AN: You guys are really going to hate me now…really, really, really… –.–;

Disclaimer: See the first chapter!

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The Life of a Devil

To Love and To Hate

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*Sesshoumaru's Mansion – 5:47:11AM*

"Aw…"

Sango looked up from the sofa, holding her stomach as her slightly blurred vision began to clear. "You know; for once, I'm glad I'm a girl."

Kouga held the ice pack to his black eyes. "Sango – shut up." But really though, just because she was a girl she didn't get beaten to near death; now was that really fair?

Sesshoumaru walked in at that moment through the oak door, rubbing his slightly aching shoulder.

"How's Inuya – oooow!" Miroku held his bleeding nose and took another tissue from the tissue box. "Man does that sting…"

"Inuyasha won't come out from his room." Sesshoumaru said with the usual monotone voice, but the three of them noticed the slightly tired tone.

"He's not hurt is he?" Sango sat up, letting her feet drop from the sofa and leaned back, trying to take in air through her dry mouth.

"No…not physically at least."

She frowned. "What, he didn't breathe in that gas like I did, did he?"

"I wish I did." Kouga grumbled, wincing when he pushed the ice pack on his eye a bit too hard.

"No…but he may be hurt emotionally."

Miroku sighed. "If I had a choice between having an internal injury, or external injury, I would much rather choose external; no matter how much pain it would be to suffer through it." He took another tissue. "I may be able to treat physical injury…but emotional injury is another story; it could be a permanent damage."

Sango looked down at her slightly blurred feet. She shook her head. "I still can't believe that Kikyou…Inuyasha saying she was alive…"

"Much less betray us." Kouga growled, but suppressed his anger for the sake of his injuries. "And kidnap Kagome."

Sesshoumaru looked out the window. "It does explain a lot though."

"How so?" Miroku frowned.

"While she was still with us, a few files would disappear from time to time, but only unneeded ones. I always thought that Shiro had eaten them or my idiotic brother lost them…but after Kikyou 'died', I became oddly suspicious."

Sango bit her bottom lip. "I just hope that…Inuyasha and Kagome, wherever she is, will be fine…"

"So do I Sango." Miroku nodded. "So do I…"

Meanwhile…

Sometimes, trying to forget everything and pretend everything was fine worked quite nicely…

Inuyasha kept staring at the interesting spot on the ceiling, lying nearly lifelessly with his oddly dull eyes.

…but of course, most of the times that hardly worked…

He shook his head, his silver hair beneath his still body.

Kikyou…

She had betrayed him. All this time, she had been betraying him.

…why?

"Because I fell in love with Naraku first…"

…first…

First…

What did that mean…?

Inuyasha parted his lips, letting a slow and quiet sigh out, but still staring up at the ceiling with unblinking sorrowful eyes. Nothing mattered…Kikyou…she wasn't the person he thought she was.

But…

What about Kagome?

What about her…?

He cocked his head, but his expression remained unchanged.

She betrayed me too…

…but did she?

He had just thought that Kikyou wasn't the person he thought she was…so could she have been lying?

But the way Kagome was opening and closing her mouth…

"Inuyasha! No! She's lying! Don't listen to her!"

The desperateness in her panicking eyes…the quiver in her voice when she cried for him…pleading for him to believe her…

Yet now she was gone. And he wouldn't know if she was really saying the truth or not.

…but I have to know.

Kikyou had been outright with the truth; wouldn't Kagome have been like that if she had truly betrayed him?

I have to know.

Inuyasha sat up. His eyes were dull, but with a slightly different look – anger and dreadfulness.

He had to know…he had to find Kagome. If she was telling the truth, he would forever be regretful that he had ever denied her…if she had been lying this whole time…

…He would kill her with his own hands.

*Naraku's Hideout (again, moved) – 6:01:38AM*

Kikyou tapped her foot, keeping her eyes closed as she took another cigarette out of the cigarette box, putting the box back in her pocket and taking out a lighter.

She lit the tip of the cigar and pocketed the lighter. She opened her eyes just slightly enough to make them look like slits and took the cigar out of her mouth, the intoxicating smoke flowing out of her mouth.

"Since when did you start smoking?"

Kikyou, still leaning on the wall, looked up at the older woman. She rolled her eyes and looked the opposite way. "Just now."

Kagura quirked her eyebrow, but she didn't ask. She knew what was going on.

The woman holding her cigar watched as Kagura walked passed her, but she stopped instead of continuing down the hallway.

"Keeping things to your self isn't healthy."

Kikyou didn't move an inch.

Kagura turned slightly to the nervous girl, seeing sweat beads forming on her forehead. "You should also smoke outside. You're tainting the air." She then promptly walked away, not looking back at the shaking girl who was still staring down at the floor.

No…

Kikyou shook her head and put the cigar back in her mouth. "She doesn't know…"

She leaned her head back on the wall and kept her arms crossed in front of her chest breathing in to smoke.

She wouldn't know…she couldn't…

The answer was simple.

I don't love him…I don't…

Meanwhile…

Kagome groaned, trying to lean away from the chains binding her. She had heard Inuyasha call her a devil in chain when he was teasing her about the dress she had wore when they first met, but this was just ridiculous…

She looked up at the handcuffs on her hands, limply hanging from the ceiling and her hands held above her head. This was getting incredibly uncomfortable.

Trying to find her footing, since her feet barely touched the cement floor, she heard something.

Oh great…footsteps…

Kagome looked around the completely dark surrounding, barely able to keep her eyes open. There was a few clicking noise, and she suddenly noticed a line of light that creaked open in front of her, becoming wider and wider to reveal Naraku, standing in front of the doorway with something in his hands.

She was too tired to realize what he had in his hand was a long black whip.

"So, you're awake."

Kagome sighed. "Unfortunately." Her vision was still slightly blurred.

Naraku walked up, closing a few feet between them and stopped. "So, you think you can waltz around my territory and destroy my plan?" He smirked. "My dear Kagome…after what I've done for you…after I adopted you from the streets."

"Shut it Naraku." She growled. "Don't think you can get me to believe all that crap. I knew from the beginning that you knew I was related to the great Shirookami when you found me on the streets. I know you thought you could pry some info out of me about them in hopes of being able to beat them in the black market." She sneered at him. "Instead, I was the one who used you, Naraku. I let you train me, make me stronger…you probably figured that out by now. Why else would you have me here?"

Naraku's arrogant smirk faltered slightly. "But I still won. I killed the last of your family and after years of observing you, I know that's your greatest weakness."

She glared at him. "You still haven't killed the last of my family."

"Oh?" He grinned. "So you know where Ayame is, then?"

She mentally cursed. She had been an idiot letting her emotion take over…and while in a dire situation like this…

He came closer. "Care to tell me where she is?"

She kept on glaring.

His smirk became more annoying. "So, you want to make it hard for yourself, mm?" He held up the hand with the black whip. "I'll just have to punish you for your arrogance then."

Kagome screamed when Naraku brought down his hand, the whip connection painfully on her leg. It cut right through her black pants, revealing a long red cut that stung like hell…

Naraku smirked, loving the scream and savoring the echo that continued throughout the dark room that was lightened only by the open door. "Had enough yet?"

She didn't let herself cry, much less look or talk to him.

"You have always been a rebellious one, Kagome."

There were more numerous sounds of the whip cracking as it connected with Kagome's pale skin, earning her many screams of pain that Naraku savored every bit until the last, when he closed the distance between them and grabbed Kagome's chin with his other hand.

"Cry all you want." He sneered at her, leaning in closer. "Just cry dear…cry."

Kagome kept her eyes closed, but she couldn't control the liquid forming inside her closed eyelids and spilling out of the side of her eyes.

He watched the tears coming down her cut cheeks with a sinister grin. "Good…"

Kagome wanted to screech when Naraku crushed his lips on hers, forcing his tongue into her mouth and his hands roaming her back shamelessly. Bringing her numb leg up, she kicked with all her might and nearly using up what little of her energy she still had left.

Naraku growled as he backed away, his shin burning with pain but ignoring the forming bruise. "So, you want to play hard, do you?"

She screamed and chocked on a sob when he used the whip on her again, earning another slash on her arm. She was beginning to be completely covered by the long lines of these red stinging wounds, all over her body.

I'm crying…

Crying…she hadn't cried for such a long time…and now she was crying…

"You'll wish you were dead after I'm done with you." He said before he crushed his lips on hers again. Little did he know Kagome already preferred the idea of death over being touched by his slimy hands.

Not one of them noticed a form standing outside the door, glaring at the back of Naraku's head and her fist shaking with fury.

Kagura turned around, taking her cell phone out as she quickly walked away from the disgusting scene. If she went in now, she would surely get killed…and that wouldn't exactly help Kagome.

So this is how being helpless feels…

She smirked.

She'll show Naraku who the real rebellious one was around here…

*Meanwhile at the Weaponry Shop*

Ayame threw down the headphone on the table in pure disgust. She was panting, her eyes wide open and her mouth clenched; her whole face the perfect example of wanting to kill someone.

From the sound of things, Naraku seemed as if he really intended to rape Kagome right then and there.

She shook her head and kicked the chair away on the floor, the one she had pushed back when she forcefully stood up, wanting to retch.

Turning around, she walked towards the coat hanger and took her coat. She had to go and save Kagome…if she didn't know any better; she would have said this was all her fault.

"Kanna."

Ayame paused. She turned around and looked at the headphone on the table. That was Kagura…

"Get over here."

Ayame looked at the coat she had on then back at the headphone. She sighed and took her coat off, hanging it back on where it originally was. She couldn't just barge in there if she didn't even have a plan. Besides, this sounded important…

"You can't tell Naraku this. If you do, I'll kill you."

Ayame put on the headphone, now very interested.

"I know you gave up your freedom for that bastard. But he never said you couldn't abort."

Another momentary silence. This was getting intense…

"Betraying isn't always a means of revenge…oh, and by the way –"

Ayame leaned in, listening closely to the conversation.

"You should be more careful who you're listening to…Ayame."

The emerald-eyed girl squeaked and backed away, but nearly tripping down because of the headphone that forced her to be in close proximity with the computer. "What…how…?" She knew Kagura couldn't hear her, though.

"I'm a professional assassin and a spy. I would notice a bug in a second…unlike Naraku…" There was a growl. "I know you want to save Kagome…"

Ayame nodded out of pure instinct.

"So meet me at Tokyo Dome in about an hour." A hint of smirk was evident in her voice. "I think a little surprise to our dear bastard would be something we would all want, don't you?" Then she clicked off.

Ayame blinked and took off the headphone and looked down at it suspiciously. Should she trust Kagura? Was this a trap?

…but the signs all directed that Kagura really did seem to hate Naraku…and remembering the sounds of Kagome's screams…

She again stood up, more carefully this time, and walked over to her coat.

She had no choice right now.

She put on her heavy brown coat.

This was for Kagome.

*Sesshoumaru's Mansion – 8:09:43AM*

"Inuyasha! Calm, down!!!"

Sango screamed from the couch, wanting to get up and help Miroku and Kouga stop him from jumping out the window in the living room since Sesshoumaru had blocked the front door, but she knew if she did, she would start retching from using too much energy while still so weak.

"Inuyasha, please! Stop it!!!" Sango yelled at him.

But the dog-boy ignored her and kept on struggling towards the windows, swinging his fists madly at the boys holding him back. It was as if he had turned into a demon of some sort that wouldn't stop until it was dead.

"Get a hold of yourself, man!" Miroku yelled at him, pushing him back with his arms but it was nearly impossible. Inuyasha was like titanium. "Inuyasha! Stop –"

Sango screamed when Miroku went sailing through the air, crashing right through the window Inuyasha was intending to jump through. The tapestry swung ominously as Miroku disappeared under the window and after all the window pieces shattered down on the carpeted floor. Sango dashed towards the window, ignoring the gut wrenching feeling and looked through what was left of the glass, poking her head out and looking down with a extremely worried look.

"Miroku!"

"Aw…"

"Miroku, are you all right?!"

"…aw…" Miroku repeated groaning. "My poor lumbago…"

Sango stared at him. "…"

"Inuyasha! This is for your own good!" Kouga yelled as he stepped back and drew his fist back.

Sesshoumaru watched with one eyebrow quirked while Kouga threw a fist at Inuyasha, squarely in the jaw.

'It's flying idiots today…' …that was what Sesshoumaru thought as his half sibling flew passed him and landed with a dull thud on the couch, causing a huge pop and a massive ball of feathers flew into the air, enveloping the room in white snow like materials.

"…you're going to pay for that." He said dully as he examined the leather seat, now with a huge hole.

Kouga watched Inuyasha disappear in the mass of white, but a moment later opened his mouth in a silent scream of pain and grabbed his throbbing knuckle with his other hand, shaking his head. "Oh craaaaaaaaaaad! What's his jaw made of? Metal?!"

"Just be lucky you're not going to need stitches." Miroku grunted as he struggled into the room through the shattered window, holding his elbow as Sango helped him steady his composure. "I'm not sure how you all survived being with him for such a long time…"

"We struggled." Kouga, Sango and Sesshoumaru all dully said in unison.

"…" was Miroku's response.

"@$%#..."

Kouga coughed when a feather flew into his mouth. "Looks like he's *cough* still awake…" He coughed again and held his throat. "Water! *cough*"

Inuyasha, still shooting colorful words out of his metal like mouth (or how Kouga now described it as), sat up and growled, waving a few feathers away from his face. "Man…you guys didn't have to do that."

Miroku, also waving away some feathers, raised his eyebrow. "And you don't even remember throwing me out the window?"

"I wasn't thinking."

"That's for *choke* sure." Kouga coughed again while he came back from the kitchen, holding a glass of water. "Shit…I can't get the feather out…"

"It's stuck in your throat?" Sango sneezed, brushing away an astray feather from her nose.

"Yeah…can't gulp it down…"

Miroku shook his head. "And they say pillow fights are innocent…" He got a full smack in the face with feathers thanks to Kouga and Sango.

Sesshoumaru looked over towards Inuyasha. "I take it you ran wild again?"

Inuyasha snorted and looked away.

"I also take it you were heading towards Naraku's place?"

He didn't answer.

He sighed and shook his head. "You are a real example of an idiot, dear brother."

That struck a nerve. Inuyasha snapped and jumped off the couch with incredible speed, landing forcefully in front of Sesshoumaru while pointing a sharp fingernail to his throat. "What the fuck did you say?"

Sesshoumaru coolly held his hands up. "I'm merely saying that you're letting your emotion take too much control over you."

"Don't try weaseling out of it, bastard."

"I'm not." Sesshoumaru narrowed his eyes. "But because of the emotions you have for Kagome, you're endangering everything you got. That's not very smart, now is it?"

Miroku leaned over to Sango. "Was he a psychologist in his past life?"

Sango shook her head while Kouga took another huge gulp from his glass. "Don't know…but he's very philosophical, I can tell you that."

"Amusing."

The five swirled around towards the doorway and their eyes widened when they saw the familiar woman.

She had two feathers in her short ponytail.

"Kagura!" Kouga yelled but then coughed again.

Kagura scrunched her nose in disapproval when a saliva-covered feather plopped out of his mouth. "Mm…having a pillow fight now are we?"

"What the heck are you doing here?" Inuyasha cracked his knuckles, he and Sesshoumaru being the most closest to her from the other three.

She didn't answer his question. "I take it Yura is recovering, mm Kazaana-san?"

Miroku narrowed his eyes and kept his mouth shut, but nodded.

"Well, that's good news…" She looked back to the two silver-haired siblings. "Unlike the information I have for you all…"

"What are you doing here?" Sesshoumaru repeated Inuyasha's question but more politely, though with a hint of vengeance in his cold eyes.

"Relax…I'm not spying for Naraku anymore…" Kagura held her fan up to her, covering her mouth. "Not that he knows about it…"

Sesshoumaru, the great Sesshoumaru who always kept his cool, snapped (surprisingly) and advanced on Kagura. In a flash he had her by her neck collar. "Answer me woman."

The other four in the room exchanged glances warily. This was new…

"For the love of Kami…" Kagura stepped back and easily brushed his tight hand away with her fan. "You're not even giving me the time to explain."

Sango quirked her eyebrow. "Explain away then…"

Kagura clicked her tongue. "This morning, Kanna and I aborted from Naraku."

"And he doesn't know?" Kouga, who regained his composure, asked.

"No…but when he does realize that we're gone…" She looked away, swaying her fan gently. "Well…let's just say I'm surprised he hasn't even vent out his anger and shoved his hand into Kagome's pants yet…"

"What?!" Inuyasha yelled and Sesshoumaru had to grab him from strangling Kagura right then and there. "Is he raping her?!"

"By the looks of it…not yet."

Sango rushed over and helped Sesshoumaru hold Inuyasha down. Miroku took the floor. "Then why did you come here?"

"Three reasons." Kagura snapped her fan shut, ready to get down to business. "First, I came here to check on Yura. Second, I came to say that the children are fine, and third…" She smiled sinisterly. "I was wondering if you would mind helping me take revenge on Naraku."

Kouga narrowed his eyes. "How would we know if this isn't another one of Naraku's trap?"

"Well, I don't think Naraku would hold onto Rin and Kohaku for such a long time if it wasn't for me…"

"What did you say?" Sango paused, and she wasn't the only one who froze.

"I said I don't think Naraku would hold –"

"No…did you say Kohaku?"

Kagura looked into Sango's near teary eyes. "Did you honestly think he was dead?"

Sango was the next one to approach Kagura threateningly. "Where is he?! What did you do to him?! Why didn't you bring him if you really aborted?!"

Kagura sighed. "Kohaku's with Rin in a locked room guarded by dozens of cameras. They both have temporary amnesias and do you honestly think bringing two annoying children here through a tight security would be that easy?"

"How did they get amnesias then?"

Her left eyes twitched and steadied herself for the inevitable. "I injected a syringe that –"

That was all she had to say for Sango to pounce on her. Miroku dashed forward and wrapped his arms around her waist from behind, desperately trying to hold her back. "Sango! Calm yourself!"

Kagura tried not showing that her heartbeat had just rocketed skyward and sighed. She was going to kill her self like this one day… "I had no choice. If I hadn't done that, the only other choice would have been to kill them."

"Rin is fine then?" Sesshoumaru helped Miroku calm down the now enraged Sango and Inuyasha. Kouga was the only one who didn't have his hairs slightly out of place.

"Yes, they're all fine." Kagura sighed, a bit more annoyed this time, and shook her head. "But we have to get moving. If you really want to save Kagome, we're going to have to risk everything we got." She looked at all five of them individually. "And I mean everything."

"Why can't you just take us there right now? That'll save us some time ya know."

Kagura glared at Kouga's sarcastic remark. "I would, but don't you think bringing five enemies through a completely secured and locked down underground hideout with cameras on every corner and traps in every part of the floor would be just a little odd?"

"Then what do you suggest we do?" Sesshoumaru asked.

She closed her eyes. "We attack at Thursday. Naraku's going to be at Tokyo Tower."

"Thursday?" Inuyasha growled. "Why Thursday?"

"Because he changed the flight day to Thursday night instead of Friday night." She said with her eyes narrowed.

"Are you kidding us? He could have had plenty of time to rape Kagome by then, and it's now also the delivery day for the virus. Why then?"

"Naraku's not the one to rush. He'll 'play' with Kagome when he knows he killed you, and also because he's expecting you at Thursday."

Miroku cleared his throat. "Yes…that'll be very unsuspecting."

Kagura ignored him. "I take it you found the equisetic cat? The transmission didn't blackout without reason, I suspect."

"She's in the bedroom." Sango nodded. "What do you want with her?"

She smiled. "She'll come in handy."

Miroku frowned. "You lost me there."

Kagura clicked her tongue. "Naraku's expecting you all to barge into his layer while he's at Tokyo Tower with Kagome at Thursday night and set off a hidden mine and blow all yourselves up. Then he's planning to see to it that his shipments make it off flight near a harbor."

Sango shook her head. "But what about the kids? They'll still be inside the layer and even if we do save Kagome, we'll only have one day to find the original virus and cure Kagome."

Kagura waved her index finger at Sango. "You forget Kazaana-san here is the most renowned doctor in the world. He'll be able to find the cure in twelve hours tops."

Miroku nodded. "That's true."

Sango elbowed him. "Don't get full of yourself." She faced back at Kagura. "What about the original virus?"

"That's a tricky one. No copy, like the ones he's sending to the Americas, is going to work. The most likely think is he's hid it somewhere inside the hideout in hopes of it getting destroyed when you enter at Thursday night, or he'll have it with him in his pockets by then."

"How can we be sure?" Sesshoumaru said.

"We can't; not until Kanna get more information back at Naraku's place and make sure he doesn't realize I'm missing until it's too late for him." Kagura shook her head and looked at them with a serious stare. "The only thing you can do is to trust me…not matter how preposterous that sounds."

Inuyasha looked at his other four companions with the most coldest look he had ever given them. He was confused but he didn't let anyone see that he was. He wasn't even sure if Kagome had really betrayed him…but if she was going to die, he would never get an answer from her.

The five agents had a silent agreement and nodded back at Kagura who was watching them intently.

This was for Kagome.

…this was all for Kagome.

AN: Last Chapter – What Stays and Dies: Nightmare's Final End  (There'll be an Epilogue after that)