Naraku chuckled, the deep baritone of his vocal chords expressing his pleasure from the scene before him. His dark gaze swept over the clearing, his chuckle turning into a hearty belly laugh as he spotted various members of Inuyasha's traveling pack around the clearing.

Only the light of the stars illuminated the said half-demon. Or human, as the case may have been that night. Inuyasha's black hair hung around his limp form, the blood from his wounds staining his torn red clothing in a darker crimson. Small gasps of air to sustain his body were the only evidence that the boy was still alive. The Tetsaiga still hung about his waist, completely useless in a human's hand.

It was not hard to find which night Inuyasha's human half took over him. By a simple analyzing of the group's traveling habits and moon pattern had Naraku correctly estimating the night of humanity landing on the new moon. The elimination of Inuyasha had been one of the easiest. The boy relied so heavily on his hanyou abilities and Tetsaiga that when he was human, there was virtually nothing to stop Naruku from taking him out.

The next member Naraku had neutralized was the demon slayer whose village he had annihilated. And whose brother he still had underneath his control. He took excessive pleasure in her defeat, for he had used the aforementioned brother to disarm her. And then use himself to force his sister to surrender by lining the female slayer's own sword with his belly button, conveying an unspoken message of surrender or watch your brother die.

The slayer choked out an, "I surrender" before Naraku himself had taken her into his clutches. Of course there was a meager protest of the demon cat and the monk, however, his minion Kagura had taken care of it. The fire-cat was now somewhere deep into the forest, no longer a threat, and the monk was now unconscious and slumped awkwardly in a pile of purple robes at the bottom of a tree, his fist clenched and arm trembling with the poison he had consumed through his Wind Tunnel.

With the slayer now in Naraku's possession, there was only one member left in the way. And she was certainly being troublesome. Kagome had long sent her surrogate son away from the battle, the fox-child obeying his foster mother's order. Seconds after that, she had been shoved behind Inuyasha with the half-demon-turned-human's laughable declaration of protection.

Naraku had focused on Inuyasha, the untrained priestess not much of a threat unless she had her hands on a bow and arrow. That was until, at that moment, as he was about to end the slayer's miserable existence, a rock, blazing pink with holy powers, flew through Naraku's barrier, dissipating the energy and the rock itself bouncing harmlessly against the evil man's white baboon pelt.

"Let Sango go!" Kagome screamed, powering up another rock with her energy. She stood near Inuyasha's fallen form, tears streaming from her blue eyes. Kagome was standing shakily before Naraku, dressed in dirty blue jeans and a faded green t-shirt, having traded her school uniform for easier clothes to travel in weeks ago.

Naraku's laughter died down for a moment, leaving a satisfied smirk upon the evil half-demon's lips. "Oh? And why should I do that?" he drawled.

Instead of answering, she threw her charged rock again, watching it as it passed through Naraku's barrier and once again hit the bamboo pelt, leaving nothing but a small spot of dirt.

The half-demon laughed, and turned his attention back to the demon slayer's demise, but still keeping an eye on the priestess, in case she did something funny. Raising his hand for the final blow, the girl's voice interrupted him.

"No! Please! Don't kill her!" Kagome pleaded. Her wide eyes took in the horror in front of her. She had seen, one-by-one, each of her friends fall from the battle, all because of the powerful shards of the jewel she had shattered and was now the guardian of.

She stared at her unconscious best friend in clutches of her most hated enemy, claws still poised to separate the head from the shoulders. Her brain overloading with so much devastation forgot its basic functions and she was no longer able to blink, much less stand. Her knees gave out and landed on the dirt. Even the clutch she had on her last charged rock waned and tumbled out of her fingers.

The only thing her brain could think about was Sango. Her best friend, her confidant, her sister for all intents and purposes, even her therapist. The only person in the world who knew all of her secrets, her hopes, dreams, pet peeves, things she hated, and think she liked. Sango, in turn, had shared her deepest hopes and dreams. Sango looked forward to a future of rebuilding her village, with Miroku by her side. Such a hopeful and happy future could not be ended.

Naraku saw the priestess fall to her knees, salty tears not halting their descent down her face, and chuckled. "Since you said 'please', I won't kill her." He teased. Taking sadistic pleasure from the hope that seeped into her eyes, he watched gleefully as he saw it die with his next words, "I'll just keep her; perhaps I will make her like her brother."

"No! No!" she screamed in protest, her voice breaking. She had to do something. Sudden inspiration came, an epiphany with sudden clarity and a way to save the life of her surrogate sister.

"Take me. Take me instead."

~~::~~

A/N: So, this story of mine came while watching Disney's Beauty and the beast, so this will be (somewhat) following that story line. There will be a lot of similarities, but I hope this isn't going to be one of those, "Same story, different character" kind of things where it is literally just a carbon copy of BatB.

With that said, no, Naraku is NOT going to be the metaphorical "beast." It is going to be Sesshoumaru, like is says in the description thingy. Just wanted to clear that up before I leave at the cliffhanger. :D