SORRY FOR TAKING SO LONG! Been really busy but I know that's not an excuse... Anyway, this chapter is pretty long to make up for the wait! I'm guessing I've only got about two-three chapters left, three tops. So, uh, enjoy!

Thanks to Half-Demon Cali for reviewing the last chapter!

Half-Demon Cali: So can I. XD

DISCLAIMER: I no own InuYasha. But I own Miya.

The Leader's eyes met Miya's and he grinned, sending chills down their spines. "Welcome," he hissed.

"Hey yourself," Miya said coolly. "I'm touched you organized such a welcome party for us. But from the lack of food and drink, I'm guessing it isn't really a party, right?"

"Jesting already?" The Leader's empty eyes flashed. "Your insolence will be your downfall."

"I think I've already fallen," Miya said airily. "Isn't this place bottomless? So technically, it means we're all falling."

The gang behind her exchanged looks. It seemed like Miya was used to exchanging witty banter with the gross-looking Leader. Inuyasha's was calmer, having heard her strange tale and knowing that she was used to facing off with it; his eyes were flaring, though, at the sight of the bound Kagome behind the two villains. He had caught sight of angry red welts all over her pale skin, right under the red lightning that kept whipping her body. His hand ached to unsheathe his Tessaiga and go after both the Leader and Naraku. But this was Miya's deal, so he let it be, impatiently waiting for the "pleasantries" to be over.

"Regardless," the Leader finally said, "I see you've swallowed the bait. You and your ridiculous friends."

"I'd be careful who you call ridiculous," Miya said quietly, her eyes darkening. "I pick my friends carefully."

"What does she mean?" Sango whispered, her brow furrowing. " 'I pick my friends carefully'? Is she talking about our abilities?"

"Is she plotting some nefarious plot?" Miroku wondered, his hand on his prayer beads.

"Is she untrustworthy?" Shippo asked.

"It's none of those," Inuyasha said quietly. He caught the others' curious stares and elaborated. "She's had a rough life and doesn't have too many people to trust. We should be honored, I guess."

"You know this how?" Sango inquired, raising an eyebrow.

Inuyasha shrugged, his eyes never leaving Naraku. "She explained about her upbringing 'cause I had some questions. Namely, about her strange abilities."

Before any of the others could ask him about the strange abilities that he was talking about, they were interrupted by the Leader jumping on Miya. Sango had her Hiraikotsu ready to be thrown in a split-second but found it unnecessary when all Miya did was throw up her hand and the Leader fell off thin air as if an invisible shield was in the air. It crouched on the invisible floor, hissing.

"Those strange abilities," Inuyasha added, spreading his feet apart and unsheathing his Tessaiga, which immediately transformed. "She's got mind abilities."

"Mind abilities?" Shippo squeaked, immediately thinking of mind controlling powers. 'She's going to control us all!'

A snort rang through all their heads, surprising everyone except for Inuyasha. His only reaction was an ear twitch. He still wasn't used to having a strange voice echo in his head at odd moments. 'Ha. Why would I control you guys in the first place?'

Inuyasha glanced at Shippo, suspecting that the kid had probably said something along those lines in his head. Unfortunately for the kitsune, his mind wasn't exactly private anymore…

'If you guys could try to not think at all it'd be really helpful,' the voice continued. Miya notched an arrow to her bow. 'I'm used to not having weird thoughts in my head at inopportune moments.'

'You're one to talk,' Inuyasha shot back, eyeing Naraku while he did so. 'What about you inserting thoughts into our heads?'

Her reply had an undercurrent of amusement. 'I try not to. It's more convenient this way in the midst of battle.' What she said next was for everyone's ears—minds. 'You guys on the other hand need to be as quiet as you can in your heads. I can't take too much chattering in my head after years of silence.'

Miroku raised an eyebrow, wondering quietly in his head how many years of silence she did have under her belt. She was young—or seemed young. Her eyes told a different story.

Twang! The arrow flew from Miya's strings. The whole interchange had only taken ten seconds at most, and all she had done was keep the Leader at bay with a mental shield. Naraku hadn't moved, only his tentacles kept writhing; his eyes rested on the gang of five behind Miya and the Leader.

"Move," Inuyasha ordered. "We can't get in Miya's way. She needs to be free to take care of that…demon."

"Appropriate term," Miroku agreed. He dashed sideways, ducking an arrow of Miya's that had gone wide with a shield that the Leader erected. He was soon at Naraku's other side, his friends at his heels.

Inuyasha had his eyes on Kagome while following Miroku. She was right behind Naraku—or so it seemed. The moment he stopped running the distance between himself and her automatically changed. The mist distorted, twisted, and for a moment he couldn't see her clearly anymore. A second later the mist cleared up, revealing her quite a distance away and safely behind Naraku. There was no way he would be able to reach her without being attacked by either Naraku or the Leader before he got there.

"You're going down, Naraku!" Sango declared, hefting her Hiraikotsu up. "Your reign of terror is over!"

"Quite the contrary." Naraku smirked. "I'd say it's just beginning."

"And why is that?" Miroku asked, actually sounding interested.

"As soon as you all are swallowed by this place, excluding all your jewel shards, I can search for the rest of the Shikon jewel in peace. And when I complete it"—he raised his hand here—"the consequences will be unimaginable."

"Of course!" Inuyasha shot back, the energy of his Kaze no Kizu swirling around his blade. "That's because we won't let you!"

"How can you imagine the consequences if we take away the jewel shards?" Shippo added his two-cents, feeling moderately brave enough on Kirara's back and behind his significantly stronger friends.

All Naraku had to do was narrow his eyes slightly and stare at him for the kitsune to give out an "eep" and hide his face in Kirara's fur.

"It's all right, Shippo," Sango murmured. She narrowed her eyes. "He's going down. Now."

Miya was having problems with her opponent. Her quiver was almost empty with roughly ten arrows left and the Leader had a powerful mental shield up, deflecting each arrow she sent his way. Three of them had nearly hit her friends.

'That's how he wants to play? By putting my friends in danger?' Miya let her bow rest at her side. 'In that case, let's play fire for fire, shall we?'

"Something wrong, girl?" the Leader hissed, crouching behind his invisible shield. If it weren't for the fact that Miya could sense the power pouring off of him and that her arrows had deflected, it would just seem that he was standing there.

"Name's Miya," Miya said evenly, "not 'girl'. Think your small brain can handle that amount of information? Or is it too crammed full of the mist?" 'But his only friend is that mist. How do I fight fire for fire if he doesn't have any friends?'

"Think you're clever?" The Leader's empty eyes narrowed. "Maybe you're now but will you be so clever with your comebacks when your friends are in danger?"

Miya's eyes flew over to her friends, but they were fighting Naraku without any problems. 'I can't count Naraku as a friend.' Then she glimpsed Kagome coming into view behind the Leader and put up her bow defensively, her eyes widening as she began to decipher her foe's plan.

"Your small mind working out the details?" The Leader chuckled darkly. "Don't bother. My plans can't be figured out by the likes of you."

"And why is that? Because I'm a girl? Get your mind out of the gutter!" Miya's brain was working frantically to find a way to get to the teenager behind the Leader before something nasty happened.

"There is no gutter…Miya." His voice twisted her name and she briefly regretted correcting him and then insulting him on where his mind was. Perhaps that hadn't been the smartest move…

"Figure of speech," she replied flippantly, still thinking quickly.

'One thing to do,' she thought grimly. Her eyes sought out a certain silver-haired hanyou. 'I just hope he doesn't kill me later for putting Kagome's life in danger.'

Before the Leader could do anything else—insult Miya or threaten Kagome's well-being—she had sprinted forwards, a look of intense concentration on her face. She sought out his shield and right before making contact with it, twisted to the left a little and hit it side-on, breaking it into a million invisible pieces with her own mind. Not even taking a break to give the Leader any time to react to the full-on frontal assault, she dashed around the Leader, using telekinesis to boost herself and give her "wings".

'Almost there!' Miya was about halfway to retrieving Kagome when something scalding grabbed her by the waist. "Ingh!" She let out an exclamation of pain shortly before she was wrenched back by a red rope of lightning that wrapped around her waist. It released her midair, dropping her to the "floor" and having her slide back to the Leader's feet. She found herself staring right into his bottomless eyes.

"Thought you could outsmart me?" the Leader hissed menacingly.

'Crud. Not good at all.' Miya wasn't even able to protest as he hauled her up by the front of her clothes and held her right in front of his nonexistent nose. She glared defiantly back at him, not letting her fear show on her face.

"Let me show you what happens to little know-it-alls that try to outsmart me," the Leader promised, his hand suddenly flaring into red lightning, singing Miya's clothes.

'Definitely not good.'

"Kaze no kizu!" Inuyasha swung Tessaiga right after Sango's proclamation, releasing his attack at Naraku. It hit the evil hanyou head-on and decimated three-quarters of his body, shredding it and throwing it all over the place.

"He's playing with us!" Miroku said as soon as the kaze no kizu dissipated.

Inuyasha bared his teeth. "I know."

Before their very eyes, Naraku reformed, smirking just as knowledgably as he had before. His green tentacles writhed behind his back. He kept his mouth shut, though, merely raising an eyebrow, signaling that it was still their move.

"Use your Kazaana," Inuyasha demanded of Miroku.

"I would, Inuyasha," Miroku said, his mouth twisting into a grimace, "but he has the Shikon jewel. If I suck that in, too, you'd never let me hear the end of it."

"Are you a monk or not a monk?"

"He's a monk that slays youkais through sutras and I slay youkais with my Hiraikotsu!" Sango jumped in, stepping before Inuyasha. "His sutras might not work as well as this does"—she hefted up her boomerang—"but I can take care of half of Naraku's body. Inuyasha, use your kaze no kizu after I throw this."

"Got it," Inuyasha affirmed, the swirling energies already gathering around his blade.

"Hyah!" Sango threw her Hiraikotsu straight at Naraku, who didn't do anything besides suddenly create a huge cloud of purple miasma. When Inuyasha released his kaze no kizu in the next second it tore through the cloud of dangerous miasma and it dissipated, revealing nothing but an empty space of white.

Inuyasha swore loudly and whipped his head around, trying to catch sight of his enemy. Sango's Hiraikotsu came hurtling back and she caught it neatly with one hand, also looking around for her enemy.

"He vanished!" Shippo stated the obvious.

"Come out, you coward!" Inuyasha challenged, snarling. "Why do you always insist on hiding?"

A sinister chuckle seemed to come out from nowhere. "Me? Hide? What about you, Inuyasha? Are you so bold to come out into the open during the one time you're vulnerable?"

"Maybe not but you're the one that's hiding all the time!" Inuyasha snapped, his eyes narrowing dangerously. "Or don't tell me. You have a period of weakness every other hour?"

"Careful, Inuyasha," Miroku cautioned, one hand still on his Kazaana, regardless of the fact whether he could use it or not. "We don't know where he is."

All Inuyasha did was growl impatiently. Miroku, on the other hand, assumed a slight look of concentration, moving his staff from side to side. He had one hand in a praying position and was murmuring words under his breath that even Inuyasha's ears couldn't catch. Then, the rings on the tip of his staff shifted ever so slightly, pulling towards the group's left.

"There!" Miroku shouted, spinning around and pointing his staff to a vague point at their left.

"Don't see anything but it's worth a shot." Inuyasha brought his sword up and swept it down. "Kaze no kizu!" His attack sped off into empty land, not hitting anything. "Great. Your monkly powers of deduction have let us down."

"No. He's up there." Miroku pointed upwards; everyone's eyes followed his finger to see Naraku floating in a protective shield, smiling sinisterly. "That's why it didn't work."

"That won't work either," Inuyasha said determinedly. "I'm not letting him go this time! He's still got Kagome!" His sword flashed brightly before assuming a hard, shiny surface made out of diamond.

'That'll work perfectly!' Shippo thought, his eyes wide with anticipation. 'And it'll also destroy Naraku's body! I just hope that they finish him off before he regenerates again!'

"Kongōsōha!" Inuyasha roared, sweeping Tessaiga in one long arc. Hundreds of diamond shards erupted from the sword, hitting Naraku's shield all at once.

The evil hanyou appeared impassive as shards of diamond decimated his shield, piercing first his protection and then his body. They tore apart his torso, splitting him into halves before tearing apart the rest of what was intact.

"Did it work?" Sango asked, waiting anxiously.

"He didn't give a reaction," Shippo said.

"He never does," Inuyasha said. "Only sign that he's surprised is a widening of the eyes." He twisted his mouth. "And there's no sign of that."

"Throw your Hiraikotsu at him, Sango!" Miroku encouraged, watching various parts of Naraku reassemble. "Quick, before he puts himself back together!"

Sango grunted as she threw her Hiraikotsu right at the hanyou. But to their dismay, a shield immediately came up, knocking aside the boomerang and protecting the growing portion of Naraku's body.

"Damn!" Inuyasha swore, holding his sword tightly. "Kongōsōha!"

The red lightning at the Leader's fingertips was singeing Miya's clothes, burning a hole straight through them and to her skin. The heat it was giving off made sweat appear on her brow and gave her blue eyes a feverish light.

"Scared yet?" the Leader sneered, grinning horribly.

Although the answer was "yes", Miya didn't say anything besides clench her bow tighter. The action made her realize that she wasn't entirely weaponless and snapped her back to her senses.

Her mouth curved up into a smirk and she shot back snidely, "Of you? Yeah, right. You really don't know when to quit with your vengeance quest, do you?"

"And you apparently don't know when to keep your mouth shut," the Leader snapped, his lips curling back in an ugly snarl.

"Please don't grin," Miya said nonchalantly, flipping her bow around so that it was held like a club. "It doesn't suit you."

Suddenly, she grabbed the Leader's wrist, brought her legs forward to the right side of the Leader and kicked him in the head. The blow sent the Leader to the side, giving Miya enough leverage to follow with a blow to the head with her bow. A crack formed in the wood as soon as it made contact with the Leader's skull. The bow broke into two pieces a moment later.

'And I was really getting to like that bow.' Miya didn't give the bow a second's thought after that, merely frowning before throwing the bow aside and taking the quiver off her back. She spread her legs apart and beckoned the recovering Leader forward, raising an eyebrow in a clear challenge.

"You will regret that, Miya," the Leader growled, snarling ferociously on Miya's name. He dashed forward and started to engage Miya in hand-to-hand combat.

Miya easily blocked the first two attacks by catching his fists and knocking them aside. The Leader brought his leg up for a kick to her side but Miya, reading his intention in his mind, raised hers and stopped it mid-strike. Twisting her weight and using this move to her advantage, Miya turned her back to the Leader and brought her elbow up, hitting him in the neck before he could react. Then, while he was still off-balance, she jumped up and brought the other leg around to kick him in the side and send him skidding several feet to one side.

Miya landed and instantly continued her assault before he could do anything too fancy. Biting her lip in intense concentration, she moved her hands in one sweeping motion in opposite directions, brought them down shortly, and then brought them up quickly to her shoulder level. What happened around the Leader was instantaneous: the mist molded itself around the Leader as Miya's hands moved.

"You will pay!" the Leader howled, writhing as the mist bound itself to his figure. "I shall return!"

"Who says you're going anywhere?" Miya panted, her hands now down at waist level, palms facing forward. She brought them up in a circle and the Leader floated up, the mist supporting his weight. "Then again, I guess you are going somewhere; you're just not going where you think you're going."

"Explain!" the Leader demanded.

"Say 'please'?" Miya teased, panting heavily but grinning.

She didn't wait for a reply. One palm was facing upwards as she brought it back like a boat sailing backwards. Then she made a chopping motion with it, sliding it through the air like she was cutting something. The Leader instantaneously flew through the air, crashing into an object in the air that sent curses flying everywhere.

"Didn't your mother ever tell you not to swear?" Miya muttered, gasping for air and wiping her forehead clean. 'I really hope I don't have to do that again.'

"Stop swinging Tessaiga around for a moment, Inuyasha!" Sango shouted, her Hiraikotsu hitched over her shoulder and ready to be used.

"Why?" Inuyasha demanded, dropping his glistening sword to the ground. He stared at Sango.

"You've got other attacks in Tessaiga, don't you?"

"Yeah…"

"Can you use a different one?" Sango requested. "You have to admit, Kongōsōha isn't having much of an effect on him."

Inuyasha scowled, his mouth twisting into a grimace as he considered his options. "I don't think cutting into his energy will make a difference," he admitted. "That's really the only option I've got at the moment."

"Give me Hiraikotsu for a moment, Sango." Before Sango could respond, Miroku had snatched it from her grasp; it thudded heavily to the ground as the monk slapped on several pieces of paper on it. "There." He handed it back to Sango before addressing Inuyasha. "Use Kongōsōha again but this time Sango will follow up by throwing this, which is fortified by my monkly powers."

"Guys?" Shippo squeaked. "I'd do it now before he decides to do something nasty."

Inuyasha nodded once and fixed his gaze on the smirking hanyou that was floating above them.

"Forming a battle plan?" Naraku asked. "Don't bother. It's unnecessary and wastes time. Just admit it: you can't defeat me."

"Don't count on it!" Inuyasha bared his teeth and swung Tessaiga around. "Kongōsōha!"

The diamond shards pierced Naraku's shield; the hanyou merely kept smirking as his body was torn apart. But when Sango followed it up with her Hiraikotsu his eyes widened significantly in surprise; the boomerang pierced the shield he hastily threw up because of the sacred papers plastered on it. Miroku's spells and Sango's Hiraikotsu tore up what remained of his body in one fell swoop.

"Way to go, guys!" Shippo cheered.

"Too early to celebrate yet, Shippo," Miroku said, watching Naraku. "He'll just reform."

"Don't you have spells against that kind of junk?" Inuyasha demanded.

"It'd have to be plastered on him to work but then he'd just reject it."

"Then—" Inuyasha was cut off abruptly when their dilemma was solved with an unusual solution.

Something black crashed into Naraku's reforming body and was immediately encased in Naraku's purple shield. Loud cusses were heard from within as the figures solidified to show both the Leader and Naraku. The shadowy demon was inhibiting Naraku from forming fully for some odd reason.

"Let me out of this stupid shield!" the Leader snapped.

Naraku gritted his teeth and reformed one of his arms. The rest of his body remained in suspension around the demon. "Perhaps you should let go of whatever sorcery you're using so that I may reform."

"They're fighting!" Sango looked joyful, her boomerang back in her hands.

"Did you do that, Miya?" Miroku asked the girl.

She was panting heavily but beaming. "Yeah. Took a lot of energy out of me to do it but it was totally worth it. Quick, we need to get Kagome and get out of this place."

"But what about Naraku?" Inuyasha demanded, half-torn between wanting to flee and finally finishing his quest.

Miya took a deep breath. "You'll get him later. Trust me. Just…we better get out of here now. Kagome's not looking so good."

The group all shot glances at where the teen was bound and saw that Kagome was too pale for her own good.

"Kagome!" Inuyasha shouted, about to leap to her aid when Miya stopped him.

"Just one moment," she said. "Give me your Tessaiga real quick."

"Why?"

"You'll see in a moment. Just give it before Ku-chan lets down that shield and lets the Leader out!"

"Ku-chan?!" Sango and Miroku said disbelievingly.

"It won't work for you," Inuyasha warned; but Miya either didn't listen or didn't care because she snatched it out of his hands. "Hey!"

Instead of immediately reverting into its beaten up form in her hands, Tessaiga remained in all its glorious beauty. But then it suddenly reverted back to its bland form before gaining green scales on the top side of it.

Inuyasha gaped at Miya. "Wha—how?!"

Miya gave a brief grin, her face still set in mask of concentration. "Cool."

Before any of her friends could say otherwise or object, she had jumped up and swung at Naraku's barrier.

"If she'd asked us we could've told her that doesn't work!" Inuyasha grumbled, still hung over at how she had managed to transform Tessaiga.

But much to their astonishment, Tessaiga's blade pierced Naraku's shield, melting through it like it was butter. The blade sliced through the Leader and his inky black body immediately started to swirl around the dragon scales. The Leader started to scream in agony as his very form became absorbed into Tessaiga's blade.

"It's going to self-destruct!" Inuyasha cried in dismay. "Is she insane?!"

"She's going to burn herself!" Miroku gripped his staff harder as the tension became too much.

"But…look!" Sango pointed at what was happening. "The blade's turning red but she's still absorbing the Leader!"

A minute later and what was left of the Leader vanished into Tessaiga. Miya retracted the blade and it immediately transformed back into its dull, beaten up form. She pushed off of the shield and landed behind the group, breathing heavily; she handed Tessaiga off to Inuyasha before nodding towards Kagome. Inuyasha flinched briefly upon handling the hot hilt and sheathed it quickly.

"Get her and head back here," she ordered. "I've got enough energy for two more things."

He bounded off towards his friend and secret crush, returning in two minutes, and wincing at the red welts all over Kagome's body. The red lightning had vanished as soon as the Leader was gone.

"Can you wake her up?" he asked anxiously.

"After," Miya answered, taking a deep steadying breath and closing her eyes. She began mouthing words so quickly that they blended into one long stream of murmurs for Inuyasha's ears. When Sango and Miroku shot him questioning glances he merely shrugged, shooting nervous glances at the unconscious teen in his arms.

Miya's arms drifted up and she mimed opening a sliding door. Her breath came in labored gasps as she strained to move her hands in opposite directions. Her friends watched in amazement as the mist before them separated, too, revealing trees. Inuyasha tore his gaze away from the sight before him and looked up at Naraku, hoping that he wasn't completely reformed and watching to escape. But much to his shock, Naraku's shield was completely obscured by mist, hiding him from prying eyes.

'What's going on?'

"Inuyasha!" Miya hissed warningly right after this thought entered his head.

Inuyasha flinched when he realized what he'd done. "Sorry," he apologized quietly, much to his friends' confusion.

'Huh?' Shippo cocked his head, looking adorably confused.

When the mist wouldn't open any wider, Miya dropped her hands to her knees and bent over, gulping in large bucketfuls of air. She looked back. "Get out before it closes," she managed to say.

Inuyasha nodded and jumped through, his friends following. They landed on green grass, watching as the misty world behind them vanished right after Miya fell through.

"Kagome?" Inuyasha requested immediately, even though Miya was looking so pale she could have been a ghost.

"Inuyasha!" Sango reprimanded him. "She's exhausted! Leave her—"

"No," Miya broke in. "She needs to be woken up before her mind breaks."

"Her…mind?" Shippo squeaked, his eyes as wide as saucers.

Miya merely shook her head, too exhausted to speak. She ran her hands over Kagome's head, her eyes closed in intense concentration. Then she placed two fingers in the center of Kagome's forehead and exhaled sharply. Nothing seemed to happen except that Miya was trembling heavily.

"Miya?" Sango laid a hand on Miya's shoulder.

"She'll…be…all right," was all Miya said before passing out and collapsing next to Kagome.

Several minutes went by in heavy, oppressing silence as they all waited anxiously for Kagome to return to the living. Shippo was at Kagome's head, his tail twitching nervously; Miroku had a hand on Miya and Kagome, trying to lend them some healing power; Sango was kneeling over the two of them, biting her lip; and Inuyasha was bending over Kagome.

Finally, Kagome's gray eyes opened. She blinked, not saying anything for several long moments.

Inuyasha couldn't help one thought from flitting across his mind. 'Is she sane?'

I know! I'm evil for leaving this at another cliffy! But any longer and it would take forever for this chapter to come out! Anyway, like I said before, this story is almost finished. I can't believe it's been roughly a year since I started this story. I've learned a lot on this site about writing. (sighs) I'll continue the sob story later. Anyway, hope you guys liked this installment! I tried my best with the fight scene.

REVIEW PLEASE! And no flames because I'll just use them to light the fires of my muse(s).