Yusuke, Kuwabara, Kurama, Hiei, Kigeko, Hikari, and the others had all left the tree haven that had once been their shelter to Inuyasha and the unconscious Kagome. He hadn't asked for them to leave, but it had been a tacit understanding that it was what they deserved after all they'd been through. Even their friends, Sango, Miroku, and Shippou had stayed outside.

Much to Kigeko's relief, Shippou had lost his interest in her and was now bothering Kurama.

"You're a fox demon?" he asked over and over again.

"Yes, yes I am, partly, at least. This isn't my demon form." Kurama was quickly looking for a way to escape this young kitsune, but was having little luck.

Yusuke and the others, however, were having a delightful time with his predicament.

"Hey, Shippou," Yusuke called out to him. "Maybe the two of you are related?"

The eyes of both fox demons widened. Shippou's in happy realization, and Kurama's in fear.

"Hey!" Shippou called out, leaping from one of Kurama's shoulders to the other. "That could be! You could be like my great, great, great, great, great, great..."

Kurama sighed, a large sweat drop falling down his face in resignation. The little tyke continued to bounce around happily.

"How could Kurama be related to you if you don't even live in the same dimension?" Kigeko asked with a flashy grin. Hikari laughed out loud while Shippou plopped himself down on the ground to ponder this.

"How long is it going to take them?" Hiei asked, not bothering to mask his annoyance and impatience.

"As long as they need, I guess," sighed Yusuke. "We don't know what's wrong with her, and whether or not anyone can help her."

They were both talking about Kagome, of course.

However, there were other matters pressing Hiei's mind. Like how they were going to get home.

Kurama sighed. It seemed that all of their problems were far from being solved.

"Kagome?"

There was no response. Inuyasha had been doing this for the past hour with no improvements to show for it. Wherever Kagome was, it wasn't with him here and now.

Though he tried to hide it, Inuyasha knew very well that was panicking. Kagome's pulse was weakening by the moment, and her skin was becoming whiter with every passing minute.

"Kagome?" he growled again. "Kagome, don't do this to me! Don't leave me!"

Silence was his answer. Silence, and the haggard breathing of a dying mortal girl. Inuyasha was at a loss. He didn't know what to do. Even Kurama's extensive knowledge of healing herbs did nothing to wake Kagome from her slumber. Panic had begun to infect Inuyasha's mind, and fear grasped his heart with an iron claw, refusing to let go.

"Kagome?"

The hand that had been so weakly holding to his own for the past hour had suddenly gone limp, and whatever muscles in Kagome's body that were tensed gave way to the cold numbness that was now quickly enveloping her.

"No! Kagome!"

He cradler her head in his right arm while shaking her violently with his left hand. "Kagome, wake up damn it! This isn't funny anymore!" He paused. "It was never funny! Come on, Kagome! Just say something. Say anything! Open your eyes!"

Tears were threatening to take over the hanyou. His hands trembled as he brushed a lock of black hair away from Kagome's whitened face. "Do...anything!"

Voice breaking, hands trembling, and tears threatening to betray his heart, Inuyasha allowed his head to fall into the crook of Kagome's cool neck. Silent sobs wracked his form as everything around him grew mysteriously dark. Inuyasha, however, did not notice this.

A sullen song rose on the still air of the underground room and the candles flickered. Once, twice, and then died completely.

Inuyasha looked up, a frown on his face. Had death come for both of them?

No. It wasn't death. Death never came with sad music and physical darkness. He knew that well enough to fear the shadows that were now swarming around him. But before he could draw Tetsusaiga, a form appeared in the center of the room not a few feet from where Kagome's limp body lay.

Enshrouded in a crystalline blue light, the figure approached cautiously.

"Inuyasha," said the smooth and deep voice. It was a women, or something of the sort at least. She, or it, was too bright to look at directly. "Inuyasha, why do you weep?" But the figure, being, or whatever it was, didn't wait for the hanyou to respond. White eyes peered down at Kagome's form and sighed sadly.

"She is sleeping," said the being with cold consideration. "The Death Sleep. You can not wake her from it."

"What do you mean I can't wake her from it?" Growled Inuyasha. All grief had been replaced with anger when this being had appeared, interrupting. "I'll wake her from it all right, if it takes everything I've got!"

The wraith shook it's head sadly.

"You cannot wake her, Inuyasha, no matter how badly you desire to." A grin, or what looked like a grin, flashed across the crystalline face. "But I can."

The wraith waved a hand down Kagome's cool form. To Inuyasha's surprise, a gossamer, translucent veil appeared over her body. It glowed in the same, crystalline blue as the wraith. Inuyasha made a firm connection, but the wrong one.

"You wench! You're the one doing this to her!"

Inuyasha moved to draw his sword, but an upraised hand from the wraith stopped him.

"I assure you, Inuyasha, that if I wanted to kill Kagome, I would have done it before you ever found her. I'm here to save her for you."

This stopped Inuyasha in his tracks, but the wraith continued on, ignoring his stupefied gaze.

"I am not Death," she whispered gently, her eyes closed. Spreading her arms out over Kagome's form, she turned the corners of the Death Veil idly in her slender fingers. "I am Life. I can be taken away by Death, or I can leave at my own bidding. Death is not present in this girl's life, and will not be for a long time. However, the body can coexist between the two of us, neither living but not yet dead. Kagome is there now, but she is slipping away."

Inuyasha felt his heart stab with pain. "What?"

"She is giving up quickly on me, and has found the promise of solace in the arms of He who is the opposite of me."

"Death," Inuyasha reasoned. The wraith, Life, nodded.

"But that can be stopped, soon enough. You've been speaking to her for some time, but she's heard nothing of it. Yet she senses your presence. She feels you tugging her back to me and that is why she has not yet fully embraced Death yet. You've saved her this far, Inuyasha, but Death is capable of love, and he has truly been taken by Kagome this night."

"What do I do?"

"I shall remove the Death Veil, but that will do nothing in truth, save open her senses to the world of Life once more. It is you, Inuyasha, who must pull her back completely."

Inuyasha frowned.

"How do I do that?"

"Kiss her."

A skeptical crease formed across the half demon's brow. "That's it?"

The wraith shook her head.

"That is not all. Your kiss will only make Kagome aware of the fact that she may return to her body and time. She will come only if she chooses to."

Inuyasha suddenly felt his stomach drop within him. Kagome would have to chose to come back? Come back to what? To him?

Was he really even worth that?

All the suffering that Kagome had faced due to him, all the pain and torment and fear. Was he worth coming back to? Was he worth the inescapable pleasure of peace found in the arms of Death?

Once more, if he wasn't, could he survive that kind of rejection?

"Are you ready, Inuyasha?" the wraith asked coolly.

The hanyou nodded. It was worth everything to take the risk and find out.

No one was quite sure what had passed in the tree haven. They all felt a strange, ethereal presence come and then leave. They had felt the coolness erupt from beneath the roots of the tree, and the sudden, overwhelming tropical heat wave that enveloped them soon after.

Sweating and cursing, Yusuke looked up.

"What the hell was that?"

Kurama's eyes were wide with disbelief. Inuyasha had joined them at the surface, Kagome in his arms.

"She's going to be okay..." he smiled tearfully.

"All is finished then, I see?" asked Koenma from his seat in Spirit World.

"All ship shape and ready to go!" Botan winked happily.

"Excellent! Tell those boys to be ready to move on out! They're going home!"

"I guess this is goodbye, then," sighed Yusuke, shaking hands with Inuyasha.

"For now." Inuyasha smiled. Yusuke nodded in agreement as everyone else shared their goodbyes. Kigeko and Hikari sighed in sorrowful contentment. In just the few days they'd known this colorful group, they'd grown to appreciate their company. And with all their friends now gone, they had very little to look forward to.

"Why don't you come back with us?" asked Yusuke with a sympathetic grin. "You've got nothing here."

Kigeko grinned.

"Yeah, that's true."

It was Hikari who looked longingly over her shoulder.

"But we've got a lot of rebuilding to do here, don't you think?"

"Let them rebuild themselves," Kigeko grumbled angrily. "They lead themselves to this mess."

Hiei hid a small grin.

"So, you're coming with us?" Kuwabara asked with a hopeful grin.

"That would be wonderful," Yukina added happily.

Kigeko sighed and looked up at Hikari.

"Well, what do you think?"

She shrugged. "Yeah, sure why not?"

"So is that two extra for the trip home?" asked a familiar voice. All turned to see Koenma in his teen form approaching.

"Sounds that way," said Kurama, smiling.

"Excellent. Well, now that we've all said our appropriate goodbyes, let us head home!"

Two separate portals flanked Koenma.

"Inuyasha, Kagome, I expect that we won't be seeing you again," said Kurama with a sad sigh.

"I suppose not." Kagome grinned sadly. She had been back to her normal self for the past few hours, much to the joy of her friends. Especially Inuyasha.

The hanyou stared idly at the young woman that even Death himself had fallen in love with, and counted himself lucky.

"It was wonderful having met you," said Kurama, bowing low.

"And you," Kagome curtsied politely, then, taking Inuyasha's hand, the two of them leapt through their own portal. The last image they saw of the pair was Kagome waving back at them cheerily. Sango, Miroku, and Shippou followed, along with the enlarged Kirara.

"She wasn't a bad girl," Yusuke commented with a longing sigh as the portal disappeared.

Kuwabara frowned.

"Hey man, you've got Keiko back at home waiting for you. Don't even think about it or I'd have to pummel you."

Yusuke laughed.

"Now, now, just saying is all!"

"Can we go now?" Came Hiei's annoyed voice.

Kigeko chuckled, and came to stand beside the fire demon. Kurama was at her side as well, while Yusuke and Kuwabara shared a joke with Hikari. Yukina stood, unknowingly, beside her brother with a satisfied smile.

"Let's go, you three!" Shouted Koenma. "You've got more work ahead of you once you get home."

Yusuke frowned.

"Sheesh Koenma, can't we get a small break once in a while?"

Koenma raised an eyebrow and shook his head, sending some provoked laughter through a few members of the group.

With a sigh, Kigeko leapt through the portal behind Yukina and Hiei.

"Goodbye old life," she called back sadly.

Kurama followed with Hikari behind him, and Kuwabara, and at last Yusuke. Koenma shook his head, closed the portal, and sighed.

"And so ends this chapter of the Spirit Detective's adventures..."

--Fin--

Author's Note: Fin! YAY! It's done! I rather liked that scene with the wraith and Inuyasha. I need to use that idea for another story.

Thanks again for all the fabulous reviews you guys! You all rock! (hugs everyone)