Chapter 19: A Pyrrhus Victory

Disclaimer: I don't own InuYasha.

A/N: I'm sorry I didn't update for so long…lots of work…so I hope that you'll enjoy this chapter! And in case you don't know, 'a Pyrrhus victory' is when someone wins, but loses almost everything in the process, after the Roman general Pyrrhus who fought a war and won, but nearly lost all his men-twice. I think I might have spelt the word wrong, but never mind --

Kirale's POV

"I'm free, let's get going," I whispered, and without much difficulty, rose from the hard wooden bed.

"Good, we're lucky enough that Kagura didn't see us," Kagome whispered back to me.

"I think she saw us," I replied. "But why she didn't make an effort to stop us, I have no idea why…"

"Maybe she's tired of working for Naraku. I wonder if she'd care to help us in our escape?" I heard Kagome's voice sound out rather loudly, and her tone was almost hopeful.

"I'd like to wish for that, too, but Naraku's probably pampered Kagura too well for her wanting to help us," I retorted.

Trying to make as little noise as possible, I opened the door and started down the long corridor. Halfway down it, however, a shrill noise pierced the silence, and I almost jumped. The shrill sound was coming from me.

"Uh…Kirale…" I heard my companion whisper feebly into my ear. "Reach into my right coat pocket and get my mobile phone…"

Quickly stuffing Kagome's thin, long-fingered hand into her right coat pocket, I drew out Kagome's phone. It was red and white with a cute little rabbit in the top right corner of her colour monitor. Quickly suppressing my want of saying 'how cute!', I pressed the phone's green pick-up button and jammed the gadget to my ear. Kagome told me what to say.

"Kagome here."

"Kagome? You're still alive!"

"Kikyo, what the hell are you doing calling me now! Do you know that someone could've discovered me?"

I could hear Kagome thinking to herself: We have been discovered, but whatever.

"Forget that now. We've just knocked the bodyguards out and entered Naraku's mansion. Where are you?"

"Not sure exactly, but I've just untied my bonds. Kagura and Naraku left us here, so yeah. I've got a girl called Kirale with me. She's controlling my body now." I could tell that Kagome was trying not to use too strong a word to hurt my feelings, but-it was bad enough with her trying and reminding me of what I was. A soul without a body.

"Really? Hi, Kirale. Well, do you suppose you can meet the gang at the dining room? Just look out for a two boys with long, silver hair, and one has doggy ears at the top."

"Got you," I said, and hung up.

"Come on, we've got to get moving before someone catches us," Kagome said, and I quickly started sprinting as quietly as I could to the end of the corridor. My limbs were tingling with fear and excitement, and I think Kagome could feel this as well.

With InuYasha and the others

"If Kagome hadn't been so darn careless, we wouldn't even be here in the first place!" InuYasha growled. This had been his fifth (vain) attempt that day in breaking the awkward silence that reigned in the mansion. Miroku, however, WAS tired.

"InuYasha, stop complaining," he said, putting all his patience into what he said. "And, not only can we save Kagome, we can also kill Naraku."

"Well, who was the person who thought up this whole thing in the first place?" InuYasha was whining this time. Everybody looked at Kikyo, who turned a rather nice shade of red as she realised what InuYasha had said.

"W-well, you didn't have to follow my plan if you didn't want to," the high-school girl made a terrible effort of defending herself, when she caught Sesshomaru's strange gaze. There was something about those eyes that hypnotized her…what was she thinking? There was no time for distraction now. Pushing herself onwards, Kikyo lowered her head and darted past the youkai. Little did she know that his eyes were still on her back every now and then.

"Interesting…" he murmured quietly to himself before following the rest of the gang. What was the great Sesshomaru doing here? Playing fighting games with the puppet Naraku? Or following orders under his whelp of a half-brother? Whatever…

All of a sudden, a loud scream sounded from in front. "KOGA! WHAT-WHAT'RE THOSE…FURRY BROWN THINGS YOU'RE WEARING! YOU'RE HALF NAKED, AREN'T YOU?"

"Quiet down, Sango! This is just one of those hero uniform things I wanted to wear! And no, I'm NOT half-naked! Who wants to go around half-naked? Not me, that's for sure!"

"Shut up in front!" InuYasha could be heard hissing. And Koga, take that thing off! You're going to scare Kagome, since you're in front!"

"No, and since when have you started caring for Kagome?" Koga snorted.

"I'm not doing this because I care about that wench, it's because her stupid friend won't stop snivelling if we don't save her!"

Kagome's POV

So far so good. Chances were, we'd been discovered, but Kagura seemed not to be making a big fuss out of it. Thank goodness for that.

As things turned out, Kirale was a person who could be persuaded easily, and she followed orders quite well. I know that I'm being a bit bossy now, but if I weren't, we'd still probably be tied up in that stuffy little room Naraku left us in. Unfortunately, however, Kirale would've been more fun to be around with if she'd been a bit more…bossy, like-like…InuYasha.

InuYasha. Without him, I realised, there wasn't anybody to argue with. Sometimes he could come up with good arguments, reasonable ones. And the way he looked when I rebutted! Those cute amber eyes and his muscles flexing as if they wanted to punch someone…my 'cheeks' were turning red now.

"What next?" Kirale's voice cut into my thoughts like a knife. Shaking my 'head', I listened carefully to Kirale as she reported what she saw.

"Right now we're in a one way corridor. It's dimly lit, I can't see very well, but there's this big furry brown monster heading our way, and if we turn back, it'll only be a matter of time before we end up in that little room again. We're just prolonging our deaths!"

"Right, we've only got one way out left," I gritted my teeth, and Kirale braced herself for the attack.

"Go Kirale!" I yelled, and my friend raced up to the brown thing she had described. I wish I could've been able to see what was going on outside, but that was impossible. I had quickly learnt that only one soul can control a body at a time, and I couldn't change over with Kirale.

I was jolted onto my ghostly side as my body and that of the monster's collided, and I just barely managed to suppress a gasp. A loud shout was heard, and my name was shouted out.

"InuYasha…?" I couldn't help feeling surprised. Was InuYasha coming to my rescue? I was flipped onto my back and lay there, dazed.

"Koga, you idiot! Get off her you furry brown critter, can't you recognize Kagome?" Kikyo demanded, and I inwardly let a cry of relief escape. I was in safe hands at last.

With Naraku

"Kagura, you're sure that our prisoners are still inside?" Naraku asked his servant.

"Of course, Naraku, they're safe and sound with me," Kagura forced a smile, trying not to betray the truth to her master. Or else her heart would be the last thing she ever saw.

Turning around on Kagura's feather to give himself a more comfortable position, the evil man began to let his thoughts wander. Everything seemed to be going awry. He couldn't really know if what Kagura had said had had any truth in it. But then again, he'd never trusted anyone apart from Kanna. Good little servant, Kanna was.

And on top of that, it seemed that a brat of his rival's gang knew alchemy. At least he knew that was true. How, though? Naraku gritted his teeth and frowned, as he always did when he was mulling over a problem. The pest seemed to know it and at the same time be oblivious to his powers. I need his secrets in order to master MY alchemy, the villain concluded before turning to Kanna.

"Show me our prisoners' room," he commanded sternly, and felt pleasure and anger as he watched Kagura's face losing its calmness.

"Lord Naraku, you must trust me," Kagura began, but she knew that all was lost.

Naraku observed Kanna's mirror quietly, feeling the anger slowly boiling up in him. How could Kagura do such things when she knew her life was on the line? Never mind; the worst had come for her now, her loss would be nothing to him.

The last thought Kagura had before she passed on was, I hope Naraku burns in Hell. Who could blame her for it?

As soon as the last ceremonial flame had died away, Naraku turned to his one remaining slave. "Kanna, take us back to the mansion," he told his servant sternly. "Our dear InuYasha must be in the castle by now, and I've got a surprise for him and Kagome."

With InuYasha

"Dang, I can't find the way out," InuYasha was sniffing like crazy now, but stopped as his nose smelt trouble.

"And you never will," a voice said from behind Kagome, and she spun around to face Naraku, smiling triumphantly.

"You b……," InuYasha growled, showing his long sharp claws. "You're going to pay for abducting Kagome!"

"What powerful language," Naraku tutted. "But it's good to know that you are in awe and have respect for me."

"Shut up," another cold voice said. Both InuYasha and Naraku turned to face Sesshomaru, his usually calm eyes red. His voice was filled with cold fury. "I can't believe that you dragged us all this way just to listen to your false taunts. Die!"

Kirale hopped out of the way in time as her old master rushed with demon speed at the two 'good guys'. There wasn't any point in getting tied up in the fight. Hearing Kagome disagree, Kirale uncomfortably hid in the shadows and watched the brawl. "Get out there and fight! We've got to help them!" Kagome was screaming.

"And get us killed?" Kirale shouted back. "No way!"

At that moment, Naraku stopped dead in mid-air, chuckling evilly. Unable to move, everyone else watched, petrified, as extra tentacles sprouted from below Naraku's limbs and huge, monstrous roots took the place of his feet.

"Using extra limbs to make yourself look scary," InuYasha and Sesshomaru both said in unison. "Pathetic!"

"Jinx!" InuYasha quickly replied before Sesshomaru could say anything. Glaring at him, the youkai quickly dodged a tentacle coming from behind…which then headed for Kagome. Kirale could have dodged easily, but that was when a spark of evil, implanted into her soul by Naraku, came to life.

"If I'm going down, you're going down," Kirale grinned, and Kagome screamed, wishing that someone could hear her. "It's for our master-he's your master, too, not just mine."

"Watch out, Naraku's coming for you! Jump or run out of the way!" Sensing that Kagome/Kirale wasn't going to move anytime soon, InuYasha ran forward, trying to reach the girl before Naraku did.

Unfortunately, it was too late. Blood spurted out from a fatal stomach wound, turning the dark brown tiles a crimson red. Everything was silent, save for the gentle sobbing coming from Kikyo. Then-

"You B……! You'll really die now!" InuYasha felt his blood pumping wildly, urging him on to kill Naraku. The hanyou didn't need any more encouragement. Grabbing a sword from it place high up on the wall, InuYasha swung wildly at his adversary, managing to cut off one of his opponent's tentacles. Sango, producing a huge boomerang from out of nowhere, would have gotten Naraku's head if only InuYasha had been watching where he was going.

"Argh, Sango, what was that for!" the hanyou furiously dodged away, trying to quickly nurse his new arm wound.

"Shut up, whelp, now's not the time for whinging!" Sesshomaru flew at Naraku, his claws aimed directly at Naraku's heart. "Poison claws!"

Carelessly flinging the youkai away like a rag doll, Naraku was now left with only Kikyo and Sango (Koga and Miroku were too busy looking after Kagome-funny how the men were looking after her). Feeling that it was time to be useful, Kikyo slowly engaged her smirking opponent in a conversation.

"Why is it that you and InuYasha are enemies?" Kikyo inquired, choosing her words carefully. In reality, her hand was slowly reaching out for a bow and quiver full of arrows behind her. She would be no use with a sword.

"It's a long story…" Naraku considered what he would say next for a moment. Would he actually tell his story to the helpless little girl in front of him? It wasn't as if she could do any harm to him. That would give him plenty of time to fire up his special attack. Putting his hands behind his back, he slowly formed the spell that would kill the little lady before him.

"Who cares? I like a good, long story," Kikyo (with difficulty) strung the bow behind her back and prepared for the tough step ahead of her.

"No…I don't think I'll tell you, why would I give my victim entertainment before he or she-AAAAAGGGGHH!"

"I got lucky!" Kikyo gasped, stringing another arrow onto her bow in case Naraku wasn't dead yet. Her last shot had gotten Naraku in the chest, but she just wanted to be on the safe side.

Humiliated at being killed by a human girl who had had no experience with a bow whatsoever, Naraku sent his spell, which was ready by now, flying at her. This special attack, he knew, would kill at least one person…and he closed his eyes and gave himself in to eternal sleep, hoping that he would have gotten someone else, namely InuYasha or his twit of a half-brother.

Kikyo watched in horror as a huge ball of flame hurled itself at her. It then turned into an evil purple dragon which opened it's mouth and breathed poison, then fire, out onto everyone in the vicinity. Sango, with her gas mask, and the demons were alright. Miroku and Kikyo however, could only hold their breaths and hope that the poison wouldn't get them. Everyone thought that that was Naraku's special move. They were, however, wrong, for that was when Kikyo spotted the fire coming at her. As it was too late to move, the resigned girl closed her eyes and waited for the images of her life to pass by her.

No, nobody else could die after his brother's woman! Taking the last of his strength, Sesshomaru leapt forward in front of Kikyo and just barely managed to raise a shield over them. The fire melted when it came into contact with Sesshomaru's shield, but the impact of it all was so great that it knocked the youkai out, making him fall onto Kikyo. Feeling something in her chest give way, Kikyo's breathing became laboured, and she hoped that when she woke up again, she'd see Kagome leaning over her, smiling as if she'd never died. Already a new life of angels and lush gardens beckoned.

A/N: I know, gloomy chapter, and I'm so sorry that I didn't update for a long time! Please review!