Okay, so this is my first Inuyasha fanfic, and I'm really excited about it. It is quite emotion and tragic, but you can trust that everything will be okay. I promise! I am also writing a much longer story elsewhere, and I want to post this fic first so that I know whether or not my writing style suites the fans. I really really really really REALLY need responses! I feed off of them like you wouldn't believe! Okay, here it goes… the first chapter of my first InuKag fic…

Chapter 1: Battle Blindly in a Meadow

Orchestral clapping of thunder shook the ground, the tumult too overpowering for anyone to linger. Every town had been evacuated. The citizens had retreated to parts unknown until the hurricane would die away. The humans would hide away, but not the youkai. They were able to endure the intense winds of the hurricane, for such gusts were nothing in comparison to the power they had seen at the hands of Naraku.

What few animals remained grazing in the fields were only traveling to safer parts, where their packs could remain until the flooding stopped. In one field, the pack of wolf-demons led by the one called Kouga, struggled in knee-deep water to cross to the mountains on the other side. A flash of red and white had passed them before anyone could notice, and the figure proceeded to fade away into the darkness of the forest. He was risking his life… he knew this.

The newly formed blossoms on the cherry trees had started to wither away, their innocence already lost, though far too young to see such times as these. As their petals reached the ground, they began to quickly brown over, despite the immense supply of rain that should have kept them moist for quite a while. The rain came down in sheets on this night. The gentleness of water forgotten in this nightmare… her nightmare… his nightmare.

His walking gradually slowed, as he had been traveling for so long, he was barely able to keep standing. After catching his breath for a few moments, the hanyou known as Inuyasha shook what water he could off of his haori, only for it to be replaced by another layer of rain. It had been a while since he had been alone and so far away from his friends, but as always, he felt that this was a mission he had to do himself, without them. He had unfinished business… he had something to protect, and to avenge…

A grimace never left his cheeks, and his brow wrinkled in anger. One could swear to have seen flashes of red appear and then leave within his amber eyes. He did not care to think of how long he had been traveling, but he didn't care. There were more important things to worry about than distance. A rage had consumed Inuyasha that his Tetsusaiga could only barely contain. It trembled in complaint, but its cries never reached its master's ears. Nothing could stop him… the memory of what had happened, that would keep him fighting until the end…

A FEW WEEKS EARLIER

Under Goshinboku, the hanyou sat in slumber up against the stump. After feeling rays beaming down upon him, Inuyasha had awoken with a curious warmth on his right shoulder. He peered down to see her, Kagome, fast asleep against him, with a faint smile planted on her lips. Inuyasha couldn't help but smile, grateful that she nor anyone else could see him doing so. They must have fallen asleep for the whole night instead of taking a nap. Finding comfort in this moment, he rested his cheek on the top of her head, taking in the scent of her hair. It was a scent that continued to haunt his dreams. Her face as well, would haunt his every thought. There was a time once before when he could gaze upon the girl from the future, and she would remind him so much of his old love, Kikyo. However, after months of good times and bad times, after growing so attached, he no longer saw Kikyo in those brown eyes… he only saw Kagome… Kagome, whom he loved. Yes, Kagome, his new love, though she never knew it.

His thoughts were quickly interrupted as a dangerous smell greeted his senses. His ears perked up and he nudged the girl to wake. "Oi, Kagome, let's go… I smell him… Naraku!"

Kagome opened her eyes immediately at the mention of his name. Inuyasha pulled her to her feet and she climbed onto his back at once. She asked, "Are you sure, Inuyasha?"

"What? Of course I'm sure. My sense of smell has never been wrong," Inuyasha replied and sped off to wherever his nose would lead him.

Kagome's brow fell forward in confusion as she thought, 'I do sense the presence of shikon shards, but somehow… it feels different from the shikon piece that Naraku possesses. Perhaps it isn't actually Naraku there. Perhaps it is one of his underlings.'

As they reached the clearing of a meadow, they came upon the familiar faces of Sango, Miroku, Shippou, and Kirara, who were posed to strike at anything suspicious. Inuyasha stopped, "You guys are here already?"

"We felt some extremely bad jyaki coming from this direction, but perhaps we were wrong… there's nothing here," Miroku replied, and the grass rustled in the wind as if to prove this.

Inuyasha let Kagome down, "That's impossible. I definitely smell Naraku or one of his creations. They are here somewhere."

Sango hoisted her Hiraikotsu to be ready for anything, "Okay, then let's scan the meadow for anything suspicious. Shippou and Kirara, you search over there. Miroku, you and I will search over there, and Inuyasha and Kagome, search here."

The team split off and went there separate directions. Inuyasha took out Tetsusiaga and glanced back at Kagome, "Kagome, stay close, okay?"

She grunted a small agreement and followed close behind him. In the tall grass, everyone was worried that something would jump out at them at any minute. Inuyasha was especially cautious, and his tongue itched to yell out his battle cry at anything that moved. So far, nothing could be seen. Everything seemed peaceful and perfect, except the feeling of jyaki and the stench still remained. Something did not feel right. Inuyasha and Kagome walked carefully through the grass, not making a sound, and stretching their eyes as far as they could to see the danger.

Kagome paused and pulsed as she felt the presence of a shikon shard. Inuyasha continued to cautiously walk ahead of her, still looking for anything. Kagome scanned the nearby area. The shard was very close, though she was puzzled that she only noticed it now. Suddenly, she saw something twinkle on top of a rock. As she squinted her eyes, she confirmed that it indeed was a shikon shard. Slightly curious and a little naïve about the situation, she walked over to pick it up.

As she laid her finger upon the fragment, she left the ground shake and start to envelop her in less than a second. She let out a hard scream before she even knew what was happening. She felt herself being lifted from the ground by something hard and cold, and could hear Inuyasha shouting, "Kagome! You let her go! Kaze no Kizu!"

She felt herself being lifted yet higher, and realized that the beast must have jumped out of the way of the attack. She finally found the courage to open her eyes and gazed upon the opponent. It looked like a monster made entirely out of rock, and his eyes glowed a menacing green. On his chest, she felt the presence of the shikon shard she had reached for earlier. They came to a halt on the other side of the meadow, and she glanced up to see all of her friends chasing after her. She instinctively cried out, "Inuyasha!"

Sango signaled for Kirara. She climbed on along with Miroku and they took to the sky. Miroku eyed his hand, but Sango spoke up, "Don't use the Kazaana, hoshi-sama. You could suck in Kagome along with him."

Miroku nodded in response. Inuyasha was running faster than Kirara was flying and zoomed past them. But even with his speed he wouldn't make it in time. From the looks on Kagome's face, the demon was crushing her in his hand, and she was about to pass out or break her ribs. Sango knew she had to work fast, so she lifted her boomerang into the air and let it fly, praying that it would hit the rock creature and knock him out. But the monster only smiled, "Haha! Perhaps this will provide as a good shield."

He brought up his hand and held Kagome right in the Hiraikotsu's path. They all gasped when they saw Sango's weapon now heading straight for Kagome, and at the speed it was going, it could do serious damage. Inuyasha's eyes went wide and he dove into the air faster than he had ever flown before. He knocked the Tetsusaiga against Hiraikotsu, successfully knocking it off course, but in the process, his sword was knocked out of his hand and sent flying into the air. Inuyasha landed on the ground with a thud. As soon as he hit the ground, he felt his blood begin to pulse. 'No, not again.'

Shippou gasped, "Oh no! Inuyasha's lost the Tetsusaiga!"

Miroku finished his thought, "It looks like it doesn't just take his own life to be threatened for him to transform, but Kagome-sama's as well."

His fingers began to tremble slightly and his heart began to race. He spoke to himself, "No! You can't transform! You have to get the Tetsusaiga back. Kagome needs you."

He caught a glimpse of it landing a few feet away and ran to get it before his transformation came through. He grabbed a hold of it and was relieved to feel his balance coming back. Inuyasha resumed charging at the monster, who had now been cornered and decided he needed to move. Kagome felt a rush of wind as she was lowered. The demon disappeared into the ground, leaving Kagome still on the surface. Inuyasha was at her side in an instant. "Damnit! Are you okay, Kagome?"

Kagome nodded and staggered to her feet with Inuyasha's help and rubbed her bottom ribs, which were not broken, but were in a considerable amount of pain. The others appeared shortly there after to make sure she was okay.

Inuyasha looked around again, "Where did it go? I doubt it would just make one attempt and then leave."

The others looked around too. "What does it want?" Shippou wondered.

"Isn't it obvious, baka? It wanted Kagome's shikon shards, maybe even her powers. And since the smell of Naraku is all over him, I'd say this demon was unleashed by him." Inuyasha responded.

About 100 feet away from them, the beast appeared again from the ground. "Kagome…" Inuyasha picked the girl up and jumped off to the edge of the meadow.

He placed her safely under some brush. "… stay here. Don't move unless something attacks or I tell you to come out. Don't let yourself be seen."

Kagome nodded a little too quickly for the hanyou's comfort, "I mean it, Kagome. Don't move! Promise me!"

She looked up at him with big trusting eyes, "I promise I won't leave, Inuyasha."

Inuyasha believed her when she looked into her eyes, and saw the trust radiating back. He smirked slightly and turned to go back to the fight. Kagome looked on nervously, but still kept herself well hidden.

Now that Kagome was out of his clutches, Inuyasha and the others found absolutely no worries about blowing this creep to bits. Sango swung again with her boomerang, and the rocks of his feet shattered on impact. However, the rocks of his feet were soon reconstructed, and he was able to smack Sango clear across the face. At seeing her friend being injured, Kagome took a couple steps out of her hidden spot, but held back as she saw Miroku about to catch her friend. Sango fell off of Kirara and landed in Miroku's arms with an annoyed grunt. "Shit."

But Miroku knew what to do. He set Sango down, "Inuyasha, use the Kaze no Kizu. I'll take it from there," and he began to remove his prayer beads.

Inuyasha raised his sword high and yelled his chant. The all too familiar yellow light emerged from the sword in five flashing lines. They danced their way across the ground throwing rocks and debris to the side. It finally approached the beast, who shattered into hundreds of pieces on impact. Inuyasha caught sight of the shikon shard as it twinkled in the sun, and leapt to snatch it away. Once the half-demon was out of the way, Miroku shot his hand outward. "Kazaana!"

Before the pieces could reconstruct, they were sucked into the abyss that was the monk's hand. Much sooner than they had planned, the battle was over. Kirara returned to her normal form and Shippou panted for breath, "Did we…. Did we win? Was that it?"

"Keh, looks like Naraku is losing his touch," Inuyasha said as he put his sword away.

"Oi, Kagome, you can come out now!" He flexed his claws, "If Naraku's getting sloppy, this can only be good for us."

He turned his face towards the bushes, "Hey, Kagome! I said you can come out now! Kagome!"

But there was no answer. The others gasped at the same time Inuyasha felt his heart sink into the pit of his stomach. His smallest voice came through, barely audible to the others, but still heard, and it was trembling, "Ka-Kagome…"

No sooner were the words out of his mouth that he started sprinting as fast as he could to the spot where he had left her. As the wind picked up, it only brought new news of dread, as he no longer smelt Kagome's sweet scent, but her blood. He stampeded into the bushes, praying with all his heart to find his dearest one waiting there for him, and for once, for his nose to be wrong. But his nose never failed him, and all he saw where he had left her was a small splash of her blood on the dirt. With a shaking hand, he kneeled over to touch it, as if to make sure that it was really real. At the feeling of it, he immediately recoiled his hand. This was very real. Kagome was injured. Kagome… was gone.

To be continued…

Next chapter: Kagome gets found, but something is very wrong.

Whew! Looooong chapter! What happened to Kagome? What will Inuyasha do? What do they find out when they find her? Tune in soon for the next chapter. Okay, please respond! I'll love you all to pieces. Toodles!