Disclaimer: Hmm let me guess I don't own them? But have I mentioned I own Taro?

In the Heat of Battle…

Kouga sat in his den and stared off into space. He didn't hear his pack members ask him questions. He didn't hear any voices at all. He only saw the 'fish-out-of-water' faces everyone seemed to be making. It wasn't until his two faithful companions, Hakkaku and Ginta, decided to tackle him that he was made aware of his comrades' presence.

"Oi you jerks! Get the fuck off of me." Kouga attempted to push and kick his friends off of him, but they held on valiantly.

"No! We're worried about you." Hakkaku tried to keep Kouga pinned but their faithful leader finally managed to throw him off.

"Kouga, don't be mad. We have been trying to get your attention all day!" Ginta spoke quickly. He didn't want to be killed for attacking his friend and leader.

"What's so important that you two had to tackle me? I was thinking." Kouga stood up and brushed himself off.

He knew something was up when Hakkaku wouldn't look him in the eye and Ginta couldn't seem to quit shifting nervously in place.

Hakkaku decided to take a chance and tell Kouga what they came to say. "Well ano….you see there…what happened was.."

Ginta decided he valued his life more then Hakkaku valued his own, so he kept his mouth shut. Kouga grew impatient with the both of them.

"What the hell? Spit it out Hakkaku." He grabbed the front of Hakkaku's shirt and brought the now terrified demon's face close to his own. Ginta scurried to the opposite wall in fear, wanting nothing more than to avoid his currently dangerous pack mate

"Oh… ok…. Naraku's barrier has been destroyed." Hakkaku mumbled and winced, waiting to be smacked.

Kouga's face fell when he heard the news. He instantly dropped Hakkaku and took off in the direction of Naraku's castle, leaving a relieved Ginta and Hakkaku in his wake. 'Stupid dog. He's going to get Kagome killed! I'll kill HIM if anything happens to her!' he ranted as he coursed across the terrain.

He arrived at Naraku's castle pretty quickly, considering he had run faster then he ever had before in his life. He made his way to the courtyard, where the action always was, and sure enough, he wasn't disappointed. Kagura and a rather larger swarm of lesser youkai were keeping Inuyasha, Sango and Miroku busy and his mate stood nearby. Everyone was preoccupied so his presence went unnoticed.

MEANWHILE

Kagome stood and watched the fight anxiously, unaware of the black tentacles snaking towards her unprotected back. Inuyasha suddenly sensed something and looked up in time to see Kagome in danger. He saw no way of getting to her in time and so simply screamed "KAGOME!" Out of nowhere a flash of brown connected with the tentacles and Kagome was lifted to safety. It was then that Kouga's arrival was noticed.

Everything had happened so quickly. Kagome hadn't even sensed the peril she was in. She had been so absorbed watching her friend's fight her only warning had been when Inuyasha had screamed her name. Then she had been lifted into the air by a pair of strong arms. She open her eyes and looked into the face of her rescuer, to be meet by the blue eyes of her wolf. He smiled at her. She gasped and then cried "You came back! I knew you wouldn't leave me!" She threw her arms around his neck and buried her face into his chest.

Naraku used this distraction to make entrance. He stepped out in clear view with Taro standing directly in front of him. Taro looked like shell of the vibrant boy he had been. His eyes were empty and his face was slack and void of any emotion. "Ku Ku Ku. Will you really risk hurting the puppy?"

"Naraku…you coward. Now you hide behind a child." Kouga had had enough of Naraku. His presence alone was making him sick. He made sure Kagome was safe before he charged towards Naraku.

Kagura kept constant pressure on Inuyasha so he wouldn't be able to help Kouga attack Naraku. "You'll die here hanyou. You all will." She waved her fan. "Fuujin no Mai" Inuyasha could only block. He knew his sword wouldn't really stand a chance against Kagura's wind.

Inuyasha growled in frustration as he blocked another blast. Defense alone was getting him nowhere! Then from the corner of his eye he noticed a pink light streaking towards him. He turned just in time to see one of Kagome's arrows slice threw Kagura's fan. The demon fan exploded from the arrow's energy, leaving Kagura defenseless. Inuyasha took his chance and swung his sword.

"Kaze no Kizu" He yelled as a streaks of yellow energy ran towards Kagura. She knew what was coming and screamed, attempting to shield herself with her arms, but she didn't have her fan to put forth a counter attack. Tetsusaiga's attack wrapped around her and ripped at her clothes and then her body. Soon nothing but a few bloodstained bits of cloth remained of the wind user.

Now free of Kagura, Inuyasha leapt over to where Miroku and Sango were battling the steady stream of youkai. He tore into them with Tetsusaiga, but even more replaced those shredded.

"Sango, Inuyasha, stand back. I'm going to use my Kazaana." Miroku fisted the beads on his arm and removed them, releasing his air void. The air around him began to swirl and pull towards the hole in his hand. He sucked up as many youkai as he could until the Saimyoushou came and he had to close it to avoid the poison. But he wasn't fast enough and some of the poisonous wasp youkai were sucked in. Miroku gasped and fell to his knees as he instantly felt the poison working through his body. He knew he wouldn't die but he felt himself slipping into the temporary unconsciousness that the poison brought.

Sango immediately noticed that Miroku was down and ran to his side. She knelt crying over his unconscious body. "Houshi-sama" she said in between sobs, "Houshi-sama… please, you can't leave me. You promised to marry me and I would bear you twenty children." (Volume 30)

As Sango was crying over her lost love, Inuyasha joined Kouga in the fight against Naraku. Kouga was already bloody and beaten , but Naraku remained untouched. Taro's barrier was just too powerful. Inuyasha leapt towards Naraku, Tetsusaiga raised, but was stopped as Naraku sent out a tentacle, which collided with him and launched him into a tree. Naraku then sent a blast of miasma, hitting both Kouga and Inuyasha. They fought and snarled as the miasma-induced fogginess crept over their minds. They were no match, however and both dropped unconscious to the ground.

"Now it is just I, Naraku, the miko, and the youkai exterminator. But I still haven't gotten something that belongs to me." Sango and Kagome ignored him, careful not to let themselves be drawn into any hasty action by his goading tone. Sango hardly acknowledged him. Naraku didn't enjoy being ignored and so invited another guest to liven up the place. With a wave of his hand, Kohaku appeared before him, looking very much alive and very much terrified.

Kohaku looked franticly from Naraku to Kagome. His eyes finally landed on Sango. 'Her! The girl whose face never leaves my mind!' He hoped fervently that she could save him. "Help me." He cried, " Please save me." He lurched to his feet and attempted to run towards them, to be stopped by a restraining hand from Naraku.

Sango heard Kohaku's pleas and looked up just in time to see Naraku grab him. "Ko..Kohaku?" she asked hesitantly as she stood and looked again at the boy's pleading eyes..

She watched in horror as Naraku raised his hand and plunged it into Kohaku's upper back. When his hand immerged on the other side, Sango noticed with dread that the shard that had been keeping Kohaku's body alive, was held in it. Naraku pulled his hand from the stricken boys back with a sickening squelch and threw the body disdainfully to the ground.

"KOHAKU!" Sango screamed as she ran to her brother. But she knew before she got there that here was no life left in his little body. Her brother was dead and Naraku was again to blame. She stood up from where she had been kneeling, Hiraikotsu ready, and faced Naraku.

Kagome watched as rage replaced grief on her friend's face. Kagome felt sick. I t was just like Naraku to make sure things were finished up as painfully as possible. She would not forgive him for this. She raised her bow and notched an arrow. "Naraku, you will pay for all the hurt and pain you have caused people. You can't toy with people like they don't exist" she let the arrow fly, but it never met it mark. A barrier deflected it.

Kagome then saw that her son was making the barrier. She could see him sitting on the floor in front of Naraku. He looked like he was sleeping.

"What did you do to my son?" Kagome was readying another arrow. Sango stood by her side ready to fight.

"I gave the child back his soul…but he was still rather unwilling to cooperate. So he will stay in a state of sleep to do my bidding." Naraku smiled down at Taro. He then sent another blast of miasma at Sango and Kagome to knock them out. While they were unconscious he would have used this time to steal Kagome and Kouga's jewel shard.

And he most likely would have if Taro hadn't come to life. The young wolf youkai's eyes snapped open, growing an unnatural red. He calmly stood and sent a blast of pearly white energy towards Naraku. The evil hanyou was caught off guard and was stuck dead on by Taro's energy. Swarms of youkai flew out of Naraku's body and disintegrated into the air. Naraku was being purified.

"Nani? You can't attack me, boy." Naraku cried, attempting to hide his shock with a casual manor. But a child, and a powerful child at that, who could destroy him, was attacking Naraku. But that was the reason he took the boy in the first place.

"Hai, Naraku-sama. I can and I will. You tried to kill my family. You won't get away with that. I will make you pay." Taro could feel something building within him. It was something strong and it was starting to hurt.

At that moment Kouga and Kagome awoke from their unconsciousness. Kouga was immediately at her side, assuring himself that she wasn't injured. Kagome gave him a weak smile and patted his cheek, but then sharpened and rasped, "Taro! Where is he!" Kouga jumped up and took in the sight of his son and their arch nemesis facing off. He rushed over to them.

"What the hell is going on here?" Kouga yelled. He grabbed Taro's arm and pulled him back behind him. It was then he noticed his son's eyes. "What did you do to him Naraku?"

"I did nothing. That little ingrate was trying to purify me, but he will not succeed." Naraku waved his hand and Kanna appeared before Naraku holding the baby.

Kanna 's mirror flashed out, but she was too slow for the wolf hanyou. Taro raised his hands and purified both her and the baby, leaving nothing left of them but sparkling ashes. Even Naraku couldn't conceal his amazement at how quickly the young boy dealt with his cohort.

Kouga regained his calm. "Taro, go with your mother. Tell her to get as far away from here as possible and take everyone with her. I love you Taro, and tell her I'll always love her." He turned his attention back to Naraku. "We end this now."

Taro ran as fast as he could to his mother's side. He quickly explained what his father said and helped as she loaded the unconscious forms of Sango, Miroku and Inuyasha onto Kirara's back. Then Kagome grabbed her son and mounted the demon feline. Despite the extra load, Kirara leapt easily into the air and circled over the fight scene to give Kagome an idea of what was going on. Although Naraku was weakened from Taro's blast, he seemed to have the upper hand on her exhausted mate.

Taro was leaning over the edge to try to get a better view of his daddy, when he slipped and fell. Kagome screamed as once again it looked like she was going to loose her baby. Because of the risk of loosing one of her friends, Kagome couldn't have Kirara dive after him, and so was forced to watch tearfully as he fell. He hit the ground with a thud, but was up in the next instant. He watched in horror as Naraku prepared to kill his father.

Kouga was doing badly in the fight. Although Naraku was no longer protected by Taro's barrier, Kouga still couldn't land any fatal blows. In his already injured state, he was lucky to be standing. He thought it was all over when he saw Taro drop to the ground next to them. Naraku took advantage of the situation and sent out tentacles with a vengeance, impaling the shocked wolf youkai and mortally wounding him

Kouga felt his life began to slip away. He knew that if he died then his family would be injured, most likely killed. 'Kagome…Taro….' Then he felt everything go black as he slipped into unconsciousness.

Taro watched wide-eyed as his father's body slumped unceremoniously to the ground. Breathing lightly, Naraku turned his eyes on Taro and stalked towards him growling, "Poor little puppy, all alone. No one left to protect you."

Kagome could only watch as the death of her son seemed to creep closer with Naraku's every step. She frantically reached her hand behind and to her dismay, met an empty arrow quiver. For a few seconds, she cast about helplessly, but then got an idea. She pulled Tetsusaiga out of the limp Inuyasha's scabbard and threw it down to her son. Tetsusaiga came down directly in front of Taro. Hopefully Naraku might back off, or it might give Taro some measure of protection. He was a hanyou after all. 'But then again,' she though with a sinking feeling in her stomach '…so was Naraku.'

Naraku smirked at the sword and showed no sign of being intimidated . He would get Inuyasha's sword and kill the only one who could kill him. "Two for the price of one. You will die, wolf and I, Naraku will get that mutt's sword."

Taro felt the familiar feeling rise in him again. It hurt every part of his body but something told him to let the feeling come. And when he gave into it, his eyes once again turned red. He out stretched his hands and a huge white light surrounded the entire castle. The blast engulfed the area.

Kagome screamed as she watched the blast explode out from where her son was standing. Kirara flew higher to avoid being singed by the pure concentrated miko power. When the blast cleared, Kagome asked Kirara to land and dismounted, running off to find her son. She found him sitting next to his father's body, rocking softly back and forth as he cried Just as she had hoped it would, Tetsusaiga had protected them from being destroyed by Taro's blast.

"Mommy…he's going to die. I tried to save him,..bu..but I couldn't." Taro cried into his mother's chest. She held him tightly as the world around her spun.

Kagome was jerked from her grief by a small, rasping whisper. Kouga was speaking! "Kouga? I…I'm here" She leaned close to his face to listen better.

"I'm sorr…I love you…" Kouga's eyes slowly closed. Taro burst into new tears and Kagome felt her breath catch in her throat. She gently bent over and kissed her mate on his still warm lips and gently caressed his face with her hand. "I love you." She whispered.

She gathered up her crying son and the body of her lover and mounted Kirara. As the faithful demon flew swiftly towards Kaede's village, Kagome held her now sleeping son and let the silent tears pour down her face.

A/N: This is unbetad. I only put it up because I haven't had a chapter up in like a month. I hope to have the last two chapters up soon. I've checked this but I may have missed some things.