A/N: this is a much shorter chapter, i figured itd be best to save the stuff of substance for the upcoming chapters. :)

Kouga's mouth gaped in terror, the only thing he could choke out was, "H-holy shit."

Sango, Miroku, and Shippo watched in horror, all paralyzed with fear on how to act.

Kagome staggered backwards, her fingers trembling up onto her face to touch the blood that was splattered on it. Her brown eyes stared into fear-stricken gold irises that looked down at her in shock. As he gasped for air, the red in his sclera slowly faded to a white as blood poured out of him. They could both hear the quiet chuckle of Naraku from behind Inuyasha.

Blood spilled from between Inuyasha's teeth as he choked on his own breath, coughing to sputter some blood from his mouth. He craned his neck back to glare daggers into Naraku, wishing he could brutally murder him where he stood.

"Inuyasha, your insubordination is very disappointing," Naraku said.

Inuyasha choked again before saying, "I've got… a feeling I've dealt… with something… like this before."

"No, Inuyasha. What you are about to experience will be much worse than anything you have ever lived through."

Naraku was cut off when a flash of purple light severed the bony tendril stuck in Inuyasha. The half demon collapsed to the ground on his face, dropping his Tessaiga next to him. The grass and dirt underneath him sucked up his blood as his wound tried to heal itself. Kouga dashed up to Inuyasha, but was forced to step back as more protrusions exited from underneath Naraku's cloak that separated the half demon from the wolf demon.

"Naraku…!" Kagome growled, pulling on her drawstring again as hard as she could. Her right arm throbbed from the tension and she let go, letting the arrow fly at Naraku. It flew in a sharp path before harshly bouncing off of a pink barrier surrounding her enemy.

"Damn it!" Kagome hissed, the bitter words falling off of her tongue in an uncharacteristic manner, though it sounded strangled with a cry.

Naraku laughed, letting another sharp appendage swing itself at Kagome and missed her narrowly. Her heightened agility from the adrenaline pumping through her blood saved her from another injury to recover from.

More appendages flew outside of the barrier at Kouga, making him step back further and further from Inuyasha before Sango's Hiraikotsu smashed into some of them, allowing Kouga to push forward again. Miroku accompanied them by hurling sacred sutras to try and light Naraku's body ablaze. Naraku growled, his frustration by the team's interferences become more and more apparent. Kouga and Sango had almost reached Inuyasha again before Naraku's murderous intent multiply tenfold.

His body erupted into an amalgamation demon's body parts, his legs transforming and disfiguring into a multitude of thick tentacles that granted him height to loom above the group of his enemies. Naraku did not hold back as he shot more expendable body parts at the group, almost shooting Sango down who blocked the attack with a grunt. Naraku sprayed out miasma from underneath his cloak, the noxious gas purposefully avoiding Inuyasha while pushing the team further and further away again. Kouga had gone over to Kagome, holding her by the shoulder and arm to stop her from running straight into the miasma and getting herself killed.

"Kouga! Let go! Kouga!"

"Kagome, you're just gonna run headfirst into that miasma! I promised myself I wasn't gonna let you get hurt!"

She tried to yank herself away, but his demonic grip kept her in place and out of harm's way.

"Inuyasha!" she cried.

Kouga gritted his teeth before yelling, "DAMMIT MUTT, YOU'D BETTER GET OUTTA THERE! YOU'RE MAKING KAGOME CRY BY GETTING YOUR ASS KICKED!" Kouga yelled, his voice booming louder than Kagome's.

Inuyasha struggled to get to his feet again, caught off guard when smaller tentacles from Naraku wrapped itself around his arms, legs, and neck to pull him off the ground and up to Naraku's level. He pulled his arms apart, making Inuyasha unable to fight back with his claws.

All everyone could do was watch. No effort could break through Naraku's barrier without Inuyasha's red Tessaiga.

Naraku pulled up his white cloak above his head to toss it down to the ground below. Inuyasha growled, face to face with Naraku.

"Inuyasha, have you any last words?"

Inuyasha spat on Naraku's face with a wad of blood. Naraku did not respond, only stared Inuyasha in the face as he wiped the blood mixed with spit off of his face. No more words were exchanged as the subtle sound of ribs cracking from underneath Naraku's clothes became louder. Suddenly, the cracking bones ripped through Naraku's robes and surrounded Inuyasha like a cage's doors opening around him. In between the open ribs was a black void, that emanated some dark and heavy pressure.

"You will become part of me. Jewel shard and all."

Inuyasha gasped, immediately feeling the need to struggle more. He grunted, trying to break free of his restraints as the cage slowly began to close around him.

Kagome shrieked at an ear-piercing volume, thrashing around in Kouga's arms more.

Inuyasha took a deep breath, focusing all of his strength into freeing one of his arms. He yanked as hard and as fast as he could multiple times until the tentacle wrapped around his arm snapped. He gripped one of the exposed ribs and tried to use it as leverage and to pull off of it, spreading a bit of distance between him and the welcoming void.

He howled from his struggle and did his best to look down at Kagome.

"Gah…! Damn it all to hell. Kagome! Listen to me!"

Her face lit up and her eyes widened.

"I don't know who you are, but every damn thing I've had to deal with keeps pointing back to you! I'll remember you."

"Inuyasha! You can do it!" she cheered.

"I'll come back for you," he said, cracking a weak smirk for her.

"Enough senseless chatter," Naraku interrupted.

Naraku wasted no more time wrapping Inuyasha's wrist again and tearing his hand off of his rib. More tentacles protruded, pulling Inuyasha down into the void by any means necessary. He shouted and resisted as much as possible, but he kept getting closer and closer to the void. The rib cage behind him intertwined together, marking that there would be nowhere to turn.

Kagome's heart sunk once more, tears spilling from her eyes as she cried Inuyasha's name. Kouga hissed underneath his breath, letting Kagome go for a brief second to turn her around and hold her facing him. She covered her ears to block out Inuyasha's screams, but could still hear the dampened noise through her fists.

Shippo covered his eyes and turned away, whimpering.

Inuyasha cursed loudly as he kept getting drawn closer into Naraku's body, his heart pounding in his throat as he slowly came to realize that there truly was no escape. His distressed noises persisted until it was suddenly silent, followed by the faint cracking of Naraku's bones back into place. The bystanders all wanted to throw up. Kagome dryly sobbed onto Kouga, the wolf demon holding her tightly to him. His own lips quivered as his brain struggled to process the sight that had occurred before them.

Naraku's body soon reverted back to its prior state, hastily covering himself with his cloak to obscure his body. He looked down upon the group, his face covered in satisfaction.

"How unfortunate for you to have witnessed this. I do apologize for the unfortunate sight," Naraku said sarcastically, though the group was too shocked to be able to respond to his condescending tone.

"Damn you to hell Naraku!" Kouga said, squeezing Kagome tighter. "You'll pay for this!"

"Oh? Showing sympathy for your rival now, Kouga? How admirable of you."

Kouga gritted his teeth and growled, wanting to kill Naraku there and then on behalf of both Kagome and Inuyasha.

"Have any of you nothing to say? If so, then I shall take my leave," he said, wasting no time to float away, protected by his impenetrable barrier.

They all watched him float away, with the exception of Kagome, who kept her head buried in Kouga's chest. Slowly processing the situation, Miroku ran his hand through his hair and dropped his staff to the side. Sango leaned against a tree and slid down to sit on the ground, resting a hand on her forehead.

Kouga's grip was iron tight, getting lost in his own aggressive thoughts as he tried to cope with the sight that had just passed. He quickly loosened up, remembering that he was still holding someone.

"Kagome?" Kouga asked, quietly, hearing that her crying had stopped.

Suddenly, Kouga hissed in pain as touching Kagome made his skin start to burn, jumping away from her in bewilderment.

"Kouga, are you alright?" Sango asked.

"I ain't the one you should be asking that to," he said.

Everyone's attention directed to Kagome, whose head hung low. Her hair floated around her, a soft purple glow surrounding her body.

"Kagome, your spiritual energy is multiplying tremendously!" Miroku said, almost alarmed.

Kagome turned around towards the misama. She took a staggering step towards it, and everyone's eyebrows raised, unsure of what to do. Was she trying to kill herself?

Taking another step directly in front of the miasma, Kouga reached out for her again, only to be bounced off by a strong barrier surrounding her, knocking him onto the ground. Her allies gasped, anxiety crawling up their backs as they watched Kagome. She took another step, her shoe making contact with the miasma. In an instant as she made contact, the dark purple gas lit up in a bright lavender light then dissipated immediately.

Everyone gasped as the land around them was cleared.

A few feet away on the ground lay the lonesome Tessaiga, shrunken and dull and without its wielder. Kagome stared down at it, her face welling up. It was getting annoying to be crying so often, so she kept her tears down. Reaching down for the handle, she gripped it with a weak hand and held it up. She then hugged it weakly, as if she were trying to hug Inuyasha.

"This is the only thing I have left of him."

Kouga's eyes softened at her and his mouth loosened from its tight and aggressive position, drooping into a genuine frown.

"Kagome—"

"It's fine, I really just need some time," Kagome said quietly.

The silence lingered in the air for a while, everyone moving away to grant Kagome the space she desired. The young priestess remained in that spot for what seemed like an hour before moving to lean on a tree, catching her friends' attention. Nothing about her movement sparked them as something that required their attention, and they all figured that they should leave her be.

After a while, and the sun began to set, chatter slowly began to spring up in the group away from Kagome.

"I really wanted to be mad at that mutt. Mad that he got his dumbass into this in the first place," Kouga started, his usual hostile and cocky tone towards everything not currently in his voice. "But right now— damn. It makes me feel…"

"Guilty," Sango added.

"...Yeah."

"You wouldn't want to be in his place."

"Mhm… Just seeing Kagome…" he turned around to see Kagome still curled up on the tree away from them, Shippo and Kirara hovering near her. "Inuyasha wouldn't do that to her on purpose… would he?" Kouga asked unsurely, not used to talking so in depth about Inuyasha.

"Of course he wouldn't! Who do you think he is?!" Sango snapped in defense of Inuyasha before recollecting herself. She ran a hand through her hair before saying, "To me, it was always something obvious that they lov— cared about one another a lot. Even if Inuyasha could be a senseless jerk at times to her, and even… the other way around at times, Inuyasha would never have purposefully thrown himself into the hands of the enemy to hurt Kagome!"

"You weren't there the first time, but when this had all first started, Inuyasha hadn't given up so easily. Just like this time. Naraku had really just stacked the odds against him tremendously," Miroku added.

"I coulda guessed that. But—," Kouga took in a deep breath, and knocked the back of his head on the tree and sighed. "It's a bad feeling in my stomach."

"It's sympathy, of course," Miroku said.

"Sym…..pathy? For the mutt?"

"Yes, just as Naraku said. You don't think Inuyasha deserved this fate, do you?"

Kouga stayed silent, but let out a huff.

"My point exactly. Even if you don't say it, I know your answer is no."

"AND SO WHAT IF IT IS?! HUH?! IT DON'T MEAN NOTHIN'!" Kouga barked, his voice rattling the trees around them.

Miroku closed his eyes and smiled. "Well, it must mean you're warming up to him like we have."

Kouga took a swing for Miroku's head, but Miroku ducked, anticipating the harsh reaction. He didn't anticipate Kouga swinging again, slamming his other fist down on the back of Miroku's head.

"Ow!" he cried.

"Cut it out!" Sango snapped at them both.

Kouga hissed his teeth repeatedly, stepping away from Miroku, who rubbed his head pitifully.

"If you think I'd ever like that damned mutt, you've got another thing comin' for ya. Geh, just thinkin' about his stench makes me wanna gag," Kouga groaned with his tongue hanging out of his mouth dramatically.

"Or it makes you want to swoon," Miroku said jokingly, but smugly.

"Why I oughta…"

"Miroku!" Sango yelled, getting up this time to block Kouga from heading back over to Miroku and clobbering him where he sat.

They ceased their squabbling when Shippo and Kirara returned to the group.

"How's Kagome?" Miroku asked.

"I dunno if I can say 'fine'... I think she just wants to be left alone…"

"She's still awake?"

"Yeah… Also guys, I think we should find a village! We've been out for days and I think Kagome's food is really running out! She has to be hungry by now."

"You're right. I believe Kagome still has a little bit of food left, so we should just give it to her. Are you alright with that, Sango?" Miroku said, standing up to go near her.

Sango nodded. "Anything for her."

"Yaknow, for a pervert freak like you, you can be… whatcha call it? Noble," Kouga said, folding his arms and slightly tilting his hips to the side.

"A pervert freak? I have no idea what you mean," Miroku said with a chuckle.

"Miroku…" Sango growled, veins popping off of her forehead as her face flushed red.

She slapped Miroku's hand off of her butt, swiveling on her heel and used the momentum to slap Miroku as hard as she could, slapping him multiple times on both cheeks. Kouga and Shippo watched the confrontation, not at all surprised by Miroku's predictable actions.

"You're depraved! I could kill you!" Sango screamed, reaching for her Hiraikotsu.

"Gah! Sango, sometimes you just need to find something that calms you down!" Miroku cried, backing away from her.

"You're one to talk!" she growled, charging at Miroku and tried to hit him with the large boomerang.

"Are they… always like this?" Kouga asked, slowly getting a bit more concerned by Sango chasing around Miroku with murderous intent.

"Pretty much," Shippo responded with a sigh. "This is worse than Kagome and Inu- oops! Than… Inuyasha's bickering…." he said, whispering Inuyasha's name.

"Why are you whisperin'? Too chicken to say Inutrasha's name?"

"Hey! You should be more respectful!"

"Or what? The mutt's gonna bust outta Naraku's guts and beat the crap outta me?"

"Hi," Kagome said from behind Kouga.

Kouga raised his arms and screeched from the surprise, jumping away. He could still see the splatter of Inuyasha's dried blood on her cheek. He wondered if she forgot about it.

"Told ya you should be more respectful…" Shippo huffed.

"Kagome! You're up!" Miroku chimed, dodging swipes of the Hiraikotsu.

Kagome nodded silently, looking down at the ground.

"Are you feeling any better?" Sango asked, getting in one slam onto Miroku's back then rested her Hiraikotsu back down on a tree to go up to her friend.

"No… not really. But I can't sit around moping forever."

"Kagome, don't forget to think about yourself."

"I am! I promise. And I realize that the longer I do nothing the worse I'm gonna feel about this. I can cope with the situation as we're moving. It's better to make progress like that," Kagome said, holding the Tessaiga close to her.

Sango looked back at Miroku and sighed, looking back at Kagome.

"Do you want to leave in the morning?"

Kagome nodded.

Kagura rested along the hallway walls of the castle, enjoying the darkness and quiet to herself. Her eyes were closed, taking in deep breaths to ward off the anxiety she always faced when dealing with Naraku. Her red eyes then flashed open, feeling the unfriendly presence of the original body she had been born from.

Her eyes stayed locked on the door, until the hallway was engulfed in light from the outside before quickly being shut off from it again.

A familiar face locked eyes with hers as he entered his castle, a grin spreading from his lips.

"Kagura," Naraku said.

"...Naraku. You're back already."

"Indeed. I'm quite surprised that you're not out roaming again. Sick of the sights, are you?"

Kagura hissed her teeth, seeing Naraku begin to approach her.

"Kagura, I'm curious as to how Kagome and her group was able to find Inuyasha and I so easily? You wouldn't be familiar with this, now would you?"

"...I wouldn't know," she said, looking away from him. "Where is Inuyasha?" she asked quietly.

"Inuyasha is settled inside of my body as punishment for his rebellion."

"You… ate him?"

"That I did, and surprisingly I've been granted a great deal of power from his pathetic half demon body," he said, beginning to walk past Kagura. Stopping next to her, he said, "If Inuyasha can succumb to this fate, then by all means you can as well."

Kagura tensed up, hearing Naraku's light chuckle as he continued to walk past her. He entered the room he normally occupied, leaving Kagura in the silence and solitude that she was no longer comfortable in.