshi watched Kohaku struggle to maintain a look of indifference, Hakudoshi smugly smirked and returned to staring at Mōryōmaru.

Kagura flew through the clear blue-grey skies on her feather as she racked her brains on her plans for survival.

'Shit!' Kagura thought as she nervously bit her bottom lip, 'Shit!' As memories of the day prior consumed her mind.

'…She watched as Hakudoshi remained perfectly still and his hands seemed to be making gestures….'

'…His haughty and proud eyes met her shocked crimson ones. 'Hakudoshi…do you really plan to do that?' And as if Hakudoshi could hear what she was thinking, he smirked…..'

'…Hakudoshi kept his eyes on Kagura and brought a finger to his lips. This sent Kagura a message that she immediately understood and she nodded. Seeing this, Hakudoshi's smirk widened…'

'…However, the instant Naraku turned his back on them. A proud smirk came over Hakudoshi's face as he left the barrier where Utsuho and the infant were and went to fly beside Naraku. Upon seeing the child's incarnation beside him, Naraku glanced at Hakudoshi for only a moment and looked back to face forward. Hakudoshi did the same…'

'Naraku, you heartless fool. See the kind of monster you created?!' Kagura thought as she continued to bite her bottom lip, 'It's obvious as hell that Hakudoshi and the infant are plotting to replace Naraku and I would be a fool to remain with them any longer. Once Hakudoshi finishes with Naraku, he will kill me as well. That little sick fuck takes sick pleasure in torturing others more than Naraku does…ARGUH!' Kagura growled in frustration, 'I can't believe that Naraku was so careless with my heart! He just left it so exposed that Hakudoshi now has access to it!'

Kagura brought a hand to her chest and balled it up, as she remembered how Hakudoshi abused her heart during their search for the Tsubamerokku. And how he kept finding any little thing to abuse her over. Kagura's body shuddered in horror just thinking about it.

'What should I do? What should I do?!' Kagura thought, as she tightened her fist to her chest even more, 'I need to find a way out of this situation. I nee-' Suddenly the presence of a familiar demon filled her body with joy as she immediately recognized who it was. 'It that Sesshomaru?!'

Kagura looked towards where she felt that presence and it was below her. Looking down, she watched as Rin danced and twirled behind Sesshomaru as Jaken was scolding her. With hope in her chest, Kagura forced the winds to lower her feather down behind the trio, who were now aware of her presence. Watching as the wind sorceress landed, Sesshomaru had his body turned towards her slightly as he stared at her with a look of indifference.

"It's that witch again!" Jaken loudly gasped before he angrily said, "Kagura what are you doing here?!" While Rin stopped twirling and just stared at the wind sorceress with a puzzled look on her face.

"I have come for you Sesshomaru. Only you can help me with this." Kagura answered but staring straight at Sesshomaru who, upon hearing this from her, simply turned and began to walk away from her. "Wait! Don't you want to at least hear me out Sesshomaru?!" To which Sesshomaru continued to walk away, forcing Kagura to call out to him again before she was interrupted by the imp demon.

"And why should lord Sesshomaru help you Kagura? Especially, after what Naraku just did to Lord Sesshomaru!" Jaken yelled, as he pointed his staff at her.

Confused, Kagura took her eyes from Jaken to the back of Sesshomaru and asked, "Wait? What do you mean by what Naraku just did?"

"As if you don't know! Your master came here and made a foo-" Jaken began to say before he was interrupted by Sesshomaru.

"Jaken, that is enough." Sesshomaru said, as he stopped where he was.

"Yeah milord." Jaken said meekly.

Confused, Kagura thought on this for a moment and suddenly remembered about the Tsubamerokku that Hakudoshi had given to Naraku. "Wait…are you talking about the Tsubamerokku? Did Naraku come by recently and test it out on you?" Getting silence back as a response. 'So Naraku tested out the Tsubamerokku on Sesshomaru? I guess that does make sense.'

Without paying Kagura another mind, Sesshomaru began to walk off once again as the memory of Naraku's smug face as he laughed at Sesshomaru crossed his mind.

'"You know if you didn't leave Inuyasha alone that day, I would've never known how sweet Inuyasha tasted."

Sesshomaru immediately turned around and striked whoever was beside him and just barely missed Rin and Jaken with his sword. Something he would've never done before.

Rin and Jaken gasped before they pointed behind Sesshomaru. Knowing what they were pointing at, Sesshomaru immediately turned around and was greeted by a smirking Naraku.

"What's the matter Lord Sesshomaru? Surprised that I was behind you?" Naraku smugly said.

Furious at this, Sesshomaru striked Naraku's barrier twice. However, much to Sesshomaru's displeasure, Naraku's barrier remained.

At this, Sesshomaru regained himself and said "It seems that you found a way to defend yourself from my attack."

Chuckling at this, Naraku said, "It appears I did."

Then without warning, Naraku released his own wave of attacks against Sesshomaru and his travel companions. However, his attack was quickly blocked by the wave of Sesshomaru's sword.

"Oh? Well done Lord Sesshomaru." Naraku said, his tone full of mockery, "You know what's interesting? These past days I have been thinking things and I realized that because Inuyasha is the mother of my son Sekichou, that would make you Sekichou's uncle. Which in a way, makes us brother- in laws. "

Sesshomaru's eyes widened in disgust and he bared his fangs as he growled, "Naraku don't get so cocky and think that that abomination of a child will remain alive once I get my hands on it. You and I both know that child is nothing but a tool that you're using to control Inuyasha so he won't behave out of line."

"Oh? Was I that easy to see through?" Naraku said, who remained unbothered as Sesshomaru unleashed another attack his way.

"Do not take me for a fool, Naraku. For I will surely make you regret it." Sesshomaru said, with venom clear in his tone, "No matter how much Inuyasha hated me or his group, there's no reason why Inuyasha would still remain with you even after the truth of the serpent's deception has come to light. Especially after our last encounter with him. Whatever vile spell that you placed on Inuyasha so that he would be forced to care for that child and play family with you, I will destroy it."

At this, Naraku just smirked as he feigned being impressed. "My… I must say Lord Sesshomaru, out of all Inuyasha's close former friends, I'm surprised that you're the one that knows Inuyasha's character the best. You know, sometimes I forget you two are brothers. Well since you know Inuyasha so well, you also must know how upset Inuyasha will be if you kill that child,"

"In time, Inuyasha will manage and will also realize that it was the best course of action for someone with your bloodline." Sesshomaru said, dismissing the spider demon's disrespectful conduct towards him.

"Lord Sesshomaru, since you are so intelligent, you must know that Inuyasha will never be free of me." Naraku said coolly with a smug look on his face.

"Naraku, do not think that now that you have disgraced Inuyasha, I will allow you to live." Sesshomaru said, "Since Inuyasha can't be free of you, you will never be free of me. Even in your death, I'll find a way to make your soul still suffer for what you have done."

"Is that so?" Naraku said, "Is this in addition to the fake arm I gave you to aid in your desire to slay Inuyasha practically a year ago? If it is, I guess you have been taking your role as his older brother seriously as of late."

"Do not judge me and act like I don't have the right to fight for my little brother's honor, Naraku." Sesshomaru snarled, baring his fangs towards Naraku. "You don't have the right to tell me that. And that matter is only between Inuyasha and I alone."

"I never said that you didn't have the right lord Sesshomaru. You can do whatever your heart desires simply because you have the power to do so," Naraku said, "However, since you brought Inuyasha's former companions and I into your fights with Inuyasha, I believe we all have a say in your relationship with Inuyasha. And while we are on that topic, had you done your elderly brother duties and raised Inuyasha like you were supposed to, we wouldn't have met and Inuyasha would not have been the position to given me a child." Naraku said, his tone sharp as he spoke the words that he knew echoed deep in Sesshomaru's heart. "Had you done this, Inuyasha would've never met Kikyo nor me, it would have just been Inuyasha and you alone with no one else. And Inuyasha would've mated with anyone you deemed acceptable. Maybe with a demon similar to yourself, or, I dare say, perhaps Inuyasha and you would have mated, Lord Sesshomaru."

The image of Inuyasha standing next to him flashed before Sesshomaru's eyes. And in that image, Inuyasha turned and gave Sesshomaru a warm smile.

Growling, Sesshomaru saw red and lunged towards Naraku. However, as Sesshomaru did that, he was immediately faced with Naraku's barrier that refused to allow Sesshomaru to come any closer to Naraku. Sesshomaru's fangs elongated as his face began to transform into his full demon form.

Naraku chuckled, "And with that, that's my cue to leave." Quickly snapping his fingers and vanishing in mid-air.

Refusing to let the spider demon flee from him, Sesshomaru began to sniff around for the spider demon's scent and was met with nothing but the scent of nature around him. Furious at this, Sesshomaru snarled as he reverted back to normal.

Feeling the rage from the previous meeting filled him once again, Sesshomaru took a moment to stop walking and breathe through his nose. This action was noticed by Kagura.

Still disgusted at the spider demon's behavior at the thought the time, Jaken shook his head in disapproval. "The nerve of that Naraku. How could he say such a blasphemous thing about Lord Sesshomaru." Jaken spoke out again, "Of course, Milord doesn't feel anything towards that disgraceful half—"

"Jaken." Sesshomaru said, his tone particularly sharper than earlier, as he turned slightly to give the imp demon a sharp and hard glare. "I will not correct you again. Be silent or I will silence you."

Not wanting to piss his lord off anymore than he already had, Jaken nodded as a cold shiver ran through his body. "Yes Milord."

Sesshomaru turned back around and continued to walk away.

Watching this exchange and seeing how the Daiyoukai was set on not helping her, Kagura paused for a moment as she remembered something important. Something that she knew would cause the Daiyoukai to help her. "Sesshomaru, I'm not sure what transpired between Naraku and you earlier, but I'm here to ask for your help with something else. It's fine if you don't care to help me. But don't you want to help Inuyasha?"

At the sound of his brother's name, Sesshomaru ceased walking.

Seeing this, Kagura quickly continued, "There's not much I can say right now, but Inuyasha is in danger. Although Inuyasha is not safe in Naraku's hands, he's going to be worse off in Hakudoshi's hands. Hakudoshi has begun to move against Naraku. If he wins against Naraku, Inuyasha's fate will fall into his hands. And I can just tell you from personal experience that Hakudoshi is crueler than Naraku. So I'm not sure what he would do to Inuyasha once Inuyasha falls into his hands."

"Kagura, for what reason are you telling me this?" Sesshomaru spoke, glancing back at the wind sorceress who seemed to be surprised at his answer, "Did you honestly think that just because Inuyasha is in this predicament, that I would go out of my way to save him? Whether or not, Inuyasha survives Naraku's or Hakudoshi's hands has nothing to do with me. And what is the relationship between helping Inuyasha and you with Hakudoshi? Do you take me for a fool?"

Kagura's eyes widened in shock at Sesshomaru's cruel words. 'What…but I thought that…'

"Sesshomaru, it's not that I thought that you are a fool. I just thought that you would like—" Kagura said but was interrupted by Sesshomaru.

"And what do you know about what I would like Kagura?" Sesshomaru said as he turned around and looked at her with a hard and cold stare. "Whatever happens to Inuyasha has nothing to do with me. Whatever happens to you has nothing to do with me."

Kagura's reaction was immediate.

Her eyes widened in a mixture of shock and horror as she stared at him for a moment, before she looked away as she tried to process his words. Sesshomaru narrowed his eyes in suspicion at this.

Kagura shook her head in disbelief, before she looked back at Sesshomaru with pleading eyes.

"Sesshomaru, please you have to help. You are the only one who can destroy Naraku and Hakudoshi." Kagura said in her tone so desperate, "I don't know who else to turn to. I can tell you their secrets and what I know about them." Seeing how Sesshomaru just remained standing there and staring at her, Kagura continued, "The reason why Naraku visited you was to test out the Tsubamerokku. The Tsubamerokku is a powerful orb that allow its user to resist any poison that it encounters by absorbing it. I'm not sure how you were able to beat Naraku last time but I believe that if you had a difficult time doing it this time around, it's because of that.

Another orb that Naraku has gained is the Fuyōheki is another powerful orb that has the power to mask demonic aura. At first, I thought that Naraku was using that for himself, but he has a spell that can mask his demonic aura so it wasn't that. After thinking about it some more and seeing it with my own eyes yesterday, I realized that Naraku gave the Fuyōheki to the infant to protect something. Something that is incredibly important to him. I think that something might be his heart.

Or it might be something else that is incredibly important to him but I don't think it can be anything else but his heart. For Naraku to put his heart in the hands of the infant, that means that his heart is also the infant's heart and Hakudoshi's heart. I first began to realize this when Naraku returned from the Netherworld and there was no sign of his heart among the pieces of his body that returned from the Netherworld. And the way that my body can move without my heart inside it since Naraku holds my heart somewhere in some kind of open space, I realized that this could be the same for Naraku but it's in the hands of people who have no choice but to protect it. These people are Hakudoshi and the infant.

Then, there comes Hakudoshi. He is so confident in his ability to overtake Naraku, it has not killed him yet. Why? It's because he can't. He is looking for a way to get rid of Naraku without causing damage to himself. But I don't think Naraku knows this is happening because he's—"

"Naraku knows that Hakudoshi wants to kill him." Sesshomaru said, "If you know that Hakudoshi wants to kill Naraku and how arrogant Hakudoshi has gotten, then surely, Naraku does as well. He is just pretending that he doesn't know anything because he's waiting for Hakudoshi to act. Since that is the case, Naraku probably either has a plan to deal with Hakudoshi and is waiting for it to naturally take place or has been thinking of a plan. Either way, Naraku is not the fool that you think he is, Kagura."

Hearing this, Kagura thought about Naraku's and Hakudoshi's past interactions and compared them to what she saw yesterday. She shook her head, "No. Naraku treats Hakudoshi better than he treats me because of Hakudoshi's loyalty to him. There's no way he knows that—"

"If you believe that, Kagura, then you must also believe that Naraku doesn't know where you are right now." Sesshomaru said, watching as Kagura's eyes widened as the realization hit her.

And at this moment, Kagura finally felt the presence of Naraku's eyes on her. The presence felt so strong that it was like Naraku was there with her.

Gasping, Kagura quickly turned around and saw no one behind her. Kagura began to breathe slowly as a thought crossed her mind, 'Why would Naraku be watching her?' She wasn't really doing anything against Naraku like Hakudoshi was.

With this thought in mind, Kagura realized that the 'presence of Naraku's eyes ' on her was probably just in her head. She had spent most of the day worrying about what would happen in the upcoming days, that it had made her so nervous and scared. With that in mind, Kagura felt grounded and shook that feeling. Sesshomaru watched her with a cool expression of indifference.

Then she finally spoke, "I have done nothing against Naraku for him to watch him, especially after yesterday when the person that acted against him was Hakudoshi. If there's anyone that Naraku is probably watching as you say he is, it is probably Hakudoshi."

"Kagura, if you truly think that then you are the fool that you and Hakudoshi think Naraku is. " Sesshomaru said as he turned to leave.

Annoyed by Daiyoukai's dismissive behavior, Kagura said, "Sesshomaru the reason why I know this for a fact that Naraku is not watching me is because of my past experiences with him that have shown that he is always watching Inuyasha."

Sesshomaru's foot paused mid-step as he remained where he stood.

"Naraku has this weird obsession of watching Inuyasha and spends an ungodly amount of time doing so. It's by doing this that he caught on to Inuyasha's and my plan to escape and made me go get a carpenter from a nearby village to replace the wooden floors in Inuyasha's room.

So I'm not foolish to think this. If it's how you say it is, Sesshomaru, the person who would ever draw Naraku's attention away from Inuyasha would be Hakudoshi and not me." Kagura said with absolute conviction, finding the strength for the first time today.

However, Sesshomaru didn't mind that and repeated without turning to look at her, "Naraku watches Inuyasha?"

"Yeah." Kagura answered, "You didn't know that?"

An indescribable emotion ran through Sesshomaru, as he silently replayed Naraku's words in his mind.

'"Sesshomaru, had you done your elderly brother duties and raised Inuyasha like you were supposed to, we wouldn't have met and Inuyasha would not have given me a child." Naraku said, his tone sharp as he spoke the words that he knew echoed deep in Sesshomaru's heart. "Had you done this, Inuyasha would've never met Kikyo nor me, it would have just been Inuyasha and you alone with no one else. And Inuyasha would've mated with anyone you deemed acceptable. Maybe with a demon similar to yourself, or, I dare say, perhaps Inuyasha and you would have mated, Lord Sesshomaru."'

Sesshomaru silently bared his teeth and he balled his fist.

Noticing how silent the Daiyoukai was, Kagura asked, "Well Sesshomaru has changed your mind about how you feel about Inuyasha? On whether or not you will help Inuyasha and me in the situation with Naraku and Hakudoshi?"

At this, Sesshomaru turned around to face her and gave her a harsh glare in which his usual golden pupils were now narrow and smaller with a hint of red beginning to invade the white of his eyes.

"Don't take me for the fool you are, Kagura." Sesshomaru harshly spat, "Whatever happens to Inuyasha is none of my concern. So stop using that card against me." Though he said this, Kagura realized something about Sesshomaru.

He does care about Inuyasha, but the reason why he dismissed her earlier when Kagura mentioned him was because Sesshomaru didn't want to be manipulated into doing something all because of Inuyasha. 'The way that he mentioned Naraku after their encounter and how he reacted towards me mentioning Inuyasha earlier, means that Sesshomaru doesn't want his familial feelings for Inuyasha to be used against him. Ah, I see.'

Kagura remembered a moment that she watched on Kanna's mirror as per Naraku's order. He wanted Kagura to report to him about how the news of Kikyo's death on Mt Hakurei hit Inuyasha. And how her death impacted his group's dynamics so there would be an opening for them to kidnap Kagome and steal her eyes to find the remaining sacred jewel shards. Even though that plan eventually failed with Inuyasha coming to his senses and saving Kagome, it allowed Kagura to witness a moment between Sesshomaru and Inuyasha. A moment that revealed that Sesshomaru does care about Inuyasha.

After Naraku killed Kikyo on Mt. Hakurei, he battled against Sesshomaru which led to Naraku demonstrating the power of his newly found strength to the Daiyoukai. After Naraku left, Inuyasha appeared before Sesshomaru.

"Sesshomaru." Inuyasha said, upon arriving on the scene causing the Daiyoukai to turn towards him.

"Inuyasha." Sesshomaru said in a surprised tone, "Still alive are you?"

"What are you doing here?" Inuyasha asked.

Turning from his little brother, Sesshomaru closed his eyes as if he was relieved and said, "It seems that Naraku's main interest was not you." Opening his eyes as he reflected on something, "but that his real objective was to kill that woman."'

As the memory ended and her mind brought her back into the presence, Kagura thought, 'Although, Inuyasha wasn't able to tell, I did. That day, Sesshomaru, after you personally battled against Naraku's newly found strength, you were glad that Inuyasha was still alive when he appeared before you. The reason why you were at Mt Hakurei in the first place was because of your concern for Inuyasha's safety. You were worried that Naraku had created Mt. Hakurei to lure and destroy Inuyasha, when he actually did it for Kikyo. And you were glad upon realizing this. So when I told you about Naraku watching Inuyasha, that greatly bothered you.' Kagura closed her eyes as she took a deep breath upon realizing this. Opening her crimson eyes, she looked at Sesshomaru and said, "Sorry about bringing up Inuyasha like that, Sesshomaru. It was wrong of me to do that. "

The Daiyoukai narrowed his eyes in suspicion as he remained glaring at Kagura.

Kagura slid her hand into the top part of her clothes and pulled out the youkai crystal that she had taken after Kouga and the others had encountered Gakusanjin. She threw it at Sesshomaru who immediately caught it.

Sesshomaru glanced down at his hand to see what the wind sorceress had given him.

"That crystal traces the Fuyōheki. It will help you detect the infant whenever he is nearby. Once you kill him, Naraku, Hakudoshi, and the infant will die." Kagura said as she turned away from Sesshomaru and took out a feather. "If you decide that you don't want to do that, then throw it away. It's your choice Sesshomaru. Take care."

With that, Kagura summoned the winds to fly off with her feather and left.

Watching as the wind sorceress flew further and further away, Sesshomaru stared at the fading figure from a distance for a moment before he dropped the crystal and stepped on it. As he stepped on it, Sesshomaru looked up and looked around for a bit before he found an area that he guessed that Naraku would be watching him from and gave that particular area a death glare.

Far away inside the dark forest, Naraku was engaged in a showdown with Sesshomaru as they both maintained direct eye contact with each other before Sesshomaru broke it and walked away with his companions.

As Sesshomaru walked away from him, Naraku chuckled, "It seems that I underestimated Sesshomaru. He knew that I was watching them." With a wave of his hand upon the glowing water below him, the reflection upon the surface changed to Kagura flying on her feather. "Well done Sesshomaru. Because of me and your suspicion of others, you managed to avoid the trap that I have set for you, Kouga and the others."

Naraku made a sound of amusement before he got up from his crouched position over the water and walked away.

Author's note: I told you guys I would update this chapter soon! :-)

Hopefully, I can get the next one out in time.

Yes, that memory between Inuyasha and Sesshomaru is from the actual anime in episode 124 of the English dub. This is the important moment that Kagura uses as a ground to manipulate Sesshomaru into helping her. Yes Kagura was trying to use his feelings of care for Inuyasha against him. However, Sesshomaru caught on and that was why he was furious at her for trying to do that. He was also upset because he knew that Naraku was watching and didn't want Naraku to involve Inuyasha in a plot so he could lure Sesshomaru to him like he has done against Sesshoamru with Rin.

How did Sesshomaru know that Naraku was watching him? The answer to that is in the fact that Naraku randomly appeared before Sesshomaru as if he knew where to find him.

The next chapter will be the battle between Naraku V.S. Kouga and the others! See you next time!

As always reviews are always appreciated. Thank you to everyone who has taken the time to leave a review. I love reading them.