I am beginning to hate all things computer-related. I'm seriously considering just abandoning uploading my chapters with Word, and instead, transmitting them to the FF.Net offices by telegraph.

My new computer, with much fanfare, broke.

I'm continuing, however, as you can see...a little thing like THAT won't keep me off my toes. See, I had been expecting something like this to happen and saved this chappy to a floppy disk. Archaic, but effective. I rounded it off at the library and am now uploading it. Isn't that just precious?

The help desk guy said it had something to do with the hard drive or the fan or the transmission or SOMETHING, I don't know. But he said it'll be fixed in a few days, so that'll work out rather well. It was still under warranty. He also promised he would give it a look-over, to find any other defects. I trust this guy. He's the one who salvaged my data from my LAST comp.

Oh, and I really nailed you all with that April Fool's Day joke. Some people even took it seriously! Rest assured I'm continuing. I'll try to be a little more timely in the future, though.

One thing also. The last few chapters have been light-hearted and merry, and in some cases, sexy; but there's a reason. As Gandalf said, "It's the great breath, before the plunge." Or something. I need to see the movie again. Great movie.


The point is, the next bunch of chapters are gloomy and doomy. Not happy at all. Just trying to warn you. The only bit of consolation I can give you is that...bum bum bum...it ends well. But don't expect any cheeriness for quite a while.

But, you don't particularly care about my computer foibles, so REVIEWS!!

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Kai19: Tobias has no qualms about killing when he needs to, but unlike the General, he doesn't do it needlessly. That's the major difference between them. * Kagome smoking weed?! That's just silly. * Meh. Inuyasha figures that they're not gonna have any fun back in Feudal Japan, so he's getting out all his jollies now. * You'd think the General was a fan of classical music. Maybe he is. Who's to say? Besides me, that is... * They might use Miroku and Sango's relationship against them. But these evil people (cough) have bigger fish to fry. * Oh, you'd LIKE me to tell you, wouldn't you? * APRIL FOOL'D!

Celestra: No, I just pulled it all out of my hat. Do I look like I have time to go researching things like that? I'm a busy guy. * Um...I'm not sure whether you realized this, but they ARE love-struck teenagers. * No, it's probably the fic that's killing me. I have a fever...and the only prescription is more cowbell. (Kudos if you know where that comes from.)

Kegger007: He's used to being extremely intoxicated. It's like the guy's bread and butter. He gets bored, he drinks. He gets bored a lot. * I haven't really counted...I'd say about a month and a half.

Lunar Inuyasha: Wouldn't YOU like to know!

Chi Master: I too have very little to say in response. Cheerio. * APRIL FOOL'D! I was just joking...jeez, take a pill or something.

Ryguy5387: But then where would all the fun be in my life? * He could...or he could just enjoy himself. What, is he going to die from overstimulation? He's a half-demon! He has stamina.

hersheykiss1012: My drunken writing bits are based on imagination, the media (movies, TV, etc.) and my sister's descriptions. Which are sometimes more than I'd like to hear.

Lasako: Has this...happened to you? * Ohio is known for being the only state that begins and ends with the same vowel. Unless I'm wrong. * Gray-chan, Gray-kun, you said you'd stop doing that!

Kitsy: You did review. Just now.

Mitsuki-kun: APRIL FOOL'D!

Valdimarian: I have no clue about anything you just said. Sorry. * APRIL FOOL'D!

Xirleb70: APRIL FOOL'D!

cynicalpup99: APRIL FOOL'D!

megu-sama: APRIL FOOL'D!

Rushyuo: It was an April Fool's Day prank. This is the real one.

Mechant Guy: I wouldn't want to kill anyone...

Jeanne-chan56: YOU KNOW MY PAIN! I have a life. Why do you think I take so bloody long to update?

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STORY!

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Chapter 55: Shattered

"As have I."

A streak of blue hurtled from the shrubbery, and the General landed on the ground right next to the well. Before anyone could make a move, his sword flashed in the sunlight.

The well shattered into a thousand pieces.

"Perhaps this will cease your well-wandering," said the General coolly. "It seems simply sealing it has no effect on you. I had hoped to avoid this, but you gave me no choice."

Tobias gaped at the broken well. Slowly, very slowly, he sank forward onto his knees. He clutched his face in his hands.

"Not again..." he whispered inaudibly. "Please...not again..."

"You monster!" wailed Shippo. He hurled himself at the General. "Fox Fire!!!" A jet of flame flew from Shippo's palm and rushed toward the General.

The General held up his sword. The blast of fire hit the sword, curled to the sides, and dissipated. Shippo ran at him; the General countered with a quick backhand that sent the little fox into the foliage. "As I was saying before I was so rudely interrupted..." he began again.

"You bastard!!!" howled Inuyasha. Tetsusaiga transformed in a flash of light as Inuyasha leapt at the General. The General leapt from the spot, and Inuyasha missed cleanly. On his way down, the General lashed out and gave Inuyasha a punishing blow to the head with his armored boot. Inuyasha grunted as he hit the ground, half-unconscious.

The bottle of shards glinted, half-revealed from one of the pockets in his kimono – Inuyasha had taken them. The General nodded in approval, reaching down and plucking the shards from Inuyasha's inert form.

"Anyone else?" he said quietly. Miroku and Sango looked horrified, yet they stayed their attacks. "More reasonable than those two, at any rate. Boy?" The General glanced over at Tobias, who was still huddled on the ground. The General narrowed his eyes and turned away.

"But Kagome...you are the one whom I think would be most affected by this. Yet your reaction is a curious one," said the General, still looking away. Indeed, Kagome did not weep, or scream, or run; she merely stood, stock-still, and stared at the General.

Kagome didn't know what to think. Part of her couldn't even believe that the well was gone. It was simply outside of the realm of possibilities. She had never believed, never truly believed that her link to the future could be severed, not even in the early days when Inuyasha was in a rage over her leaving.

But a different, and stronger part of her told her...to deal with it. Hysterically sobbing or screaming or trying to attack the General...none of this would accomplish anything. She had lost her way home; she would deal with it. She had to. If she didn't, she would go insane. There was nothing for it.

"I am surprised." The General turned for the first time and looked at Kagome. Her expression was that of resolution, determination that she would deal with this and carry on.

"Not a tear shed from those eyes, not a sound escapes from those lips," he said, with a faint touch of amusement. "Almost like..." He trailed off as he gazed at Kagome. A small glimmer appeared in his eyes.

"Peculiar..." he said, with a bit of wonder in his voice. "Not one in ten million...the resemblance is..." He began to walk slowly toward Kagome.

With a roar, Inuyasha charged the General again, who sidestepped his blow and smashed him in the ribs with his powerful fist. As Inuyasha doubled over in pain, the General continued to walk.

"Why did I never notice it before?" The General's voice had dropped to a whisper. His eyes were slowly widening. Kagome had never seen him like this; she didn't know what to think. She stood her ground and fiercely stared back at him.

"Courage in the face of terrible loss..." he whispered again. He scarcely seemed able to believe what he was seeing as he closed in on Kagome.

She locked eyes with him, showing that she would not back down. Where she got this courage from, she did not know. But it seemed to Kagome that a great sense of calm was floating around her. She knew he would not harm her.

"Kagome..." the General breathed. "You...are the first powerless human...to ever stand against me..." He blinked once, twice. "Something I have not seen since..."

Suddenly, images came into Kagome's mind that she recognized as memories. But they were not hers. She had been unconsciously reading the General's aura, and she was seeing into his mind.

The General, without his sword, holding hands with a pretty, black-haired girl.

They laughed, and talked, and kissed.

He held her in his arms and vowed never to leave her.

Kagome focused more closely on the girl, and gasped. She and Kagome looked nearly identical!

The memories were interrupted as Inuyasha, once more, lunged at the General. The General evaded Inuyasha's strike again, but this time lashed out with his powerful sword, cutting a slice across Inuyasha's back. Inuyasha fell to the ground and struggled to get back up.

"You even resemble her physically." The General was nearly to Kagome now, but she did not back down.

"Now I know why you seemed so familiar, when I first saw you," whispered the General. His voice shook slightly. "And why I showed you pity, that night in the citadel." He seemed to have shut out the rest of the world, focusing only on Kagome as he drew ever closer. "You remind me of her..."

The General stood before Kagome, right in front of her, almost touching her.

"Maria," he whispered, so softly Kagome could barely hear it.

To Kagome's shock, a single tear fell from the General's eye and slid down his face. The General leaned towards her and slowly raised his hand to cup her face.

"Beautiful..." he whispered, and his voice trembled.

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"Don't fucking touch my mate." Inuyasha's voice shook even Kagome. She had never heard him sound that utterly terrifying. His voice was deep, with a predatory growl that sent ice into the onlookers' veins.

The General sighed slightly and turned to face Inuyasha behind him.

Too slow.

With an audible crunch of metal splintering, Inuyasha rammed Tetsusaiga through the General's armor, stabbing the massive sword through the General's chest. Inuyasha's momentum carried him away from the rest, sailing through the air with the General skewered on his sword.


Inuyasha realigned his grip in midair and slammed the sword down on the ground, so hard that the earth tore asunder under him. Blood came from the General's mouth as he struggled for breath.

Ripping Tetsusaiga from the General's body, Inuyasha didn't waste an instant as he whirled in a second strike. His slice came up under the General's shoulder.

He cut through the armor like it was soft butter and severed the General's right arm...

...the same arm that he used to touch Kagome.

Blood sprayed from the wound in a grotesque fountain as the General leaped across the crater. Howling with rage, Inuyasha came down for a third, and final, blow.

But the General had recovered.

As soon as his feet touched ground, the General did a backflip, kicking Tetsusaiga out of Inuyasha's grip, shattering every bone in his hand. While still in midair, he unsheathed his sword with his remaining arm.

The General hit the ground again and launched himself at Inuyasha, ramming into him with all the force he could muster. They were still in midair when the General pushed himself away from Inuyasha and whirled around; cutting a gash through Inuyasha's torso so deep, it was a wonder he didn't sever his spine.

Before Inuyasha even hit the ground, the General swooped in and stabbed him through the chest, almost exactly as Inuyasha had done to him. He yanked his sword back and kicked Inuyasha off the blade, leaving him to collapse on the floor.

Tobias had lifted his head and was staring at this exchange in a mix between awe and horror. Kagome gasped at the horrible injuries Inuyasha had taken. The others merely goggled at the battle.

The General was breathing hard, and his expression was a far cry from its usual calm neutrality. He pointed his sword at Inuyasha.

"I should finish you now, Inuyasha," he said in a voice tinged with anger, "but I will not. I want to see you suffer, first."

To even the General's surprise, Inuyasha began to rise. Slowly, he stood, panting hard, barely able to stand on his own. He pointed his unbroken hand at the General.

"Let that teach you, General," he snarled. "Don't ever touch my mate."

"And what will you do about it, Inuyasha?" growled the General. "You are at my mercy. I could kill you so quickly you would not even see me."

"Maybe," groaned Inuyasha. He spat some blood at the General's feet. "But you're not."

The General snorted. "Inuyasha, it was a very foolish thing you did just now. You-"

"Foolish? Effective is more like it." Inuyasha grinned, his fangs bloody. "You might wanna put something on that arm...it's bleeding a lot."

"As I was saying..." the General hissed through clenched teeth, "you have just ensured your own doom!" He took a deep breath and began again, with less anger but emotion still. "Before this incident, Inuyasha, you were but an obstacle to me, an obstacle to retrieving the whole Shikon jewel."

He locked eyes with Inuyasha. "Now you are an adversary. You have been marked." The General gestured with his sword at the rest of the group. "First I will kill them...all of them...except for Kagome. And would you like to know why?"

"Feh. Why?"

The General smiled; a horrible, evil smile that sent chills down Inuyasha's spine. "Kagome has...other uses for me. I have done it before. You, restrained, forced to watch as I-"

He was cut off again with a deep-throated growl from Inuyasha.

"You try it and I'll kill you," Inuyasha roared. He took one faltering step, but nearly collapsed. The General's smile had disappeared, leaving only cold malice.

"You will fail. You damaged me, Inuyasha, both my body and my pride. And I will not allow such a thing to go unpunished. For now, I leave you." He raised his sword and began to glow blue. "Mark my words, Inuyasha son of Inutaisho. You, and all of them, will die." He vanished.

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Short, yes, but a lot to take in all at once. Problems abound! Whatever will we do? REVIEW!

Oh, and keep something in mind. Inuyasha and the General have never, actually, crossed swords...something to think about...