Inuyasha walked back to the place where they set up camp for the night and sat down, arms crossed. He had an itching feeling that something was wrong and he wanted to know what it was that was bothering him, but he ignored it. Kagome moaned in her sleep, so he got up and sat by her, stroking her hair in hopes of calming her. But that feeling didn't go away, in fact, it got worse with every second that passed.
It's too quiet. Inuyasha concluded in his thoughts, surveying the sight. Nobody's here either, Shippo is gone and so are Kohaku and Kirara, Sango and Miroku aren't back. Inuyasha sighed. Maybe it's just me. Maybe I'm just nervous. But that isn't me. What's got me bent so outta shape?
Inuyasha let his curiosity get the best of him and wandered to the edge of the forest, making sure Kagome was still somewhere in his sight. Then the breeze caught up and sent the heavy stench of blood to him from the forest as well as the scent of the cat-youkai. Inuyasha quickly covered his nose from the stench. Fuck! Something, that fucking youkai must have killed everyone else. Shit! No wonder something didn't feel right about them not being back yet. Inuyasha growled as he caught the youkai scent again, this time it seemed a lot closer.
A low rumble of laughter gurgled from the trees making Inuyasha growl even more. Then the young cat-youkai emerged from the forest, her emerald eyes gleaming. Inuyasha looked up at her and quickly averted his eyes for a moment before meeting her eyes of emerald. She's fucking naked!
"W…who are you!" Inuyasha demanded, trying to keep his composure.
"Me? What a question. Who am I? I am R'rai'irn the Neko no Youkai that kills the souls of those I feed on and feast on blood. And you smell like a Hanyou. What a disgusting thing." R'rai'irn wrinkled her nose in disgust and her tail twitched.
Inuyasha was enraged. "What did you do to Sango and the others!" Inuyasha barked, seething with anger.
"Who? Oh. You must know the three humans and two pathetic Youkai I killed earlier. They were really no fun at all. And they weren't very enjoyable either. Their blood was too bland." R'rai'irn tossed her head and cackled maliciously.
"You fucking bitch! You won't make it any farther than me, because I'm going to cut you in half, you fucker!" Inuyasha howled, drawing Tetsusaiga and transforming it in one swing.
"Heh, you think that scares me? HA!" R'rai'irn flexed her clawed fingers. "You can talk big, hanyou, but do you fight as well as you claim?"
R'rai'irn leapt toward Inuyasha with all her body weight in her attack, colliding into the ground with incredible force, just as Inuyasha leapt backward to avoid the attack. When the dust cleared, R'rai'irn was in the middle of a five foot radius crater. Inuyasha lifted up Tetsusaiga as the wind of Kaze no Kizu began to swirl around the fang-sword. "Kaze no Kizu!" Inuyasha swung the blade as the aura of the attack slashed the ground and completely destroyed what was in its way. But R'rai'irn appeared again, completely unharmed, with a strike toward his skull that he parried with Tetsusaiga, making R'rai'irn ricochet off of it and through a tree and the attack putting a crack through Tetsusaiga.
Shit! Tetsusaiga go damaged by the attack! Inuyasha set up again for the counterattack as R'rai'irn came to her feet. R'rai'irn licked her lips and grinned maliciously. "Looks like there's something wrong with your sword, Hanyou. Did I break it?" R'rai'irn purred softly.
Inuyasha growled. "Che! That's a good one." Shit, it's already dawn! Kagome's gonna wake up soon and this bitch'll probably try to kill her. Fuck!
R'rai'irn just laughed and launched toward Inuyasha again, slashing at him, each time barely missing him by a hair's width. Then Inuyasha countered with Sankontetsu or Kaze no Kizu, but he had no better luck at landing a hit on R'rai'irn than R'rai'irn had on him, or so he thought. R'rai'irn slashed toward Inuyasha, catching his shoulder, and pulled with incredible force, taking the entire left sleeve of his clothing and a fair chunk of his shoulder.
Inuyasha staggered from the attack. Fucking Shit! That attack alone went through my clothing. Damn it! R'rai'irn didn't wait for Inuyasha to regain his bearings though, and attacked again, as Inuyasha frantically tried to parry and dodge her attacks. If I could only get through her attacks, or get her to use a stronger attack so I can counter with Bakuryuuha, but it looks like I've got a chance at neither right now. Inuyasha dodged to his left, R'rai'irn's claws skimming his cheek. Inuyasha countered back with a slash from Tetsusaiga that missed the agile youkai by only a few centimeters.
R'rai'irn laughed. "Is that all you've got, Hanyou? It looks to me that you're beginning to lose your stamina."
Inuyasha smirked back at her. "Che. I'm just getting started. You haven't seen anything yet."
"Really now?" R'rai'irn tossed her hair with a flick of her wrist. "I believe your claim is a little off."
R'rai'irn leapt forward and slashed at Inuyasha again, colliding into the ground as Inuyasha dodged the attack and countered with a slash from his own claws. They both seemed to have no advantage over the other at any given time. They were stuck in stalemate.
Inuyasha glared at R'rai'irn, breathing heavily from itching fatigue. R'rai'irn just smirked at his condition, though she herself was in no better, nor worse, condition. She stood erect; the fine fur that covered her body stuck flat against her skin by sweat and her glittering eyes had lost some of their flare. Inuyasha stood half bent-over; Tetsusaiga's cutting edge buried in several inches of soil and streaks of blood trickled down the blade as well as down Inuyasha's face. They both were beginning to become exhausted, but neither was ready to accept defeat. Both were getting dangerously desperate to kill the other.
"You stupid fuck! Why won't you fucking die already, fucking worthless son-of-a-bitch!" R'rai'irn yowled, her hands twitching and tail flicking.
"Heh. You're one to talk you fucking talking shit. Go crawl over to a tree and die you fucking bitch-of-a-youkai!" Inuyasha hefted up Tetsusaiga on his shoulder. "Go to fucking hell and burn! Kaze no Kizu!"
R'rai'irn leapt into the air, avoiding mortal injury but not avoiding injury altogether. With a yowl, R'rai'irn collided into a tree; her arms slashed up with the energy of the Kaze no Kizu. Taking advantage of his temporary advantage, Inuyasha attacked with another Kaze no Kizu, sure that the attack would not miss the momentarily immobile youkai.
But it failed. R'rai'irn dodged the attack and drove her claws through Inuyasha's shoulder from behind, her bloody arm sticking out of his body in front, bloody fragments of bone and muscle twitching in her grasp.
Inuyasha suddenly felt sick. Oh, shit! How could she? How was she able to dodge Kaze no Kizu? Inuyasha felt R'rai'irn's other arm plunge through his stomach and felt light-headed. Kagome…
---
Kagome stirred from her fitful sleep and glanced around her. She was completely alone. Everyone was gone without a trace and without a sign that they had left with the intention of not returning. Kagome didn't even see a sign of Inuyasha, which was slightly unusual. She sat up to stretch and almost immediately collapsed back to the ground with searing pain. Oh no! I'm going into labour way too early!
She let out her breath with a pain-filled hiss. Where is that baka when I need him most? Kagome let out a yelp as she staggered to her feet. I really need to find Inuyasha now or I won't be in great condition real soon. Kagome started to walk away from the forest Miroku and Sango were supposed to return from until she heard a cry come from that forest.
Inuyasha!
---
Inuyasha fell to the ground as R'rai'irn released her hold on him and screamed. Inuyasha had pulled a lucky counterattack on R'rai'irn and had successfully diverted her attention. But he was in no position to continue his assault. Pools of blood were already filling on the ground around him and the deep gashes and wounds all over him were not helping him in the least. The gaping holes in his upper body made it almost impossible for him to do anything but try to defend himself. His luck was running out though.
R'rai'irn's left eye was bleeding; the oozing blood and fluids from her eye trickling down her cheek. R'rai'irn opened the wounded eye anyway, a huge, bloody abyss replacing the spot where her iris once resided. R'rai'irn let out another ear-splitting scream as she held her head in severe pain. Then she turned back to Inuyasha, her blind eye wandering as her other eye focused on Inuyasha.
"You fucking bastard!" She seethed, her tail lashing violently form side to side. "You've ruined my beautiful eye you fucker! You're going to pay for that!"
R'rai'irn slashed in his general direction as Inuyasha rolled away from her attack. R'rai'irn missed completely, unable to see out of one of her eyes her depth perception was terrible as she attempted to slash Inuyasha again but got hold of only air. Inuyasha staggered to his feet as chance came to show itself and took out Tetsusaiga slashing at R'rai'irn.
To Inuyasha's extreme luck, Kaze no Kizu hit its mark. R'rai'irn was thrown back by the attack a good thirty feet, much to Inuyasha's hopes. But that was all he could do as of that moment, collapsing back to the ground from exhaustion and loss of blood. R'rai'irn was already recovering from the attack though, a huge gash bleeding freely on her chest from the Kaze no Kizu. Enraged, she let out a blood—curdling scream and dashed to where Inuyasha lay, her claws twitching for revenge.
Then, to Inuyasha's horror and R'rai'irn's surprise, an arrow flew from an unknown source, hitting R'rai'irn directly in the side. R'rai'irn stopped running and let out a hissed cry of pain as she slashed fruitlessly at the embedded arrow.
"Inuyasha!"
Ka…Kagome…
Kagome walked out from where she had been hiding, her face showing obvious pain that she was suffering at the time. Inuyasha couldn't bear to see her like that, so he closed his eyes so he didn't have to look at her. Time was running short for him though; he had lost a fatal amount of blood and was still bleeding from his open wounds. R'rai'irn was also recovering from Kagome's distraction and was completely blinded with rage, her eyes bloodshot and filled with ire. Kagome's time was running thin as well, her contractions getting worse by the moment as it became painfully clear that she was in labour.
Kagome spotted Inuyasha in a pool of his own blood and made her way toward him as fast as she could go in the condition she was in. She kneeled by his side and stroked his hair. "Inuyasha… daijoubu desu ka? Inuyasha?"
Kagome tried her best to hide her tears, but pain and sorrow were too much for her to bear and the tears rolled down her cheeks, some dripping down and landing on Inuyasha's bloodstained face. Everything had fallen apart ever since they had started this journey. Ever since Shouta died…everything had been going terribly. The fragile feathers of fate had been broken by the claws of destiny's cat.
Inuyasha murmured softly and coughed before he responded to Kagome. "Hai. Just really, really tired." Inuyasha coughed again, blood coming up with his coughs.
Kagome's tears came almost in sobs as she tried to convince herself that Inuyasha would be all right, that he'll make it through. But a small incessant voice in the back of her mind continued to say otherwise. "Hai. We'll go back to my world and we can rest there once this is all over. We can go and be happy again and…"
"Why are you crying?" Inuyasha murmured softly, his eyes were now open and were slightly glossed over and had a deathly gaze. "I'll be all right, you don't have to cry."
"Inuyasha…" Kagome couldn't say anymore, she was choked by her tears and her sorrow weighed down her heart. All she could do was stroke Inuyasha's hair and just nod in silence.
"Kagome…" Inuyasha started then coughed violently, Kagome helpless to help him in any way. "I want to tell you that I really do love you, even if I never show it. Every time you're sick or hurt or had gone to your country, I worry."
"Inuyasha, you'll be okay," Kagome forced out, more to convince herself, but Inuyasha only smiled weakly and finally gave in to Death, going limp, his eyes half closed and glazed over.
Kagome couldn't stand it any longer and let her sobs take over her as she sobbed on Inuyasha's chest. Then R'rai'irn laughed, Kagome whipping her head around to glare at the heartless Youkai.
"Isn't that a pretty, fucking picture? Now it looks like you're all alone, with no one now that the youkai exterminator, the wandering monk, the Kitsune Youkai, and this good-for-nothing Hanyou are dead. Soon, you'll be just as dead as they are." R'rai'irn smiled sardonically, her wandering eye taking on a demonic aura.
Kagome stood and stung an arrow into her bow. "Not until you die first, Youkai!" she released the arrow and it plunged through R'rai'irn's heart. R'rai'irn attempted to scream, but a geyser of blood came from her mouth instead and she collapsed to the ground in a bloody heap of bronze fur and blood.
Kagome dropped her bow and looked down at Inuyasha. She felt another painful contraction and knew she was due soon.
"Sayonara, Inuyasha."
------