The beast within by Silver Vanilla

What I'll do to live

The sun was starting to rise above the ground, enlightening the clearing. Yes, it was hard and long battle, but in the end, they succeed. The most fearful enemy, Naraku, was finally dead. Everything would be perfect if not the fact, that jewel was shattered, once again, by Kagome. The young miko, after seeing her beloved half-demon on the edge of death, felt something inside her. Mysterious energy was building in her body, demanding to be released. So she took her arrow, pointed it at Naraku and shoot. Unfortunately in the same moment, he turned to face her and sacred arrow pierce right through his chest and the jewel.

Now everyone was back in Kaedes village. Instead of celebrating like other people or weather itself, our favorite gang looked sad, almost depressed. Young girl with brown hair was sitting in the corner of the hut with her head down, staring at the floor beneath her. Sango, the demon slayer, was thinking about her little brother Kohaku. During the battle, he protected her with his own body as one of Naraku tentacles was heading at her. With his last breath, he said "At least that is all I can do for you, after all this trouble" Then he smiled. And died on her lap. Just this last sentence brings new tears to her, already, red and puffy eyes. She felt hand on her shoulder and looked to see the man she grown to love during this whole encounter with seeking the jewel shards. Miroku, lecherous monk, tighten his grip and bring her in a warm, comforting embrace. His face also has this pained look, though he really did not have any reason to be. He was just sad because the woman he loved is sad. Little kitsune, Shippo was sitting on his lap, sulking because his adopted mother was not with them. On the other side of the hut, a man with silver hair and red kimono was sitting on the floor, his back facing the wall and his golden eyes looking down at woman who had her head on his lap. Kikyo, as you can easily guess, was sleeping and breathing heavily. Inuyasha cursed himself mentally. This was his entire fault that his beloved was in this state. 'No. It was not my fault. It was HER!' he thought immediately.

Flashback

Inuyasha was fighting with Kagura, when suddenly he saw a few already cut tentacles from Narakus body heading toward Kagomes back. She turned just in time to shoot an arrow at them, but they dodge it and keep on moving. Without a second thought, he jump between her and slashed them to ashes. Just then, a piercing scream reached his ears. "Kikyo!" he yelled and run to her lying body. "Inu...yasha..." she started. "Do not talk. Save your strength" half demon replied with worry evidence in his voice. "Inuyasha go fighting, I'll take care of Kikyo" said Kagome. He hesitate for a moment but did as she told and went back to fight Naraku with new strength.

End

'Damn' he thought 'If Kagome wasn't so reckless and weak I could have save Kikyo in time and she wouldn't be hurt that bad' He really had no idea how she actually survived this one because from what he could tell, the older miko was without her soul collectors. However, that really did not matter to him. All in all, she was still alive, and that what make him happy.

--

On the other side of the well, young raven-haired girl was coming out of the well in mini shrine. As usual, the first thing, which reaches her, was polluted air. That was mostly the reason why she loved Feudal Era so much. No cars and no factories. Just nature, peace and quiet. If you exclude all the demons that is. By this time, she was in front of her house. Kagome really feel bad after leaving all of her friends from the past on their own but right now, all she wanted was to see her family and spend a day as a normal, average girl. So without a second thought she slid the door opened and screamed "I'm home!"

"Kagome? Is that really you?" her mother asked in disbelieve in her voice.

"Come on mom, of course it's me. Who else were you expecting?"

"I'm just so happy to see you!" she gave her daughter a long embrace. "So how long will you stay with us this time?"

"Only one day. I promised Shippo I will be back tomorrow morning. We still have the jewel shard to collect" Kagome replied with a grin on her face.

"Oh, so this bad demon is still alive?" older woman asked with concern. She never told anyone, but every time her only daughter crossed the time, she was worried to no end.

"No mom, we killed him this night. That is why I'm here. To tell you all that there is no more danger" miko replied with smile but then her face changed into confused one.

"Mom where is Souta and Grandpa?"

"Oh, they went to visit your uncle about two days ago" Kagome sighed "And you were here all this time by yourself?"

"Yes. I had this feeling that you were coming back so I decided to wait" mother replied with a smile "I know you must be tired, so why don't you go take a nice long bath and I make you something delicious to eat?" Kagome flashed one of her rarest smile and hugged her mother tight "You're the best Mom!"

"Can't...breathe..." raven-haired girl immediately released her mother, murmured quick 'sorry' and then sped up to bathroom.

After long hot bath and the most delicious food she ever ate, Kagome went to her room to take a long and deserved nap. Jumping on the bed, she gave a long sigh of relieve 'This feels so good. I sure missed my bed' she shifted on it, now facing wall 'I wonder how everyone are doing. I hope Kikyo is better by now. It was my fault that she was hurt in the first place' and with this thought she drifted to sleep.

When she woke up it was already dark outside. Looking at the clock on her nightstand, she spotted that it was 9.30 pm. 'Might as well go back to Inuyasha and the others'. Therefore, she packed a few of her clothes, some ramen for Inuyasha, few chocolate and lollipops for Shippo and of course a whole lot of bandages and others medical supplies. When she went down her mother was standing in the kitchen with a pair of new shoes in her hand.

"I saw that your old shoes were...well..."she laugh nervously "Yes mama I know. Thank you very much, I really love them!" young miko smiled and put them on. The shoes were nothing special. They looked exactly as the old one, only this one were black.

"I should get going now" Kagomes mother sigh "I know. Be careful, I have this strange feeling something bad is going to happen" "Don't worry mom. I promise I will be strong" with that and quick hug, she run of home to the well.

After some time she managed to get out. Without Inuyasha or anyone to help her, it really was not so easy with a huge backpack like this one. With a few deep breath of fresh air, she lifted her yellow bag from the ground, placed it on her back and began slowly walking in direction of Kaedes village. Suddenly it started to rain. Kagome really did not mind it. In fact, she was happy. Rain was the kind of weather she just loved, though she really had no idea why. However, sudden scream stop her from spinning in circles. Miko looked at the direction that the voice came from. It was deep in the forest and without her bow and arrows, she really wasn't sure what to do. 'Well, I can always produce a barrier. That should keep me alive for some time' she thought. So, with new determination she ran in the dark area of the forest only to end up in a clearing. What she saw make her breath caught in throat. A demon, looking like a scorpion, was breaking a flesh of a human woman in a half with his teeth. She tried to run, there was no hope for that woman to survive but she still had the chance. Unfortunately, her legs didn't move an inch but someone else did. The demon was now a few feet away from her, so Kagome put up a barrier around herself. Scorpion only look for a moment, like in deep thought, and then melted the barrier with his poison released from the tail. Now Kagome knew, she had no chance of survival. She wanted to scream, to call Inuyasha but she won't. He already sees her as a weak, pathetic human so there was no way in hell she would humiliate herself more.

"Why won't you scream and beg for your life?" a demon asked with hint of irritation in his voice. "Why do you care? I won't play by your rules" she simply answered, receiving a low growl from the scorpion "You had the shards of the shikon jewel. Give them to me" "Over my dead body" Kagome replied, knowing fully that that is what this creature will do after killing her. Moment later she felt his tail slashing her chest, cutting the chain with bottle and the shards in it. Young miko fell to her knees, clutching her chest tightly. She could feel warm liquid pouring from her fast, mixed with poison. "Now I shall eat you. You do look tasty" and with that demon lower his head and open his jaw, showing two big fangs. Suddenly something in Kagome kicked in. She remembered the promise she made to her mother, that she will be safe. She wanted to see her friends again, to show Inuyasha that she wasn't weak. Her miko energy released itself when girls' skin made contact with scorpion fangs, burning them a little. The demon took a hint and retreat along with the jewel shards. When her aura disappeared, she could tell that there was no way she would make it to the village. She tried to scream, speak, but no words came out of her mouth. So with very blurry vision, no strength in any of her muscles, with the poison still running in her blood and with the soft 'thump' she landed on the ground. Dead.