S-S: Sorry for the delay (even though it wasn't a very long wait). I hope you guys enjoy this chapter in which InuYasha finally gets his sh*t together.

I don't own InuYasha.

Kagome slowly stopped crying, burying her face into InuYasha's chest as he held her close. "I'm sorry Kagome," he said quietly, "I won't leave you alone anymore. Three years… you must have been so alone. I shouldn't have died, I should have protected you better…"

She nodded her head, dark hair bobbing up and down as she said sadly, "Will you stay with me? Forever?"

InuYasha opened his mouth to reply that yes, of course he would stay with her, he would always stay with her and he would never leave her alone when he paused. He closed his mouth. Something wasn't right. There was still Naraku to contend with, his sleepy mind reminded him, and the Kagome he knew would never let that murderer get away with anything that had happened. And Kagome's friends were still out there, still fighting, weren't they? Kagome didn't leave her friends behind.

But she was so sad, he thought. She was alone, she was scared, he had left her all by herself and now she was all alone. He had abandoned her. He frowned as Kagome's hands tightened their grip on his arms. The Kagome he knew wouldn't hold a grudge, even if it was entirely his fault, she would forgive him for leaving her even if it was his fault.

This was wrong.

This had happened before.

Last time, there had been fire and Kikyo and he had fallen into Naraku's trap with ease, only escaping because of a half-remembered phrase of Kagome's. This time, the bastard was using Kagome against him.

InuYasha sighed, "Sorry Kagome," he said quietly, "But I ain't gonna stay here. I have to find the real Kagome."

The fake Kagome looked up at him with shock and surprise on her face, her eyes becoming made of wood and moss, her arms turning stiff and wooden and then she flickered. And vanished.

The illusion faded around him like the distortion of reality that it was, melting like hot wax from a flame as the real world began to appear. InuYasha blinked, and then found himself standing in a forest, much like the one that he had just entered… through… the… barrier…

That was right! He had forgotten, there had been that illusion and it had messed with his head and made him not remember that they were in the middle of a freaking battle, damn it! They had entered through some barrier, not one of Naraku's, but that of someone that the Higure girl had mentioned before. InuYasha looked around, seeing only snow and forest.

"Kagome!" He cried, looking all around, turning his head round and round, but he couldn't see anything and he couldn't hear anything. His nose was too cold to smell much, and all there was was a faint smell of pine and water, he couldn't get a single whiff of Kagome, and the others all held shards of the Fuyoheki so there was no point.

Shit, the barrier must have been designed to split them up, trapping each of them in those weird illusions. He vaguely remembered that the last time this had happened, back five hundred years ago, the illusions hadn't been able to touch Kagome, she had just walked through without incident. She must have gotten through to the compound on the other side of the forest. That… or Naraku was waiting on the end.

If the Yozeme girl, Tsubaki, had taken care of this new ally of Naraku, then that left Naraku free to intercept Kagome before she could get to the safety of the compound. Hopefully they had enough time to let Kagome get through. Either way, InuYasha had to catch up to them quickly, before Naraku could get there.

"You are InuYasha?"

The hanyou turned around, looking for the source of the noise. "Yeah, who's asking?" he snarled automatically.

It was a demon that he hadn't seen before. InuYasha couldn't smell the guy, so this new demon must be using the Fuyoheki as well. It was a man, about twenty or something. Blond hair, tan skin and was pretty damn muscular. There were these green crocodile scales going up his arm and on the side of his face, coloring one eye yellow while the other remained blue. In the demon's clawed hand, he held a nasty looking machete, short and sharp. But the guy… he looked dead.

InuYasha frowned, "Wait, let me guess. You're that new ally of Naraku's right? That's why you look so dead, the Tusbaki girl said that Naraku was using a dead mind to create a new freak minion of his…" Wait, if this demon was here… then what had happened to Tsubaki? "Did you kill Tsubaki?!" InuYasha demanded.

The demon stepped forward and lifted up the machete. Then he blinked, and it was like his eyes refocused. In a strange and much clearer voice, her asked, "You're that hanyou friend of the shamen!"

"Shamen?" InuYasha said with a frown, rolling the strange word around on his tongue, "You mean Kagome?"

The crocodile demon didn't nod, and his body didn't move, but he said, "Yeah, I was the voice in her freakin dream! I helped 'er out! Look, I'm not really alive again, I can't do nothing right now. All I can do is borrow a body to talk from. I gave the sha- Kagome my name, so I aint worried too much. The damn Jap who stole me sword is the one controlling this dead body of mine."

InuYasha blinked, trying to wrap his mind around all this new information, "You dead?"

"Pretty much. Sucks doesn't it?" the voice replied, seeming to be not so much connected to the body anymore, "Damn, I'm beginning to fade," the voice swore, "look, I aint got much time, so listen the fuck up. This body is programed to fight you, probably to the death. That's good, cause I just want some damn peace. Kagome has me name, so I don't care bout much else, only I don't want to owe a freaking Jap cause I started attacking him for no reason, ya got that?" the voice sighed and told InuYasha, "Look, my left side is a lot weaker than my right. And I can't track movement very fast with my eyes."

"Wait, does that mean that you're not gonna stop yourself from fighting me?!" the hanyou demanded, "I got to get back to Kagome, I don't have time to fight your resurrected corpse!"

The voice was very faint now, "Sorry, I can't. I'm pretty much dead now. Just remember what I told you. And get to Kagome."

"No, wait, I need more answers!" InuYasha yelled, but it was too late.

The voice was gone.

All that was left was a dead body, hell bent on killing InuYasha.

Suki's red eyes went wide, and real fear came over her face.

Of course. The demon in the woods. That had been where Naraku had got the power of hypnosis from, that was how he had been able to turn Tsubaki into a mindless slave, and now he… he… And now that god damn bastard had done the same thing to Chimaki. "Chimaki-nee…" she whispered, terrified, as she slowly turned around.

Her sister was standing at the base of the cliff, despite the fact that Suki had told her not to approach the fight and despite the fact that Chimaki wouldn't disobey a request like that. Chimaki always knew to stay out of the fighting. But when Suki desperately searched Chimaki's eyes, looking for something, anything, a small spark of light that meant that her sister was still herself and wasn't a mindless puppet… there was nothing.

Nothing.

Her sister's eyes were dead and devoid of life, just like Tusbaki's had been.

Chimaki opened her mouth and a tone-less, emotion-less, and utterly Chimaki-less voice came out, "Yes, Master Naraku."

Suki's heart died in her chest.

Chimaki turned to Suki and stepped forward slowly, raising her arm. Her hand slowly began to smoke, until there was an aura of fire around her fingers. It wasn't like Suki's constant burn, this was less powerful, but deadly all the same.

And then Chimaki leaped at her sister.

On the other side of the valley, Naraku strode towards Kagome. She was still kneeling on the ground. The Shikon-no-Tama would be his!

There was nothing she could do, Kagome knew that. She was no help in this fight. Her arrows were useless, she couldn't shoot Chimaki, and Naraku knew that. And her arrows seemed to have no effect on Naraku either. All she could do was press down on the hole in Ichida's stomach and hope it had a positive effect. "Don't you die, Ichida…" she muttered, gritting her teeth as she cast a frantic glance towards Naraku.

The demon was smirking, that sick twisted little grin that didn't mean amusement but confidence. Naraku stepped closer to Kagome, and she saw his red eyes flicker to the Shikon jewel that she still wore as a pendant.

"Stay away!" Kagome snarled, her own ferocity surprising her.

She raised her hands on impulse, and a bright pink glow surrounded her arms, like the light from her arrows. What had InuYasha called it? Purification energy. Her miko powers. The light grew and the pink grew brighter, forming a dome around Kagome and Ichida.

The smirk fell off Naraku's face as he stepped back from the dome of pink energy. Kagome gasped at the extent of her own powers. She had managed to create a barrier. She was keeping Naraku at bay and she was doing all on her own.

She turned to Suki, who was just dodging Chimaki's attacks with ease and fear. "Once Suki knocks out Chimaki, we can kill Naraku. I can fight better now, I think."

Ichida sadly shock her head, the small effort causing her to cough and rasp for a moment before she was able to speak, "That'll never happen," she said sadly, "Suki will absolutely never hurt Chimaki, no matter what the circumstance. She will let herself be killed before she hurts her."

Outside the barrier and across the clearing, Suki was starting to smile.

Chimaki was a fabulous fighter. Already, Suki had been burnt twice, and she had been avoiding as best as she could. Ever since the tattoo on her sister's shoulder had surfaced, Suki just hadn't had the time to teach Chimaki to fight, although she had promised that she would as soon as she was able to. It filled Suki with pride to know that he sister was such a good fighter even without any training.

Suki stepped away from another attack, rolling onto the snow and jumping back up to avoid the follow-up kick that should have hit her in the head. Instead, there was just a tiny burn on her nose, but nothing serious. Suki could never hurt her sister. She knew that. All she could do was wait it out, hope for a miracle, or kill Naraku before Chimaki became too lost. In other words, that miracle was looking pretty non-existent right now. In all probability, Suki would let herself be killed by her sister's hand. She knew that. She would accept that. The alternative was unthinkable.

The ground began to crack around Chimaki, small splinters in the earth that groaned and roared.

Then a great chasm opened up in front of Chimaki, and a huge spire of boiling lava shot up into the air and splattered drops of molten fire over the ground. Suki leapt backwards and watched as her sister began to channel the lava into a weapon around her arm.

Suki smiled, "I'm so proud of you, nee-san," she whispered, gazing in awe at the power that her sister could now harness. The first one since their father to be able to do it, even though Suki had long thought that it was impossible for either of them to do so. "Even when they're all dead, you're still proving them wrong."

The bright red light flickered across Chimaki's face, illuminating her demonic features and making her look regal and deadly and powerful. The lava dripped from her hand, turning the snow to steam as it fell to the ground. Chimaki walked forward, the dead look in her eyes flickering in the firelight. Chimaki really was the first born in their family, really was the strongest, was the family heir. Their father had made a bigger mistake than he thought that day he cast her out of the family.

Chimaki was no idiot, no fool. She was brilliant beyond all belief. She wasn't an invalid. She could fight like nothing Suki had ever seen before. She wasn't the waste of space that everyone thought she was. She was wonderful. And she was the most powerful member of their family that Suki had ever seen. So much promise. If only Chimaki had been taught to fight since the day she was born, she could have been unstoppable by now.

And Chimaki was so close now, her arm of fire ready to kill Suki. And Suki wasn't going to move. She was going to help her sister.

So when Chimaki struck her arm, Suki stepped into the attack and pulled her sister into a close hug.

The lave dripped uselessly to the ground.

Chimaki wasn't moving, those dead eyes of hers unblinking and not responsive. "Remember me, Chimaki-nee," Suki whispered, hugging her sister as close as she could and trying not to cry from the pain of seeing her dear big sister so unlike herself, "Don't let Naraku take control of you. You're strong. I know you can do it. Just remember me, nee-san."

Her paler red eyes just stared into the distance, but she didn't try to attack Suki either. Chimaki just stood there. Her eyes shone, just a flicker, just for a moment, but in that second of time, she broke the control, just enough to whisper back, "S-Suki… Suki-nee…"

Naraku glared at the scene taking place across the field. That little girl wasn't supposed to remember! She was supposed to be the weakest, an easy target!

He frowned in displeasure and snapped his fingers.

Chimaki gasped as the deadness came over her eyes once again and she leapt away from her sister. She darted across the clearing and stood beside Naraku, like the loyal servant she was once again.

"Leave my sister out of this!" Suki yelled, moving back into a fighting stance, "Just let her go! She's not your mindless puppet! Your fight is with me!"

Naraku glanced over at Suki for a moment before his eyes flickered back to Chimaki with a gaze that made Suki's heart stop. "All right," he said slowly.

Suki paused, her eyes wide in disbelief. What was he playing at?! Naraku never agreed, not to anything, he didn't do that! He was the one to set the rules, he made the deals, he didn't agree to them and he had no reason to let Chimaki go. She would betray him anyways – of this Suki was certain –, but that wasn't a reason for him to release her now. Something was wrong. Suki hurried towards Naraku.

"She's useless to me now anyways," Naraku said coldly, observing Chimaki as if she wasn't a person, just an object that he was willing to part with, "And she showed so much promise as well. Shame." He held out his hand, towards Chimaki's stomach and something inside her glowed.

Then Naraku plunged his hand through her stomach and pulled out a shimmering diamond blade covered in bright crimson blood.

Chimaki let out a tiny breathy gasp, and then with a flick of Naraku's wrist, she was flung towards Suki.

"Chimaki-nee!" Suki screamed desperately, catching her sister before she could be too hurt. "Oh god… please be okay…" Suki muttered to herself, wide eyed as she held Chimaki's unresponsive body in her arms.

Pulse, she had to check for a pulse. But that didn't make sense because there was so much blood, too much blood, and there was that deadness in Chimaki's eyes. She couldn't still be under the hypnosis, that was impossible, Naraku had let her go. Why was there so much blood? Suki kept frantically trying to find Chimaki's wrist to check for a pulse, but at the same time she had to check for breathing and there wasn't any of that, only a deadness that couldn't be there!

Suki's shaking hands finally found their way to Chimaki's wrist. Her fingers slipped in the wet and warm blood as she hurriedly found the vein and pressed. Nothing. She leaned her ear to Chimaki's mouth and listened. Nothing. Her entire body began shaking because this wasn't possible.

This wasn't possible.

This wasn't possible.

No no no no no no NO NO NO NO!

"C-Chimaki-nee…" she whispered desperately, hoping with absolutely everything left in her that her sister was fine and alive and this wasn't happening and that this was just a dream and that she would wake up and find her sister to be alive and well because right now she wasn't… "Oh god…" she choked, "Chimaki-nee…"

"She's dead... You- you killed her…"

"You killed Chimaki-nee."

"You killed my sister."

Bump-bump.

"I'M GOING TO KILL YOU!"