Be there for me

"Don't worry Kagome, we are almost to the wolf den." said Koga reassuringly as they ran along the sodden dirt path paralleling a mountian range. She remembered this area from when they had first met, in the war between the wolf demon tribe and the birds of paradise.



Suddenly though, Koga sensed danger, and came to a sudden halt, with Kagome almost sent flying off of his back. He looked up, to see a lone and very familiar figure sitting on her trademark feather, floating in mid-air.



"Kagura. I can't say that it's a pleasure, until I've sunken my fangs into your throat." threatened Koga. Of all of Naraku's minions, this was the one that he hated most, for it was she that had not only killed so many of his comrades, but had also defiled their bodies by using her damned dance of the dead technique.



"Koga. Always quicker with the mouth than even your legs. And it looks like you have a new toy to play with." added Kagura as she took in the sight of Kagome hiding behind the wolf demon, eyes wide with fear at the prospect of another confrontation brewing. She just knew that Kagura had to be here to try and capture her again. Kagome just hoped that she was the only person sent.



Before she had time to reflect on this possibility, the battle was joined.



"Dance of the Blades" yelled Kagura as she unleashed her main attack, sending white blades of wind energy curling towards Koga. The wolf demon dodged easily, then ran upside the mountian before jumping out into the air, cutting through the feather that Kagura rode on, although the wind sorceress managed to avoid being cut herself.



'Kagura. Repeat your last attack. Do it, now.' commanded a voice in the back of her head. 'Damn, so not only can this grunt read minds, but he can also plant thoughts in them now? How annoying' thought Kagura as she sent out another attack wave of the dance of the blades technique. And once again Koga dodged, straight into Hakudoshi's trap.



A single strike with this scythe was all that was required to slice both of the jewel shards out of the wolf demon's legs and drop him down to the ground, incapacitated. The white boy retrieved the jewel shards and passed them on to Kagura. With the jewel shards in his possession, Hakudoshi turned to the other potential prey before them.



"Kagome, what's the matter? You look pale." admonished the little kid as he looked at the shock still miko. Kagome was shivering in both fear and hatred right now. Before her was the person that had both fatally wounded her earlier and killed her cat, but also had kidnapped her family and forsaken the safety of her very own home. Frozen by indecision as to whether she should strike or flee, she was frozen still to the spot.



"Run...away...Kagome...." muttered Koga, talking under the pain that he was currently feeling, and moving a very little bit.



"Ah, your still alive, are you? Well, I can fix that in a hurry..." whispered Hakudoshi. All it took was a single quick jab into his chest cavity to silence his heart with the pike, and Koga the wolf demon was dead. The little boy pulled out the pike, and smelled the blood, as if trying to decide as to whether or not he wanted to taste it, before cleaning his blade off.



Kagome collapsed to her knees, and started sobbing loudly as she had witnessed the death of her dear friend Koga. Her sobbing intensified, and she leant forward on her hands as her tears stained the ground below her head.



"Please, no more....no more...." she said in between gasps of breath as she tried to calm herself down.



"What was that?" inquired the little kid in a somewhat mocking tone as he watched this human's pathetic display of affection for the now deceased wolf.



"no more.....I'll come....come....with you." whispered Kagome in a barely hearable voice as she dried her tears with her fingers. She looked utterly dejected, totally world weary, with the fight having left her. She was now broken, and would do anything that they requested of her.



"Excellent. Naraku will be pleased." stated Hakudoshi. The kid motioned to Kagura, who prepared another feather to ride on. She lowered it to the ground to where Kagome could step onboard. At this point Kagome didn't care what happened to her, what Naraku was going to do with her. All she knew was that Koga and Buyo were both dead, and it was because of her refusal to go with the kid earlier to become Naraku's servant. If it would save her remaining family, then she would sacrafice herself for their sake. It was the least that she could do.



However....she never had the chance to follow up on her thoughts. Before she could step on the feather, a dazzling display of light needles flashed through the air, sticthing Kagura like bullets and ripping the feather to shreds. Gasping, Kagome turned around to a very familiar sight.



Lord Sesshomaru stood in the roadway, Tokijin drawn and in his hand, it's tip pointed at the wind sorceress. Kagome remembered when he had first taken possession of the sword of those attacks being used against Inuyasha. Why was he here though? Was he defending her?



"No, Sesshomaru, get away from here, right now!" yelled Kagome at the dog demon. Koga had just been killed, and she didn't want anyone else to get hurt because of her.



"Be silent." he replied in a cold voice. That did stop her right in her tracks, as she stared between Sesshomaru and Hakudoshi, who had erected a barrier around himself and was moving beyond Kagome into a dueling position. Kagura collected the jewel shards, and with her clothing tattered and torn, made her departure a quick one.



"Lord Sesshomaru. How unexpected this is. Remember what I said about interfering in my affairs?" said Hakudoshi, sacrasm dripping in with his voice. The dog demon snorted in response, then decided to answer in a more verbal form.



"Your concerns are none of mine. You need only to worry about your impending doom." stated Sesshomaru, before charging at the barrier with his sword.



And so they went at it, as Kagome watched, worried from her vantage point at the side of the road. Right now she was kneeling on both legs next to Koga's body. As she watched the two of them fight, she unconciousley ran her hand down the side of his cold face, feeling his skin one last time.



They met in another clash of pike and sword, but then with a twist of his arm, Sesshomaru sent the little kid's pike spinning off into the forest, leaving him without a weapon, although he still possessed his barrier. The dog demon decided to rectify this problem. He held Tokijin level at an horizontal angle, as blue elecricity began to run down it's length. A vision of a white dragon surrounded him as he prepared to unleash his most formidable attack against his adversary.



"Dragon Strike". The blue arcs of energy unleashed into a massive ground lightning storm effect, tearing up the roadway as it advanced towards Hakudoshi. The kid tried to dodge, but the energy simply changed course until it engulfed him and his barrier. When all was said and done, the barrier was gone, although the kid was still intact. Well, he could fix that in a hurry.



But when Sesshomaru moved to strike with Tokijin, the little boy countered by unleashing some kind of a gelatin substance that covered the dog demon from head to toe, severly restricting his movements. Well, there was one easy way to fix that. Gathering his demonic energy about him, Sesshomaru was engulfed in a tornadic whirwind of pinkish energy. This flow enlarged, and when it dissipated, Fluffy emerged from the cloud, gelatin free.



Hakudoshi had about enough time to swear out loud before he was snatched up by Fluffy's jaws, his body being torn about as he was chewed up and swallowed. However, Fluffy could tell when he dissappeared while heading down his throat and into his stomach, having used Naraku's barrier to make good his escape. So he was not dead, and would not die apparently unless his heart, which was in Naraku's possession, was destroyed. So be it then.



Moments later, Sesshomaru was back in his normal humanoid form, and he turned to where Kagome was tending to Koga's lifeless body. Sighing audibly, drawing her attention from the dead wolf demon to him, he withdrew Tenseiga from it's sheath. Kagome nodded with understanding, and back away slightly as he took hold of the throbbing sword.



He saw the messengers of the underworld preparing the body for the transition into the afterlife. With a single sweep from his sword, he killed all four of them. He noticed after he had done so that the wounds in his chest and legs were healed. Moments later, Koga opened his eyes in suprise, and immediatly sat up.



"Wha....where am I? Is this the afterlife?" wondered Koga out loud. Kagome was more than willing to answer for him as she closed and hugged him again.



"No Koga, Sesshomaru-sama healed you with his sword. It's all right, your safe now." she said as she stroked his face again, only to have her arm engulfed by his.



Koga turned his attention to the dog demon standing behind him, and got to his feet. Then, to Kagome's suprise, seeing as how he rarely thanked anyone, the wolf demon extended his hand to Sesshomaru and said "thank you". The dog demon looked for a moment as if he was going to leave Koga's hand hanging in mid-air, but then accepted it. There was a green glow from the handshake though, and Koga pulled his hand back, yelping as it burned from his poison.



"You recklessley put this priestess into danger. Know that should you ever attempt such a stunt again, that I will personally hunt you down and kill you." said Sesshomaru in a cold voice. Kagome was shocked speechless at his statement. One, when did Sesshomaru start caring for her safety, her sake, and two, how could he be so cruel to poor Koga, who was just looking out for her benefit? How could he have known that Naraku's minions would be coming after him and her?



* * *



Inuyasha leapt up out of the well, and landed into the middle of the clearing in Inuyasha forest. What suprised him was that instead of seeing Miroku, Sango, or Shippou there waiting for him, it was Kikyo and her soul collectors. He looked at her for a moment, then hung his head, not wishing for the undead lover to see the haunted look in his eyes.



"Inuyasha....what's wrong? Tell me, what's bothering you?" said Kikyo with an amused glint in her eyes. Perhaps Kagome had decided to give up on coming into this era, and that Inuyasha was heart broken. Well, where she had left off, Kikyo would now take over as his caretaker and loyal companion. She didn't know how the others would react to her being with the group, but hopefully everything would work out just fine. His answer to her question though stopped her in her tracks.



"Kagom....Kagome's family. They've been kidnapped by Naraku. If Kagome doesn't willingly go to him and become his servant, they'll all be executed. I found traces of her tears in the kitchen where the message was at, but I couldn't find her anywhere. I'm concerned for her and her family's safety." he said. Kikyo was very disturbed at this development. While she knew that Naraku was after the sacred jewel shards, there were any number of reasons he wanted Kagome, none of them good.



"Do you intend to go after Naraku and help rescue her family?" Kikyo asked. She avoided mentioning Kagome, because namely she thought that the miko from the future would be out of it seeing as what she had been through recently, and that she may not have been captured or picked up yet.



"Yes, I do. No one deserves to have their family taken from them like this, and besides, Kagome is still my friend. She deserves as much, espically after the way I treated her earlier today." responded Inuyasha. The half demon gripped Tetsuiga's hilt, then let it go as he turned to look at her. "I don't want any interference from you."



"You needn't have worried about such a thing. Actually, just the opposite. Since Naraku seems to be trying to finish the shikon jewel now, and since he's after Kagome, which can't mean anything good, I'll accompany you on your quest." Kikyo added as he looked at the shocked hanyou.



"Kikyo...no, don't..." he started, but was cut-off by a harsh glare from the priestess.



"Don't you dare try to prevent me from going, for my own safety. In case you haven't figured it out, Kagome is probably a broken girl by now, and would probably fall into Naraku's hands of her own accord. If any spiritual energy is needed, I will have to be the one who provides it." responded Kikyo as she gazed into Inuyasha's eyes.



"We'll help as well." said a familiar voice from the edge of the clearing. Emerging from the bushes from which they had been hiding, Miroku, Sango, and Shippou looked between the two of them as Kirara transformed into her firecat form. Inuyasha cracked his knuckles, ready to pound all three of them into the dirt for spying on him like this, but was stopped when Kikyo placed a hand on his forearm.



"Enough. Let's go." she said. She climbed on Inuyasha's back, and moments later the five of them were off, heading to a confrontation with Naraku.



* * *



The three of them sat around the campfire, sitting in the cave of the wolf demon tribe. Koga sat on one end, and hovering protectivley next to one another, Kagome and Sesshomaru sat on the other side. With his jewel shards being taken by Naraku, Koga was even weaker now, and although a still formidable fighter, had lost much prestige and ability. He no longer felt safe by himself, and he felt that his den was even more vulnerable.



He knew he didn't want to voice his thoughts out loud, that he didn't want to give any reason for Naraku to come after him again, for he wouldn't have a chance in hell of defending his den now compared to earlier. Therefore, Kagome had to leave his protection, for the sake of the wolf demon tribe and his own safety. As much as it pained him to say this, he had to look out for his pack before he could protect his friends.



"Kagome, you should go with Sesshomaru. Without those jewel shards, I'm even weaker now than I was before. I couldn't protect you from those two earlier, and now I wouldn't be able to handle any one of them." he said as he ground his teeth together.



"It's okay Koga, I understand." Kagome replied in a friendly voice. Inwardly though she reeled from his words. 'He probably doesn't want me here. I'm too much of a liability to stay with him. Besides, I feel the same way. Which is why, when I get the chance, I'll slip away from Sesshomaru-sama as well. For his sake, as well that of Rin and Jaken.'



"Then it's settled. Let us rest for the night. In the morning, we will travel to my den, where you will be safe...Kagome." said Sesshomaru as he curled his fluffy pelt around both him and her, drawing her close to him. Kagome was suprised by his warmth and how soft and nice his pelt felt, but right now she considered this about as close to a hug as she would get from him, and after what she had been through, she could use all the consolation that she could have. Moments later, it was off to dreamland for the both of them.