Well, I didn't get my reviews yet, but I'm continuing anyways cuz I'd like to finish this story before Spring Break ends and I don't have time anymore. Of course, I doubt this will happen, but I'll try anyways!

MissMarilyn69 - Good guess, but not it! It's a lot more complicated than that!

Disclaimer: Yes! THEY'RE MINE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Hey look! My brother took a shower! (aka, no I don't actually own them)

The story thus far: Naraku has been defeated, but the Shikon no Tama hasn't been completed yet. The group has split in two (Kagome and Inu-yasha & Sango, Miroku, and Shippo) to get to the next village. A mysterious demoness wearing a miko's clothing and possessing a horribly corrupted Shikon Shard, has suddenly attacked Inu & Kag, and claims to be seeking vengeance on Kagome.

Speak My Soul

Chapter 1:

The woman's smile widened as she saw that neither were moving, and she spoke. "Greetings, priestess. We meet again! But this time, it won't be a draw; I've come for my final vengeance…"

The voice that issued from her body was a woman's voice that was combined with a deep, roaring male's voice. As she spoke, the glow around her dagger grew brighter, and it seemed as though all of the evil energy was coming from that blade. Kagome could see the shard that was on the hilt of the blade, but she was helpless to do anything about it. The demoness floated down from the tree slowly, pointing the blade at Kagome as she did so, until she was standing right before her prey. She placed the tip of the blade under Kagome's chin, and lifted it so Kagome was looking up at her face.

"Rise, now. I want to enjoy this." She began to lift the blade, bringing Kagome with it, for the spell on her had been broken. The blade drew a little bit of blood from Kagome's chin, and she gave a sharp cry.

This cry, along with the smell of her blood, was tearing Inu-yasha apart. He had to save her, but he couldn't move! This demoness's power was great, beyond what it should have been. She smelled of the demon he had smelled earlier, yet all the corrupted miko power was coming off her as well. How could that be?! She couldn't be both, could she? And besides, she smelled at least a little bit… human?

"I've waited so long for this! For centuries, I could only loan power to those who were evil. But now, I have a body with incredible power! None can keep me from my final vengeance!" She smirked. "This body is both miko and youkai, and I can control them both! Its power is incredible!"

Kagome could only stare in fear, still not understanding what was happening. She could tell that whoever this was who had the knife at her throat was being possessed, but by who? Naraku? Naraku would be the only one who would want to seek vengeance on her, but Naraku couldn't come back! Hadn't they killed him? Under the counseling of Kaede, they purified the area of his destruction so that he could never return in any form. Could this have failed?

Inu-yasha suddenly broke free of the spell and rushed to help Kagome.

"Get away from her, bitch!" Inu-yasha yelled as he flew at her with more speed than he had ever managed before, slashing at her with an incredible attack. Unfortunately, she nimbly dodged, so he landed protectively in front of Kagome instead. Kagome, still in slight shock, fell to her knees next to the fireplace. The fire had gone out when the demoness appeared, smothered by her power. Kagome placed a hand to the small cut just below her chin, and felt the blood flowing out of it.

The demoness glared at Inu-yasha. "I would have let you live! None shall get in the way of my vengeance! Not even Fate can control me now!"

Kagome snapped out of her trance. "Inu-yasha! The shard's in the blade!"

"Silence, priestess! I know not what your name is now, but did you ever figure out why you can sense the jewel? Your Midoriko's damned reincarnation! I won't let you escape this time! You're mine!"

With that, she lunged at Kagome, but Inu-yasha had been expecting this, and rushed to meet her. The Tetsuseiga met with the silver dagger, yet much to his surprise, the dagger didn't shatter under the impact. They tested each other's strength for a while, until the demoness grew tired of waiting. With a sudden rush of her amazing power, she pushed so hard against the Tetsuseiga that Inu-yasha flew into a nearby tree, leaving a large dent where he landed.

She lunged at Kagome again, but Inu-yasha was already on his way to protect her. The demoness saw that she wouldn't reach her quarry in time, and instead, she did something Inu-yasha hadn't expected: she threw the blade.

The blade flew with incredible speed and perfect aim; it zoomed past Inu-yasha's face before he had realized it had left her hand, and continued along it's path to lodge itself deep, horribly deep, into…

She never even saw it coming: a flash of silver, and then a horrid pain in her gut. In a daze, she looked down to see the silver and green hilt protruding from her gut, the blade completely lost to her insides. Blood was seeping out from around the dagger. She looked up at Inu-yasha, who couldn't take in what he was seeing, not to mention smelling. He stood there in shock, as Kagome stood there with blood pouring from her frail human body. She opened her mouth, and a little bit of blood dribbled out as she did. She stumbled backwards, and then fell, only to be caught by Inu-yasha, who slowly lowered her to the ground.

Even as he lowered her, the Shikon shard around her neck started to glow. The shard on the blade flew to join it, and quickly molded on. There came a noise of shattering glass from her backpack, and then the shards that she had kept in a bottle came racing out, quickly joining the other shards, and creating the full Shikon no Tama.

But all of this was lost to Inu-yasha, who couldn't take his eyes from Kagome's face. He couldn't protect her. He'd failed.

His breath was coming in short gasps, and he shook his head slightly, trying to deny that this was happening. "No…no…no, this can't be happening! Kagome, please…" He said softly, desperately. He couldn't lose her! Not his Kagome! Not after all they had been through! How could this have happened? He watched her face contort in pain. This couldn't be happening.

Suddenly, her eyes opened, and she turned to Inu-yasha, as though she wanted to tell him something, despite her obvious pain.

"I-Inu…*gasp*….Inu-yasha, I….I…" Suddenly, a look of sadness dominated her features, combining with her look of pain, followed by something he couldn't name, but broke his heart. She sighed, then slipped into unconsciousness.

Inu-yasha pulled her close, holding her tightly. A voice carried over to him that he didn't recognize, but he knew where it came from.

"Oh, kami-sama, what have I done?!"

Inu-yasha turned, still clutching Kagome, to the demoness. She looked much different now: she was on her hands and knees, in total disbelief. Her eyes were no longer red, but like Inu-yasha's, with long slender pupils set in irises of shimmering silver. The power around her was no longer so great as before, and he no longer sensed the corrupted miko energy from earlier; just regular miko energy.

"Oh, kami-sama, how can I even beg your forgiveness? Please, let me help you! I can…"

"Bitch! Why in the seven hells would I let you help? You just threw your damn knife into her guts! She's dying because of you, and you want to help?"

"Please! I can help you save her!"

"And how do you plan on doing that? Slitting her throat? Poisoning her?"

The demoness cowered at his words.

"I didn't mean to! You may not believe me, but that shard possessed me! It- oh, never mind, you won't believe me! Just let me help you! We can save her!"

"There's no way we can help her!" Suddenly, an idea popped into his head. "I'll take her back to her time! They have amazing things there! If she can hold on for a few hours…"

"She won't last that long!"

"Then what do you propose we do, wench?"

"We can give her some of your blood!"

"She's a miko! Her body won't accept it! Did you think I hadn't thought of that?"

"That's where I can help you! I can make it possible!"

Inu-yasha stared at her in disbelief. How could she do that? Could he trust her? She was the one that had Kagome dying to begin with! Her only excuse was that the Shikon Shard 'possessed her.' How was that possible? The shards never possessed anyone else. He looked down at Kagome, bleeding to death there in his arms.

The demoness watched Inu-yasha carefully. He had every right to kill her right now! Inu-yasha suddenly yanked the dagger from Kagome's body. He put Kagome down and walked towards her, carrying the bloody blade. The demoness knew what was coming, and shut her eyes tight, preparing for her death.

But it never came. She opened her eyes to see Inu-yasha, holding the blade out to her to give it back.

"I'll trust you for now, but only for Kagome's sake. What do I have to do?"

The demoness looked at him with wide eyes for a moment, as though she was searching him for something. She then nodded. "Grab Kagome and follow me. I have what we need back at my village. It's not far from here. Try to put pressure on the wound; if nothing else, it should slow the bleeding."

And with that, they took off into the forest.

Well, there you go, minna-san! Now I expect some more reviews, ok? Ideas are useful to me, and so is criticism! Please talk to me!

Wow, I really don't write very long chapters, do I? Oh well! Why put in one chapter what you can spread out into 4, right? ^.~

Anywhoo, I'll try to update soon!

~~Koneko-chan~~