InuYasha Fan Fiction ❯ Til Death Do Us Part ❯ The End pt.2 ( Chapter 25 )

Disclaimer: After 24 chapters and disclaimers alike, I think you've got the gist. Regretfully I only own the plotline.

 

 

 

AN: At long last, the ending is here, well the second to last ending anyway. This has been the hardest chapter I've ever written by far, which accounts for its lateness, as well as the fact that I've been kicked out of my house and am now homeless. While interesting, I must warn those that this chapter does contains elements of angst so beware. Big thanks to Kimmie and FrameofMind for being such wonderful betas and thanks to all of the reviewers who've left me such encouraging feedback. And now I'm going to proceed to pass out from exhaustion. Enjoy.

 

 

 

 

The End pt2

 

 

 

 

“Sir, we have a situation.”

 

A single, ebony brow arched as crimson dipped irises observed the white-haired individual currently battering his shield on the monitor in front of his minion. “So, he is going to make it easy for me.”

 

“Should I alert the local authorities or unleash our forces?” the panther youkai addressed his superior.

 

Naraku sat back and adjusted himself comfortably in the chair, twin pits of red glimmering with the anticipation of the kill. His tongue flicked out and ran across his lower lip. It had been centuries since his adversaries had the gall to attack him in a full frontal assault without the aid of the system, centuries since he had been able to employ the most ruthless of his tactics to annihilate those who so boldly defied him. Living in a time where rules and regulations were so adamantly revered, there was no room for the bloodshed and mayhem that once thrived in the olden days.

 

“Do you want me to deactivate the barrier?”

 

“No. If the hanyou wants to kill me so badly, he will have to break through my shield on his own.” `And if he does,' Naraku mused in sadistic amusement, allowing one of his tentacles to slowly break through the surface of his palm, `his life will be forfeit and I will personally send him to the afterlife to join his wench.' He smirked as the tentacle tore across the room and pierced the panther's skull. `Inuyasha,' Naraku mused withdrawing his appendage, and watched unfazed as its head hit the table with a sickening thud, `your life is mine.'

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Kouga felt a painful tug in his chest as he watched the red Ferrari barrel out of the hospital parking lot from the window. `She loves him so much that she's willing to risk her health and possibly her life to save his.' Fists clenching, he shut his eyes and tried to ward off the threads of jealousy and hurt. No matter how hard he tried, he couldn't eradicate the feelings he had for Kagome. She had been such a huge part of his life, and still was. He would die for her and if he had had the chance, would have gladly taken the bullet in her stead. How was he supposed to let go of someone as beautiful and amazing as her and willingly give her up to someone as stupid and unappreciative as mutt face?

 

He opened his eyes slowly to stare out into the night, his throat tight. He was the one who had comforted her in her time of need and helped her through the various stages of depression that followed after the couple's falling out, and yet it all was in vain. For in the end, she opted for the flea brained asshole and went so far as jeopardizing her well being to make sure that the idiot didn't get himself killed. She had just got out of surgery not thirty minutes ago because of a gunshot wound that the hanyou had failed to protect her from, and had somehow managed to slip by her bodyguards and snuck out of the hospital all for him.

 

He pried his gaze away from the window longingly. By some means that were in no way apparent to him, the love they held for each other had survived, even after being dragged through the fiery pits of hell and back. Kouga flinched as another spasm of pain echoed within the solitary confines of what was left of his broken heart. He had been painfully aware that Kagome was still in love with Inuyasha even in the late stages of their relationship, and yet he had strived to gain what she had given so willingly to the hanyou. `It's time for me to accept that she will never see me as anything more than a friend.' He placed a hand over the area of his chest where the pain emanated. `I just wish it didn't hurt so much to let go.'

 

Like a jolt to the brain, it hit him. She was on the verge of death and about to place herself in a situation where she would be more of a hindrance than a help. He had to get to her before something happened to her. Kouga turned on his heel, ready to sprint out of the hospital to go to her aid, even if it meant the continued existence of the hanyou, when a hand latched onto his sleeve. He frowned at the monk. “What?”

 

Miroku stared at the wolf youkai, a knowing look glimmering in his violet depths. “Leave it be. It doesn't concern you.”

 

Kouga shrugged off his hand and crossed his arms, impatience working its way into his scowl. “I don't know what you're talking about.”

 

“How do you think you're going to come to terms with your breakup when you keep putting yourself in a position to get hurt?”

 

Kouga stiffened, the monk's words expressing truth. “I'm only going to give her a hand. Kagome is in no condition to walk, let alone drive. And who knows where that damned hanyou is. Do you really think she'll find him herself? And if she does, what help would she be if he's not in his right state of mind?”

 

“I think you're underestimating the bond that they share,” Miroku kept his voice pacified to calm the agitated wolf. “Though Inuyasha hasn't given her his mark yet, the connection they share with each other is on another level entirely. And while I don't believe Kagome should be on the roads in her present physical shape, she's the only one who can help Inuyasha now. Trust her instincts Kouga. She knows what she is doing. She is the descendant of a powerful line of mikos.” The monk laid a compassionate hand on his shoulder, an understanding look tilting his lips into a bittersweet smile at the youkai's torn expression. “Don't worry about her Kouga, she will be fine. Instead of your goals consisting of chasing the unattainable, you should set your sights on someone a little more realistic.” Miroku coughed and discreetly inclined his head in direction of a female youkai sitting dejected on the far side of the waiting room.

 

Grimacing, Kouga stared at the red head, something akin to pity flitting across his face. “I've really trampled on her feelings, haven't I?” he questioned quietly.

 

“Yes you have,” Miroku responded truthfully, deciding that a direct approach was better than beating around the bush. “And what better time than now to voice those unspoken apologies to her. It is, after all, the least you could do for breaking her heart many a time.” He walked away and hid a grin of fulfillment as his trained eye caught the wolf youkai running an unsteady hand through his hair before striding over to Ayame. Perhaps things would work out for the best in the end in spite of everything.

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Inuyasha unleashed a roar of frustration as he landed back on his feet, failing for what seemed like the hundredth time in breaching the barrier. Amber eyes glared at the enlarged fang. `What good is this piece of shit if it can't get me through to the other side?' With a snort of disgust, the hanyou rigidified his grip on the hilt and repositioned the Tetsusaiga in front of him, the fluorescent light of the moon glinting vengefully off of the enormous blade as he raised it into the air.

 

`I have to do this. I have to avenge Kagome and make the bastard who did this suffer.' In a blur of white, he tore across the distance that separated him from the barrier at break neck speed and vaulted into the air while simultaneously raising the fang overhead. Drawing every ounce of energy he could convene, Inuyasha released a cry and swung the Tetsusaiga in a downward arc onto the shield. Splinters of electricity sprung in multitudes from the point of impact as the clashing energy wrestled back and forth in a battle for dominance, rushing air whipping back his silver mane of hair.

 

“Just a little more,” he ground his teeth together, beads of sweat dotting his brow as he urged his weapon with all the strength he could muster into forcing the fang through while maintaining his equilibrium against the power emitting from the barrier that lashed brutally at him from all sides.

 

A sudden, sharp crack of dark energy belted heavily against the Tetsusaiga, the unexpected pitch in power causing Inuyasha to lose his balance and sent him flying backwards into the trunk of a nearby tree. Smashing straight through the tree, he tumbled across the grass until finally coming to a halt in front of thick underbrush. Hissing, Inuyasha sat up and winced at the dull throbbing stemming from his lower backside.

 

He picked up his head and took in the extent of the damage he had done to the barrier. “Fuck!” he swore angrily upon seeing that it was still intact and radiating with as much intensity as it had been before he had begun his barrage of attacks. “There's no way in hell I'm getting past that thing at this rate.” His gaze drifted to the untransformed Tetsusaiga in his hands; the rusted katana a blatant symbol of his ineptness and lack of power. He shut his eyes and tried to depress the raw emotion clawing at his soul.

 

`I've failed you Kagome,' he ruminated ruefully, his throat welling up, `There's nothing more I can do besides sit here and wait for my death.' The katana rolled soundlessly from his open palm to the ground, his ears lowering in both defeat and disgrace. He was the worst kind of failure because not only had he not been around to protect her when she was shot, but he had botched the only chance he would get to confront her killer and take revenge for her murder. His mind flashbacked to when he had found her in the basement of the manor, her dying face twisting his innards in painful knots, her usually bright and playful expression pinched with agony, her colorless lips, the lifelessness of her body in his arms.

 

He squeezed his eyes shut, his heart giving a sharp lurch at the mental image. `No, I can't give up. I have to do this for us. I won't be able to move on until I see his corpse sliced to pieces.' Inuyasha let his hand close around the hilt of the corroded katana and entrenched the tip into the ground, using it for support as he pushed himself off the ground. `I did not come this far to give Naraku the satisfaction of seeing me fall.'

 

A snarl curling at the corner of his mouth as he stood erect, his back ramrod straight, and his sights set coldly on the object impeding his progress. The hand balled around the hilt constricted so tightly that blood began trickling from the indentures made by the claws piercing his own palm, the thick, red liquid blazing a steady trail down the sword. `Kagome, I failed you once. I will not fail you again.' Icy coldness threaded with the heated fury that raged in his veins, the convergence of the two elements unlocking a deep-seated incitement locked within the core of his being that goaded his youki with snatches of violent friction.

 

The sudden flare of power imparting from the katana that had ringlets of pulsing energy waves circling up his arm stirred Inuyasha from his trance. He made a small gasp at the brandished fang, an inundation of eerie, crimson color rapidly extending along the blade until it was completely swathed in red. “What the fuck is going on?”

 

The sword pulsed as if in response before giving him a slight tug in the direction of the barrier. Trusting in its intuition and guidance without question, Inuyasha took hold of the hilt with both hands, his lips curling back to bare one of his lethal accessories as he advanced upon his immobile adversary. “Alright you son of a bitch.” He flicked the blade to the broad side. “Let's do this.”

 

Air suddenly flared out from beneath the sword, the ripple of swirling energy that circled around the Tetsusaiga picking up speed and power. Without a moment's hesitation, Inuyasha launched into the air and after coalescing all of the volatile emotions running rampant in his body into the strike, he swiftly brought the fang down onto the barrier. Unlike his previous attempts, the emergence of the red Tetsusaiga ensued in a colossal clash of disparate energies as the malignant obstacle strained to in its upkeep, its shortcomings obvious as its inner workings flickered against the might of the fang and finally faded into nonexistence.

 

Having no time to gloat in his victory, Inuyasha propelled himself while still airborne in the direction of the edifice, its appearance all the more intimidating against a backdrop of shadows and thick, sloping fog that shrouded the terrain. Growling lowly, the hanyou slid to a stop, his ears swiveling in an attempt to pick up any type of commotion or activity, but the only sound that his sensitive appendages could detect was the rapid beating of his own heart.

 

A rush of wind whipping over his back made Inuyasha whip around, ready to face whoever or whatever was lurking in the fog. Both disappointment and relief swelled within him as only the dense, curls of fog met him. His hackles rose, the silence of the dead night air and the thickening of the opaque miasma doing nothing to abate his jittery nerves. “Where the fuck are you? I know you're here somewhere so stop being such a fucking pussy and show yourself!”

 

“Do you kiss your mother with that mouth, hanyou?” Inuyasha's body jerked sharply in the direction of the voice, the smog parting like a curtain for the emerging figure, and found himself unable to contain the low rumble that reverberated deeply in his diaphragm as the bane of his existence stepped into the clearing.

 

“Well if that isn't the pot calling the kettle black, I don't know what is, hanyou,” Inuyasha spat, instantly taking note of the discrepancy in youki that his opponent emanated, an undisputable denotation of his mixed heritage.

 

Naraku chuckled darkly at the hatred and disgust aimed at his way. “Are you not happy to see me? But,” he smoothed the wrinkles from the sleeve of his black silk shirt, “then again, I did attempt to kill you and yours on a variety of occasions. I must admit that I was moderately surprised that you and that fiery spirited wench of yours failed to die on the plane crash I so carefully orchestrated and even more so when you managed to get yourselves stranded on that tiny scrap of land. You win some, you lose some.” His eyes hardened, the edges of his mouth rising into a half-smirk. “Unfortunately, losing is not something that bodes well with me, which is the reason why I took such great measures in seeing through my latest venture; something that was so simple, yet so effective if I do say so myself. Wouldn't you agree?”

 

It was becoming increasingly harder for Inuyasha to maintain his bearing, the sword in his hands beginning to quiver with the restraint it was taking not to charge at the abomination and slice him to ribbons, the unbridled fury tearing at his body begging to be released.

 

“It was so blatantly obvious that the oni were only a diversion. I don't know how you missed it.” Crimson jewels glittered gleefully at the hanyou's noticeable flinch. “How did it feel, Inuyasha? To hold her dying body in her your arms as her life ebbed away before your very eyes? How did it feel to know that you are responsible for her death? That if you had only kept her by your side, instead of the confined room, she would still be alive.” Naraku caught, with a certain degree of satisfaction, the flash of pain and guilt before the sweep of thick, white bangs lowered to shadow the planes of his face.

 

“Why?”

 

Had the malevolent hanyou possessed any shred of humanity within the cold chambers of his black heart, he would have winced at the young man's cracked voice, broken by the sorrow burdening his soul. “I suppose I could indulge in your questions since you're about to die. Consider it as a last request. Let me begin by saying that you are as pathetic as that human loving father and brother of yours,” Naraku snubbed the anguish that rolled off of the hanyou in undulating waves, “The love of humans has weakened your state of mind, reducing the all of you to nothing more than sniveling fools. I find it nauseating that the once so-called, undefeated daiyoukai would allow human scum to infiltrate his home and taint his bloodline. But I am not one to complain, especially since it has given me the advantage in more ways than one.”

 

“Why?” Inuyasha voiced again, his head still lowered though his tone had retreated from the brink of despair to a more stabilized pitch.

 

Naraku tsked. “Impatient, aren't we? For more than half a century I've been waiting to take that impertinent father of yours and hang him out to dry for reasons that are solely my own. And after waiting all of this time, I finally have that chance. His reign in the Western Lands is about to come to an end and once I rid this domain of him and all other inuyoukai ties, I will become supreme ruler, a title that should be mine anyway since his squandering ways have only hindered the progress of this realm.”

 

“You're not answering my fucking question!” He snapped, his head rearing to expose molten pools of liquid gold that bubbled with vindictive spite, a tempest of mounting youki beginning to gyrate around his trembling form. “What did settling the score with my father having anything to do with Kagome and me?”

 

“Well if you'd let me finish and stop interrupting, I'd tell you,” Naraku chided as though he were a child, completely nonplussed by his spike in power. “As you probably know by now, your father's company has been slacking for some time now and if I calculate correctly it would have started about the time that he met his human wench. So what better way to knock him off his high horse than by taking away his most prized possession? All it took was a bit of bribery to sway Inutaisho's faithful investors over to my side and an inside job to gather his company's innovative schematics to be forwarded to myself. It was supposed to be a quick, painless fall to the bottom. But he had to go and get smart,” he sniffed indignantly. “Just as I was about to buy out his pathetic excuse of a corporation, he went and merged with the Higurashis, then had the audacity to use the stipulation of marriage to coagulate this impromptu mergence as if that would stop me from getting what I want. It only prolonged what was to come.”

 

“Why the hell did you put Kikyo and her kid in all of this? And how did you manage to alter that kid's scent and appearance?”

 

Wicked amusement played across his face as he delved within the pocket of his pants. Inuyasha readied himself for whatever was to come, his left foot sliding away from his right so that they were shoulder width apart and dropping the Tetsusaiga down past his waist so that it effectively shielded his upper body.

 

Raising a brow at the hanyou's defensive disposition, Naraku retrieved a thin, shard-like fragment that held the exact appearance to the one that resided on the back of the child's neck. “This happens to be a Shikon shard, a ground-breaking piece of technology that will revolutionize the way we live. In the near future, people will have the option to appear how they imagined themselves in their wildest dreams, a feat that reconstructive surgery will never be able to accomplish. Of course it is only an optical illusion, but one powerful enough to fool even the toughest of critics, human and youkai alike. The use of Kikyo and her illegitimate brat was only a means to an end. With them, I was able to successfully infiltrate that house of yours, making it all the more easier to set you up for your downfall. As for the scent, all it took was a little black magic and a strand of your hair, which by the way you left all over the backseat of that limo.”

 

Inuyasha cursed his stupidity. There was no way he could have foreseen this, but it didn't make him feel any better that he had unintentionally allowed the enemy to penetrate his home under such a guise that left everybody so open to attack. Like a knife, guilt struck him in the gut. `Kagome.' Tears unshed accumulated in his throat, the unwelcome lump nestling firmly within its walls as the tightening around his heart bordered unbearable. `No, this isn't the time for mourning,' he steeled his frayed nerves and quieted the rampant beating of his heart.

 

“Have you run out of invective remarks already?” Naraku commented idly. “It's a shame that cursing is the only thing you are proficient in. Too bad it did nothing to help the woman you claimed to love.” A vicious smirk worked its way across his face. “Perhaps if you had bestowed her with the mate mark it would have forestalled her death, until a later date of course, but no. Being the incompetent hanyou that you are, I bet the thought didn't even cross your mind.”

 

“Shut up!” Inuyasha snarled, fostering the stronghold of fury that was housed within his core as a means of stripping himself of the vulnerability and despair that posed as a hindrance.

 

“How does it feel to be as much responsible for her death as the one who pulled the trig-“

Naraku ducked just in time to avoid having his head decapitated by the enlarged fang that swept across the air, moderately surprised that the hanyou could move so fast.

 

Rage so thick that he could feel it manifesting the blood in his veins into molten lava, Inuyasha whipped around to face the other youkai, his dark, tawny colored eyes smoldering. “Fuck you and your bullshit.” His wrist snapped the hilt of the fang so that the blade was eye level with his opponent. “When I'm done with maiming your ass, you will be nothing more than a pile of minced meat.”

 

The corners of his mouth twisted down into an amused snarl. “Big words for such a weak, half-blood creature. Are you so sure in your abilities to wield a sword that you haven't possessed for even a full day?” A sudden charge of energy filled the space surrounding the black clad figure, dark air currents beginning to stir, his mass of wavy locks uplifting and wafting around his figure.

 

`Shit.' Inuyasha tensed in response to the intense amount of youki emitting from the other hanyou. `This fucker is no joke. It's going to take all I've got to defeat him. I only hope my best is enough.'

 

“Not so cocky now, are we Inuyasha?” Naraku's smile sent shivers of disgust and hatred trailing down his spine.

 

“Oi, don't be angry at me that you'll always be beneath my father. It's not his fault you're no match for the wit and cunning of inuyoukai and humans alike.” He didn't see it coming until it latched onto his neck, the cold, leathery tentacle effectively cutting off the passage of air to his lungs as it hauled him into the air.

 

“To even insinuate that I am beneath your wretched kind is something I don't take kindly to,” Naraku deadpanned and tightened the tentacle's hold on his neck. “Make no doubt about it; I will get what is rightfully mine one way or another.”

 

“Go to hell.” Bringing his free hand to grasp the end of the hilt, Inuyasha thrust the sword upwards and sliced off the appendage. Dropping to the ground, he coughed as much needed air returned to fill his lungs and turned up his face in disgust as the wriggling tentacle he had sliced off slithered back to Naraku and merged with his stub to form a new arm. “What the fuck are you?” Inuyasha swore and jumped out of the way as another onslaught of tentacles shot out of his arm. He rolled out of the way to just narrowly miss one of the pointed limbs aimed at his skull.

 

“What's the matter hanyou? Are my appendages too much for you to handle?”

 

Inuyasha hacked away at the seemingly endless bombardment of tentacles. Black and thick, they came at him with a speed and agility that had him turning at every angle to evade being pelted by the barrage. `There's no way I can get to him with these things in my way.' Twisting, he snapped the blade down to hew the next cluster. Swinging his sword with his upper body and kicking off the limbs that had began inching up his legs, Inuyasha had no time to identify the foreboding menace behind him until it was too late. His eyes widened at the searing pain infusing his lower body and glanced down to see the thick tentacle that gruesomely projected from his stomach.

 

“Not quite as quick as I first pegged you to be boy.” He heard the dark hanyou chortle.

 

“Damn…you.” Ignoring the hot, shooting pains that sent agonizing tremors to every nerve ending in his system, Inuyasha gritted his teeth in preparation for what was to come and in one fluid motion flipped the Tetsusaiga around so that the piercing apex pointed in the opposite direction. Without wasting a second more, he thrust the sword behind him, intent on driving the blade through his adversary's flesh. A triumphant grin lit his face as he felt the sword find its mark and smirked at the scarcely audible gasp from the target.

 

Discounting the limb suspended from his body, Inuyasha spun around to finish the job, but froze. A grunt gargled by blood filling his lungs from the second tentacle that pass through his chest. Dropping the Tetsusaiga, Inuyasha struggled to free himself from the lithe bondages that were fast beginning to encase his body in a constricted, rubbery cocoon.

 

“Did you really think it would that simple to defeat me?” Naraku gave a light laugh as his tendrils continued to pervade and bind the hanyou's body.

 

Inuyasha managed a burbled sound between a growl and a yelp, an excruciating fire spreading throughout his body as two more tentacles pierced his thighs, continuing straight through to coil around his legs and keeping him rooted to the ground where he stood. Extending his claws, he attempted shred the elongated members only to be forestalled by the injection of the pointed appendages into both of his forearms. “You…fucking…” his words trailed off, the pain clouding his brain too intense to persist with his current train of thought.

 

“I see you're still able to spew those obscenities of yours even on the verge of death.” Squeezing his limbs, a ghost of a smile graced Naraku's lips as he watched the dog-eared hanyou writhe with soundless screams. “Can you not bring yourself to summon up the slightest morsel of dignity, seeing as though you're about to pass on to the afterlife and all. I doubt that your wench would like it if profanity were the first words from your mouth when you meet up with her.”

 

`Kagome.' Her name echoed quietly amongst the chaos in Inuyasha's head, bringing him enough comfort to alleviate some of his affliction. He smiled bitterly, his heart clenching with more pain than the restricting grip one of the tendrils had just latched onto his neck, white dots beginning to dance before his spinning vision. His talons retracted to their normal state, his hands falling away from one of the monstrosities that held a vice-like grip on his neck. Inuyasha closed his eyes, welcoming the numb-like feeling slowly overtaking his body, efficiently superseding the acute spikes of pain that nailed him to the spot. `I guess I'll be seeing you sooner than I thought.'

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Kagome stomped on the accelerator, the prickling sensation at the edge of her psyche conveying just how staid the situation was becoming. `Hang on Inuyasha. I'm almost there.' She glanced down at the navigational monitor near the dashboard. `Only a couple of blocks more.' Thankful for the lateness of the week night, Kagome sped past the red light without interference and made a sharp right, much to the protest of the stitches that held her wound in place. Chest heaving at the amount of exertion it was taking to operate the high velocity sports car, she swiped at the light sheen of sweat layering her forehead.

 

`Two more blocks.' The throbbing pull at her side grew more insistent as she made a sharp left. She knew of the torment she was causing her body and knew that she was going to be in a world of pain when all of this was over. But the upshot of her health was presently taking a back seat to a more pressing matter; one that concerned the safety of her hanyou mate. `Inuyasha, I swear if you get yourself killed I'll never forgive you for as long as I live.' Her throat tightened, blue eyes glazing over with tears unshed. `If you die, I don't know what I'm going to do. Is this how you felt when you heard of my death? Did you feel as lost and hopeless as I am feeling now?'

 

The sudden sound of crunching metal to her left dragged Kagome from her thoughts. Thinking quickly, she yanked the wheel, centering the car in the middle of the lane before slowing to a stop and cutting the engine completely. She pressed a trembling hand against her chest to slow the violent beating of her heart and grimaced at the sight of the side view mirror dangling from a few multi-colored wires. Twisting around with a considerable amount of discomfort, Kagome silently cursed when she saw the parked car she had accidentally grazed by, the long, silver scratches on the surface of its blue door and its wrecked mirror causing her to inwardly flinch. `This is exactly why I have chauffeurs.' She made a quick mental note to see that the owners were properly reimbursed in the morning.

 

A cry escaped her lips as she turned back to face the wheel, the angry stretching of the stitches across her injury begetting another round of dizziness and nausea. Moaning, Kagome reclined her head against the headrest and shut her eyes against the oscillation of fire that seared the area surrounding the lesion, the aftereffects of her less than strenuous activities stirring a pounding headache from within the recesses of her skull. `How am I going to stop Inuyasha if I can barely move without being in so much pain?' She struggled to sit up in the seat. Another cry and an acute jolt of pain sent her back to her slumped position.

 

`Damn it.' Hot, salty liquid blazed branching trails down her cheeks, her hand unconsciously coming rest delicately overtop of her sutures. `I can't give up. Not when I'm so close to finding him. And knowing him, he's probably half dead by now.' The thought provided her with no comfort and served to fuel her desire to reach her destination. `I have to get to him.' Grinding her teeth together, she pulled herself from her slouched position, a fresh batch of tears being brought on by the raw pain eating her away inside.

 

The amount of effort and restraint it took just to bring herself upright drained enough of her energy that she was panting heavily and on the brink of passing out. Her body begged her to release her clasp on consciousness, to give in so that her body could have sufficient time to recover from the ordeal that almost left her for dead. `No!' She growled at her traitorous thoughts. `I can do this. I can make it. Inuyasha will die if I don't get to him.'

 

Speckles of sweat streamed down from her forehead, the ashen shade of her face turning even whiter as she reached over to turn the key in the ignition. `Why the hell did I cut the engine in the first place?' Her shoulders sagged in both victory and exhaustion as the Ferrari rumbled to life. `How am I going to make it to Naraku's if I can barely turn a key?' Depression surmounted over her short lived triumph, the brutality of reality bombarding her optimistic thoughts with every possible pitfall.

 

“Please,” the shaky tenor of her voice shattered the dark silence of the car, “allow me this. Please help me get to him in time. I can't lose him again. My heart won't be able to take it.” The ray of hope she cast within her heart was soon squelched when after minutes passed, nothing happened, leaving her emptier than she had felt from the getgo. In a rare display of outward outrage at the world, her parents, Kikyo and her bastard son, Kagome screamed and slammed her small fists against the steering wheel repeatedly, every curse word and blasphemous phrase she had ever heard spewing from her mouth in such a way that it would have made Inuyasha proud. Pent up anger and frustration that had accumulated over the years of acquiescing to the deportment of an obedient and mindful child unleashing itself in an uncultivated and wholly indiscernible tangent that not even she was consciously knew of.

 

She suddenly froze mid swing and curse, her attention solely directly to the eerie blue light emanating from her skin, the soothing warmth from the mysterious light relaxing the knotting of her muscles. She gasped as a cooling sensation enveloped her from the inside, extinguishing some of the burn of her wound and providing warmth that quelled the disruptive turmoil of her soul. `Is this my…miko powers?' The bluish hue of her skin brightened before dimming and returning from whence it came, leaving her strangely revitalized. `I wonder if it completely healed me.' Kagome lifted up her shirt and gently prodded at the gauze and bandage covering her stitches. What was once a stabbing sharpness in her side had converted into nothing more than a dull ache; not completely healed, but enough that she was able to move with reasonable ease.

 

Wordlessly thanking her miko ancestors, Kagome switched gears to drive and stamped on the gas pedal with renewed vigor. Urgency tugged at her senses as she rounded the last few blocks. Even with being an inexperienced and untrained miko, she could still feel the subtle change in the air. Rolling smog, thick with underlying iniquity met her as she pulled into the private street. Kagome squirmed uneasily in the leather seat and proceeded to guide the car further into the ill-omened vicinity, the breadth and solidity of the miasma increasing as she continued forth.

 

“How am I supposed to find him if I can barely see through this fog?” she murmured, squinting past the dark currents to the scarcely discernible silhouette of something, or someone up ahead. Dread roiled within her gut. Swallowing hard, Kagome stalled the engine, her hands quaking as she turned off the engine. `Something is wrong.' She pulled the handle to the door and stepped out. Her stomach turned over, her insides practically heaving at the density of the miasma that infiltrated her lungs. Covering her mouth and nose with a hand, Kagome treaded onwards toward the black blobs. Anxiety gripped her soul. `Something is really wrong.' Unconsciously quickening her steps, she kept her eyes on the obscured shapes, an inkling of what could be pricking the back of her mind. `No. No, it can't be.'

 

Bile climbed its way into her throat as her heart stopped beating. Hand falling away from her mouth, she stared in open-mouthed horror at the dark-haired youkai grappling the motionless figure with what looked like giant tentacles, his stark white hair hanging limply from the confines of tentacles being the only part of his body visible. Speechless, Kagome watched as the youkai lifted her husband higher into the air, a pointed tentacle rising over the dark youkai's crown as the tip took aim for the hanyou's head.

 

Snapping out of shock, Kagome realized just what he planned on doing. “Inuyasha!” she cried, hoping to whatever gods existed that he would hear her before it was too late. “Look out!”

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“Inuyasha! Look out!”

 

Said hanyou raised his eyelids to half mast. “K'gome?” Amber pupils dilated upon perceiving the embodiment of his love clad in all white a distance away. His heart skipped a beat. Had he died? Was he hallucinating? His mind struggled to distinguish between what was real and what wasn't. `No. It's not her. My Kagome is gone. The lack of oxygen to my brain is causing me to be delusional.' His ears drooped against his scalp, his eyes reverting to the overhanging tentacle poised to shatter his skull in a matter of seconds. `I guess this really is the end,' he mused wryly and readied himself for the impact that would ultimately end his life.

 

“Well, well, well. What do have here?” Naraku scowled at the girl who he had assumed had been taken care of by his associate. He gave a half-hearted sigh. “Now I know why they say good help is so hard to find. I suppose if you want something done right, you've got to do it yourself.” He threw the confused hanyou in his grasp a predatory smile. “It seems, Inuyasha, that your beloved mate isn't dead after all.”

 

Varying levels of shock took hold of the hanyou, his mind disbelieving what his eyes were clearly perceiving. The dark, sable tint of his eyes lightened to their trademark bright amber coloration as their gazes met, a familiar fluttering sensation that he'd been without for hours in his stomach confirming what was real. `It wasn't my imagination. She really is here.' Undiluted elation swept over the barren depths of his soul, rekindling his need to live, to love, all of the things he was willing to forfeit just so he could end an existence that had been devoid of her. He wanted to open his mouth and shout for joy, to run and gather her in his empty arms and kiss her until they were both her breathless. `Kagome.'

 

Inuyasha didn't have a second more to celebrate in the revelation as he saw the tentacle that had been directed toward his head shift in the direction of his mate. Panic squeezed the air from his lungs. He opened his mouth to tell her to get out of the way, but the words never came, the rawness of his dry throat in conjunction with the tentacle around his neck causing the words to become stuck within his esophagus. `I can't lose her again!'

 

Naraku yelled as he felt the jagged fangs of the hanyou sink into and tear off the tentacle wrapped around his open neck. Snarling, Inuyasha yanked his right arm from the nest of tentacles that trapped his body and began to shred the black limbs with lengthened claws.

 

Kagome watched in morbid fascination at the bits and pieces of flesh that flew in every direction as Inuyasha hacked his way out of his temporary prison. In spite of the fact that he was adorned from head to toe in gore, her love for him was just as intense. `It feels as though I haven't seen him in months when it's only been half a d-' She squealed as a chunk of flesh hit her in the face. “Eww Inuyasha, watch where you're slicing that those things!”

 

“Woman, I'm the one doing all the work to protect your ass so shut the fuck up so I can finish him off.” Inuyasha hid a grin and did his best to control the urge to run over and sweep her into his arms. He jerked his head to the right to elude the swift strike aimed for his face. It felt good to have her back, her loud mouth and all. And when this was done and over with, the first thing he was going to do was whisk her away to paradise, never to return or be heard of again. With all of the tentacles destroyed, Inuyasha dived for the Tetsusaiga, grabbed the hilt and sprung to his feet with no small amount of pain.

 

Naraku chuckled as the hanyou prepared for round two. “Inuyasha, you're bleeding heavily from several areas on your body and still you challenge me.”

 

Inuyasha glared at him, his face set in stony determination. “I will kill you Naraku, even if it means my death. So be it.”

 

“Ah, so now you're singing a different tune now that your wench is alive. How fickle the minds of humans are,” he sighed, his pale arm morphing into a massive tentacle. “I suppose I'll have to kill two birds with one stone, not that that's a problem with me. I haven't had this much exercise in a while.” A sardonic smile stretched out over his face. “Say good-bye, hanyou.”

 

Inuyasha lowered his blade horizontally to his waist, his muscles coiling as the tentacle extended with lightening fast velocity in his direction. Ready to carve the member into pieces like he did its predecessors, Inuyasha waited until the exact moment that it was upon him and swung downward with all of his might. “Shit!” He lifted the Tetsusaiga from the dirt, fear tying his organs together as the tentacle abruptly veered at the last minute en route for a wide-eyed Kagome.

 

Adrenalin pumping through his veins, Inuyasha sprinted as if hell were on his heels toward his mate, his wounds splitting wider as he hoisted the fang above his head and sliced the limb before it could make contact with her. Sheathing the fang once it had served its purpose, he scooped Kagome up in his arms and ran on.

 

“What the hell were you thinking coming here?” he chastised speeding across the development grounds to put as much distance between them and Naraku as possible.

 

Kagome stared at him disbelievingly. “Are you kidding me? I dragged my ass out of the hospital bed after having surgery not thirty minutes before to rescue you of all people and all you can say is what I was thinking coming out here? Talk about gratitude,” she snorted and looked away.

 

“You should've stayed in bed. You should be in bed,” he griped, leaping into the air to clear the barbed wire fence that surrounded the compound. “You were fucking shot-“ Her stifled shout had him sliding to a halt. “What's wrong?” he asked, fear stripping his voice of its usual brusqueness.

 

Kagome shook her head, her lips pursed together in a thin line, the burning pull of the sutures brought on upon by his not so soft landing. “It's nothing,” she waved as he set her down gently against the trunk of a nearby tree.

 

Frowning at the lie, he crouched down and ran a finger over the creases of her forehead. “If it were nothing your face wouldn't be contorted with pain,” he commented softly.

 

Kagome raised her head to retort, but gasped. “Inuyasha!” She sat up, her stomach turning at his bloodied chest, unmindful of her own injury as she witnessed his multiple wounds for the first time. “Si…lay down now so I can take care of these.”

 

“What?” he looked down at his torn shirt, a steady flow of blood oozing from most of his injuries, and shrugged. “They're just scratches; nothing serious.”

 

“Nothing serious?” Kagome gaped at him indignantly. “I'm surprised you haven't passed out yet from blood loss. Now get down here and take off that shirt.”

 

“Instead of sitting here tending to these little cuts, I need to get you back to the hospital before Naraku finds us and tries to finish what he started,” Inuyasha argued standing to his feet, but paused when her hand caught his wrist.

 

“Inuyasha, I'm not going to anywhere until you've been properly cared for. So the sooner that you submit, the sooner we can leave.” She stared at him stubbornly.

 

“We don't have time for this,” he grumbled sitting next to her, but pulled the frayed top over his head and handed it to her. “Be quick about it.”

 

Ripping what was left of his tattered shirt, she choked at his mess of a chest, cavernous punctures caked with half dried blood decorating his torso, narrow bruises and discolorations lining his side where the tentacles had left their mark. “Oh my God Inuyasha.” She tore strips of his ragged shirt to use as makeshift bandages. “We have to get you to a hospital. I don't know how the hell you've survive up until this point, but I don't think your luck is going to hold out at the rate that you're pushing yourself.” Her hands trembled as she pressed one against his wounds to defer the bleeding and single-handedly rolled the bandages tightly around his upper body with the other. “Gods Inuyasha, you need to stop being so reckless with your life. You're not invincible. Think of-“ Supple fingers pressed against her lips, startling Kagome out of her soliloquy, her eyes connecting with the soft amber of her husbands'. Swatting his hand away, she glared at him. “Were you even listening to me?”

 

“Kagome.” Her heart did somersaults within beneath her ribcage, the unsaid emotions packed into the soft utterance that was her name enough to wrench at her heartstrings. Ignoring his injuries, Inuyasha yanked his mate into his arms and buried his nose in her hair, the scent of jasmine making his senses reel in ecstasy. “You don't know how happy I am that you're alive.”

 

Kagome wound her arms around his neck and snuggled against him, content to be back within the arms of her love, tears of joy beginning to prick the back of her eyeballs. “Inuyasha, I'm so sorry,” her voice cracked with emotion as she loosened her hold on his neck to look him in the eyes. “I never meant to make you suffer. I can't even imagine what it must've been like for you, thinking that I was dead. Apparently one of the nurse-” His lips crashed down upon her own, the initial shock of that first contact knocking the air from her lungs.

 

Inuyasha hadn't been able to stop himself. With her mouth so temptingly close and her scent virtually driving him over the edge of sanity, he succumbed to the need to kiss her. His fingers ran down the flawless planes of her face, his body instinctively moving closer to hers. `She is alive. She is alive. She is alive.' The mantra repeated over and over in his mind, his heart congested with so many emotions he was surprised it hadn't exploded yet. Inuyasha broke away before things were taken to the point of no return. “Promise me you won't ever leave me like that again,” he murmured and absently brushed the pad of his thumb across her swollen lips.

 

Kagome reveled in his touch and stared up at him affectionately. “I promise.” She leaned over and placed a chaste kiss on his lips. “I love you.”

 

“Keh. You'd better woman.” His gruff tone belied the adoration shining back at her through his twin pools of gold and the light smile tipping his lips upward. The corners of his mouth suddenly jerked downward, his ears swiveling in the direction they had come from. “He's coming.”

 

Apprehension seized hold of her. “Then let's go before he gets here.”

 

“I'm not leaving without that bastard's head,” Inuyasha spoke, his expression blank as he stood, his hand automatically reaching for the hilt of his sword.

 

“No Inuyasha.” Wincing as she stumbled to her feet, Kagome took hold of his wrist, her eyes imploring. “Please, let's just leave this place. We can go to the police or our parents and tell them what we know and try and get Naraku convicted.”

 

“So he can do what?” Inuyasha snapped heatedly. “I don't want him lounging in jail for what he's done. The bastard deserves to be mangled, dismembered, and butchered a thousand times over. What he did to us, to you, is unforgivable.” He attempted to sidestep her small frame, but she jumped in front of his path.

 

“Get out of my way Kagome,” he took her by the shoulders and forcibly moved her aside.

 

“Inuyasha, don't you see that we've been presented with yet another chance to be together, here, in this lifetime.” She grabbed his calloused hands and held them close to her heart, earnestness etched into her features. “Don't throw it all away for something as petty as revenge. You have me back, isn't that enough?”

 

Inuyasha hesitated, unsure of what to do next. Torn between vengeance and the entreaty of his mate, he blew air from his mouth. He would like nothing more than to shove his Tetsusaiga right up Naraku's ass for all the trouble he'd caused them. He stared at the teary-eyed woman in front of him. His heart clenched. He had come so close to losing her, hell he had lost her for a time, and it had been the most painful experience he'd ever underwent in his life. He'd be damned if he'd lose her again. “I don't know why you're so adamant about this. It's not like I'd lose-”

 

“Please-”

 

“But,” he interjected softly and wiped away a freefalling tear that streaked down her cheek with his thumb, “I will respect your wish since you almost died because of me and all. And you're right. You are all that I need, now and forever. Gods Kagome.” His arms snaked around her waist and pulled her as close to him as possible without inciting pain. Inuyasha leaned his forehead against hers and closed his eyes. “You can't even fathom how relieved I am that you're alive. When they told me at the hospital that you hadn't made it, I felt a part of me die. I was willing to do anything away just to be with you again, even if it meant throwing away my life.”

 

“Is that why you gave up resistance to Naraku when I first arrived?” she inquired quietly already knowing the answer.

 

“Yes,” he whispered and raised his head to connect their gazes. “And I'd do it again without hesitation or regret.”

 

“Don't talk like that,” she admonished weakly.

 

“It's the truth.” His fingertips grazed the curve of her neck, marveling in the perfection of its silky texture, and smiled when she shivered in response. “When you get out of the hospital, I'm going to take you far away from here to a place where we can finally be together without our conniving parents or those annoying friends of yours interrupting our peace.” Inuyasha gathered her hands, his expression sincere. “I promise that I will protect you at all costs from now on. Nothing will ever come between us again.”

 

Kagome could've melted right then and there, his words stirring feelings deep within her core. Another tear leaked from her watery dams as he planted a tender kiss on her lips. “Thank you,” she breathed against his mouth, her shoulders losing some of their tension, and smiled up at him.

 

“Keh, whatever,” Inuyasha mumbled returning his usual, grumpy self, a light blush staining his cheeks. “Come on. Let's go before I change my…mind.”

 

“Inuyasha, what's wrong?” Kagome watched with growing alarm as his eyes widened, his hold on her hands tightening. She looked down at his chest with him to behold the tentacles jutting from his abdomen. Pilfered breath caught in her throat. “Inu-” She choked on the words as he shoved her to the ground none too gently. Ignoring the acute tug of her injury, Kagome parted her lips, but her lungs refused to produce a scream as her husband's body jerked with every limb that struck his body. Shaking uncontrollably with tears blinding all except the frozen mask of shock permanently molded to his face, she flinched as all six of the tentacles withdrew from his body and watched helplessly as he folded, his knees giving way from beneath him.

 

“Inuyasha!” Scrambling to get to his side before he was further harmed with the collision of the ground, Kagome reached out and caught his upper body in her arms. “Oh god.” His entire torso was covered in blood from both new and old injuries. “I don't think I have enough clothes to make bandages for these,” she half-laughed, half-cried, and struggled to tear a piece of her shirt with quaking hands. “Just hang on. We can make it. I'm sure that our parents will be here with the police at any moment. Damn it!” she cursed the material of the shirt. “Why won't this tear?”

 

“K-Ka-” A fresh stream of blood trickled from the corners of his mouth and down his chin. “K'gome. S…stop.” He blindly groped for her hands as his vision began to darken.

 

“Inuyasha, be still.” Searching for his hands from behind the walls of tears that clouded her eyes, she almost cried in relief when her fingers found his. “Stop moving ok? You'll make the bleeding worsen if you don't stay put.” She used her sleeve to wipe the salty water from her eyes. “You can make it, I know you can.”

 

“No…l..leave me,” he croaked hoarsely, thick, red liquid quickly filling his lungs. “I…I.I...” he drew in a strangled breath. “I love you.”

 

“Stop it Inuyasha! You're going to live!” She kissed him, paying no heed to the metallic tang of blood that tinged his lips. Blue eyes alit with hope. “I can use my miko powers. They helped me a couple of minutes ago. I can use them on you!”

 

The hanyou did his best to shake his head, grateful that the pain racking his body was beginning to ebb away into nothingness so that he could enjoy his last few moments with his mate. Amber hued eyes softened as she strained in vain to call forth her nonexistent powers. With the last remnants of his energy, he brought one of his hands to cup the side of her face and hoped that his eyes expressed all of the things he couldn't tell her.

 

Giving up hope on evoking her temperamental abilities, Kagome watched despairingly as her love's life slowly slipped away. There was nothing she could do. “I love you, Inuyasha,” she whispered, tenderly brushing back his bangs to see his beautiful eyes. The love swimming within his molten pits quickly turned to fear. Kagome frowned as he struggled to sit erect, his lips moving but no words pouring forth.

 

“R-run!” he wheezed.

 

Her confusion dispersed as the hairs on the back of her next stood at attention, the ominous presence to her left only being one person. Sitting back up, she turned to warily stare at the dark haired youkai casually leaning against the tree, a half-smile on his face as he surveyed his handiwork. “It's not my best work, I'll admit, but then again, I haven't practiced with my extra appendages in a while.” Naraku rubbed his chin thoughtfully. “He was a rather persistent one, I'll give him that.”

 

“You fucking asshole,” Kagome spat viciously, her arms wrapping tighter around her hanyou, her eyes shooting daggers of ice at the reason for all of the mayhem.

 

Naraku pointed down to her lap, his smile broadening. “You might want to save the curses for later and say your last good-byes to your lover.”

 

Her attention diverted, Kagome stared in terror as his breathing became more labored. “Inuyasha! Please don't leave me! You promised to protect and be there for me! Don't you dare go back on your word!”

 

“A hanyou's word is as good as his worth, and being that he isn't worth two cents, isn't much at all,” Naraku mentioned offhandedly.

 

Rivers of tears gushed down Kagome's face. “Don't leave me Inuyasha.”

 

“Give it up girl. He's as good as gone. And soon you will be too.” He watched in sadistic enjoyment as her head lowered, her hands gently pushing the hanyou upper half from her lap. “Oh this is priceless. Not only did I get to witness the loss and suffering your husband had to endure with your death, but yours with his death as well.” He laughed quietly to himself. “This has been one of the most entertaining nights I've had in a while, and for that, I must commend you.” Naraku grinned as she slowly pushed herself off of the ground to stand up, her head still lowered. He altered his right arm into a tentacle for what would be the last time that night. “Send my regards to Inuyasha when you reach the afterlife, wench.”

 

A sudden flare of power imparting from the girl caused his smile to wilt and disappeared completely as her energy spiked with an immensity that had his eyes narrowing. `Where did this mere child get all of this power from? She couldn't be a miko.' Deciding that it would be best if he rid himself of the potential problem before it became insurmountable, Naraku discharged the appendage from his arm and beheld the limb as it made a beeline for the glowing girl. Fear flicked across his face when she finally lifted her head, her abnormally bright blue eyes inducing a series of icy frissons to race up his spine and before he could draw back in his limb, it connected with an unseen barrier.

 

Kagome watched unsympathetically as the hanyou cried out, his tentacle being incinerated to ashes by the purification powers of the barrier. “You worthless, pathetic creature. You don't deserve to live,” she spoke, fury underlying the monotonous tone of her voice, her hands balling by her sides. “So I'm going to send you to a place where you'll be quite at home. This is for Inuyasha and all of the people that you've killed and hurt over the centuries in your pursuit for power. May you rot in hell for all of eternity.”

 

Massive waves of energy buffeted a shell-shocked Naraku and before he had a chance to defend himself against the blitz, blue streaks of purifying ki shot out from her radiating form and collided dead-on into his chest.

 

His screams of agony as his body was razed by the powerful streams of purifying energy fell on deaf ears, the source of the resplendent show of power continuing to cast her purifying torrents over the land, the outpouring sweeping over and dissolving the miasma saturated complex.

 

Groaning, Kagome crumpled to the ground completely depleted of strength and energy. Vaguely aware of the warm fluid seeping from the gauze lining the side of her stomach, her eyes listlessly settled on her husband, the rise and fall of his chest barely visible. `Inuyasha.' Her body, too exhausted to execute the simplest of endeavors, could produce no tears. Kagome gave a hollow cry, sobs locked deep within her chest refusing to be released. He lay a foot away, his silver-white tresses splayed carelessly across his blood-splattered chest, his facial features relaxing as he slipped into unconsciousness. She extended her arm to recover the limp, clawed hand that rested a breath's width away. She smiled wistfully as their fingers entwined. “Inuyasha, when I wake up, I'd better find you by my side,” Kagome whispered before the heaviness of her lids forced her to close her eyes as her mind surrendered to the heavy folds of darkness that pressed upon it.

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End.

 

 

Told you it would be angsty. ::equips self with armored shield and helmet:: But fret thyself not, for there will be one more chapter. Sad, but true. If all goes well, it will be out in a couple of weeks. Until then people. Ciao.

 

Jade C.