Author's Notes: Woo… yay… really tired… but still yay! I wonder how long it's been since I updated this story…? Hmm, well, may I advise skimming over the last few chapters to get a bearing of where we are in the story? I had to actually reread the whole story before I could even dream of attempting to write this chapter, but there you go. It's amazing how much I forgot was going on in the current storyline…

But I kept the ending I had in mind. ^__^ The epilogue will be longer than this chapter when I'm done with it and since I'm almost finished, you don't have to worry with author's block and me not updating for another couple of years…

Really… really… sorry about that . I promise to try and make it up to you guys with the best-est epilogue-est of my life-est…. (probably not-est)

Anyway, thanks for all the encouragement – especially Midoriko who really helped me over this writer's block ^__^

Life Exchange

Chapter 23

Back to Sanity

Bankotsu slashed furiously away at the swift hanyou. All the anger, hatred, and loss was boiling over and mingling with his regret… spurring his rage on and fuelling his strength like nothing else ever could. Who needed magic to increase one's strength when adrenaline could do better?

"You dirty, little freak!" he all but screamed as he aimed another heavy blow of his sword right for the transformed hanyou. Inuyasha only kept ducking and retreating step by step… infuriating Bankotsu to no end. "Just stay still so I can kill you!"

The leader of the Shichinin-tai slammed his weapon down hard against the ground as he missed Inuyasha again. The blade got wedged in the solid earth and stuck there. It only took a moment of hesitation on his part before Inuyasha whipped forward and slammed an elbow against Bankotsu's face. The warrior found himself flat on his front, being ground into the earth with Inuyasha's knee in the small of his back. For a moment, the pressure was nearly too much. Inuyasha made two deliberately slow jerks to pull one arm up behind Bankotsu's back – and then the other – pressing them both towards his shoulder blades so carefully that the bones cracked and protested.

The hanyou made a sound similar to a snort or a tutt. "Keh… humans." He gouged his knee harder into Bankotsu's spine. "They break so easily."

Bankotsu gathered his resolve before launching all his anger and strength in an effort to throw Inuyasha off him. It worked, and Inuyasha was sent skidding sideways as Bankotsu managed to buck and kick against him hard enough.

Without a second to delay, he reached out and grabbed the hilt of his sword, tugging it free of the earth. "Then this should prove something for you." Bankotsu hissed. "You're fully transformed and at your full potential, and yet I, a puny human, still manage to overpower you."

Inuyasha didn't seem to be listening. He was looking past Bankotsu at something in the distance. Bankotsu didn't dare turn his back on Inuyasha to see what he was looking at… he wasn't about to fall for the 'look over there!' trick. He knew Inuyasha was looking at Kagome. "What's the matter?"

The consumed hanyou remained staring listlessly past him.

"Do you still care about her? Even with that face?" Bankotsu rolled his eyes at Inuyasha. "I get it now. You're not a real youkai… you're just a hanyou who's lost his humanity. No brain. You're a fake youkai."

No strategy, no real aim in battle other than rip, tear, and kill. Inuyasha certainly was… an interesting opponent. "I'm tired of fighting the brainless wonder." Bankotsu said breezily and hefted Banryuu up into the air. "Now, let's end this quickly."

With a loud crack that shook half the canyon, the large blade was smacked against the ground before Bankotsu. He watched with ill-concealed triumph as a thin crack in the ground slithered its way towards Inuyasha who looked at the approaching crack without much expression. He didn't even move when the rip in the dry earth shot beneath him, swallowing up one foot into the ground and lodging it there. He didn't even really try to break free.

Something was wrong with Inuyasha… but Bankotsu didn't really care one way or another. "Now that I have you standing still…" Bankotsu slunk forward, swinging his sword back and forth beside him, idly. He stopped short a few feet from Inuyasha and pulled a face. "I kinda forgot you were an inch or two taller…"

With a short shove, he sent the Hanyou toppling backwards to land on his behind, though his foot remained trapped. His face was still oddly blank and his eyes seemed to have dulled. Bankotsu narrowed his own eyes for a moment, trying to assess what the problem was, but gave up in favour of stepping closer and moving his sword to hover over Inuyasha's heart.

"Is this all you're worth in the end?"

Inuyasha made no sign of having heard him.

Bankotsu frowned. "But this is so… I want to gloat – there's no point gloating if you don't listen to me doing it."

Slowly Inuyasha tilted his chin up to Bankotsu, and although his eyes remained ever so slightly listless, a smirk spread across the lower half of his face. Bankotsu shrugged and drew back his blade, ready to thrust down. "That'll have to do. I hope you remember this in your afterlife, if such a thing exists."

The only warning Bankotsu got was a few scuffled footsteps behind him, and before he had the chance to turn and look, a sharp pain lanced through his body.

The hands gripping Banryuu above his head slackened and the large sword slid to the ground, lodging in the earth between him and Inuyasha… it supported his weight as his body was left weakened all of a sudden…

For a moment, he thought it was nothing but a flesh wound. He could still go on fighting! A grin plastered across his face and he began pulling his sword up…

But then the horrible cold weakness swept through his body like a wave, and he went numb from the core of his bone to the skin. The world spun and for a second time he lost everything. His unfocused gaze locked on Inuyasha for a moment before he looked down at the rusty katana protruding from his chest. "You lucky bastard…"

   He was going to die. There was no way around it… but he would not go alone!

Gathering the last shred of strength in his body, Bankotsu spun – slashing out his arm in the process.

The blow caught Kagome from where she stood behind him and she toppled to the ground with only a faint cry of pain. Bankotsu sneered down at her as the world darkened and slid sideways – or was it him that was sliding sideways?

"Stupid woman…" he muttered thickly as his life slipped away before him.

He hit the ground with a clatter of dust and bones…

~*~

An interesting show…

Inuyasha smirked slowly as he ripped his foot free of the crack in the earth and got to his feet. What remained of his foe was nothing more than a starched human skeleton and a pile of dry dust… not even a satisfying drop of blood anywhere!

Apart from on the girl.

The hanyou turned his eyes to where she lay a few metres away, staring up at either the sky or the butterflies overheard, her two hands clasped tightly together against her stomach. Her yukata was nothing but shreds of material – and what remained was mostly tainted with delicious smelling blood.

She had reached her limit. She wasn't going to live for much longer…

Not that it mattered, but at least he could get a few more minutes of torture out of her. His scarlet gaze fell on the rusty katana protruding out of the bare ribcage that had once belonged to Bankotsu.

That would do.

Without a further thought, he snatched a hand around the hilt of the old sword and tugged it free, scraping it's chipped edges against the pale bones. He turned towards the girl and lifted the sword incrementally as he approached her.

Something inside him shifted.

His blood receded.

His mind returned with shattering clarity.

"Kagome…"

Tessaiga dropped from his numb fingers, and without even a fleeting thought to all the skeletons that littered the canyon floor, he raced towards the fallen girl and collapsed to his knees beside her. "Kagome!" He seized her shoulders and shook her. "Look at me – Kagome, look at me!"

The girl's eyelids flickered, but she met his gaze with a weak attempt at a smile. "You're back."

"So are you…" The last time he'd seen that sweet smile had been at the river. Neither of them had seen each other properly since.

Inuyasha's heart nearly broke at the condition she was now in. She was pale and stricken, heavily wounded, and stiff with pain. He reached down to clasp his hand over hers, but at her hiss he pulled back. "What's wrong?" He looked down at her hands.

"It's nothing." she mumbled with a tiny shake of her head.

But Inuyasha had already seen. Fear twisted around his heart so violently that he could almost feel the panic attack approaching. "Kagome – you're going to be fine now. I'm going to take you back home, and then you'll put your feet up for a few weeks and recover…"

She was shaking her head.

"Please… come back with me…?" It was pitiful how his voice cracked.

If his voice was uneven, hers was worse. Tears shone in her over bright eyes. "I can't."

"You can, just hold on-"

"I'm dying." she whispered, an emotional squeak creasing her voice. "I can't move… I can barely breathe… don't ask any more of me."

Wisps of her hair stirred in the light breeze, catching across her face and obscuring her eyes. Inuyasha quickly brushed the locks aside and held them with a hand on either side of her head. He was so confused… his mind had been overridden and lost so many times over the past day that he barely knew where he was or what had happened.

All he knew was that Kagome was dying and he had failed to protect her.

"Please forgive me." Please don't leave me…!

She gave him a watery smile. "How… can I not…? I love you…"

His breathing was getting choppy. "I love you, too."

Her smile faded. "You don't really mean that…"

"I do!" He wanted to lift her and hold her, embrace her and never let go… but he was scared of hurting her any further. If he couldn't physically comfort her, he would do everything else in his power to make her feel better… and if that meant lying…

"You mean well… but you don't mean it." Where she found the energy to lift her hand and touch his face with bloodied, cracked fingers was beyond him. But it gave him hope. "Inuyasha… you can dress a sparrow in a peacock's feather and pretend it's something else… but in the end, it's just a sparrow…"

"What…?" She wasn't making sense.

"And… you can dress love up… rename it… and fit it into your ideas of how it should be… but in the end, it is always love… no matter how different it may look to other people…"

Inuyasha stared at her, searching her peaceful face. "I don't understand!" She had to stop wasting her energy in babbling nonsense and just concentrate on holding onto her life!

"You will…" She swallowed hard, closing her eyes. "You'll know what it means… one day…"

"Kagome…?" Please don't go…

She opened her eyes and blinked slowly a few times before closing them again. "It's dark…"

It was the middle of the day. It was anything but dark. "We have to get back to the palace and treat your wounds."

"No…" She frowned slightly. "I want to stay here… just hold me until…"

"Until…?"

"…they come…"

Inuyasha watched her, wordlessly taking in her tranquillity and calmness, considering the situation. He envied her peacefulness when his heart was in nothing but turmoil and distress. He wanted to shout at her – to tell her to stop fooling around and hang on for him… but deep down he knew she was right and he could do nothing but gently pull her into his lap.

He held her as the light faded and the dust from the seven skeletons was swept into the reservoir by the evening wind. He held her as the butterflies dispersed and vanished… as the sun set over the edge of the sea…

He listened to her slow heart, counting off the faint beats and praying for the next one.

"Don't… forget…"

Inuyasha looked down at the girl in his arms. "Don't forget what…?" he whispered.

Her voice was too weak to make a sound but he saw her lips move. Me…

"Never." He watched her eyes slide close again and felt a deep ache settle in his chest. There had to be some way to save her… someone was bound to come by soon and with them, help would arrive for her. She would survive and he could take her back to the palace and worship her for the rest of their lives.

Kagome's heart had stopped beating.

Inuyasha was alone again.

AN: Um… yeah… I need to go… before I get beaten to death…