Chapter 11

Do We Kill Him?

The group ran into the castle, bursting down doors. Demons attacked them from all sides, but they were fairly easy to defeat. They ran on, towards the sound of Elli's screaming. As they ran, they all thought about what might happen, and what was happening to Elli right then. Soon, they got to the middle of the castle, where Elli was pinned to the wall, bleeding, and Naraku was standing by her, grinning.

"Let her go!" Koga called. He was first to enter.

"Oh look, the little wolf demon came to rescue his mate!" Naraku said with pleasure.

"Watch who you're callin' his mate," Elli said in pain.

Naraku ignored her. "You think you can defeat me on your own?"

"Yeah, but just in case, I brought reinforcements!" The others walked into the room, ready to fight.

"I see, you brought the girl's friends. But you see, you all came to her for no reason. This is her battle, not yours. All I wanted were my jewel shards back, but I got much more than that."

"What do you mean?" Inuyasha asked.

"I got your part, as well, Inuyasha."

"What!" Just then he remembered, Elli had been wearing their jewel fragments!

"I'm so sorry, I forgot I had them on, Inuyasha!" Elli yelled in agony.

"Forget about it! Don't hurt yourself, I'll get 'em back anyways!"

"Don't be so sure."

"What do you mean, Elli?"

"You kill him, you're gonna kill me."

"How's that?"

"I'm surprised she caught on so soon!" Naraku said. "She's smart. I implanted a false jewel fragment in her arm. If you kill me, the fragment will react by emitting a fatal liquid into her body, killing her instantly. Will you still kill me?"

Inuyasha and the others took a step back. "Elli..." Koga said quietly. "I'm not going to loose you now that you're here!" Koga began to run at Naraku.

"Koga, no!" Sango yelled. "Don't take this so lightly! If you slaughter him, she'll die! Don't even think about it!" Koga stopped running and looked from Elli to Naraku, mad and confused.

"Forget about me!" Elli yelled. "Kill him! If I die, at least you got rid of that monster! He'll be gone, and you won't have to worry anymore! Just do it!"

"You mean, you'd sacrifice yourself just for us?" Inuyasha asked.

"Of course! That's what a good friend does!"

"No, a good friend tries to live instead of killin' herself right off the bat!"

"Yes, there has to be another way to go about this!" Sango said.

"There is, but you'd have to outwit me, and we all know that's not possible," Naraku said.

"I'm going to die anyways! I've lost too much blood, I don't have a chance!"

"Yes you do, we can get you better, Elli! Just hold on a little longer!" Kagome cried. "You have to! Not just for me, or for Koga, or for you, but for your father and your village! Do it for them!"

A small spark shown in Elli's eyes. "Father... what would you do! Why'd you have to leave me so soon! You imbecile, Naraku! You took him away from me! I lost my only family member!"

"I know, I do it for pleasure," he replied.

"Father, I'll do this for you! I must avenge your death!"

"It's what our former master would have wanted, I just know it," Kora said.

"I know that now, Kora. I can do this!" Elli's eyes raged as she shot her head up. "I will avenge my loss!" she screamed. Because she had so much energy, a little bit of the deadly liquid coursed out into Elli's body, knocking her unconscious.

"Elli! What's wrong with her!" Koga called.

"She did it to herself. The poison knocked her unconscious. She's just about dead anyways, so what does it matter what you do to me?" Naraku said.

"I will not kill her, no matter what."

"Charge at him, Inuyasha," Kagome whispered to him.

"What? Why? Do you wanna kill her?" Inuyasha replied.

"Just trust me, I think I can save her. Try to kill him, please, just trust me on this."

Inuyasha looked at her for a while. "If you're sure, then let's go!" Inuyasha ran towards Naraku, slashing him with his sword.

"What's he doing!" Koga yelled.

"Just follow him and fight, I know what I'm doing!" Kagome yelled. Everyone sprung into action as Kagome ran to Elli. "Hold on a little longer," she whispered.

Kagome looked at Elli's arm where the fake fragment was located. She pulled out an arrow. "Please let me get this right!" Kagome unlocked Elli from the chains on the wall, and Elli fell to the ground. Kagome moved Elli to a safe position, and then stabbed Elli's arm with the arrow where the fragment was. A purified barrier rose around Elli for a quick second, and the forged fragment rose above Elli's skin and shattered to bits. Everyone else was too distracted to notice what Kagome had done, so she pulled Elli by her hands to a small corner of the room and tried to get her to wake up by pouring some water from a canteen on her face.

"What's happening?" Elli asked. She looked around, then looked at her arm. "The fragment's gone. Did you take it out?" She sat up.

"Yes. I need to bandage your arm up."

"Okay." Elli held out her arm as Kagome wrapped her arm up. "I should help them."

"You need to rest, Elli."

"Forget it! I said I'd avenge my father and I will!" Elli jumped up and ran towards Naraku, surprising him because he didn't realize she had been freed. "I'll kill you once and for all!" She kicked him in the face, knocking him down. Once down, she sat on him and began clawing at his face furiously. Then, she grabbed Inuyasha's jewel fragments and threw them to Kagome, and then reached into Naraku's stomach to get the rest.

"GAH!" he screamed. "Get off me, wench!"

"Never!" She removed all but one of his shards, sticking them in her boots. Inuyasha, I'll let you do the honors." Elli got off of Naraku.

"If you say so. Say goodbye, Naraku!" Inuyasha rose the Tetsusaiga over Naraku's chest, and then sliced through Naraku. Miroku's Wind Tunnel disappeared, and Naraku was gone for good.