Summary: Just when Inuyasha clears his mind and chooses Kagome over Kikyou, Kagome pushes him away after a terrible misunderstanding. This action starts a chain of events that eventually leads to the death of our half-demon hero. After returning life, Inuyasha wanders the world of the living again. When he comes in contact with his old friends and rivals, the only thing waiting for him with open arms is the changes that his friends had under gone. How will Inuyasha once again change the lives of his past friends? Are some wounds too much even for him to heal? Interesting situations will defiantly ensue.

Pairings:

Inuyasha/Ayame/Sango (To be voted upon)

Sesshomaru/Kagura

Shippo/Kana

Kohaku/Rin

Disclaimer: I do not own Inuyasha in any way or form that is believable perhaps other than CDs and DVDs. This fan fiction is not written for personal gain or profit (duh!) and is only for my own bizarre pleasure.

Arthur's Note: I know I haven't done anything for quite a while but I'm back now (at least for a while). Look at my bio for any information regarding to my other stories and such. There is also an explanation in there for why I picked these parings. If anyone reviews just to flame about the pairings, I'm not even going to bother acknowledging them and just tell anyone reading this right now that people who flame are just people with problems that direct their anger and frustration towards anyone that they can find whether stranger or friend. In that way, I pity flamers. A note about why I came back to writing. A reason for this is because there are now "hits" counter in the stats page so I can see how many people actually read my stories whether reviewing or not. Of course, if you like this story or have any suggestive comments, thoughts, opinions, and such, I greatly encourage you to leave a review. No more blabbering for now. I said I'd get this story out before Monday, and that's what I'm going to do. With one last interruption, I give you my new story "Completion Through Death".

"…" Talking

… Narrative

'…' Thinking

"…" Exclaiming/Screaming

"…" Unknown Voice (Inside character's head, unable to see speaker, etc."

Completion Through Death

Chapter One: My Pups

Right. Left. Double Left. Punch. Upper Cut.

'A man is only as good as he lets himself be…'

Down. Jump. Swipe. Blades of Blood. Roundhouse Kick.

'He must choose his fights wisely…'

Jump Forward. Punch. Punch. Retreat.

'But must always fight with his heart, even in battles he may not want to take part in…'

Unsheathe Tetseiga. Concentrate.

'Great is a man who constantly strives to make himself better…'

Wind Scar!

'Wise is a man who looks under the same rock more than once…'

Get Into Path Of Own Attack.

'Cunning is a man who knows others while others do not know him…'

Backlash Wave!

'Brave is a man who gambles with death for selfless purposes…'

Jump Into Attack. Brace For Impact.

Five.

Four.

Three.

Two.

One.

"ARRRGGGHHHH!"

'No… pain… no… gain…'

Faint.

'It's raining again.' Kagome though as she looked out the entrance to Kaede's hut. 'I hope Inuyasha is all right. I know, I'll cook him some ramen for when he gets back.' With that closing thought, Kagome starts moving towards her pack happy to have something to do on this foreboding day. They have been searching for Naraku for more than a year now and still nothing very interesting showed up. It wasn't exactly that she minded of course, the more time they need to spend looking for the jewel, the more time she can spend with Inuyasha.

Kagome looked towards her friends also in the hut. Miroku was sitting in a corner sporting a very bright and red handprint; no doubt from one of his cursed hand's excursions, cutesy of a pissed off demon exterminator. Speaking of Sango, she was moving away from the lecherous monk and placed a small demon cat between herself and Miroku. Kirara only mewed in understanding at the same time shooting Miroku a cold glare. Well… as cold as a small adorable cat demon could anyways. Shippo was watching everything contentedly sucking on a lollypop that Kagome brought back from the future. Truth be told, they were all really agitated with having to be stuck inside due to the storm which didn't look like it was going to let up anytime soon.

Moving over to her pack, Kagome noticed something red out of the corner of her eyes. Turning to take a better look, she realized that she was looking at a bundle that Inuyasha had started carrying around with him.

It was around a year ago on a day much different than this. It was springtime and the sun was shining merrily down upon the travelers. Miroku had just exorcized another "dangerous demon" and they were generously rewarded for their services. Inuyasha had then surprised everyone by asking Miroku for a share of their profits for some purpose that he wouldn't tell them. A week or so later, he further surprised them by spending his share of the money on new cloths. However, that wasn't the most surprising thing that they learned about Inuyasha for then they figured out why Inuyasha wanted new cloths.

FLASHBACK

"Inuyasha!" Kagome called, as Miroku, Sango and Shippo did the same. Even Kirara let out a loud "mew". Inuyasha had disappeared during the night and left his fire rat robes behind by the fire. Then in the morning, they all awoke to a great explosion coming from a nearby forest. And now, here they are, in the forest, looking for Inuyasha.

Following the trail of debris, they soon found themselves in a small recently made clearing. Everything around them was damaged in some way or another: trees were uprooted, plants were shredded, rocks were turned into powder, and animals were cowering. Though the worst sight of their surroundings was the body of their friend in the middle.

Inuyasha was lying face down on the ground. His new cloths were damaged beyond repair, his hair looked as though there was fire involved in this as well; his body was battered and bleeding, and the Tetseiga was in his left hand apparently shattered.

Hiding a scream of shock and despair, Kagome quickly runs toward Inuyasha only to hear him elicit a painful grunt. "Inuyasha, are you ok?" She asked worriedly, as her friends came closer to the two of them. "What kind of a question is that?" Inuyasha asked disbelievingly and incoherently. Ignoring his retort, Kagome gestured to Kirara to lift Inuyasha and they left towards Kaede's village…

END FLASHBACK

After this, Inuyasha had to get his sword fixed by Totosei and at the same time try to ignore his friends' questions. In the end, he gave up and told them what happened. "Look, I was just training all right?" He replied, exasperated. His friends, though, wouldn't let up. "How were you training?" "Why did the Tetseiga break?" "How was this supposed to help you?" "Do you-" "SHUT UP!" he had screamed before explaining his reasoning.

He thought about the time when Kana had turned his wind scar against him and he was hit instead. It didn't kill him, but he was damaged pretty badly. So he decided that he would pitch himself against his own attack to train his endurance. Thought the Attack was normally quicker than him, so he spent the first phase of his training regime training in speed and agility up to the point that he can outrun the wind scar. Then he bought new cloths so that his fire rat robes wouldn't get demolished. So that was what he had been doing, and then eventually he moved onto the backlash wave, though he didn't tell them.

Kagome was brought out of her thoughts by Sango's voice. "Kagome, are you all right?" After nodding as a reply, she resumed to make her way towards Inuyasha's pack, hoping that his fire rat robes weren't in there. Lady luck appeared to not be on Kagome's side as she opened his pack to see Inuyasha's normal attire. Turning to her friends quickly, she quickly told them about the situation. "Sango, Miroku, Inuyasha is training again!" She said the word "training" with as much venom as she could muster.

This got everyone's attention, as they knew the seriousness of the situation. Quickly picking up anything they would need, they headed towards the doorway. However, just as they went outside into the rain, they met with the subject of their worries standing with a confused face before them. "Is everything ok?" Inuyasha asked wincing slightly as the rain mercilessly tore into his wounds from his training. Once again, he had returned without a shirt on (it was a miracle how he always at least had something covering his lower body). His blood was dripping everywhere. Gashes the size of the untransformed Tetseiga showed clearly on his once perfect skin. Inuyasha was turning more and more blue by the second.

Everyone looked at Inuyasha disbelievingly at his casualness before regaining their senses. "What were you thinking?" Kagome asked, worry clearly laced in her voice. "You could have been killed!" At this, Inuyasha only shrugged and gave a small "feh" before everyone's eyes widened as he collapsed onto Kagome. "You worry too much Kagome," he whispered softly before succumbing to the land of dreams.

The next day found everyone in Kaede's hut again as the rain from the previous day did not let up in the slightest. However, even if it were a bright and sunny day, they would not be moving out as Inuyasha was still injured.

"Kagome," Sango said, hoping to catch the attention of her friend for something that has been on her mind. "Yes Sango?" She replied, never taking her eyes off of Inuyasha. "Can we talk? You know… In private?" She asked, silently asking Miroku to leave them alone. "Um… sure Sango…" with that, the two women left the main room of the hut and entered a smaller room that was originally intended for more guests.

After they made sure that the others couldn't hear them, Sango continued. "Kagome, are you tired?" Rather confused at the amount of privacy needed for such a simple question, Kagome shook her head in the negative and replied, "No, should I be?" Figuring that there was more on Sango's mind, she remained silent as she waited for what ever Sango was going to say next. "Well… you haven't slept at all yesterday, and I know you didn't sleep much on the night before… I just wanted to know how come you still seem as energetic as ever."

Thinking about it for a moment, Kagome realized that Sango had a point. "Well... I guess you're right… but I think love is weird like that sometimes." She replied, feeling her face getting warmer. "Love?" Sango asked. She had no idea that Kagome's feelings for Inuyasha went deeper than that of a secret crush. Looking at the floor, Kagome decided to elaborate her point. "Well… yeah. I guess I just realized that I love him after about the hundredth time that he almost died for me. I think that he feels somewhat the same way I do."

Sango nodded and the two remained silent for a while. "Do… do you think that I can ever find something like what you and Inuyasha have Kagome?" She asked, letting the tiniest hint of hope shine in her voice. Taken back by the question, Kagome voiced the first thought that appeared in her mind. "Don't you already? I mean about Miro-" she was cut off abruptly by a frustrated sigh from her friend.

"I wish everyone would just get it that I don't like him that way at all, especially Miroku himself. In a way, I'm glad that Inuyasha is so dense." Sango said the last part jokingly and Kagome laughed along with her. "Don't get me wrong," she continued, "he's a nice person and everything, maybe except for the perversion, but I just can't picture spending the rest of our lives together. Like the way I can imagine you and Inuyasha." Kagome blushed at the comment and went back to looking at the ground.

Truth be told, Sango did not really picture Inuyasha and Kagome together for the rest of their lives, but rather just Inuyasha himself as a father. Nobody knew, even Inuyasha, about a time when she caught Inuyasha playing with some village orphans. It was a very fond memory and she wasn't going to forget it any time soon.

FLASHBACK

Sango had just visited the remains of her old village for their break. Everyone decided to take some time off as Kagome went home for something called "exams" and she decided to visit her old home. Miroku went back to visit his old mentor and guardian and Inuyasha… well… he was the one that didn't want a break.

The wind was cool, the sun was bright, Kirara on her shoulder, what more could Sango ask for? She appeared to have spoken too soon as a scream suddenly filled the air. Rushing to where she thought the scream came from; Sango appeared at the edge of a lakeshore and could see that the commotion was coming from the other side of the river. There on the other side, were two small boys and two small girls were cowering in front of three older and tougher looking boys. In the lake itself, were two small white puppies and their mother trying to learn to swim.

"So, what do you think we should do with them now that their little guard dogs are taken care of Oromaru?" One of the older boys asked, looking towards who Sango assumed was the leader. "I don't know Michiha, what do you think Boro?" The other boy answered with a smirk. "Well they did make us mad by not giving us their food earlier…" Boro said, a malicious glint in his eyes. "Maybe we should just eat them instead?" He asked, rubbing his stomach.

"Hey, I have an idea. Why don't I eat each of you one at a time and make you beg for your lives?" A voice said out of nowhere, a voice that Sango knew all too well. The three boys look around with fear clearly shown in their eyes. "Up here you mongrels." The voice said again. The boys looked up to see Inuyasha glaring menacingly upon them.

Launching himself at the boys (Sango knew that he wasn't going to hurt them and the slower speed that he used confirmed her point) and snarling, Inuyasha landed in the midst of Oromaru's gang. He then proceeded to snatch the collars of the three boys and held them right to his face. "If anything happens to these kids right here, whether or not you three are involved, I'm going to gut you all making sure you all have a miserable death, got that?" He snarled, making the three white with fear and nodded feverishly.

Then he let the three go and watched as they ran away. Before Inuyasha could turn to talk to the children, a muffled yelp brought Inuyasha's attention to the three dogs drowning in the lake. Without even taking off his fire rat robes, Inuyasha dived into the water and began to swim towards the dogs. Having no idea that Inuyasha could swim, Sango watched mesmerized as Inuyasha gracefully and swiftly reached the dogs and started to put the waterlogged puppies and their mother on his back.

Once back to shore, the children squealed with relief as they ran towards their animal friends. However, the older canine's breathing was shallow and seemed to be in bad shape. Inuyasha was busy trying to save the younger animals and by the time he reached the mother, it was too late. Looking towards the children with a sad smile, he muttered a soft "sorry" (Sango was surprised that she could hear it) and gathered them into his arms as they all wept.

"You four have to promise me that you'll take care of these little guys with all your hearts ok? Now that they don't have a mother, things will be much harder for them." Inuyasha said, louder and with a sad expression on his face. The children nodded and looked at their hero in awe. "Now, where are you're parents?" He asked, but stopped immediately when he saw the sad expressions on the children's faces.

"I see," he said. "Then that means that the food you had before…" "Was stolen." One of the small boys finished for him, bracing himself for punishment. Inuyasha smiled softly and said something that shocked them all. "I won't tell if you won't tell." He then reached into his cloths and took out a bag of "potato chips" and his moneybag and gave them to the children.

They all looked up at him with big teary eyes and all ran to him and gave him their biggest hug ever. "Daddy," the smallest little girl said as tears began to spill from her eyes. Surprised but not thrown off, Inuyasha hugged the children back and whispered "My pups…"

END FLASHBACK

Later Inuyasha and the children got to know each other and played until nightfall. Surprisingly, Inuyasha was really good with children. He even let them ride on his back and rub his ears. (They weren't exactly gentle) Later Sango found out that Inuyasha left them in the care of Kaede and told her that if she told anyone she would be on the next ride to hell. Kaede only smiled amusedly but promised not to tell anyone. Likewise, he told the children not to call him anything relating to "father" if there were others around.

That night when Sango made her return known, Inuyasha greeted her with a curt nod and "Sango". Nothing was shown on his face that was out of the ordinary. Later, when everyone was back, Inuyasha got a cold (from the swim) and was scolded for not being responsible by Kagome. When Inuyasha ignored her, she sat him and muttered about ungrateful friends.

Sango awoke from her reverie when Kagome took her by the shoulders and shook her. "Sango snap out of it!" She said, "Inuyasha's awake, let's go and see how he's doing." With a nod, Sango got up and went with Kagome to see the man, or rather, half demon of a thousand mysteries.

End first chapter.

How was this? Around 2700 words (only the story, not including this). I liked it but not too much action. I hope that everyone would review and give me their comments, opinions, suggestions, etc. Tell me if I should continue this story. Also, please vote on the Inuyasha pairing.

It's either going to be

Inuyasha/Ayame

Inuyasha/Sango

Or Inuyasha/Ayame/Sango (multiship)

Please vote and I'll try to go with the most popular choice.

U-T signing off now