A/N: Aieee! Sorry, sorry, sorry – this update is late! Oooh…I'm in trouble. But this whole being sick problem lasted a lot longer than I thought it would. Add to that I had to perform last night for 3 hours (despite having the flu) and you get one tired little puppy! Well, excuses over, I'm armed with throat lozenges and a cup of tea…time for the story.

Disclaimer: I am a fan, this is fiction. You do the math.

Tempting Fate

Chapter 14: Collision Course

Naraku would have rubbed his hands together in satisfaction were it not that he happened to be holding Kanna's mirror at that moment. Not wishing to shatter the precious tool, he instead settled for grinning so widely that Kagura briefly entertained the thought that her 'master' had gone insane as well. Needless to say, she was quite disappointed when his next words proved that he was completely lucid.

"Inuyasha has done better than even I could have hoped. In a very short time, the shards will be in our possession. We had best go and collect them."

Kagura stifled her inadvertent sigh and held out her hand for the latest puppet. To her alarm, Naraku arose from his seat and strode over to her with a greater degree of mobility than she would have credited him with. 'His healing is all but complete!'

"No, Kagura," he intoned smoothly, "for such an important event, I will attend in person. I want to see their final defeat with my own eyes, not second-hand vision." Lost for words, Kagura pulled out a feather and watched it grow until both she and Naraku would be able to ride it. For a brief instant she toyed with the notion of pushing the hanyou off in mid-air (preferably over a rocky gorge somewhere) but a quick tightening of her heart dispelled that idea immediately. With his full strength nearly returned to him, Naraku had no trouble whatsoever in discerning her rebellious mood.

"So eager to die?" he taunted her cruelly. She made no reply – her silence would be answer enough. "No? Excellent. To the wolf tribe!" he ordered her brusquely, mounting the floating feather easily. Still wincing from the pain of having her heart manipulated like that, Kagura reluctantly followed suit. Out of the corner of her eye she spotted Kanna standing as silent as ever to one side, her mirror clutched tightly in her white hands.

***

Kanna watched the pair leave, not showing her inner satisfaction at having the two noisy mortals gone from her presence. In the absence of Naraku's impatient orders, and Kagura's brash manner, life could be quite bearable. She was perfectly aware that they were heading for a battle.

She would not be sorry if they did not return. After all, a being without a soul can feel no remorse.

***

Kagura could not keep herself from shifting anxiously on the soft feather as they sped towards the mountain where the wolf youkai tribe made its home. This was not how she had planned on approaching the young miko girl – the chances of the human listening to her were now non-existent. 'I'm running out of time!' she thought desperately. 'Once Naraku gets all of the shards, I'm as good as dead – he only created me because he didn't have the power to do everything he needed to himself! As soon as he's a full youkai, my time is up!' Her mind raced as she tried to find a possible solution to her dilemma, coming up with nothing in the end.

'I can't do anything until the battle is underway – this time it's all up to the miko and her mad hanyou. They're the only ones who can stop this now.' She glanced back at her master cautiously – his eyes were closed in deep meditation. 'Gathering strength for the fight,' she surmised grimly. 'I wish I could do the same…'

Kouga watched in shock as Kagome's friends all began to face off against each other. At first, he had attributed these strange images to the knock on the head that he had gotten courtesy of Inuyasha – but once his vision had cleared, the circumstances were still the same. Quickly he sought out the person of utmost importance…Kagome herself. To his immense relief he found her standing to the side, grasping Inuyasha's rusty old sword like a lifeline.

"Kagome," he rasped, moving stiffly over to her.

"Kouga!" she exclaimed softly, looking him over for injuries. "Are you alright?" He had definitely looked better once – he was bleeding from various scratches and stab wounds all over his body, and he would have a marvellous black eye come the following morning. He shrugged her concern off, gently turning her to face him. "More to the point – are you alright? Inukkoro didn't hurt you, did he?" She pulled away from him slightly, causing him to frown.

"No, Sango attacked him as soon as he threatened me. But he would never actually hurt me!" He looked at her in disbelief.

"You can't be serious. Kagome, he was going to kill you!" She shook her head adamantly.

"No! He might say things like that – he always did – but he never meant them! Even when he was a full youkai before this, he could never bring himself to actually harm me. You…just don't understand." She turned away to look at her friends, who were still stuck in a standoff.

"KAGOME!" someone yelled, nearly knocking her over in her haste to reach the girl. Startled, Kagome jumped backwards and narrowly avoided landing on Kouga. "Has that inuhanyou done anything to you?" Mizumi pulled back to look at her friend concernedly. Kouga snorted.

"If you're asking has he done anything other than threaten to kill her and her friends, then no." Mizumi gaped at her leader for a second, then turned back to the girl.

"I knew it! Didn't I tell you he was nothing but bad news? Come on, let's get you out of here!" To her amazement, Kagome shook her off. "Kagome?"

"This isn't him, I know it. It's Naraku, it has to be! If I can just get the Tetsusaiga to him, he'll be fine-" she broke off suddenly, looking around with wide eyes. "He's here." Mizumi looked puzzled.

"Who?" Kagome shivered; Kouga wound a protective arm about her waist, but she didn't notice.

"Naraku. He's here."

***

Inuyasha was in a world of confusion. Who were these people who were defying him? He had the strangest feeling that he should recognise them, but their identities eluded him for the moment. Growling, the youkai forced himself to focus on what they were saying.

"Inuyasha," the robed one said slowly, "you have to calm down. Think about it – you don't want to do this. Sango only did it for your own good."

'Sango? Who? Sango, Sango, Sango….ah. The traitor.' He snarled softly, flexing his claws. He could see the traitorous human picking herself up behind her guards, readying her own sword for combat. He wouldn't give her a chance to use it. A smaller voice interrupted his concentration.

"Inuyasha? F-father? C'mon, you gotta listen! Dad?"

'Father? Since when am I a father?' His eyes narrowed as he sought out the owner of the voice. Shippo gulped when those red eyes found him. 'A kitsune?!'

"You can't kill Kagome – you love her! Remember?" Inuyasha blinked. He knew that name. "You can't hurt Sango either – we're a pack! A family!"

'Pack,' he mused, 'a pack.' He vaguely noticed the robed human – what was his name? – fiddling with some beads wrapped around his wrist, but he didn't move. A sudden movement beyond the four in front of him caught his attention. The wolf and his mate! The upstart wolf brat had one arm around his unfaithful mate… He snarled viciously, showing his long fangs. "The pack is broken!" Abruptly he leapt forwards, knocking the humans and the kitsune to the ground in his rage.

***

Kouga continued to hold Kagome safely as she sought Naraku's position nearby. He had to remind himself not to jump when she suddenly stiffened, pointing one arm out at the top of the mountain. "He's up there!" She paused. "But he's not doing anything. I wonder why?" The miko glanced over at Mizumi urgently. "He's waiting for something – we have to warn the others! Quickly-"

Kouga sensed Inuyasha's enraged approach and picked up Kagome as she was speaking, making her squeal in surprise. "Mizumi, get her to safety!"

"No!" Kagome protested as Mizumi carried her off rapidly. "Naraku's up to something – I have to fight him! I have to – let me go!" She carefully unleashed a little of her power, causing Mizumi to yelp in pain and drop her to the ground. "Sorry, Mizumi, but I had to," she apologised quickly, turning to run back to her friends. She was just in time to see Inuyasha collide head-on with Kouga once more, intent on destroying his opponent once and for all. "Inuyasha!" she yelled hoarsely – she would lose her voice with all this yelling if she wasn't careful! But the crazed youkai paid her no heed as he ripped into his hated rival.

Kagome looked up to where Naraku was standing – just standing, not attacking. He was just observing the goings on, and it unnerved her. Her miko senses were telling her that something big was coming, something that would catch them all unaware. She clenched Tetsusaiga even tighter, as though she would crack the scabbard in her desperation.

"I have to stop this."

A/N: So, everyone is in the same place now – let the battle begin!

Reviewer replies:

Aamalie – Dark cliffhanger music…what does that sound like, I wonder? I only have the manga to go by, as Inuyasha doesn't even exist anywhere in Australia! So deprived…I've never seen an episode, can you believe it?

Angelic-goddess101 – Sorry about the delay, what with the cliffy and all – here it is!

ShadowHeart – Well, I decided to save you the plane fare. This heading a little more towards I/K-ish stuff, better? Hope so.

She who walks in shadow – Cool name, by the way! Sorry about the wait, hope this makes up for it.

Murasaki Kitsune – Hey, you're back! Hope you can find a job soon – I know what searching for one is like, believe me! I've graduated from uni and it still took me two months to find one.

Stripe – Hey, you should be used to these cliffhangers from me by now…it just builds the excitement!

Kouji Ishida – I'm so glad you are reading even though the pairings are a little mixed right now. Thank you for sticking with me. It should be moving towards I/K soon, but there's a bit of action in the way next…not much time for fluff when you're fighting the bad guys…

Ashley (InuMad) – I can see how I'm going to end up…chained to my computer for all eternity, churning out fics for obsessed readers. What a life. Funny you should mention a new fic…you're not the only one. All I can say is, watch this space…

By the way, I play trombone in a swing/jazz band, and I'm the vocalist as well. It's pretty full on, but I love it! I also play trombone and sing in the choir at my church. So yeah, I'm a bit of a professional musician, really…

Time's mortal enemy – THANK YOU! *hugs* I'm happy for me too. I start work next Tuesday. Can't wait. I hate reading unfinished stories too – they're so disappointing! Rest assured, I will never do that. I may leave a story hanging, but it will get finished one way or another. We're all mad, huh? Sadly enough, it makes sense. Why else would we dream up stories in a fantasy world anyway? It is I/K, I never tell a lie (even though this chapter didn't quite turn out as planned in some bits…weird). And Kouga will be happy too, I promise. I've put him through too much to just leave him like that.

Mvdiva – There's always an ulterior motive for get-well wishes. Oh well, I don't mind. I take them as they come. *mutters* Slavedrivers….

Miztikal-Dragon – Would it help you if I said that I know how Naraku dies in this fic? Or that he even does die? Well, I do know, so you'll just have to wait and find out how. Big fight scenes coming…please don't keel over and die, I need your reviews! *grins*

Shrimple13 – Chapters are short, but frequent. Hope that's not a problem. Here's another one!

Rogueandkurt – I thought the attacks would get people's attention…hope you like this bit!

Krista - *dodges the cottonball* Nyah! You missed! Hey, even my fingers have to take a break sometime. More I/K later, I promise! You won't believe how it happens…trust me.

Dancing-by-moonlight – You're getting tingles from my story? Whoa. That's a compliment if I ever heard one. Thank you! Don't know who she will choose, huh? Or will she choose at all? Wait and find out!

Dark Angel – Sadly, I'm not a professional. But I might be one day! Just have to keep practising…with fanfiction. Oh well, at least this homework is fun! So glad you like it.

Kitty-gurl – Basically, Naraku drove him nuts, and now he's dropped Tetsusaiga, so he's turned youkai. But Kagome's going to do something about that soon…

A/N: Wow – this many reviews for one chapter! At this rate, I'll break 200 reviews! The mind boggles…Thanks for all the congratulations on my job – I'm going to be a receptionist/typist, should be easy enough – and I'll try to get the next chapter out soon. But then, you guys are so inspirational, it shouldn't be a problem. If you think I'm taking too long, feel free to email me (check out my bio page for the address) and yell, flame, encourage, boss me around…it all helps to remind me of what I'm supposed to be doing. Plus, I just like getting emails and replying to my friends (which you all are). So, see you around!