Sesshoumaru gazed upon the dead human body before himself. He knew that this was Inu Yasha’s woman—the miko. He had witnessed what had happened to her and it was in his mind that a plan had begun to formulate. The plan was not within his nature, but he was still in outrage of how Naraku had previously insulted him, by kidnapping Rin. He drew his Tenseiga from its sheath, allowing it to gleam in the sunlight as he pointed the blade towards Kagome’s body. With the swing of the blade, he had brought her back to life. Before she came to full consciousness, he threw her over his shoulder and dashed away. [As much as I hate associating with humans—she’ll be useful in due time…]

Kagome slowly opened her eyes. [What happened? I thought I had died… in fact, I was sure of it.] She focused her eyes and noticed that she was being carried—by Sesshoumaru. She opened her mouth to scream, but she was quickly quieted by Sesshoumaru’s voice.

"Don’t cry out. Lie still as though you were still deceased."

"Why?"

Sesshoumaru growled, but soon answered, his voice icy as ever. "Do it, woman. Your future depends upon this."

Kagome swallowed her pride as she allowed herself to lay limp over Sesshoumaru’s shoulder. Her thoughts reflected her own sarcasm as she sighed softly. [Geez… most girls my age worry about their hair and make-up… as for me—it’s all about dying and being revived then kidnapped… such an everyday thing—not.]

~~~ ~~~ ~~~ ~~~ ~~~ ~~~ ~~~ A Few Hours Later ~~~ ~~~ ~~~ ~~~ ~~~ ~~~ ~~~ ~~~

Sesshoumaru set Kagome down as he entered the small cave in the mountains, shortly away from his own home. "Naraku thinks you’re dead. As long as he thinks this, he won’t be prepared for an attack from you. You should take advantage of this and prepare to make a final attack against him."

Kagome stared at Sesshoumaru, slightly confused. "You want my help?"

Sesshoumaru's mask of indifference remained, unwavering. "I didn’t ask of your help."

Kagome crossed her arms in defiance. "No, it seems as though you have ordered it."

"Insolent woman! You owe your life to me, and I can end your life at any time I desire."

[Fine then… two can play this game…] Kagome stretched as she noticed that Sesshoumaru had also brought along her backpack. "You grabbed my backpack for me?"

Sesshoumaru glowered at Kagome as he saw her rustle through her backpack. "There is not anything in there that would give your position away, is there?"

"Not that I can think of, why?"

"It is of utmost importance that you are not found by anyone, especially that bastard brother of mine."

Kagome tensed as realization hit her—she was not going to see Inu Yasha for quite some time. "You mean, I have to stay here until we kill Naraku? How soon can we be done with this? I mean… I have school to attend and my family may worry of me…"

"You have to train yourself so that you will be able to kill Naraku. And it is just as well that your family believes that you are dead. No one is to know that you are alive—got it?"

Kagome’s face fell with his words. She had no desire to be stuck in a cave with Sesshoumaru for several months and no communication to anyone she knew or loved. "But, my family doesn’t even live in this era—they couldn’t tell Naraku…"

"No one is to know."

* ~~~ *** ~~~ *** ~~~ *** ~~~ *** ~~~ *** ~~~ *** ~~~ *** ~~~ *** ~~~ *** ~~~ *

Inu Yasha slowly headed back into the forest, to recover Kagome’s body. He tripped several times because of his eyes were so filled with tears that he could no longer see. [It was all my fault… if I would have walked with her instead of just watching her… If I hadn’t have gone off with Kikyo in the first place, she wouldn’t have been mad at me… none of this would have happened…]

Inu Yasha paused for a few moments to stare at the well, from where Kagome had first come into his world. It was through this well that she first traveled into his time and when she first broke the spell that Kikyo had placed on him. It was here that he held her in his arms for the first time and here that he later realized for the first time that he loved her. It was here that he would spend hours looking down into the well, waiting for her return. But it was near here that her life ended.

Inu Yasha slowly approached the well, he knew that the very sight of Kagome's body would be more than enough to tear his heart to shreds. [I should at least tell her family… They should know about it…] He stood on the edge of the well, hoping that when he hit the bottom, he would awaken to find that all that had just transpired was a mere dream. He was disappointed, however, to look up and see the ceiling of the Higarashi’s shrine over the well. He felt as though he had not the strength to move any longer and sat in the corner of the floor of the well, tears streaming over his cheeks. He bowed his head, allowing his bangs to shadow his face, hoping never to see light again. It was in short time that he had exhausted his energy and fell asleep.

~ ~~~ ~~~~~ ~~~~~~~ ~~~~~~~~~ ~~~~~~~~~~~ ~~~~~~~~~ ~~~~~~~ ~~~~~ ~~~ ~

It was not until the next morning that Inu Yasha was awoken by the sound of a woman’s voice. He stirred as he strained to focus his eyes on the figure above him. "K-Kagome?"

The voice chuckled. "No, Inu Yasha, this is her mother. Tell me, what are you doing here? I thought Kagome went over to the other world yesterday…"

[I failed to protect her when she came back… It was my fault…]

Kagome’s mother cocked her head in confusion. "Inu Yasha, what’s the matter?"

Inu Yasha slowly pulled himself to the top of the well. As soon as he was out of the well, he turned away from Kagome’s mother and stared into the darkness of the small shrine. "I failed her, Higurashi-san… I failed to protect her…"

Mrs. Higurashi gasped in shock as she dropped to sit on the steps leading out of the small shrine. "You… you mean that she’s just hurt, right? That’s all, right? She’s gonna be alright, right, Inu Yasha?"

Inu Yasha shook his head slowly. "I failed her… she’s gone…"

Mrs. Higurashi slowly approached Inu Yasha and placed her hand on his shoulder. "You can’t mean this, Inu Yasha… Don’t play these kind of games…"

Inu Yasha stood to face the distressed woman, tears in his golden eyes. "I only wish that this were only a game—a joke—a dream… but it isn’t…"

The woman stared at Inu Yasha in realization. Her eyes glazed over in a pained sorrow. "You mean… Kagome’s gone?"

Inu Yasha nodded slowly and caught Mrs. Higurashi as she fainted. He carried her limp form out of the small shrine and then into the Higurashi's home. In a daze, he placed the unconscious woman on the couch that was in their living room and he headed up the staircase that led to Kagome’s room. He ignored Souta’s joyous greeting as he closed the door behind himself and stared at the pink-laden bed on the opposite side of the room.

Souta dashed up the stairs and burst into his sister’s room to see Inu Yasha in the corner of the room crying. "Inu-no-onéchan, what’s wrong? Where’s Kagome?"

Inu Yasha turned away from Souta and headed towards the window. He picked up his baseball cap from Kagome’s desk and put it on.

"Inu-no-onéchan, what’s wrong?"

Inu Yasha glanced back at Souta, tears brimming in his eyes as he opened the window behind the pink curtains. "Kagome… I failed her…" Without another word, Inu Yasha leapt from the window sill and headed out into Tokyo.

~~~ ~~~~~ ~~~~~~~ ~~~~~~~~~ ~~~~~~~~~~~ ~~~~~~~~~ ~~~~~~~~ ~~~~~ ~~~

Sango sighed as she looked out the door for what seemed to be the hundredth time. "Something’s wrong… Inu Yasha left yesterday—the well isn’t but about five minutes of walking away from here… he would have at least returned by now…"

"Maybe he found Kikyo again…"

Sango turned around, surprised. "Houshi-sama… I thought that you were asleep…"

"You really think I can sleep with you pacing like that?"

Sango shook her head, sighing. "I’m sorry… I just have this bad feeling…"

Miroku shrugged as he placed a comforting hand on her shoulder. "Fine then, let’s go out to the well and see what has happened."

Shippo stirred awake and rubbed his eyes as he sleepily pulled on the bottom of Miroku’s robe. "I wanna come…"

"Okay, come on then, Shippo-chan." Sango bent over and picked Shippo up, so that he would not slow them in their quick investigation as to why neither Kagome nor Inu Yasha had returned.

It was only a few moments later, when they were in the middle of the forest that Shippo jumped from Sango’s arms. He sniffed the ground much in the same manner as Inu Yasha often did. Tears formed in his eyes as he turned towards Miroku and Sango. "Kag—Kagome’s dead… She was killed right here—I can smell her blood… and death… But… I can’t tell where Inu Yasha went…"

Sango caught Shippo as he jumped into her arms, crying. She exchanged worried expressions with Miroku.

Miroku placed his hand on Shippo’s shoulder. "You must be mistaken… Are you sure that it isn’t the blood of some yokai?"

Shippo glared angrily at Miroku through his tear-filled eyes. "I’m the yokai here—I think that I’d be able to tell better than you what has happened here! Dammit, I smell death and Kagome’s blood—what else would that mean to you?" Shippo leapt from Sango’s arms and ran back towards the village as quickly as his tiny legs could carry him.

Sango’s emotions finally caught up to her as the small kitsune cub disappeared into the distance. Tears welled in her eyes as she leaned against Miroku’s shoulder. "He knows… she must be gone…"

Miroku nodded solemnly as he wrapped his arms around Sango’s shoulders, careful not to let his hands wander. [But… Where did Inu Yasha go?]

~ ~~~ ~~~~~ ~~~~~~~ ~~~~~~~~~ ~~~~~~~~~~~ ~~~~~~~~~ ~~~~~~~ ~~~~~ ~~~ ~

A.N. I know that most people would say, 'Shippo is, like, eight years old, he has no business saying things like "Dammit".' Well, folks, Shippo has not only said it in the series at least once, but he has also had to grow up a lot when he lost his parents, not to mention that the other characters never stop to think about what they say in front of him.