Sango tightened her grip on Hiraikotsu as she heard rustling in the leaves. She pulled the large boomerang in front of herself as a shield just as something metallic flew out of the shadows. Her face registered with shock as she saw the sickle and chain wrapped around the top of Hiraikotsu. She stepped back as the short, slender figure emerged from the shadows. "Kohaku…"

Miroku spun around when he heard Sango’s voice, solemnly calling out to her younger brother. He turned to look at Inu Yasha, Kana, Sesshoumaru, and Kouga. "It’s started… Kohaku’s here!"

Kagome jumped up, reaching for her bow. She stopped as Sesshoumaru grabbed her arm and shook his head. "What? I can’t just leave her like that!"

Inu Yasha stood, taking a long look at Sesshoumaru. "Listen, Kohaku is controlled by a shard that Naraku placed in his back. If the shard is taken out, Kohaku dies… But I have another thought… Sesshoumaru, do you think you would be able to use Tenseiga?"

Sesshoumaru paused as he looked down at the sword on his belt—only thrice before had he used the sword, but it seemed that it would work. He began to walk towards where he was hearing the battle between Sango and Kohaku when he felt something tugging on his leg. He looked down, expecting to see Kagome smiling up at him, rather, he saw Rin, looking up to him with pleading eyes.

"Sesshoumaru-sama… please don’t hurt Kohaku-kun…" The girl looked towards the direction from which she heard the clanging of Kohaku’s weapon against Sango’s Hiraikotsu.

Sesshoumaru smiled down at the child as he continued towards the battling siblings. His eyes narrowed as he came onto the scene, seeing the taijiya woman crying as she fought back her brother’s attacks. He rushed forward and grabbed the boy as he threw the sickle and chain at Sango. He held the now defenseless boy up by his neck, much in the same way he had when he had meant to kill the boy before.

Kohaku showed no signs of struggling as his body fell limp in Sesshoumaru’s grasp. Sango looked up from behind her Hiraikotsu and saw what had seemed to be the worst-possible scenario. Sesshoumaru was going to kill Kohaku. Her eyes burned with tears as she screamed in rage. She stood, holding Hiraikotsu over her head, ready to throw it. "Don’t hurt him! Don’t you dare!!"

Sesshoumaru turned around, surprised to see the taijiya woman threatening to attack him. His harsh golden eyes reflected no kindness in her eyes and he knew that she still did not trust him well. He could not very easily explain the situation, she would still not believe his words.

Kagome ran to Sango, knowing that only she could soothe her friend and placed her hands on Sango’s outstretched arms. "Listen, he’s not going to hurt Kohaku… We’re trying to fix this whole mess… trust us."

Tears poured from Sango’s eyes as she dropped Hiraikotsu and fell to her knees. She looked up to see Sesshoumaru, still holding Kohaku, in the dim light of the rising sun. No longer could she see this recurring nightmare—her only living relative, her baby brother, attacking her with his sickle and chain, his eyes void of a soul. Now… now it seemed that Kagome had a plan to take care of it all. But, would Sango be prepared to get her brother back just to go to fight Naraku as soon as she had him in her arms once more?

Miroku placed his hand on Sango’s shoulder and smiled down at her. He helped her to stand and took her into his arms. He knew, if not more than anyone else, just how much pain Sango was enduring. She had even known that Naraku would be likely to send Kohaku out after her, but she couldn’t prepare herself for seeing her brother attacking her. "Sango-chan, it’s going to be alright…"

Sesshoumaru slowly set the boy down, within Kagome’s reach. "Do you know where the shard is?"

[I hope… I hope this works…] Kagome paused as she looked at Kohaku’s back. With her hanyou eyes, she could not see the shard—but if she concentrated… Kagome reached out to a slight sparkle that she saw in the boy’s back. She pushed a claw just under the skin and withdrew the shard.

As soon as Kagome held the shard from the boy’s back, Sesshoumaru set him down on the ground. Sesshoumaru drew the Tenseiga and concentrated on seeing the messengers from the other world. He had just sliced through the small yokai as he heard Kagome cry out. He sheathed the sword as he ran towards the sound of her voice, which was now much farther away than he had thought she would have been. He took a quick glance back, seeing that the sun had not quite risen yet.

He rushed through the forest, toward where he had heard Kagome’s voice. [She was right next to me a moment ago…] He ran into a clearing, several yards away from where they had set up camp for the night. He was surprised as he saw Naraku holding the human Inu Yasha by the neck.

Mouth agape, Kagome stared, frozen, too afraid to act. She looked back at Sesshoumaru with pained amber eyes, tears threatening to begin pouring out at any moment. She stepped back, shaking her head. She whispered to herself, though Sesshoumaru could hear her, "No… Not now… no matter what, I can’t lose him… even if… even if I’m with Sesshoumaru, he’s still… very important…"

Sesshoumaru, though slightly alarmed by her words and questioning Kagome’s loyalty to him, knew what had to be done. Never in his life would he have believed that he would do such a thing, but now he had to—he had to save his brother. He still despised Inu Yasha, however, it was his concern for Kagome that made his mind up. Even if it meant that she would run to Inu Yasha’s side as soon as the hanyou bastard was safe, Sesshoumaru could not stand to see her in such pain. Never again did he want to see that look of fear and anguish in her eyes.

Even though the sun was only moments away from rising, no time could be lost. Toukijin drawn, Sesshoumaru rushed forward, swinging the blade downward for a strike that would force Naraku to drop Inu Yasha. Rather than seeing Inu Yasha drop to the ground or Naraku cry out in pain, all Sesshoumaru noticed was an icy pain in his side. He glanced down to see that Naraku had pierced his armor and stabbed him with one of Naraku’s pointed tentacles. Angrily, Sesshoumaru clawed through the limb that held his younger brother and carried the stunned Inu Yasha away from Naraku.

Kagome rushed to Sesshoumaru’s side as she saw the blood trickling over his armor. "Sesshou-kun! Are you okay?"

Sesshoumaru sighed wearily as he held his hand over the wound. "I’ve seen better days."

Inu Yasha nodded gratefully towards his elder brother just as the sun rose. He withdrew Tetsusaiga and charged Naraku, slicing through, only to discover that Naraku had sent a mere copy of himself—much less dangerous than the true Naraku, though still notably menacing. He turned back around to look at Sesshoumaru, who seemed to be in more pain than would be normal for such a wound. He stepped nearer to his elder brother and caught the scent that made his stomach turn. "He poisoned you…"

Kagome’s eyes widened with shock as she concentrated and also caught the scent that had intermingled in Sesshoumaru’s blood. "Why didn’t you say anything? You could have told me that, Sesshou-kun! Don’t… don’t pretend that everything’s okay… Being tough like that… it can only lead to more problems later. Inu Yasha, bring me the first aid kit in my backpack."

Inu Yasha nodded and was quick to retrieve the white metal box for Kagome. He watched on nervously as Kagome feverishly dug through the box. Finally she withdrew a small blue bottle and handed it to Sesshoumaru. "Drink this…"

Sesshoumaru reluctantly took the drink. He slowly examined the oddly textured glass bottle that Kagome had handed to him. As he felt a twinge of pain in his side, he was reminded of the pain that the poison miasma caused and drank the entire bottle of antidote that Kagome had handed to him. He sighed with relief as he saw Kagome relax.

Inu Yasha leaned back, a thin smile spread across his face. "I was worried for a moment there…"

Seeing the confused faces of the couple in front of him, Inu Yasha continued, so to act as though he hadn’t been worried about his elder brother. "I thought that maybe the fight had been brought to us before we were all ready…"

Kagome stifled a laugh as she stood, taking a long look back to where Sango and Kohaku had been left. She smiled as she saw Sango help the boy to stand and allowed him to lean on her shoulder as they began walking towards Kagome.

From the opposite direction, Miroku slowly emerged from the shadows of the forest. He appeared to be glad that Sango’s situation had been solved, though at the same time he seemed to have a thousand problems running through his mind. He drew in a heavy sigh as he looked around the area. "Where did Kouga go?"

~ ~~~ ~~~~~ ~~~~~~~ ~~~~~~~~ ~~~~ -^_^- ~~~~ ~~~~~~~~ ~~~~~~~ ~~~~~ ~~~ ~

A.N. Sorry for taking so long, everybody. I’ve been really busy here lately—like I mentioned previously, I’ve now got a job as a waitress at Steak ‘N Shake.

Also, this last weekend my sister, brother-in-law, and nephew came to visit from Las Vegas, Nevada. This is only the second time I’ve gotten to see my nephew and about the third or fourth time that I’ve seen my brother-in-law. (Although, I have to say, he’s the coolest brother-in-law I’ve had yet, seeing as he’s an anime fan. ^_~)

Anyhow, it’s hard telling when I’ll have the next chapter up, because I’ve been almost as busy, if not more so, on ‘Angels in Purgatory’. Really, I haven’t been this into working on fan fiction since I rewrote and posted ‘Yokai No Kokoro’.

Ja ne,

Ryoko Yuy / V Shape Otaku