Disclaimer: I don't own anything except the stuff I stole! (you don't know where I live! You can't hold that against me!)

Hey everybody is everyone feeling just jiffy today? Great! I've had another dull, boring weekend but it's three weekends closer to when I move and five weekends closer to when I go to my Anime convention! Hurrah! W00t! And I'm passing math! That makes me happy.

This chapter's a bit short, and for that I'm sorry and you can beat my dog for it *throws him to the crowd* I stuck as much stuff as I could in it but I'm suffering from a tad bit of writer's block, I've been busy and there's a certain amount of information I could put in to this chapter and once I got there there wasn't much else to do. I babbled as much as I could without getting boring, and I added in a tiny, slightly amusing paragraph with Jaken. I like bugging Jaken. Authoress powers rule.

Shoutouts:

Midori318, ayame: wow midori318, reading that sentence in one breath eight times fast is craziness. I loved it ^_^. And I'm glad you loved the chapter. I did my best to keep it humorous and informative enough. I seem to have this small problem with boring chapters. And ayame, are you naming yourself after the great Ayame Souma, one of the most cracked-up and loveable men of anime-dom? If so, I love you. Neato frito's a good thing to use. I use it anyway…. Wait, that makes it stupid. Nevermind -_-* And please don't hurt yourself, I'm getting sued enough for putting nonsense in my disclaimers. I don't want your parents after me.

ditto: I'm gonna be sad too when this chapter's over. *sighs* but that's why I'm putting a now story up soon! I don't know what it'll be called, but I'm putting it up next Monday, along with the latest instalment of GA. Maybe you'll read it, maybe you won't. But it's also based after a dream (My muses need to communicate differently), like GA is, and the first chapter's taking me forever but it's almost done and I'm going to stop babbling now! And as for your question… my hesitation and the title of this chapter aren't too hopeful, are they? The Kouga vs Inu-Yasha is freakin' hard man. Kouga's nearly impossible to write and I don't know how I manage but if you like it I must be doing something right! And yes, Black Chi versus… say… EVA unit 1. Bring on the popcorn.

reynamangga: All the unanswered questions are killing you? Gomen! And no, the secret Kagura's talking about is something you won't get from reading previous chapters, but you should be able to get it if you've seen most of the TV series, although I say nothing. But don't get your knickers in a knot, since it's coming up in soon chapters. But as for your second question, well Shippo can answer that one! Read on to find out!

ChocolateEclar: That reply stun? Oh, I'm sorry. Here, have repayment in hugs and bishes! *hands over the bishes* Have fun! I'm so sorry! And yeah, the stairs part is my favourite part of Inu's and Kouga's quarrel. Those two are so funny, although I love the first episodes Kouga's in in the series. Silly little wolf-boy. I feel sorry for poor Kagome. Now if only I could have her problem…

Chapter 33:

Loss

The cold wind blew harshly through the barren landscape, nearly knocking the small, cloth-wrapped figure over. Only by digging his staff into the ground was he able to stay upright until the gust passed over. Shaking his head to clear it of the dust Jaken glared back at the hazy horizon, as if any land past his line of sight was at fault for his misery. Muttering to himself he tried to wrap his cloak tighter around himself as he trudged on to the faint form of the castle. Another gust of wind blew cold air through him, causing the demon to swear under his breath. He began to quicken his pace, knowing that this storm was only going to get worse.

"Why Sesshoumaru-sama do you send your most trusted servant out in such horror merely to escort children?" He whined piteously to the emptiness that didn't reply back. "Oh for the days before the Second Strike when humans were our willing slaves and we were always well fed. Then that Outcast tries to make a world all for himself." He grumbled. "Damn them all."

As if in humorous reply a huge burst of air behind him sent Jaken flat on his face, his staff clattering a few feet ahead of him on the hard earth. The toad demon pushed himself up and scrambled forward to grab his staff as another strong gust pushed it across the land. Jaken stumbled until he caught up with his renegade stick and he grabbed it as if it were his last lifeline. The wind blew around him as if laughing and he glared all around him as he began to trek towards Sesshoumaru's fortress again.

A lone, shadowy figure on top of the hill watched Jaken's small form until it disappeared behind the thick dust storm that was picking up. The demon squinted at the fortress, seemingly unfazed by the cold wind, and then turned to look at the land behind him.

"Fools." He smiled, vanishing into the dust and leaving the winds to howl.

"I spy with my little eye, something small and grey."

"A rock."

"Hmm, okay then…. I spy with my little eye, something medium-sized and brownish-black."

"Another rock."

"Hmm, well then how about…"

"How about I spy with my little eye, some demon who's not going to be spying much longer if she doesn't keep her mouth shut?"

Netsuna glared at Inu-Yasha, who was glaring back full force. "I'm just trying to pass the time until we get to the first gate." She said, flicking her tail indignantly. "It'll be another ten minutes or so until we get to it. It's not like there's anything else to do."

Inu-Yasha just glared back at her, growling under his breath. Kagome nudged him in the arm and he looked at her with a near-pleading look. Kagome shook her head and the half-angel looked grumpy again as he turned forward. Netsuna looked triumphant and returned to her eye-spy game with Miroku.

"Okay, okay, where was I? Oh, I spy with my little eye, something big and boring."

"Hell?"

"Wow, you're good."

Sango wasn't looking any happier as she walked just behind and beside Netsuna, Kirrara in her larger form and walking at her task's side. The brunette's eye were shadowed as she watched the cat demon and the monk, one hand on her boomerang. Shippo noticed this and tapped Kagome lightly.

"I don't think Inu-Yasha's gonna have a chance to kill Netsuna." The tiny foxchild whispered, pointing at Sango. Kagome followed his finger and smiled. "I don't think Sango-chan's going to go to that measure." She replied. Shippo shook his head.

"If Miroku tries anything…" Shippo pulled a finger across his throat. "Kirrara agrees with me. I think Sango's gonna get violent if Miroku makes her jealous enough."

"Only because she cares about him and if I liked a lecherous playboy like Miroku then I'd probably get jealous too." Kagome mused. Shippo glanced out of the corner of his eyes at Inu-Yasha, but said nothing.

Netsuna suddenly perked. "Oh! Oh! I spy with my little eye, something big, black and ominous!" She pointed in the distance at a large black arch, have crumbled and looking worse for wear, but true to Netsuna's word it looked quite ominous indeed. Inu-Yasha finally looked happy ever since he had entered Hell.

"Great! Then let's go and get this damned thing over with!" He drew his sword and looked expectantly at the gate. "So what the hell are we supposed to be doing here?"

Netsuna looked at it thoughtfully. "Well, Naraku's logically supposed to attack us with demons or something, you know to either keep us out or weaken us to the point where Rin could kill us by the time we got to Naraku's. But…" The cat demon looked around, seeming disappointed and a bit confused. "It's completely and utterly dead around here."

"Keh." Inu-Yasha seemed disappointed too. "Well that's a waste. And we have to go through how many of these?"

"Twelve." Netsuna answered. "They're around two-three miles apart, so it shouldn't be that bad. Except the terrain gets worse and Naraku's bound to send at least one group of demons at us."

"One's good enough!" Shippo quipped and Kagome smiled. "Not being here in the first place would be good enough, Shippo-chan." She said and the fox-kit nodded enthusiastically.

"Well we can't all have what we want, now can we?" Inu-Yasha asked. He sheathed his sword and trudged on towards the gate. The rest of the group followed him as the black arch grew closer and closer. Suddenly a chill went through Kagome and she stopped dead. She knew what that meant.

"Inu-Yasha, look out!" She shouted. The half-angel turned to her quizzically when his own senses picked up the incoming attack and he rolled out of the way just as a giant tiger-like demon crashed into the ground where he had been standing. Whipping out his sword Inu-Yasha slashed with all his strength and cut the demon clean in two, killing it instantly.

"Well that wasn't too bad. That's all he has to throw at us?" He panted, wiping his sword off and putting it back. He looked expectantly at Kagome as she slowly shook her head. As if on cue another demon jumped out from behind the rocky outcrops surrounding the first gate, just missing Inu-Yasha. Sango got her boomerang ready as two more came growling out and Kirrara leaped forward to meet another one in midair. In less than a minute the quiet, lifeless land surrounding the fist gate had turned into a melee of snarling demons fighting against the small group.

"Kagome, look out!" Inu-Yasha nearly tackled his task as he grabbed her and jumped, carrying her out of the way of a charging demon and taking her to safety. He landed her on top of the arch and set her down. A demon tried to climb up but slipped down. Making sure nothing to come up Inu-Yasha fixed the slight mess in his clothes and glared at the melee. "Shit, there's a fucking lot of them." He growled. "Kagome stay here and Shippo, watch her!" He barked at them before jumping back down, taking out two demons with one swing as he dropped his sword to fight with tooth and claw.

Sango worked beside Kirrara as the girl knocked demons away with her large weapon and the feline angel clawed them, knocking them down by the bunches and keeping them away from her task's back. Sango's large swing arches didn't hold enough power to keep the creatures down so Sango began resorting to just knocking them down one at a time. Miroku was cornered by a group of them against the rock until he pulled out his secret weapon and uncovered the air rip in his hand, sucking up a few of the demons before some ran away and others tried to figure out how to get past the wind tunnel.

"Dammit, we're both useless!" Shippo whined as he watched from his perch on Kagome's shoulder. Kagome kept an eye out on her friends while also making sure nothing was trying to sneak up on her and Shippo. Suddenly some movement caught her eye. "Sango-chan, look out!" she called out. Sango turned to the sound of her voice, just in time to see the monstrous demon charge her, and ran her boomerang down it's throat, killing it. Sango pulled the weapon out and knocked another demon away. "That's Kagome-chan!" she called back, waving up.

A tiger demon that was larger than the rest tackled Kirrara from the back, flipping the giant feline angel over and trying to get at her throat. Kirrara fought back, succeeding in knocking the demon over but it tackled her again just as quickly. As the two fought tooth, claw and nail they nearly rolled over Sango, causing the girl to jump out of the way quickly and stumble. Taking advantage of her brief moment of distraction a smaller, reptilian demon latched itself onto her arm, digging it's teeth in deep. Sango cried out in pain and began beating the demon with her boomerang, crushing it's skull. Another small demon attached to her other arm, biting her just at the wrist and causing her to drop her weapon.

"Sango!" Kagome screamed in horror as two more demons tackled her, knocking her back into a rocky outcrop. Kirrara tried to reach her task but the larger demon she was fighting knocked her to the ground again, not allowing the feline angel to reach the ailing girl.

Miroku saw the commotion and sealed his hand. "Sango, I'm coming!" He shouted, only to be knocked back by demons now that his wind tunnel shield was down. Inu-Yasha was also occupied with one of the larger demons and Netsuna was nowhere to be seen.

Another demon and another tackled Sango, knocking her down to the ground, where she disappeared into the mess. Kagome tried to climb down the arch but Shippo grabbed her skirt.

"Kagome, there's nothing you can do! If you go down there you'll get just killed!" He tried to reason. Kagome stared at where Sango had disappeared but nodded with defeat. She knew Shippo was right and she took the fox-kit into her arms as she tried to hold back the tears for her friend.

Kirrara let out a fierce roar and sank her large fangs into the tiger demon's leg, ripping the limb clear off. As the demon faltered the giant feline angel was on it, ripping it to shreds in her anger. When she was satisfied the tiger was dead Kirrara turned to the crowd where Sango had vanished, ripping, clawing, tearing and biting her way through. Inu-Yasha had killed his opponent and Miroku was doing short work of the remaining demons, sucking them up into the vast nothingness in the hole in his hand.

The demon numbers disappeared gradually, slowly, and the bodies of the dead demons turned to dust. In a few short moments the scuffle was over and there was nothing left but a few scattered bodies which were already beginning to disintegrate. Kirrara scratched at the hard ground and broke open a rock frantically in her search, nearly knocking the gate over. Inu-Yasha leaped up the arch to pick up his silent task and the fox angel, bringing them back down as Miroku sealed his air rip, exhausted. Kagome couldn't believe what was going on as she counted their shrunken numbers. Netsuna was there, leaning against the rock while holding a ripped cloth against the bleeding wound on her arm, watching with the rest of them as Kirrara finally accepted defeat and sit down, exhausted from her own wounds. She let out an anguished roar into the now silent eternal dusk of Hell.

The battle was over.

But Sango was gone.

The demon leaned forward as he looked over the outcrop, watching in interest. Ha had watched the entire fight from that perspective, as the group had first gotten ambushed to now when they were cleaning their wounds. It had all gone over quickly and quite cleanly. And now they were short one. How sad.

He watched for a bit longer as the girl broke down and her angel tried to comfort her, until the sappiness of it finally came close to making him sick. He stood up and dusted the black cloak he was wearing off. It was time to do a little round trip, since this little gang was going nowhere fast. After checking the position of the clouds he muttered a quick spell, bringing up a gust of wind to blow sand around his form. Inside the sand he vanished to journey.

He crossed the desert of Hell quickly and easily enough, checking in on a few things here and there. His powers were unlimited in this domain and he was responsible for many, many things. But knowing that he had a time limit he stayed straighter on his course than he normally would. Within ten minutes or so he came to his destination, the dead volcano in the heart of the Unbidden lands.

Shifting through the walls and shadows he made his way through the dishevelled territory and into the volcano itself, walking through the tunnels that had been drilled into it until he came to the center and the dead rendition of the ancient oriental castle that was home to his employer.

Trespasser demons have no loyalties. They care not for money, spoils or power. They do what they please, when they please, the rumoured lost souls long dead powerful Lords not quite through with meddling. They were the creatures of nightmare told to children that never truly existed but in the darkest of legends. It was rare to find a trespasser; rarer to find one that would spare your life. They were opportunistic, doing exactly what they needed to in order to obtain what they wanted.

A strange quirk indeed that both Naraku and Sesshoumaru would get trespassers to work for them. You could absolutely trust nothing of a trespasser and there was no guarantee that while you told it information it wasn't secretly sending the information to it's comrades across enemy lines telepathically. The only certain thing of trespassers were their eyes. While a trespasser could change their name, face, identity and loyalty in an instant, their eyes would always remain their particular colour. And although none have ever seen more than one trespasser, another rumour tells that no two of these demons had eyes alike.

Kuro-michi opened the door and followed the shadows into Naraku's room, where he stood in the corner and waited for the outcast demon to acknowledge his presence. After a moment the demon wrapped in the bamboo cloth lifted his head slightly from the work he was doing.

"Report for this Naraku?" he asked tensely. Kuro-michi bowed and relayed all the information he had seen. Naraku gave a small smile.

"So all works according to my plans. Almost ironic how perfect it is." He lifted what he had been working on in his hand. "My attention is divided at the moment and I have other matters to attend to. Besides, a simple task such as this does not require my full attention." He handed the small wooden object to the trespasser demon. "This alone will not kill that infuriating threeblood, but it is a start."

Kuro-michi swiftly placed the doll inside his cloak. "And Kagura?" He added.

"Ah yes, her." Naraku seemed to remember his mutinous servant.  She will undoubtedly fail, but whether she does or not, please tell her that I'm proud of her attempt before you kill her."

Kuro-michi bowed. "Yes m'Lord. Will there be anything else?"

"The boy." Naraku said absently, standing up to retrieve something from one end of the room. "Take him, he's crucial."

"Yes m'Lord." The trespasser demon bowed and vanished into the darkness to carry out his orders. Everything was working out step by step according to plan, in perfect order. It was only a matter of time now before all the pieces feel into place, and the true ideals were to be realized. Trespassers had their own agendas, that they moulded others around.

Miroku placed the last stone on top of the pyramid and made a small prayer. He picked up his staff and stood up, trying to get the dust off of his robes before giving up. Silently he turned and left the marker to join the rest of the group. "Shall we go then?" He asked, rather flatly.

"Damn straight." Inu-Yasha nodded. "We're getting that Naraku back for this Miroku, don't worry. We'll do it for Sango. He's going too far."

Miroku gave a slight shrug and turned in the direction of the gate, walking towards it deeper into the Unbidden lands. Kirrara walked beside him, equally silent and equally mourning. Netsuna followed them wordlessly and Inu-Yasha, Kagome and Shippo after her. They walked for a moment when Kagome turned to Inu-Yasha.

"Sango-chan could still be alive." She said quietly. "There was no body, so we don't know…"

Inu-Yasha shook his head. "It's not that simple Kagome. You saw what happened to those demons when they died. All spirits vanish after they've been killed, dust to dust and all that crap."

"We don't know what happens to them afterwards." Shippo said. "When spirits die normally, the rumour is that they get reincarnated. But when they're killed before their afterlife is over, we have no idea what happens. Sango may get reincarnated, or she may have completely disappeared entirely." The fox kit shrugged. "We just have her memory now."

"She's alive." Kagome insisted, although she was having trouble believing her own words. "I just know. Sango-chan wouldn't die like that. She'd hate to."

"Yeah, if I gonna die I want to do it with a lot of flashy stuff." Inu-Yasha said with a slight grin. "Poor Sango. I'll get in some hits for her."

"Yeah, she'd have wanted it that way." Kagome agreed. They fell silent after that as they headed towards the rocky canyon and rough terrain where off in the distance they could see the tell-tale black of the second gate, leading them deeper into the Unbidden lands and closer to Naraku.

End chapter 33

And thus ends another chapter again. Whew, writing all this sure takes it out of ya. And it was short and kinda sucked, I know, I'm sorry. But hopefully I won't have writer's block next week, so the next chapter will be better!

Oh, oh, oh! And big news! The first five pages of the doujinshi, along with the new website, will be out this Wednesday! Check it at the URL for my old website but except brand new coolness!

Shoutouts:

Ronagu-chan: Randomness is good. Long live the power of the ultimate randomness! All hail! And a clone gal sounds like quite an interesting plot indeed. I hope it works out better for you. And there's no rush for the pictures, so don't worry. I feel blessed that you've offered to help me and I'll take it whenever your ready. Don't worry. ^_^

KevinEC: Well, your thanks is precious enough for my story. *is humbled*  It's just with all the stuff coming out these days, it's my thing to bug people. I'm like the embodiment of mooching. It's kinda sad. And the banter worked nicely? That's wonderful! I feel so blessed now. *is blessed* And for Rin, she's just darling to right. Her and Sesshoumaru are my two favourites to write just because Rin's adorable and Sesshoumaru has sophisticated humour. And I love all the scenes in the TV show with them too. And then there's Jaken. Silly, silly Jaken. But if I could be anyone, I'd be Rin. And my doujinshi's coming up this Wed! I'm looking forward to it and I hope you are too!

link no miko: Yes, Sesshoumaru is really pretty. And so is Rociel, and Gackt, and Malik and I could go on and on and on and on and on…. And wolf demons… Kouga wil be in future chapters, so more time for fun! Yay fun! We love fun. Fun is great. Yes, I got one finger salute from somewhere else, but I love it. I say that instead of doing it because it confuses people. And confusion is a greater revenge. And no, I didn't change me name to Fate. There was just a capital there, that's all. A misspell. And I fixed it, along with the Third Strike/Third Strike thingy -_-* And did the little paragraph about the trespasser confuse you? And you getting more confuddled about your accusations? Eh? Eh? And I got that picky of Gackt looking like Squall, but I've never played FFVIII so I didn't know it was Squall. And about Link, some of my sister's friends have been saying that in Wind Waker Link's dead and you're playing with a future Link. I'm looking into this. But I don't believe it. And the ranting is good, so don't worry about the ranting. I enjoy the ranting. It gives me something to read in the morning in class, and makes me happy. ^_^ I'd rant if I had the time.  And Sango… I'm sorry but it had to be done. I didn't want to but it did. Kill my dog.

And now, the preview! To leave you in MORE suspence!

Chapter 34: Bonds (yes, I realize the last preview said this chapter was Bonds, but I changed it, okay?)

                Miroku leaned against the stone, holding his hand to the bleeding wound on his shoulder. This was so not his day, he though as he looked frantically around in the shadows. Separated from everyone and now being attacked by some strange demon who he didn't have a hope against. Trying to locate it he followed a hint of movement, only to lose it and become more confused. A small pebble fell to the ground, alerting him before he was knocked down roughly. His staff clattered away from him as his enemy rolled him onto his back and raised it's sword, before bringing it down for the final blow.

End preview.

Now I know what you're all thinking. Just what is Ama doing, killing off everyone? What's wrong with her? Let's kill her! Now, now, before you do anything rash and hurt me, just wait until the next chapter to see what's going on. You may like it. You may hate it. You may send rabid goats after me. But whatever may happen, you'll just have to wait and see.

~Ama

Ama's new fantabulous all-time favourite quotacular: Everything I learned I learned from killing smart people and eating their brains. –Apparently some T-shirts say that. I must get those T-shirts. Must.