(A/N: The beginning verse is from a poem my sister wrote. Her poetry is generally amazing. I may write novels but she writes poetry better than I ever could). This chapter just leapt out of me so fast. I delayed posting it immediately b/c I am a review whore and, more legitamately, I had to see if you believed Inuyasha's outburst last chapter to be OOC or not. The consensus was that he was harsh but not OOC. Thus I update now. The next chapter is not yet written and barely started, but my writing spurt is not finished yet I think, so you may well see more soon. :-)

I think the middle bit with the unshakable Sesshomaru will be interesting...I had a lot of fun writing that. Last night I was also able to stay up late again, on a weeknight! Yay! And I watched Adult Swim's lineup. I got to see "Forever With Lord Sesshomaru." That has thoroughly convinced me that taking a look at the relationship there is well worth it. AND I believe the development of Rin's character will be especially fun. She impressed me with the episode I saw last night, so adult even though she's just a girl there, and very willful even at her young age. If you can get your hand son that episode I recommend it. :)

Disclaimer: I do not own Inuyasha the manga or the series or anything. But I do wish I did so I could be rich :-)

Last Chapter: Shimofuri visited his mother, Taikokajin, hoping she would let him end her suffering by taking her life. She told him she's waiting for Tsukiyume to return, but Shimofuri thinks his sister is dead. Taikokajin insisted she's not, and that when she returns, Tsuki will be the one to out Taikokajin out of her misery. Inuyasha is going out of his mind because Kagome, despite everyone's best efforts, is still possessed, though Garou's spirit is restrained. It will slowly kill her. He saw evidence of that when she woke up last chapter. He expects Tsukiyume to cure Kagome, but the hanyou girl has nothing to give him. Inuyasha refused to let her go to her mother and brother. ALSO remember that there is a civil war in the Middle Lands, the inuyoukai Nishiyori is the troublemaker.
To Deceive the Dead

Her soul is withered
Drained by loss
Death smiles upon her
It keeps no secrets
But reveals them all to her

Tsukiyume opened her eyes, wide and unseeing. She stared into the darkness around her, breathing slowly. And then, gradually, she sat upright.

Miroku the monk had given her a few spare blankets hours before, and allowed her to sleep in the sitting room, alongside the small table there. She could make out the monk's form, swathed in a few blankets himself, sleeping a few feet away, also on the floor. His light snoring was gentle and almost comforting. The wind howled outside, rattling the shutters and screened windows, making the house moan to Tsuki's sharp hanyou ears.

Those white ears folded down on themselves, pulling back from the outside world. She sat up suddenly; acutely aware that she was the only moving object in the room aside from the monk's slow, easy breathing. Her gaze locked blindly onto a few cups on the table, she smelled old tea, prepared and forgotten in the abrupt homecoming of the lord and lady of the house. (A/N: I believe around this time period the favored cup style was "Raku-ware" which was especially liked for its simplicity. The bowls were taken hot out of the kiln and tossed into the dirt or into water or manure…that created pock-marks that were cherished because each one was different. But b/c Kagome is from our time and I always thought the Raku-ware bowls were ugly and gross—manure? C'mon!—so let's pretend that these are nice blue-and white china or something? Yeah, Art and Architecture of Japan is interesting.:-P)

A voice rose, whispering into her ears, through her hair, calling her name, but Tsukiyume knew that she was the only one that could hear it. She searched the darkness, jumping a little when the wind outside hammered into the side of the house.

"Father…?" she had only seen his image in her dreams, in memories passed to her from his spirit when he stepped into her mind, saving her, instructing her. All her life she'd been an obedient child, a loyal and loving sister to Shimofuri as well. Now she struggled to play the same role to the father she'd never known. But it was a difficult thing to do. She had a fear as well as a desperate longing for his spirit's presence.

My time with you is soon to end.

She stared at the monk's breathing, up and down…up and down…. When she dared she at last took a deep breath and asked the still, silent air around her, "What's left for me to do?"

You must go back to Shimofuri, you must help your mother die.

She leaned her head forward, closing her eyes. The wind outside Inuyasha's estate lessened, plunging her into a thick, heavy silence. The darkness seemed to thicken as well, constricting her. Tsukiyume watched the thick curtain of her black hair fall forward, obscuring the world. She felt safer that way, it hid her tears and her expression, though she knew a spirit would likely see anyway, hair or not.

"What about the…" she swallowed, trying to get rid of the burning lump in her throat.

Inuyasha's mate. You have the answer for her already, Daughter.

"She's going to die?" Tsukiyume whispered, clenching her fists in her lap. He'll kill me if that is the only answer, Father…

No. You already know how to drive Garou's spirit from her. You must deceive him.

She blinked, confused. "How…?"

Appear to give him what he wants…

Tsukiyume shook her head, pleading, "No, that can't be!"

The wind rose up, shaking the screens on the windows of the sitting room. The monk groaned in his sleep and one hand reached out, making Tsukiyume flinch in the darkness. She watched as that pale appendage pawed at the blankets around his body. He muttered, "Sango…?" sleepily.

I will be with you. I will guide you. I will give you the words you need to explain it to the hanyou.

Miroku shifted his position until he could just barely see the hanyou girl across the room from him. She was not sleeping as he would have expected but rather she was sitting up, wide eyed and alert. The white ears, vividly standing out from her black hair, were lying flat on her head.

He sat up, scowling at the left over dizziness from sleep. "My lady?"

"Can you call Lord Inuyasha for me?" she asked him, without looking at him and with a faint, trembling voice. "You…you must do it quietly without waking the woman…"

"Kagome?" Miroku asked, perplexed. His violet eyes were narrowed with confusion and perhaps a mild suspicion. "Why do you…"

"Please!" she at last looked at him and Miroku made out the faint sheen of wetness on her face, recently shed tears. "I have to speak with him—away from her."

Pinching his lips together uncertainly, Miroku paused for a moment, considering her request. She appeared miserable and rather helpless. Her mother was dying he'd heard, and she'd suffered a great trauma at the hands of the demon spirit that was currently inhabiting Kagome's body. It didn't make much sense to him, though, that the girl would want to speak with Inuyasha, especially after the way the hanyou had spoken to her earlier.

Despite his misgivings he nodded to her and rose from his bed of winter blankets. She didn't look as through she would run off the moment he left her alone…he eyed her warily as he walked down the hallway and to Inuyasha and Kagome's shared room. The door was shut but that didn't deter the monk. He slid the thing open gently and squeezed into the deep darkness of the room.

Before he'd taken three steps toward the bed, Miroku froze, aware suddenly of a low growl coming from that direction. "Inuyasha?" he whispered.

"What do you want?" the hanyou growled. "If you wake Koinu I'll kill you."

"Could you step outside with me…?" he frowned in the darkness, thinking how crazy he was. Of course Inuyasha would turn him down; he was too busy brooding over the ill Kagome and his young, helpless son. He had to explain it further. "The girl wants to talk with you."

"Why?" he snapped. Miroku thought he could see Inuyasha's ears in the dark, flicking frontward and backward, the only light spot in the whole of the room.

"She didn't say—just come." He turned slipping out of the room on silent feet and praying that Inuyasha would follow him out of curiosity alone. He was relieved when he heard the thumping tread of the hanyou's calloused feet following swiftly behind him.

When they reached the sitting room Tsukiyume was still sitting upright, in exactly the dame position that Miroku had left her in. Breathing a small sigh of relief, Miroku sat down again, nearer to the girl this time, somewhere between the girl by the table and his blankets by the entrance to the kitchen. Inuyasha, meanwhile, didn't take a seat. He paced the width of the sitting room, giving the hanyou girl intermittent glares of disgust.

"What do you want?" he grumbled at last when he'd finished his third or fourth circuit of the room.

"I know how to drive the demon's spirit from your mate's body."

This had an effect on the hanyou. He stopped, frozen, and then stared at her, amber eyes narrowed. "About time dammit." But as he stared at her cold, expressionless face and scented the tears, he scowled, ears falling back. "How do we do it—tell me!"

"You must deceive him into thinking you are going to give him what he wants. Then he will leave her body voluntarily."

His amber eyes widened a little, "You mean kill myself or…" he paused, his face losing its expression, "…let her kill me?"

"Not exactly…" Tsuki's shoulders sagged, her ears dropped, she was exhausted. But to Inuyasha's sharp night vision her eyes still glowed with a life, with a power that wasn't quite all hers alone.

Miroku was frowning in the dark. Without as keen of eyesight as the two hanyou in the room he was missing a lot of the silent, unspoken interactions. Hanyous might be comfortable with a conversation in the dark but a human was not. He rose to his feet, dusting himself off for effect, and cleared his throat uncertainly. "I'm going to go light a brazier…"

"No—you're going to go stay with Sango. Keep your family safe." Inuyasha quipped, glaring at the monk.

"No, he is needed for this. The seals that were placed on your mate, they are his. I would help in the ritual but the demon—he knows I'm not what I seem. I've stopped him too many times." She met Inuyasha's gaze timidly, "Everything that your mate sees and knows he will also know. That is why I cannot be present until the last moment. He must believe he's won."

"Feh!" Inuyasha scoffed, once more beginning to pace, "Quit wasting time, girl! Just tell us what we need to do to save her."

Tsukiyume watched his pacing silently, her eyes taking on a deeper, more solemn expression. "It won't be easy for any of you—any of us. But for you especially Inuyasha…" she swallowed nervously and started to shake a little as the howling of the wind outside grew more intense, "…cousin, it will be hard."

Inuyasha was unfazed by her warning. "I can handle it." he snapped irritably. "Now tell us how to do this and let's get on with it."

Shimofuri entered the room first, his uncle Sasugainu followed. They had stopped briefly, at Sasugainu's insistence, to put on more formal robes. Sesshomaru was all about prestige and intimidation, Sasugainu had reasoned. They would get more from him if they played their roles right.

"I doubt that." Shimofuri had told his uncle while they changed, both into formal robes and hakama colored gray-blue. Sasugainu favored something white, as Sesshomaru usually did because he was fair like Taikokajin had been, but because he was presiding beside his nephew, who favored blues and grays to match his darker pigmentation, he adopted Shimofuri's style.

"Why?" Sasugainu demanded, slightly insulted that his nephew, so much younger than him, would dismiss his advice so easily.

"Have you ever met Sesshomaru, Uncle? He is as stubborn as our cousin, Inuyasha. Appearing one way or another before him will do nothing to make him sway to our side or reveal more to us."

Sasugainu grunted, and made no answer, but when he looked to his nephew he was smiling with pride, almost a fatherly pride. "Whatever Sesshomaru is here for, whatever he says, I will support you, Nephew."

Now they took their spots on the slightly raised platform, settling themselves and staring out at where Sesshomaru sat, his expression cold and distant and—bored? Servants scuttled here and there, rushing to set tea trays before Sasugainu and Shimofuri first and then Sesshomaru as well.

Somehow Sesshomaru managed to look both annoyed and disgusted by the whole ceremony without moving a single muscle in his face. Without Lady Rin at this side, Shimofuri mused, the lord of the Western Lands was absolutely dead and unanimated. He was indeed the ideal demon and ruler.

"Lord Sesshomaru," Shimofuri at last greeted his cousin, "It is a pleasure to see you."

Ceremony and etiquette would have demanded that Sesshomaru bow to honor his cousins, but he made no such move. The only creature that he'd ever bowed to was his father. He wasn't about to break that tradition now for the pup Shimofuri and the annoying, pompous fool Sasugainu.

"I do not see Taikokajin with you." his golden gaze raked over the young heir and his uncle ruthlessly taking in their stiffened postures at his words. Faintly he could still scent the grief on the youth. "So it is true what I have heard. She is dying, or perhaps already gone."

Shimofuri's face had colored, flushed red while the rest of his body had paled. He stared at the floor, a little too overwhelmed to face Sesshomaru directly just yet. Sasugainu, however, reacted with the outrage.

"How dare you, Sesshomaru!" he hissed, allowing a scowl to cross his face. "Have you come only to taunt us in our mourning?"

Sesshomaru pinned him with a bored, slightly annoyed glare. "Not at all. I merely come to understand your circumstances, cousin." He had adopted a slightly calmer, more respectful tone in dealing with them, seeking to casually calm them from their outrage and upset. "You are already in a precarious place as Taikokajin passes her reign to her heir. You are also facing civil war."

Again both Sasugainu and Shimofuri stiffened. It might have been in their plans to slowly bring out their request for his backup, if he would give it, which was very doubtful. But to have it brought up by him so blatantly…it made them both uncomfortable to have Sesshomaru analyzing their weaknesses out in front of them.

"Why have you come?" Shimofuri finally demanded, dropping any friendliness from his tone and failing to hint anything along the lines of respect to Sesshomaru either. His patience had run out.

"I see Inuyasha and that hanyou sister of yours have not brought my message to you." Now Sesshomaru's eyes crinkled with what almost might have been amusement. "That is, of course, not a surprise to me."

"What message?" Shimofuri shouted, leaning forward. His gray eyes were narrowed fiercely on Sesshomaru. The niggling concern for his half-sister and his mother's wishes was pounding in his head, spinning. What had happened between Sesshomaru and Inuyasha and Tsukiyume? He remembered the hostility between the brothers. Had they stopped by and things had gotten out of hand? Had Tsukiyume been unable to appease the brothers? Could Sesshomaru have killed them both on a whim? Countless fears spun inside his mind. His fists clenched in his lap with the potential for rage and his great worry.

"I will offer my armies and supplies for your disposal in the civil war with Nishiyori." Sesshomaru looked calmly between them, bland and bored.

There was silence from Shimofuri and Sasugainu, a shocked silence. Sesshomaru hated the clan, they knew that. He harbored a grudge against them for many reasons, the largest of which was because they hadn't helped him 50 years ago when the Panther demons had tried to invade his lands. Normally the Western Lands existed alone, separate and unaffiliated with the civil wars, disputes, and alliances going on between the various families within the clan. It had flourished for it as well and Sesshomaru was widely envied by other rulers for his success in the Western Lands.

Why had he stepped in and offered his aid to them so graciously. Suspicion immediately followed Shimofuri and Sasugainu's shock. Sasugainu was the first to speak out.

"We thank you for your generous offer, Lord Sesshomaru," he was suddenly very careful with his words, very formal and full of respect, "But I am curious…"

"You are here ruling for the time jointly with Shimofuri?" Sesshomaru asked, his question seemingly unrelated to the previous discussion.

Shimofuri and Sasugainu exchanged a glance, startled. It was Shimofuri that answered. "Yes, my uncle has offered his support to me in this trying time. I am very grateful to him for his counsel and for—"

Sesshomaru rudely interrupted Shimofuri and addressed Sasugainu pointedly instead. "You are offering your own troops and supplies to young Shimofuri?" he asked.

Shimofuri scowled briefly, which drew Sesshomaru's golden gaze and made the young demon stiffen, nervously. He was abruptly all-too aware of his young he was, how inexperienced he was at ruling the Middle Lands…

When Sasugainu responded he sounded surprised, startled. "Yes, I am. I am lending shishi-sama as much as I can. It is my duty—he is kin."

Sesshomaru was silent for a moment, looking between the uncle and nephew, the older Sasugainu and the younger, inexperienced Shimofuri. Both lords seemed to shrink and quail before his power, intimidated.

"Nishiyori will crush you, Sasugainu. Your aid does young Shimofuri no good. You must accept my offer." He told them, eyes narrowing. "If I am not mistaken Sasugainu, your wife is one of Nishiyori's granddaughters? You are allied to him through this union."

Sasugainu winced noticeably and then frowned, covering his moment of weakness. "Nekura has borne me no heirs—" he stammered.

"You are bound." Sesshomaru actually sneered this time, briefly, and then turned his eyes to Shimofuri. "Release your uncle from his bind to you; leave him uninvolved in this war. Accept my offer to help you."

Shimofuri forced his face to remain cold and expressionless. "At what cost?"

There was the faintest quirk of Sesshomaru's lips into what might've been a clever, triumphant smile had he not squashed it in its infancy. Shimofuri couldn't be sure he'd seen it there at all. Only the eyes remained firmly focused on him and alight with an inner glow.

"When Nishiyori is defeated you will punish him, correct?"

"Of course." Sasugainu answered, finding his voice again.

"You will have him killed. And his mates and wives. His heirs. And down the line. What will you do with his land? With his province, the Isei?" Sesshomaru's voice remained calm and distant, as if uncaring, but Shimofuri and Sasugainu were beginning to understand where he was going with his questions.

"Yes, his family will be punished." Shimofuri answered calmly, "We have not discussed his lands or his estate. He has several palaces…"

"Hopefully we can eradicate the entire lot of them." Sasugainu added, a little too happily.

Sesshomaru shifted, appearing to become more at ease, though considering what they were speaking of and negotiating, that shouldn't have been possible. "If I aid you in this war I ask that Nishiyori's lands fall under my discretion. They will be ceded to the Western Lands."

Shimofuri and Sasugainu, already expecting this sort of demand from his earlier questions, met one another's gaze briefly, silently debating. Neither saw much hesitation in the other, the decision was already made. Sesshomaru was making them an offer they could not refuse.

Shimofuri looked back at his cousin and bowed, "We gratefully accept your offer and your terms, Lord Sesshomaru. We are honored to—"

"I have one last term, Shimofuri." Sesshomaru interrupted him swiftly.

The other two lords blinked, taken aback. "Go on…" Sasugainu eventually cued Sesshomaru's next, and hopefully last term.

"I ask," Sesshomaru looked between them with a stern, narrow-eyed expression that neither lord could read properly. "That one of his female kin, unmarried and unrelated to Inutaisho's line either by blood or by marriage, be spared and given to me."

They stared at him, flabbergasted. The cold, deadly Sesshomaru was known to have a human mate that he cared for very much; he'd shown no interest in contacting the clan for an arranged marriage that would provide him with proper, fertile, full youkai offspring. Now it appeared that he did, after all, have an interest in producing proper heirs…but he wasn't about to sink as low as asking the clan to provide him with a nice, arranged marriage wrapped up in an alliance to one of the families.

He was getting what he wanted by cheating the system, moving around it. By gaining a fallen inuyoukai bitch from a defeated family he would have no obligations of alliance to her family, no mess with the clan and its ceremony that he so despised. He would gain a proper inuyoukai wife and none of the other bullshit.

Sasugainu started to chuckle, "Of course! What do you say Shimofuri, shall we get him a good bitch from Nishiyori's brood?"

Nishiyori was indeed known to have many, many daughters from many, many wives and mates.

Shimofuri hesitated, remembering Rin, Sesshomaru's human mate. Her mortal beauty, her loving, the couple's passion. He eyed Sesshomaru with curiosity. Why was he making this move now? Was it something Rin approved of? Did he desire pups that Rin for one reason or another, couldn't give him?

Putting his curiosities aside, Shimofuri knew he could not survive the war with Nishiyori if he did not accept Sesshomaru's offer. He nodded, "I agree to all the terms, and I offer my sincerest thanks to Sesshomaru, lord of the Western Lands. May he live long and always fruitfully."

Sesshomaru allowed a small, cold smile to cross his lips. "It has been a pleasure talking with you, Lord Shimofuri, Lord Sasugainu."

Miroku sighed as he reached forward to the sleeping Kagome's forehead, touching his thumb to the ink symbol there, marking the sutra spell that was protecting her. "Lady Kagome," he murmured gently, trying to wake her before he removed the spell.

Her eyes fluttered open slowly. She looked tired. In the dim light of the brazier that they'd lit inside the bedroom her skin was a pale, deathly gray. There were deep circles under her eyes, as if she suffered from a fever. "Miroku?" she moaned, trying to cover her eyes from the light and hissing with pain, "Ow, my head…"

It wasn't hard for Miroku to let his face take on a grave and yet distant look to it. He avoided staring at Kagome directly in the eye. "I am sorry Kagome." He'd dropped any formality and his voice did indeed sound wretched.

"What?" she croaked, confused. She blinked and looked around the room while one hand searched for Koinu at her side. The pup stirred with her, yawning. He was snuggled very comfortably into her side. He started to coo contentedly.

At last she caught sight of Inuyasha, standing a few feet away, his face distinctly grim. Her heart sank. "Inuyasha? What's going on?"

"We're going to make you better Kagome." He answered, darting a quick, uncertain glance at her. His lips were pinched down in a very tight line. "I'm…sorry…"

"What?" she croaked for the second time, noticing all at once that Miroku was adjusting some prayer beads, clanking them together. There were sutras beside the futon, some written others unwritten still. She felt dread opening up inside her. "Wh…what's going on? Inuyasha? Miroku?"

Inuyasha's stiff stance faltered, collapsing a little. He made a small sound in his throat, half cough half something else. Kagome felt her heart picking up speed, her chest constricted and for a moment she felt as if she'd forgotten how to breathe.

"Please." She begged, starting to cry. She looked to Miroku but he turned away, still playing with the prayer beads and murmuring sutras to himself, preparing for something…

When she looked to Inuyasha his ears had drooped pathetically. "Kagome," he rasped, and abruptly he rushed at her and Koinu, falling on them, wrapping his arms around her. She heard his ragged, desperate breathing as he took in her scent. Koinu cooed, mistaking the moment for one of happiness. He reached up and tugged at his father's hair.

Kagome felt her arms and legs shaking, she felt weak with fear. The terrible feeling only intensified as she felt a warm wetness on top of her head—Inuyasha was crying. She felt tears swarming in her own eyes and whimpered weakly, horrified and speechless with what was happening around her. She thought, dimly inside, that she understood what was happening here.

Someone was about to die.

Inuyasha covered her face with kisses and then burrowed his face into the crook of her neck, sighing long and slow. She shook, thinking bitterly how cruel life had been to give her everything she wanted and then, so suddenly, to turn around and take it from her again. When she felt Inyasha withdraw slightly and clung to him, crying anew. "No, please…"

He pulled far enough away to stare into her warm brown eyes. "It has to be this way Kagome. It's…it's my job to protect you both." He swallowed thickly, "This is the only way."

She shook her head, wincing when that brought on a brief spasm of pain, "No, no I won't let you!"

Inuyasha pinched his lips and looked away from her, directing his attention to Koinu now. The baby had grown more solemn now, feeling the tragedy hovering just close by. His blue eyes were wide and bright, sharp and focused on his father's face. When Inuyasha moved to be lower, on level with the pup, Koinu squealed and lunged forward, pawing at his father's face.

"Dah…" he said, trying to speak. "Dah…"

Inuyasha's ears drooped all over again. He ducked close to Koinu and scooped the pup up, holding him close. Koinu giggled, not understanding the grief, not understanding that his father was saying goodbye.

Kagome shook, trying to restrain her sobs as she watched her husband and her son, for the last time…

(A/N: Now I considered being truly evil and leaving it here for you guys, but I decided cliffies right here, no good, I'd give you more.)

"It must be believable. Your mate will have to suffer. She will have to think it's real. If she believes it, the demon's spirit will believe as well."

At the time Inuyasha hadn't realized how hard this part of the plan would be. Their demeanor, the slow preparation for some act that they didn't tell Kagome about at all, that wasn't the least bit hard. It was easy to genuinely feel grief in the situation, to fear that this really would be the last time he saw all of them again…

Ro be safe he actually had spoken to Sango and Miroku and their children beforehand, as well as Shippo of course. It'd been harder then, he'd put on a brave, hard face, though inside he'd been quailing. What if they failed? Or worse, what if they succeeded but he died from his wounds anyway?

And Kagome. She was the one they needed to convince, and it was the most painful part of the entire plan. Kagome's tears, her frantic grief and desperation, it was all very hard for Inuyasha to withstand. He wanted to breakdown and tell her that everything would be all right—but at once he knew that could be a lie too.

It was for the best, he tried to tell himself, everything would work out. They had to do it this way. But that made him feel no better about letting her cry and suffer, thinking the worst…

"He will be reluctant to leave her, he'll always be suspicious. Just saying you'll cooperate would never work. Only action will make him leave her body. Action and blood. He must believe you are sacrificing yourself to save her and the pup." Tsukiyume had told them, speaking quietly, in a faint whisper. To be safest they'd transferred to the farthest room they could find from the bedroom where Kagome slept. Miroku had roused Sango to join them and she sat with a concerned frown on her face the entire time while at her side Miroku looked grimly serious.

"You want me to gut myself?" Inuyasha asked, "Or does she…" the thought of letting Kagome kill him, even though he knew that it wouldn't really be Kagome doing it, was a little too traumatizing. He didn't know how much memory Kagome retained from her attempts to kill him while she was possessed before. He didn't want to leave her with those memories, the guilt would be horrible.

"No, you can't let him do it because he will leave no room for error. He will take your head or your heart." Her ears fell backward, "We don't want you killed. But it must look bad enough to be fatal. The demon is very arrogant, he underestimates inuyoukai and inuhanyou, he will assume any large amount of blood would be fatal."

"What if he realizes it's a trick too quickly," Miroku asked solemnly, "What if he flees back to Kagome's body…"

"A charm. You will prepare a charm and place it on her at the last minute, just after he has abandoned her body. There should be a charm made for the pup too."

In the present, as the past conversation played through Inuyasha's mind, he rumbled to Koinu, touching his son's face, fingers, hair, ears, toes, the tiny still flat ridge of his nose. Kagome was watching their interaction, crying and sobbing, struggling even to breathe through her emotional pain. Inuyasha poured his thoughts into memorizing his son's features, recalling the baby's birth, the difficult but miraculous conception. It would be such a shame, he thought, if he didn't live to see his child grow up…

But Kagome will survive. That was all that really mattered.

"Why does Koinu need one?" Sango had asked, her frown deepening as she tried to figure it out for herself.

Tsukiyume met her questioning gaze openly, without fear or uncertainty. "His spirit is incorporeal, he is without physical substance. He needs Inuyasha's body and blood to bring his people back into this world, but he needs Inuyasha's soul to animate them, to break the curse. When he thinks Inuyasha is, dying, he'll leave her body and try to grasp and take hold of Inuyasha's soul. After that he will flee into either the woman again or the baby."

"Wait minute! My soul?" Inuyasha snapped, "Are you saying he can—he will…"

"No, he'll realize you are not as close to dying as he believed, and we can have a charm on you as well. He shouldn't sense them while he is caught in her body."

As he held Koinu, Inuyasha pulled out the small string of beads, prayer beads, which earlier Miroku had charmed, placing a spell to ward off foreign, unwelcome spirits. He slipped them into Koinu's diaper, though that motion made the baby screw up his face with something that might have been bafflement. His ears twitched to and fro. Inuyasha touched them as they moved, stroking them. The pup reacted by squirming and giggling.

I hope this works…he thought, sneaking a swift, pained look at Kagome.

"Do we speak to him before we do this?" Sango asked.

"Yes," Tsuki nodded to Miroku, "You will need to remove the restraining spell that keeps her in control of her own body, you'll have to let him out."

Miroku's grimness changed to an expression of alarm. "But…"

Tsukiyume nodded, "I know, it's dangerous. Tie her up first, then release him. It will frighten her and make him suspect but there is no way out of it. Leave on the other spells that control his powers."

Miroku moved, on some invisible cue, and began to bind Kagome's legs with a wiry rope, the same he had used on her before the restraining sutra, when Inuyasha had first brought her home. Now her tears turned slightly to alarm.

"What are you doing? Miroku!" her tears fell double. She strained, trying to reach for Miroku's hands to stop him, only to fall backward, writhing and crying with the pain swarming in her head. When she opened her eyes again she was shaking and Miroku had finished binding her legs. Her brown eyes, usually warm and full of love, were narrowed with a sudden, fierce determination.

"Talk to me! Inuyasha! Miroku!" her hands fisted up angrily as Miroku reached for them, ready to tie them as well.

"No! I won't let you do it!" she shouted, fury powering her otherwise weak body. She beat on Miroku's chest, making the monk flinch, but he refused to withdraw. Finally, after he'd caught one of her fists, Kagome brought up the other and smacked him in the jaw; hard enough to make the monk's eyes water. Instinctually he withdrew from her, rubbing his face.

"You can't do this!" Kagome shouted; her eyes were tortured, red and puffy, lit from within with a wild, desperate fear. She stared at Inuyasha where he'd withdrawn to, still holding Koinu. There was a challenge in her gaze.

"I won't let you do this!" she shouted, her voice growing firmer, more powerful. "Inuyasha! There's got to be another way!" she choked a little, still half-sobbing, "Not this way. Not. This. Way!"

Sango buried her face in her hands, when she pulled them away again she was crying, the teardrops falling steadily. "How can any of this work? Inuyasha nearly killing himself to draw this thing out of Kagome. Hidden spells and charms on everyone. We're putting everyone on the line, risking everything. What if it's lying? Demons always lie, they always hold something back…" she gestured helplessly, "Do any of you remember Naraku?"

There was a collective shudder that ran through them, but no one had any answers, only Tsukiyume, and for once the hanyou girl sagged, tired, perhaps defeated.

"I really don't know, I'm sorry. Really, I am. It might work just as I've described, or it may make something else happen." She sighed deeply, staring down into her lap, "I will wait outside the room and when the time comes, when I am needed…"

Miroku tried to move over Kagome again, his face stern, his lips set in a hard line and his jaw firmly clenched. But Kagome's fury had made her stronger. Her desperation made her aim more accurate. She slammed one fist into his nose and Miroku stumbled away, blood trickled from between his fingers. He gasped, choking on the stuff.

"You won't do this, I won't let you!" Kagome shrieked. And suddenly she pushed herself into a sitting position, wincing and crying out as she did so but refusing to collapse with the pain. Her nimble fingers worked over the knot around her ankles, trying to untie herself. She was gasping from the pain, and sweating as well, but thought her hands and fingers shook and quaked she moved relentlessly onward, picking at the knot.

Inuyasha stared at her, stunned. "Kagome…?" the pain should have been knocking her unconscious.

Miroku looked helplessly between the hanyou and the miko, flabbergasted. This wasn't how things were supposed to work! His eyes screamed at Inuyasha, asking what to do next, but Inuyasha was just as clueless.

The knots in the rope gave way before Kagome's fingers. Panting, she turned to look between Inuyasha and Miroku. The hanyou noticed there was a strange, fiery glow in her eyes, a blue-purple glow…

The hair on the back of his neck began to stand on end. Koinu's baby eyes opened wide and he turned in his father's arms, staring at his mother.

What's going on…?

(A/N: Yes, I am aware that I am still very evil for leaving you there. But this was better than the other place, am I right?) Hooray!! We are almost finished! I am promising now a nice, sweet, happy epilogue for you all before it is completely finished...with a nice surprise and the last visit from our friend Hojo!