Disclaimer: The characters of Inuyasha are owned by Rumiko Takahashi, but this story belongs to me.

Chapter Thirty-Four: It Ends Now

"She has ME."

Slightly startled, Kagome looked down to see that Sango had awoken from her trance. The demon exterminator looked mightily ticked off. Were those flames shooting out of her eyes?

"Impossible!" exclaimed Naraku, who sounded as stunned as he looked.

"No, what's impossible is that you thought that stupid trick would work."

"What did he do?" asked Kagome, as if she wasn't dangling high off the ground with a tentacle wrapped around her waist.

Sango changed her grip on her boomerang and gave Kagome her answer with o voice laced in venom. "He questioned my femininity."

"No!"

"Yeah. Can you believe he thought he could make me so insecure that I would actually ditch you so he could make me into a REAL woman?"

"What an idiot!"

"As if conforming to society's popular opinion of what a woman should be like was my big deep desire or something." She huffed.

"You're perfect the way you are, Sango."

"Thank you, Kagome."

"IF you ladies are QUITE finished with your pep talk," Naraku snarled as he tightened his grip on Kagome, "It is time to die."

Another tentacle shot out towards Sango. With an agile leap she dodged it. Once she landed she threw the boomerang, slicing the tentacle off. Unfortunately, during mid-throw, yet another tentacle shot out and knocked her into the wall. The bone boomerang landed several yards from where she landed.

"Oof!" The breath was knocked out of her, but she managed to remain on her feet.

With another tentacle whizzing in her direction, Sango knew that there wasn't time to retrieve her main weapon, so she drew her sword. And although she had the skills to use her sword, it wasn't her preferred way to fight. It was much more comfortable using the boomerang. Suddenly she was wishing she had done a little more diverse training so that she wasn't quite so reliant on one weapon. Although she wasn't able to cut this one in half, she was able to damage it. With her focus on what she was hacking at, she didn't notice the one coming up from behind her until it had cut straight through her shoulder. Though this one seemed more of a large thorn than the fleshy tentacles that Sango had been battling. Another one barreled into her, knocking her to the floor. Again.

"You can not hope to defeat me. I am far too powerful for two pathetic children."

"Wow, I knew you were stupid, but I thought for sure you could count higher than two."

"Miroku!" Kagome squealed with delight. She would have clapped her hands in joy if her arms hadn't been trapped at her side. "You're free!"

"Yeah." He glanced at Kagome with a smile before turning to Sango, who was back on her feet and reaching for her bone boomerang. "You okay?"

Wiping a smear of blood from her lip and her left arm hanging limply, Sango grinned. "Yeah." She gripped her weapon. "Glad you decided to join the party."

"Wouldn't miss it for the world."

Instead of looking threatened, or even worried, Naraku smiled. "Two or three, it makes no difference. You can not defeat me." That was his only warning before he pulled forth an object that looked suspiciously like a large hornet's nest. The air around him seemed to move as he began a quiet chant.

"What did he promise you?" asked Sango as threw her boomerang. She didn't know what he was holding, but it didn't bode well for the good guys. Hopefully she could destroy it before he could do whatever it was he planned on doing with it.

"He offered me a job."

"A job?" The boomerang missed its mark. It was blocked by a tentacle and was making its way back to her.

"Sango…" Miroku thought about the things that Naraku had promised him. There was only one woman he wanted, and she wasn't someone who could be given away like a set of golf clubs. If he was to win her heart, he would do it on her own. "I just wanted to tell you that I like you just the way you are. Violent temper and all."

She couldn't stop the silly grin on her face. Even when the giant insects started swarming from the papery nest that Naraku was holding she felt a joy in her heart. Miroku grinned back at her as he pulled out a paper scroll and chanted quickly, throwing up a barrier before the insects reached them. They bounced off the barrier and buzzed angrily before them.

"Pathetic," laughed Naraku. He brought Kagome closer to his face. "Your friends can not save you, my dear."

"We aren't finished yet," Kagome growled, releasing the teeth she had tried sinking into the appendage holding her hostage. It tasted as nasty as it looked, and she was feeling a little queasy. She spat a few times to get rid of the taste. Gnawing her way to freedom perhaps wasn't her brightest of moves, but it wasn't like she had a bunch of options to choose from.

Again he laughed. "You have too much faith in your friends." He smiled at her. "Ah, you still have hopes that the two demons will awaken and come to your rescue. It will not happen."

Kagome stared him straight in the eye. "Then you don't know them very well."

"Do not make the mistake of thinking that because the two humans escaped that the demons will as well. Sango and Miroku have such little dreams. The two demons have dreams so big that they would give up all else for. I am giving them things that can not be attained in the real world. Dreams only I can make come true for them. Face it, little miko, you have lost. You will be mine."

Kagome glared at him. Kicking and biting didn't even seem to register with him. His grip was so tight that it was all she could do to stay conscious, much less trying to summon her powers. She looked down where her friends were.

They would not lose.

But it would be awfully nice if they could hurry before she asphyxiated.

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"We can't hide here forever!"

"I can't use the wind tunnel on him until Kagome is free." He looked around at the insects ramming themselves against the barrier. "And these things are poisonous, if they are like the ones we battled before. What we need is a plan."

"I need you to open up the barrier."

"That's not a plan, my dear Sango."

She gave him a heart stopping smile. "Sure it is."

For a moment it looked like Miroku was going to argue, but instead he gave a sharp nod. He took a deep breath, then let the barrier fall. Immediately he began swinging his staff to clear the way for Sango.

With her weapon ready, she began running at full speed towards Naraku, ignoring her throbbing shoulder. With a short hop she quickly swung around, releasing the boomerang. For a moment she wondered if she should consider training for discus throwing contest. That throw was certainly hard enough to get her into the Olympics. Sango was disappointed as the boomerang began flying back to her. Although she still managed to take a chunk out of her enemy, he managed to move the appendage that was holding Kagome hostage before it was severed.

"Game time is over, children."

Suddenly the room was filled with a green toxic smoke. Sango and Miroku began coughing and wheezing. Temporarily blinded, they didn't dare strike, for fear of hitting their friends. Too bad Naraku didn't have the same limitations. A barrage of strikes soon had Sango and Miroku on the floor and bleeding. And coughing as the poison began to fill their lungs.

"Weak humans. You do not stand a chance against me."

"Well," came another voice, "I guess it's a good thing we aren't all human, huh?" There was a slight pause. "FOXFIRE!"

Foxfire swirled around the room, pushing the toxic cloud away.

"Kagome! Miroku and Sango need antidotes! Quick!"

The miko struggled against Naraku's grip. "I can't get loose!"

"Use your bow or something!"

"He crushed my bow!"

Shippo gasped in horror. "No way! Do you know how many battles we had to fight so you could upgrade that stupid thing?"

"Yeah, I was there, Shippo."

"SILENCE!" bellowed Naraku. "Do you intend to defeat me by boring me to death with your inane chatter?"

"Do you think that would work?" wondered Kagome aloud.

Not one known for his sense of humor, Naraku punished the miko for her remark by tightening his grip once more. This time she heard bones crack. Her bones. Her ribs, specifically. She didn't want to give him the satisfaction of hearing her cry, but she couldn't help the scream of pain.

"I give you one last chance, Shippo. Back away and I will still fulfill your dreams."

"I love Kagome, she is my friend. Her happiness means more to me than anything. I cherish her friendship, and I refuse to trade that in for anything." He seemed to grow a few inches as he spoke. His normally bright green eyes were dark with resolve.

Naraku was enraged by his failure to lure the kit away. With a scream he began to glow. Suddenly there were demons coming from his robes, as if they were parts of him that he was setting free. There were dozens of them. Then hundreds. They were small and large and fast and slow. All of them looked dangerous, if not completely disgusting.

"No," whispered Sango as she helped Miroku stand. "Oh please, no…"

The room was filling with demons. They were crawling on the floor and walls. The three friends stood close together, determined that they would go down fighting.

Sango looked over to where Inuyasha was standing silently. She wondered what dream had been given to him. For a moment she was envious of him. Safe in his dream world he would not know the horrors that were about to befall them all. Miroku gently wiped the tear from her cheek that she didn't know was there. Of course there was the disturbing possibility that it was demon slobber… She preferred to think it was a tear. Another drop landed on her cheek, she looked up to see a slimy demon that looked like a slug crawling on the ceiling. Blast… it WAS demon slobber.

"INUYASHA!" screamed Kagome as Naraku pulled her closer, wrapping her up tighter until it looked like she was encased by a cocoon of something that resembled a large sinewy snake.

Sadly, Sango looked over to where Inuyasha was standing. She blinked twice. Evidently 'was' was the key word. Past tense. Because the spot he was standing was suddenly empty. Turning her head so quick she was running the risk of whiplash she looked back at Kagome. She was falling to the ground. The tentacle had been ripped in half. A blur of red and silver snatched the girl in mid-fall.

"It's about time you woke up!" yelled Shippo.

"You and your dramatic entrances," chuckled Miroku as he threw several charms designed to stun a demon long enough to be cut in half. Sango took care of that part.

"Get up a barrier!" yelled Inuyasha as he flew behind them with Kagome cradled in his arms carefully. "NOW!"

Miroku quickly put up a barrier. Sango and Shippo both took the time out from battle to catch their breath. All at once they began asking Inuyasha about what had taken him so long and what his dream had been about. Even Miroku expressed curiosity about the dream as he concentrated on the barrier.

Ignoring his friends, Inuyasha knelt beside the barely breathing miko.

"Kagome…"

Her eyes fluttered before opening. "Remind me to yell at you later for taking so long," she whispered.

"I'll make it up to you later." He rested his forehead against hers.

"You are a FOOL!" yelled Naraku.

"Keh. I don't need what you're offering. I have all the strength I need." He proceeded to offer some creative, if not improbable, suggestions of where the offer could be shoved. He didn't bother making any comments about his offers regarding Kagome though, losing her simply wasn't an option.

Kagome struggled to sit up. She looked around the room. Beyond Miroku's barrier there was a swarm of demons just chomping at the bit to sink their teeth and claws into them. Hundreds of demons versus the five of them.

"I'll take the hundred on the left," she mumbled, "You take the two hundred on the right." Then she spied Sango's shoulder.

Pain forgotten, she quickly jumped up and found her backpack. She wondered if it was somehow magically tied to her. It always seemed to be around just when she needed it. She pulled out the vials to combat the poison they were exposed to earlier. She drank one and gave Miroku and Sango each one. Then she concentrated her healing powers on Sango's shoulder. Her body glowed and grew warm as the power coursed through her. Once the demon slayer was healed she concentrated on healing herself. Broken ribs hurt like the devil.

"Keep Kagome behind the barrier," ordered Inuyasha. "Let us out then put it back up."

"No."

Inuyasha glared at the miko. "Don't be an idiot. We have to keep you alive; you're the only one who can heal us. You are the only one who can bring us back if we fall."

Kagome stood with her hands on her hips. With her chin held high she looked him stubbornly in the eye. "You need him to fight. I'll make my own barrier." She shook her finger at him. "And don't call me an idiot!"

Almost as soon as Inuyasha nodded his agreement, the barrier dropped. Inuyasha's sword slashed through the enemies like a hot knife through warm butter. Sango's boomerang cut down dozens of demons in one throw. Miroku used his wind tunnel on the demons, making sure to steer clear of the poisonous insects. Shippo transformed leaves into over twenty identical Shippo's, confusing the enemy, causing them into attack and destroy each other. There might have been hundreds of demons, but luckily they seemed to all be rather stupid demons.

Kagome hated watching the fight from a distance. She spent a good deal of the battle running from one friend to the other, healing wounds and filling them with energy before ducking behind another one of her barriers. But the hordes of demons seemed to be unending. Finally she allowed herself to look at Naraku. What she saw made her smile an almost evil smile. With so much of his energy expended towards making the demons, Naraku himself was left weakened.

Naraku's eyes met hers, and he knew that she knew.

"Form a barrier around the room!" yelled Kagome the moment she saw that he was about to withdraw from battle.

She was glad that Miroku didn't question her, simply stopped his own battle and began chanting. Sango appeared in front of him to protect him almost the second he stopped fighting. As she moved towards her friends, Kagome's foot hit against one of her arrows. She bent down and picked it up.

The power inside of her began to flare when she touched her weapon. She tightened her grip on the arrow and let the power flow through the wood and the metal arrowhead.

"I need my bow."

Shippo appeared at her side. "I can help you with that." He put a transforming leaf on his head and disappeared into a puff of smoke.

Kagome waved away the smoke and looked down at her feet where Shippo had stood only moments before. Instead of a fox kit there was a weird little shaped curled up piece of wood.

"Shippo?"

"Hurry up!"

"Are… what are you? A snail?

"I'm a bow!" the kit grumbled.

Unconvinced, but hopeful, Kagome picked Shippo up. Sure it was an unconventional bow, but she was fairly certain it would work. She smiled as she encouraged the power to flow out of her and into the arrow. The smile was turned onto Naraku as she aimed at his heart.

"It ends now!"

The arrow flew through the air, cutting a path through the demons, dissolving any within two yards of it. Naraku turned to flee, but was not fast enough. The arrow struck his chest, eating away at half of his body. He screamed in rage as his body continued to disintegrate quickly.

One by one the other demons began to fall. They were all dead by the time Naraku finished turning into a pile of dust.

The bloody and exhausted group stood in the middle of the room. Shippo transformed back into himself and sat down where he was standing before letting himself drop back and lay on the floor, too tired to worry about laying in demon guts. Sango dropped her boomerang on the floor and sat wearily on it, Miroku sitting beside her. Kagome dropped to her knees and tried to catch her breath. Inuyasha crossed his arms and leaned against the wall.

"You couldn't have done that half an hour ago?" complained Inuyasha.

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Authors Note:

One more chapter to go folks! Thanks to Shoomy2003 for proof reading so you don't have to read through a bunch of typos or oddly worded paragraphs. :o)