A/N: Look! I didn't take that long to update! Yeah. Bet ya'll are proud. This is the second to last chapter. Meaning after this, there's one more to go. Yeah, don't kill me. It was going to end sooner or later. Anyway, yeah there won't be a sequel. I just don't think there's much I can do after the last chapter (and you'll see why), and I really, really hate the idea of dragging shit on, thus killing it and making it a little bit worse than horrible. So there. I've explained myself. –big grin–

Disclaimer: so… no one's gotten the hint yet, eh?

First off: well, I'd like to dedicate this chapter and the next to my little sister. I could go on and on with reasons, but I'll leave you with these: 1) She's totally kickass. 2) She's totally kickass. 3) She encourages me to keep writing – whether it's this story or others – and that makes her totally kickass. I think you get the point. Cheers to you sis!

Life In The Fast Lane

Chapter Sixteen

Requiem

"10."

"20." He replied almost immediately. Sango looked at both men incredulously.

"Ya'll are both crazy. I say 100." Kagome rolled her eyes, rubbing her neck as they made their trek up the stairs, a little slower than needed. She rested her gun over one shoulder, her finger on the trigger.

"100 dollars? Are you serious?" Sango nodded, looking at Miroku.

"Well yeah. I mean, don't you think that's a good enough prize for killing this Naraku bastard first?"

"I think you all are missing the point. It's not like it's a race. And he still has to tell me something. So I get to kill him first. And take 200 dollars." Kagome retorted simply. Miroku and Inuyasha choked, almost tripping as they walked down the third floor's hall.

"I really can't believe that you four are betting money on who kills Naraku first." Sesshomaru said, a hint of a smirk coming to his face. "How childish."

"Shut the hell up, Sesshomaru. I know what you're thinking. You want in on this too." Inuyasha stated smugly, crossing his arms over his chest. Sesshomaru regarded him coolly, and then flicked his eyes back in front of him, trying to remain focused on the task at hand.

"You're right. Why don't I let one of you kill him, then kill off all of you and take the money for myself?" he suggested with the shrug of his shoulders. Inuyasha turned his head slowly to look at his half-brother, wondering how he could say it as if he were talking about the weather.

"He's joking right?" Kagome whispered over to her friends, looking at Sesshomaru carefully from the corner of her eye. "Take his fucking gun away. I don't feel safe anymore."

"He better be joking. If he touches you, I'll rid the world of him with my own two hands." Inuyasha said, glaring back at him. Sesshomaru snorted, still managing to make it sound dignified.

"What makes you think I won't kill you off first?"

"You wanna go?" Inuyasha stopped in his tracks, holding his arms out on the sides of him, and watched his brother walk past him. Miroku and Sango shook their heads.

"Please tell me, you two are not fighting when we need to direct all our anger at Naraku and whatever he has in store for us…" Miroku sighed and wiped a hand down his face.

"This is definitely not the time. Will you two stop fighting to see who's better and put a pep in your step? We have ground to cover, in case you forgot." Kagome turned around, her gun still pointing upward, an exasperated look on her face.

"He started it!" they pointed at one another. Kagome almost laughed, but it wasn't the time, instead letting a smirk slip onto her features.

"What was that you said about 'childish', Sesshomaru?"

"Never mind this. We have ground to cover." Inuyasha said, repeating what Kagome just said in a whiny childlike voice. Kagome rolled her eyes.

"Grow up, honey." She swung back around and walked towards where they were originally headed. Her mind was reeling. If they got out of this alive, she might have to do the hardest thing she ever thought possible.

"Can you bring me my children?"

"Yes, sir. I'm right on it, sir." The said servant put down her spray bottle – fan attached – which she had been using to keep Naraku cool, even though the room's air conditioner had been turned up full blast. Naraku watched with little interest as the girl in the short skirt walked towards his office doors, her backside swishing to and fro. He sucked on the toothpick in his mouth and turned around in his chair, regarding the city below his sky-high office, liking how it gave him a feeling of power. He stood up, his right hand idly twirling the small piece of wood in his mouth, one eyebrow cocked upward. He stuffed his free hand in his pocket and swayed back on his heels, tilting his head to get a better view of the buildings below him. He pushed open the sliding glass door to his wrap around balcony and stepped out, the cool nightly breeze enveloping him from all sides.

He had to cool down. He knew why he was so hot. It wasn't a condition, but whenever he got too excited or anxious, his body temperature raised itself and made him hot.

Maybe it was a condition.

He shrugged his shoulders and walked over to the railing separating him and his doom and leaned on it.

"It's such a long way down." He said to himself with a smirk. Once again… he relished in the fact that he had real power. Not a puny amount of money at his fingertips, but the kind of power many were greedy for. He was at the top of the world, and no one could stop him.

"Having another ego trip, father?" Kouga asked coolly, walking up to the railing with his sister in tow. For once she was dressed in jeans and a t-shirt, although both together were more expensive than monthly rent payments. Naraku grinned and turned around, toothpick still floating between his teeth. He looked at his son, noticing how he was wearing track pants and tennis shoes, and a t-shirt that cut off right at the edge of his shoulder.

"Ah. My favorite children." He took his hand from his pocket and opened his arms wide, as if to give them a hug.

"Your only children." Kikyo muttered snidely. She evaded her father and walked over to the railing, placing one hand daintily on the cool metal, and the other on her hip.

"That's true." He smiled and placed his hands in his pockets, his shirt sleeves rolled up to his elbows and his suspenders held tightly in place on his shoulders.

"You called for us, if you remember." Kouga said, looking out over city as Naraku had just done. The city lights sparkled below, everything an orange and yellow blur, clubs and business signs blinking on and off to attract the masses that made up the night life. He almost felt a longing in his gut to go down there and race through the streets at neck breaking speeds, but quickly suppressed it so that he could talk to his father.

"You realize the time has come, don't you?"

"This doesn't involve me, father. Why did you call me?" Kikyo flicked her gaze over to the semi-tall man and sniffed disdainfully. Naraku chuckled.

"Wouldn't you like to see Inuyasha suffer? I know how he broke your heart." Kikyo let her eyes fall.

"It didn't hurt that much. I'm over it now…"

"Revenge is a dish best served cold, my darling." Kikyo thought about it; long and hard…

She really did.

But she didn't know if that was what she wanted. Sure it would feel good to see Inuyasha suffer after he dumped her for that stupid bitch, Kagome. But would she feel right in giving revenge. Would she truly feel satisfied if he was upset?

"What type of suffering are we talking about? If you mean like abuse-" Naraku whipped his head around quickly.

"Although the idea sounds tempting, I'll skip the human torture for today. I'm talking about seeing him suffer emotionally. You should stick around. I hear it's going to be a good show." Naraku looked back at his eldest child with a sick grin on his face. Kouga, whose hands were stuffed in his pockets, took them out and glared at his father.

"And what pleasurable reward will I receive for pounding in Inuyasha's face?"

"Whatever you want, it's yours." Naraku said, as if he were handing candy to a young child. Kouga looked back over the city and swallowed.

What was something that he wanted so terribly? Something that could be easily attained; yet worth so much that he had to have it now…

He leaned his head back and stared up at the mass of stars above his head. His father's bribery was handsome. But he had everything he needed at the moment. Besides seeing Inuyasha and his little whore suffering, there was nothing else he wanted.

"The two's suffering is enough for me." Kouga said softly, breathing in the chilly air, making his lungs almost hurt from rush of it all. He could see Kikyo folding her arms across her chest from the corner of his eye, but paid it no heed.

"Alright. Then it'll be done."

"Naraku, sir?" a small voice peeped up from the glass doorway. Kouga glanced down from the sky and over his shoulder to see a girl in a short skirt standing timidly away from the conversing trio. Kikyo snorted, in a very unladylike manner, and his father sighed annoyed.

"What?"

"They're coming, sir. And they have weapons." She bowed and backed out, never letting her eyes leave the ground.

"Tell me, why do all your servants wear short skirts?" Kikyo cocked an eyebrow towards her hairline, disgusted. Naraku turned to her with the same grin as before.

"I'm sure you can figure that out."

"Are you guys prepared for whatever's in there?" Sesshomaru asked, loading another clip into his gun. They all followed suit, walking down the fourth floor. He handed Kagome one of the two small daggers he had, just in case she was actually the one to kill Naraku.

"Yeah."

"You know it's not going to be easy, and that there's a chance we could go down?"

"Yes, Sesshomaru. You've already told us about this in the van." Inuyasha stated, and the group could vaguely detect irritancy.

"We're going to die." Miroku sagged sadly, not really wanting to go further. Sango sympathized with him, but smacked him on the arm lightly.

"Don't talk like that. We're the heroes. We don't die." Kagome's eyes watered. That's right. They had all sacrificed their lives for her. It was her that Naraku wanted. She had something he wanted, so he kidnapped her and held her for ransom. And now, once again, her friends were sacrificing their lives to make sure it never happened again.

At first it had been fun. Like she was in an action movie, no matter how tragic and heinous the situation was. But the realness hit her once she saw her friends and had to use her gun. This wasn't an action move.

This was really happening.

And she didn't like it one bit. She seriously wanted to slap herself as many times as it took to wake up. Plus the reality of it all would happen if they got out of this alive. As much as she loved everyone, she'd have to…

No… there were more important things to worry about now. She couldn't think about this when they had to take out a crew of about three or maybe even six or seven.

Her stomach twisted into a dozen knots.

"And how come you're so quiet?" a voice reached her ears. Kagome rolled her eyes towards the wall she walking next to, so that her boyfriend couldn't see that she was on the verge of shedding tears.

"I don't know. Preparing myself I guess." She put on a smile so bright and fake it made Inuyasha reel away.

"Are you okay?"

"Why wouldn't I be?" she rose and eyebrow, the same smile on her face.

"Well, we're about to go into "battle" and you're smiling freakishly bright." Inuyasha wrapped an arm around her shoulders. "It's okay to be scared." He whispered into the shell of her ear. She frowned.

"But it's not."

"Kag, look at the optimistic side of things. We'll get through this, okay?" she didn't want to agree to that. Because what if it was false hope and everything turned to shit and they didn't make it out safe. Maybe they should have just left after Kagome was rescued, and saved themselves the trouble.

"Inu-"

"Hey, tell me later, okay? We're here." Kagome glanced up and saw that Sesshomaru had brought them to a stop. He hushed them into silence and Inuyasha removed his arm from her shoulders and placed his hand on his gun. They must have walked farther than she thought.

"So… how are we going to bust in? Knocking is out of the question. Bust in like the action movies?" Miroku asked, looking ready for anything, but on the inside he was jelly. 'I really wish he hadn't said that.' Kagome thought to herself. Sesshomaru hushed them all again, and held up his hand, signaling that he was going to count to three. They all shrugged and nodded, and when three fingers were up, Sesshomaru kicked open the door with so much force, the reverberated off the wall they hit again and came back toward them, Sesshomaru held open the door and nodded to Inuyasha to hold the other.

Inside the room was dark. It wasn't actually all that dark, but the dimmed lights were lowered to the point where your eyes would have to adjust quickly or you'd trip over anonymous objects. It was a cold and chilling darkness that made Kagome shiver and before she could even utter the words 'It's a trap!' action had already taken place.

Sesshomaru and Inuyasha had their guns knocked out of their hands and their arms twisted behind their backs by beefy bodyguards. Sango and Miroku we're thrown to the ground, their faces planted into the carpet. And Kagome was left standing there all by her lonesome; watching as her friends fruitlessly struggled.

Naraku smirked.

"I honestly didn't think you'd all be so hasty to be taken hostage." He chuckled as he sat up at his high desk, the lights in the room becoming brighter. He motioned Kagome forward and she stood stupidly for a second.

"No! Kagome, don't go to him!" Kagome glanced over and Inuyasha as he growled and tried to kick his attacker but he was too strong, too big to be overtaken by such a little guy. Naraku flicked his wrist and a muffled cry emitted from Inuyasha's voice box. Kagome gasped, now watching as Inuyasha dropped to his knees hissing in pain.

"Naraku!" she screamed, wanting to make sure he heard her. "Don't hurt them, or I'll go over there and kill you will my bare hands!" Naraku looked amused, which pushed Kagome's anger over the edge. She pulled the dagger that Sesshomaru had handed her earlier from her belt, and walked forward briskly, intending to inflict harm. She didn't event think that he'd have more people to back him up.

Which is why it was a rude awakening when an unbearable pain shot through her abdomen, to her very core, taking all breath from her lungs. She gasped for air and clenched her eyes closed, collapsing to the ground in pain. It was unlike anything she'd ever felt before, and she trembled trying to get her bearings straight. She seriously felt as if she'd never be able to breathe again.

"Kagome!" she heard another shout from somewhere behind her, but it was muffled in her ears. All she could hear was the blood rushing in her head. She glanced up with watery eyes at the one person who just might be worse than Naraku.

Kouga stood above her with an overconfident smirk on his face, knowing he had made her pretty damn close to nonfunctional. She licked dry lips, on her hands and knees, trying to focus on something other than the pain in her stomach.

"Like old times, right Kags?" she glared, wanting so much to beat the arrogance out of him.

"Fuck you." She growled out hoarsely. She glanced up at Naraku to see he had lit another cigar, blowing out the smoke lazily.

"Bring the other bastard forward." He nodded towards on of his lackeys and Kagome saw one of the big ones bringing Inuyasha forward.

More like dragging.

He didn't look too good either. They were the only ones who struggled. She could tell the rest were thinking up plans. She shouldn't have acted so hastily. But then again, what's done is done. A silent moment of silence passed between the two, to show that things were okay. Kagome glanced back at Naraku, waiting to see what he had planned.

"I would stay up here, but for this part I want a good view of the look in your eyes." he smiled and pushed his chair back coming down from his high spot and sitting on one of the chairs below the stairs. Kagome was yanked up by her hair, to sit up on just her knees, Kouga behind her. She noticed Inuyasha was in the same predicament. She turned and glared at Naraku with the meanest look she could muster.

"Oh, don't look at me with such hatred. You're going to love me after this part." It was like someone was holding up a sign to tell the other people working for him in the room to laugh, because nothing about this was funny. They were probably just laughing because they were in on it. Or they didn't want to get their asses killed.

"What did you need to tell me Naraku? I've been thinking about it this whole time, while also thinking of the worst ways to kill you." Naraku smiled, and Kagome winced as her head was jerked again. 'Damn you, Kouga.'

"If you get that far."

"Can we hurry this up?" Kagome heard to the left of her. Naraku snapped his eyes towards her boyfriend.

"Why in such a hurry to die, you stupid fuck?" For once Kagome hated the sound of Inuyasha's voice. For once she wanted him to shut up forever so they could make it out alive. He was too short tempered and that would get them in trouble.

"Shut up, Inuyasha." Kagome whispered with feeling. Inuyasha turned to look at her with a puzzled look on his face, but she tried to ignore it.

"Listen to your girlfriend. For once she's right."

"Naraku." She warned. It was just now that Kagome noticed Kikyo, who sat in her father's original seat, feet propped up on the desk, with an actual bag of popcorn. Kagome looked at her as if she were the stupidest person in the world.

Honestly. Popcorn?

"Let's continue with out story. I'll make it a little simpler since you seem to be growing stupid these days." Naraku laughed, thus making his lackeys laugh, but held up his hand to silence them when Kagome began to growl.

"Come on. What's so fucking mysterious that you couldn't tell me before? I'm dying to know, you bastard." Naraku's face lost its smile. But then it came back again with the blink of an eye.

"I want you angry Kagome. Get more angry."

"Fucking tell me!" she screamed, ready to jump out of Kouga's hold and give him a piece of her mind.

"Your parents were researching a very special jewel. The jewel's location was in a very secluded spot of India – a secluded spot in the Thar Desert. They didn't know much about it, it's originality, but someone gave them a lead, and they decided to look deeper into it. That person that gave them a lead was me."

"What does this have to do with anything?" Kagome asked tiredly. She wished that he would just get this over with. Even though she was pissed at the fact that he called her stupid, he wasn't making anything simple. To be simple, all he had to do was get to the point. But the man had to make a story leading up.

Apparently he liked the sound of his own voice…

"It has everything to do with it. So pay attention and stop cutting me off." Kagome swallowed back her words. "Your parents didn't work directly under me. I was doing this joint project with another someone – whose name isn't important – and he asked me to help him with this assignment. So I gave your mother and father the go ahead on the mission, telling them to get as much information on this jewel as possible, and bring it back to me. They loyally did as told, but it was procedure to tell their boss – whose name isn't important – exactly what they were doing in full detail. I gave them the supplies and the crew to go and find the jewel, and have it brought back to me," he took a breath, as if collecting his details and giving them out precisely was the most important thing in the world. Kagome was interested, but this was getting a tad bit too boring. Although she was intrigued by what it was exactly that her parents had been doing before they died.

"It wasn't until my people got back from India, that they were able to look at the jewel more closely, and tell me precisely how much this jewel was worth. If you can believe it, it's one of the most expensive things in all Japan. The other is just as much, but I already had that from a previous project. Which made me quite rich if you can believe it. And so, with both these items in my possession, I could be the most powerful man in the world.

"So I needed that jewel. But unfortunately, my business partner wasn't so keen on giving up what was originally his. So he had a nasty accident at the snap of my fingers." Kagome gasped. This man really had no conscious. How can you kill someone and take it so lightly. She even felt a little bad for killing those men downstairs.

"That's right. I killed him off. Yada-yada. Anyway, before I could even get the jewel, your parents took off with it, knowing that I didn't know where they lived." Kagome's attention peaked. She wasn't dumb. This is where something terrible happens.

"What'd you do?" she whispered. He smirked, yet again.

"I wanted that jewel so badly. I had to have it. If no one would give it to me willingly, I'd have to take it by force." The bottom of her stomach dropped. There was this numbing feeling that comes with finding out something tragic has happened. When you just know that it had to do with you, whether or not anyone had to say anything. You just know. And just for a brief moment, before Kagome could even catch it, hang on to it, identify it, she knew. She knew everything. But then the fleeting moment left, and she was blank. She couldn't remember what she'd just known, but she knew it was there. She glanced up into Naraku's eyes, seeing exactly what she didn't want to see.

Triumph.

He'd won. He held something over her head for this long. She didn't want to know it was true, but for some odd reason, she had to hear it from his mouth. Hear it spill from his lips in syllables. Hear it come past his throat, floating over to her in a single breath.

She flicked her eyes down to his pencil thin lips. She could see the words hanging off, ready to be uttered. She swallowed. It was just her and Naraku now. The room floated away, and even the grip in her hair seemed to loosen.

It was just her and Naraku…

"I killed them." those three words were like nails on a chalkboard. She could hear the defined screech, the one that could make your ears bleed. A shiver ran down her body, making her tremble. The words were whispered, but to her they were like a scream. Each word, right into her ear, making her eyes widen and her breath quicken. The words were so loud now, and she wanted to cover her ears, maybe rip out her hair, but she had to make it stop. "I killed them." it was whispered again, and Kagome's eyes watered, big fat tears, clouding her vision and making Naraku's face a blurry, watery façade.

She tried to blink back her tears, knowing that with them, ugly emotions would come flowing out too. When she looked up from his lips, she saw that his eyes weren't focused on her, but on someone behind her. And it was then that she realized, Naraku's lips had never moved. He had never said those words. She vaguely wondered if they weren't even said at all, that maybe she was dreaming that all up, but then she felt someone nuzzling the shell of her ear, kissing and nibbling.

Kouga…

Kouga. Kouga said it. Kouga was the one who whispered those words. Kagome froze. Naraku had only ordered. Her ex-boyfriend had killed her parents off, ridding the world of them. Kouga.

Suddenly commotion broke out to the left of her. Someone was trying so hard to get out, and reach her. But she couldn't move. She couldn't act. Those words were still running through her mind, seared forever.

The sound of the room came back. And it wasn't quiet. Kagome found the will to move and looked over at Inuyasha who had somehow managed to get out of the corpulent man's hold, kneeing him in the face, and no doubt breaking his nose.

He became unconscious.

More men moved forward to try and take him down, but he was too fast. It seemed surreal. He was fighting so diligently, not like before when he wildly swung. Now, every punch hit, every kick made contact. Sesshomaru had gotten out of his man's hold too, slicing his wrists with his dagger and punching him in the face. Sango and Miroku broke out too, taking down their men and twisting their necks.

And all the while, Kagome stood stupidly with Kouga right next to her, watching all the commotion. Kouga pulled her up the stairs, where his father and Kikyo were standing, watching all the brawling below, like a really violent mosh-pit. Sango was wrestling a gun out of someone's hand. Miroku was delivering a roundhouse kick to some poor guys face. Sesshomaru beat down someone who tried to come at him with a knife. And Inuyasha. Gods, Inuyasha was fighting three at a time, letting out all his pent up anger. Nothing seemed to matter, except for fighting. And Kagome snapped out of her stupor, realizing how close she was to Naraku, and how she could just kill him with the dagger in her hand.

"Kagome, give me the jewel." Naraku's voice was clipped and harsh. "Give it to me now, and I can order this to stop and we can all go home."

"You fucking shut the hell up." Kouga's grip on her arm tightened.

"Watch your mouth."

"Watch your back, Kouga." Kagome's smirk was dead, but it held malice. Kouga whipped around, just to be punched squarely in the jaw, making him fly down the steps and skid back a few feet on his back. Kagome's gaze connected with Inuyasha's and for a moment it was like he was seeing past her, hatred flickering in his honey-colored orbs, but then it disappeared and she saw him, before it clicked back again. He was seriously going to kill Kouga. He ran down the stairs towards Kouga, preparing to give him the worst.

Kagome blinked and looked at Naraku who was staring at her with hatred. She pursed her lips.

"Kagome, give me the jewel." She reached up and fingered the round jewel around her neck.

"Over my dead body." Naraku smirked.

"As you wish." He snapped his fingers and two more burly guys came at Kagome. She had had it with this. It was getting old. So it'd be better to just end this quickly.

Without even thinking, she swung around and stabbed the first guy through a mass of muscle. She planted a foot on his chest and pulled the knife out, swinging around to do the same with the last guy. But he jumped out of the way with her first slice at him.

"Quit playing around." she growled. She chucked the small object at him, hoping to make it, and fortunately it did. Naraku stood wide eyes, glancing from his fallen down men to her and back again.

"Kagome would you be interested in joining me? With moves like that, we could dominate." Kagome glared.

"I can't believe you. You're despicable, Naraku. Why don't you die!" she yelled. And she would have assisted him with that if his eyes didn't widen more. He stopped moving, or maybe he was just moving painfully slow, but he could no longer hold himself up. Blood spilled from his lips, his face going paler. And when he dropped, she saw Sesshomaru breathing heavily, his hands on his hips. Kagome turned around to see Kouga on the ground, not moving – whether he was unconscious or dead, she'd never know – and walked back to Inuyasha. He was on his hands and knees, panting more heavily than all of them. She knelt down beside him and placed her head on his shoulder. The only thing she was feeling right now… was numb, and the stench around her was metallic, nauseating and fresh. Like blood.

"Kikyo, you better get the hell out of here while you're still alive." She heard Sesshomaru say. She didn't say anything, but she scrambled up quickly and ran out of the office, leaving her father and brother behind willingly.

It was over. She didn't exactly avenge her parent's death.

But it was over…

A/N: Ok. That ending was so… blah. But I like this chapter… I don't know about the readers, but I seriously felt like nails were running down a chalkboard. Jeez, I can still hear it. –shudder- anyway! Hope you all enjoyed that chapter. Read and Review please.

Oh. And for those of you, who couldn't figure out why I named this chapter Requiem, boo to you. Requiem: A song or hymn of mourning composed or performed as a memorial to a dead person. I was trying to be spiffy. It worked, right?

TaintedMunkeyz