Disclaimer: Just for the record I do not own either InuYasha nor Yu Yu Hakusho, who are rightfully owned by Rumiko Takahashi and Yoshihiro Togashi.

First off, I'd like to dedicate this fic to my lovely bestie, Anna (Thursday Addams) for the inspiration and idea for this fic. Go check out her fics! Gogogo, nownownow! :) Secondly, I'm sorry for not updating my other fics right this moment. I have major writers block, again. Yes, again. =w= I hate it too. I'll update them when I get the chance, so do not fret. I will finish them! And if I, for some ungodly reason, don't get around to it, they'll be up for adoption. So just stay looking out for those. And enjoy!

Demons, spirits... and zombies?
Rude awakening

A foul stench hugged the prominent humidity and the room Higurashi, Kagome resided in. All around the single hospital bad was utter chaos, various medical equipment toppled over and surgical knives clung by their blades in the plaster walls. The young woman's eyes fluttered open, any previous memories of the accounts that brought her here, gone from her mind, leaving her oblivious to all the chaos that lingered outside. Kagome slid from the bed as she looked around the room in confusion, her thoughts racing a mile a minute. What had happened here? What could have possibly caused all of this? she thought to herself, biting down on her bottom lip in frustration. Even in the stagnant air, she could feel something terrible had gone wrong while she was out, for whatever reason that was. She grabbed the nearest knife and searched the contents of the room for something more flattering than the hospital gown she wore. Right away, she spotted what she believed to be the clothing she'd arrived in. They were a bit ripped and bloodied, but anything was better than that gown. Sunlight flooded the room as she swapped clothing, the light somehow brought comfort to her but she couldn't figure out why.

Cautious, Kagome left the hospital room and made her way down the desolate hallways. Everything here was the same as the room she just appeared from. Tarnished, broken, scattered everywhere among the halls. Every one was the same. And what she saw next was nothing she'd ever expected. A plethora of bodies strewn across the floors, bloodied and bruised, all dead. Kagome could just tell by the way their faces and bodies looked so still, so lifeless, it was like nothing she'd ever seen before. Sure, she'd since many demons in her days but those didn't amount up to what she saw right before her eyes. She slowly walked past the bodies, feeling as if any minute she would retch up anything that remained in her stomach. Once she reached the stairs, she leaned over the rail and heaved.

"This is just disgusting," she muttered and wiped her mouth with the sleeve of her shirt.

She took two steps at a time as she descended down the stairs and onto the first floor. As her left foot hit tile, her body lurched at the sight similar to the one she'd just witnessed. Kagome willed herself not puke while tiptoeing around the mangled bodies and half eaten faces. What manner of beast could do this? I don't sense any demons. Finally, after what had seemed like hours but was merely only minutes, she made it to the front doors of the hospital. The left door was broken, the glass scattered at her feet and the handle ripped off, as for the right door was completely torn from its hinges. Not a good sign. But that was obvious, none of this was a good sign.

The sun bore down from overhead, casting shadows over what seemed to be a ghost town. It looked as if every building in sight was vacant and run down, like she'd been gone for years. But she somehow knew that none of this was natural. Everyone did not just get up and leave town. Something had eaten them or... or had done something she couldn't comprehend.

"Everything is so wrong. What the hell happened to me, to the city? Am I the only one left?"

It was like the whole world was still, even the always present breeze was stilled, leaving the place more eerie than it appeared. Kagome got shivers just staring at the place, making her way down the streets, trying to just find one trace of someone living. Again, dead bodies littered the streets here and there, most with half missing faces or limbs. She wanted to call out but if she'd drawn the wrong attention in, what would she do? Sacred arrows would do nothing for her in this place, if they were not demons. Closing her eyes, she expanded her senses until something, somewhere caught her attention. It wasn't too far away but would take her sometime on foot to reach. There was something out there, people she could tell for the most part and a lot them at that.

She started running in the direction she sensed them, taking her longer than she'd expected it to. But she turned up at a church eventually, the doors ajar. Pushing them open, she stepped inside and looked down each hall first to be careful. They were dimly lit, only the sunlight beaming through the stain-glass windows. Standing in the doorway, she knocked on the wall and leaned on her tiptoes to try and see into the dark church.

"Hello?" she called out rather loudly, hoping that the one holy place in the city hadn't been effected by all of the chaos.

Kagome waited a few moments before giving up and heading down the steps. She whirled around when she heard a sound echoing from the halls right behind her. Staring wide-eyed like a deer caught in the headlights, she looked on with a gaze of confusion. Before her stood a person, their clothes dirty and torn, while their face was sunken in and deathly pale. Even with her dulled senses compared to those of a demon, she knew the smell of the dead anywhere.

"W-what are you?"

"Hnnng," the creature replied, moving fast down towards her.

And it was that which sent Kagome running, restraining herself from screaming and drawing more unwanted attention from these things. She looked down at her hand and remembered the knife she'd grabbed back at the hospital. Turning around, she channeled her miko powers in to the knife and thrust it hard into the creature that was chasing her. It screamed, louder than she'd ever heard anything scream before and depleted into dust. Her head snapped up towards the church to see more spilling out from it, heading directly toward her. She yelped and turned tail, running in the opposite direction, praying to Kami that someone would save it. Ducking through a gas station, she almost screamed as she collided with a boy around her age. He caught her and righted them before they could fall down. For some reason, she could feel his heated glare at the crown of her head, causing her to push away from him and stare up into a pair of crimson eyes. Breaking her gaze away from his, she turned around and found that the creatures had caught up. Three more boys appeared, one tall with orange hair, another a bit shorter than the other with black slicked back hair, and the last around the same height with red hair.

The orange haired boy came up to her and pushed her behind him, herself letting out a little "eep" in surprise. All of them proceeded to get in front of her to face the things that had followed her here. Biting her lip, she moved and stood next to the one with red hair, giving him a small nod. She could fight and she knew it, seeing as the way the one she'd already killed became dust when her spiritual powers touched it.

"Kurama! What are you doing? Don't let the pretty lady fight, she'll get hurt!" Kuwabara rumbled out, shooting glares in the red head's direction.

"Just pay attention to your own head, Kuwabara. She can take care of herself, I'm sure of it."

Kagome was thankful for the way he stood up for her. Sweeping her eyes over the surrounding area, she found a metal pipe and picked it up, moving before any of them could stop her. Channeling her miko powers into the pipe, she swung at the creatures like she was playing baseball. With one hit, they disintegrated into ash and she moved onto the next. The four boys stood in awe as she took down one by one, but knowing she couldn't do it by themselves. They got to moving, taking down as many as they could at one time. Kagome retreated, moving back towards the gas station. Forming a plan in her head, she moved towards the boys and ushered them away from the creatures.

"We need to blow up this gas station," she urged, looking at all four of them, "or else we won't be able to defeat them all. It's getting dark, won't more just come?"

"We have a safe place and we're willing to take you there," said the red head.

"But first we have to take care of this!"

The boy she'd ran into stepped forward and gave her a glare. He turned towards the red head and nodded his head.

"Hiei will take care of it. Our main priority is getting you out of here."

Then all of the sudden, the one they called Kuwabara moved and threw her over his shoulder before she could react. Shaking her head, she looked back at Hiei as they made their escape, her eyes holding concern. What if he couldn't do it? She didn't sense anything particular about him, but it seemed his friends trusted him enough to get the job done. As the gas station become more and more distance, she watched in awe when it exploded in black flames.

"Is he okay!" she shouted, kicking and thrashing her arms and legs around, trying to get him to put her down.

They ignored her for the rest of the way, every now and then one of them giving a wary look back towards the flames. Once they reached their location, Kuwabara set Kagome down on her feet and before he knew it, she had kicked him in the shins and sent him toppling over.

"Never do that again! I hate being picked up expectantly. So never, ever again. Or next time it won't be your shins that I kick."

Kagome crossed her arms over her chest and looked towards the other two boys, while leaving Kuwabara complaining on the ground.

"Who are you?" the black haired boy asked, his expression clearly annoyed.

"I could ask you the same question," she paused, pursing her lips. They had saved her, so shouldn't she be more grateful. Sighing, she put on her best smile and continued, "My name is Higurashi, Kagome. And you are?"

"Urameshi, Yusuke."

"Minamino, Shuichi, but my friends call me Kurama."

"Kuwabara, Kazuma," Kuwabara muttered, hiding behind Yusuke.

"And what about the one that stayed behind? Is he going to be all right?"

As soon as she finished her sentence, said boy had dropped down from the trees and stood beside Kurama. He shot her a glare and looked toward the safe house.

"He's Hiei. He doesn't talk much, so don't expect a whole lot out of him," Yusuke informed her.

"Thank you guys for saving me, I can't express my gratitude enough."

"You kicked me in the shins! That's not gratitude!"

"Oh calm down, Kuwabara, you deserved it," Yusuke retorted, which shut him up.

Kagome pursed her lips, wondering to herself if they knew what was happening or if they were confused just like her. It's worth a shot, she thought and grabbed onto Kurama's sleeve.

"Can you tell me what happened here? And what those things are?"

Again, they ignored her and turned towards the door of the safe house. Opening it, they ushered her in and Kurama went to get her a pair of clean clothes. Reappearing from the back room, he handed them to her but she stayed put. Crossing her arms over her chest, she demanded answers.

"You really don't know what's going on, do you?" Kurama asked, sitting down beside her.

"I woke up and everything was destroyed. I don't remember a thing."

"Well..."

A/N: AHA! That ever dreaded cliff hanger everyone hates. I'll update soon, so reviews to make me happy, please. :)