A/N: This is a pretty sad chapter, but it gets really interesting toward the end.

Recap:

Shizuru burst through the door the next morning. "Kazuma, come quick!" Kuwabara yawned and complained.

"Darn it, sis, it's 7:00 in the morning! What is it…?"

"It's Yukina!"

He was out of bed and dressed so fast it was pitiful. "What about her?" he said eager to find out about his girl.

"Has she come back?"

"I-I don't know how to tell you this…"

"Just say it!"

"Umm, well…"

"SPIT IT OUT!"

"She's dead."

---

Chapter 6:

Painful Perception

Kuwabara froze. He stood there wide-eyed in shock, refusing to believe his ears.

"What!"

"She was killed by some demon on her way back to the Ice World. Botan just gave us the news. I'm really sorry, bro…"

"This isn't funny, Shizuru." He said, laughing it off. "April Fool's Day was a week ago…"

"I'm not kidding, Kazuma. She's dead. I'm sorry."

"Look, Shizuru, I don't know what kind of a joke this is but it's not funny!"

Shizuru's voice became very serious. She grabbed him by the shoulders and looked him dead in the eye.

"No one's playing around, Kazuma. Yukina is…dead."

He snatched away from his sister ran into the living room. Yukina couldn't be dead. He was just talking to her last night. She couldn't die!

But the cruel reality hit him when he got there.

His eyes welled with tears when he saw Yukina's picture standing on a platform. Below it lay her lifeless body on a little mattress. Her hair was down, outlining her face and she was dressed in a white kimono, with sakura petals on them, right side over the left. Her skin was a slight shade of pink, almost as if she were blushing. Yet, even dead, she was still beautiful.

Everyone he knew was there, dressed in black, even Kagome.

Keiko sobbed uncontrollably on Yusuke's shoulder while he held her and stroked her hair. Botan tried as hard as she could to hold back her tears and cope with the fact that her friend was gone for good. The one thing that hurt her the most was the fact that she'd have the dreary job of taking her to Spirit World. Tears rolled down her face as Kurama held her hand for support.

Koenma was there, too, in his teen form. He, too, was on the verge of breaking down as he knelt down and said a prayer for the late ice maiden.

"She was truly an angel," he thought as he sat down beside Shizuru.

Kuwabara tried as hard as he could to convince himself that this was some kind of a cruel prank, but it was mere seconds before the relentless truth hit him. The one girl—besides Botan—who cared for him, who didn't insult him and call him ugly, and saw him as the wonderful person he was…was dead, gone for good, and there was nothing he could do about it. He walked up to his deceased girlfriend and held her frigid hand as he, too, shed tears.

Even Kagome, who barely knew the girl, cried. She saw a bit of purity and kindness in the girl, and she recognized that, for most people aren't like that. However, it pained her to see Kuwabara suffer like that. But it also reminded her that his heart belonged to someone else. After all, she couldn't possibly have feelings for a guy whose heart belonged to another girl…right?

"Why? She was supposed to be with me…forever…how could she die? Please let this be some kind of dream! SHE CAN'T BE DEAD!" Kuwabara refused to accept the truth.

It was almost an hour before everyone could pull himself or herself together.

---

Kuwabara looked at Koenma.

"Who did this to her?" His voice was shaky with anger.

Koenma looked a little hesitant before he spoke.

"So far I have little information on who the killer—or should I say killers—are. All I know is that the three of them were after the stones that formed from her tears. One of them I have had to deal with numerous times. His name is Naraku. He is notorious for wreaking havoc in both the past and present. …"

"And the other two? What about them?" asked Kuwabara, getting slightly irritated.

His tone of voice bore strong resemblance to Inu-Yasha's, that Kagome immediately acknowledged and rolled her eyes.

"Well…I don't know. All I know is that they were there when they killed her. One of them looked about Shizuru's age while the other one was rather scary-looking. I couldn't do much to help Yukina. All I could do was witness her death."

Kuwabara was instantly pissed. "What do you mean "witness her death"! Were you there!"

"No, I wasn't there. I saw it on a tape that Botan sent me."

Botan jumped up.

"Don't even try to put the blame on me!" she shrieked. "I didn't send you anything! You knew for a fact that she was gonna die! Hell, you even helped make the funeral arrangements!"

Kuwabara glared at Koenma.

"You knew!"

Koenma hesitated again.

"Of course I knew. I knew the exact time and place…everything.

Kuwabara had lost all control before he knew it. Koenma found himself grabbed by the shirt collar and jerked eye level with the angry teen.

"YOU KNEW SHE WAS GONNA DIE! THEN WHY THE HELL DIDN'T YOU TRY TO SAVE HER!"

Even Yusuke was shocked at his friend's loss of composure.

Koenma remained calm.

"Because it's not my job to determine who lives and who dies. Fate does that. I keep records on who lives and who dies. And it was her time to die…"

"Well, why the hell didn't you tell me!" snarled Kuwabara through gritted teeth.

"The same reason you follow that stupid honor code of yours. It's my duty."

Kuwabara wanted punch his lights out for that comment, but he didn't just because it was the truth.

---

Hiei dashed through the plains, headstrong and in the mood for killing a certain hanyou. He still didn't know anything about his whereabouts, but that could wait.

Whack.

A huge boomerang hit him square in the back of the head.

---

"Damn it, I missed him!" Sango's Hiraikotsu missed Koga by a hair, and a giant Kilala was after him like a pit bull after a steak.

It all started when Sango accidentally dropped her clothes into the lake while trying to dry off after taking a bath, and Kagome left one of her old uniforms in the feudal era. So, being that she desperately needed dry clothes and couldn't walk around naked (much to Miroku's dismay), she put it on socks, shoes and all and waited for her clothes to dry. Well, here comes Koga and wouldn't ya know it he sadly mistakes her for (who else?) Kagome. Well, Koga went a little too far and accidentally wink wink grabbed her ass and…well, I'm pretty sure you know the rest.

"I'll teach you to mistake me for Kagome, you sick pervert!"

Sango's scream could be heard from miles away.

Miroku ran after her.

"Yeah," he shouted. "And no one hits on Sango but ME!"

Koga ran as fast as his legs could carry him.

"Stop it, Sango! I swear it was a mistake!" he howled. "Besides, you couldn't possibly be Kagome! You're too ugly!"

Inu-Yasha sat back laughing his head off.

"It's about time that dumbass got what he deserved!" Inu-Yasha cackled.

---

The boomerang fell to the ground as Hiei rubbed his head and picked it up.

"What the fuck is this piece of crap?" he said to himself before someone said,

"Excuse me, little boy."

Hiei, being the said 'little boy' turned to see a rather shapely young girl of about 16 or 17. She wore a multicolored kimono and had long hair.

"Um, thank you for finding my Hiraikotsu, but I would like it back, please." She said in a sweet tone of voice.

Hiei glared at her. "Hn," he mumbled as he gave it back to her.

Sango grinned and reached down to pat him on the head to thank him…

"Touch me and I break your wrist," he snarled as he slapped her hand away. "And for the and record, I'm NOT a little boy, stupid onna."

"What! Why, you…!" She was about to give him a piece of her mind, but he had already disappeared into the woods.

Miroku ran up.

"Who was that guy, Sango?" he asked, eyeing him suspiciously.

"I dunno," she said, not knowing whether to be thankful or pissed off.

Miroku looked over to see that Kilala had finally caught Koga and had him pinned to the ground. Inu-Yasha stood there laughing.

"Ooh, you're gonna get it now!" he sneered.

"Yes," said Sango, smirking. "He is."

"No, Sango, WAAAAAIIITT!" were Koga's last words before he got the beatdown of a lifetime.

---

Three hours had passed since the funeral.

"Wha…where am I?"

Yukina blinked several times and looked up to see Botan's tearful face. She looked around and saw and mysterious environment of a beautiful pink and blue fog.

"You're in Spirit World, honey," replied Botan.

"W-w-what's wrong, Botan? W-why am I in Spirit World?" The confused bluenette looked around. "W-what's going on? D-did I do something wrong?"

"No, you didn't do anything wrong, Yukina," said Botan, trying hard not to choke on her tears. "You died. You were murdered a demon on your way back home."

Yukina stood there, not knowing to be shocked because it happened or sad because she never had a chance to say goodbye to anyone.

A tear trickled down Yukina's face. This was enough to have Botan break down sobbing uncontrollably and pulling the sad girl into a tight hug. She had grown so attached to her over the past year that she had known her. She remembered being envious of her for stealing Kuwabara away from her a while back, but she knew she didn't mean to, and now she and Yukina were the best of friends. A huge surge of pain hit her when she realized she was saying goodbye to her friend. Forever.

"Come with me," said Botan taking her hand. It was now or never and she had to get it over with.

---

That night…

Sleep didn't come easy for Kuwabara. He lay there in bed crying and still trying to cope with Yukina's death. She was all he could think about. She was his heart, she was his soul…hell, she was his everything. She was like a part of him, and when she died she took a part of him with her. Hot hears ran down his pale pink face and onto his pillow. Just holding her in his arms again would make him feel better. Reality hit him once again, and he clutched his pillow and sobbed even harder, knowing that all he could hold onto now were her memories.

---

Meanwhile…

Naraku seemed hell-bent on finding a way to kill Inu-Yasha. Satisfied with that they did to Yukina, his will to do away with him became stronger. The only problem was he couldn't do it. Why do it yourself when you could have someone do it for you? But the real question was whom he could get to do it.

He thought about Kagura, who was beaten nearly every time she faced off with Inu-Yasha, and scowled. She was considered weak in his eyes. Thinking about Kanna softened his scowl. She wasn't exactly as useless as Kagura, but he only used her for looking at whom he could victimize next. And so he stood there, twiddling with that jewel shard, not knowing what to do with it. It continued to glow a bright pink.

He thought harder. His offspring were practically useless, and that shard had given all the power he could drain from it. A bright red haze was emitted from his body, which was already covered in vile demons. He looked at the tainted jewel shard once again, and chucked evilly. His power was at its peak!

"Ha! Inu-Yasha, your days are numbered." He chuckled to himself.

Kagura rolled her eyes.

Here he goes with one of those "oh-my-god-I-will-take-over-the-world you-and-you're-all-gonna-die" speeches. She thought. She stood a few yards away, clutching the tear gems she managed to get her hands on.

"You will suffer…"

She took a closer look at the tear gems as Naraku continued talking. She counted six of them in all.

"You will feel pain…"

Then it hit him.

"You will all feel my wrath! You will die a slow, horrible death. I will make sure of that."

Naraku concentrated all of his gained energy and the red haze surrounding him grew. The demons surrounding him undulated and formed a large, mucky glob. The foul glob slithered around and slowly morphed into purplish-brown clay shape of what looked like a human.

Naraku threw his jewel shard into this mucky mess, and then a resonating red light flooded his sight and all he could make out was a fuzzy silhouette.

Naraku looked amused.

"Hmm, it moves."

The red light faded and what he saw amazed him.

Long, flowing locks of red hair waved with the wind and fell to outline the form of a naked girl. A pale hand reached up and brushed the bangs away to reveal a face of silky white porcelain skin. Her fierce, glowing green eyes snapped open as she tried to help herself up.

Then all was still.

"Naraku!" Kagura's voice broke through the emptiness.

"What is it, Kagura?"

She said nothing. She simply held out her hand and opened it. Thwick, thwack, thwick.

Five small spheres rolled out of her and hit the linoleum floor. She kept the sixth one for herself. They glowed blue, and one could feel their power from miles away.

"Use these."

The gems rolled over to the girl. Almost as fast as lightning, the gems flew to her body and absorbed themselves in her body. A blue miasma outlined her curvy figure as the gems made themselves at home inside her.

Naraku raised an eyebrow. He was clearly amused by this girl.

"Rise, my child." He reached out and flicked his wrist so that his palm was facing up, and summoned the figure to come toward him. Almost like a rag doll pulled by a string, the body was lifted from the floor and levitated toward its creator. He took her face in his hands and firmly pulled her closer. The scent of vanilla and roses filled his nose, instantly turning him on. He had a notion to lay her down and screw her right then and there. And knowing what kind of sick bastard he was, he just might have.

He grinned, satisfied with what he'd made.

"Kagura. Kanna. Get this woman some clothes. We will make good use of her."

With that he let go of her, letting her body slowly descend to the ground. The two girls obeyed. Kagura caught and carried her in her arms. The three girls were halfway out the door when Kagura said, "I think our new sister needs a name. What should we call her?"

Naraku stood there quiet for a while. He looked out the window to see a faint glimmer of light outline the mountains ahead as the sky turned from black to red. The sun was rising.

"I think I'll call her Akane, after this beautiful red morning."

With that said, Kagura and Kanna left Naraku to look out the window and meditate. He had a long day ahead of him to train his new daughter. A wide grin spread across his face as he realized he was one step closer to reaching his goal.

---

The almost complete jewel still lay in the jar on Kagome's nightstand. Its bright pink light glimmered. Then the light flickered out.

The jewel started to shake and change color. It turned from pink to a dark red to a dark purple and finally to pitch black. The jar shattered, and a faint hissing noise was heard as a pink wisp of smoke left the now tainted jewel.

Something was up.

---

A/N: Umm, yeah, I can probably tell you're kinda mad at me for killing off Yukina in the last chapter. Well, chill out. She's not going to be the only one who dies, so brace yourself.