Disclaimer: I don't own Inu-Yasha or Ranma.

Last Chapter: "Don't worry. Kyouran," Kagome motioned with her hand to the demon next to her, "found a cure for me. Well not a cure, but clues to the youkai Kaede mentioned."

Note: I changed something from Ch: 8. Read the AN for the changes.

Ch 17:

 Long Awaited Battles

Sesshoumaru slowly lowered his sword while keeping an eye on Kyouran's every move. He was still suspicious of him. His scent wasn't quite right. It smelled entirely different from Kikyo's scent of decay and earth; Kyouran smelled like death, unlike Kikyo's putrid smell but if anyone breathed in the scent they would be struck with a sudden fear. A fear that would temporarily immobilize them.

Ranma, on the other hand, gave Kyouran the benefit of the doubt. He could sense his aura, and it didn't contain any evil intention. But on the other hand there was no harm in being cautious. He got out of his fighting stance and walked over to Kyouran and grabbed his hand.

"My name's Saotome Ranma," Ranma said, greeting the demon.

Kyouran was taken aback by the sudden gesture, but he shook Ranma's hand nonetheless. He nodded when Ranma let go of his hand. Kyouran only looked to Sesshoumaru and nodded in his direction. Sesshoumaru didn't return the gesture.

"And that friendly person is Sesshoumaru," Ranma chirped cheerfully, jabbing his finger at the Inu youkai. His voice was full of sarcasm, but Sesshoumaru ignored his comment.

"What do we do now?" Kagome asked, looking at Kyouran who was glaring at a dimly lit tunnel. "We can't just go for the cure now. What about Kikyo?"

"Simple, you go and duel her," Kyouran said like he was giving her directions to downtown.

'As if that isn't that obvious,' Kagome thought, giving Kyouran an annoyed look. "No, I mean t, how do we reach her? And how do we defeat her; since she still holds the Gouka Crystal."

"She's back there," Kyouran said, pointing to the tunnel. "When you reach the end of the tunnel, there should be a hidden entrance on the left. That passage will take you to Kikyo."

"How do we defeat her?" Ranma asked before Kagome had to repeat herself.

"That... you need to find our for yourself. Gomen -[Sorry]- I can't tell you anything more. Just call me whenever you need me," Kyouran said, turning around. A gust of wind blew in the chamber, causing small rocks and dirt to be lifted off the ground as if floating. When the wind died down, Kyouran was nowhere to be seen.

Kagome was silent. She didn't know what to say. Sesshoumaru only looked at the tunnel Kyouran pointed to, and began to walk through the tunnel. Silently Ranma and Kagome followed his lead.

The trio walked through the tunnel. No words were exchanged between them as they prepared for a difficult battle.

Kagome took deep breaths, trying to calm her nerves. She knew that the battle between her and Kikyo was more than just for the Gouka Crystal; it was also for Inu-Yasha. Kagome flinched as she finally realized that she still had feeling for the Inu hanyou. Though slowly, she relaxed as she knew that her feelings for Inu-Yasha were nothing more than concern for a friend. Though she didn't love Inu-yasha anymore, he was her first love. Not many people would've forgotten about their first love after only few months. Kagome gripped her bow, remembering her last run-in with the undead miko.

Ranma walked with his head bowed down. He just stared at the ground, hoping that Kikyo wouldn't do something crazy with the crystal's power. He knew Kagome and Kikyo had something to settle, but he didn't want to see one of his few friends getting hurt even if he knew that he shouldn't interfere with their battle.

'I guess I can let them work things out. But if things are gonna get rough, I'll back Kagome up.' Ranma thought, looking over at Kagome. Kagome seemed to be busy with her own thoughts  so she didn't notice Ranma staring at her, but Sesshoumaru did.

Sesshoumaru was leading them through the tunnel. He was sure Kagome didn't need his or Ranma's help to defeat Kikyo and that they would be kept busy while the two ladies fought. Sesshoumaru had been told stories of the Gouka Crystal's powers. If Kikyo could control some of it,  Sesshoumaru was sure that he and Ranma were about to fight a countless  number of demons.

They finally reached the end of the tunnel. They began to look for the hidden passage. Three minutes into the search Sesshoumaru had found it. He tapped a stone on a wall twice and, slowly,  the wall began to move, revealing a set of long stone steps leading down into the what seemed to be perpetual darkness.

The same thought ran through Ranma and Kagome's minds: 'This is so clichéd.' They sweat dropped when Sesshoumaru looked back and motioned them with his head to go down the staircase.

Sesshoumaru led them down towards bottom of the seemingly never-ending staircase. When they finally reached the bottom, the first set of torches lit themselves. With each step they took the next set of torches that were parallel to each other lit. After walking halfway through the corridors, Kagome finally realized that it wasn't just any tunnel.

The walls of the tunnel glimmered in the firelight reflecting something embedded into it. With closer inspection Kagome found out that the shiny objects were in fact jewels. She couldn't identify them because only a small fraction of the jewels could actually be seen,  and she recognized some to be emeralds and maybe blue topazes. Blue topazes were very rare, even in her time, making the way too expensive to buy.

'If I could get some of these jewels, I would be rich. Then we wouldn't need to worry about money problems again!' Kagome thought about her family. It had been a while and she wanted to see her family again. She shrugged off her homesickness and continued forward, only looking toward a future that didn't involve demons or worrying about her family's safety.

Ranma looked at the twinkling walls with an amused expression as he saw the jewels gleam.

'I need to remember to get some of those before I leave.' Ranma thought looking towards the end of the tunnel. 'But Nabiki would somehow find it, take it, and then sell it. I shouldn't be so naïve. I need to find someplace to hide it till I can use them.' Ranma wasn't homesick since he was used moving all the time and that he didn't need to worry about his pops; though he was a bit precarious about his future.

Sesshoumaru wore an impassive expression that didn't show any emotions. But his thoughts were a bit messed up. He wondered what Kikyo would do to summon the Gouka Crystal's powers and what to do when the time came to defeat something so many demons he couldn't. He knew that he wasn't any ordinary demon but he had never seen the true power of the crystal unleashed. And if Kikyo didn't know how to control it when the crystal went berserk, he would have a lot to deal with.

Then he was  starting to worry about Kagome though he would've never admitted that he was concerned. Kagome had been acting strangely. It wasn't caused by the youkai within her but her human self. The part that still hated Kikyo and the feelings for his half brother.

The group was just about to reach there. They were only a yard away before a furious battle would begin.

Kikyo's Chamber

"Heh. Kyouran failed. I guess it's time to show them what we can do," Kikyo said, with an evil glint in her eyes. The Gouka Crystal sparked violently at her statement.

Gathering her thoughts and energy, Kikyo focused them into the crystal, manipulating it to create a horde of shadow ninjas and various types of other youkai.

At first a low humming was echoed around the room, until every shadow twisted and grew larger. Out of the shadow the shadow ninja materialized, kneeling in front of the undead miko. Kikyo only smirked as they bowed their heads.

"You understand what is to be done. Go and do not fail me." Kikyo commanded. Without a sound the shadow ninjas flew to kill their prey.

"Soon, Kagome, our battle will begin," Kikyo sneered, glancing to the chamber's entrance.

Outside the Chamber

"Na-" Kagome shouted surprised. She wasn't able to finish her sentence before the shadow ninjas attacked.

Kagome ducked several shurikens –[throwing stars]- that were aimed for her neck. The deadly weapons hit the wall, imbedding themselves into the solid surface. She didn't have time to think when a ninja attacked at her right.

The ninja was holding a kunai –[throwing knife]- in his right hand and attempted to slash Kagome in a wide horizontal ark. Kagome forced herself back, barely missing the attack so instead the kunai ripped her clothes.

Ranma came behind the ninja that was attacking Kagome and punched him into a wall before he (the ninja) could react and back kicked the one that was trying to sneak up from behind him. Ranma did a roundhouse kick that made contact to a ninja's head. Sensing something behind him, Ranma jumped high into the air. The shurikens instead of hitting his heart hit the ninja before him.

"Thanks," Kagome said as she fitted an arrow on to her bow. She aimed at the legs of the ninjas closest to the entrance of Kikyo's chamber and released it. Immediately a pink light enveloped the arrow. When it reached the destination, the ninjas were annihilated.

'Just wait, Kikyo. I'm coming.' Kagome thought as she advanced forward. Ninjas appeared before her instantly and each of them were holding shurikens. Kagome violently pulled another arrow onto her bow, but Sesshoumaru beat her to it. He diagonally slashed Toukijin and the ninja dropped dead to the floor. The shadows adsorbed the corpses, leaving no traces of the ninja.

"Go!" Ranma shouted, attacking two more ninjas. He was so close Kagome could see his back. Sesshoumaru nodded, clearly annoyed by their opponents. Kagome nodded to the two as she ran forward.

Kagome had a steely glint in her eyes. The spark was full of determination and confidence. Though she wasn't sure how to win against Kikyo, Kagome knew there was a good chance she would come out the victor of the battle. Her pulse started to beat a bit faster from the excitement mounting in her heart.

'No turning back now,' she thought as she entered the threshold. Kikyo was standing near the opposite end of the chamber, holding a sparking crystal. 'That must be the Gouka Crystal.'

"You have finally arrived," Kikyo drawled in a bored voice. "Let the battle begin."

Kikyo quickly fitted an arrow into the bow and released it. Kagome jumped to the left, avoiding the arrow by a foot, and also fired an arrow. Stopping half a foot away from Kikyo, Kagome's arrow decayed in a brilliant red light. Kikyo smirked coldly at Kagome, daring her to try it again.

Kagome quickly thought up a strategy and put it into motion. First she fired an arrow aimed for Kikyo's legs. Once again, the arrow had barely reached her when it decayed. Kikyo tightened her grip on the crystal, and focused her energy into creating an illusion.

A thick mist began to spread throughout the chamber, diminishing the torchlights that lit the room. The ground slowly turned into a grassy plain with wild flowers scattered about. A large tree bigger than normal trees had taken the place where Kikyo had stood a few seconds ago. The sky made it look like it was midnight. Stars decorated the black sky along with a half moon. Light, cool breezes blew across the field.

Kagome didn't let her guard down for anything. She counted on Kikyo to use an illusion for her plan to work, and Kikyo willingly fell into her trap. A twanging sound was heard from her right. Kagome's eyes widened and she instinctively jumped back. Another twang was heard from behind, and this time Kagome side stepped to the left and twisted around while fitting an arrow onto her bow. She released the arrow as soon as her right foot touched the ground. Kagome heard a small barely audible gasp of surprise and pain.

'So I'm right.' Kagome thought. She quickly scanned the area for something large to hide behind. The mist was still quite thick and Kagome could hardly differentiate the silhouettes of many still-laying objects.

'Killing ki! (It's elemental energy, in this case it's aura)' Kagome jumped out of the way as spears of shadow came out of the ground. Kagome did a back flip in mid-air and landed in a kneeling position. Blades of shadow came at her in every direction; Kagome jumped up in time, missing the deadly blades. But out of nowhere a kunai passed through the mist creating an opening of air. The kunai was aimed for Kagome's chest, right where her heart was. Kagome pushed herself to the right, and the kunai just grazed her left upper arm. A small trickle of crimson blood dripped from the shallow wound. Kagome fell down, landing on her right side. Pain shot through her arm as she tried to get up. She hissed in pain, glaring at the kunai that lay beside her.

Kagome had no time to clear her thoughts of pain as another attack was made. Thick black whips of shadow cracked beside her. Kagome rolled to her left as the whips lashed out at her. She was stopped by the kunai, without thinking she took the kunai in her hand jumped to her feet and ran. The whips lashed at her from behind. Seeing a tree in front of her, Kagome immediately turned and ran to her right. The whips hit the tree with a sickening crack and chunks of bark and branches flew everywhere.

'This just screwed up my plans.' Kagome thought bitterly as more shadow weapons attacked her. Kagome quickly scanned the area for Kikyo, the only way now to win the battle is for her to engage Kikyo in hand to hand combat.

A voiced laughed at her. "Poor Kagome-chan. She's about to die."

The voice surrounded Kagome as if the volume had kicked it up a few notches. Her demon senses were thrown off track. The mist prevented her from tracking down Kikyo via her scent. The mist also prevented her from seeing anything that wasn't within two yards away from her. But fortunately,  thanks to her sensitive hearing, she was able to survive this long.

Suddenly an idea came to her. Kagome smirked as the plan began to form in her mind. The only problem now was to keep Kikyo talking.

"Kikyo, stop this nonsense and fight me face to face!" Kagome shouted. Her words surprised herself, she sounded like Inu-Yasha when he cornered in a fix where he couldn't see his opponent.

"Now, now Kagome-chan. Don't get angry," Kikyo mocked.

'There!' Kagome thought happily like she finished her test early. Twisting the kunai in her hand Kagome threw it behind her to the right. The kunai sliced through the air and hit something with a bung sound much like the sound of a bouncing spring. A pained gasp was heard as the illusionary world began to fade.

It looked like a scene in a dream fading to the next scene. First the scenery began to dissolve into air, then the objects began to change shape. They solidified into a new object for the next illusion then began to die away. The darkness faded with the illusion. The embers in the torchlights that were extinguished slowly came back to life. Kagome blinked her eyes several times to get used to the light. Remembering about Kikyo, Kagome quickly twisted around, grabbing an arrow.

There she laid; Kikyo was half-kneeling and half-lying on her left side. Her right hand was clutching her side with her left arm supporting her. Her bow had lay forgotten next to her. Kikyo's eyes pounded with such strong hatred, making Kagome step back when their eyes met. Kikyo looked down, shaking with rage. The blood that was supposed to drip from her wound didn't come, only a pinkish purple smoke that glimmered escaped the wound.

"Naze? Why are you hesitating?" Kikyo asked, not looking up.

'This isn't like her. She would refuse to die like this,' Kagome thought. In her mind she replayed the day Kikyo was revived.

'Inu-Yasha, I won't rest till you come to hell with me.' was what Kikyo had said only few minutes into her renewed life. She was wounded, looking at Inu-yasha with hatred. It was when Kikyo and Inu-Yasha didn't know the existence of Naraku. It was long ago though, and Kikyo still wished for Inu-Yasha to accompany her to hell. (I'm not sure that's what she said. It has been a long time since I've seen the 1st season.)

Kagome slowly lowered her bow. A calm and contempt expression shadowed on her face. She couldn't kill Kikyo, no matter how plain and simple it was. Though she didn't have feelings for Inu-Yasha, she still couldn't hurt him. To hurt him was to kill someone precious to him and that was Kikyo.

'I could never forget her,' Inu-Yasha had said that long ago when Kikyo was raised back into the time of the living. When exactly he spoke those words, Kagome had forgot, but it still remained with her.

"Because, if I do, Inu-Yasha would be sad. I don't want to cause him pain," Kagome said. "Give me the Gouka Crystal and I will leave."

Kikyo looked at the amethyst discarded in front of her. She looked away and pushed it toward Kagome.

Kagome gave her a weary smile and picked it up. She was about to say farewell to Kikyo and wish her a speedy recovery until Ranma and Sesshoumaru ran in- well, Sesshoumaru walked. The two males shifted into their fighting stances, while eyeing the injured Kikyo.

Before Kagome could tell them that Kikyo gave her the Gouka Crystal, something unusual occurred. The room began to change back into the illusionary world Kikyo had used at first. The tree was standing at the exact same place still snapped in many places from the shadow whip. The ground was covered in grass, and the mist wasn't as thick.

Kagome sniffed the air, something familiar hung around the area she was standing in. She looked down and saw some liquid on the ground. She bent down and touched the substance with her long fingers. Raising her hand to eye level, Kagome saw that it was blood, not just any blood, but her blood.

'But, if it was an illusion then my blood wouldn't still be here.' Kagome thought. Realization suddenly dawned on her. When she was back in the chamber she didn't remember there being any blood on the ground. 'But how?!'

Kagome looked around and saw that the places where she was attacked-the weapons still laid there. The places where the shadow weapons attacked those areas were heavily damaged too. But in the chamber none of those areas were damaged and she didn't see the kunais that laid there lay in the chamber.

'Something isn't right.' Kagome thought uneasily. A presence hung in the air that made her uncomfortable. Looking at her companions she saw that they were uneasy too.

A shadow was seen before them, making its way to them. Slowly the features of the mysterious person began to show. It was a he, and he had midnight blue hair that reached to his hips. His hair was tied half way down his back but loose strands hung over and on his shoulders. His bangs reached to his top lip, and his eyes were ice blue. (his hair looks like Eclipse's from Demon Diary) He, in human standards, looked like he was in his early twenties with a fine physique. He wore a black kimono with silver almost white lining. His armor was a chest plate similar to Sesshoumaru's. Around his waist was a large red sash with blue and white fire on the ends, tied with a bow in the front. A long naginata –[halberd]- was held in his left hand while a key was clutched in his right hand. (Naginata is the Japanese form of a halberd. It has a long shaft with a curved blade at the tip. It was used during the Heian jidai/9th-12th century/, but its use decreased by the Sengoku Jidai. I got this from Real Bout High School)

"Good evening," he greeted. The aura around him wasn't that of a human, but that of a demon. There was no trace of malice in his voice as he spoke. "How are you doing, Kagome-san?"

"How do you know me?" Kagome quickly questioned before Ranma could open his mouth. The corners of the stranger's lips curled into a smirk. The demon in question surveyed the group with weary eyes.

"I've known you for a long time now, Tenchi." He said. "My name is Kage –[Shadow]-." He walked to Kagome and took her hand. He placed the key on her palm and turned around. Without so much as a good bye he disappeared. The demon that called himself Kage simply vanished.

End of Ch: 17

***

Yay! I finished it! I hope the chapter was to your liking and remember REVIEW! **I wanna say thanks to Kris for volunteering to edit Ch: 1-15! Doomo arigatoo gozimasu –[Thank you very much]- Kris-san!** And I wanna say thanks to Nancy, I gave up using your penname since you change it too much, for editing this chapter and the chapters to come. And thanks to the readers who read my work!

Editor- I want to note that the changing of Kagome's youkai description also has grammatical and spelling errors. Changing my penname every two weeks isn't that often, right?

In Chapter 8, I changed Kagome's demon description:

Youkai! Ranma gasped in horror as he saw Kagome. He was certain that it was Kagome. She had a mid-night blue hair with crimson tips, with grey-blue eyes. She also had crimson markings on her face like Inu-yasha's, when he's a full demon. And pale skin only hinting the smallest bit of color.

I also changed some stuff that had to do with Kagome's features.