Well, the last chapter was pretty strenuous on me. I happen to like almost all of the Inuyasha characters to a certain extent, some more than others of course, but all of the main cast I think are great, literally all the core cast. I don't have a chip on my shoulder about anyone in particular.

But I made a decision about 2 chapters back that sometimes not everyone can make it. I did it for multiple reasons of course. If you don't like reading my thoughts behind the decision and would rather just read the chapter, ignore the rest of my notes. I wanted to really emphasize there are things people will forsake their values for. Everyone has a price. Miroku's price was Sango. And I felt the only way I could really separate that from everything else that has happened is to show Miroku would not make it. When I realized Miroku was going to die I actually had to sit down for a minute and make sure he, Sango, Inuyasha and Kagome got the most exposure. Kagura and Sesshoumaru kinda had to play second fiddle for that entire thing because it wasn't about them. It wasn't about their friend and ect.

I'll miss some of the writing chances I could have had for a fun character like Miroku. But everyone has a price.

Act III

Chapter 5: Fallout

Sango's hands still trembled as she gripped Miroku's body, her chest heaving as she tried to not let go. She couldn't let go, letting go would mean he'd be gone and he'd never come back. She felt his body beginning to stiffen, beginning to cool, the signs of death. She wanted them to just stop, to stop taking Miroku from her. To stop taking her love from her as it'd cruelly taken Kohaku from her.

"You won't get away with this!" She shouted.

Menomaru narrowed his eyes.

"I won't? Allow me to demonstrate how I will be getting away with this. Take the boy, and cut his throat."

"NO!" The scream came as Kohaku was dragged next to Menomaru, he struggled as best he could as he was held in place, another demon walking over with a short blade as he stepped to his side.

"I-its alright sister. You have to get out of here, you have to-"

"It talks? Well don't just stand there, I don't have time to listen to the disgusting human speak."

The blade pressed against Kohaku's throat, it was quickly slashed, deeply, almost half his neck cut through. His head immediately went limp, the sound of gurgling beginning as he twitched, being held in place.

Sobs, sobs were the first thing to come as she remembered Kohaku, his death still vivid in her mind as well as she choked almost, holding onto Miroku still. It was her fault, if she'd just said nothing Kohaku wouldn't have had to die. She wouldn't have had to have watched that bastard Menomaru have her brother killed right in front of her. She closed her eyes painfully as tears spilled out again, she just wanted to howl in pain. Instead a long drawn out cry, which was held back into a moan was heard, before sobs wracked her chest again. She'd lost everything, everything that mattered to her.

"Sango." Inuyasha said carefully from behind her.

She felt his hands on her shoulders, and then something snapped.

"Don't take him away from me!"

Inuyasha felt her tense, her hold on Miroku's body stiffening. This made this all the worse, all the more awkward. He was already standing over the body of his dead friend and his grieving widow, and now he had to pry her from his body. They couldn't stay here and Miroku needed to be buried. Who was going to give him his last rights?

It was that last stray thought that pulled at Inuyasha the most. Every time someone they'd met on their journey had passed on, it'd fallen to Miroku to give them their last respects, as a Monk he could do this, he knew the rights. What do you do when the man who brought peace to the dead died? Inuyasha felt his heart pull almost as he just looked down bitterly at what must be done.

"Sango." He said more difficultly, trying to sound strong as he pulled her more, she just clung harder. "Sango we have to bury him! You haven't eaten in days too by the looks of it, we'll get you some food just please let go of him!"

Sango didn't respond until Bankotsu arrived. He had no tears as Inuyasha had, only a look of seriousness of resolve.

"Alright we gotta pull her off, and she's not gonna like it." Bankotsu said as the 'ninja' as he'd always called them glared back for a moment between the fitful tears she was shedding. Inuyasha just nodded grimly as he moved to help.

Sango's grip was tested as the two males attempted to hoist her off. She was weak from malnourishment and exhaustion, but she couldn't let go. Her fingers finally couldn't hold as she was pulled from him. Just as her grip broke she grabbed him again weakly, only to find it too late. Miroku's body was dragged half a foot before her arms gave out. Her cries went from frantic from hysteric, making Inuyasha only feel more guilt.

"Sango, Sango its going to be okay." Kagome told her, tears amid her own eyes as she came over to try and calm down Sango.

What else could you tell your friend? What else could you say? You said everything would be fine, you tried to talk to them even though you felt so hurt you wanted to do nothing but cry. Because no matter how much Kagome thought it hurt, it had to hurt a hundred times more for Sango.

"Its not okay!" Came the quick and furious response through the sadness at the base of her voice. "Its not okay! I... I.." Sango continued to sob as she turned her head. "I've lost them! I've lost them and nothing can help them!"

It was then that something clicked behind guilt and sadness ridden mind. Sango looked at Sesshoumaru with pleading eyes.

"Do something! Please! Bring them back! I know you can do it, please! I'll do anything for you please! Please help them!"

Sesshoumaru rarely felt this uncomfortable internally. The woman was clearly desperate and irrational. She was like a wounded animal, likely to turn on him as soon as he told her the unfortunate truth. He could not save Miroku, or Kohaku. Kohaku because there was no sign of a body, and even if there were his Tenseiga could not bring someone back in their original form a second time. And Miroku because his sword refused, or could not perform the task.

"I, Sesshoumaru, cannot do as you ask." Sesshoumaru responded coldly.

She tried to lung for him angrily, hatefully even, as if he was willingly trying to hurt her by keeping Miroku dead. Bankotsu and Inuyasha however had a firm enough grip on her from breaking from their grip and attempting in futility to kill Sesshoumaru.

The demon merely turned from her, instead walking to the edge of the crater of where Menomaru's fortress had once been. On the slope Kagura stood quietly, just looking towards the center of the scar in the earth.

"He didn't deserve this." Kagura said, before turning her head towards Sesshoumaru. "Kohaku, he didn't deserve to die."

Of anyone she'd ever met he deserved to die the least of all. He was just a boy who'd been shackled to Naraku's will after his family had been slaughtered. And sometimes when she was with him she saw him show through. He loved his sister and he'd never done anything to harm Kagura. Kagura felt if anything he deserved to live more than she had, that was one of the reasons she'd met her inevitable end.

The monk had obviously been a loss they could have done without, but her real grief was for Kohaku. His second chance being cut so short. She just closed her eyes for a moment as the wind blew past, her bangs flaying helplessly in it for a moment before she turned, at the tip of the crater seeing Sesshoumaru. She walked quietly for a moment before stopping at the edge of the crater.

"The boy, Kohaku." She finally said. "I'm sorry for him."

Sesshoumaru looked down to Kagura for a moment, he nodded before looking towards the crater himself.

"I revived the boy once. Even if it were possible, I could do nothing for him."

"I know."

Kagura finally stepped from the huge mark on the ground, moving up as she put her fan at her side.

"I think we'd best go. I don't think its fair to be here with her like this. Rin and Jaken are probably worried as well." Kagura theorized.

In truth she didn't want to be near here, she didn't want to see Sango's pain. She knew Sango very little, but watching the woman in this kind of agony and grief, a woman who likely would have to be dragged from this sight, was not something Kagura enjoyed viewing, nor something she'd enjoy getting involved with.

()()()()()()()()

It was dark now, the night having set in. Sutoomu walked cautiously as he viewed the chaos and destruction about. Inuyasha and his friends would be too devastated to merely follow him in search of the jewel shard now. The brothers now had it, they had everything at their finger tips, Katsuramaru with little over one half, Sutoomu with the rest. The Shikon Jewel would be remade between the two of them and they would have the power to wipe humanity from this rock of a world.

But the more he held this shard, in all its tainted darkness. A taint he himself felt even, the more he could just stare. His orange eyes flicked in its dark glow, occasionally turning to see the Hell on Earth Menomaru had created. Was this to be the hell on earth everywhere?

He'd not despised humans so before. His memory recalled he even loved one. One who had abandoned him, he was reminded in the faint glow of the sacred jewel.

Even your love of the human girl in your own time, blaming her for leaving you, when you know her scent was on Katsuramaru. You are just too much of a coward to admit that he is the one who took that from you.

The voice of Goshinki whispered in his mind, like a ghost to haunt his living moments.

It haunted him because the demon was right, and he knew it. Looking up he felt his fist tighten around the shard in his right hand. The Kanjishi, the sword that was his mind more than anything else, now hummed.

In the distance the forests still burned, he guessed most likely 6 in 10, perhaps 7 in 10 humans were now dead all over the island. Menomaru still yet lived, even with much of his armies destroyed. Kaguya had chosen her side, choosing to play on the side of Katsuramaru in a quest for power or position. Then there was Katsuramaru and Jikininki, who he also knew still had Ryukotsusei shacked somewhere to unleash upon his foes.

He'd done so much wrong, it felt as though it was time to try and set some of that right. He would break his oath to his brother. He could no longer stand with Katsuramaru, this seemed like madness now more than anything else, a madness brought on by Katsuramaru's bitter hatred of humanity and their own mother. With every passing day, the closer they became to their goal, Katsuramaru seemed more hateful, more irrational.

With the shard by his side, he would have to try and stop this, he would have to stop what he'd started, what he'd put into motion. This world should have been left as it was. He should have never interfered with its motion, his mother should have been left dead. Instead he'd tried to recreate a lost world, an imperfect, brutal lost world which had harbored little for him but illusion.

And just as he looked up, his resolve in place, he found himself staring into the eyes of Katsuramaru, the cold red eyes staring down at him, a smile on his face.

"Hello brother."

Sutoomu froze, looking up at his brother with little response, but could already tell the direction of the conversation, Katsuramaru's hand was out expectantly.

"Give me the shard."

"To do what exactly? So that you may make this world a better place in your image? So that you can murder our very parents and slaughter the entirety of humanity? Please brother, go on, what noble actions will you do?"

Katsuramaru didn't like this kind of dialog, he didn't like it at all. It made his blood boil as the sharp words left his brother's mouth.

His mouth twisted almost as his lips shifted into a sneer. His brother would betray him, the fool.

"I would take the jewel shards and remake the Jewel to ascend to my proper place, and then wipe this world of the inferior humans." Katsuramaru stated with cold sanity in his voice. "And I can already tell you have no intention of letting me do that, do you?"

Sutoomu looked into his brother's eyes as his nostrils flared, he felt his heart racing. It was fight, or flight.

"What happened to Kei? What really happened?" Sutoomu demanded finally.

The human he'd loved, the one who he'd convinced himself had abandoned him, instead of confronting Katsuramaru as he should have. He'd been a coward and a fool, but that ended today.

Katsuramaru for his part, laughed, before smirking down at his younger sibling with the kind of arrogance that could only be taught. His smug superiority was thickly coming from his body language and facial features. Finally, little brother has grown a backbone.

"As if you don't know. I can say my only regret is that it was quick, I didn't want you to attack so readily when I came back to you. I did you a favor, and don't act as if you haven't known. You've known since it happened. But you knew your dear big brother would never kill your girl, otherwise you would have to fight him. You disgust me."

Sutoomu went red with rage as his eyes began to glow. His teeth grit and he snarled as he prepared himself to attack. Only he couldn't move, he'd frozen in place, his muscles not responding.

"And do you not also think that I had made a backup plan if you betrayed me, you weak, blind fool?" Katsuramaru asked as he walked towards his brother, snatching the jewel fragment from his hand as his brother stood there, paralyzed. As Katsuramaru turned, walking away from his brother he turned his head, red eyes turning back towards him.

"The Kanjishi is my creation, do you not think I would not create a fail-safe?" He questioned. "And now, for all your protests, for all your hunger for revenge, to set things right, you will help me enact my plans. You will kill Inuyasha and his friends. Father and mother are to be left to me." He said simply, tossing the jewel shard in the air before catching it casually.

"No..." Sutoomu growled.

The devilish smile appeared on the demon's face once more before he turned his head away.

"And who said I was giving you a choice, dear brother?"

It was then Sutoomu felt his mind, his will plunge into the back of his mind. His body began to warp and twist as he felt himself transform, it was an unnatural transformation. His body shifted and buldged as black fur sprouted from him. The Kanjishi itself slid into his very body, into his ever expanding rib cage as he formed into the giant, black, hellish demon-dog he had once before.

"You may not do as I wish brother, but the Storm-Hound within you certainly will. I have been your master, Sutoomu, and I will always be your master. Now go, go slay the ones you would seek to save. Spill their blood. Blood for my future."

The beast gave a thundering howl, before massive paws shifted, turned and rushed into the woods. The entire time, what was left of Sutoomu's mind screaming in protest, behind the eyes of the great dog demon he had become.

Katsuramaru on the other hand, regarded his prize, the last piece of the Shikon jewel as he took up the other half, slipping the two pieces together as the darkened gem's dark energies glowed more prominently than ever before.

"Now then, all I need to do is use Jikininki and his knowledge"

Sutoomu would either succeed or fail, either way, he intended to liberate his brother from his current existence through death once he was finished.

()()()()()()()()

Sesshoumaru stopped walking, his feet unwilling to go any further. It was not exhaustion which stopped him, it was a feeling, a feeling of dread. Kagura was next to him, holding her chest briefly, her eyes fixed with pain.

"The Shikon Jewel is whole. Katsuramaru will begin his plans shortly."

Kagura felt whatever had happened and she knew it as well. What was strange was she didn't know why she knew, or why Sesshoumaru knew. Her heart had felt it, as if telling her something horrible had happened.

Katsuramaru had to be stopped, he would spill more blood than any butcher in history. He'd kill her, and probably Sesshoumaru. He would make people cry for mercy just so he could watch them slaughtered. She knew this now, she knew this from her own experience with him, her own confrontation. She could still feel his sword in her heart, the anger and hatred he expressed in the stab.

Somehow the steel itself was inviting though, the blade itself had left her unscathed, unharmed, as if it was trying to protect her. At first she'd been afraid to admit it, but for a brief moment when she'd felt that horrible pain, it felt like Sesshoumaru himself had stabbed her.

"We cannot even track him, can we? Not without the help of Kagome?" She asked.

"No, we cannot. I can." He responded, looking towards Kagura with resolve.

Kagura didn't understand the look he was giving her, she had little time to contemplate the look either as Sesshoumaru's knuckles bounced from the back of her neck and head. Kagura, surprised and caught unaware, collapsed unconscious from the sudden blow as Sesshoumaru walked over her, pulling her into his arms for a moment.

It was for her own safety. He had to put right what had started now months ago, perhaps longer. He had to stop Katsuramaru now, no one else need be involved. He, Sesshoumaru, was the one who would stop this mad demon. Miroku had resolved to save the ones he loved at the cost of his own life and soul, and Sesshoumaru for this moment drew mild inspiration from the Monk. He would stop Katsuramaru because there was no alternative.

Inuyasha could not stop him, no matter how powerful his brother had become. Bankotsu fell into the same realm. The priestess girl who his brother had seemingly marked as his was not going to halt him either.

And if nothing stopped Katsuramaru Rin would die and so would Kagura. To take Kagura to him now would only invite her death as well, she could not be involved, this could not be her fight. Perhaps he also fought for the memory of the other Sesshoumaru he had met, the Sesshoumaru which had been made to kill him.

As he carried Kagura to what he felt was a safe place, the walk reminded him of the miles he walked with her in his arms in the abyss. Her still body merely breathing while being held against him. He remembered how proud he felt she felt so safe in his arms. And he felt pride that he was righting the worst thing he'd ever felt he'd let happen in his life. His face stoic and calm as ever, he carefully placed Kagura down on a convenient log.

Looking down at her quietly, he regarded her for only a few moments. He kissed her gently, before standing back.

"Should I not return, I expect you take care of Rin for me." He told her unconscious form, before he turned to the sky, his eyes shifting into red, his body beginning to shift, to warp, to change as the long tailed dog tore through the sky.

()()()()()()()()

"So lets go over this again. We have no Jewel Shards, Kagome just had some kind of seizure and now thinks the Shikon Jewel is whole again. Sango is mad with grief, and you are playing god damn broody idiot?" Bankotsu asked coldly.

They'd been traveling for nearly an hour since putting Miroku to rest. Since Inuyasha had put his friend in the ground, Kagome kept Sango away while this happened, Sango had finally exhausted herself out. She was currently half laying on Kirara as they headed back to the village.

"Shut up Bankotsu, our friend is back there and there is nothing we can do for him now."

"Friends die. Friends get caught in the wrong place at the wrong time. Someone getting killed doesn't stop what needs to be done."

"He's... He's right Inuyasha." Kagome said from behind, walking up faster.

She felt emotionally exhausted, she felt drained, she felt depressed and just worn, but Bankotsu was right. Miroku, no one could do anything for him now. All she and Inuyasha could do was for people who were still alive. And even now as she began to think, that was encompassing less and less people with every minute.

"We have to stop Katsuramaru. He has the whole jewel, I can feel it."

Inuyasha growled as he focused his vision ahead. This was bad, if Katsuramaru knew how to use the Jewel he could already approach being unstoppable. Damn it, if only there was a way to get to him faster.

"Where do you think he is headed Kagome? Can you feel the Jewel's energy still?"

Kagome just looked off, towards the south as she just pointed her finger along, where she had the feeling, where she felt the jewel.

"He's going south, and fast."

()()()()()()()()

Kagura came to, her head splitting as she sat up painfully. Red eyes were unfocused as she tried to make the world stop spinning, blinking hard again and again as she brought her hand to her head. What had just happened? She and Sesshoumaru were walking and then-

No.

He was doing something intensely stupid and he knew it! Getting up immediately, spinning head be damned she threw her feather to the wind before finding herself inside of it. He was such an idiot! She didn't even know how to track him, she had no idea where he had gone, from the sky above she only tried to see what she could, looking down at the lands below despite the darkness as her feather followed the will of the winds. Her will.

What if he got himself killed? After all they'd been through he couldn't just do that. Not after walking into the afterlife and leaving alive. Not after he'd allowed himself near her. Now he decided to sacrifice himself? No, there was no way Kagura would allow that.

From above however, the wind Sorceress did see one thing remarkable. Trees bent away, shattering to the momentum of the monster running below. It was dark so it was hard to see, but she made out the silhouette of a great hound, moving as though it was lightning itself.

For a moment she almost thought it Sesshoumaru. However he was so brightly colored he would be visible at night, especially from above.

There were only three Great Dog Demons she knew of on the island of Japan. Sesshoumaru, Katsuramaru, and Sutoomu.

And Sutoomu had black hair.

()()()()()()()()

This chapter is more a development and setup chapter. Thanks for reviewing everyone, the next chapter is going to be running at lightning's pace.

Also, funnily enough I have the next chapter done already. But I just feel like making you guys wait a day or two before I post it. I was thinking of making this a double-feature. But I've decided against it :P