Very, very, VERY Happy New Years to everyone! Unless you're Chinese! But I don't think any of you are. But just in case!

Disclaimer: One day I'll change the names of the characters and get rich off of this. Until then, they don't belong to me. So no money. :(

Chapter 49:

 Choice

Bankotsu's eyebrows raised, and then his face twisted into a sadistic smile. "Well, that's a change from the… usual procedures. But, if that's your choice, then take it." He grabbed the back of Kikyou's garment and lifted her up, cutting the string that held her and throwing the angel down to Inu-Yasha, who caught her half-consciously. Kikyou clung onto Inu-Yasha tightly, but he remained frigid and unresponsive.

 Bankotsu then jumped over to the rock pillar that Kagome hung close to, kneeling besides the girl and grabbing her chin between his thumb and forefinger, looking carefully at her face. He smiled as Kagome weakly tried to pull away and Inu-Yasha began growling.

The braided bandit turned Kagome's head both ways, studying her. He looked over at Inu-Yasha, that self-righteous smirk decorating his face. "Frankly, threeblood, I think you got the worse half of the deal. This girl would be a darling to take advantage of. Her facial expressions and the rest of her just seem so… flexible."

Bankotsu's jibes to get Inu-Yasha riled up seemed to work. The fist at the threeblood's side clenched and began to shake, while it was all Inu-Yasha could do to not dig his claws into Kikyou's arms. The undead angel looked at Inu-Yasha with a mixture of awe, fear and disgust.

"Still threeblood, if that's your choice, then so be it." The assassin said, rising up. He tested the weight of his sword, playing with time. Inu-Yasha's fist shook as he clenched it tighter, ignoring the blood that flowed through his fingers and dripped onto the ground. He refused to look at Kagome, staring at the ground, growling in his throat. Bankotsu smiled at his victory.

"Oh, don't look so ashamed, puppy dog. It was your choice, after all." He said, raising his sword. Inu-Yasha screwed his eyes shut, trying to concentrate on anything else, to not hear the terrible noise of the sword slashing through the air. Or the scream that ripped through to his very heart as the blade hit the rope.

"Inu-yasha!" Kagome's voice broke just as the rope holding her above the pit did. Inu-Yasha nearly bit his tongue off as he waited for the feeling of Kagome's soul melting away…

Yet it never came.

Kikyou wrenched free from his tight grip, shouting towards the rocks. "You! What are you doing here?! She was supposed to die! You throw her in that pit right now!" She breathed heavily in anger and frustration. "He's mine now! That… that… copy isn't supposed to live!"

He finger pointed accusingly at Kagome, lying unconscious on the rock.  Netsuna looked up from where she had placed the Reborn girl, her bright green eyes flashing with deep emotion.

"No Kikyou. I know the past." She said firmly. Inu-Yasha watched this conversation go on with a kind of dumb fascination.

Kikyou's eyes burned with hatred. "Yes, and in the past one dies and the soul travels to the other! There should not be two of us, and he chose me! Me! I'm the one he wants, not that freakish little creature!"

"He chose who he thought he had to… not who he wanted to." Netsuna replied. Kikyou's face turned red.

"What do you know?" She spat. "You're just a worthless demon! I'm an angel! A Guardian! You're nothing but lowlife scum!" She turned to Inu-Yasha. "He chose me! Me! I'm the one…" Her passionate voice trailed off and failed her.

Inu-Yasha was no longer watching either of them, but the girl on the rocks. Her breathing was quiet and erratic and she clung onto the stone like it was a lifeline. Her voice was nothing but sobs, but one word came out, incomprehensible yet his ears caught it all the same.

"Inu-Yasha…"

In a shot the threeblood had jumped onto the rock, forgetting everything else as he picked up the shivering girl delicately, as if she would fall apart. A piece of his silver hair fell into her grasp and she clung to it tightly, whimpering. He wiped the tears from her dirt-stained cheeks, then nearly crushed her to his chest, sobbing with emotion. "I'm sorry," He whispered again and again, stroking her hair. "I'm so, so sorry…"

Netsuna turned from the spectacle to Kikyou, who was watching with her mouth half open. Feeling the catgirl's eyes on her, the undead angel turned to glare at the demon with seething hate. A stuck out tongue and a 'nyeh' were her replies.

Shaking, Kikyou shook her head. "No." She said, beginning to walk towards the pair. "No." Her eyes narrowed as the ground literally sizzled under her feet. Inu-Yasha was still stroking Kagomes hair, soothing her, not noticing the wrathful angel walking up to him. Suddenly Kagome gave out a shiver and her temperature and opacity dropped considerably. Shocked back into the world Inu-Yasha glanced over to where a considerable amount of energy was gathered and saw Kikyou. His face flushed as he realised his predicament.

"Kikyou! I... uh…" He consciously ran a clawed hand through his hair. "You see I…" He stopped as the undead angel ripped Kagome right out of his arms. "Kikyou! What are you doing?!"

"She's supposed to die." Kikyou said in a hiss, drawing Kagomes power right out of the mortal girl. Kagome didn't even have the strength to fight back as she grew increasingly transparent.

Inu-Yasha stood frozen for a minute, trying to figure out exactly what was going on. Then he grabbed Kikyou's arms, trying to separate her from Kagome. Kikyou released one arm only to knock the threeblood away. Inu-Yasha stared at her as the undead angels eyes glimmered with an insane light. Inu-Yasha tried to get up but Kikyou shot some strange energy at him, knocking him back.

"This is my destiny and she's not going to take it from me!" The angel hissed. "And you're not either, threeblood!"

"Kagome!" Inu-Yasha shouted, trying to push back the energy that was holding him back. Kikyou's eyes flashed and she increased her power, causing Kagome to cry out in pain.

"Me! You chose me!" Kikyou shouted hysterically.

"Oh, fuck it all." A body tackled Kikyou from the side, knocking her over and releasing her grip on both Kagome and Inu-Yasha. The angel let out a cry as she and her attacker hit the hard rocks, while Inu-Yasha lay panting on the ground, the scent of charred flesh reaching him as he tentatively touched the painful circle on his chest. Then he realised something else and completely forgot his pain as he very nearly launched himself over to where his nearly vanished task lay. Not daring to pick her up, for fear he may break her, the threeblooded guardian touched her cheek gently, frightened by how cold he was. She didn't even stir when his claw grazed her cheek.

"NO!" Kikyou's scream brought him back sharply to reality and he glanced over to see Netsuna struggling with Kikyou to keep the angel's back against a rock. "He chose me! Not her! Not that abomination! Me!"

"Oh yeah?" Netsuna grunted, grabbing Kikyou's throat and pushing her head back against the rock. "He's re-thinking a few things."

Kikyou spat in the cat demon's face and looked past her to see the threeblood approaching them. "Inu-Yasha! Save me! This… thing's trying to kill me!" She struggled a bit more, giving Netsuna a hate-filled stare.

Inu-Yasha put a hand on Netsuna's shoulder and very nearly threw the demon away. Kikyou put a hand on her wounded throat, trying to catch her breath. "Thank you." She said, in a deceitfully sincere voice. "Now I just have to take care a few things and then we ca- ah!"

Inu-Yasha grabbed Kikyou by the throat and pushed her against the rock. "You tried to hurt Kagome. You tried to kill Kagome."

Kikyou's face was one of confusion before it turned sour. "Oh please," she sneered, "don't turn into one of those animals. It's either me or that Reborn mortal and you already made your decision."

Inu-Yasha almost seemed to let off but then he pushed her more forcefully against the rock. Kikyou's hands flew to the claws around her throat, trying to loosen their grip. "What are you doing?!" She managed to hiss out.

Inu-Yasha leaned in closer, his red eyes glinting dangerously. "Sorry Kikyou, it must be the demon in me. I have it in my blood, you know. And apparently," he sniffed, his expression darkening, "so do you."

Kikyou's eyes widened and then narrowed and she tried to struggle her way out of his grip, clutching onto his hands and beginning to burn them, but Inu-Yasha ignored the pain before lashing his arm out, flinging the angel near where Kagome lay transparently. A sickening crunch snapped through the air and Kikyou let out a cry as Inu-Yasha turned on her.

"And Bankotsu!" He barked. "You reek of him and his treachery! You planned this all along!"

"He kidnapped me you fool, of course I'll have his smell on me." Kikyou said disdainfully, brushing herself off. Inu-Yasha kneeled before her, bringing his face up to hers, eyes glowing mercilessly. "Oh, really?" he said, smiling in a way that made Kikyou shiver.

"Bankotsu fights with his sword, not his hands." Inu-Yasha said calmly. "He doesn't like touching other humans. Although, if what you said was true, the scent would be was strong on Kagome as it is on you. But Kagome barely smells of him."

Lightning snaked across the sky, splitting it as thunder crashed overhead, drowning out any reply of Kikyou. Inu-Yasha stood up and turned as if to walk away. Kikyou's anger and courage returned to her and she stood up defiantly.

"You can't change your choices, Inu-Yasha. You chose me instead of her, and none of your pitiful whining is going to change it. She's going to die, by my hand if not by anything else."

Inu-Yasha whirled around but Kikyou had already frozen, looking at the thin rock that had grown from out of her stomach. She looked up at him, her mouth slightly agape and eyes wide, stumbling back a bit before her entire body convulsed and she began coughing horribly, blood covering her hands. Inu-Yasha's eyes widened and he was riveted to the spot as Kikyou looked at him before her eyes rolled back and she slumped to the ground.

"Kikyou!" He screamed, running furiously to her side. He touched the rock sticking out from her, slick and black with blood. Her eyes stared past him, glazed and unseeing and the threeblood could only look at them for a second before glancing away. The stench was violent and putrid and he felt nausea overtake him. His head spun before he turned to the side and was sick on the rain washed rocks.

"Fucking hell." Mizuki made a face as he turned from Inu-Yasha retching to see Kagome lying still and transparent on the rocks. "Shitfuck."

"Is it just you and Inu-Yasha, or are all demons such filthy mouthed…." Miroku's voice trailed off as he saw where the kappa was looking. "Fuck."

"Kagome!" Sango, riding Kirrara, raced over to the pale girl's side, slipping off of her feline angel to put a hand on Kagome's forehead. The girl was frighteningly cold, causing Sango to pull back her hand in shock. Miroku turned to Kuro-michi, who seemed to be regarding things with a cool anger.

"What's happening?" The young monk said quietly. The trespasser didn't answer him, instead giving him a glance before gliding over to behind a rock.

"Uh…" Mizuki scratched the back of his head, muttering. "So how screwed are we?"

Inu-Yasha wiped his mouth, disgusted with himself for his weakness. He looked back over at Kikyou, who was nearly transparent and gone. He touched her stone cold cheek and was shocked when she moved, turning her head ever so slightly  to look at him.

"Kikyou," He said softly. "Kikyou, I'm sorry. I know this isn't how it's supposed to turn out. I know this isn't the way things went and should go, but that just… well I… I…" He swallowed nervously with an extremely dry throat.  "I'm sorry."

"muh…" Kikyou's mouth moved and a barely audible noise was breathed out. Inu-Yasha's torn and tattered ears flickered trying to catch what she was saying.

"Kikyou?" He said quietly, as if speaking loudly would break her.

"M… mu…. me…." Kikyou said softly, and an odd light appeared in her dimmed eyes as she stared right through Inu-Yasha. "Me…"

The light in her eyes flickered and died and her form stiffened before slowly dissolving into dust. The stone that had pierced her middle clattered to the ground, once again free of blood. When the initial shock passed over another wave of nausea hit the threeblood, who put a hand over his mouth and coughed to keep the illness down. A strand of hair was tugged and he looked down to see Shippo standing beside him, holding a glass of white milk in his hands, looking up at him with concern.

"Milk always cures a sore stomach." The young angel said helpfully. Inu-Yasha took the glass and chugged it gratefully. Although the liquid didn't help much, it eased his nerves enough. He handed the glass back to Shippo, who vanished it, and was about to ask a question when Sango interrupted him.

"Kagome-chan! Are you feeling alright?" She said in a tense voice.

Kagome had sat up suddenly, nearly hitting Sango's head with her own. She sat there rigidly for a moment as the afterlife slowly leaked back into her. Her memories came flooding back with her energy and the very first and last thing she could remember was hanging above that pit of horrid lava, while Inu-Yasha had just chosen Kikyou over her and condemned her to a second death. Without even looking at her surroundings Kagome curled up into a ball and began to cry, wracking sobs that shook her tormented body. Shocked, as not having been a witness to the recent events, putting an arm around Kagome and trying to comfort her was all Sango could do.

Inu-Yasha frozen when he heard Kagome awake but when she began to cry he managed to thaw enough to look behind his shoulder at the sobbing spirit. He visibly slumped, completely humiliated and angry at himself. Fear and embarrassment turned to anger as he turned away from Kagome and from Shippo, going to sulk atop a rock.

An eyebrow raised, Miroku surveyed the area, where Kikyou had lain, the sobbing Kagome and the sulking threeblood, tapping his thumb on his staff. "Just what happened here?" He wondered aloud. Sango shook her head helplessly as a reply, still trying to soothe Kagome's sobs.

"It's a bit complicated," Netsuna said from behind the monk, sitting a rock beside where Mizuki stood and looking utterly bedraggled. "Like one of those television series where if you miss an episode you can kiss the plot goodbye."

"Then you'd best explain it to us." Sango said quietly. Netsuna caught the underlying tone and nodded wearily.

"This human zombie that Naraku had resurrected, named Bankotsu, made a deal with Kikyou to kidnap Kagome and force Inu-Yasha to do something he wouldn't want to. When Inu-Yasha arrived Bankotsu played as though he had captured both Kikyou and Kagome and was threatening their lives and telling Inu-Yasha to choose only one of them to live.

"He chose Kikyou."

A well placed flash of lightning and peal of thunder accented the demons point. Far over on his rock Inu-Yasha seemed fairly interested in his toenails; Sango shot him a glare and Mizuki whistled. Miroku and Shippo just shook their heads as Netsuna continued.

"So Bankotsu frees Kikyou and makes to kill Kagome, but I'm not one to sit around and watch stupid people make stupid choices. So I saved Kagome and gave Bankotsu a bit of a mud bath." She nodded towards the bubbling pit of lava. "Kikyou started freaking out and tried to kill Kagome and Inu-Yasha, then Inu-Yasha got mad and tried to kill her and then I started to get tired of the argument and put a rock through Kikyou."

"And where were we through all this?" Mizuki asked lazily.

"Out of the way. As we should have been." Kuro-Michi said, having appeared again and was giving the most solid of stares towards his sister. Netsuna returned his unwavering gaze.

"So Kikyou's dead." Miroku said, ignoring the sibling spat.

"So it would appear. Pity, the undead psychotic angel was really my last hope."

Everything stood stock still as the air temperature dropped about five degrees and everyone turned to the source of the voice. Even Inu-Yasha stopped studying his feet and turned to see the young, handsome man standing there in his dark clothing, giving a polite bow as he smiled coldly at them, the rain avoiding every part of his body, every strand of his hair. Kagome stopped crying and looked up to see the very incarnation of evil before them.

"So you're finally here, N-"

"Naraku." Miroku was cut off as Inu-Yasha stood up, wet, angry and defying. His golden eyes flashed with hatred as he stared at the coolly smiling demon before them.

"Ah, Inu-Yasha the legendary threeblood, son of Inu-Yasha the legendary hanyou, descendant of some demon from long ago who's named was too unimportant for me to care." Naraku inclined his head in acknowledgement. "Although I'm sure it was something trivial, such as Inu-Yasha."

A thunderpeal drowned out Inu-Yasha's reply.

The demon surveyed the scene in front of him, the serene uncaring look having not left his face. "As ragtag as before. How pitiful. Still, I must commened you for getting here. Still," He added, his gaze falling on the trespassers, "it's not for lack of aid."

"Cut the crap Naraku. We have something to finish." Inu-Yasha growled harshly.

"We do, don't we?" Naraku said driftingly, as if he were remembering a dinner date with a particularly boring guest. The insult only further aggravated Inu-Yasha, who's clenching hand found the hilt of his sword, which he gripped defensively. Naraku noticed this and raised a delicate eyebrow.

"Ah yes, the fabled sword of blood. I supposed you'll be using that against me?"

"Fuckin' straight."

"Language, you're giving demons a bad name." Naraku said absently, reaching for something attached to his belt. "And if you're to fight me and except to win, you'd might like these as well. Perhaps a sword of healing and a sword forged from the very soul of Hell will help you defeat me." With an expert and careless toss of his hand, he threw two slight katana's in Inu-Yasha's direction.

The threeblood picked up the two swords warily, before recognising them. His eyes widened and then turned to look at Naraku, in a touch of shock.

The demon shrugged. "He chose to interfere, and no matter his strength the show must go on and the show should go on. He wasn't an actor."

"Keh." Inu-Yasha snorted, quickly regaining his composure. "I'm not my uncle." He placed the two swords Tenseiga and Toukijin at his side. "Now let's get this over with."

Naraku's smile turned sinister. "Of course. Follow me." He coolly walked through the scattered group and past the glowering Inu-Yasha to enter a small crack in the hill of the mountainside. Inu-Yasha glanced at the group and began following. Miroku and Shippo glanced at each other and began to move forwards when Naraku stopped.

"I'm sorry." He said politely. "Invitation only. It's just the threeblood and me that fight."

Miroku was about to protest when he caught Inu-Yasha's look. The monk closed his mouth and nodded, although his eyes clearly stated that he didn't like the idea. Inu-Yasha surveyed the small ragtag group of demons, mortals and angels. His gaze passed over to Kagome and their eyes met.

Kagome stared unblinkingly into her guradian's eyes, which softened and seem the same amber colour that they once were when they first met. Memories of their brief time together seemed connected to those eyes, which were devoid of any smile and filled with only sadness. Inu-Yasha broke the eye contact to look up at Sango.

"Take care of her." He said quietly, before turning to follow Naraku into the deep crack in the stone. When his silhouette vanished into the darkness the ground shook and the small opening closed behind him, leaving the threeblood and the outcast inside the belly of the dead volcano, and the small resistance outside.

"Now we wait." Mizuki said quietly in the storm-drenched atmosphere. "Now we wait."

End Chapter 49

I would just like to take this moment to tell every single one of you how much I love you.

Writing this story was a bit of a hobby when it started out. I can honestly tell you that I never expected it to be this big. I never even imagined more than 40 reviews past the fourth chapter, which was where I expected it would die off. Now it's turned into this epic.

The first two books I just wrote on a bit of a whim, a plot but no real plot truly thought out. But with the third book I had to plan everything out; there's nothing I hate more then loose ends in story. And tragedy/angst is a btich to write. A royal bitch.

So I'm happy that you've all remained faithful to me. I'm very, very glad. If I were a reader of this story, I'd have plum given up by now and gone to eat little piggies or something. But you guys stick through me thick and thin and every three days I'm getting a message from a new reader saying how much he/she absolutely adores this fic.

And even though my schedule has kind of deteriorated, there's only one chapter left. I can promise you it's going to be a hell of a chapter, probably twice the length of the average chapter, if I can manage. Not to mention the biggest thank you note ever. And I'm gong to promise you that I'll update before the end of January.

So bear with me for just one more chapter. Then this epic will be over. This is the first thing I've ever been really, really serious on. I might write a sequel (although unlikely unless you guys can suggest something) or I might actually start drawing that doujinshi I started so long ago.

Either way thank you. Thank you all so very, very much.

Let's finish this.

~Ama