Disclaimers: I do not own Inuyasha

A/N Thank you so much for your reviews! Well enjoy the chapter!! and another IMPORTANT NOTE!!! For all of you Inuyasha fans that are out there and unaware, Inuyasha is BACK! Yes, the episodes are back now and are being aired in japan. So, you can stream them online if you like with english subs at a website. I can't quite remember the whole name of it but I do know that its 'Voober' something... Anyways the continuation series picks up right where they left off and is called 'Inuyasha Final Act'. I've watched three episodes so far and I believe they are added every Sunday. Great news right? Okay, on with my fict chapter now!

Awakened Dead

Chapter 4. November 3rd

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"Kagome, don't move from your bed. Just lay down and stay."

That was the extent of his warning and she didn't argue. She had made herself comfortable in her bed despite the fact that she was still dressed, and awaited for further instructions. Whoever was out there was definitely making her hanyou ghost friend nervous, nervous enough to have her stay quiet and motionless while he observed the enemy just outside her home. She swallowed loudly and shivered as different thoughts of the different possibilities flashed through her mind.

What if it was a superhuman male thing with some crazy powers? Or maybe someone else like her but more advanced in their control over their spiritual powers? What if it was after her? Or her family? What could she do to stop him? 'Inuyasha…!'

"Listen little girl, I'm right here. So don't be yelling for me to do somethin' when I can't even leave your house since I'm sealed in." His golden eyes briefly flashed over to her then back at her window, "This human won't be coming in here any time soon, it looks like he's only evaluating the place right now. He won't attack until he's certain of every aspect of this place, including every entry and exit way he can take."

"Y-you think… He's going to break in?" Kagome whispered fearfully.

He shot her another look, "Eventually." He turned his eyes back to the window just as quickly, his ears still twitching constantly, "Try to relax woman, I'll watch over this place and make sure your family stays safe."

She let out a small breath of relief, at least this guy wouldn't be coming in yet and she had Inuyasha there to protect her family too. Wait, what exactly could a ghost do to protect them? And why won't he tell her a damn thing when it comes to the weird stuff that keeps happening?

Her temper began to rise, "Hey wait just one minute Inuyasha! Just what is going on around here? Why won't you give me explanations about these ghost things and humans with stupid 'killers instinct'? Why do you insist on keeping me in the dark about all of this?!" She yelled. "If I'm ever going to be able to defend myself and help people I'm going to need to know what I'm up against—"

He turned sharply to her, "Don't even say that you stupid little girl! Under no circumstances are you to help people! You'll end up dead a lot faster that way, so just worry about keeping yourself safe while I—"

"While you what? Protect me? News flash! You're dead, and you can't do anything to protect me, hell you can't even touch me!"

Her voice was deafening to him, and he desperately wanted to force her to be quiet so that he could focus on the task at hand. Ignoring the ranting girl, he faced the window again to look out to the intruder, except that he was gone. Closing his eyes he focused his thoughts on the human that was just outside this home moments ago. His ears cautiously tuned out the woman while he listened for any other suspicious noises around the house and property.

'Seems like he's gone, for now.' He thought, jerking back to reality upon the realization that Kagome was practically nose-to-nose with him. He wasn't sure if he should be surprised or frightened considering the defiant glint he spotted in her eyes. Now that he thought about it, she was really picking him apart with her words about him not being able to protect her. Ha! She was a human for cripes sake, and just barely a priestess. He was better than nothing, and who said anything about him not being able to do shit?

"Back off girl."

She just continued to stand her ground and glare hard at him, "No, you tell me right now everything that is going on because clearly you know a lot more about this stuff than I do."

He rolled his eyes, grinning sexily at her, "What makes you think I'm gunna tell you anythin', wench?"

She swallowed the lump in her throat, fighting back a blush that just wanted to taint her cheeks. He was just so handsome, and so close up to her. His golden eyes brimming with amusement in spite of the serious mood she was trying to set. 'Bad bad Kagome! Inuyasha is not handsome! He's a ghost! A stupid, temperamental ghost!' She thought. "I-Inuyasha, I told you not to call me that! My name is Kagome. Ka-Go-Me," She seethed out.

Snorting at her, he backed off and moved to her bed to sit down, "Keh, just sit down woman before I change my mind." He had decided to give in since she clearly wasn't going to budge off the subject.

She visibly brightened and made herself comfortable next to him. She couldn't believe he was actually going to clue her in on things now, something that excited her. "Okay, talk to me Inuyasha."

"Look, I'm not gunna tell you everythin' now, alright? You aren't ready to hear all that I know, so just be happy that I'm sayin' some stuff right now." He gave her the best serious look he could muster up and then crossed his legs and leaned back against the wall of her room. He knew she was giving him a pout look, but ignored it. He stuffed his arms in his sleeves, "Where do you want me to start?" He grunted, looking up at her with his usual sparkling amber eyes.

Kagome blinked at him, was he being serious? Come to think of it, this could take a while... She hoped that no one would barge in anytime soon 'cause she wouldn't be able to explain why she would be seen talking to herself. "Um, maybe way back to Halloween. How did some chanting set you free like this? It was hardly a freedom spell if you ask me."

He closed his eyes and chuckled, "You're right about that. I think that the chant you were told to say was truly correct except that it was missing some key words. I don't know the whole spell myself, but I do know that the woman who sealed me would not have done it without making sure I wouldn't get out."

"So you think part of the spell was purposely erased from the family history?"

"Knowing her, yeah."

She observed him and noted how his voice seemed to crack at the mention of this supposed woman, Kikyo perhaps? She must have meant a lot to him at one point in his life… Wincing she placed a hand on her chest feeling a form of twinge in her heart. Was she feeling pity for him, or was she feeling hurt that he had feelings for someone else? "How did you... get to be sealed away?"

He flinched, but relaxed just as quickly, "I.. F-feh, I'm not talkin' about that yet, wench."

In response to his cold attitude she had stuck out her tongue at him, blushing when he opened his eyes to look at her. 'Oh great, he probably thinks I'm such a kid now.'

It was as if a switch had been turned on, and his personality had taken a change. Now he was grinning at her sexily again and eying her, "You know, if you stick your tongue out like that again, I'll just have to find some good use for it."

She squeaked in alarm, her cheeks really turning crimson, "Y-you pervert!"

He shrugged and closed his eyes again, "Keh, sticks and stones girl," He chuckled.

She mumbled a cursed under her breath and looked away from him, "Back on topic," She coughed loudly, "Erm, what's the deal with this salt thing? Why does it keep ghosts away?"

The hanyou twitched one of his ears, "Salt is known for being a pure source. Because of its purity it's able to ward off things like ghosts and depending which type of salt you have, powerful demons as well."

"So the sea salt…?"

"Yeah, it's the strongest type out there. Unfortunately it was hard to come by in my era, so we could only depend on normal cooking salt. Rock salt also works wonders, but out of all of 'em, sea salt can keep anythin' evil out of homes and when used properly it can fight off spirits."

Kagome thought for a moment, "Hey, do you think we could visit Tsubaki's home tomorrow?"

"…No."

She growled at him, "Inuyasha, she could be causing all kinds of trouble by now. I can make wards for her husband and protect him while we try to find a way to kill her—"

"No!" He shouted suddenly, "I won't let you purposely put yourself in harms way. It's reckless, and she could attack you at any given moment. Besides, you can't kill her as easily as you can with other ghosts."

"So there is a way."

"Damn it girl. Just listen to me! Don't do anything stupid and try to be a hero. You can't fight off ghosts and demons by yourself. You just aren't hero material. You'll be killed."

She was touched by his concern for her safety; he really did seem to care about her, "Inuyasha, I wouldn't worry. I'm a big girl, besides who said anything about me doing this by myself when I have you to protect me, right?" She smiled at him, removing herself from her bed to grab a towel. She was so going to take a bath and relax before starting on homework, speaking of which… She was going to have a hard time completing it tonight since she zoned out in all of her classes.

'Inuyasha is knocking away my concentration,' She thought. 'He's such a troublemaker I don't even know why I'm bothering to think about him. He's… so… Argh, he's a ghost Kagome. A spirit! You cannot have the hots for something that isn't touchable.'

He sputtered at her, "W-where do you think you're going?"

"Taking a bath. I swear if you follow me in the washroom those pretty dog ears of yours will be missing. Forever." She threatened in a cheery voice, causing her hanyou friend to stiffen up considerably. "I'll be back in a bit," With that said, she had left him in her room to contemplate what to do next.

Was it wise to go looking for trouble like this? He didn't want Kagome to have a life like this, and especially did not want her to turn into one of them. She was just a girl, she would be having a normal life if it wasn't for him being sealed in the stupid sword to begin with. Slowly but surely he knew that she was on the path to becoming one of the few human's with 'killers instinct'. But he didn't want that for her, he wanted her to have a better life.

'Damn it woman, I'm just trying to protect you.' Inuyasha thought worriedly, sprawling himself on her bed comfortably. He huffed loudly, "Women."

-X-

"This is the place, looks like you're average house if you ask me," Kagome said to her partner, continuing her inspection of the large home.

She had decided to skip school today so she could get to the home where Tsubaki once resided in. She figured that her husband would still be home as well since her death was only a few days ago. Still, the concept of some all powerful witch living in your average Joe dream home was still something difficult for her to grasp. This neighbour hood she and Inuyasha were in looked like it was littered with families and children with their dogs and cats. Were they sure this was the place?

"Yeah, this is it. I can smell her, she's been here a lot and her aura is all over the place. Damn witches and their stench…" He covered his nose with one of his large haorie sleeves, "Well, what're you waiting for? Go knock on the damn door." His clawed hand motioned for her walk up to the door.

She had done so and delicately knocked on the white door, waiting a moment for anything to happen. When nothing did, she had knocked again, but a little louder. Now she was really beginning to get impatient with this man. She had taken three buses to get here only to find that he was too lazy to answer his freaken door? Come on, everyone knows he's home because his car is in the driveway!

The sound of locks turning and a doorknob twisting caught her attention. The door had slowly squeaked open a crack, half of a face peering out to look at Kagome, "Yes?"

Kagome laughed nervously at the chilly voice the man had, "A-ah, hello there. My name is Kagome Higurashi, m-my family owns the Sunset shrine, have you heard of it?"

He sighed, "You're a priestess then?" He opened the door fully, allowing Kagome to really get a look of him.

He was handsome, she'd give him that. If he were attending her school he'd probably have his own little group of schoolgirls following him everywhere. He was young looking, dark eyes and jet black hair that was somewhat long enough to point out in every direction. Judging by his built, he was probably fairly strong and athletic as well.

No wonder Tsubaki didn't want to let him go.

He was a sexy beast.

"Y-yes, I'm a priestess. I… I heard about what happened to your wife, I came here to give you my condolences sir," Kagome bowed.

"Higurashi-san, thank you but that's not necessary," He reassured her. "Please, call me Hideo, I sound too old when you call me sir."

"Hideo-san," Kagome repeated with a small smile. "I also came to ask you some questions, if you don't mind?"

Inuyasha growled, and she knew that it meant something was wrong. Even with her small attempts to discretely calm him, she couldn't stop the feeling of chills from running up her back. Something was here, something dark. She had a sneaky suspicion it had to do with a certain witch.

"Questions? What sort of questions?" He asked in confusion, not having noticed the change in aura surrounding them.

"Well erm… Mostly about recent things since the um... Passing of your wife." Kagome replied, waving her hands frantically in the air when he gave her a strange look. "Listen I know this may sound strange but please just give me five minutes of your time to answer these questions."

"I'm sorry, but I have no interest in these questions. Please leave."

He was about to close the door on her until she placed a hand on it to stop the thing, "Wait! You have to understand, you could be in danger! She may try to kill you if you aren't careful!"

He struggled against the door and growled. "You're crazy! Just get off my property before I call the police!"

Inuyasha continued to growl. "Kagome, she's getting pissed at you. We need to get outta here before she tries anything," He flexed his claws in preparation.

Kagome kept the door open long enough to give the man a serious look before it got closed on her face. She huffed, "Fine, let's go." She turned away and walked passed Inuyasha, the constant chills that ran up her spine never ceasing. They hadn't gone away until she reached her second bus home and much to her annoyance Inuyasha had been sticking to her like glue during her entire trip, including the bus rides. It was somewhat awkward, especially since he was sitting next to her and then someone would try to sit in the 'empty' seat only to suddenly feel cold and not want to sit there anymore.

Inuyasha was not amused at all with the constant invasion of his space, but he put up with it. He'd rather have humans bug him than be back at that creepy perfect house, though he knew it wasn't the end of it. Knowing Kagome, she was planning something right now, "Out with it. I know your thinking about that guy, and his stupid ghost wife."

Kagome wasted no time in taking out her cell phone and placing it against her ear, "Listen Inuyasha, we—"

"Why are you doing that? What is that thing?" He tilted his head to the side to get a better view of the strange object she held against her ear. Cautiously, he had moved his face closer so that he could sniff the thing, however she had waved him off with a growl.

"Stop that. If you want me to talk with you then it will have to be like this. I explain what it is when we get home, okay?"

He stared at her and nodded, "Yeah wench, you better. Because all of this tek-no-la-gee is really frustrating to deal with." He complained, crossing his arms into his sleeves, "So, what're we gunna do about Hideo? Have any bright ideas?"

Kagome chewed on her bottom lip nervously, "I-I do have an idea… But Inuyasha I've never done anything like this before. We could get into some serious trouble." She stared through the window of the bus and observed the outside world rush past her vision, "I'm thinking we go back tonight prepared, and take her on."

Inuyasha snorted a chuckle, "Are you serious? Do you really think you can get rid of her spirit so easily?" He laughed again, "If you happen to not notice, the woman is a witch. You can't kill her ghost as easily as you can with normal spirits. Haven't you been paying any attention to what I've been sayin'? She's too powerful, and she could really hurt you."

The schoolgirl had clutched her cell phone tightly, "I don't care, I don't want anything bad to happen to him. And who knows what kind of other trouble she's been causing for others. We can't just leave her to wander like this."

Fidgeting slightly, he had muttered some words under his breath. He had sat up and turned his head away from her sight, his silver locks draping across his shoulder like a curtain, "Look, if you're serious about this… Then you have to know that we only have two options to kill this bitch and move on."

"I'm all ears," Kagome replied easily.

"Good, so listen up little girl, 'cause this won't be easy."

-X-

She lit the final candle hurriedly, and blew out the match before she could burn her fingers. She looked over the items she had managed to gather, and then looked around her surroundings nervously. How she had managed to sneak out of her house in the dead of the night was beyond her. On top of that, she had chosen to come to a very creepy cemetery with a ghost, no a damn good looking ghost, to perform a spell.

Oh yes, you read correctly. A spell.

"The first way to kill her would be to perform an exorcism using candles, blood, a photograph and an authentic bible."

She really didn't like the whole idea of performing an exorcism, especially since it involved blood. She never really told anyone, but she didn't really like to see blood. As in, she would feel queasy each time she sees even the tiniest drop. The up side was that she wouldn't pass out from the sight of it; just feel kinda sick is all.

An exorcism was out of the question. Plus she had no photograph of the deceased and how the hell was she going to find an authentic bible?

"The other method of killing her spirit is by using a binding spell. You would have to bind her powers back temporarily so that she becomes a normal human long enough for you to salt and burn her remains."

That's why they were at the cemetery.

She had found out that Tsubaki had been buried just yesterday, so she had been able to uncover the earth from the casket quite easily. It had been a good work out, but she knew that she would be feeling all kinds of pain in the morning. It also didn't help that Inuyasha had been watching her the entire time, which was unnerving. It had felt as if he were examining her or something, but she didn't say anything.

So the casket had been uncovered, opened, body salted and coated in fuel and now she stood above it on the ground with the candles set in a triangular formation. She had them all lit and surrounding a small bowl in the centre that held herbs for her to burn.

"Does this all look right to you? Because it certainly doesn't look right to me," Kagome mumbled, looking over to her protector for some reassurance.

Inuyasha merely nodded to her and smirked. "You got it right wench, now hurry up and perform the spell before she realises what we're up to," He stood next to her and crouched down. "Don't worry about everything, I'm here to stop any spirits that may want to pick a fight with us."

Kagome froze up. "Well then, isn't that reassuring," She said sarcastically, turning her attention back to her burning candles and small piece of paper she held between her fingers. "Here goes nothing."

She had begun to recite the spell Inuyasha had given her.

The hanyou's back had stiffened once she had begun, knowing that tonight would be a long night. It didn't help that her untamed spiritual powers were increasing the strength of the spell and causing spiritual winds to occur all around them. This in turn caused his demonic aura to pulse in small irritation. He was still not very used to her extreme amounts of power, which unfortunately would cause his demonic features to mutate into the frightening face of a monster.

As she continued the spell he could feel the stinging of the purple stripes that formed on his cheeks. His fangs were most definitely lengthening as well as his claws. Inuyasha had stood up and turned away from her, not being able to bear to look at her as he was right now. Instead of wallowing in his own misery he had perked up at the thought of protecting her as opposed to hating his demonic blood.

So far so good, no Tsubaki had shown up.

It was strange though; you'd think that she'd sense that her body and power was being bound. So why wasn't she here to defend herself from it all?

"You spineless, half breed, piece of trash!" Screeched an all too familiar voice.

Ah, so there she was.

As expected, Kagome had stopped her spell to look back at Inuyasha worriedly. When he had shouted for her to continue, she hadn't argued and had fearfully continued the spell. In the background she could hear her hanyou struggling against the woman, fighting her back to protect her from harms way.

"… I call upon you to bind the gift in which you have blessed the High Priestess Tsubaki. Hear me, spirits of the world beyond; I call upon you now to bind this gift. Now thrice recited shall mote it be, mote it be, mote it be!" Kagome finished with a shout. By then the winds had increased so much that the page she had been holding had blown out of her tight grasp. She had hastily taken out her matches and lit the mess of herbs in the centre of the triangle, wincing when she could hear the screams of protest from the woman behind her. She had dropped her book of matches on the ground next to one of the burning candles in fright.

Her strangled screams overpowered Inuyasha's shouts for her to burn the corpse. Kagome just couldn't snap herself back to reality, and had risked a glance back to witness the horrified woman. It had been a frightening scene, besides Inuyasha looking terribly demonic, there was Tsubaki who was being held down by these white beings with no faces. The shock from the sight made her stone stiff until the screams had finally ceased when the white beings were overpowered.

Inuyasha had said that she could only be held down for a short period of time, but damn. On top of that little discovery, Tsubaki, in her very pissed off stupor, had managed to disappear and reappear in front of Kagome. The malice practically pulsed from her spiritual body and all Kagome could do was sit there and watch wide-eyed as the woman reached through the schoolgirls chest and grasp something.

Kagome wheezed and whimpered. 'M-my heart!' Her body pulsed against Tsubaki in protest.

"Kagome!"

'Inuyasha…'

Tsubaki laughed cruelly, wrenching the heart again, "You stupid little girl! Did you honestly think you could bind me? I've been a witch for centuries, do you hear me?! Now I'm going to kill you for interfering with my business!"

"Let her go!" She could hear Inuyasha shout, her vision beginning to blur.

"…Now thrice recited shall mote it be, mote it be, mote it be."

She could hear the words again, but they weren't in her mind. Someone had actually recited them again. Was Inuyasha doing this?

Her blue eyes descended to her chest, noting that the hand had been removed and that the woman was now screaming again and surrounded by the faceless beings. She could hear her heart beating weakly in her chest while Inuyasha shouted for her to wake up. She could see him now, his silver hair, his red-blue eyes and strange marking on his cheeks. He was looking down at her, yelling something.

What was he saying?

Her mind just couldn't register what was going on, she—

"Burn the body you idiot!"

She blinked her eyes rapidly.

"Can you hear me?! Kagome! Kagome snap out of it!"

'Tsubaki, is he talking about her?' Kagome thought, turning her head to the side. The dug out grave was just there, waiting for her to light it. "M-my matches.." She weakly rolled her body onto her side, gasping at the pain in her chest, 'Gods it hurts…'

"Kagome!"

She groped around the moist dirt for her fallen matchbook, grasping the object firmly when she found it next to a candle. Faintly, she had taken the rest of the matches from the book and lit them. They made a loud noise before orange flames engulfed the cardboard, cueing her into tossing them into the pit with the corpse. Just as the whole of the body had caught fire, Kagome's chest pain had lifted and she had been able to sit up in time to see Tsubaki's spirit burst into flames with a scream.

"Ungn…" Kagome breathed.

Inuyasha was by her side in seconds, checking over her for injuries and such. "Are you alright Kagome?"

She nodded to him, "Yes, I'm fine. Th—thanks for saying the spell again, I owe you one."

He curled away from her in confusion, "I'm a spirit Kagome, I can't do any spells as a spirit, only a living being can."

She froze, "Say what?"

-X-

Two figures in a distance had turned away at that time, leaving the miko and her spirit friend alone in the graveyard next to the burning corpse. One of them grinned and let go of the page he had been holding, allowing the wind to sweep it up into the air and carry it away.

The other figure chuckled, "I told you she was trouble. Now what do you think would have happened if we hadn't been here?"

"… No comment." He replied.

The partner sighed dramatically, "Fine fine, don't admit that your partner was right." He crossed his arms in mock anger until they reached their car, a slick black '67 Chevy Impala. "You can drop me off at my place, I'll meet you tomorrow at the shop, alright?"

"Tomorrow at five," He said, opening the drivers door and slipping in.

"Hm, alright five it is," The flamboyant one agreed, sitting next to his partner. They both tossed their shotguns in the back seats and buckled themselves in. "A word of caution, she's bound to get strong and her little friend will get royally pissed if you keep getting closer to her. Just be careful, will you?"

"You know me Jak'." He shot him a smirk, turning on his car with a flick of his key, the engine roaring to life.

The boy rolled his eyes, "That's what I'm afraid of."

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A/N So I'm a bit late, but at least it's up now! Some midterms were happening and I still have quite the amount of stuff to do! For example I need to construct a 3D self-portrait of my head using cardboard. That sounds like fun, right? Haha, at least this is break week now! Hopefully I'll get to type a lot during this week and post up another chapter before Halloween. Until then, R&R!!