InuYasha Fan Fiction ❯ Laying Down the Law ❯ 3rd Stage: The Battle ( Chapter 33 )

[ T - Teen: Not suitable for readers under 13 ]

Thanks to everyone for the positive feedback. I won't keep you waiting; go!

There comes a time when a person's life when they realize what truly matters. In normal cases, this moment comes just before death or in throws of severe depression just preceeding said death.

This is why Kagome, when she began to think about the kids she might have had with Inuyasha, decided to do something to help not only herself, but him as well. As she readjusted her precarious tip toe balancing act on the small peg below her, wishing that her arms could simply drop from the cross if only for a moment, the girl grimaced. Dried blood was crusted and black on her limbs, looking positively ghostly against her white skin; she could just barely feel the vibration from what she estimated was an explosion and she winced. Explosions were never good, in her experience.

Where are they? Are they okay? Are they...alive? NO! No, no, no, don't think things like that, they're fine. They're fit as fiddles...fit as fiddles? Where the hell did that come from? I'm going crazy. Officially, being strung up on a cross has made me crazy. Shit. I'm useless again. I can't do anything again. I'm a burden...again. God, it makes me so fucking mad, I just want to...to...

"AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHGGGGGGHHH!"

The scream tore through Kagome's throat like a fire through forest, echoing around the cavernous room and causing the rafters to give a slight tremble. The sound weaved its way through the halls, catching the ears of countless demons and alarming others as they felt the ground give a small shudder beneath their feet. It was in that moment that all those who might've been lost in the warehouse realized exactly where Kagome was located.

Inuyasha and Shitora clapped their hands over their ears as a wrenching cry assaulted their senses; though they couldn't quite see the source of said noise, it was ruining the peace in their heads.

Shitora squinted slightly as she growled, "What the hell was that?"

But she never received an answer, for her brother was already sprinting down the hallway, blood flying from open wounds as he carried on like a hurricane. Axle and Bankotsu exchanged glances with Shitora before nodding curtly and following suite, hoping to keep up with the hanyou before he did something potentially life threatening. Bankotsu smirked at this irony; as if their lives weren't threatened enough these days.

Inuyasha, on the other hand, would've embraced death if it meant Kagome's life. He couldn't breathe, couldn't feel, couldn't manage to sense any sort of sensation as he ran, wondering if his feet were pounding the pavement at all. He knew exactly who that mysterious scream belonged to and he couldn't say if it was a good or bad thing. At least she was still concious and alive. On the other hand, it was never a good thing when Kagome screamed. The only times Inuyasha could remember hearing Kagome scream were being attacked by Dragons at the race, yelling tearfully at him at Race wars, and banging her thumb with a hammer. Fear, distress and pain. These things and these things only caused Kagome to cry and Inuyasha didn't particularly wish for any of them.

"That was her."

Ranbou adjusted Rin on his back, hazarding a glance at Ayame, who looked positively grim. "Yeah, it was," he grunted in reply.

"Well let's get a fucking move on then," Max interjected with his always flawless reasoning, rolling his dark eyes plantively and shaking his great gnarled head. This was no time for pausing and faltering. He knew just as well as the next lad what sort of horrors awaited them in the center chamber, but he liked to think that this "togetherness" idea which Skull and Bones constantly preached about was worth something. Maybe, together, they could make four times the ruckus of one. And an increase in ruckus was always aright with Max.

"How ya doin' up there, saucy girl?" Max asked, obviously adressing Sango, who was breathing heavily on his back. Even as the blood continued to pour from her open wounds, staining the back of Max's already grungy shirt, Sango couldn't help but smile; saucy girl. Max had once told her at their first Race Wars, at the ripe age of 13, that she had far too much "sauce" for a woman. This had, invariably, led to an argument which many still remembered, during which Sango had called Max "freaky face." This was, of course, before the tail pipe accident. His nickname had died, but hers had not. She couldn't help but admit silently to herself that it was nice to hear something so familiar in the middle of this ridiculous chaos.

"I'm...okay..." she wheezed, trying to calm her breathing; it was becoming more and more eratic the more her adrenaline pumped through her already weary veins. "Keep...going..."

Sesshomaru, Akago and Kotone had, consequently, been heading towards what they believed to be the center of the warehouse when they too heard the gut wrenching scream. Sesshomaru and Akago narrowed their eyes, knowing all to well that this voice belonged to Kagome, while Kotone just raised her eyebrows. Having never met the girl, she had no idea what she sounded like and could only assume this was the one they were rescuing.

"She's close. Very close," Akago murmured.

Sesshomaru nodded, jerking his head in the direction of the sound; Kotone and Akago followed quickly at his heels, hoping they arrived before anything alarming could occur.

Bones, Hakkaku, Ginta and Kinanme glanced up simultaneously as they heard the shout richochet through the hallway. Kina exchanged looks with Hakkaku, who was at her immediate right.

"Is that her?"

Hakkaku didn't answer and only nodded grimly, closing his eyes for a moment as though to will the moment away. Ginta sighed and murmured, "Well, even though she's in trouble, we know where she is now."

"Agreed," Bones said, narrowing his green eyes calculatively. "I think I understand now. Well, we better jump ship to the top levels, wot?"

"Right," the others agreed, following the lanky redhead as they searched desperately for a stairwell, hurrying down the hallway towards the sound of Kagome's anguished scream.

Meanwhile, Kouga, Skull and Hiten were jogging at a leisurely pace through their hallway when Kagome's scream reached their ears. Kouga narrowed his eyes and said after a moment, "That didn't sound like a happy scream."

"I doubt she's fuckin' happy, mate," Skull mumbled, giving Kouga a gruff pat on the shoulder as his blue eyes began to lose some of their sparkle.

Hiten narrowed his crimson ones and picked up his pace, urging his friends on. "Well, then we better hurry up."

It's always mildly disconcerting when you meet someone unexpectedly in a public place. It's also mildly disconcerting when a loud noise interrupts a peaceful quiet without warning. Kagome was torn between happiness and surprise as her friends began literally pouring out of every crevice and orifice in the room in which she was held captive. Her eyes couldn't decide where to focus as she half smiled and half cried out with emotional exhaustion, closing her brown eyes momentarily to savor the sweet flavor of potential freedom.

It was then that she felt a certain warmth surround her and her eyes snapped open; Inuyasha was there. Her eyes nearly rolled out of her head as she swept the room, searching desperately for him and the safety he graced her with. It wasn't long before Kagome was able to hear Inuyasha's voice above the caucophony of sounds, most of which were shouts of her name.

Inuyasha burst into the room and felt the breath leaking from his mouth as he set eyes on his beloved Kagome, who was literally strung up on a cross, blood dried and encrusted on her pale white body. She was in her underwear. That scared Inuyasha to death for more than one reason.

Without caution or thought, Inuyasha charged forward and practically threw himself at the cross, climbing with a strength and agility only indigenous to demons in desperate situations. He felt a certain sickness encase him as he found himself practically on top of Kagome whilst his razor sharp claws did their work on her wrist bindings. She gasped slightly as the rusty metal left her skin, unaccustomed to the air and sudden pain. Inuyasha swallowed and closed his eyes for the briefest of seconds, hating to watch her hurting so badly, but he knew the hurt would be even worse if he waited. Finally, he used his right arm to gently pull her to him, using his strength to hold her steady as he climbed down with his feet and left arm. Kagome was clinging tightly to him, head buried in his shoulder, and he forced himself to resist the urge to crush her to him until they were finally on solid ground.

The two lovers collided like ocean and shore, pressing themselves tightly together as though wishing to feel each other at every point. Kagome wanted to cry, though she knew it would serve no purpose. Inuyasha wanted to cry, though he knew it would make matters worse. The two were just content to cling to one another like life threads. No words were said, not even the whispering of names, because neither could find words which would hold any meaning in such a situation. All that mattered was that neither of them were elon anymore.

Rin whimpered into Ranbou's shoulder as she caught sight of Sesshomaru entering through the west gate. Despite the general noise of the group reunions, Sesshomaru heard a small and pitiful sound with his powerful demon hearing and he froze instantaneously, whirling to face the South West with such speed that a normal neck might've broken. It took Sesshomaru a single moment to assess what his eyes were desperately telling his brain before he was sprinting towards Rin, who felt more tears coming to her eyes as she saw the fear in her boyfriend's normally stoic face.

Ranbou lifted Rin gently into Sesshomaru's arms as he arrived, glancing down at his brawny arms, which were now stained with and smelt of the girl's blood. He looked away from the sight and turned his vision instead to the reunited lovers before him.

Sesshomaru held Rin protectively, cradling her like a child as he analyzed her injuries. "My god," he whispered, unable to even imagine the brutality Rin had suffered. Rope burns, scratches, bruises, even a cigarette burn on her bare side. Torture. These were torture wounds.

"We didn't tell them anything," Rin said as tears flowed freely down her pretty face, turning a pale pink as they collided with the blood on her cheeks.

Sesshomaru's amber eyes met Rin's brown ones for a mere second before the dog demon had to look away, afraid that he himself might cry for the second time in his life. He leaned down his head, placing a single kiss on Rin's forehead before he muttered, "Never again. They'll never hurt you again, I swear it."

While Sesshomaru was able to internalize this incident to a certain degree, Miroku was overcome with all sorts of emotions, none of them escapable. His mind was a blur as he rushed to Sango's side, watching as Max set her down gently on the cool concrete floor. She barely lay there for a moment before Miroku was kneeling beside her, allowing his eyes to roll wildly over her injuries. His violet gaze was so intense Sango feared it might actually crack his skull in two.

"Miroku, I'm al-"

"What the hell did they do to you?!"

Sango closed her eyes, unused to the desperation and anger which now inhabited Miroku's voice. "They wanted answers, but we didn't give them." She neglected to mention that she and Rin didn't have the answers in the first place. She also neglected to mention that they were tortured over the "thursday night activities"; if Miroku felt that he were even close to the incident, the guilt would eat him up from the inside out.

"Sango...I...I'm so...I can't believe they did this..." he stuttered, shaking his head slowly in disbelief.

Sango had barely enough strength to lay her hand on his and she smiled as she did so. "Miroku, I love you."

It was out of context and random, but Miroku felt his eyes well up with tears anyway. He leaned his forehead down until it was touching Sango's and he whispered, "I love you too."

Across the room, Kouga and Ayame embraced before sharing a brief kiss. Both were breathless and relatively unhurt, save the odd scratch or two, and had made out rather well considering the circumstances. "You alright?" Kouga asked, trying to catch his breath.

"Yeah, you?" Ayame asked in return, green eyes searching his ice blue eyes for truth.

"Yeah."

Skull and Kina were smiling wearily as they held one another, watching the others reuniting as Bones and Kotone stood quietly beside them, fingers entwined.

Ranbou pushed himself up from the ground and looked up just in time to hear running footsteps before Shitora launched herself at him. He grunted slightly but found her weight easy to bear, despite his aching muscles. The hanyou's amber eyes eagerly searched his body as she furrowed her snow white brow. "You're not hurt are you? You better say no."

"I'm not hurt, Sukini," Ranbou replied, rolling his eyes despite the grin on his face. After a brief sniff of the area, however, the wolf demon's fanged grin faded, replaced with a distinctive frown. "But you are. And not just from this mornin'."

"Just scratches," Shitora assured him as she leaned her head on his good shoulder; his arms were linked under her bottom like a baby and she sighed with contentment.

These moments were all short lived, for tremors began to shake the floor, walls, and all those within them. Inuyasha tensed, pulling Kagome tighter to him in a sort of instictual motion as he turned to look warily at the many entrances to the room. Their great plan had already been spoiled by the maze, not to mention the fact that the jumping team couldn't find a single staircase leading to the balcony. It looked as though they would be fighting this out the old fashioned way; muscle.

As the tremors increased, it became apparent that they were not earthquakes but footsteps. In a strange clash of sounds, claws were released and guns cocked, all of them pointed and aimed towards the many doorways. As quickly as the army of footsteps had began, the noise stopped and gave way to silence.

Sesshomaru narrowed his eyes in violent hatred as one pair of foosteps continued, followed quickly by two more, until the three pairs of feet in question were finally identified. The shadows parted like curtains as Naraku, Kagura and Ryuukoytsusei entered the room from the West, walking calmly through the entranceway and fearlessly approaching their enemies.

The Southeners watched their adversaries advance in silence, never even daring to move as Naraku came to a stop, smiling in that chilling way of his. He through his arms akimbo. "You made it to the center. Congratulations."

Inuyasha narrowed his eyes so angrily that Kagome looked away from his face, instead burying her head in his chest. Naraku continued after a moment. "I'm impressed, Sesshomaru, I won't lie. You managed to organize a group of more than ten and make it here in one piece...or almost," he added, glancing over at Rin and Sango with a certain sickness in his crimson eyes.

"You bastard!" Inuyasha screamed, wanting desperately to lash out at the man but instead pulling Kagome closer to him.

"I could kill you right where you stand," Sesshomaru growled in an uncharacteristically heated voice, raising the automatic weapon he'd withdrawn from his belt. His amber eyes were glowing a simmering orange as he stood, stock still, with the upraised barrel pointed at Naraku's smiling head.

"But you won't, will you Taisho?" Naraku goaded, looking smug and victorious. "You couldn't do something so dishonorable."

Sesshomaru said nothing but continued to stand with his weapon at the ready, struggling with his hand which so desperately wanted to pull the trigger. Bankotsu watched his fellow leader falter and snarled, raising his own pistol and barking, "Honor ceased to matter when you kidnapped Kagome, you sick fucking bastard! I'll kill you without regrets!"

But before Bankotsu could carry out his threat, the footsteps began to thunder through the room once more. This time, however, the source of the noise came marching into the room from all sides. Spiders and Dragons alike came pouring through the doorways like floodwater, each of them carrying large silver guns with a bluish tint in the nozel. Kagome tensed as she recognized the guns which had previously occuppied the west wall and she cringed; this didn't feel right.

"Inuyasha...those guns," she whispered, voice hoarse and tearful.

The hanyou glanced down at her, furrowing his brow as he began examining the guns which surrounded him on all sides. He couldn't recall seeing anything like them, except perhaps in the odd science fiction film. Feeling ignorant at this stage in the game unnerved him and he scowled. This was no time for surprises.

Sesshomaru passed over the guns and focused mainly on the size of Naraku's impressive army, which was fully five times the size he'd imagined it to be. The dog demon looked calmly about, never lowering his gun, as he murmured, "Where did you get these men, Naraku."

Naraku chuckled darkly as he shrugged his strong shoulders, upsetting the black curls near his face. "Here and there, Sesshomaru. You know how it is, you get men any way you can. But I'm bored with talk."

The Northern leader nodded to Kagura, who nodded grimly in reply, and then to Ryuu, who barely even spared the smaller man a glance. Naraku raised his right hand, which caused a rippling effect throughout the crowd of gun weilders. The blue and silver guns were raised and readied, beginning to glow and hum as their masters pushed the silver buttons on the right side of the "barrel," or what one might consider as such.

Threatened, the Southeners readjusted their weapons and exchanged glances; there were so many enemies it was hard to tell where to shoot.

"I'd love to stay and chat, Sesshomaru, but I've got better things to do," Naraku continued, hand still pointed at the sky. The demon furrowed his brow, saying curiously, "You know, on second thought, let's cut this number down to size." He nodded to his right.

At this motion, several of the gunners in the first wave of Spiders stepped forward and produced small weapons which might be comparable to tazers. Tobi and Benkan barely had time to blink before they were enraptured with lines of lightning, along with Kotone and Kinanme. The four demons barely had time to scream before the energy left their bodies and they crumpled to the ground, laying in heaps of bloody, burned flesh.

Ayame gasped at this heinous act before whirling on the Spiders nearest her, raising her fist to deal them a good serving of revenge. Naraku laughed, however, saying, "Not so fast, wolf," before producing a simple pistol from his belt. He aimed, cocked and shot with the reflexes of a cat, sending off a bullet so quickly that no one had time to think or move in Ayame's defense.

The shot caught her in the stomach and she screamed, crumpling to the floor and shaking with pain as she clamped a hand to her profusely bleeding side. Her green eyes glittered with pain as her red curls began to soak in her own blood. Kouga cursed and began to hurry to her side, but Naraku interrupted his attempt.

"It's pointless, Ookami. You've already lost."

Naraku brought his upraised hand down in a simple motion, though the reaction to his order was far more complex than anyone could've imagined. Time seemed to stop and the moment grew quite long as Kouga stopped in midstride, whipping to face Naraku as Sesshomaru tightened his jaw. The air began to buzz and the hair on every neck stood on end, tingling with a frightening sense of immenent danger.

The strange silver guns began emmiting a curious heat before their weilders depressed the silver buttons once more. This produced a concentrated blue beam of sleek light which emmited from the tip of the nozel; though there were nearly one hundred beams, each of them found their way to the nearest standing Southener.

There were assorted screams and cries of surprise as the beams hit their targets; though Bankotsu managed to let off a shot with his pistol, the bullet seemed to dissolve in in the blue brightness before them. Many shielded their eyes from the heat and light, though it was to no avail. The damage was already done.

When the beams ceased and the hum which had permeated the air gave way to noiselessness, Kagome let out the breath she'd been holding and focused on her body. She felt no different. The girl opened her tired eyes, seeing only Inuyasha's chest, which appeared normal as well. For a moment, she thought the guns had failed to do their job, but she soon felt a rumbling rippling through her body; it was coming from Inuyasha. She furrowed her brow and hesitated a look up at her lover.

Inuyasha was shaking with almost seizure like activity, though this was no seizure. It wasn't long before his fangs began to elongate and his claws soon followed, only to be accompanied by the redenning of his normally playful amber eyes. Kagome froze when she realized what was taking place; she couldn't find the life in her limbs to move. He was transforming. Inuyasha was transforming into a demon.

Knowing that it was her life at stake, Kagome pushed herself away from Inuyasha's now slack grip and turned to enlist help from one of her friends. This desire died when she saw what had become of those she loved and respected as family; every demon and half demon within the vicinity was losing control.

Sesshomaru's fangs were nearly to his chin and a furry white mass Kagome could only assume to be a tail was sprouting from his backside. Nearby, Kouga and Ranbou were undergoing similar transformations which shook their very beings; each of them now sported frightening yellow eyes and curious red stripes on their faces. They were howling in unison, a sound which pierced Kagome's very being and rendered her helpless. Shitora was snarling as her eyes joined Inuyasha's at a crimson hue, her claws and fangs soon following in the trend.

Bankotsu's skin was turning a startling shade of dark blue as his eyes became a piercing crimson; tattoos unlike anything Kagome had ever witnessed began sprouting from his very skin, stetching from head to toe. Beside him, Hiten's normally smiling face had become stone cold as lightning swirled about him, joining a frightening rumbling which sounded very much like thunder. Ginta and Hakkaku looked a bit like Kouga and Ranbou with their wolfen ears, though Ginta seemed to have grown fur around his neck.

Akago grew even whiter in the skin and hair until he was nearly translucent, save odd blue designs on his temples and forehead. His eyes were no longer a bloody crimson but seemed to have no pupil; they were colorless voids. Mad Max's normally mohawked red hair began to grown until it was long and wild, framing his now silver eyes. He was growling and shaking, as though trying to defy his transformation, but it was no use. Beside him, Axle's skin had grown to be the color of black granite and he was issuing sounds which reminds Kagome vaguely of a tiger.

Not knowing where to turn, Kagome looked wildly about, catching sight of Naraku as he exited the room with Ryuukoytsusei and Kagura in tow. As they did this, their gunmen following swiftly behind them, the doors were thrown closed and locked. Kagome gasped as the sounds of fighting erupted to her left. Axle and Bankotsu seemed to have grown angry with one another and had begun to fight, both refusing to take a single step backwards. Kagome soon understood that they were fighting for territory and she began to see the genius of Naraku's plan: the South was going to destroy itself from the inside out. Surely, when the demons finished with one another, they would continue on to the humans. It was an almost fruitless battle.

While the demons and half demons, now fully transformed, focused on Axle and Bankotsu's battle, Kagome began hurrying towards where Rin, Sango and Miroku were huddled, frighteningly near to Sesshomaru. Rin whimpered as her cousin knelt beside her, looking strongly into her pained brown eyes. "We've got to get to shelter," Kagome insisted, trying to overcome Rin's fear with reason.

Nodding with some trepidation, Rin allowed herself to be hefted on to Kagome's bloody back. Miroku did the same with Sango and the four began creeping towards a pile of sheet metal in the corner, trying to stay beneath the demons' radar. Inspired by Axle and Bankotsu, many of the other demons had begun to fight for ownership of the warehouse.

"What are we going to do?" Kagome asked, addressing her three friends when they were safely behind the scrap metal pile. "Any ideas?"

"There's nothing we can do," Miroku replied, shaking his head sadly. He glanced down at Sango and placed on hand protectively on her shoulder.

"Last time Inuyasha transformed, I hugged him and he turned back. Should we just run around and hug them all?" Kagome tried, looking hopeful.

Miroku exchanged glances with Sango, who seemed to look away in sheer sadness, and the boy shook his head once more. His violet eyes were tired and worn as he replied, "Kagome, it just won't work this time. There are stages of the transformation and whatever that gun just did took them to the final level immediately. I've never seen anything like it...and hope I never do again."

Kagome drew in a weary breath, sitting with her back against the metal as she tried to cool her fiercely hot skin; the cuts at the top of her limbs were beginning to ache. She'd never imagined that coming to Tokyo would turn out like this. The day her mother told her she would be going away, she imagined a bustling city with state of the art cell phones and the occasional grope on the subway train. Perhaps she thought Rin's friends might do a bit of drinking and smoking, maybe get together at night and swim in Rin's mansion pool. She would eat rich Tokyo foods and dress in preppy, expensive clothing, going to school with the country's wealthiest heirs and heiresses. In Kagome's mind, Tokyo would make her a teenage princess.

What she'd received in Tokyo was far different than her imagination presumed. Instead of a state of the art cell phone, she had a beat up Nokia with service about as reliable as a politican three months from election. She'd never been groped on the subway, due to the fact that none of the gang members took the subway and instead used their own cars and bikes. Rin's friends did a little more than a bit of drinking, though she'd never seen them drunk; beers seemed about as potent as water in the warehouse. Every single person in the gangs had smoke a cigarette at least once and about fifty percent of them were chain smokers at that very moment in time. There was very little swimming in Rin's mansion pool, as there was always work to be done at the Fang headquarters and paperwork simply wouldn't do itself. Kagome hadn't really been eating during the summer, as the heat stole her hunger and she often times forgot with no food within reach. Her clothes were perhaps expensive, though she would never really know; most of them had belonged to Rin or Sango at one point and were now hers on extended lend. From what she'd heard of her new highschool, almost everyone was part of the local gang and racing circuit; obviously there were fewer heirs and heiresses than she'd expected. Instead of a teenage princess, she felt like a teenage rebel.

And she loved it.

But now everything she'd come to love was dissolving right before her eyes, dying with the sanity of her demon friends as they sunk further into carnal instinct and gave way to primal urges. Despite the numerous growls, roars and noises of battle in the room behind her, Kagome could still make out a single howl above the rest. Inuyasha sounded so far from his normal state of mind that tears pricked at her eyes. How could something so cruel live inside a man she'd come to know as loving and compassionate? Perhaps he put on ridiculous airs of arrogance and pride, but Inuyasha was a truly generous person. It seemed that the Taishos were, on average, quite beautiful people inside and out. So where did their demon sides live when they weren't taking over their bodies? In their hearts? Because nothing like that monster could live in her Inuyasha's heart. Kagome was sure of that.

"Kagome?"

Miroku's voice brought Kagome back to the world of the living and she looked up, wide eyed, at the boy. Tears were now falling freely from her eyes and Miroku frowned, placing a warm hand on Kagome's shoulder. "I know it seems hopeless, b-"

"Isn't there anything we can do?!" Kagome asked brokenly, voice cracking as she rubbed at her eyes with one bloody hand. "Why can't we do anything?!"

It hurt Miroku's heart to see Kagome so affected, but he knew more about demon transformations than was totally necessary. He'd grown up with the Taishos and Ookamis, had learned the lessons and heard the stories which the old demons told to every generation. In exchange for their brilliant powers, the gods bestowed the demons with a burden to carry, that of their hidden half. The elders ordered that the young demons never revert to their demonic forms in order to kill, but only to protect. Miroku couldn't be sure what kind of guns Naraku had gotten his filthy hands on, but they broke every demon law Miroku could call to mind. Those guns were just unholy.

"No," he said finally, in answer to Kagome's desperate questions. His violet eyes, half hooded and tired, were settled on Sango's wistful face; she was obviously going into shock due to blood loss, but it was all pointless now. They were going to meet their ends one way or another. "I wish I could tell you that talking to them would do something, that you could hug Inuyasha like before and it would make a difference. But this isn't the movies and they can't hear us. All they can do is see our meat and smell their territory. We're prizes to them, all of this is a prize, and they're fighting for it right now. They'll fight each other until only one is standing and then the winner of that will kill us. It's the way demons decide who's in charge in their real forms."

Kagome swallowed slightly, finding her throat growing increasingly dry as it constricted. "Who's the strongest?"

Miroku opened his mouth to speak, but closed it abruptly when he found the thought in his mind to frightening to voice. Sango closed her eyes as she seemed to channel Miroku's thoughts; the idea of the carnage which might beset them was numbing, seeing as though he was practically unstoppable when the demon inside him awoke. Kagome looked from Miroku to Sango, growing frantic and nervous as they remained silent.

"Who is it?" she asked again, searching their eyes for answers.

"There are three possibilities," Miroku said finally, looking away from Kagome's gaze as he wished this statement could somehow be true. He knew there was less of a choice than he gave the situation credit for. But yet he explained it, perhaps for his own benefit. "Akago is a demon from an ancient order; he might use some spells on us, but he'd never touch us. He'd kill us quickly. Ranbou...he would beat us until we couldn't fucking feel. I'm pretty sure we'd die a slow painful death if Ranbou came out on top. But nothing really compares to..."

When Miroku trailed off, Kagome furrowed her brow and urged him on. "To...?"

"Sesshomaru," came a tiny whisper from Kagome's left.

Kagome turned to face her cousin, who was laying, prostrate, on the ground some feet from Sango. The blood on her face and hands made a ghostly contrast against her pale white skin and Kagome shuddered; Rin looked almost otherworldly. Kagome crawled towards his cousin, entwining their hands as she said calmly, "Sesshomaru? Will he...win?"

"He can't lose," Rin replied, almost bitterly. "When he wins, we'll die."

The words were so blunt and caustic, Kagome winced and nearly dropped her cousin's hand. For Sesshomaru's lover to admit such a thing...Kagome couldn't imagine how difficult it must be. To admit that Inuyasha would soon kill her might be traumatizing. Rin had just undergone torture of the highest degree and was now faced with impending murder by the man she loved more than life itself, five minutes after their reunion. Kagome closed her eyes plantively; it seemed as though the world would never cut them slack. She'd wanted to be a princess and here she sat, surrounded by people who deserved royal treatment in every since of the word. So why couldn't they have it? Why must they always be outcasts?

"Rin, Sesshomaru could never kill you, that's ridiculous!" Kagome said with great conviction. "He couldn't even give you a papercut."

Yet Rin shook her head as tears leaked down the side of her face, dripping onto the concrete and mixing with her blood. "You're right. But that's not Sesshomaru."

And all Kagome could do was sit back on her haunches, staring disbelievingly down at the ground. It was true, she decided, that none of their friends were truly themselves at that moment. The real question was this: how far would Kagome and the others go to protect themselves?

Yet Kagome didn't have much time to deliberate this point because the scrap metal wall which protected them from the demons beyond suddenly gave way with a terrifying screech. Kagome screamed in surprise and, along with Miroku, tried her best to protect her injured friends as metal fell around them in a frightening rain. She could feel corners and jagged edges tearing at her already shorn skin, pulling at her hair, banging at her bruised limbs. The pain was great, but her fear was greater; Rin was whimpering beneath her, too afraid to scream. Beside them, Miroku was sheltering Sango with his body and grunting only slightly as the metals planks impaled him. When the crashing finally stopped, Kagome squinted open one of her eyes, which felt as though it might grow to be black when given the time. The sounds of battling demons still raged, but this time closer than before.

Miroku, aware of Sango's breathing beneath him, glanced up through a haze of unsettled dust and felt his blood run cold; the falling metal stack had obviously been the doing of Shitora and Inuyasha. Both demons were standing there, now fully transformed, with claws upraised and teeth barred. They were covered in wounds but seemed not to notice them, as their superior bodied handeled this exertion with ease. The brother and sister stood there growling, silver hair framing wrathful crimson eyes.

Kagome felt her breath catch in her throat as Inuyasha took a single step forward, muscles tensed and lithe. As Inuyasha stared down at her, cold and unfeeling, she began to understand the unadulterated fear which accompanied looking death in the eyes. Her own boyfriend, the one she loved more than anyone in this world, was preparing to strike out at her. He seemed so dangerous, as though a single second could mean her death; she looked frantically left and right as she wondered whether or not moving was a good idea. It might either save her life or trigger his anger.

Inuyasha took another step forward and, in a startling turn of events, disappeared altogther. Kagome closed her eyes and raised one arm, bracing for the attack, but felt nothing but the coldness of the concrete. After a moment, she glanced up and realized that Shitora was the only one before her. Only at someone's startled gurgle did Kagome think to turn.

Inuyasha was holding Miroku suspended a foot above the ground, gripping him by only the neck in one of his strong clawed hands. Miroku grunted as he pulled frantically at Inuyasha's hand with his own, beginning to feel the pressure on his windpipe. Inuyasha looked on at his prey, cold, unfeeling and eyes a bleeding red.

"Inu...yasha...s-stop..." Miroku gasped, squeezing his eyes shut as Inuyasha's decided to increase the strength of his grip. Despite his own advice to Kagome a few minutes prior, Miroku couldn't help but speak to his best friend as though he would understand a dying man's plea.

"C'mon man," he wheezed, wincing as the pain heightened. "It's me, Miroku. You know, your best friend since you were 3? I'm that kid...that kid who helped you put together your first go-kart. You know, that lame one who you always had to fight bullies for in middle school? I was that guy who cried at your mom's funeral cause she was the only mom I ever had...god, ow, Yash, stop. If you kill me, who's gonna be your kids' godfather?" Inuyasha's hand seemed to cease its relentless tightening on Miroku's throat and instead stayed at its current weight. "Yeah, you remember that? You and I said in the third grade that we'd be the godfathers for our kids so that they'd have good godfathers like we did. C'mon Yash...don't let Naraku beat you like this...shit..."

But before Miroku could continue his plea, he lost conciousness and fell limp in Inuyasha's hold. The demon seemed to deliberate this point for a moment before dropping Miroku to the ground in an unceremonious fashion, seemingly unwilling to look at the boy's body. He instead turned his sights on Shitora, who had just been standing, observing the goings on and calling encouragement in demon tongue. He gave a simple nod to his sister, who licked her fangs animalistically before charging at Kagome, pinning her to the ground with a surprising amount of force.

Kagome stared, wide eyed, up at the demon girl who was grinning madly in her bloodlust. She was digging her claws into Kagome's shoulders, as though urging her to remain still, as she sniffed and assessed her prey. Kagome closed one eye as she tried to lean away from Shitora's probing mouth, which was gnashing awfully close to her face. As Shitora opened her mouth wide, presumably to take a bite, Kagome swallowed and closed her eyes tensely. This is it. I'm going to die; one of my best friends is going to eat me alive.

Kagome focused on life.

She focused on the air, the breeze.

She focused on the life she might've lived but now would never experience.

She focused on nothing.

"I leave for a single moment and the world comes crashing down; should I be flattered or insulted?"

Kagome's eyes snapped open as she felt the pressure of Shitora's weight release her and she gasped, hands flying to her throat as she checked for bite marks and wondered if she was in heaven. Seeing the grungy warehouse ceiling above her and hearing the frantic sounds of demon battling, she realized that she was very much alive and on the imperfect earth. After sitting up, bracing herself on the floor, Kagome blinked her blurry eyes and could barely believe the sight before her.

Shitora was laying on the floor some feet from Miroku's body, growling as she stood to her feet; she'd obviously been thrown quite a ways. A hand suddenly appeared before her face, obviously offering her assistance, and Kagome followed the hand to its wrist, up the arm to a familiar face.

Gan rolled her violet eyes plantively, muttering irritatedly, "Come now, Kagome, we're in the middle of something here. No time to hesitate."

The girl was wearing a simple spandex black top with black cargo pants and boots, outfitted with a number of guns and weapons on her belt. Her blonde hair was held in a high ponytail, a sloppy one for sure, and she looked rather uncomfortable as she stood there in this clothing. Kagome finally had the sense to take Gan's hand, standing shakily to her feet as she glanced over at where Inuyasha was barking at Shitora in a fierce dialect of demon tongue.

"G-Gan? What are you doing here?" Kagome managed to get out.

In reply, Gan withdrew a pistol from her belt and cocked it, aligning the sight with Inuyasha's skull. "I remembered that I have a duty to do. I may be a woman, but I'm still the Sharks second in command. And this is my fight too."

Kagome nodded blearily until she realized what Gan had her sight set on. "No! Don't!" she cried, reaching for the gun only to have Gan catch her hand in mid reach.

"Kagome, I'm not going to shoot him and he's not going to attack. By demon law, its another family's turn to claim you. The Taisho family has failed. Now someone else is going to try."

As Gan presumed, Inuyasha and Shitora turned to continue their fight with Hakkaku and Ginta as Kouga and Ranbou turned their sights on the humans, stalking towards them with fire in their stares. Kagome shivered at the looks on their faces, which were even more frightening than that of the dog demons, but Gan didn't even flinch. Instead, she called out, "Fengrir sin lashota! Graotem grenisix rawool lahmotem! Taisho plantem leonem grenix!"

Kagome furrowed her brow, not understanding these strange words, but Kouga and Ranbou seemed to find something of merit in them. The demons exchanged glances before whirling on Inuyasha and Shitora, roaring in angry, word like screams. Inuyasha and Shitora fired back with equal vigor but, before Kagome could watch for the outcome, Gan pulled her away by the arm. The girls knelt down beside Miroku, Sango and Rin, speaking in hushed tones as they watched the demons restlessly, never knowing when they could turn their attentions to the humans once more.

"What caused them to transform?" Gan asked absently, as she ran her fingers over Miroku's neck, which was growing black and blue where Inuyasha's fingers had been.

"Some kind of gun, Naraku didn't say much," Kagome replied, holding Rin's hand in hers as Rin breathed slowly, eyes shifting frantically as she wondered where the next attack would come from.

Gan furrowed her brow as she reached around to the harness on her back, unbuckling one of the strange blue and silver guns Kagome had witnessed earlier. Gan gestured to the gun, asking, "Like this one?"

Kagome stared at the weapon, asking finally, "Gan...where the hell did you get that?"

"Killed a few on my way in," was all the girl said in reply, looking over the gun in her hands. "It looked suspicious that they were all carrying one, so I...borrowed it."

"Do you know anything about it?" Kagome urged, allowing her eyes to fall the gun as Rin's feeble grip tightened ever so slightly.

Gan said nothing as she examined the barrel and handel, moving her eyes down to the nozel. She was silent for so long that Kagome grew nervous, but Gan soon had the answers she craved. "It's a particle rearrangement gun. This nozel here emits a beam which rearranges the molecules in a demons body. When a demon's demonic side takes over, their molecules begin to rearrange and fortify themselves. That's why demons become physically superior to humans when transformed. This gun just causes the transformation so violently that they go straight through the stages to the final stage."

Kagome felt her eyes narrow as she imagined Naraku handling this gun; it seemed to her that demons treated transformations with the utmost reverance and respect. For him to use a weapon which toyed with them seemed completely and totally out of line. Of course it wasn't as though she expected Naraku to follow the rules.

Eerie shadows played off the walls as the battle continued. Inuyasha and Kouga had begun to fight after Gan said those strange words and they were now in the full throes, biting and scratching, clawing desperately at each other's flesh. "What did you say?" Kagome asked Gan, never allowing her eyes to stray from Inuyasha's face.

"I told the Ookamis that the Taishos had touched their clan's human slaves," Gan said dismissively as she continued to run her hands over the gun.

"Human slaves? But we're not-" Kagome began, only to be interrupted by Gan's stern voice.

"Of course your not, but it flatters the Ookamis to think you are and angers the Taishos that you're not theirs. Now they're fighting for ownership of you. It'll keep them busy until we work out a plan," Gan explained.

Kagome watched the goings on uneasily until she saw Ranbou and Shitora turn on one another, both having just discarded of their previous enemies. With Hakkaku in a bloody mess behind Shitora and Bankotsu limp on the floor behind Ranbou, the two demons began to advance on one another, roaring fiercely as they prepared their claws. As they charged, Kagome cried out and scrambled to her feet, making as though to go running into the melee.

Gan just barely caught Kagome's arm, roaring, "Have you lost your fucking mind?!"

"They're going to kill each other!" Kagome screeched in reply, turning frantically back to the scene as Shitora impaled her claws in Ranbou's stomach and Ranbou retaliated by ripping his own claws down her face.

"Oh, be reasonable," Gan replied sharply, obviously running on a short fuse. Her violet eyes glittered bitterly as she sneered, "If you think you can stop them, your mad. We're human, they're final stage demons, it won't happen. Now sit down and be rational for once!"

Gan's words were biting and hurtful, practically slapping Kagome into submission as she whimpered, "But they love each other. How can they just-"

"Open your eyes, Kagome. None of them can recognize anything but blood family in this state," Gan replied harshly. She frowned as Kagome's head drooped further, but she knew it had to be done. Kagome needed to understand the goings on to a point where she wouldn't get herself killed. Gan remembered the first time she'd seen Akago go demon; she hadn't wanted to wake up the next day, but Akago gave her a stern talking to and she realized this was a culture flaw she would have to accept. Eventually, she grew hardened and knew that demon sides were something she would grow used to. It had taken her three years, but she was finally there. Poor Kagome had been forced into a part of demon life she'd never understood in the harshest of ways.

"Is there...anything we can do?" Kagome asked hopelessly.

Gan made a sort of confused face as she looked down at the gun. She finally said, "This gun is configured so that, when the nozel is reversed, it should emit a negative beam as compared to its original beam." When met with Kagome's confused expression, Gan said simply, "If I turn it backwards, it should turn them all back." Kagome face grew immediately excited, but Gan held up her hand sternly. "Don't celebrate yet, it's going to take me some time."

"But what if they come after us again?" Kagome said nervously.

"Just pray that they don't," Gan replied, withdrawing a knife from her pocket and using it to loosen nails and screws along the gun's barrel.

Kagome glanced over at the demon battles, cringing as Sesshomaru sent Akago flying back against the wall with such force that the building shook. Sesshomaru then turned calmly and began to make his way towards the remainder of the demons, which numbered at only four. Kagome felt her mouth run dry as Sesshomaru stalked towards them, cool and collected just as he was human. She could see the destruction in his wake and knew that ever single groaning body on the floor behind him was his victim. While the others had been fighting it out for nearly ten minutes now, Sesshomau had dispatched of the others in little or no time at all.
Gan worked tirelessly, nimble fingers reversing and flipping parts, screwing screws and fingering metal. She cursed as the end of her blonde ponytail fell over her shoulder and into her face; this was why she despised feminine life. The girl could sense Kagome's discomfort and she could gather some sense of what might be going wrong in the center of the room. She knew it was only a matter of time before Sesshomaru made his great forthcommence, but she was hoping she could get the gun reversed before such a thing occurred.

Meanwhile, Sesshomaru entered the fray of Inuyasha and Kouga's fight as though they were of no consequence to him. Inuyasha grew angry, yelling at his brother to let him continue in rude sounding demon tongue, but Sesshomaru paid him no mind. Instead, he turned his crimson stare to Kouga, who seemed as though he was trying to look unimpressed. With a single flick of his wrist, Sesshomaru ignited his already fiersome claws with what seemed to be acid and, in another moment's time, he'd thrown Kouga against the nearest wall with burn holes eating through his chest. The wolf demon slid down beside Akago, unconcious when he hit the ground.

At that exact moment, Ranbou roared with triumph as he threw Shitora's limp body to the ground, where it lay bruised, broken and bleeding. Upon realizing that he was the only Ookami left, Ranbou narrowed his normally friendly ice blue eyes and whirled on Inuyasha and Sesshomaru, letting them know through a succession of growls that they were treading on his property.

Inuyasha returned his screaming cries, but Sesshomaru was the one who decided to act. He appeared before Ranbou, lashing out with his acidic claws, which the wolf demon quickly parried. They carried on throughout the room, disappearing and reappearing sporadically as they danced on their tip toes, swiping and clawing at one another as they went. Ranbou eventually caught Sesshomaru in the side of the head with one of his brawny arms, knocking Sesshomaru back into the stone wall. Though the wolf demon's strength was superior, Sesshomaru more than made up for this with his abundance of skill. Before Ranbou could even celebrate his victory, Sesshomaru was upon him once more, white hair stained with the blood which leaked from a fresh head wound. With a simple feint to the left, Sesshomaru struck Ranbou in the stomach with his acid claws. The wolf demon stared down at the claws which seemed to grow from his middle, barely emitting a sound before Sesshomaru ripped his hand to the side, sending Ranbou crashing to the ground with a hole wound in the center of his torso, complete with slashes which stretched to his side.

Upon witnessing Sesshomaru's victory, Inuyasha emitted a triumphant bark, which he raised to the echoing walls. Sesshomaru began walking slowly towards his exalting brother, bypassing the lifeless bodies of friends and family as he went; there was no emotion in his crimson gaze. Kagome's eyes widened and her body began to shake as she realized what was taking place.

With Inuyasha and Sesshomaru, there was no climatic battle, no power struggle between siblings. Where Inuyasha and Sesshomaru should've paried and thrusted, dodging blows and feints, there was none. Sesshomaru simply approached his oblivious brother and, in one double claw slash, tored open Inuyasha's chest until blood spurted from the "x" shaped wound. Inuyasha let out a roar of surprise and pain, looking at his brother with some sort of betrayed expression before he fell to the ground, clutching at Sesshomaru's pants leg. Sesshomaru never glanced down, however, as his brother whined on the floor beneath him, trying to hold onto life through contact with his kin.

Blood dripped from Sesshomaru's length claws as Inuyasha's hand finally fell limp and collapsed beside him. Kagome screamed with horror, feeling the tears spring to her eyes as she was finally able to understand the goings on. Gan shook her head slightly, as though trying to clear it of thought as she frantically continued her work. Three more screws, just three more; she found herself wishing she had a screw driver, for the knife worked slowly and often slipped out of the groove. The girl couldn't even bear to hesitate a glance up as she knew Sesshomaru was beginning to advance.

Kagome barely even noticed Sesshomaru coming towards them as her eyes remained trained on Inuyasha's body, which was pale and streaked with blood. Her one. Her only. He was the one who always reassured her when she thought she'd never fit in to gang life. He was the one who told her all the ins and outs of this world she could never seem to understand. He was the one who promised a life of love, a warm one which captured her trust. He was the one she wanted to live with. She didn't want to be with him only in death; it wasn't supposed to be this way.

"NO!" she screamed furiously, struggling to her feet and shaking a threatening fist at Sesshomaru. "This isn't gonna happen this way, got it?! Nobody's dying, nobody's killing and nobody's gonna stop me! We're good people, right?! This doesn't have to happen this way! God damnit!"

Gan felt tears pricking her own eyes as Kagome screamed despreately at the approaching demon, who looked completely unfettered by the young woman's cries. One more screw...just one...

Rin could just barely see Sesshomaru walking towards them in his calm manner as her conciousness began to fade. She hadn't stopped crying tears since this all began and she suspected that she might cry them long after. She could see Kagome standing with her arms outstreched, dressed only in her underwear, covered in blood. She was shouting at Sesshomaru, though Rin could no longer understand her words. It became apparent to Rin that, even though the Southerners were supposedly the "good guys," they were going to lose.

Sesshomaru seemed completely unaffected by Kagome's cries, now matter how desperate and heart wrenching they might've been. Without so much as a second thought, the dog demon marched right up to her and lowered his crisp white eyebrows until the crimson in his eyes was barely visible. He raised his claws in a glittering arc above his head, preparing to finish this battle by claiming the human slaves. Kagome closed her eyes softly, knowing that it was finally over and she was finally going to die. She would be with Inuyasha in heaven, both of them knowing they'd done all they could. Kagome was a hopeful girl, but one can only hope so much and she knew she was beat. This was it.

During the next moment in time, several different things happened in rapid succession.

Kagome found herself pushed down from behind as Gan noticed the impending danger, which led to the inevitable missing of her flesh by Sesshomaru's claws. As Gan rolled herself and Kagome out of the way, she realized that the gun which she'd worked so hard to complete was only one screw away from completion and she grunted, throwing Kagome safely to the side as she lunged for the weapon. Sesshomaru, looking slightly peeved that his original execution plan was thwarted, scowled and began advancing towards where Kagome lay beside a half-concious Rin.

Gan turned the knife hilt so quickly she was sure her wrists might break, but she nearly gasped as she finally drilled in the final screw to her now backwards molecule ray. She grabbed it and leapt to her feet, sprinting towards Sesshomaru as she threw the gun into the ready position. Kagome winced and instinctively threw her arms across Rin as Sesshomaru prepared to attempt another strike, but again she never felt the blow.

Sesshomaru, while seeming as though he were preocuppied with Kagome and Rin, was keeping tabs on the third concious human fiddling with the gun. When she came sprinting up, preparing to shoot him, he turned abruptly and caught her with a closed fist in the throat. Gan tried to gasp but found herself unable to as her voice disappeared and tears of pain pricked her eyes. She began to cough uncontrollably as she fell to the ground, writhing in pain as she clutched at her throat; blood began to spurt from her mouth as she coughed, the gun laying prostrate beside her.

At this moment in time, Kagome had another one of those moments in her life when she realized what truly mattered. Her eyes fell on Rin, who was murumuring blearily to herself, to Gan where she was wretching on the floor, and out in the warehouse, where Inuyasha lay still and deathly white, streaked with crimson. A certain determination gripped Kagome as she felt strength course through her veins and she growled, knowing that she could never give up the hope with fueled her. In one desperate attempt to make things right, she scrambled towards the gun and felt its cold metal in her hands, gripping her as she raised it to fire.

Sesshomaru was upon her so quickly she wondered if he'd even left her side in the first place. She could feel his hot breath, see the amber pupil in his crimson eyes, feel the wind as he raised his claws to finish her pathetic life once and for all. Kagome knew that Sesshomaru was going to beat her with his claws before she could even get a shot off.

Rin, in her last strain of conciousness, could make out the silver hair of her boyfriend. Smiling faintly, she murmured, "Sesshomaru...I love you," before gracefully passing into unconciousness.

The air was thin as the word lay heavy in the breeze, seeming to echo throughout the room.

Sesshomaru hesitated and Kagome fired.

The blue beam which emanated from the gun caught Sesshomaru square in the chest and he stumbled back a few feet, roaring as the fangs in his mouth began to shorten. The claws extending from his fingertips slowly retracted until they were a normal demon length and, after a few moments, his eyes began to bleed amber. He fell to the ground when it appeared he was back to his original form, panting and twitching as his body became used to its new confines. Kagome, who had been closing her eyes even during the shot, cracked them open and allowed herself to look hopefully at Sesshomaru. Seeing that he looked perfectly normal, Kagome let loose a breath which seemed to draw the very energy from her body; Gan's improptu mechanics had worked.

It was then that she noticed the groaning which littered the room and she tensed; the other demons may've been down for the count, but they certainly weren't unconcious. She stood unsteadily to her feet, holding the gun as she stood from her kneeling position, and tried to stop her fingers from trembling as she observed the room before her. Controlling her very breath, she began to shoot.

Bankotsu. Akago. Ranbou. Kouga. Shitora. Hakkaku. Ginta. Axle. Max. Hiten.

And finally, Inuyasha.

Kagome began to shake quite violently as the gun fell from her hands, clattering on the floor as she collapsed. She wasn't sure if it was fatigue, her injuries or the sheer emotional stress, but she began to sob as she lay there, completely and totally inconsolable. It was partially happy and partially exhausted sobbing, she realized, as she heard the confused voices of her friends. Even when it looked as though it were all hopeless, fate somehow came through once again. She had survived. They had all survived.

Sesshomaru stared at the ceiling as he continuously tried to move his leaden limbs. He had been fully transformed for such a great length of time that he was completely and totally drained, both mentally and physically. He couldn't remember a single thing about being transformed, though this was often the case; the dog demon could vaguely recall being hit with some sort of gun before the demon took over him. Despite his injuries, Sesshomaru's hearing was flawless as he made out the sounds of footsteps approaching from the hallway.

The massive South doors swung open, squeaking on their hinges as the footsteps grew increasingly louder, this time joined after a moment by a second pair; in the background, Sesshomaru could vaguely met out the sound of someone sobbing uncontrollably. Sesshomaru scowled as his nose determined that Naraku and Ryuukoytsusei had not only entered the room, but were approaching him.

Naraku's expression was one of complete and total arrogance as he glanced around the room, noting the halfdead bodies strewn about. He noticed after a moment that they had somehow transformed back to their original forms, but it was really no matter; he had come to finish this once and for all. He approached the once mighty Sesshomaru Taisho, Ryuukoytsusei walking some feet behind him with a dull quality about his step, and Naraku stood over his arch rival with a smug grin on his androgenous features.

Naraku's crimson eyes were glowing with mirth as he whispered, "Well, well, how the might have fallen. You can't move a muscle, can you?"

Sesshomaru growled, eyes widening as he made an attempt to rise, but he winced as he was then overcome with spasms of pain. Naraku laughed heartily, an ugly sound which permeated the warehouse and made the dog demon physically ill. "The war is mine Sesshomaru. And now you'll die and no one will remember you." Naraku withdrew a pistol from his belt and cocked it back, placing his finger on the trigger.

It's strange to think that fate can go a number of ways. Perhaps if one takes path A instead of path B, they end up at destination D instead of C and so on. Naraku could easily have shot Sesshomaru in the head and gone along his way, taking over as King of the Tokyo territories and making illigetimate deals to his heart's content. This might've lead to a growth in the Tokyo underworld, which would therefore increase mob ties, which would therefore bring Tokyo to its knees. But none of this happened because Ryuukoytsusei had an epiphany as Naraku readied his gun and he decided that yes, someone was going to die and no one would remember them.

Sesshomaru had already prepared himself for the spray of blood and it occurred, though the blood was not his own as expected. It was instead the blood of Naraku. Naraku had been fully prepared to shoot, had held his gun upraised and placed his finger on the trigger, but Ryuukoytsusei had beaten him to it. Silently and unceremoniously, Ryuu raised his Dragon claws and tored them across Naraku's muscular back, cutting jagged lines through Naraku's leather Spider jacket as he went. Naraku pulled the trigger as planned, though the shot went awry and hit one of the upper most rafters, causing insulation to rain down in a brief storm upon the concrete in the corner.

Naraku looked positively horrified as he fell to the ground, surrounded by a growing pool of his own blood as his vision began to blur. He could make out Ryuukoytsusei's boot as the Dragon demon stood above him; Ryuu retrieved the pistol from the floor, where it lay mere inches from Naraku's bloody hand. Ryuu cocked the pistol for the final time, pointing it down at Naraku's writhing body with steel in his crimson eyes.

"Traitor," Naraku hissed, coughing as blood rose up to choke him in his throat.

Narrowing his gaze with an air of finality, Ryuu growled in reply, "You bet your ass."

With a last shot to the temple, Naraku Onigumo breathed his final breath and died on the floor of his warehouse, leaving behind a dark spirit which seemed to dissipate more with each passing moment. Sesshomaru was staring, aghast, at Naraku's dead body some feet from his own.

Unsure as to what had just occurred, the dog demon murmured hoarsely, "Why?"

Ryuukoytsusei stared darkly down at the gun in his hand, allowing it to drop to the floor as he turned on his heels. Without answering Sesshomaru's question, the dragon exited the room, leaving behind the faint echo of his boots squelching on the bloody pavement. Kagome's sobbing had ceased as the exhaustion and bloodloss overcame her, sending her into a peaceful unconciousness which was actually quite welcoming. The silence in the warehouse was defeaning, though Sesshomaru was quite sure that he wouldn't have to endure it much longer; his own blood loss and pain was beginning to catch up to him.

With his last breath of energy, Sesshomaru managed to turn his head to the side and he just caught the call button on his microphone, wincing as every muscle in his body burned with the movement. The line crackled and Shippo's voice came on the line. "Sesshomaru?! Is that you?!"

"Shippo...," he breathed, knowing it was finally over for the last time. "We...won...need...help..."

This was all Sesshomaru managed to get out as the blackness bled across his vision and he fell completely limp, vaguely aware of the cold but blood-damp concrete as he wearily embraced a much needed rest. After a battle to remember, the Southerners had finally come out on top and the North was put to rest, no doubt fated to die with their leader. Though it was unclear where good and bad began and ended, it was to be sure that the lesser evil had won and would now live on, reigning over the outskirts of the Tokyo underworld, leaving behind nary a trace. Sesshomaru Taisho and his Fangs would see to that.

I can not even begin to explain how hard that was to write but damn, was it fun. I worked so long on this I feel like its a part of me. GEEZ. Okay.

Well, there's one more chapter and an epilogue left in this story, which is sure to be the first of many in this series. Yes, it's definitely going to be a series! Aren't you excited? I definitely am. Okay! Well, I updated quickly this time so everyone be proud of me. I love all my reviewers and I'm finally going to go to sleep; its 2:19 in the morning and I have to get up at 6. Love!

KOLU










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