I updated! I updated! I'm so sorry for being later (understatement) But it's here! And hopefully I can get the next chapter up soon too!

To all my readers, loyal as I love you, thanks for your patience (stop sending me emails of impending death)

To all my new readers! Yay! I love you! Sorry for making you wait too, even if you might not was waited as long, and thanks for choosing my story! I love you all!

Chapter 46: 

Desperation

"What did you say?" Inu-Yasha snarled fiercely, glaring at the trespasser. "You're fuckin' kidding, right?"

"I am not a demon that kids around, threeblood." The shadow said in a calm tone that made the half-angel tense. "She has served her purpose and is of no further use. She was the sacrifice to increase your strength."

"Fuckin' nothing!" Inu-Yasha snarled deep in his throat, his grip on Kagome tightening. "My mom's the one who had the power to kill Naraku, and Kagome's that same one! You're spitting bull!"

"Calm down Inu-Yasha." The shadow demon said tersely. "I am not… lying, as you had paraphrased. You have been misled. And for a purpose."

Inu-Yasha was so infuriated, so shocked he couldn't speak. Instead he let out a hissing noise in frustration.

Seeing that was his only response, Kuro-michi decided to continue. "You see threeblood, already knowing your past was a bad enough sign for something to go wrong. So, to insure that everything would go as planned, you had to be given a different story. It was not your mother that killed Naraku. Your mother never even reached Naraku. She was killed."

Inu-Yasha's eyes narrowed. "So who killed him then?"

"Your father, of course." The trespasser said. "At the time your father was only a hanyou, half-demon, half-mortal. But when your mother died he became enraged and reached a state much like your previous one, nearly full demon blood. This increased his powers many times, but he lost all rational thought and became very dangerous. The monk tried to cast a spell to contain him."

"Dangerous? Contain him?" Inu-Yasha growled in puzzlement. "What do you mean?"

"You're father's demonic blood took him over completely and he was taken over in a complete blood lust. This had only happened once before and the only one able to stop him was your mother. However, being dead at the time, this posed no help whatsoever."

"I can imagine." Mizuki muttered under his breath. Inu-Yasha's sharp hearing caught him and the hanyou shot a growl and a glare to the kappa.

"Therefore the monk did the only thing he could think of and used a banishing spell on your father, hoping what little mortal blood remained in the hanyou would keep you father present. It didn't quite work out that way…"

When the trespasser trailed off again Inu-Yasha snarled. "If you're going to tell a fucking story, tell it right!" He spat. The shadow demon looked at him with disdain.

"Atmosphere is an important part a story, Inu-Yasha." It said in it's calm, cool voice. Inu-Yasha glared.

"Yeah, well while you're doing your fucking atmosphere Kagome's dying! Now finish your fucking explanation as to why I shouldn't julienne fry you!"

Kuro-michi sniffed. "If you don't hurry up, threeblood, all of existence as we know it will cease to exist and it won't matter whether or not your Reborn is living."

Inu-Yasha's ears flattened as he thought about this piece of information. "Fine." He shot at the trespasser. "But I'm not leaving until you finish this story."

The shadow demon seemed visibly irritated by this, and possibly a bit nervous. He frowned and turned away from Inu-Yasha. "Your choice. What happened after the monk used his spell on your father was a sort of reverse osmosis; if you've ever bothered to pay attention while watching the Reborn in her school times you'd know what it is, so I'm not explaining it to you. Basically, instead of the blood leaving, the demonic blood became desperate and clung to everything it could; angel blood, human blood and demon blood. Your mother and the monk's blood were both absorbed into your father, nearly killing the monk, and your father reached a sort of different state. A threeblood. Pure threeblood. Not like you were originally, but exactly to the final decimal even. His lost sword grew out of his own blood, just as yours did, and he went to kill Naraku. It's not your place to know what happens after that."

Inu-Yasha's blank look would have been funny if not for the circumstance, so Mizuki masked up his laughter with a cough.

"To put it in recent terms, instead of the Reborn dying initially, your demon blood was much more unstable and took over more quickly. While you were fighting Jakotsu you need to survive brought up some unnatural and inhibited memory of your father's achievements caused the reverse osmosis effect; you drew demon blood  from Mizuki, human from Jakotsu and angel from Kagome. Since you were fairly balanced to begin with, it didn't kill anyone, just caused quite the amount of damage to Kagome, who didn't have much angel blood to spare in the first place."

"Wait… Kagome has angel blood… My dad… Tetsusaiga… blood…." Inu-Yasha's feral features turned puppy-like for a minute as he looked down at Kagome's peaceful form. "I did this?"

"Nah, you just sucked some life juice outta her, it was Jakotsu that put the big 'ol hole in her chest. O' course, if you hadn't been such a jerk to 'er all these years then you'd might notta had that argument that kept her still long enough for Jakotsu to stab 'er… the love thing might have a factor too." Mizuki said casually. Kuro-michi looked at him with his usually stoicism, but Inu-Yasha looked ready to bite his head off.  "What?! Oh come on I've lived in this place for a good few hundred and even I'm not that stupid." He snorted.

Inu-Yasha growled, then froze. Something had just changed, just… slipped. His breath caught up with his heart in his throat and he looked down to see Kagome go completely still… already some of her fingers were disappearing. "Kagome!" He shouted fruitlessly. "Kag! No!"

"Breaks yer heart, don't it?" Mizuki said, leaning on his trident. The trespasser gave him yet another one his of curious looks and Mizuki shrugged defencelessly. "I'm a demon. I live in Hell. I'm a soldier. I kill people for a living. Cupid 'ain't exactly a regular for me, and I'm a sucker for sad, sappy endings." He said, with a  twisted smile. Then he froze too and made a strange face, before looking behind him…. Slowly. A nervous smile flashed on his features. "Oh… hey boss."

Miroku held the cloth up to his mouth as he let out another rib-shaking cough. Shippo bounced around worriedly as the wolf army looked at each other. Since Kouga's rather brutish death Miroku and Sango were the closest to leaders they had. Now one was probably in a coma and the other was slowly poisoning to death. Netsuna sighed and rubbed her temples.

"I got the living ones, I got the living ones…" She muttered as a slight mantra. Miroku's coughing brought her back to reality and she frowned. It wasn't supposed to be like this.

When he wasn't coughing up his organs the monk would hold onto Sango tightly as they rode on the weary Kirrara. Netsuna smiled at the touching scene… then Miroku would start hacking again and the cat demon flattened her ears in disgust.

"Hey, neko." One of the wolf soldiers said not-too-lightly. "Are we gonna live?"

"Ne?" Netsuna blinked in confusion at the worried wolf troops. The speaker fidgeted in his armour.

"It's just you seem to know a lot about this war, y'know? Are we gonna die out here? Is the world gonna end?"

Netsuna frowned. "I'm a cat, not an oracle. If you want to live, fight. If you don't, sit down, close your eyes, and wait for the end. Either way I'm not helping or caring about you, got it? Go back to Sesshoumaru's castle if you're so scared."

The soldiers looked at each and unanimously decided, giving Netsuna more thought that they were all sharing one brain. The speaker turned back to the cat. "We're not scared."

"I hate canines." The cat demon muttered, trudging forward. She moved ahead until she was even with Shippo, floating with his regained powers and occasionally dodging to Mrioku's side when he started coughing. Catching to the kitsune angel before his task started another fit, Netsuna kept up a steady pace with him. "Shippo." She said as casually as she could, not trying to startle the fox.

"Y-yes?" Shippo said, trying not to look as timid as he felt.

"What do you know of the Samiyoushi poison?" The cat asked. Shippo blinked.

"The Samiyoushi?" He repeated blankly.

"The bees you idiot!" Netsuna snapped, her patience thinning. Shippo whimpered. "Oh yeah. Um… uh.. They're Naraku's bees… created from blackened shards of the Keyjewel…" He trembled.

"Do you remember the cure?" Netsuna said as coolly as possible. Shippo shook his head.

"A Keyjewel shard, obviously." The demon said as nicely as she could through gritted teeth. Shippo blinked and grinned.

"Yes! A shard! Of course! Thankyouthankyouthankyouthankyou!" He said, hugging Netsuna tightly, almost cutting off the cat's air supply. He leaped over to Miroku, who quickly hid the blood he just coughed up, and beamed up at him, pulling the Shikon no Tama shard they had pulled off of  Suikotsu. "Look Miroku!" He squeaked. "This shard will cure the Samiya- the Samoyi – the bee's poison!" He said ecstatically. "It'll make you better!"

"Of course," Netsuna said offhandedly, "it would also heal Sango and wake her up."

Everything froze.

Kirrara has stopped to see Miroku's reaction. Miroku was staring unblinkingly at the small pink sliver in Shippo's hands and Shippo was giving the look of utmost detest to Netsuna for making him choose like this. The wolf soldiers had stopped to see if there was a fight. (centuries of the same lifestyle is hard to change)

Netsuna stood there, one hand on her hip, ears forward, tail halfway in the air, with the most arrogant smirk on her face. Come on… she thought, show me whatcha got.

Miroku calmly held out his hand to his angel. "Shippo, can I have the shard?" He asked. Shippo brightened and nearly shoved the sliver into Miroku's hand, giving Sango's unconscious form an apologetic look.

Miroku turned the small piece of the Keyjewel in his hand, watching Hell's dim light reflect off of it. He then looked at Netsuna, his expression perfectly serious. "Alright, how does it help Sango?"

Netsuna blinked, and nearly grinned when she tapped the back of her neck. "Just put it on the back of her neck." She said. "In a few minutes she should wake up."

Miroku nodded and carefully touched the shard to the back of Sango's neck, where it glowed slightly and stuck itself there. He carefully wrapped his arms around her once more and leaned his chin on her shoulder, waiting for her to wake up.

"Ew…" One of the wolves gagged, then looked over at Netsuna. "Eh, what's the matter with you? You look like you're on crack or something."

"Hmm?' Netsuna blinked, then shot a glare over at the wolves. "None of your business, goons. I'm going to scout ahead." She said, disappearing before anyone could give a mention.

Skipping over rocks and boulders, she sped up her pace, running faster as, should anything be watching in the dead country, she would seem to melt into the background like a shadow darting forward. Dashing over the rugged country she came to a halt at blackened ruins, wrinkling her nose at the scent of blood and death; too much for her taste. Hopping to the top of the highest blacked rock, she peered out into the surrounding atmosphere. The sight that greeted her made her ears flip back and forward, unsure to be worried or giggly. She sat on her haunches and put her head in her hands, trying to contact her brother, tail flickering in the dank, stale air.

"The hell ran up her ass?" One of the wolf soldiers said, scratching his nose. His companions shrugged and glanced over at the two humans and angels. Kirrara was standing with her head turned, watching her sleeping task to see if she'd wake up; feeling the wolves eyes on them, the giant feline turned and gave a deep growl to let the demons know they should keep their distance. The wolves grinned and waved nervously, not wanting to tangle with the angered cat, who snorted and began moving forward. Figuring that hanging around would get them killed, the small demon group followed behind.

Miroku kept his eyes closed, the steady movements (if not the occasional limp) of Kirrara making him drowsy. His coughs were less frequent and violent, more than likely due to the fact that Keyjewel shard was so close to him. He could feel Sango's breathing becoming more steady and smiled, hugging her close. Last thing he wanted in this fight was to lose someone, most especially the violent but obviously madly in love with him girl, he smirked. After all, their former selves had gotten married and had many children; why fight fate? He moved his hand a bit lower, surely since she wasn't even awake he wouldn't mind.

A sharp elbow reached his gut before his hand ever made it to his destination. Startled he pulled back to see Sango watching him warily and wearily.

"Houshi-sama, while I can't say I'm not surprised, I wouldn't place you as someone to take advantage of a girl sleeping."

"Advantage? Whatever do you mean?" Miroku asked smiling. He winced and straightened his back, putting a hand to where Sango had elbowed him. Kirrara and the wolves had stopped and where watching as Miroku suddenly fell into a violent coughing fit that didn't sound to pleasant.

"Miroku?" Sango blinked in worry, sitting up. A small tickling sensation came from the back of her neck and she reached up to feel a strange bump.

"Sango, don't!" Shippo said, jumping on her shoulder and swatting her hand away from the Shikon shard. "That's a piece of the Keyjewel and it's the only thing keeping you alive right now." He squeaked, then turned to his hacking task. "Miroku? Are you going to be okay?"

"What happened?" Sango asked, feeling frightened right now. Shippo stood on Miroku's knee and watching him, feeling helpless.

"Miroku was fighting Suikotsu, the guy who nearly killed you, and used his air rip to defeat him, but a bunch of bees Naraku created flew into the rip and their poison is killing Mioku!" Shippo wrung his tail even as Miroku's cough started to subside before he let out another loud hack again.

"Kami!" Sango put a hand to her mouth and tentatively put a hand on Miroku's shoulder as he wheezed. "Is there any way to save him?"

Shippo looked at her forlornly. "The only way is with a piece of the Keyjewel; and we only have one."

Sango blinked and put a finger on the shard glued to the back of her neck. She bit her lip for a  second and then dug her nails underneath it, feeling it flicker a bit of power as it started to come off of her skin.

"No." Miroku said, breathing heavily and moving his hand away from his mouth. Sango tried to conceal her shook when she saw the amount of blood on Miroku's hand, which he quickly hid behind his back.

"But Houshi-sama…"

"NO, Sango." Miroku said, giving a few small coughs and smiling. "We're bound to come across another minion of Naraku's soon, also carrying a Keyjewel shard. We can use that one for." Another small bout of coughing, which sounded less painful, interrupted him for a moment before he continued. "I'd much rather see your face before I die then to watch your face as you die." He said quietly.

"But… I…" Sango said in an undecided voice. She looked up as Miroku started coughing again, much more harshly and violently than before. "Are you alright?" Sango said in worry.

"Miroku!" Shippo said as Miroku doubled over, hacking. Kirrara and the wolf army stopped and watched as Shippo and Sango eased Miroku off of the tiger and leaned him against a rock as his coughing became more and more violent. The wolves looked at each other uneasily as Shippo panicked.

"Miroku! Hang in there! Please? Come on!" He squealed. Sango put a hand on the monk's shoulder and a determined look came to her eyes.

"I am not watching you die like this!" She said, digging her nails underneath the shard on her neck.

"I wouldn't do that if I were you. You would die and think how terrible that would be."

Everyone turned to see who the voice belonged to, seeing a tall, pale man in dark cloaks standing there, a slightly amused smile on his face. "Should you die that'd be upset. He'd probably take his life anyway, or waste it in some useless kamikaze attack."

"Who…" Sango began, but Shippo's high-pitched squeal and Kirrara's growling, not to mention the fact that the wolf army had backed up a good ten feet answered her question. She glared at the man. "You're Naraku, aren't you?"

"Hmm? Yes, I suppose I am." Naraku said, smiling coldly. Miroku let out a particularly violent cough, sounding like he was trying to say something. Sango turned her attention from Naraku briefly to pat Miroku's back, worry etched all across her face.

"You can fix him you know, it's not too late." Naraku said coolly. Sango glared at him and the demon that was the cause of all this suffering smiled. "All you need is a Keyjewel shard."

"We have one already." Sango said through gritted teeth, clenching her fist. This man… no, this monster, killed Kohaku, who used Kohaku to kill her, who started this whole mess that was winding up with so many people dead…

"Oh, I know." Naraku said, coolly regarding the wolf army and the shivering Shippo. "But then you'd die, and we've just gone over the consequences of that problem, haven't we?"

Sango turned away, ignoring him as she tried to keep Miroku together as he sounded like he was being ripped apart.

"The poison's killing him, destroying his organs slowly. He's going to die painfully, I can assure you that. But I do have a shard that you could use…"

Sango's head snapped towards him.

Naraku smiled. "You'll just have to take it from my young assistant here. Go ahead boy, I don't believe you've met." His cold smile turned more sinister as Sango's eyes widened and her had to brace herself against the ground, looking nearly ready to faint.

"Stand aside Nephew." The Fourth Lord said, drawing his sword and advancing on Inu-Yasha and Kagome's vanishing body.

"What do you plan on doing, Sesshoumaru?" Inu-Yasha growled, holding onto Kagome with a death grip. Sesshoumaru frowned, glaring at his nephew.

"We don't have time for this." He said, suddenly vanishing and reppearing behind Inu-Yasha, grabbing him by the neck and throwing him aside. Then his raised his sword and slashed through Kagome ten times.

"NO!" Inu-Yasha screamed, knocking Sesshoumaru aside.

"She's already dead…" Mizuki muttered, then blinked. Inu-Yasha had frozen as well, as Kagome's body suddenly became opaque again.

Reaching tentatively forward, Inu-Yasha touched Kagome's arm, felt it solid and drew back as the girl stirred. Sitting up slowly and painfully, Kagome wrapped her arms around her waist, grimacing. "What just…" She started, when she was cut off.

"Kagome!" Inu-Yasha grabbed her in a bear hug, nearly crying. Before her crushed her ribs, he pulled her away from him just as quickly, glaring at him. "Don't ever do that again, okay wench?"

"Do what?" Kagome asked, her head reeling and so confused by now. Inu-Yasha seemed unsure what emotion to feel right now, his face twitching. He simply grabbed Kagome in a bear hug again.

"Just… don't ever leave me again." He said quietly.

"Inu-Yasha?" Kagome said, completely confused right now. "What ha-" She saw Sesshoumaru, Mizuki and Kuro-michi and blinked. "I am so confused by now…" She muttered.

"GUYS!" A scream suddenly ripped though the air and Inu-Yasha let go of Kagome as a blur of black and brown appeared, as Netsuna landed in a panic. She looked around at everyone before grabbing Inu-Yasha.

"You have to get back to Sango and the others! Hurry! You have to!"

"What's going on Netsuna?" Kagome asked, confusion of her own peril gone by now. Fur standing on end, ears completely flattened and eyes wide, Netsuna looked at her with fear.

"Miroku's dying and Naraku's there!" She said.

"What?" Sesshoumaru snapped and Kuro-michi grabbed the catgirl by the shoulder.

"What's happening?"

"I'm sorry, I shouldn't have left!" Netsuna apologized. "But you have to get back, quickly! Sango's pratically alone back there and she's fighting her brother! Hurry!"

End chapter 46

Miroku's coughing fit brought to you by my pneumonia bout.

Update! Soon! I promise on my grave!

~Ama