Chapter Twenty: The Traitors

"Where have you been?" Akane asked, looking up from her cereal. Sango's uncle stood on the other side of the island in the kitchen, the newspaper spread out before him and a coffee cup pressed to his lips. Akane turned in her seat to face her best friend. "Sango?"

She bristled in anger and then smoothed in down. Sango didn't smile; that would have been a sign that she was lying. Sango simply shrugged and took the empty seat at the island. "I couldn't sleep last night," she said, telling the truth. "I went out running last night and stayed out the whole night."

Kakashi put down the coffee mug and turned a page of the newspaper. "Next time, Sango, please leave us a note. We were worried about you."

Sango couldn't argue with that logic. She lowered her head, knowing perfectly well that she had caused them to worry. "Yes, Uncle."

"U… Urahara's funeral will be in two days." He closed the newspaper and picked up the coffee mug, returning to his bedroom. "I thought you two would like to know."

The door clicked slowly shut. Sango stared at it and then slumped over the island. She was worried about her uncle. All of the adults in the IBSP had been acting strangely since their headquarters had been bombed. "He hasn't been himself since Urahara die…"

Akane was staring at Sango. "Nobody has." Her pager, clipped into the waist of her pajama pants, vibrated. Akane answered it and sighed. "Work calls. I'll see you later, Sango." She gave her friend a bear hug and a quick kiss on the cheek. "Let's go get some shopping therapy tonight, shall we?"

Sango shrugged half heartedly. "Sure."

"Okay. And try to cheer up, Sango!"

Sango didn't really feel like cheering up…

Akane was always nervous when she went to go and see Ichigo and Rukia. She liked Rukia very much, but Ichigo frightened her just a little bit. Both of them looked perfectly human, but sometimes Ichigo's masked slip and she saw what was lying underneath the serious, brown-eyed mask. It was like he was so strong he had two distinct personalities. The human-looking serious part that controlled his emotions and his power and that loved his wife, and the part that took over whenever he was in danger.

She gulped as she jumped down to the morgue level from the pathway cleared through the debris. Strange light patterns cut up the floor from the damage done all around them, but the room was still mostly intact. "Hello?"

Akane jumped when the light shifted. Someone had turned on a light. She saw the illuminated faces of Rukia, Ichigo and Sesshoumaru: the three oldest and strongest demons in the IBSP. All that was missing was Urahara.

Rukia smiled at her. "Akane-chan. Please, make yourself comfortable."

"Wha… what's everyone doing here?" she asked. There was nothing to sit on in the room, except for the metal dissection table. Akane nearly ran away at the very idea of having to sit on that cold, strange table. Rukia motioned towards it again and Akane reluctantly hopped up. All she could think about was the three of them forcing her down and then cutting her open, like Rezo had to Miroku. Akane gulped. "Is this… some type of an inquisition?"

"No," Rukia laughed lightheartedly. It made Akane feel a little better. "The three of us have been talking. We've figured out a way to send Shabranigdo back to the astral plane, where he can't hurt us. The only problem is that we need to figure out a way to get him where we want him, in a place where we can't hurt anybody else with the spell."

"But… why are you talking to me? I don't have a way to do anything like that! I'm, I'm not strong or anything! All I can do is levitate stuff! What did you want me to do? Levitate Kagome's body to the middle of a farmer's field or something!"

Ichigo gently patted her shoulder. His hand was heavy and a little curt. It reminded Akane of the way she'd seen big brothers snap their little sisters back into place when they got out of hand. There was nothing mean, rude or hurtful about it, but it was commanding nonetheless. "Calm down, Akane. We're talking to you because you know what Rukia and I are."

"No, I don't! I mean… I mean, I've suspected a lot, but nothing's been confirmed."

If Rukia hadn't been the one to respond, Akane might not have been able to answer. She'd be too fearful of furious retribution from Sesshoumaru or Ichigo. "And what have you suspected, Akane?"

"Well… from everything I've been able to piece together from various sources, the people who were heading the effort to destroy Shabranigdo all those centuries ago were his twin, the Lord of Sunlight, and his sister, the Lady of the Moon… though they are known by different names. They knew that they'd never be able to destroy Shabranigdo completely, but they found a way to seal him away in the astral plane where he could not make people in his image, even if his influence now and again touched the mortal realm. It required a sacrifice, and the Lady went into the astral plane as well to keep Shabranigdo from breaking through.

"Then after several hundred years had gone by, after Shabranigdo's power had been sufficiently weakened by a lack of worship, the Sun-Lord performed a ceremony to call back his sister and his lover, the Lady of the Moon. The sacrifice was that he lost all his mobility: he was bound to the spot on which he had performed the ceremony. That was easy enough to learn. It's in the books in our library. What was entirely guessing, though, was fitting what Rukia-sama and Ichigo-sama had told me two years ago. Rukia had been locked away somewhere, and Ichigo called her back, and as a result he was no longer leaving the walls of the IBSP."

The three demons looked at each other, and they smiled a little. Rukia straightened her back proudly. "I told you guys that Akane was one smart cookie."

"True," Ichigo smiled, leaning down to Akane's level. He proudly ruffled her hair. It was one of his nice, happy smiles which hint at the pride she saw in him when he affectionately tousled her short hair. "You only got one part wrong, little sleuth."

"And which part was that?"

"I'm not bound to the spot on which I had summoned Rukia all those decades before, but the building in which I had done the ceremony. Of course, back then it wasn't the IBSP, but it became so over time. And now that the building is down, the spell has been revoked and I am free to go wherever I want."

"Then that's why you're finally able to do the spell! You can go to where Shabranigdo is and do the same ceremony again, can't…" Akane cut off before she finished the word. What was she doing, asking them to do the ceremony again? It would mean that once again one of them would be locked away in the astral plane, and remain there until Shabranigdo was so tired from fighting to get back to earth that he gave up. "You can't do that again!"

Rukia shook her head. "It's the only way. There is no way to kill Shabranigdo. Once Kagome's body dies, she will simply jump into another human body and dominate it. The only way to force her back into her original body is to kill Miroku and complete the ceremony, and that is not an option. Therefore, while she is in Kagome's body, when we have her bound to a spot, we must send her being back to the astral plane."

"But…"

Ichigo smiled patiently. "Akane, put it out of your mind. Rukia and I are ageless. We are older than the sun and moon, and even when those things have faded and crumbled to dust, we will still maintain our essence. Your ancestors were by no means foolish when they called us gods; they were simply misinformed."

Akane nodded and stared up at the three faces: Rukia and Ichigo's shining with love for one another, and Sesshoumaru's contemplative expression. "But why am I here, sirs?"

"Because we need somebody to gather the things we need. We trust you. You knew just who Ichigo and I are, and yet you did not tell anyone."

"We believe," said Sesshoumaru, "that the attack on the IBSP was aimed at killing Rukia, Ichigo, Urahara, and myself. Since we have not emerged from the basement of this building and the attacks have stopped, we can only assume we were correct. You are the only person, besides Rin, who knows that we are still alive. We will not emerge until the ceremony is ready, and so we need some human to get it ready for us. Rukia selected, and I agreed to, you."

Akane nervously nodded, and as she did that it became more emphatic. She wanted Shabranigdo gone as much as the others did. They listed out the supplies that they would need. Akane knew it would take time to track down everything, but it wasn't impossible to retrieve the things they needed.

"There is one other thing, Akane," the white-haired demon said. "You must not speak of us to anyone. As far as anyone else knows, we died in the attack. When we feel it is necessary to employ the help of someone else, we will contact them." His gold eyes narrowed. "Not even your partner, Sango."

"Not even Sango?" Akane could not imagine keeping a secret from Sango.

"Not even Sango," Rukia nodded.

Ichigo shook his head sadly. "She has not been herself since Miroku vanished and Urahara died. Leave her to her grief and give her time to heal right now."

"Yes, sir."

After Akane was safely out of hearing shot, Rukia turned up to Sesshoumaru. "Do you think that anyone else knows Miroku is with Shabranigdo now? Would he contact anyone, like Sango, or his parents?"

"No. I don't think he would, especially not after I specifically told him not to." He shook his long silver hair, making sure that it had not tangled, before he squared his shoulders and straightened to his full height. "Miroku believes he is a double agent. He has informed us of where Kikyou's base is. I have sent agents to try and recover Merle and Van so that they will not become victims when we attack the base."

Rukia sighed and shook her head. "I know. I just… I wish that we could get Miroku out of there too."

Sesshoumaru's thin lips were tight as he responded, "We can't. The spell will remove anyone tainted by Kikyou's curse, even if Miroku is on our side, and I question that. Shabranigdo has never much enjoyed physical torture, but mental and emotional. As a vampire, Miroku's empathy would only be increased. It would be that much more painful to be put through Kikyou's visions or 'punishments' for him. I don't know how long Miroku will be able to remain Miroku. That is why it is so imperative that we act quickly, before he turns on us and informs Kikyou that we know where she is hiding and we are still alive.

"Besides," he added, "the portal can only be closed with a sacrifice. Rukia wasn't enough last time. I don't think that she'll be enough this time. Miroku was their intended sacrifice two years ago. It is possible that only his blood will close the door to the astral plane. He is, after all, part astral himself thanks to his empathy. We should look upon his vampirism as a blessing. We will no longer be killing a human being, but killing a vampire and helping to protect the humans we swore to protect all those millennia ago. We will therefore be fulfilling our divine duty."

Ichigo was quiet as Rukia gently touched Sesshoumaru's arm. He jumped at the touch. "Seshsoumaru-sama… I am glad that we have you to play the part of our chess master. I could not manipulate the board as easily as you do. Thank you for doing what I fear to."

For a moment, just a moment, it looked as though he might have blushed. He bowed his head politely. "It warms my heart to hear that from you, m'lady. May I also say, m'lady, that I will miss you."

Rukia's bottom lip shook as she lifted his chin to see her face to face. "I will miss you as well, Sesshoumaru-sama."

Miroku's stomach growled. His hand shook as he rolled up his sleeve, bearing his forearm. As his stomach growled again, Miroku bit down on his own arm for the second time that day. He felt his own blood pour into his mouth, burning his tongue. The taste was revolting, but Miroku could feel the hunger roaring in his stomach settle down, if only for the moment. He stopped, licking the puncture wounds clean, before collapsing against his bed.

His dark hair clung to his forehead with sweat. Maybe every one was dead. Maybe that was why he had been locked in his room for four days without any food. Miroku didn't know how much more he could take. For a little while, on the first day, he had simply talked to himself. He had sworn that he would not like Kikyou get to him. The second day he had given in to his increasing anger and had kicked, bashed, and thrown things at the wall, trying to get attention from someone. He was well aware of the small security camera keeping an eye on his actions.

On the third day he had given up retaliating. The hunger was too great. Miroku was sure he was going insane with hunger; he was sure that he was going to die.

Suichiro dropped the body to greedily lick the blood running down from his chin. Kikyou watched his greed with hungry eyes. Unlike Miroku, Suichiro had no problem with devouring human blood. He had just awoken from the change, and he had drunk two and a half bodies before his initial hunger had been satiated.

She wrapped her arms around him, purring in delicious contentment and kissing his cheek. "You are a man in my true image, Suichiro."

He chuckled deeply and turned in her arms. His sculpted mouth was still stained red with blood. "Do you want to try out this new body in bed? I bet that I'd be able to surprise you." His supple tongue licked the tip of her ear and he felt her shiver in delight.

"Not yet." Kikyou managed to unwind herself from his arms, still smiling. "Miroku has been on his own these past two days while you were changed. He needs to be fed."

"What are you going to feed the poor buffoon?" Suichiro dryly asked. He pushed the dead body off of the bed. It landed with a thud, but it was no longer obtrusive.

His question made Kikyou pause. Her tongue slowly came out from twixt her soft lips to wet them as the thought. "You know…" Her blue suddenly shone with intensity. "You know, Suichiro, that now that Urahara, my darling siblings and the captain of their guard are all dead, we really don't have a use for Van anymore." She turned to face him, a smile on her face. It was as warm as her voice was cold and sweet. "I'm going to give him Merle."

Sango did not know what to do. It had taken her a long time to come to the conclusion she did.

Part of her knew that she couldn't tell the other IBSP members what had happened to Miroku. If they found out he was now a vampire, she feared that they would kill him on the spot without question. He was the enemy now, but Sango didn't believe that. She didn't want to believe that. Her mind kept thinking back to racing with him over the forest ground, feeling his fingers brush her fur as they barreled through the forest together in a hunt. She kept thinking of the way they had both killed together, dined together, and made love while satiated in the woods.

Even though she'd only done it once before, it had still been the best sex that she had ever had. She wanted to do it again. She wanted him, now more than ever. Before the human part of Sango, the rational and the emotional part, had wanted Miroku. Now even the carnal part of her wanted him. It pained her that when Urahara had died, she'd been consumed with thoughts of Miroku, some of them trickling from her mind to between her legs, making her feel burning.

It was just after Urahara's funeral, a headstone set into an empty grave, that Sango made up her mind. She wouldn't let Miroku die too. Not after she'd worked hard to save his life for the past two years. She wasn't about to let her friend and her lover die just because some astral bitch got between them. If there was a way to save Miroku, then Sango had to try and take it and hope for the best.

She marched up to the IBSP with her briefcase in her tight hand and wearing her favorite business suit: plain brown with an orange-red blouse underneath. Her favorite gun was tucked between her arm and her body in a shoulder sling. Her hair was done up in a tight ponytail, and underneath her sunglasses, her red lips were in a firm line of determination. She felt like the old Tora Sango had been resurrected: and she was ready to take the IBSP by storm.

For a moment the sight of the old building daunted her. She had heard what had happened to it, but she hadn't thought that it would be so bad. Could anything have survived?

She walked into the pile of rubble. Cleaning crews were still clearing debris, leaving the large half-fallen walls and revealed metal struts of the building up. It had turned into a kind of cavernous labyrinth. Recognizing one of the workers as a janitor from the building she tapped the demon on his shoulder. A human face turned to see her.

"Where can I find Sesshoumaru?"

The man's face plummeted. "I'm sorry, but he… he didn't make it."

"Bullshit."

"No, I mean… He really didn't make it."

Sango's arm whipped out. She grabbed the man by his collar and, at the last minute, decided not to slam the man up against the metal strut behind him to interrogate him. The man seemed to whole-heartedly believe that Sesshoumaru was dead.

"Fine. Believe what you want. The man is frozen ice and I seriously doubt that something as minor as this could have killed him. He's like a cockroach. Cut off his head and the bastard still won't die. Do you mind if I have a look around?" The man nervously shook his head.

Pulling off her glasses as she plunged into the darkness, Sango let her nose be her guide. She pushed away the scent of feces and decay from bodies still buried in the rubble. All of them, she surmised, had been killed in the actual fall. With the superior sense of the demons, anyone who had been left alive and trapped in the rubble had already been carried out. It wasn't until she got near the elevator shafts that she could pick up Sesshoumaru's scent. It was faint, but it was still alive. Sango began climbing down.

She found it funny that she found him on the morgue level. Sango dusted of her suit and fixed her ponytail. The sound alerted him to her presence and he spun around on her. For a moment, it was a sight Sango had never thought possible: his eyes had widened slightly in surprise.

"Sesshoumaru, we need to talk."

"Who told you I was down here?" he demanded sternly. He had recovered quickly from his surprise.

Sango shrugged. "No one. I could smell you down here. Don't worry. It was very faint. Unless someone was as determined as I was, I think they would have thought the smell was old, but I know you better than that." She slung her suitcase up to the metal slab of a dissection table, extracted a manilla envelop. Sango tossed it to him. "We need to talk."

"What…" He opened up the envelop and pulled it out. He stared at it, apparently confused. "A request for a pardon?"

"It's not for me. It's for Miroku. I've filled it all out for him. Everything is also copied in triplicate, and I happen to have several more copies tucked safely away in case anything should happen to the one you have there. The truth of the matter is that Miroku was turned unwillingly by Kikyou into a vampire." She noted that this didn't seem to surprise him. "Miroku has not killed a human being. He has not tasted human blood, and he can survive on animal blood. I want him to be pardoned and for him to not be shot one sight because he was turned against his will."

Sesshoumaru closed the envelope and tossed the contents of it back to her. "I don't think that's possible."

"And, with all do politeness, why the fuck not, sir?"

His eyes turned the burning color of molten gold for a moment. His gaze was stern as he replied, "Because Miroku is now a creature bred for the sole purpose of devouring humans. Even though he has not done so yet, he will do so eventually. It is in their very nature."

"It's not in Miroku's nature! Miroku isn't like that, and you damn well know it!"

"Think of him like a tame wolf: all it takes is one taste and he will want it again and again." He shook his head. "I am sorry to hear that you first lost Urahara and now Miroku. He is as good as dead, Sango, and a traitor to the IBSP."

"But it wasn't his choice!" Her words reverberated off the plaster walls.

"His nature is now traitorous. We demons, those who do not swear allegiance to Shabranigdo, have sworn to protect the human race. Miroku is now a vampire…"

"But he still doesn't swear loyalty to Shabranigdo! You're still condemning an innocent man to death! You above all as a demon yourself should know that it is not nature that defines but by our actions, and…"

SLAM!

His hand came down upon the dissection table with such force that it dented it. "Tora Sango, this is not a mater open to discussion. Miroku is a vampire, and therefore is a traitor and an enemy. Your orders are to shoot him the next time you see him." Her jaw dropped, but he would not be swayed by the horror he saw in her eyes. "Disobey your orders, and your actions will be siding with Shabranigdo. This matter is closed. We will not harbor traitors; we will not harbor vampires. Do I make myself clear? …I said: do I make myself clear?"

She hung her head and grabbed her briefcase. "Perfectly."

Sango had arranged everything by that evening. She wrote off a letter to Akane, shedding only a few tears over it. There was a large chance that Sango wouldn't be coming back after her final mission, but she welcomed it with open arms. It was only the idea of leaving behind the people she loved that made her regret the possibility of her own death.

A second latter went to Fuu and Ferio, because Sango felt that they had a right to know what had happened to their son.

She dressed in comfortable black clothes. She put what she could into a knapsack, trying to get as many things as she could accessible without being noisy or constricting to her movement. A pair of black slippers from Akane's dojo went on: quiet, and durable. Her shirt, she realized, would be a little too hot, but she wanted it because of the hood. Drawn low it would hide the majority of her face. Lastly, she put her hair up into a tight ponytail, wincing as she bound it with a hair band, to tuck it under the hood of her shirt.

It didn't take Sango very long to drive to the demolition site. There was no one there at night. The once breath-taking building was now a pile of rubble casting deeper shadows under shadows. The fetid smell she had been aware of early was even more obvious without the scent of the workers or their equipment, yet it was less unnerving. The smell of decaying bodies did not belong in the daylight.

Her eyes adjusted easily to the darkness. Sango reached the elevator shaft and began to climb down. Her fingers sunk into the cracks left in the cement and her feet found holes which no one else might have located without her superior senses and her sheer determination.

Slowly but surely she made her way down: down passed the morgue, down passed the bond level, and down to the detention level. The metal elevator doors were stuck half-open, allowing people access to the 'fresh' air above.

Sango's black outfit stood out against the white walls painfully. She swung her body so that the doors gave her some cover, and drew her gun. Some detached part of her mind was a little surprised that her fingers weren't shaking. That was a good sign, she supposed. It would make her shots clearer.

Sango aimed at the lights on the ceiling. The gun went off without barely a sound and the nearest light bulb suddenly burst out. Sango listened closely to the guards. Had they noticed?

"Hey, Hojo?"

"What is it?"

"We got a burnt out light bulb. Do we have any replacements down on this level?"

The guard named Hojo gave some answer. Sango was already leaning over. The second light bulb went out. Sango holstered the gun and went before one of the guards could come to investigate. She was barely visible as she ran down the corridor, her feet noiseless. She was able to reach the light switch. Almost; almost there!

One of the guards came around the corner. Sango cursed and dove for the lights. Her hand came down so hard she knew she'd get bruises. All the lights in the detention level went off. It was plunged into darkness. The guard cried out in surprise. He was blind, but Sango could still see.

She drew her gun again and grabbed the man by his shoulder. There was a cracking sound as she brought the butt to the man's head. His body went slack. Sango didn't think she had applied enough force to kill him, and she couldn't smell any blood. She just wanted to incapacitate him. Had he been one of the guards she'd seen beating Inuyasha before, she would have put a bullet in his kneecap without a second thought.

Grabbing the security key hanging from the guard's belt she ran down the dark corridor. Her eyesight could still pick up Inuyasha's shimmering hair. Their eyes met, even in the darkness.

"You said that you can find Kagome, right?" she asked.

Inuyasha nodded. "Yeah, I can find her. I can track her down no problem, but not while I'm in this hell hole." His eyes widened when she held up the key card. "I'm listening."

"Take me to where Kagome is. You can find Kagome. I want Miroku. Afterwards, we come back here and you can be locked up again—this time, with Kagome. She'll still be Shabranigdo, but we can find a way to draw the demon out of her, and at least this way you can keep tabs on her. It might afford Kagome some sanity to know that you're there seeing her through it."

He lowered his head as he remembered what Sango had said two years ago. The jail at the IBSP was heaven compared to sharing a body with Shabranigdo. "I have to admit it's not a perfect offer, but if it means I can stretch my legs and get Kagome back, you have my help."

Sango nodded. She went to the cell next to them. "Edward? Edward?"

He sleepily lifted his head. Sango couldn't see him in the bed until she realized that he had been hiding under it. The mattress held a fluffy white bunny. Without a cage, he had set the bunny on the bed while he'd slept on the floor to keep the bunny from running a way and getting zapped accidentally by the bars. "Fuu?"

"No. It's me. Sango."

His face scrunched up as he tried to remember her. "The girl with the ponytail."

"That's right."

"What are you doing here?"

"I'm here to make a deal. You want Kikyou, right? You want revenge?" She saw that all of a sudden he looked more alert. "I can help you land a blow against her, but I need to know that you won't lose control, okay? Fuu mentioned in hrr report that you were a teleporter. We could use your skills, but I need you to be a hundred and fifty percent sure that you can do this. If you snap on me, I have no problem subduing you."

He finished crawling out from under the bed. "Fuu knows she's supposed to take care of Alice if I don't come back." For a moment there was the flash of that rare insanity he possessed: the child-like quality. Then he straightened and fixed his tattered shirt, flipping his braid over his shoulder. The bangs that framed his face accented his resolute expression. "I'm ready."

Sango unlocked the cages: Inuyasha's first, and then Edward's. Someone struck her when she reached Edward's. Sango hadn't noticed that the other guard had returned. Before she could retaliate, Inuyasha lunged on him. His eyes glowed red as he threw him into the wall. The guard wasn't quite unconscious yet. Inuyasha kicked him in the stomach, and in the groin. As he was clutching himself, curling up into a protective ball, Inuyasha's bare foot connected with the man's nose, and then his jaw.

"How do you like it? Huh? How do you like being kicked until you black out?"

"Inuyasha!"

"How? How? Had enough yet? Do you…" He stopped when it felt the cool metal of a gun's nozzle touch the back of his neck. Inuyasha froze, his ears flickering and his nose moving up and down as he sniffed the air.

Sango's voice was stern. "Kick that man one more time and I will send your brain into the wall you see in front of you." Inuyasha knew she meant it. He gulped when he heard the safety click off. "I did not release you for revenge. This is a rescue mission. If you don't think you can keep yourself from lashing out, I'll drop you here and now rather than fight to put you back in your cell. It's your choice."

"It's not much of one…" Sango saw the fight go out of his body. He meekly turned and scowled at her with all the venom of a chastised child. "Let's go."

Standing across the street from the locked building, Sango could still smell the sickly sweet sense of incense and sex. Her nose wrinkled at the offensive scent. "Okay," she said, turning to Inuyasha. "Where to know?"

Inuyasha's head turned left and then right. Beside him, Edward was beginning to look agitated, as if he had been there before. Sango took it as a sign that they were on the right trail. She watched the doctor's nose twitch as he sniffed out his wife. She was becoming irritated that it was taking so long. Didn't Inuyasha understand that she was now a wanted criminal herself? Every car that drove by made her jump, fearing that it belonged to the IBSP. As fast as she could she had to locate Miroku, rescue him, and then they both had to go into hiding.

It wasn't the best sounding life, but it would be with him, and that was all Sango cared about.

Finally, Inuyasha growled. He pointed straight down. "Kagome is somewhere beneath us."

Sango wanted the shoot something. "The sewers?"

"No. Inuyasha's right. I remember… the place she uses is underground, but it's not in the sewer system. There's a large underground cavern system beneath us. I don't know if it's natural or if she had it made, but that'd what she uses. It runs underneath a large portion of the city." He stretched out his hands. "I can teleport us into the heart of it."

Sango nodded. "Do it."

His hand closed around her shoulder; Ed grabbed Inuyasha with his other hand. Her stomach lurched violently as everything around her vanished with a pop. She could still feel his hand on her shoulder, but everything hurt. Sango tried to take a breath, but found she couldn't. Her chest wouldn't contract. Everything hurt…

There was a second pop. Suddenly she found she could breath again. Sango gasped for air as the colors coalesced into forms. They were underground, but it barely felt like that. There was a couch, and pretty furnishings, complete with a large rug which cushioned the rock floor.

Sango drew her firearm and screwed in the silencer. Then she turned off the safety. If they met anybody, Sango was going to ensure that they were silenced and effectively. Then she passed the gun to Inuyasha, and her back up to Edward. "You both know how to use these, don't you?"

Edward took his nervously; Inuyasha stared at her like she was insane. "You realize you are handing over your gun to a convicted felon, don't you?"

"Yes, I realize that," she frowned, pressing the gun into his hand. "Thank you for pointing out for me the obvious. This will be much quieter than you tearing people through with your claws. Unless you'd prefer to use the sword." Sango reached behind her jacket and drew out a short sword. It was a foot and a half long and gracefully curved, easily hidden under her long jacket. Sango shrugged off the jacket and left it stuffed under the couch.

Inuyasha looked between the two weapons. "No, I like this."

Sango's smile was grim as she cracked her wrist and knuckles. "Great. Let's do this then."

With Inuyasha directing them via his acute senses and Sango in the lead, they managed to work their way through the facility without meeting too many people. When they did, Sango sent their heads rolling before they had a chance to scream. If they were human, she simply knocked them out. Then it was a matter of hiding the bodies before they continued. She felt nothing at knowing that two vampires and a werewolf were now laying dead in some closet because of her swift sword. She concentrated solely on getting back Miroku.

Rounding a corner, there was no warning when a gun went off. Sango swore and jumped back, her arm stinging. She could feel her warm blood running down her arm from the gunshot. Edward was there immediately, touching her shoulder gently and asking if she was okay. The lashes of his wide eyes brushed her ear. Sango growled at his proximity. "I'm fine. It's just a flesh wound."

"Come out, come out, wherever you are," a familiar voice chimed. Sango stiffened. Suichiro! "Did you really think that you'd be able to sneak in here to rescue Miroku without us noticing? Isn't technology wonderful? We knew you were here since the moment you appeared in Kikyou's drawing room thanks to the security system we had installed. And a teleportationist! That's such wonderful news." He laughed. Whatever men he had with him took his cue and joined in.

There was a heavy sound, a dull wet thud, from behind Sango. It was fallowed by another loud thump. Edward's breath disappeared from the back of her neck. As she turned to see what had happened, she felt cold metal pressing into the side of her head. Sango did not like the sensation of having her own gun pressed threateningly against the side of her head.

"Throw down the weapon."

Cursing Inuyasha in every way she knew how, Sango threw the weapon into the intersection of the hallway. It clattered against the rock floor and skittered to a stop. When he saw it, Suichiro arched an eyebrow in curiosity.

"I want to talk," Inuyasha called out, ignoring Sango as she fumed. He pressed the gun harder into her hair, silencing her for the moment. "Sango's unnarmed. I just want to talk."

"Come out where we can see you."

Inuyasha looked down at Sango. Her lips were in a tight line and she was glaring straight ahead as she was unable to see him. "Step out, Sango."

"You rotten bastard…"

"I said: step out."

Sango did as she was told. She stepped out into the hallway, the gun never leaving her head. She had seen what happened to bodies shot from such proximity. She could survive a bullet in the stomach or lung, maybe, but not the head. Sango closed her eyes and swallowed her nausea when she thought of that gun going off and the mess it would make on the walls around her… She also closed her eyes to hold off seeing Suichiro. When she opened them, she found that he was smiling.

It wasn't a nice smile. It was lecherous, without the love, devotion or heartfelt amusement and excitement that made Miroku's lecherous smile so damn appealing. His eyes moved from her head from her toes, lingering on the curves of her hips, breasts, and lips. Sango's back stiffened when she realized that as much as he may look human, he was no longer such.

"Nice to see you again, Sango."

She glared at him. "Bite me."

Suichiro licked his lips hungrily. It was a sufficient answer. Sango sneered when she realized that was exactly what he longed to do. "Inuyasha, what exactly is it that you want?"

"My wife."

"Ah…" Suichiro nodded his head. "Kagome is not exactly here right now. My lady had to leave to take care of some unfinished business. She is worshipped, you know. She'll be back down in just a few minutes. I think we can arrange for you to see your little wife, providing of course that you have some gift to offer her."

Inuyasha smiled. He was leaning against the wall, the gun against Sango's head while he was still safely hidden from the weapons of Shabranigdo's followers by the corner of the hallway. There was not a trace of insanity in that smile. Why should there be? Sango very much suspected that it had all been a ploy to gain pity or throw off suspicion, and that it had backfired. Sango may have trusted him more because he seemed to have been so clearly not planning anything, but Sesshoumaru would not allow him out when he lacked restraint.

"I propose a trade, Suichiro. Tora-san here was the one who Shabranigdo originally had as a body. She was your original sacrifice. She can take Sango's body, for all I care. In return, she gives up my wife's permanently."

Sango's skin felt cold at the offer. Only the burning barrel of the gun kept her from trying to fight her way out. She licked her lips, repulsed when she noticed that Suichiro watched her with growing interest and intensity. There was something in the way he was staring at her which made Sango recoil and withdraw into herself.

"You fucking son of a bitch," she hissed at Inuyasha. "You had this planned all along, didn't you?"

"I'd love to say I did, but really, it was just something that had occurred to me. Sorry Sango. I know you hated being Shabranigdo's lap dog, but Kagome's been doing it for over two years. At this point, I'll do anything to get that fat toad out of her. You understand, don't you, tiger?"

"You're not blind anymore, are you?"

He smiled. It was wide enough to reveal the gums of his fangs. "Quite miraculously, no. After that poor little incident involving your friend Urahara and the plane, my eyesight was suddenly returned to me. Never even bothered to think about why I could follow you so easily, did you? You all assume that because of these fucking ears, it must be my demonic senses, forgetting that I'm still half human. My senses aren't nearly that good. That goes to show you what presumption does."

Inuyasha brought down the gun on the back of Sango's head. She heard another of the heavy, wet thumps. She noticed Edward's body laying unconscious on the floor, blood pooling from a cut on his head. The ground rushed up at her before she could stop herself from falling. There was a second thump as her head hit the floor. The last thing she saw was Suichiro's smirk before everything was sucked into the black pitch of unconsciousness.

Suichiro did not bother to take the gun from Inuyasha. He figured that it would be a sign of cooperation to leave the man armed. Kikyou, of course, was away, inhabiting another body as his 'worship' required. Kagome's body was locked in the brig, but they didn't need to know that. He had better things to do at the moment then to barter with Inuyasha, however. Sango's body would recover quickly from being knocked unconscious. He needed to restrain her and quickly.

Walking over to her still body, Suichiro's palms itched to touch her. He brushed his hand over her hair as he checked to see how bad her wounds were. She smelled wonderful, exactly as he remembered. She was still beautiful: the curves of her soft lips, the pert turn to her nose, the delicate curves of her slightly-pointed ears… He could hear her blood pumping. His lips throbbed with the desire to drink. As it was, his hands were meandering of their own accord under the pretense of checking her safety. He could not drink from her. He would wait…

He had waited faithfully for so long for Shabranigdo to have the body she so rightly deserved. Surely she would not be against Suichiro enjoying himself first. His hand slipped from her shoulder to the hem of her shirt, slowly working his fingers under it. The skin of her stomach was warm and taught. His hand arched higher and…

"I don't think that's really necessary." Inuyasha was staring down at him. Suichiro quickly withdrew his hand, glaring back at Inuyasha for having ruining his amusement.

"No, I suppose not." He straightened and fixed his shirt. "Take her and the other one to the brig. I will take Inuyasha back to the drawing room. When my lady has returned, tell her to meet us there."

Miroku was starving. He had pressed himself into the corner of his little bedroom, pressing his flushed cheek against the cool wall and trying to think of anything else he could. He tried daydreaming, but that always brought up Sango and the hunt, except that in his dreams, he was chasing Sango and not the deer. He tried to think of school, or chores, his job and his family, but it was impossible for his thirst not to get the better of him.

The heavy door cranked open. His head shot up and his crazed eyes stared at the door. He could feel his fangs strike his lips. Was it food? Were they finally bringing him food? God, he was so hungry!

"Get in there!"

"No! No! You can't make me! I don't want to go!"

There were the sounds of fighting. Miroku recognized the younger, female voice, but he couldn't place it. He was already recoiling. Live food. They were bringing him live, humanoid food, not warmed goat's blood. He couldn't! He didn't kill humans! Miroku's nails scratched a layer of paint from the wall as he tried to keep himself pressed against it.

"Daddy! Daddy! Take me to my father you son of a whoring bitch! Daddy!"

He heard someone enter and the door slammed shut. There was a sound of someone sniffling. The room was dark. Window-less, it was lit by only one solitary candle. Miroku was breathing heavily. He could hear her blood pounding in her body. It was some time before he heard the voice speak again.

"M… Miroku-sama?"

He looked up at his name and cursed himself. He could see in that darkness. He could see who it was. Merle. Dear God, it was Merle.

She smiled and ran to him throwing herself into his lap without noticing how he was shaking and hugging the wall. "Miroku! I was so worried when they told me I was going to be thrown in with a vampire!"

Blood…

She laughed. "But you're not a vampire, are you Miroku-sama?"

Dear Gods in Heaven, the blood…

Her smile was bright and friendly. "You'd never hurt me, would you, Miroku-sama?"

Blood!

To be continued.