Disclaimers: I do NOT own Inuyasha or any of its characters.

Good grief, this last week was busy. High School takes a little getting used to. So my apologies for the long wait.

Fred the Mutant Pickle: #Sigh# Yes, I AM a guy. And Alawen's been bugging me at school about this. #grumble# And as for putting you on my favorites list, I was just returning the favor. :D

Demon Exterminator Barbie: Rare, am I? #Feels like an endangered species#

Shakujou: Thanks! And just wait, you'll see how this all works out.

Inucrazy: Thanks for the compliments! But now I must go into a long lecture about Japanese translations:

Inuyasha's enchanted Fang blade is called TeSSaiga, not TeTSUsaiga. According to several translation sources, the word Tetsusaiga itself is grammatically incorrect. Tessaiga is the true name. Why? According to the Japanese spelling of the sword's name, it would normally be called Tetsusaiga if it were not for a tiny character at the top of the name, making it Tessaiga. This is the same reason why Sesshomaru isn't called Setsushomaru. And another note, if Tessaiga was spelled Tetsusaiga, Inuyasha's claw attack, Sankon Tessou, would be called Sankon Tetsuou. But it isn't, is it?

Stephanie: Really? My, you're rather perceptive!

Samurai-lapin: Now breathe...that's better. :D and Thanks!

Wandering Namekian: Asylum? Again? #Takes not to avoid Alawen from now on#

Kaylana: Ugh, I can understand...too much stuff to do...

Kodocha08: I'm sticking with Kirara in this story (and future ones) instead of Kilala. Why?

Simple. Kirara's name is Japanese, so it would have to follow the Japanese rules of grammar.

Now you would say, "But what about names like Luffy (One Piece, which I do not own) or Alucard (Hellsing, which I also do not own)?" Although a Japanese person named the before mentioned duo, their names do not come from Japanese origins. Alucard is actually Dracula spelled backwards, and Dracula is hardly a Japanese name. Therefore, it would make sense that Alucard's name is spelled that way. As for Luffy, he lives in a pirate world that hardly resembles Japan except for a few things. Therefore, it would make sense if his name was spelled Luffy.

However, as I've said, Kirara's name isn't a foreign word: so it must follow the Japanese rules of grammar. If Kirara was spelled Kilala, wouldn't Miroku be called Miloku? And Rin Lin? Naraku Nalaku? Kagura Kaula? And so forth. That's why I'm keeping Kirara's name spelled with two r's, not l's.

And now on with the story!

""=Speech

''=Thoughts

##= Asterisks

The Inuyasha gang couldn't decide what was worse: a super powerful Naraku that continued to mock them with that cocky sneer on his face, or a super powerful Naraku that was royally ticked off and threw enough firepower around to easily annihilate a large city the size of modern day Tokyo.

Miroku barely dodged another gout of fire as Naraku sent out another Infernal Breath, wincing as the heat licked at his legs. He knew he couldn't keep this up for long, but what could they do?

"Kisama! DIE!" A lightning bolt blasted its way through Kagome's ice barrier and sent the girl scurrying for more cover.

"How are we going to beat him?!" squeaked Kagome as another killer bolt of static streaked past her.

Try as they might, every time one of them stood up out of cover to attack they would be sent back towards a safe haven by whatever devastating attack Naraku would send.

So what were they to do?

Miroku dived behind the rock Inuyasha was hiding behind, checking to make sure that his legs weren't vaporized by a searing beam of light. Afterwards, he said to the crouching hanyou, "Inuyasha, there's no way we can beat him in this current state."

"Shut up, monk!" growled Inuyasha, agitated by both the monk's despair and the killing energies that were flying around the battlefield. "You think I'm going to just give up and die here?"

"Iie, I don't mean that. We can't beat him as of now, so we should make a run for it."

"Run away? Hell no!"

#Thwok# "Not 'run away', it's called a 'strategic retreat.'"

"#Grumble# Way to put it nicely bouzo.."

Another #Thwok#

"What the-?!"

"Alright, listen up. I'll get out there and provide a distraction. You get the girls and my father, and get out of here. Just run as fast as you can."

"What about you?"

"I can move around the fastest here, so I'll catch up. Now go!"

"Y-you sure!"

"Hai! GO!"

"Good luck..friend."

Inuyasha gave Miroku one last look before he sprinted towards the girls' hiding place.

"Kaze. Kouu. Ken. Rain of Blades!" A hailstorm of sharp wind-blades showered down upon the floating Naraku. Seeing them coming, he swatted them away effortlessly.

"You think such a weak attack would work against me? Ahou! Flame bomb!"

By now Inuyasha had reached Sango, Kagome and Miroshin and took hold of all three of them. That's when he saw...

"Miroku! Watch out!"

"Wind Barrier!"

The timely barrier managed to deflect most of the bomb's power and sent it straight up into the sky, causing a huge explosion that lit up the horizon like a second sun.

"Holy..."

"Come on, let's go!"

Sango snapped out of her revere and took a moment to realize what was going on. Inuyasha gathering them to leave, while Miroku was the only one fighting...

"Nani?! We can't just leave Houshi-sama behind!"

Inuyasha gulped hard and replied, "He told me to get you guys and get the heck out of here." He grabbed hold of Kagome while Miroshin hoisted Sango by the waist.

Kagome began protesting as well. "Inuyasha! I don't care what Miroku-sama said, we're not going to just leave him behind with that monster!"

Avoiding her eyes, Inuyasha replied with, "He wanted us to get out of here. He said he would catch up, and I trust him enough to know that he'll make it out alive. No let's go!"

"Iie!" shouted Sango. "I won't go!" She struggled with all her might against Miroshin's iron grip.

Pounding on the man's arms, Sango shrieked, "That's your one and only son out there about to get killed! WHAT SORT OF FATHER ARE YOU!?"

"SILENCE!!!"

Inuyasha, Kagome and Sango were completely stunned for a while. It had never occurred to them that Miroku and his fathers were even capable of shouting in anger.

After taking a deep breath, Miroshin managed to force out, "The last thing I taught Miroku before I came here was that it is the duty of a member of our line to give up anything for his loved ones, whether it be his happiness, his life, or his possessions. And I, for one, will not let my son's sacrifice go to waste. Now let's go!"

Sango gave one last look at Miroku and thought, 'Fight hard, Miroku...just come back alive...'

Beside her, Miroshin thought, 'Take heart, my son. You have made our line proud many times over.' "Mina! Let's go!" he shouted.

They were just about to leave when...

#CRASH#

Naraku had used a gigantic boulder as a hammer to crush Miroku into a bloody pulp. The monk had managed to doge being turned into a fleshy pancake, but he didn't see that other boulder coming...

"MIROKU!!"

A smaller, bowling-ball sized chunk of granite smashed itself mercilessly into Miroku's ribs, shattering them and forcing him to cough up blood when he finally hit the ground.

Naraku casually floated over to the fallen monk as he struggled to pick himself off of the ground.

"And like your grandfather before you, fool you will die a painful death." He raised a hand high into the air.

"Poison Globe!"

He summoned a globe of deadly, virulent poison in his palm and readied himself to throw it...

'Now's my chance!'

Naraku was just about to finish off Miroku when suddenly, something or someone inside him stopped him from moving.

'Nani? What is this devilry?' Then he realized something. 'Akuma!'

Even inside his mind Akuma's voice was strained with effort. 'Heh, you let down your guard, Naraku, and for that you will pay!'

Akuma willed Naraku's form to stand rigidly still. It took every strand of willpower in Akuma to do so, but he would not allow Naraku to follow through his plans.

Sango took the initiative with a boulder of her own. Lifting it off of the ground with her willpower, she hurled it as fast and as hard as she could at the offending hanyou.

#Clonk# The boulder smashed into the back of Naraku's head, the impact disorienting him somewhat. Seizing the moment, Miroku decided to scramble as fast as he could back to his companions.

"What's going on?" pondered Kagome out loud. She wasn't the only one wondering this as the seemingly frozen Naraku continued to stand rigidly still in an awkward position. It was as if Naraku was a robotic toy that just got its plug pulled.

"What should we do? Shall we attack?"

"Well, might as well..."

Inuyasha was just about to prepare himself to launch a devastating attack towards Naraku when something strange, and very loud, happened.

Naraku screamed. And boy could that demon scream.

The bloodcurdling cry reverberated throughout the battlefield like a foghorn, the hoarse shout disturbing all who were unfortunate enough to listen.

"What the?! What the hell is going on!"

All the gang could do was cover their ears and pray for deliverance from their auditory hell.

Fortunately enough, it stopped quite soon...

But the results were just as disturbing, as Naraku clutched his head, fell to his knees, and then began muttering to himself.

The gang could only watch and wait for the demon to come out of his throes of madness. With white-knuckled hands gripping their weapons, they stood at guard watching every detail that went on.

Eventually, Naraku came out of his murmuring state and moved on into a hoarse growl that was forced through his teeth. Inuyasha managed to pick up a few words:

"Get... of... head...no...body....not..."

"What the..." wondered Inuyasha for the hundredth time.

Without warning, a sphere of greenish light ejected itself like a bullet from Naraku's head and came to a rest about fifty feet in front of him.

Naraku finally ceased his strange internal struggle and relaxed, giving out a great shuddering sigh of relief and began with a mocking sneer, "Not bad, Akuma. Since we shared the same body, you decided to foil my plans by forcing me to stop. That was my mistake. But-" here he lifted a hand to fashion a ball of lightning out of nowhere-"That mistake will not be made again. Your plans and plots are laid bare to me, demonologist. They are dead...and as will you."

In a blink of an eye the ball lightning slammed into the still groggy Akuma, blowing him backwards and throwing goblets of flesh and blood about. Akuma hit the cold earth with a dull thud, and lay still.

The victor turned towards the stunned and confused group and said, "I will retreat for now. But I assure you, the next time we meet, your chances of survival will be nil. Farewell, half-breed." Without waiting for a reply, Naraku seemingly melted into the ground and disappeared.

"H-he melted into his own shadow?"

"A #cough# c-common Dark elementalist's trick..."

Everyone was caught off guard by the sudden voice that met their ears. When they turned around to locate the origin of the sound, they were greeted by a white haired man lying on the ground with a large, sizzling wound on his chest. If it were not for his sizeable wounds, one might have considered him handsome.

"Who are you?" asked Miroshin.

"I-I am Akuma, the sorcerer who sent the Five to kill you..."

"Nani?! It was you, you ba#####! Die-"

"Inuyasha! Yamero! Don't kill him, onegai."

"What?! Why?!"

This time, Miroshin brought his little piece of wisdom. "Inuyasha, if this is Akuma, the one who helped created this world, wouldn't it be better if we kept him alive for questions and information?"

Akuma interrupted wth, "#Cough# Iie, I will not last long, so I will get straight to the point."

"Naraku is planning to go to the Core of this world to absorb the powerful elemental energies that are stored there in the Energist Spheres-"

"How do we know that you're not lying to us?!" shouted Inuyasha.

Tired of his outbursts, Kagome decided to pacify Inuyasha temporarily. "Osuwari."

You know what happened next.

Ignoring the struggling hanyou who was lying face down in the earth, Akuma continued, "When I helped create this world, I #cough# #cough# stored all the elemental energies that I found here into seven large spheres, one sphere for each of the elements. Whenever there #cough# is an imbalance caused by the strengthening of one element, the rest of the elemental spheres become weaker, making them easier to destroy. At your current state, the only way you could ever defeat Naraku is by destroying enough Spheres so that the most powerful one unleashes all of its energy in one destructive blast...#hack# #wheeze#..."

"But Akuma, is there any particular reason that you created this world?" asked Kagome.

Akuma lay in silence for a while, making the others believe he had suddenly died but somehow kept his eyes open while doing so. But Akuma broke the silence with, "It's been a while since someone asked me that, young one. My real name is Tastsumoto Mitsurugi, and here is my story..."

That's that. Sorry for the long delay again, but at least this chapter was pretty long, right? :D The next chapter will contain Mitsurugi's history and the prelude to the final battle.