A/N: This chapter is 100% for the anon on guest urging me to update. Every Morning. I'm still waiting on those cookies. Not as long as the other chapters but we're getting somewhere!

9

Chasing Demons

Sota felt himself suspended in mid-air, cold and terrified, a razor-sharp pain still bleeding out from his shoulder, and his mind in a dizzying daze of 'I'm going to die, I'm going to die, I'm going to die-

Then he groaned when his stomach made contact with something soft but firm. When he managed to lift his eye-lids, all he could see in the fading light was a pelt of cream-colored grass.

Had he hit the ground that fast?

A heartbeat warmed the side of his cheek and Sota coughed, inhaling the difficult pressure of the atmosphere around him. When he took a survey of his surroundings, he realized he wasn't on the ground, but on a living breathing organism.

"I'm not dead." Sota breathed incredulously, eyes wide open despite the struggle to do so in the whipping wind of the sky he was currently riding within.

"And you can owe that to Kirara!" A woman's bellowing voice turned to him and Sota was so shocked to hear it, he almost dropped to his death again when he shifted further from the safety of Kirara's back. The cat demon purred deeply in salutation.

"Sango!" Sota shouted, his eyes glistening with tears at the realization that he had in fact been saved, and in one of the most capable hands of anyone on that island- Sota would even bet: the world.

"Hold on." Sango said loudly, fighting with the sound of the wind whistling around them. "We aren't rid of him yet."

Sota wanted to ask what she was talking about, and then the swooping wings of the creature that had just hoisted him into the predicament, served as a healthy reminder that he wasn't entirely out of the woods.

The creature snarled, then opened his large mouth and shrieked at them; its' saliva spraying Sota's cheeks. It was tailing them, and Sota cried out when it's snapping beak was only a breath away from Kirara's backside.

Sango swung the barrel of a rifle from her shoulder, and managed to get the safety off, aiming her scope straight at the incoming bird demon. The demon looked up, and in quick swift movements, he went from tailing Kirara to being right up against Sango, his crimson eyes staring her down with the promise of grinding her to pieces. Sango put her finger on the trigger, and the animal closed his jaws over the barrel. It tugged violently at the gun, but Sango held strong and before she could get pulled off Kirara, she fired.

The demon's eyes popped wide as the bullet slammed into the back of its throat. It made a dying gurgling sound and then went into a convulsion as it was picked from the air and dropped heavily to the earth.

Sango directed Kirara to follow its descent and cupped her mouth with two hands as she yelled down below, "Heads up!"

It crashed down on top of a pretzel vendor's store, the sound of cracking wood and ripping tarp reached Sota's ears when Kirara's paws finally kissed the ground.

He didn't have a moment to collect himself before he was pulled into a fierce hug.

"Sota!" Kagome sobbed, her eyes overflowing with tears. She gripped his arms and pushed him away from her, looking up into his face, a whole head taller than her, but still her small baby brother. "I thought I lost you!"

Sota could only nod in agreement, unable to believe it himself. "Same goes here. I thought I was a goner." He moaned when the pain in his shoulder woke up, and he hunched over to hold it, only to hiss again when his palm came in contact with the bleeding wound.

"You gotta get that looked at ASAP." Sango said in her no-nonsense voice, sounding out every letter in ASAP with severe degree. "No time to waste, Kagome you have to take him to the infirmary."

"There is no infirmary." Inuyasha mentioned, having lagged behind to give the siblings their peace. "The island is toast, in case you haven't been brought to speed yet."

Sango took survey of their surroundings, numerous lights of the parks flickered on and off and made it difficult to see. No moon in sight to help them.

"Rotten time to have a new moon, huh?" Sango flicked her gaze to the turned-human Inuyasha and he growled lowly in response.

"Are they still evacuating off the park?" She walked towards Sota and knelt down to inspect his injury. Before anyone could answer her she looked back to Kagome and said calmly, "The bullet had an exit point, so it went clean through thankfully. Didn't seem to go through the bone either, just some muscles and tendon."

"Just some muscle and tendon," Sota echoed sarcastically, feeling faint and weak. "Yeah, no big deal guys."

"That ship taking us off the island, by the way?" Inuyasha turned his wrist so he could see the face of his watch. "Left about ten minutes ago."

"Thanks for saving me." Sota said sincerely, turning his attention to Sango.

"Not completely safe just yet." Sango remembered she hadn't put the safety back on her rifle, but she felt she'd be needing to take if off again a few more times throughout the remainder of the night. "We gotta get you to where Kohaku and the others are somehow."

"Actually…" A voice finally piped up from a spot in the shadows.

Sango's heart leapt out of her chest, rolling to a bloodcurdling stop when her little brother stepped into the glow of a lamplight, his face ashen, and his clothes torn and messy.

"Hi Sango!" A lighter excited voice popped up from behind him as Rin made her presence known.

Before she could even think, she took four large steps over to Kohaku and put a hand on his face, her eyes feeling like they were going to fall out from the shock of seeing him in the state he was in. She pulled him in for a tight hug, and Kohaku's face flamed with embarrassment.

She still held onto him, but snapped her eyes to Inuyasha who had been awkwardly standing in the corner, trying to decide for himself what his next point of move was now.

"Inuyasha, why is my little brother still on the island?" Her voice was laced with venom and the accused man put his hands up to signal surrender.

"W-why are you asking me that question?" He almost hollered. "Sota was the one in charge of them!"

That's right, Sango thought, pinning her gaze on the damaged young man, still groaning on the floor. "Sota?" She asked leadingly.

He sighed and with Kagome's assistance he was back on his two feet. "I'm sorry Sango, I…Well, I-"

"We ran away." Kohaku's muffled answer came from beneath his Sister's embrace. He backed away from her and she tentatively let him go. "I was mad that you hadn't come to pick us up and…"

"We went on an adventure." Rin finished with a small smile. "Saw lots of plant eaters, and one big nasty meat- uh…" She floundered a second and then paled as she said, "Carnivore." Kohaku felt something akin to pride start to grow in his chest. She stuck a thumbs up at him and he mirrored it in kind.

"Naraku." Inuyasha spat.

"Naraku's escaped?" Sango's face flushed of all color, her skin feeling sick and clammy. "Inuyasha, he's out?"

He nodded somberly, thinking about the man earlier that had been eaten right in front of him.

"That explains the dogs."

Inuyasha's spine went rigid, and his entire body attuned to what Sango had just said. "Dogs?"

"I caught the tail-end of it as I was on my way back here, but got distracted when I saw my assistant fall through the air." Sango said as she looked pointedly at Sota.

"Tail-end of what?" Inuyasha could feel the dread pooling already in his stomach. Kagome glanced at Inuyasha with a worried look, letting go of her brother once he gave her the nod that he was okay, and walked towards him to place a claiming hand on his arm. It worked, even if it was marginal, and Inuyasha visibly deflated a notch; shocked that she could have that much of an impact on him.

Sango opened her mouth to speak, but the walkie-talkie on her hip crackled to life and Miroku's synthesized voice bled through the speaker.

"Koga's Dog Demon Hunt project is a go. Girls are geared up."

Inuyasha twisted the handlebars, and the motorcycle shot forward over the low rise in the road ahead. It was a different bike this time, not as fast, and not as red. Kagome shook with the unforgiving bumps in the dirt road, illuminated by nothing but the single lamp on the motorcycle's face.

"Hold on!" Inuyasha shouted. Kagome clutched to him with one hand, holding onto the giant block of a walkie-talkie with the other. She pressed down on the yellow button attached to the side of it, and waited for the confirmation beep to continue.

"Miroku!"

After a brief second of crackling, a voice came over the speaker again.

"Kagome?!"

"Miroku," Kagome held down the button and yelled as loud and clear as she could over the roar of the motorcycle. "Inuyasha says not to do- um anything yet, and that we are on our way!" She gave him the G-rated version of what Inuyasha had actually said and waited for Miroku's response.

"Please, tell him to hurry up."

The motorcycle raced onward across the grassy plain, Inuyasha shifting into another gear and compelling the bike to speed faster. The wind blew Kagome's hair around her face.

The moonless night was dark against the earth, and the grass around here was shrouded in shadow, the stars above them bright and burning.

Kagome could hardly make out anything in front of them, but she put all her trust on the driver, praying he knew where he was going and could maneuver the darkness.

"Damn!" Inuyasha yelled.

"What?"

"Look!"

Kagome learned forward, and stared past Inuyasha's shoulder.

Directly ahead of them, there were a heard of demons. Enormous dark shadows, unable to identify if not for their slight swaying. You could barely distinguish them from small mountains. Except mountains didn't move.

They were only a few feet from the first of the demons, not as big as the others but just big enough to make Kagome gasp as it wheezed and bellowed in sudden fear of the vehicle. It's large head whipping to look at the noisy nuisance.

Inuyasha tried to think quickly, but this was the fastest route to the Dog-Demon facility. He had never had to deal with the herd before because he had quite frankly never zipped through the plain at this time of night. They must migrate when the sun is gone. The other route was much slower, and he would have to make a U-turn to get back to it; the one Sango and the others had decided to take since they were in no hurry.

He only had one choice.

"We're going through it."

"Inuyasha!" Kagome called out worriedly. "But-"

Up ahead, the demons were turning, their giant legs stomping the ground furiously. Their heavy tails belted through the air.

"They're slow!" Inuyasha offered as warning as he zipped right under the belly of one of the beasts.

Kagome glimpsed the curve of the stomach as she craned her head back, hanging large and looming three feet above her. The legs were as thick as the God Tree that stood strong and old right outside her shrine.

They shot out from the other end of the demon, then were beneath another belly, then back into the starry open air, then in shadow again. Kagome tried to keep up with everything that was going on around her, but it was like being in a forest of moving trees.

Straight ahead of them, a leg came down with a pounding slam that rocked the earth, and the motorcycle bounced as Inuyasha swerved to the left, driving them further away from the plain.

Kagome glanced behind her one last time to see the group of creatures all turn their necks to watch them as they disappeared into the thick foliage of the jungle, and she felt the sudden need to be courteous and raise her hand to wave them goodbye.

So she did.

Inuyasha couldn't watch her from the side mirror, but he heard a small giggle and grunted to himself; knowing somehow that she was doing something absolutely ridiculous.

Sota tried and failed to sink further into his seat as brother and sister in front of him engaged in an awkward and heated argument. The fox-demon that was now permanently attached to Rin, quivered and darted it's eyes between the rushing images in the window and the humans around him. She had decided to name him Shippo, but Sota was still trying to wrap his head around the fact they had seemingly adopted a demon from the wild and no one was questioning it.

"I don't care that you were going through one of your angsty teenage phases." Sango spoke angrily.

Kohaku glared at her as if she'd cursed at him. "It wasn't angsty teenage whatever, you ditched me!"

"I didn't ditch you!"

"What else would you call it? Abandonment? Yeah actually," Kohaku leaned against his side of jeep with his cheek resting against the glass. "That's probably a more accurate description."

"Kohaku!" Sango made a frustrated sound from between her teeth and swerved dangerously close to coming off the road. "I had to take care of something! I thought I was leaving you in very capable hands-"

"Sota? Yeah," Kohaku blew the air from his cheeks and arched his eyebrows. "The best. Most capable hands. The guy hardly has a shoulder right now…"

"Hey!" Sota interjected, wincing with the effort to push his face between the siblings in the front seats. "You ran away from me, remember?"

"We did." Rin quipped from her seat, tapping her feet together as if there was music playing in the vehicle. "Well Kohaku went first, but I followed…"

Sango seethed.

"Look, you left a baby-sitter to look after me. A baby-sitter." He repeated to emphasize, imploring his older sister to understand him. "After I was really really looking forward to…you know. Seeing you. And on top of that, you ask me to bring Rin with me. Whom- no offense- is a little kid and…and…" Kohaku mimicked Sango's earlier sound of frustration, running his fingers through his hair. "This whole day just sucked."

Sango finally looked like she had pushed her anger away, stowing it on a top shelf for later reading. She took one hand off the steering wheel and placed it on his shoulder.

"I'm sorry." She swallowed and glanced between the road and him. "I'm sorry I wasn't there today. I should've been and I wasn't." She peered into the rearview mirror and caught Rin staring straight at her. "You too, Rin. I'm sorry."

Rin smiled and squeezed Shippo closer to her, "Apology accepted!"

Sota opened his hands, waiting for Kohaku to reply to his sister's sincere apology. Hoping it would put an end to this agonizing back and forth. And put attention back to where it belonged.

On his open wound.

"I'm sorry too," Kohaku replied finally.

Sango made a fist with her hand and lifted it up, awaiting Kohaku's traditional bump. "Apology accepted, punk."

He bumped it with a wan smile and Sango accepted it with a chuckle.

"Now can you tell me again how the heck you and Rin narrowly escaped the tallest man-eating demon on the island?"

Sota blew a sigh of relief and melted into his seat, listening to Rin take the mantle and babble at a hundred words per minute to retell the traumatizing tale.

Inuyasha drove the motorcycle down a hill. He saw the big roof of the familiar enclosure and all the lights that cut through the darkness, throwing the area around them in a yellow glow.

He slowed to a crushing halt, the bike skidded on the wet grass, and Kagome slammed into him with an 'oof'.

"You okay?" He mumbled quickly in concern, and took her hand to help her get off the bike. She took it and held onto it firmly, looking at him with determination and grit.

"Let's go, Inuyasha!"

He nodded and swallowed a growl down his throat in reminder of what they were there to do.

"Inuyasha!" Miroku's relieved yell reached them before they had a chance to look up.

He ran down the narrow trail, his vest slapping against him as he went. "Inuyasha, you-"

"Where are they?" Inuyasha interrupted, meeting him and then walking past him in big heavy steps.

"They're still here," Miroku grabbed onto his arm to turn him but Inuyasha brushed off his grip and continued to barrel into the building with the ferocity of a steam engine fully loaded.

Inuyasha couldn't really growl in his human state, it came out more of a groan, but it was sinister all the same. "Where's that son of a-"

Before he could finish the sentence, the cages holding the dog demons came into view, and his heart fell from his ribs and crashed somewhere down by his feet. He couldn't even look angry anymore, he just felt desperation and distress.

"I'm sorry," Miroku began, rubbing the back of his neck and incapable of meeting Inuyasha's disappointed gaze. "I tried my best, Inuyasha. But Koga overrided me, and Kikyo overrided me, and I had no choice."

The dog demons in questions were held up in their enclosures, their limbs and bodies chained up so that their range of movement was short and limited. The headsets completely covered their skulls, except for their face and two holes at the top for their ears.

Kagome gasped behind them, both hands clamped over her mouth to stifle her shock.

The demons sensed Inuyasha near, and Kaze was the first to attempt at a wiggle, her whole body shaking with anticipation, jaws snapping open and closed. Mizu stuck out her tongue from between her jaws and licked at the cage. Chi flashed him the type of bored expression only she was capable of, and Kizu, seemingly the only one who had figured out how to move more freely, was bashing her head against the bars to get to him.

"Kizu, Kizu, shh." Inuyasha neared her, trying to protect her from herself. "You idiot."

Inuyasha closed his eyes, pinched the bridge of his nose and twisted his mouth, feeling a rippling heat bunch up right beneath his skin.

"Koga!" He roared, his hands in fists ready to bash into the wolf-demon trainer and turn his face into an indistinguishable mush.

"Mutt." The voice came from above, and Inuyasha turned and saw him leaning against the steel rails of the second floor. Around them a few busy bodies fluttered around, gearing up with the guns and lethal weapons from the supply wing. "Bout' time you showed up."

If Inuyasha could blow steam from his nose, Kagome was positive it would be happening right about now.

As Koga walked down the stairs, his boots rattling the metal beneath them, he was giving an entire self-absorbed monologue, but Inuyasha couldn't hear anything. His ears were ringing, and his eyes were glued on every changing movement Koga made.

Finally when Koga touched on the last step and began to move towards them civilly, Inuyasha took four steps towards him and punched him straight across the face.

Kagome thought to stop him, but kept her lips sealed, crossing her arms and feeling almost as satisfied as Inuyasha was feeling right then. Miroku did decide to intervene, rushing to hold Inuyasha against his chest, containing him like a wild savaged animal, while Koga quickly got up from his position on the floor, holding the left side of his face with a glare.

"What the fuck-"

"How many times have I told you!" Inuyasha scrambled to get out of Miroku's hold and made to hit Koga again, but this time a small warm hand pressed against the apex of his chest, pushing him back and stopping him completely.

"Ayame…" Koga trailed off, surprised she had decided to intervene at all.

"Inuyasha, that's enough." She said, steely eyed. "Koga explain yourself before I let him knock you out again."

"I wasn't knocked-"

"Koga." Ayame's voice was hard as hot iron, wrapping around Koga's throat and squeezing like a vice.

"Damnit, Inuyasha. We need the dogs to find this fuckin' monster."

"You've got to be kidding me." Inuyasha sneered. "Setting loose more demons into a park to find another loose demon seems like a perfect plan if you ask me!"

"Well I wasn't exactly asking, but thanks."

Kagome appeared beside Inuyasha, scowling angry calculating eyes at Koga. "Inuyasha doesn't believe them capable of hunting down Naraku. What makes you think you know these creatures better than their own trainer?" She lifted a finger in the air and proceeded to poke Koga firmly in the chest, "Who by the way has been there since their birth?" Inuyasha looked appreciatively at the short woman beside him that had leapt to his defense, and rose an eyebrow at her. Miroku looked between them both and felt the left side of his mouth twitch a tad.

"What?" Koga yelled hoarsely. "What makes me think? There's no time to think. We need to act. Now. Doesn't quite matter what Inuyasha does or doesn't think them capable-"

"They're capable." Inuyasha growled. "They're not ready. Not now."

"Well they have to be." Koga said severely, looking past Inuyasha into the dark enclosures with the dog demons. They were riled up by the commotion going on in front of them and now were all moving around as much as they could, snapping their jaws and dripping saliva down their jowls as they snarled.

A voice behind Koga cautiously interrupted, "Squadron seven is in the meeting room, sir."

Koga nodded and then glanced back at Inuyasha who was still glaring daggers at him. "Listen up here Mutt. This plan is a greenlight regardless of if you're involved or not. So you got two choices, you're either in or you're out." He paused a moment and then tacked on quietly. "And I'd prefer you in."

Inuyasha seethed, gritting his teeth and listened intently to the pounding of paws behind him. He had a very important choice to make, weighing with respectively grave consequences. But like a soldier in battle, he made it quickly.

"We do it." He said simply. "But we do this my way."

Inuyasha splayed his large tanned hands against the blueprint map of the jungle they were about to venture into. His hair was tucked into a pony-tail at the top of his head, and he chewed nervously on the inside of his cheek, dragging his eyes between one spot, and then another, sectioned off by giant red circles on the map.

A group of strangers stood stiff in front of him, all dressed like they were about to undergo an undercover spy mission, spread out around the table dressed in black clothing and black armor, waiting on his word.

And towards the center, there was Kagome, her hands placed firmly on her hips as she stares at the map with just as much fortitude and resolve as him. Her face was smudged with lines of soot and dirt, her hair a wild mess, pony-tail fallen to her nape instead of her head, and all Inuyasha wanted to do was bury all his issues into another one of those bone-breaking hugs from earlier. Erase the fact there was a man-eating colossal demon wreaking havoc on the little island he had forever called home.

He inclined his head at her, staring at her long enough for her to feel it and look up at him. He lifted an eyebrow, silently questioning her place in all this and she just smiled back at him tapping at the center of the grid sheet.

"This is where we suspect Naraku is hiding right?"

Inuyasha nodded with a grunt, watching as all eyes moved from him to her, giving Kagome their full attention and respect.

"So what's the plan?" She tossed him the question, and he felt himself curdle, wanting to go about this alone and not use the assistance of anyone. The plan should be that he takes the girls and goes into the jungle alone.

"Hide and seek, right?" Kagome hedged again, flashing him an encouraging look with her big eyes.

"Right." Inuyasha clears his throat.

"Hide and seek is a trick the dog demons are very good at, I've seen it with my own two eyes." Kagome started with an authoritative voice, not shifting her gaze from the map. "We present them with a scent, they track it, find it, and we follow." Inuyasha watched as she traced her finger on the map from where they were located to where they were expected to end up, watching as the rest of the group hung on her every word. She captured their devotion the way a true leader should, and he was in quiet awe of it as she commanded them with tight words and motions. Later on he'd find it funny how she was supposed to be there assisting him, not the other way around.

She then tilted her head at him, and he realized he had missed something she said.

Kagome repeated herself, "You'll be following behind the leader of the pack, and we'll follow you?"

"Exactly." Inuyasha took over from there, not saying it but hoping Kagome would interpret his gratitude from his body language. "Kaze's going to be in the front, Kizu and Chi will flank her, and Mizu will be in the back with me." He takes a breath and then levels a stark look at everyone in the room, "And when we find the target. Because we will find the target. You fire on my command, not a second before."

Everyone nods once.

"And please," Inuyasha made a gulping sound, looking grim and feeling more small than he had ever felt; speaking pleadingly with the most open and honest expression Kagome had ever seen. "Please don't shoot my girls."

Inuyasha climbed on his bike and then felt the now-familiar weight of Kagome settling herself right behind him.

"What do you think you're doing?"

"I'm going with you." Kagome stated matter of fact.

He looked behind him to see her situating herself, and he felt like he'd been in this exact situation earlier; except earlier he had only wanted her to stay behind for his own selfish reasons, and now he wanted her to stay behind with the utter and completely opposite intention.

"Kagome, you have to stay." You have to stay, because I can't bear to watch you almost die again.

"What do you mean, I have to stay?" There was a whine in her voice, already getting upset. "I got this far, and now you want me to stay behind?"

"Sango and the others could be here any second." Inuyasha patted himself on the back for finding the perfect excuse and felt the pressure in his chest decompress with relief. "Sango's going to join us the moment she finds out what the mission is, it's her job. You need to keep the kids safe."

Kagome chewed on her lip angrily, already moving off the bike and not looking him in the eyes. Inuyasha reached for her arm and she stilled, finally granting him her most irritated look.

His hold on her was soft but stern. "If something goes wrong, you take the kids, you make a run for it. Understand?"

She gazed into his eyes and then nodded, tensely.

He licked his lips and then reaffirmed his stance by moving his hold from her arm to her shoulder and squeezing. "Don't wait for me-"

He was cut off by the sudden weight of her crashing into him, enveloping him into a tight embrace. She was on the tips of her toes, digging her chin into the alcove between his neck and shoulder. Inuyasha stood shocked for several seconds before returning the hug and sighing into it.

"Everything's going to be okay." She whispered thickly into the shell of his human ear, and Inuyasha felt a shiver ride down his spine.

Inuyasha nodded his head, because he didn't trust himself to speak. The moonless night made him emotional he knew this, but this was something completely different. This was its own animal, ripping from inside of him, wanting release; and he was afraid if he opened his mouth something would come out that he couldn't take back. This was Kagome, and he didn't know where to go from here.

She let him go, and just as quickly as she was in his arms she was out of it, walking backwards with a friendly wave.

His heartbeat pulsed like a pop song in his ear. He turned around to sit back down onto his bike and waved at her without looking, afraid that one more glance at her and he'd lock her into some random underneath bunker and throw away the key.

"You think they'll recognize you?" Miroku appeared beside him, revving up his atv. "The girls have only seen you like this a hand-full of times." He gestured to the black hair that trailed down Inuyasha's back.

"Keh," Inuyasha scoffed, feeling the handle-bars of his bike and then throwing a thumb into the air to signal 'Go'. "Only one way to find out."

There was the creaking, metal on metal, scream of heavy caged doors being lifted, and then the slamming approaching rumble of an earthquake as thunder struck the ground.

Inuyasha whistled lowly, pulled the accelerator towards him, and heard his back tire burn rubber as he raced away from the pavement into the dense starlit darkness of the jungle.

He was worried for a split-second. Anxiety sweating out of every pore; doubting whether this would work. Thinking that the worst that could happen would happen- the girls would break their training and maul on the closest thing they could get their jaws around.

But then just as the motorcycle jolted over the terrain, he heard their growls next to him. Felt their liveliness all around him, circling him like a diamond, Kaze in the front, Kizu and Chi at his sides, and Mizu beckoning for him with her little yowls behind him. He was three feet away from all of them at one time or another. Inuyasha could smell them.

The demons ran swiftly alongside him, ripping through the foliage and maneuvering deeper and deeper into the jungle as he did. Their golden eyes would glance at him every now and then, almost as if to reassure themselves. Well they were reassuring him. Inuyasha felt his hair whip all around him, the pony-tail becoming halfway undone in the wind; making him feel more animal. More savage. Running with his pack.

"Inuyasha!" Miroku yelled, a little far to Chi's right. "You good?"

Inuyasha was smiling, a large toothy grin, enthralled and frightened all at once. "Yeah!"

He was good. He was riding with his girls. They weren't contained, they weren't breaking their orders, they were trusting him, he was trusting them. He was really good.

The whole experience was a bit surreal. Riding through the jungle on his bike with dog demons bordering him, their heads thrown back occasionally to release a heart-stopping snarl. They growled as they gained on whatever they were searching for, twisting and turning through the darkness, hunting for their prey. Inuyasha's blood was singing.

Kagome watched from her tablet, sitting on a steel chair from the meeting earlier. They had situated a camera on each of the dog's helmets, and she caught flashing glimpses of Inuyasha as he sped across the landscape parallel to them. Her heart pounded, thinking of all the different ways this could go wrong.

But she couldn't help the immense glow of pride that radiated from her every time she caught a second of him smirking at the camera; probably just smirking at his girls and not realizing he was looking directly into a lens.

"Your boyfriend is bad-ass." Ayame's voice interrupted, unannounced. Kagome hadn't noticed the red-head curled right behind her, green iridescent eyes following the moving bodies on the screen.

Kagome thought about correcting her, putting an end to whatever Ayame was implying. But she settled a little bit more comfortably in her chair and tilted the screen up so Ayame could get a better look.

She sealed her lips together and offered a smile instead.

The speaker they had put in Inuyasha's ear to have open communication with the team, crackled to life. Koga's voice siphoned through the receiver.

"Coming up on something big."

Inuyasha gave a whistle to signal slowing down, and the girls took their pace down a few notches, Kaze barking ahead of them in aggravation.

"I think this is it."

Inuyasha held down on his ear-piece and sniffed. "Yeah, no shit."

"Don't do anything stupid."

"What, like strap helmets to a bunch of wild dog-demons and open their cages?"

Koga's end of the line went dead, then there was the sound of a scuffle and some muffled yelling.

"Inuyasha," Kagome's voice replaced Koga's and his heart felt like it was being constricted. To be honest, he wasn't all too fond of whatever this new feeling for his assistant was growing into. "Be careful."

He decided not to designate her statement with a response.

"Please."

He decided she deserved one. "Don't worry so much. I got killer devices following my every order."

He could hear her sigh so he added, "Maybe you should learn something from them."

"Inuyasha-"

The girls advanced in front of him, even Mizu was ahead. He noticed they weren't running anymore, and they had come to stop so he slowed down and held up a fist to signify the cavalry behind him to do the same. He head the purrs of their motors coming to a halt and then the sound of soldiers spilling out from their jeeps, lining up and hoisting weapons over their shoulders.

"Wait," Inuyasha called in a hushing tone behind him. "We need a clear shot." And by that he meant, they better not mess anything up and mistakenly hit the dogs.

"Where is it?" Miroku whispered to him, his finger calmly hovering over the trigger.

"He camouflages."

The dog-demons paced around, Kaze in particular looking agitated in her confusion, stomping at the ground and shaking her head with a snuffled growl. They could tell they had reached the end of their search, and they could smell the prey all around them, but there was nothing there.

Then the ground began to shake, and Inuyasha immediately knew why.

The branches in the trees in front of them began to shift from dark green to black, moving in an unnatural fashion, inflating and deflating like a pair of lungs was hidden right behind those patterns of leaves.

Naraku appeared.

The skin on his back giving off steam as if he had emerged from hell itself. A echoing sound fell from his jowls, like the hum a boat would make as it scratched the bottom of a reef.

The silence shattered down all around them, and hung there over everyone's head like a broken chandelier. Fear isn't a word, it isn't a feeling, it's different planetary dimension and everyone breathing within a five-mile radius was transported to it.

Inuyasha felt like the devil got bigger and bigger every time he laid his eyes on him, his grotesque hybrid-lizard form looming as he raised his head to regard the noisy animals at his feet.

That's when Inuyasha realized the girls were barking at Naraku, growling in restless and expressive tones. He recognized those sounds. And they weren't predatory.

"Something's wrong…" Miroku trailed off. "They're communicating."

"Fuckin Kikyo…I get it now," Inuyasha whispered hoarsely. "Why they wouldn't tell us what this thing is made of."

"What?" Miroku asked, not taking his eyes off the rare exchange of foreign demon language.

"That thing is part dog-demon."

And that very moment, all four heads of the dog-demons he had raised from the moment they opened their golden yellow eyes as puppies, turned their hungry salivating gazes straight at him.

A/N: I know! It's a short chapter, I'm sorry. And I decided not to kill Sota, again so sorry (haha). Questions/comments/well deserved complains? come hang out and talk to me about the fic! I'm on tumblr as: sankontesu :) We're getting to the good part, if you know anything about this movie at all. If you don't well...we're getting to the good part. As for Inuyasha and Kagome, I'm trying to make it more obvious that they're getting comfortable with each other! Let me know if it worked or if I completely missed the mark...