InuYasha Fan Fiction ❯ Without You ❯ Taken Away ( Chapter 1 )

Author's Notes: A fanfic that has been hopping away in my head for a looong, long time. This idea came to me when I first started watching InuYasha...which was this past December. In all truth, InuYasha is the anime that got me REALLY into anime. Now I'm obsessed. So, anyway, now that I've shared meaningless crap with you on with the disclaimer. Read and Review!

Disclaimer: I own jack sh*t. Why do I bother telling you people this? Obviously I don't own it...wouldn't be writing it down on fanfiction.net that's for sure.

Summary: What if there was demon that could steal your very being...your soul. But what if the demon was nothing more than a jewel. How do you fight a jewel? And how do you get back what's been lost?

Read and Review

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Without You

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Chapter One

Taken Away

The wind blew past the empty village, sending up clouds of dried dirt through the air with ease. The sky was a dark pink color almost completely void of any sunlight, as a single girl stood crying at the village's center. Her dark, raven hair hung over her eyes, shielding them, but you could clearly see the silent tears flowing down her pale, dirt covered cheeks, leaving a visible line in their wake. She hugged herself as the wind ripped through her tattered yukata. She sunk down to her knees, still starring at the dirt road she had been standing in for the past hour. Dark spots were speckled about the ground from where her desperate tears had struck it.

She suddenly turned her face up towards the sky that was growing darker by the moment, and was now deep violet in color. Her hair fell back from her face revealing two dark gray eyes, swollen and puffy from crying. Her hands rested on her knees as she sat there, admiring the stars that were growing more illuminescent in the sky. But no moon tonight, the moon wasn't there to watch over her tonight...it hadn't been, for quite awhile she realized as a single tear dripped down her solemn face.

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"What do you think happened?" Sango asked puzzled, the wind whipping her low ponytail off to the side. She stared out at the village before her, rid of any signs of life. She was out of breath and a bead of sweat had formed on her forehead from running all the way here. She gripped her boomerang, which was thrown over her shoulder with a strap, preparing to attack at the sign on any danger.

"There's no one here...you don't think..." Kagome trailed off, brown eyes cast off into the distance. InuYasha had gone ahead of them; said he had smelled Naraku and ran off towards this village. Kagome would have been more satisfied with the site of dead villagers than what lay ahead of her. Nothing, absolutely nothing; not even the sound of animals, there was complete and utter silence suffocating the area. The whole aura of the place sent shivers down her spine, something wasn't right, she could sense it.

"Houshi-sama? What do you think?" Sango asked, her voice sounding somewhat worried but determined to mask over it with calmness. The Hiraikotsu was gripped tightly in her hand, her knuckles turning white as her gaze drifted over the surroundings for any sign of demons.

"There is something foreboding about this place. The air is thick with it," Miroku answered, narrowing his eyes at the distance then looking towards Kagome, "Kagome-sama, do you sense any shards?"

"No," she said, fixating on the ground, "Nothing...this is where InuYasha was heading, right?" She could feel her voice shaking, she knew something bad had happened. It was a gut feeling, that somewhere, InuYasha was lying hurt...or worse--no she couldn't think like that. He was fine, he had to be.

"I thought so," Miroku replied, "But you know how InuYasha can be. Probably ran into some demon along the way and jumped right into battle without second thought." Miroku sighed to himself. He wouldn't show it, but he was slightly worried about InuYasha, there was an energy surrounding this place that told him nothing good would come of it.

"Hey! Everyone! Come look at this!" Shippou's high voice rang out through the empty village, echoing in the complete silence.

Kagome's heart sunk into her chest, Shippou sounded like he was worried, she knew what he's found in this deserted place wasn't good. She immediately sprinted towards the sound of Shippou's voice, the thought of InuYasha's well-being racing through her mind the entire way. She ran past a side-street, then stopped abruptly and gazed down it. She gasped, her eyes falling upon the sides of the homes that were covered in a crimson red splatter; the ground was soaked in it as well, almost saturated. She put her hand to her chest and begin slowly making her way down the blood drenched road.

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"Kagome-chan! Wait up!" the demon-slayer yelled, following after her friend with her black hair trailing behind d her. Kagome was so far ahead now she could barely even see her, if she was seeing her at all anymore. Sango squinted into the distance trying to make out Kagome's form in the fading sunlight.

Miroku ran up next to her, the rings on his shakujou [A/N: It sounds better than staff] clinking with each stride. Sango turned to face him for an instant then looked back up the road, she couldn't see Kagome at all anymore, and Miroku had started to move in front of her. She swung the hiraikotsu over her shoulder and brought in in front of her.

"Oof!" Sango hit something hard and fell backwards onto the dirt road. She looked up, only to see Miroku standing in front of her, narrowing his eyes down a street to her right. "What is it?"

Miroku grabbed her by the wrist and pulled her to her feet, still starring down the street. Sango stood to the side of the street a small home blocking her view. She glanced over at Miroku who's had his left hand wrapped around the prayer beads that covered the Kazaana on his right hand; that gave her a clue of what lay before them. She walked out from behind the building, looking down the street. The sight in front of her caused her grip on her boomerang to loosen and drop to the ground with a thud,

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Kagome made her way through the side-street as if walking on glass, each step being the only sound she could hear besides her pounding heart. She stopped suddenly as she heard small, choked sobs coming from somewhere nearby and she let her breath out. She had been holding her breath this entire time, afraid to make even the smallest sound in the quiet, eerie silence of her surroundings.

"S-shippou, is that you..." her voice trailed off and echoed into the distance, not a single thing tainting it. She stood there silently; anxiously awaiting a reply.

"K-k-kagome?" Shippou's voice choked out from somewhere nearby, "We--I'm over here."

Kagome felt her stomach turn upside down, suddenly feeling very nauseous. He was going to say 'we' she was sure of it. Why would he decide to change it to 'I'? She had the sickening feeling that whoever Shippou had found wasn't in good condition and the thought of who it could be only worsened the sick feeling she already had.

"Shippou, keep talking!" she said as she began sprinting towards the direction she had heard his voice in. She was running blindly, he'd sounded so close before but now his small voice seemed miles away. She looked heavenward as she ran, noticing how dark it was growing, she must have been running down this way for awhile now. She turned her gaze to where the moon would be but there was nothing, it was the new moon, meaning InuYasha was no longer a half-demon tonight, he was human, and vulnerable to attacks.

She stopped in her tracks, all of the sudden short of breath and hunched over her hands on her knees as she took in short, deep breaths. In her rest she heard sniffling and choked breaths coming from in front of her. She tilted her head up to see Shippou curled into a small ball, hugging his knees to his chest, his head buried into his arms.

"Shippou..." she said, barely above a whisper, taking a step toward him. Shippou only looked up at her with red, swollen eyes and a tear stained face. Something was wrong...very wrong, he wasn't even talking, just starring at her with hopelessly sad eyes that were breaking her heart.

"Shippou what's going on? Are you okay?" she asked, panicking slightly but trying to keep a calm composure. She ran up next to him and kneeled down by the small kitsune, wrapping him up in a comforting hug, "Onegai, Shippou, please tell me what's wrong."

"I...its...its..." Shippou replied, his voice shaking from crying. Instead of finishing his sentence however he turned his head to the side motioning towards an alleyway of sorts about two feet away. Kagome simply nodded and placed the teary-eyed kitsune on the ground.

"I'll be right back, okay?" she said, smiling warmly at him, even though everything in her was scared stiff, afraid of what she might find in that alley. Shippou nodded as a reply and she brought herself from the ground, taking a deep breath was she was standing and then beginning her walk to the alleyway.

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"Houshi-sama...something 's not right about this place..." Sango stated, her eyes drifting over the blood stained village. There was so much of it even she could smell it, and it wasn't often that she caught the scent of blood, usually that was InuYasha. 'No wonder he could smell those from so faraway,' the demon exterminator thought, 'With his demon nose this place must have been almost overwhelming to his senses.'

Suddenly Miroku's hand shot out in front of Sango, stopping her dead in her tracks and almost giving her a heart attack from the surprise.

"Don't move," he said, barely above a whisper, before Sango could ask him what was going on. She narrowed her eyes scanning for any signs of danger, yet found none.

"Miroku...what's going on here?" she asked, puzzlement in her voice.

"Something's here, it's watching--" he was cut off by a sudden crash, as something small came darting out of the shadows. Sango screamed at the top of her lungs as the thing flung itself at her, landing square in her chest and knocking her off her feet. Miroku, not being one to let the creature just hurt Sango like that removed the pale blue prayer beads from around his right hand and prepared to use the air rip he was cursed with.

"Sango, brace yourself," he said as he pointed his palm at her, "Kazaana!"

Sango did as she was told, and immediately dug the hiraikotsu into the ground and wrapped her arms around it. The thing attached to her however had begun screaming.

"It's me, it's me! Don't suck me in!" the voice yelled, kicking it's small legs against Sango.

"Shippou?!" they both exclaimed in unison, as Miroku wrapped the prayer beads back around his hand and Sango stood to her feet. Shippou simply laughed nervously, though his eyes were still swollen and his face was still wet from tears.

"Shippou, what happened? Where's Kagome?" Sango asked immediately overcome with worry for her best friend. She had lost many people she cared about before, she wasn't about to lose another one. There's only so much pain one person can bare, and she wasn't sure if she could deal with the loss of one more person she cared about.

"Hurry..." Shippou said his voice still trembling a bit, dashing off to where he had sprung from, "Follow me." Sango and Miroku quickly took off after him, both fearing what exactly they were being led to.

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Kagome turned down the alleyway, squinting her eyes in the dim light, trying to see what lay at the end of it. She walked slowly, taking timid steps and small breathes. Part of her wanted to see what was there but then the other half wanted to run away and turn back. She summoned up her courage and continued walking her stomach turning over and over in her scared, nervous mood.

Finally, she saw him...InuYasha. He was pinned up against a tree at the end of the alley, an arrow pierced through his chest. He looked exactly like the first time she had seen him, like he was simply sleeping, his long silver hair blowing lazily in the slight breeze, but she had the sinking, inevitable feeling that it wasn't true in this case. She felt tears, stinging in her eyes as she made her way closer to him, beckoning for her to let them fall; but she wasn't going to cry, because he wasn't dead, he couldn't be. This just couldn't happen to her...to him. To any of them. Things weren't supposed to end like this.

"InuYasha...?" she asked, her voice quivering as she took another step towards him, "InuYasha, please wake up...please...please...wake up..." She was as close as she could get to him now, noticing the dark red stains on his tattered clothes. She looked up at him with crying eyes, refusing to except what she knew was true.

She buried herself into his chest, sobbing so hard her whole body shook, "Please, wake up, InuYasha! Please! Don't do this to me," she cried, begging him to come back to her, "How can you...leave me...like this." She pulled the arrow from his chest, hoping that in some way, it would free him from the spell he was under just like before but this time is body simply slide down the tree, ending in a sitting position. She sank down next to him, tears pouring freely from her eyes now, and cried into his chest.

"Why'd you have to go running off like that?!" she shouted, she was angry now, angry at him for dying and leaving her, "Getting yourself killed! You just never think, never think of how your actions affect others, never bother to care how I might feel!" She sat there, taking in deep breaths, and then suddenly begin sobbing harder for being mad at him. He hadn't died on purpose, she knew, yet here she was yelling at him, like always...she was always angry with him even in death.

"Kagome..." Sango was standing behind her, a hand on Kagome shoulder, her eyes watering up. Kagome looked up at her friend, trying not to cry anymore, trying to hide how hurt she actually was and broke out into tears once more. Sango quickly embraced her in a comforting hug, trying to consol her.

"It'll be all right, Kagome..." Sango soothed, as Kagome cried onto her shoulder, "You know how he hated to see you cry." Kagome smiled at that and looked sadly at her friend, her breaths short and shallow from sobbing.

"If he hated to see me cry the why'd he..." she trailed off and buried her face in her hands, "This is all some horrible bad dream...a nightmare. This can't be real, this can't happen."

Sango looked down at her grieving friend, trying to remain strong for both of them. Her worst fear today had been losing someone she cared about, and it had happened, she thought glumly looking over at InuYasha's body. And now her best friend was sitting in front of her crying over the same person she wanted to cry for. But she had to remain strong for Kagome's sake, she couldn't cry now.

"Come on Kagome," she said, bringing Kagome to her feet, "I think you should go back to your own time for awhile..." It would be to hard for Kagome to stay here, with him gone, this place would always remind her of InuYasha. Kagome said nothing, simply stared at the ground as silent tears fled from her eyes and they both walked out of the alley.

Miroku and Shippou were both waiting for them out there, both with solemn looks washed over their faces. They all stood there for awhile in utter silence, none of them speaking and all of them mourning the loss of their friend. Kagome had confined herself to a corner and sobbing, they could all tell, because her body kept shaking every time she went to breathe. Miroku was praying silently to himself, Shippou curled on Sango's lap asleep as Sango let a tear fall down her cheek.

"He's not dead," a voice from somewhere in the shadows called out. They all turned their heads in that direction to face whoever was there. A small girl stepped out, darkness still shielding her features but they could clearly make out a tattered, blood stained yukata and long dark hair.

"What?" Kagome asked, her voice shaking. This had been the first thing she had said in at least an hour.

"I said, he's not dead," the girl replied in an icy cold voice that sent shivers through you body, "I can help you get him back, if you want."

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Author's Notes: Well that's it for chapter one! MUAHAHA! Cliffy! Anyway, please do not flame me for killing of InuYasha, I love him as much as the next person and I swear to Miroku's ponytail that he's not "dead" dead. Anyway, I tried to make this a tear jerker but I think I failed at that and I'm pretty sure there's some OOCness in there too. As always read and review!