Inutori: I'm back! And I still have yet to acquire the real Inuyasha.
Sagi: That's because he's a fictional character, ya bimbo.
Inutori: Oh yeah…(laughs)…Besides that, this story is almost complete! Yay!
Sagi: It's about time. When was it? June of '03 that you posted the first chapter?
Inutori: …
Kagome: That sounds about right. It's been almost three years, anyway. And to think that this story is supposed to unfold in the course of a month or so…
Inutori: …

Chapter 14
Back Stabbing

Inuyasha lazily focused his eyes on the new figure to enter his cement entrapment. The person had a small frame and was dressed in all black; very similar to how Kagome had looked when he had first encountered her in Japan. In fact, it was exactly the same outfit.

"Kagome!" He could feel the vibrations in his throat as his muscles worked, but no sound reached his ears. Had he been drugged?

She looked at him, her bright blue eyes a bit more calculating and cold than he was accustomed to. Kagome stepped towards him, pulling something small out of a side pocket. As she approached, Inuyasha identified it as a needle and syringe.

Before he could do anything to protest, Kagome injected the contents of the syringe into his thigh roughly. After a moment, his senses began to return and a sense of relief washed over him.

"Don't relax yet, Inuyasha. I just injected an antidote for the drug used on you, yes, but it was mixed with an untraceable poison."

"What are you talking about, wench?" Inuyasha furrowed his eyebrows at Kagome, wondering why the feeling he got from her wasn't the one comfort and safety he normally enjoyed.

"You're an idiot if you hadn't seen it." Kagome stepped back from him, a cruel smile playing on her lips. She lifted a hand and pulled off her glove to look at her nails. They were painted black. "You actually thought a crook like me would help the likes of you?"

He stared at the Japanese Snake silently laughing at him, feeling some part of him be torn to pieces that he hadn't even known existed.

"I played your game for awhile, Inuyasha. Even let myself get shot to really earn your trust. The thing is…Naraku pays so much better. I like money a lot better than black mail, you know."

The coldness in her eyes was too much for Inuyasha and he broke eye contact. "What about Kikyou? Naraku killed her, didn't he? How can you work for the man who made your sister betray you and then killed her?"

For a moment the only thing he heard was a cynical chuckle and Inuyasha looked back at Kagome. She was pointing a gun at his head. "Another mistake on your part, Inuyasha. I. Killed. Kikyou."

And then she pulled the trigger.

Miroku peaked around a corner, holding his gun and dagger at ready in case of attack, before dashing down the hall as quietly as possible. A quiet sniffle through a partially opened door stopped him dead in his tracks, leaving him wondering who had made the noise.

Cautiously, Miroku pushed the heavy door open and stepped into the dark room; the only light came from the hallway.

"Sesshoumaru-sama?"

It was the voice of a young girl, and Miroku quickly located the owner of the voice. She was young, maybe fourteen or fifteen at most. Her hands were shackled to the wall and from what he could see, the girl's clothes were dirty and torn.

"Iie. Watashi wa Houshi Miroku." Miroku whispered to the girl, stepping closer and crouching down. If it weren't for the circumstances, he probably would be groping the girl and asking her to bear his child.

As it was, Miroku focused on the restraints on her wrists, trying to figure out how to release her. She was a fetching young girl, he supposed, if she bathed and put on proper clothes; but not as beautiful as his Sango.

He pulled out the dagger and nudged it partially into the shackle, using the blade as leverage to snap the lock. The knife was bending slightly under the pressure, but the restraint was the first to give way.

One wrist free, the girl looked at him with large, sorrowful brown eyes and whispered, "Arigato, Houshi-san."

Miroku merely nodded and proceeded to tackle the second cuff, freeing her other wrist. In the dim lighting, Miroku could barely make out how raw and bloody her arms were, but even so they looked bad.

The girl cradled her injured wrists, curling against the wall.

"Ano…I need you to come with me, m'lady." Miroku stood and looked down at the cowering girl before eyeing the door apprehensively.

She didn't say anything, but she began moving in an attempt to stand. Miroku watched her entire body quiver just before she collapsed with a soft cry. Apparently she was weaker than even he was.

Taking a deep breath for strength, Miroku carefully scooped the limp girl up and began moving out of the dark room.

There was no one in the hall; a fact that was still baffling Miroku since this was a criminal hideout…or so he had been led to believe. But he wasn't going to complain about the lack of goons that he had to deal with.

Shifting the girl in his arms and amazed at how light she was, Miroku slunk down the dank hallway, keeping his ears open for any sign of company.

Kagome landed lightly in front of a shouji, cocking an eyebrow at the Japanese style door in the middle of a crime lord's hangout in LA. Guess Naraku couldn't give up his pride regarding his Japanese origin. Not like she really cared.

Making sure her weapons were properly hidden, Kagome slid open the door and stepped into the smoke-clouded room. The nasty vapors made her eyes water and she instinctively found herself crouching lower to the ground where the air was slightly cleaner.

"So nice of you to join me, Kagome-sama. Let me pour you some tea."

Kagome narrowed her eyes at the sound of the slick, deep voice that belonged to the most deranged man she had ever known. "Don't mock me, Naraku. I'll never sit to tea with you." She stretched her leg and slid across the tatami mats, staying in a crouched position.

A chuckle tainted her ears. "I was just trying to be courteous before I kill you, Kagome-sama. But if you don't want to live any longer, that's fine by me."

Lights turned on and Kagome saw through the gray smoke that the room she was in was rather large and also very empty. Her ear caught a slight whistle and Kagome dodged to the side just as a volley of arrows landed where she had once been.

"Come out and fight me, Naraku. No more of your sick games." Kagome glared around, hoping to locate a camera or walkie-talkie to give her an idea as to where Naraku was hiding.

"Tsk, tsk, Kagome-sama. The game is only beginning."

She jerked around again. His voice had sounded like it had come from all sides of her. The thought was disorienting.

Hairs on the back of her neck rose and Kagome somersaulted to a new spot, hearing the thud of a knife hitting the mat. Being toyed with was getting annoyed.

Looking around some more, Kagome eyed a thick wooden door on the opposite end of the room from where she entered. Furrowing her eyebrows, Kagome made a mad dash for the door, dodging arrows and knives as they came at her from random directions.

With a heave, Kagome shoved open the door and ran into a cement room that bled coldness. On the opposite wall from where she stood hung Inuyasha, spread eagle on the wall with thick restraints on his wrists, ankles, waist, and neck.

She had to bite her tongue from calling out to him, and after a moment, Kagome realized that he was either unconscious or dead. Half of his face was caked with blood, much of his hair highlighted with gory streaks starting at what must have been some sort of head wound.

"Naraku!" Kagome felt her anger flare at the sight of the wounded Inuyasha, tears threatening to blur her vision.

Sango kicked open yet another door, semi-automatic gun cocked and ready for action. She wasn't taking any chances after that last goon she'd faced: some gay man with a snake-like sword. Adversaries like him hadn't been on her agenda, but fortunately for her she had Kirara with her to watch her back.

The sight that greeted her was a cold, gray, and all-too empty hallway. "What is this? Some sort of maze?"

All she had encountered was dead-ends and Naraku's weirdo lackeys. It was beginning to grate on her nerves. She hadn't even reencountered the head of Youkai Enterprises in this bleak structure. Everything looked the same, making her lose track of where she had and hadn't been.

Movement caught her attention from an adjacent hall and Sango dashed down it ready to beat another idiot senseless.

Catching up with the figure, Sango stopped short. She would recognize that butt anywhere: it was MIROKU! Pleasantly surprised Sango allowed herself a smile and called out to him.

"Houshi-san!"

Miroku whipped around to look at her, a revolver held in one hand as he precariously balanced a woman in his arms. Sango felt a glare return to her features. Even when kidnapped, Miroku found girls to practice his lechery on.

"Ah, Sango-sama! It is a relief to see you! I was worried!"

Sango eyed him suspiciously. "Sure. And who's the girl?"

Miroku looked down at the petite girl in rags then back at Sango. "She was locked in a room near mine, but she's too weak to walk."

The girl also appeared unconscious. Sango ran her eyes along the girl, noting her bloodied wrists and the many gashes new and old covering her body. It didn't appear that Miroku was lying.

With a nod, Sango relieved Miroku of his burden, surprised at how light the girl was. She then placed the girl as gently as she could on Kirara's back and told the cat to get the kid out of there. Kirara growled in acknowledgement before dashing away gracefully.

"Sango-sama, there's more to you than meets the eyes." Sango jumped when Miroku addressed her, realizing that he was referring to her pet.

"…"

"You wouldn't happen to know anything about a thief called Taijiya, would you?" Miroku's suspicious look made heart rate double.

"Eh…There's no time for that now! We've got a crime ring to sink!" Sango grabbed Miroku's arm and began running while trying to ignore the man's protests.

His cries were somewhere along the lines of, "Crime in LA is not under our jurisdiction! We could be arrested!"

The restraints holding Inuyasha to the wall clicked open and Kagome ran to him, catching his limp form as he fell. "Inuyasha!" Kagome kept her ears open, listening for any intruders as she checked the silver-haired man to ensure that he was still breathing.

He was alive; that was a definite relief. If he weren't, half the reason she even came here would have been in vain. Tears still threatened to come, but Kagome held them back for a more leisurely time. Now she had a drug lord to murder.

Cradling Inuyasha's head, Kagome realized that he was still bleeding and quickly pulled off the jacket she was wearing, tying it as best she could around Inuyasha's head to serve as a tourniquet.

"Don't you dare die on me, Inuyasha."

A growl made Kagome freeze and she looked down fearfully at Inuyasha. His cheeks were lined with jagged purple stripes and his upper teeth were hanging over his lip, looking razor sharp. With a gulp Kagome set Inuyasha's head down and scooted away from him.

She watched as he began to move, opening blood-red eyes with lavender slits for pupils. He suddenly looked very much like a monster out of a horror movie; the blood caking his shirtless form making it appear that he was a mass murderer.

The growl deepened and grew in volume as Inuyasha laid his eyes on Kagome, his glare hardening. She had little warning before Inuyasha dove at her, swiping his knife-like claws in front of him. In her fear, Kagome's reflexes had been dampened and Inuyasha's claws made contact, ripping clothes and skin from her left shoulder and across her chest, down to her waist on the right side.

Her scream filled the room and echoed off the walls, the high pitch noise cut off quickly as Kagome regained her control. She had never been one to show weakness, so she wouldn't now; even if she was going to die.

Coughing up blood and grateful that Inuyasha wasn't coming in for a second swing, Kagome crumpled to the cold floor.

"Perfect." Cold red eyes scanned the desolate room, lingering momentarily on the hunched form of the hanyou and then on the still form of the Higurashi thief. He took in a deep breath, basking in the glorious scent of freshly spilt blood.

The inu hanyou appeared to be coming back to his senses as he dropped to the pathetic girl's side, letting out a shrill whine. Naraku narrowed his eyes as the sound pierced his ears and made his head ring annoyingly.

He hadn't been able to do in Kikyou, so he had come up with the perfect way to kill her little sister in retribution. Let her die at the hands of the man she was falling in love with. At the hands of someone she thought she trusted.

Agent Jidai turned and looked at him, letting out a predatory growl. A lot of good that would do the fool. It wasn't he that had released the killing blow on the Asian girl.

Naraku dodged to the side as Inuyasha dove at him, yelling crude words in his blind rage. He let out a cruel laugh, landing between the dead body and the livid hanyou.

"Give up, Jidai. Nobody can stand in my path to utter destruction."

Inuyasha just glared more fully before smirking. "Good to know: my half-brother always told me I was nobody."

With a careless flick of his wrist, the man calling himself Bankotsu flew into the wall and created a crater in the cement barrier. Blood trickled out of his mouth as he crumpled to the ground.

Sesshoumaru swept down the corridor, not bothering to check if the human was still alive or not. It didn't matter to him, after all.

The one scent he was looking for wafted by, mixed with the scent of blood, making his muscles tense in anger. If anything had happened to her, Naraku's death would be prolonged and made that much more unbearable.

A fire-cat demon attempted to run by, but Sesshoumaru promptly swept its load into his arms to inspect.

"Rin."

Death lingered around the fragile girl; it was apparent that she was barely holding onto life by a thread.

Weak and slow, the tired girl's eyes crawled open and halfway focused on the man holding her bridle style. A strained smile cracked open her dry lips and caused her to bleed slightly.

"Sesshoumaru-sama. Rin knew you would come save her." She closed her eyes again, her smile staying fixed on her face.

The normally stoic youkai brought Rin's head up to his and leaned forward, running his tongue over Rin's lips to remove the blood and add moisture to her once soft mouth. She shifted in his arms slightly, and Sesshoumaru could sense how weak she really was. On top of the fact that she was a good fifteen pounds lighter than the last time he had held her.

Sesshoumaru adjusted Rin so she was curled with one of his arms, leaving his other appendage free to kill those who dared to oppose him when he was on a mission. He stepped deeper into the maze of hallways, sniffing out the foul stench that Naraku let off in waves. It was time for it all to end.

His steps were deliberate and his eyes calculating. Naraku was near by…as well as his idiot half-brother and his human wench. At least the hanyou would serve as a semi-decent distraction while Sesshoumaru went in for the kill.

Carelessly smashing down a wall, Sesshoumaru took in the view of Inuyasha and Naraku taking blows at each other. Inuyasha was doing exceptionally poor, probably as a direct result of the head-shot clearly visible and the scent of poison in his blood.

Unfortunately, only Sesshoumaru had the right to do in Inuyasha, and so his death by Naraku's hands would be unacceptable. With a glare, Sesshoumaru joined in the fight, doing significantly more damage to the conniving man than Inuyasha had yet managed.

With each breath, a sharp pain dug through her arm, leg, and chest, but she tried to ignore it. Trying not to make too much noise, Kagome pulled the dagger that had been hidden in the front of her shirt out and began focusing her energy on it.

It was a skill that was a pride of the Higurashi family, and Kikyou had mastered it when she was seven. Theirs was the ability to purify youkai. Kagome wasn't nearly as adept as her sister was, but she could hold her own.

The dagger began to glow with a pink hue and Kagome weakly sat up to wait for her opening.

Naraku was fighting with Inuyasha and Sesshoumaru presently. In the stoic youkai's arms was a petite Japanese girl that appeared unconscious. What Kagome didn't understand was why he was fighting with a hindrance such as extra baggage to haul around.

Her foe's back was turned, ignoring her movements and focusing only on his more obvious adversaries. Taking the opportunity, Kagome flicked her wrist and allowed her dagger, glowing with pure energy, to lodge itself into Naraku's open back.

The guy let out a sharp yell as his torso began to melt away as it was purified. Smirking slightly, Kagome once again let herself collapse to the ground and let the darkness enfold her. After four long years of waiting, her father's death, as well as Sango's family, had been avenged.

Kagome began sifting through her memories as the noises died out and feeling left her. The happy as well as the torturous. Her father's face dug a chasm in her mind, making her want to scream as she watched half his face get blown off. It was all too much and she desperately wanted it to stop.

Inuyasha jumped with surprise as Naraku began to melt before his eyes. He wasn't sure what was going on, but he was pretty sure it was to his benefit. Naraku sent the FBI agent one last crimson glare before the hideous face was destroyed.

All that was left behind was a pile of gory flesh and a brightly glowing dagger.

Sesshoumaru shot Inuyasha a cold look of warning before turning on his heel and leaving the desecrated room.

The stench caught up to Inuyasha and he covered his nose with his hand, noticing for the first time that his head was pounding and his muscles were all shaking. On top of that, he was also missing his shirt.

He dropped to his knees, glaring at the blob of sizzling flesh a few feet away. "Keh. That's what you get for killing Kikyou."

Vision beginning to blur, Inuyasha faintly heard footsteps as he remembered something about a poison slowly killing him or something similar.

"That's where you're mistaken, Jidai."

Weakly, Inuyasha lifted his head to lay an unfocused gaze on a girl with white hair and blank eyes. "What are you talking about, wench?"

She lifted something in her hands, looking at it with a straight face. "Naraku told Kikyou to kill you and she didn't want to. So she and I made an agreement: she prepared a way for Kagura to disappear and I killed her."

Kagome furrowed her eyebrows, feeling herself becoming aware of the pain she was in and the voices around her. A woman was talking. Something about Kikyou. She recognized the voice…it was one of Naraku's underlings. Kagura? No, she sounded a lot more spiteful…Kanna? Yeah, that was it; it must have been Kanna.

An all too familiar sound echoed in her ears: the tell-tale sound of the safety being switched off on a machine gun. What was going on?

Forcing her eyes open, Kagome took in the scene. Kanna was standing in a doorway, but Kagome could only see her bare feet and the bottom of her white dress. In front of the stoic woman knelt another person with whitish-silver hair. That must be Inuyasha.

She couldn't see any weapon in Inuyasha's hands so that must mean…that Kanna is the one with the gun…

New-found strength coursed through Kagome's veins and she shot up, gripping her handgun tightly while scrambling in front of Inuyasha. Without a second thought she pointed the gun at Kanna and pulled the trigger at the same moment Kanna did the same.

For what seemed like an eternity, Kagome felt hard forces slam into her chest, causing her to fall backward onto Inuyasha. Shock filled Kagome's eyes as she toppled over with Inuyasha, both immediately losing awareness of the real world.

I
Do
Not
Sleep

Inutori: To kill Kagome or not to kill Kagome; that is the question. Hehehe. This chapter had a different ending there for awhile, but I didn't much care for it, and half of it got moved to the next chapter.
Kagome: I vote not to kill me. I rather like being among the living, thank you.
Inutori: One more chapter, peoples! Chapter 15 will be the brilliant (or not so brilliant) conclusion of Japanese Snake!
Inuyasha: Why am I so incompetent in this story, eh, wench?
Inutori: Can't answer that! However, my lovely readers, I was not impressed with the feedback I got from chapter 13. Hardly anybody reviewed! It makes me want to cry! If you want the finale posted sooner rather than later, review…and BEG! (evil laughter)…but really: review please. Helpful hints, constructive criticism, praise, flames…anything would be welcomed and cherished by this lonely soul!