A/N: Here's chapter six! Hope you enjoy it!

Please review and let me know what you think!

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Unspoken
Chapter Six: Shattered

"Take your hands off of my woman, mutt..." Kouga growled dangerously. "Besides, all you're doing is hurting her, you know..."

Kagome could still feel the shock of pain echoing through her body as she struggled to stand back up. The mark on her neck had stopped throbbing, and she shakily got to her feet. "Kouga...stay away from me." she whispered, her voice timid.

"You can't hurt her anymore, Kouga. I don't know how you got here without the jewel shards, but you need to leave. She never wanted this from you. You've caused enough trouble..." Inuyasha added.

"You can not stay with him, Kagome. You realize that it would mean your death, don't you?" Kouga smirked at her, one of his fangs barely visible in his cocky smile. "You are mine; that is what that mark means. No one else can have you."

Kagome shook her head. "I am not." she replied. "I never wanted this, and I will not let you do this to me anymore..."

"I already did." Kouga laughed. "And you will come back with me. You have no choice. The only other alternative is death..."

Kagome gulped. Was this true?

She looked to Inuyasha, who's eyes were cast downward toward the ground. He sighed deeply. "Kagome...he's...he's not lying. If you refuse him...if I tried to remove the mark...you could die..."

Kagome paled considerably, but did not move. "I..." she stammered.

"Kagome!" Sango gasped, running in on the scene from the direction of the village. "Kouga! Are you all right, Kagome?"

Kagome took a deep breath. "I can't..." she whispered.

Sango looked confused. Inuyasha and Kouga merely stared.

"Kagome? Are you all right, Kagome? He hasn't hurt you, has he? Answer me, Kags...please..." Sango pleaded with her friend.

"I can't..." Kagome repeated.

Inuyasha's ears flattened to his head as he waited for her to finish her sentence.

"You can't what?" asked Sango, taking a step forward.

"Kagome, you're coming with me...now!" growled Kouga, taking a hold on her arm so tightly that it caused her to hiss out in pain. The mark on her neck burned with a new passion.

She jerked her arm away, tears stinging her eyes. "No!" she screamed. "I choose him! I can't go back with you. I won't go anywhere! I know what that means for me, but if it means that I get to stay here...with him...then it's all right..." her voice drifted off as she looked pleadingly into Inuyasha's eyes.

"But Kagome...you will..." he stammered.

Kagome nodded. "I'm sorry..." she whispered, leaning up to kiss him lightly on the cheek, and once more causing a searing pain to rip through her entire body.

Kouga growled deep within his throat and looked away in disgust.

Inuyasha stood in front of Kagome, as if to shield her from him. "I will not let you hurt her." he said, determination in his voice.

Kouga laughed, and Kagome, Inuyasha, and Sango all glared at him with alarm in their eyes. "You idiot!" he yelled. "I don't have to get near her to kill her. But with you standing there protecting her or not, she will die for what she has done..." he vowed, taking his own clawed finger to his neck and dragging it across his mating mark, forming an 'x'. The wound looked small on Kouga's body. Only a small trickle of blood escaped the cut he had made.

Inuyasha looked on confused as Kouga ran off. Soon, he was snapped back into reality.

"Kagome!" Sango screamed at the top of her lungs, rushing over to her friend.

Inuyasha blinked several times. Finally, he understood what Sango had been shouting about. The smell of blood. A lot of blood...Kagome's. His heart fell into his stomach as he wheeled around to catch the girl he loved who was once again falling to her knees.

"Kagome!" he yelped. "What happened?"

Inuyasha looked her over. The wound was right across her heart, and was bleeding as profusely as though she had been hit square in her chest by an arrow. Her face, he noticed, was already pale, and her hands felt clammy in his own. On her neck, Kouga's mating mark had disappeared...but Inuyasha feared that it had cost her life.

"Kagome..." he whispered. "Hold on, all right? Sango!" he screamed. "Go get Kaede, quick! Tell the old bat that this is an emergency!"

Kagome shook her head. "No, Inuyasha..." she coughed. "Kaede can't help..."

"Yes she can, Kagome!" Inuyasha gasped. "She's a priestess! It's her job. You're going to be fine. You'll see. You'll be fine..."

"Liar..." she whispered. "He knew what would happen, Inuyasha...it couldn't be avoided..."

"Don't talk. You'll waste your energy..." he pleaded.

She shook her head once more. "Inuyasha..."

"Kagome...don't...please..." he stammered.

"I love you, Inuyasha..." Kagome smiled.

Inuyasha shook his head. "Don't talk like you're saying goodbye, damn it, Kagome! We went through so much to get where we are! I'll be damned if I am going to give up on you now! Stay awake, damn it!"

Kagome shook her head once more. "No, Inuyasha. I can't..." she took a deep breath. "I made my choice, remember? I chose you..."

"That stupid son-of-a..." Inuyasha growled. "I'll kill him for doing this to you, Kagome..." he swore.

Kagome, however, did not reply. Inuyasha's eyes went wide. "Kagome? Kagome! Wake up, stupid wench! Open your eyes! Breathe, damn it!" He shook her, but to no avail.

"You're pathetic..." Sesshoumaru smirked from behind him. "Does not demon blood run through your veins? Show some spine. The girl is dead. Soon the spirits will come for her soul..."

"Shut the hell up, Sesshoumaru..." Inuyasha warned.

"...Unless..." the demon coughed, "you get out of the way..."

Inuyasha blinked. "Sesshoumaru?"

Sesshoumaru sighed. He could not see how his brother could get so bent out of shape over this simple human girl. However, he, Sesshoumaru, did find himself somewhat attached to the bouncy human girl Rin. In that respect, he understood his half-brother's desperation. Inuyasha had followed the same path that his father did when Inutaisho fell in love with the human woman Izayoi. Sesshoumaru hadn't understood it then...but the more time that he spent around Rin and this human girl Kagome, the more he realized what his father, and even Inuyasha, must have felt. He pulled out his father's healing sword, the legendary tenseiga, and took several steps forward.

"If you wish for me to try and save the girl, I will need you to get out of the way..." he said calmly. "You are blocking my path..."

"Let him try, Inuyasha..." whispered Sango, her eyes puffy with recent tears. "It's worth a shot if it will bring her back to us..."

Inuyasha nodded his agreement, and gently kissed the top of Kagome's forehead. "Thank you, Sesshoumaru..." he acknowledged.

The demon lord simply nodded, and swung his sword at the lifeless girl lying in front of him. He watched. The soul stealers surrounding the girl's body promptly disappeared...but still, the young priestess did not get up.

Inuyasha's ears once again flattened to his head. "What is the matter?" he asked his brother.

Sesshoumaru frowned. "I don't know, Inuyasha. I shall try it again..." he promised, and swung the sword a second time. Still, nothing happened.

"Sesshoumaru..." Inuyasha's voice was low.

He shook his head. "I am sorry, Inuyasha..." he whispered. "The tenseiga does not seem to be working. The girl still possesses her soul, but there is no life in her body..." he growled in defeat as he glared at the sword. "This accursed thing can not even do the job it was meant to do properly..." he snarled.

In that instance, Inuyasha's world seemed to shatter to pieces around him. Kagome wasn't coming back. She had died because of him. Because she loved him. Because she would rather suffer this fate than stay with Kouga. She loved him...

Her words rang through his ears like a worn out broken record. He could hear nothing else. He could think of nothing else. He could see nothing else...only her.

Sango's tears fell freely now as she held her friend's head in her lap. Sango stroked Kagome's hair, whispering things she knew that the girl could no longer hear. After a moment, Sango hugged her, and gently placed her head down before she stood up to leave.

"I have to go...tell the others..." she gasped in-between sobs. "Will you...will you stay with her please? Until I get back...?"

Inuyasha nodded. Of course he would stay with her. He wanted nothing more than to be with her right now. To see her smile, or to talk to her...even if she sat him into hell, he would give anything to hear her voice again...

"Why did you give up, Kagome?" he whispered to her. "Why didn't you hold on for a little bit longer, huh?" he was growing slightly angry at her unwillingness to survive when he heard perhaps the last voice he cared to hear at that moment.

"My lord, you need to bite the girl. Exchange your blood with her own..." It was Myoga. "It is similar to what Kouga did, yes...but it is also so much more than that..."

Inuyasha's eyebrow rose. "Myoga! You sick son-of-a..." he took a deep breath. "I'm not a damn vampire, Myoga. She's gone. I'm not going to do anything that could possibly make this any worse..."

Myoga shook his head. "But my lord...don't you understand? You have immortality. Kagome's soul is still fighting inside her body. Sesshoumaru said that himself. And while she may be dead, that simple fact alone holds some hope to it. If you were to give Kagome some of your blood, her strength, her vitality...it would all be greatly multiplied. She would be fine..."

Inuyasha blinked, processing all of this new information. "I can bring her back?" he whispered after a moment of silence.

The flea nodded. "Yes, master. It is possible. It would weaken you for a day or two, of course, but such a thing has been done before. By your own father, in fact."

At this, Inuyasha's eyes widened. "My father...?"

"Had to save your mother in such a fashion once, yes..." Myoga nodded. "He did not weaken in doing so...but he was much more powerful than yourself, of course...being that he was a full demon..."

Inuyasha thought this over some more. "Are you sure?" he asked the flea.

He nodded. "Yes, master. It will work."

Inuyasha nodded. "What do I do?" he questioned.

Myoga took a deep breath. "Just as I instructed, Lord Inuyasha. You need to bite the girl, and exchange your blood with her own. Kouga only bit her. He could not complete the process, because Kagome's body would have rejected him. Kagome loves you, not him. Just as your parents loved each other. They shared a special bond between them. The method worked on your mother once; I don't see why it would not work to save young Kagome..."

Inuyasha shook with worry. "But..."

"Do it, Inuyasha. Myoga would not lead you astray..." It was Sango. She had already returned with the others from her trip to the village. "At least try it. Something has to work."

After a moment, Inuyasha nodded. "All right..." he whispered, more to himself than to anyone. "I'll try it."

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A/N: All right, so this is the end to chapter six! Sorry for a cliff-hanger, but at least it's only a minor one. And even better news? Chapter seven will be up soon, and I have another idea brewing in my head for another story...details on that later.