(A/N: ack I DID update today! Me is so happy! Well...happy that I won't get maimed by some of my reviewers...-shifty eyes- ANYWAY the next chapter is here! So...tell me why aren't you reading it? XD)

DISCLAIMER: I feel like a recording saying the same thing over and over

Old Or New?

Don't You Die On Me!

"Inu...yasha..."

His eyes grew twice their normal size and his jaw dropped to the floor as he recognized the voice.

"Ka-Kagome?!"

Then he realized, the blood wasn't just from that dream. It was real, he had merely dreamt the scent into his nightmare.

"Please...don't hang...up," her voice was weak, forced out.

"I'm not going to hang up!"

"Good...now please...just listen..." Kagome wasn't one to be called weak. Her regret ran so deep that she had somehow managed to crawl a foot away (though it may not seem like much, but when you're bleeding to death it's like trying to walk a mile on fire) to her end table where she charged her phone. She ignored the twenty-three missed calls and hit speed-dial number one, or Inuyasha. She placed it next to her head and put it on speaker-phone.

"Kagome, are you alright?!"

"It's all...my fault...everything is..." her breathing was ragged and taken in with short, gasping breaths.

"Kagome! I asked you, are you alright?!"

"N-Naraku...he planned it all...he can shape shift...he transfor-" she was cut off by a cry of pain that she couldn't hold back, but continued on. "Into...you..."

"What happened?! Did he hurt you?! Tell me why you sound like you're in so much fucking pain!"

"I...I can't...stop the bleeding..."

Inuyasha's blood ran cold. He could hardly believe his ears. His clenched fist trembled, and his claws pierced his palm and the blood trickled down, but he didn't feel it. He didn't even bother opening the window, he just broke it with his fist.

"Hold on until I get there! Don't you die on me Kagome!"

"I don't care...what happens to...me anymore..." she was interrupted once more, this time to cough up blood. "I don't...ask to be...forgiven...Inuyasha...I know that...that you probably...hate me...right now..."

"What the hell are you talking about?! I don't hate you!" he cried into the phone. He was running full throttle towards her house. One more minute and he'd be there.

Kagome went on as if he hadn't of spoken. "I...I didn't mean...what I said...I don't hate...you..."

"Kagome..."

"Inu...yasha...I-I lo...lo-" a cry of immense agony erupted from her chest didn't let her finish.

"Kagome? Kagome?! KAGOME!!" Inuyasha screamed. Who knew the most painful thing to hit his ears would be silence? He couldn't hear her breathing either, that just made him all the more worried. He stuffed his phone into his sweat pants pocket and increased his speed. Hang on Kagome! I'm almost there! Wait for me!

WaitForMeWaitForMeWaitForMeWaitForMeWaitForMeWaitForMeWaitForMeWaitForMeWaitForMeWaitForMeWaitForMeWaitForMe

Kagome groaned and opened her eyes. She slowly sat up, only to feel a pain in her side. Well, of course it's gonna hurt! You're sleeping on cement dummy! She looked around, her mind in a haze. Wait a second, where am I? And why am I sleeping on a sidewalk? She stood up to get a better view of where she was. She looked behind her and gasped. Those steps...could I be at my old shrine?! She looked up at the top of the stairway. There they were, her mother, brother, grandpa, and wait, who was that who had their arm around her mother's waist?

It couldn't be, could it?

"Daddy?!" she called up to him.

"Hey Kagzi! How's daddy's little girl?" he yelled back down to her. She squealed in excitement as she raced up the steps.

"Kagome!"

She stopped dead in her tracks and whirled around to see who just called her name. She clutched her side as the pain got worse. His voice...it seems so familiar but...

"Hey, sis! What's taking you so long?"

She shook off the feeling like she knew that who that voice belonged to and started climbing again. "Coming, Souta!" she called back to her little brother.

"No, Kagome! Please, open your eyes! Please wake up!"

She stopped again. Open my eyes? Wake up? I am awake, whoever you are. Now shut up so I can just go see my family! She huffed. Though the pain seemed to grow worse, she did her best to ignore it and continued up the seemingly never ending steps.

"Please don't go! Please, you can't die!"

What does he mean? I'm not dead or dying! But...why does he sound so familiar? She had come to a complete stop, and even though her family called to her, she had to find out who this person who sounded so desperate to have her come back to him was. She started back down the steps.

"Kagome! I need you here with me! Don't you die on me! Please! You can't die!"

He...needs me? Realization struck her. "Inuyasha!" she said, amazed she could forget his voice. She ran down the steps, the pain now becoming so unbearable that she collapsed and, she would've rolled down the steps, except, part of them had disappeared from beneath her. She screamed and caught herself before she fell on the remaining steps. She was hanging, being held up by nothing but her fingers. She could hear his voice more clearly now, pleading and begging her to come back to him, and it was coming from the bottom of this hole. She now had to make a choice. Did she haul herself up, to be with her family? Or did she fall into who knows where to comfort and be with Inuyasha?

Or, in other words, did she want to live or die?

She didn't have the chance to answer, because the little bit of stairway she was hanging on gave way. She hurtled into the abyss, only to be caught by two strong arms. She looked up and saw her father smiling back down at her.

"You made the right choice, Kagzi," they were floating gently down, almost like falling through water.

"Huh? What do you mean? I didn't make a choice, it was made for me!"

"No, it was your heart's decision that made the stairway gave way. Your brain just hasn't caught up yet."

"But, don't you want me to be up there with you?"

"Of course I do. But, more than that, I want you to be happy. And you can only be truly happy with him."

They had landed now, everything still cloaked in darkness, except for one circle of light which they had landed next to. In that small circle, she saw Inuyasha clutching herself to his chest, begging over and over that she would just open her eyes. Her heart broke in two just at the sight of him. She gasped and ran over and tried to hug him and comfort him, only to find that she passed right through. She just stared open mouthed at her now transparent hands.

"I really am dead," she said, tears welling up in her eyes.

"He really does love you, Kagzi."

"Huh?"

"Do you love him?"

She looked at Inuyasha, cradling her dead body. "...Y-yes! I do!"

"Then you can still be saved. Be happy, Kagome. Just one more thing." he cautioned as he lifted up bridal style.

"Yes? What is it?"

"Keep on living for all of us, be happy with the one you love, can you do that?" he said as slowly lowered her onto her body. She nodded.

"Goodbye, daddy."

"Goodbye, my daughter."

Her spirit slid back into her body and everything went black, yet she could still hear him, his voice now being whispered into her ear.

"Inu...yasha..." she mumbled, her voice barely audible. He heard it all the same. He jumped a little at the sound of her voice, but was so happy all the same.

"Kagome? Come on, Kagome! Open your eyes!"

She did as she was told, opening them just a crack. She could literally feel the relief wash through his body.

"I-I'm so...glad..."

Maybe Kagome's eyes were deceiving her, but were those tears in his eyes? But, as soon as she spotted them they were gone. Inuyasha picked up her body, though his own was trembling, and ran back out the balcony doors. Well, if one could even call them doors, for they had been shattered into a million pieces. Inuyasha...he must've been really desperate...

But why would he be desperate to save her? After all she had put him through? She just didn't seem worth the effort.

"Inu-"

"Don't talk. Use all the fucking energy you have to stay alive, you got that?!"

She nodded once as the loss of blood took its toll once again as she drifted back to unconsciousness.

StayAliveStayAliveStayAliveStayAliveStayAliveStayAliveStayAliveStayAliveStayAliveStayAliveStayAliveStayAliveStayAliveStayAliveStayAliveStayAlive

Inuyasha was a wreck.

That's the only way to describe the sorry state he was now in. He had rushed Kagome to the hospital as fast as he could have possibly went, probably breaking a few records along the way. He was surely a sight to see when he burst through the emergency room doors carrying an unconscious girl while he was covered in her blood. The doctors, of course, had immediately taken action and took her from Inuyasha's arms. Now all he could do was pray and wait. The hospital had given him new clothes to wear, for his own were now evidence. He had called up Miroku and Sango, and had to deal with his hysterical friends as he explained everything. That's where he was now, pacing back and forth waiting for his friends to arrive. He had also gotten a call from Toshiro Histugaya because when he broke down her doors, the alarm went off, and he had rushed to the scene. So, once again he had to explain everything.

Just then the doors flew open and Sango, Miroku, Shippou, and Kirara rushed in, still in their pajamas. Sango saw him, ran up to him and nearly jumped on him.

"Where's Kagome? Is she okay? Is she going to live? How bad is her wound?"

"Sango!" he cut off. "In the Intensive Care Unit; okay as she can be; yes but she lost a lot of blood; whatever he stabbed her with went all the way through her."

"Where can I give blood?"

"You have to go up a floor, then take a left, then it's he third door on the right."

"Have you gone to already give some?" Miroku finally spoke up.

"Trust me, I tried, but because of my demon blood I couldn't give any to her."

Sango nodded then grabbed Miroku sleeve and practically dragged him to the nearest stairway. Shippou and Kirara stayed behind with Inuyasha. He continued his pacing, waiting for some word on Kagome's condition.

It seemed to take forever, though really it had only been about two hours or so before a doctor walked up to Inuyasha. He both felt relief and dread what the doctor had to say. His uneasiness went away when he smiled.

"She's going to be just fine, though she is still unconscious. Actually, to be perfectly honest, I'm surprised she's even alive. She lost a lot of blood. She's a real fighter."

Inuyasha nodded, his face grave. "Can I see her now?"

It was the doctors turn to nod. "Follow me."

Bu now the whole group had gathered around to listen and they followed eagerly (well, as eager as you can get) the doctor to her room. He stopped outside her door. "I have some other patience to see, so I'll just leave you all here." he said as he left.

Inuyasha quickly walked in the room and the others were about to follow, but Miroku held them back. Sango was about to protest but he didn't let her.

"Just let him have a few minutes alone."

She nodded and turned to go back to the waiting room.

Inuyasha slowly approached her, the white paleness of her skin made her look like a ghost, that if he touched her she would turn to dust, just like in his nightmare. His nightmare that had become reality. As he walked beside her he ran a hand up her leg and then her arm, trying to convince himself that she was really here, alive. Her chest went up and down, showing him that she was breathing.

She was alive.

That was all that mattered to him. He didn't know what he would do if she did die. He now knew that he loved her like no other, that just hearing her name made his heart swell. Although, it pained him so much to say it, to even think about it, but he knew it was true.

Kagome could never love someone like me.

NeverLoveMeNeverLoveMeNeverLoveMeNeverLoveMeNeverLoveMeNeverLoveMeNeverLoveMeNeverLoveMeNeverLoveMeNeverLoveMe

Yay! She was saved! And I don't know about you, but I was crying when I wrote about her father! I was too fucking sad! And how Inu doesn't believe she loves him! I'll try to update and fast!