Disclaimer: I don't own Inuyasha

A/N: Before you all start yelling at me, lemme explain: I spent a week at my ex-neighbor's house in a city about two hours away and didn't have any computer access. And, two days before I come home, I manage to get myself sick; I have a really annoying cough, which isn't doing much to help my asthma out any. Everyday I wake up to my own wheezing...Lovely, huh? I have to go to the doctor soon to get some steroid type medicine, though what it is, I'm not sure about. There's my excuse, and I apologize. It's a little late to turn back the clock, isn't it?


Chapter 26 - The End?

Keeping occupied when you're nervous was a lot harder than Kagome ever imagined.

Sitting in the so-called conference room, she had found at least a thousand uses for a pencil, one of which included chucking it at Miroku's head when he wouldn't stop pacing. Seriously: tracks were starting to wear themselves in the polished wooden floor.

Shippou busied himself with counting the dots on the ceiling, while Inuyasha rocked back in forth on his chair until it threatened to tip over. Kagome threw the pencil at his face, too, if only he hadn't caught it a few millimeters from his nose before it actually did any damage. They stared at each other for a few minutes as Miroku refereed, occasionally waving his hand in front of one of their eyes to see if they would blink. They didn't. And when Kagome snorted and turned her gaze to the table, Inuyasha tipped his chair a little too far and it did actually fall over. Three of them found it highly amusing, leaving only one fuming hanyou scrambling around on his back like a turtle turned over in its shell.

As he straightened himself, Kagome stood and stretched, yawning loudly as she did so. She was perturbed by the fact that she didn't feel all that worried; maybe slightly, but all emotions vanished after that. It was undeniable that Sango was strong, perhaps stronger than Kagome herself, and underneath that, she was clever. So worrying wasn't exactly necessary; Naraku and his minions wouldn't be able to solve anything, after all, if they were separated for so long.

Kagome was unable to resist a shiver, and, in response, she wrapped Inuyasha's jacket more tightly around her shoulders. It seemed that no one in this place had ever heard of central heating: it was like the frickin' Antarctic in there. She flipped a birdy at one of the visible cameras in the corner of the room. "Bastards," she muttered and plopped back down in her chair.

Shippou climbed tentatively onto the arm rest. "What're we gonna do when Naraku or that Onigumo guy does come? We can't just make a break for it, can we?"

Miroku, it seemed, was already one step ahead. He jumped up and reached for the large set of double doors leading into the room. After a few minutes of tugging mercilessly on the knob both ways, he decided that it was, indeedy do, locked. Kagome rolled her eyes and tilted her head back; she stared at the ceiling uncaringly, even when Shippou jumped onto the table next to her and started tugging at a loose strand of her hair. "Not now, kid," she muttered, grinding the heel of her palm into her eyes. It was getting way too late for this...

"Yeah, well, Miroku's going to break his fingers trying to pry those doors opened. And Inuyasha isn't bothering to help out, either. Whadda we supposed to do?"

Kagome sighed and laid her head down on the table. "I have no idea."


The next hour passed uneventfully. When Kagome fell asleep with her head on the table, Miroku finally decided to quit trying to break the door down. Inuyasha managed to resituate himself in the chair, and wasted time watching Kagome sleep and Shippou doze in her lap. Her raven, sleek hair splayed across the polished mahogany wood - so much so that it looked intentional. Her mouth was parted silently, and the only thing Inuyasha could do was watch.

"You got it bad, don't you?"

A growl rose to Inuyasha's throat as Miroku hoisted himself onto the table next to him. "You heard me: I know how you feel about Kagome. So why don't you actually do something about it?" he taunted, although there was a spark of seriousness in his tone. He shot the hanyou a wolfish grin. "How long do you think you can drag this on, anyway?"

Inuyasha clenched his hands into fists until he felt his claws biting into his palms. He wanted so badly to bash Miroku's head in and leave the remains there...but the rational side of him knew that, for once, his friend was right. "What am I supposed to do?!" he snapped indignantly, careful to keep his voice on a quiet level. "She's a fucking singer! And when she's not doing that, she's in school, being treated like hell." He took a moment to lean his back against the table. "And she's nothing like Sango: Kagome can be annoying and a plain pain in the ass, but she's defiant and sticks up for her own. That's something that no whore in school can say about themselves."

Inuyasha's speech was followed by silence. From the other side of the table, Kagome's form shifted and her face buried itself in the crook of her elbow. Her hair had long ago fallen out of it's carefully arranged sections and pin-ups. The skirt and sweatpants she donned were wrinkled and mussed. She looked perfectly innocent and carefree, but the occupants of the room knew that was far from the truth.

And throughout their unanimated conversation, Kagome tried with some difficulty to keep her eyes closed.


Sango sniffed delicately and kept her back turned on Naraku, despite his stride towards her, afterwards grabbing onto her elbow rather gruffly and whisking her into what she assumed to be his office. It was compact size, with a desk off to one side, a single bookshelf opposite of it and other sorts of things that she chose not to look at. The only thing that really caught her eye was a guitar:

Mounted on the wall.

With a glass case surrounding it.

The name Daichi scrawled messily on the base.

Sango didn't waste a second in gliding over towards it, her hand outstretched. She was only disappointed when her hand didn't go through the glass, and instead hit the surface with a dull, painful sounding thud. A laugh echoed from the other side of the room as she attempted to shake off the smarting twinge.

"So you've found it? Yes, I've been meaning to take that out of there for some time...Goodness knows I need to get it back to Kagome," Naraku commented from behind, his hands clasped neatly in front of him. Sango thought, that when he was smiling, he looked even more creepy than ever before.

"Why in the hell did you take it in the first place?" she demanded, whirling on him at the same time, her expression plastered with animosity. "What was the purpose? Did you even have one?! Are you mentally disturbed, or something to that effect? Apparently you don't know what kind of value that thing has!" she demanded and exclaimed all in one short breath. She took a moment to choke out a dry, humorless laugh. "You are seriously fucked up, you know that?"

Naraku made a clucking noise with his tongue. "Sango, there's no use for such language here. You must know that I have no intention of harming you - or Kagome, for that matter - not here or when we get back to the building where your friends are at. I only have a few matters to sort out with you here..." he said and gestured towards another chair in front of his desk. Sango sat in it abruptly, biting down hard on her tongue to keep from retorting.

He took his place in the swivel chair on the opposite side. "I believe we had an agreement, didn't we? Somewhere in here..." he rambled, reaching for a two-inch-thick manilla folder and began sifting through it. "Ah. Here it is. You and Kagome will, sometime or other, sign at the bottom, and I will have full custody of the band. Taiko and Rizumu's signatures are unnecessary, seeing as how they would have to agree anyway."

Sango managed to read half of the top paragraph before she recognized it as the contract that Kagome had shown them only a couple nights ago. Her hand involuntarily balled into a fist; the words seemed so antagonistic, it didn't take much for her to quit reading. "What is this...some sort of money making scam? Whatever it is, it won't work." Though, honestly, she couldn't think of a way to stop him.

Ten minutes passed where neither or them spoke a word. Sango twiddled her thumbs as he wrote and copied and flipped through different pages; and she watched, trying to make sense of anything that was happening. Her mind drew up a fog-like blank.

"It won't work," Sango repeated dumbly, just to break the silence. "It can't."

Naraku spun around once in his chair before turning back to face her, interlacing his fingers on the cluttered surface that was his desk. "On the contrary, I think it will."

She resisted the urge to stick her tongue out at him like a five year old child, and instead crossed her arms resentfully over her chest. Leaning back as far as the chair would go, she groaned under her breath and made a discreet grimace.


Nearly half an hour later was when Naraku stood up, grabbing the thick file folder on his way to the door. "We're leaving now. It's nearly two in the morning; by the time we meet your friends again, it will be getting close to three. That's when we're meeting."

Sango snorted ruefully and wrinkled her nose. "Whatever you say, bud. Let's get this freakin' show on the road." Her voice was utterly humorless and deadpan. Naraku gave her an odd look as she walked out the door to his office, only to find Kagura still waiting in the provided room. She began to follow them, falling in step with Naraku while Sango lagged a few feet behind.

'A bunch of nonsense...That's what it is. But I get to see Kagome and Miroku and Inuyasha soon...Shippou, too, hopefully. So why won't this gnawing feeling in my gut go away?'


Inuyasha was nearly half asleep, probably another hour or so later when he sensed something. With his nose twitching he stood and made his way for the door. One quick tug on the door handles told him it was still locked. 'Hell, Miroku, you weakling,' he mused with a smirk, and pulled upwards on the handle; the lock on the door was strong, no doubt made for such a purpose as their's, but Inuyasha managed to break it with a small bulge of his muscles. He had no intentions of leaving anyway - that would just mean a huge cat-and-mouse race all over Tokyo, and he was too tired for that. Kagome wasn't even awake yet to drive.

Or so he thought.

She had, more than clearly, heard his words, and wanted to deny every bit of them. They still ran through her head like a marathon, replaying over and over again till she thought she would scream. It didn't make any sense...of course, Inuyasha may have made a few vital points, but that wasn't what she wanted to say.

She wanted to tell him that she felt the same way.

It was strange, actually, to admit that to herself. So much of her wanted to deny that fact that she was growing more than fond of the hanyou that accompanied her. She wanted to rid herself of the question, what were they going to do once this situation was over and done with? What about the magazine cover that sported both of them, together? She doubted any of the students - Kikyou especially - would let the disease-like rumor die so easily. That would take a miracle.

With a quick aversion of her eyes, she could watch Inuyasha while still making it look like she was sleeping. His ears flicked back and forth every few seconds, like he was straining to hear something. Kagome's curiosity piqued; she twisted her elbow so that it cracked - something she learned she could do on demand a while back. She received the reaction she wanted; Inuyasha spun around on his heel and stared at her while she stared back, deciding for once to play dumb.

"What are you doing awake?" Inuyasha questioned, not unkindly. His voice was actually quite soft.

Kagome forced a yawn and rested her head on the table. "I...woke up? Because maybe I'm not so tired anymore? Is that a crime now?" she retorted, though she was hiding a smirk the whole time.

"Keh. Whatever. Oh, and you better wake Miroku up. I think Sango's coming back..-"

Kagome was up on her feet before he could blink, hanging over his shoulder and straining to see down the dimly lit hallway. "You better not be lying to me, Inuyasha, or...or playing some kind of joke, because I will seriously maim you if you are."

Shippou had, somewhere along the way, fallen off her lap and onto the floor. With a startled shriek, he stood up, swaying to and fro on his feet. Miroku had awaken from the racket; unfortunately, he didn't look to be in a very good mood."

"Sleep good?" Kagome inquired from the doorframe. "Maybe I should mention this to you: according to Inuyasha, Sango's coming. But there's someone...Ow!" She slammed her elbow into Inuyasha's ribcage and continued with a slightly more dour expression on her face. "You didn't need to hit me, you jerk! I think I can tell him on my own."

From the look of distaste on Miroku's face - like he had just swallowed something awful - Kagome figured she wouldn't need to tell him. She hadn't expected for Sango to somehow break away from Naraku and make it into the building by herself...but was still feeling slightly disappointed.

The three of them (four if you counted Shippou trying to keep awake in the closest corner of the room) waited for someone to round the corner. After around five minutes, someone did. Naraku and the woman Kagome vaguely recognized as Kagura came first. She felt the pit of despair in her gut deepen; until a third set of footsteps resounded in her ears, much quieter and more deliberate than the first two. Her breath hitched her throat, and she didn't dare to speak, whether it was because of Naraku's penetrating glare or the fact that she was feeling more overwhelmed as each second passed.

"What have you done to my door?" Naraku asked as he leveled his eyes with Inuyasha's, snickering. "Now I'm going to have to replace it. You've struck lucky this time, hanyou." And, with an exaggerated flourish, he pushed past them and strode into the conference room and towards the head of the table. He remained there, as if waiting for one of them to speak.

Kagome and Miroku met Sango halfway in the hall; Kagome gave her friend a quick hug and gave her a praising slug to the shoulder. "You made it! And in one piece, I see: very impressive." She shuddered. "I was afraid he would do something like...say, threaten to push you out a window."

Sango fought off a smirk for a few moments before relenting. "Yeah. Lucky me. Never let me go off like that again; I fear that someone's going to pop up out of no where and slam another gun in my back."

Miroku winced and wrapped his arm around one of Sango's shoulders. "Well, you weren't shot or anything, right? That's a plus."

"Gee, thanks. I'll remember that when all this is over and I'm free to kick your ass," Sango responded back in a sing-song voice, feigning sweetness. The three of them started towards the room where Kagura waited, holding the now broken door open. Kagome snorted as they walked past.

'She's nothing but a puppet...' Sango observed, somewhat sulkily. 'And I was so close to finding out why, too.'

Kagome, noticing that the table was so long, sat in a chair on the middle of one side. It wouldn't do to have to practically shout at each other across the wide surface just to carry on a fairly civilized conversation. She began rubbing her temples as the chair Inuyasha had chosen to sit in squeaked beside her, followed by several more high-pitched noises as more of the seats moved. Naraku decided to start talking then, his nasally voice more irritating than ever.

"You're looking awfully calm about this whole situation, Kagome. I'll give you a penny for your thoughts." And, as if to be humorous, he reached into one of his pockets and pulled out a copper penny. Kagome didn't question why he had it in the first place. The coin was flicked onto the table and bounced in front of her a few times before it landed flat, heads up. She picked it up in her own hands.

"Well, I have nothing to worry about," Kagome retorted nonchalantly. "After all..." In between her sentence, she spun around in her chair and faced one of the cameras in the corner of the room. Her arm was pulled back, and in one swift movement, she chucked the penny at it; the lens cracked and the red light signaling the camera was on shut off. She smirked. "What is there to worry about? We all know this isn't going to end how you want it to."

The room fell deathly silent for a few moments. Naraku leaned forward in his chair and intertwined his fingers on the table, appearing to be amused instead of angry. "Continue: this sounds to be promising."

Kagome rolled her eyes and leaned her chair back as far as it would go, kicking her feet on the table and crossing them casually. "You know the stories; the bad guys always lose, go to jail, whatever, and the protagonists always prevail. I don't think this would be any different.

"And, contrary to what you think, there's still a flaw in your plan; the matter of our current recording company that we've been contracted to for the next...oh, say, years. Lots of years. If we break that contract, our band is legally bound; we're unable to move onto another company until our years are up. And there's no point in that, is there? No more band, meaning you wouldn't even get what you want. No money or custody over anything that's our property. And if you did, a ton of people would be after you in a second. Just like that.

"Your plan's falling apart before your very eyes, and you didn't even notice it until now."

Kagome smirked as Naraku's expression flashed from that of shock, to disbelief, and finally, deep animus. From one side, she felt Sango, Miroku, and Inuyasha staring at her; Shippou was on her lap. She felt slightly shocked at herself for spinning such a tale in the few seconds that her mind had to work. Hopefully, he didn't notice...Sango apparently did, her mouth opening, and then snapping shut a second later. She turned her face away, a mischievous glint suddenly forming in her eyes.

Naraku stood up slowly, his head bent, hands gripping the edge of the table in a vice-like grip. "You think...that someone as lowly as you would be able to overcome such a well thought out plot? Nowhere that I've checked does it say that there was any kind of contract at all!"

Kagome smirked and allowed her bangs to hide her eyes, with her chin tucked into her chest. "Well, you see, that's the point; this is confidential stuff, meant to be kept a secret." She knew he was cracking; from what she had experienced, it was just too easy to push this man over the edge. "Besides, I don't feel like leaving our company anyhow. Nanami wouldn't like that either, and you haven't seen what she can do with a simple stick. It isn't pretty." To add emphasis, she grimaced.

To her surprise, Naraku launched himself at her; and, if it hadn't been for Inuyasha landing a good, clean punch right to his face, she would have been on the floor. She heard a sickening crunch as Naraku more or less flew across the table and crashed into the wall, sliding slowly to the floor. Inuyasha stood protectively in front of Kagome, his claws sharpened and fangs bared. "Bastard...How dare you threaten to touch her!" he snarled, crouching low like an animal would towards its prey.

But he didn't move. Kagura remained stock-still as well, her feet frozen into place. Inuyasha straightened himself a few seconds later. "He's unconscious...imagine that. I didn't think he'd go down so easily. Now let's get the hell outta here and let someone else take care of him."

Kagome, knowing exactly what he meant, jumped up from her chair. "Hold on," she demanded quietly, and covered the distance between her and Naraku in a matter of strides. Her hand reached for the manilla folder he had with him, partially hidden inside his overcoat. Just for good measure, she slapped him hard across the face, a red hand mark appearing seconds later. "And that's for being a bitch," she muttered, and followed Inuyasha out of the room.

"What about Onigumo?" Miroku asked. Ignoring Sango's questioning 'Oni-who?,' he continued. "Don't you think he'll come after us too?"

Inuyasha shook his head as they began running down the hallway Sango had come from. "With Naraku gone, he's practically hopeless. We don't need to worry at all about him," he stated confidently. Nobody contradicted him.

They flew down stairs, through elevators and random doors, finally making it into the main room around ten minutes later. "What about the locking system?" Kagome queried, stopping a few inches from the glass door leading outside.

Inuyasha pushed her a few feet back. And before she knew what was happening, his fist went through the glass. Small droplets of blood dripped to the ground. Nevertheless, he kicked at the glass, sending the sound of shattering glass through the tension-filled air. "Can't believe he thought we were so stupid," he muttered.

Ten feet away from the building, Sango heard an alarm go off, but was unable to make out any words. "Somebody's going to hear that..." she commented, and seconds later, a cool smirk dawned on her face. "The police are going to be all over this place in another ten minutes."

Kagome had hardly realized that Shippou had climbed onto her shoulder. "We made it, bud. Now we can finally get out of here."

Sango stopped short when they were nearing the van. "Oh..wait!" she started suddenly, and ran off in the opposite direction. The four of them stared off at her questioningly, Miroku contemplating whether or not he should go after her. But he didn't have to; minutes later, she came back, carrying a guitar in her outstretched hands. "Kagome," she continued, breathless, "I found this."

Kagome gripped the neck of the guitar in her tingling hands. No one spoke as she slid her hand across the perfectly smooth and shining base, her father's name scrawled into it in his own, messy handwriting. She could have cried, but decided against it and wrapped her free arm tightly around Sango's neck. No words were come, and they didn't have to; Sango understood completely. It was, after all, the only actual possession of Daichi's that Kagome had left.

"We're going," Miroku stated, thoroughly composed as he hopped into the driver's side of the van. "And Kagome, I don't care what you say; you are not driving."

She smirked, and instead hopped into the back, Inuyasha, Sango, and Shippou choosing to ride along with her as Miroku steered them away.


A/N: Wow...I'm utterly sorry that it took so long! But - and I don't mean to disappoint you at all - I think there's only going to be one more chapter left. I'll make it as long as I can, just for you all!

You have to review, or I swear I will make something terribly and gut-wrenchingly sad happen at the end. I'm not kidding, either. And I know exactly what it is, too. Think of it as a sort of ransom, and your review is like money. You better hurry - the clock's ticking, and someone's life is at stake!!