Chapter 13: The Final Fight

A/n: Obligatory disclaimer that I don't own Inuyasha or any of the characters.

Kagome woke up warm and happy. Unfortunately, she couldn't stay in his warm mokomoko as they needed to get back to training. She skipped breakfast to get as much training as possible in since no one knew how much time they really had. They spent most of the morning sparring as they previously had, though Sesshomaru was careful not to put her in the same position he had before.

"How long are we gonna keep doing this?" Kagome sighed flopping on her back on the ground. "I doubt I'll be doing much hand to hand combat fighting with Naraku."

"Alright. What would you like to work on instead?" Sesshomaru asked sitting next to her. Kagome thought for a moment before sitting up.

"I want to work on transferring my purification powers into arrows. I feel like that'll be much more useful, and aim of course." Sesshomaru nodded. "Hey, didn't you say you wanted to to know what happened so we could alter my training?"

"I did. I have not put you in the same position." Kagome gave him an incredulous look.

"That doesn't seem like much of a training difference to me." She accused. When he didn't answer she continued. "So what was really the reason?" Still no answer. "You know, I'll eventually find out the truth. I'll just keep finding different ways to ask the question and eventually you'll slip. Otherwise you'll have to listen to me go on and on and-"

"Enough." Kagome smiled. I figured he wouldn't like me rambling on. "This Sesshomaru did not need to alter training, my beast needed to be settled."

"Okay." She said getting up to go for lunch. Sesshomaru stayed put for a second shocked at how simple and painless her answer was before shaking his head and following her.

After lunch Kagome grabbed her bow and arrows and her and Sesshomaru made their way back to the clearing. She started practicing her aim. She would hit the mark most of the time but it wasn't enough, she needed to know she could do it without fail when the time came. Frustrated, they sat down to work on transferring her power.

Once she was consistently and easily transferring her powers she moved back to aim. She found that aiming with powered arrows was almost easier, like she could guide them mid air. It was a pleasant surprise for both her and Sesshomaru.

Dinner passed much like it did every evening. Everyone felt on edge but tried to keep things light. Later Sesshomaru let her, Rin, and Shippo sleep wrapped in mokomoko again. Sometime in the early hours of the morning Kagome bolted upright taking in a deep breath. Sesshomaru and Inuyasha both looked to her in question.

"The final fight with Naraku, it happens today." She said softly.

"How do you know?" Inuyasha demanded.

"I don't really know, I can just feel it." All three sat in silence for a moment. "We should leave as soon as soon as the sun rises to get as far away from the village as possible." Kagome looked at the 2 kids.

"Rin and Shippo will stay here. Jaken and Ah-Un shall stay as well to guard them." Kagome nodded in agreeance with Sesshomaru.

"Rest miko." She glared at him. "Rest Kagome." Sesshomaru corrected himself. She sighed and laid back down. What will happen? Will Naraku be defeated? If so, at what cost? Will my friends survive? Will the well make me return to my home? Do I want to go home? Kagome was pulled to Sesshomaru's chest. She could feel his soft purring and slowly her thoughts calmed and she drifted back to sleep.

Breakfast was somber as Kagome explained the fight would happen today and that Rin and Shippo were to stay behind. Shippo cried as Kagome hugged him and then handed him to Kaede.

"Be safe child." Kaede whispered as Kagome gave her a one armed hug goodbye as well. Sesshomaru placed a hand on Rin's head but Rin grabbed his leg and held tight. Slowly he moved his warm around to hold her as well. Kagome almost teared up at his rare display of affection.

"Okay, lets go." Inuyasha said before turning away from the village. Kagome gave one last hug to Shippo and Rin before following along with the rest of the group.

Kagome was on edge with every sound nature made but it was the hum of Naraku's swarm of bees that officially told her the fight was about to start. Stay positive. She thought. At least we made some distance from the village before they came.

Miroku was effectively useless against the wasps as they would poison him so he stayed back. Inuyasha threw blades of blood taking out quite a few and Sango use Hiraikotsu to cut through many as well. Just when they thought they were starting to get somewhere, a thick, dense, black cloud started approaching.

As it drew closer it became clear it was a giant swarm of demons. All kinds of lesser demons, some with arms, some with tails, some with nothing but wiggling bodies, but nevertheless demons they'd have to defeat to get to Naraku. He seems to be trying to tire us out.

Miroku was able to take out a majority of the demons using his wind tunnel. Kagome got to put her combat training to use and took out a few land demons using the katana one of the villagers lent her and Inuyasha took out the rest with 'Meido Zangtsuha' crescents sending them straight to the nether world. But this is just the beginning.

"He's coming." Sesshomaru said drawing his poison to his claws. Naraku appeared floating in the sky. His upper body was in human form with jagged spider legs protruding from his back, while brown tentacles hung and slithered from his lower body.

"Naraku." Inuyasha seethed. "It's over!" Inuyasha charged forward raising Tessaiga. "Wind Scar!" He yelled bringing the blade down hard. He managed to sever a few tentacles in half but it wasn't long before they floated back to reattach to his body.

Sango threw Hiraikotsu again catching his arm. Inuyasha tried again with the Wind Scar and Sesshomaru used his light whip to aim for his heart. All three attacks landed ad it looked like they were actually going to make progress.

The group geared up for another round of attacks. Sesshomaru grabbed Tōkijin, Inuyasha raised Tessaiga and Sango wielded Hiraikotsu. Finally, Kagome prepared an arrow but before any of the group could launch their attack Naraku release a thick purple cloud of miasma.

Kagome started to feel dizzy but she didn't lower her arrow. Eventually the miasma cleared and she could see again. It felt like it was in slow motion as she watched a tentacle shoot out and knock Kilala and Sango out of the air and into Miroku. All three fell to the ground weakened from the miasma and unconscious from the force. She willed Sango and Miroku to get up but neither did.

She turned her head as she heard Inuyasha attack with adamant barrage. To her disbelief only a few shards landed before Naraku threw up a barrier. What's happening, where did all this strength and timing come from? They'd at least been able to do some damage in the past. Naraku shot a tentacle laced with miasma through Inuyasha's stomach. Kagome watched in horror as he fell face first to the ground unmoving.

She gained hope back when Sesshomaru was able to remove most of the tentacles from his body. It wasn't enough though. Inuyasha, Miroku, Sango and Kilala were down. It was up to her and Sesshomaru now.

I need to end this. She thought as she drew the string of the bow back and let her arrow fly. As soon as she released her arrow Kanna appeared in front of Naraku with her mirror. No! She thought in despair. The arrow was absorbed into the mirror and before either could act was shot at an incredible speed back out at Sesshomaru.

The arrow landed in his chest. With a bright flash of pink and a deep scream Sesshomaru started to disintegrate as he was purified. Kagome screamed as she raced where he had been standing not 2 seconds ago but before she could reach him she felt pain in her chest. She looked down to see her heart fall to the ground before everything went black.