Disclaimer: Inuyasha belongs to Rumiko Takahashi

Chapter Fifteen: September 17th

I was extremely angry with Sango, and though I tried to blame the whole thing on her almost shooting Kagome-chan, I knew there was something else there, bothering me relentlessly. I supposed I felt betrayed; this was a girl who'd engaged me in a terrifying mind game of suspense, poisoned me, let me kiss her in the rain, and threw my offer of help back in my face only to track me down at a hotel and end up kissing me again. These were more than enough excuses to hate her until Kingdom Come, though for some reason, they still didn't settle with me as being completely right. Ultimately, I realized it was because she'd made me care about her that caused me to be so angry with her.

It might've been unfair of me to blame my feelings for her on her, but at the moment I didn't particularly care. Really it had to be her fault anyway, because why else would I become so fond of the person trying to kill me?

I thought she had changed when she came back to the hotel asking for assistance, though she now proved me horrendously wrong. I wanted her, and I was stupid enough to believe that maybe, she wanted me in return. But no, she was being selfish. I didn't need her. I was still engaged to Koharu-chan, I had a life with another woman awaiting me at home. Fuck Sango, fuck her brother.

And fuck me for still wanting her anyway.

I growled incoherent curses in impatience and utter frustration as I jumped to my feet, letting out another string of curses as my head collided painfully with the van's roof. Rubbing the top of my skull, I reached for the door latch, ready to wrench it open and hunt down Sango when it suddenly pulled open haphazardly from outside. I panicked and backed into the surveillance equipment on the opposite side, completely unprepared to defend myself against Naraku or some other Kumo affiliate.

My heart dropped in overwhelming relief as I realized Inuyasha was on the other side of the door, looking uncharacteristically worried and desperate.

"Miroku, get your ass out here, you gotta help me! You saw where that bastard dragged Kagome, didn't you? Lead me there!"

He didn't give me opportunity to answer as he yanked me from the van, shoving a bullet-proof vest into my chest.

"Put this on! Now let's go!"

I obeyed blindly, struggling with the straps of the vest and running with Inuyasha back into Kumo's headquarters, going surprisingly unnoticed by the officers continuing to struggle to block off Naraku's lackeys' escape. Bullets flew around us, pinging off of walls and embedding in furniture. Every once in a while, there was the sickening, thick-sounding thud and splat as they made their mark, accompanied by either a scream of pain or the sound of a collapsing body. I tried to make my ears numb and my eyes blind as Inuyasha led me into the conference room-like area we'd seen over the monitor.

He turned back to me finally, coming to a stop in the strangely vacant room. "Which way did they go, Miroku?" he demanded.

I studied the room, trying to discern which off-shooting, blackened corridor looked familiar. Deciding on one, I pointed towards it. "This way, I think."

Inuyasha didn't look convinced. "You think or you know?" he chastised, not intending to move a muscle until I gave him a more confident answer.

"It was dark!" I shot back heatedly. "I'm doing the best I can here!" I pointed down the corridor with a renewed fervor. "They went this way."

It was obvious he didn't have the time or patience to argue with me and he ran down the hall, gruffly shouting for me to follow him. "Watch my back," he ordered urgently. "And stay close!"

I didn't need to be told twice, and I stuck close to his side as our progress gradually slowed to listen for any sign of Hakudoshi-san or Kagome-chan. I couldn't let myself wonder if he'd kept her alive this long or not. The sounds of the guns and whizzing bullets faded as we trudged carefully forward, straining our eyes to see in the dark.

Though I fought to keep myself from becoming overwhelmed with the horror of what was going down around me, I was morbidly curious to what exactly would happen tonight. Did Sesshomaru-san intend to just kill all six head honchos of Kumo tonight? It seemed horribly unorthodox and blatantly against some sort of protocol, yet if that really was his plan, it didn't strike me as surprising. Having been involved with the chief of police so closely this past month-and-a-half, I came to the conclusion that based on character alone, Sesshomaru-san was too solidary a person to make a good police chief.

We made it maybe five yards into the blackened corridor when I started to notice the severe slope of the slippery ground; this wasn't so much a hallway as it was a tunnel, probably interconnected with subway rails and sewage. It definitely smelled like sewage anyway, and as the ground went passed slippery and fully into wet, our feet causing the echoes of splashes to ring off the curved walls as we ran through the puddles, I tried not to think about the content of said puddles currently sopping up the bottoms of my jeans and shoes.

My eyes were finally adjusting to the dense blackness of the tunnel when my feet suddenly flew out from underneath me and I hit the ground hard, wincing as I landed on my back in a rather large, questionable puddle of filth. My fall had surprised me; I hadn't even realized I'd lost my footing when all of the sudden I was lying on my back, too winded and perplexed to fully register my pain.

Inuyasha whipped around, staring at me on the floor with a terrifying amount of alarm sketched across his face. It was far too jarring to be simple shock that I'd tripped, and just as I began to think that my fall was not due to unexpected clumsiness, Inuyasha was suddenly and violently shoved into the far wall by some unseen force.

"Inuyasha!" I croaked weakly, still fighting to catch my breath, I tried rolling over, intending to push myself to my feet, but my shoulder was wrenched backwards and the next thing I knew I was drinking the very puddle my back had been in as my face was pressed roughly into the wet cement.

"Shut up!" I heard Inuyasha shout, though at this point I wasn't sure who he was talking to. I now knew there was another person in the tunnel with us, though as I listened to Inuyasha struggle to fight him and noticing the person forcing my head down hadn't let up, I realized there must be at least two.

I was deafened as Inuyasha shot off two rapid-fire bullets from his gun, and I was sorely tempted to yell at him for shooting recklessly while more or less blind to whom he was shooting at. He could've gotten me! Instinctively, I struggled to stand again, wanting to get as far away from here as I could. Screw Inuyasha, screw Kumo and screw Sango. I just wanted back in that van. My head was slammed into the slippery concrete and a splitting pain shot into my jaw. I tried to sweep my tongue across my teeth without getting too much dirty water into my mouth, trying to feel for any chipped or broken teeth. I was relieved to not find any, though the amount of blood I tasted could only indicate a severely torn lip.

There were a few more crunching noises and grunts and curses of pain, and I figured Inuyasha had returned to using his fists to fight whoever was attacking him. I was baffled; the attackers hadn't said two words, which I suppose was more or less expected, but every time I heard a punch land that wasn't accompanied by a curse from Inuyasha, I began to wonder if these men were human at all. No sound except for the heavy, open-mouthed breathing from the brute pinning me down escaped their lips.

I heard a heavy splatter from a puddle maybe five feet away from me and I realized that Inuyasha's gun had been tossed from his hands. He sputtered a few more angry curses as his assailant was able to knock him around a bit, then a particularly agonizing shout echoed down the hall as an awful sounding crunch followed. I grimaced, helpless to aid him as I intrinsically knew such a horrifying sound could only accompany broken bones. I was suddenly very aware that Inuyasha was fighting to the death, or, and this seemed somehow worse, fighting for his life.

I was scared shitless, frozen in terror and immobilized anyway due to the lackey practically sitting on top of me, listening to the sounds of Inuyasha's fight. At the very least, I was strangely grateful that my restrained position rendered me unable to actually see the fight take place. Still, I wasn't sure how much more of the sounds I could take either. There was only so much bone crunching, skin bruising, and blood splattering that I could stomach before I was overcome with the desire to vomit.

There was a final, gruesome, stomach-lurching crack followed by a heavy thud, then… Silence.

I had no way of knowing whose limp, obviously lifeless body had fallen to the floor, but as the weight pinning me down suddenly lifted and lunged towards the mass, I was filled with overwhelming relief. Inuyasha had gotten the better of his attacker, and the brute restraining me had leapt to avenge his comrade. My feet found the floor again and I was upright in time to see the last henchmen throw himself at Inuyasha. In a feat that was pure superhuman (though more likely fueled by pure adrenaline) Inuyasha caught the surprisingly small man in mid-air and tossed him aside.

"Miroku!" He was addressing me frantically, urgent to get what he wanted me to know out before the remaining attacker lunged for him again. I noticed he struggled to put weight on his left leg and I realized that the first bone-breaking noise I'd heard had been his calf. I grimaced. The fallen attacker had been strong enough to break a leg bone with his bare hands.

"Get outta here! They're in this tunnel, I'm sure of it! Keep tracking him; take my gun," he glanced down hurriedly at the abandoned pistol still sitting in the puddle, "And don't do anything stupid!" He deflected another full-bodied attack from the miniscule henchman. "I'm calling for backup and I'll be there as soon as I can!"

Again, I obeyed blindly. Pushing aside all protests about how unqualified I was to be doing this, how wrong it was that I be doing this in the first place, I grabbed the gun, clumsily checking to make sure the safety was on and ran further into the black tunnel, solely focused on finding Kagome-chan before Hakudoshi-san pulled the trigger. I tried to think of some sort of plan, some strategy I could use to stall him, before giving up in my hurried panic and just hoping that he'd go for me instead.

I'd turned a corner and ran ten more yards before I nearly stopped dead in my tracks. I'd almost forgotten the reason I wasn't currently hiding out in the van in the first place. Sure, Inuyasha had forced me to come help him find Kagome-chan, but I had already made the decision to try and find somebody else.

Sango.

The uncertainty of my feelings surrounding her was enough to make me physically ill. I was pissed, worried, fed-up, and terrified of her outcome tonight; on top of which I now worried about what would happen to everyone else as well. Inuyasha was currently engaged in a hand-to-hand fight for his life with a broken leg. Kagome-chan had been abducted by Hakudoshi-san. Sango was God only knows where, probably off finding her brother and running away like she'd said. I also wondered if Naraku himself had been taken down by Sesshomaru-san and his officers or if he'd managed to sneak away. Even if we were able to save Kagome-chan and make it out alive tonight, if Naraku was still out there, undoubtedly this whole mess would start back up again until either he or I was dead. And if that were the case, I severely doubted my survival.

Yet most of the fear seriously threatening to transport me back to that all-encompassing numbness concerned Sango. I found myself resorting to the final hope that in the very least, she'd been able to escape before things had escalated to this level.

Before I could lose myself completely to my surprisingly distracting thoughts, I was struck another blow so suddenly that again, I barely had time to register what had happened before I was flat on my back in murky puddles of sewage water. The pain, however, was not something that was delayed by shock this time around. A burning, pulsing agony radiated from the side of my skull, just underneath my ear. Blotches of white blurred my vision even in the dark, and I was instantly aware of a concussion.

I stared up at the tunnel's dripping ceiling, dazedly waiting for my vision to be returned to me and my ear to stop throbbing so bad to formulate a response. My attacker, however, did not hold the same level of patience, and the sharp, jagged, and presumably broken end of a metal rod was jabbed into my right hand, which had been lying open and palm up. It hurt, though I knew there wasn't enough force behind the pressure to break the skin, and as such I remained largely focused on the disorienting pain in my skull.

He spoke, and I was torn between dread and relief to recognize the cruelly sadistic voice of Hakudoshi-san.

"It's about time you showed up, Tsujitani. I just knew you were ready to do something stupid again."

I groaned weakly, taking a brief moment to register the fact that my groan was echoed by effeminate mumbling. Cracking an eye open, I rolled my head around, fighting instant nausea as I looked towards the source. I had to wait for my vision to clear of the fuzzy white blotches before I recognized Kagome-chan, her arms still bound at the wrists and restrained over her head by a broken metal rod, similar to the one Hakudoshi-san stabbed my hand with. Her eyes were wide with fright as she watched me lie motionless on the ground and I vaguely wondered if she were trying to call my name through the dingy fabric gag tied around her mouth.

"Although," Hakudoshi-san continued blithely, "Stupid or not, I'd be lying if I said I'm not glad you came. Honestly, it's much easier this way." With his free hand he aimed his gun—the same gun I'd seen previously jabbed into Kagome-chan's side—right at my forehead. Kagome-chan let out another muffled cry, and I listened as she struggled against her restraints. My eyes, however, fought to stay focused on Hakudoshi-san while my brain was teetering into unconsciousness.

He kicked Inuyasha's gun from my left hand easily, and I cursed mentally at my absentmindedness. I had completely forgotten I had it, though the point at which I'd thought I could more or less accurately use it had already passed. There was a faint click as Hakudoshi-san disabled the safety and I was contrite to hurriedly compile a list of final regrets as I waited for him to pull the trigger.

I had been able to kiss Sango—twice even, so that was checked off the to-do list.

I wished I had been given a second chance to see Hachi after he'd bailed me out with Sesshomaru-san a few days ago.

Maybe giving up kendo and karate classes in my first year of high school had been a mistake.

My first kiss… That had been a mistake, and almost certainly a regrettable one.

I wanted to see Sango one last time, to tell her … something. I still wasn't quite sure what…

The gunshot never came.

I cracked my eye open again, fighting off the most recent urge to pass out from the pain as I watched Hakudoshi-san scrutinize me thoughtfully.

"No," he said, more to himself than to either Kagome-chan or myself. "I should go for the pain, right? That's what Naraku-sama is always saying. 'Get them where it hurts before you end it.' That way, their death is agonizing, no matter the level of physical torture you put them through." He clicked the safety back on. "Isn't that right?"

I swallowed hard, trying and failing to decipher what he could do to me that would hurt the most. Ultimately, it didn't matter exactly what he did. Anything could destroy me at this point.

Hakudoshi-san didn't give me much time to stew in my own perplexed struggle to keep my mind working. His grip on the metal rod pinning my hand flat to the ground lightened some, before he suddenly brought it back down with a surprising amount of force. Almost effortlessly, the jagged, broken off end of the metal rod pierced through skin, bone and skin again as Hakudoshi-san impaled my hand completely, embedding the rod into the softened, muddy rocks.

My mind may have been leaving me, but I at least at the coherence to scream in agony as he drove the rod through my hand, watching through fuzzy eyes as blood spurted from the wound once, then continued to stream out steadily down my fingers, palm, and wrist. Hakudoshi-san gave the rod a subtle, though no less painful twist, ensuring that it was firmly planted in the soggy ground and that I was sufficiently immobilized.

"Just sit and relax, Tsujitani," he mocked evilly, "We'll get to your turn eventually. For now, though…" he turned back to Kagome-chan, whose cheeks shined with fallen tears.

Casting a final glance back at me over his shoulder, as if verifying that I was still conscious to watch what he was going to do, Hakudoshi-san slowly made his way over to Kagome-chan, who with her hands bound and restrained above her, was helpless to escape. She let out a small, muffled whimper.

"No!" I called out, my voice sounding weak and pitiful. "Wait, please!"

By some miracle, Hakudoshi-san did just that, if somewhat reluctantly. Still, he seemed tame enough to play along and he paused halfway between me and Kagome-chan. "Yes?"

"Don't do this, please," I begged, reaching out blindly with my free, uninjured hand. "You have me, you don't need her anymore. Just let her go."

Hakudoshi-san seemed to really consider this, looking back at Kagome-chan thoughtfully as he mulled my plea over. "That is true," he acquiesced, sounding slightly agreeable through his sadism. "Even with you, I've got more than Sango ever managed."

I could tell as he finished speaking that he was obviously jealous while still being smug and prideful, and I latched onto this, hoping I could distract him, stall him until Inuyasha and his reinforcements showed up.

"Sango's in trouble with Naraku now, isn't she?" I asked, deliberately trying to make my question seem ignorant and childish.

Hakudoshi-san gave me a weird look, though I could also tell his arrogance had raised some. "She's not going to last much longer, if that's what you mean." He took a cruel pleasure in predicting Sango's grim fate. "Naraku-sama will get rid of the chief of police, and your precious Sango will follow soon after."

I changed my tactic drastically, going from feigning naiveté to seriously analyzing him. "You don't like Sango, do you?"

Hakudoshi-san huffed, examining the barrel of his gun as if inspecting for dust or imperfections. "Sango's had everything at Kumo handed to her on a silver platter," he confessed angrily, his pride slipping as his monstrous jealousy reared its head. "She was Naraku-sama's prodigy, his pupil." He aimed his gun at Kagome-chan, and both of us tensed involuntarily, but he didn't shoot. "He treated her like she was his own daughter, for fuck's sake."

It was obvious that Hakudoshi-san had been harboring these feelings of resentment towards Sango for years now, possibly ever since he'd first met her, though I was sure if Sango were here now, she'd insist that he had nothing to be jealous about. I was starting to get an idea of how an actual hired assassin behaved.

"Sango was too selfish to be in the game," he continued bitterly, and it surprised me to hear a murderer chastise someone for selfishness. "All she ever did was think about her bratty younger brother, all she ever talked about was making her quota and getting out of Kumo and never looking back. She never wanted to put forth the same effort as the rest of us in order to get ahead. She's nothing but a liar and a cheater!" His voice rose indignantly as his ranting continued and he suddenly whipped back around, facing me and pointing his gun directly between my eyes. "Though I suppose it doesn't matter now, does it, Tsujitani?"

There was a minute craziness detectable in his eyes, and I glanced over at Kagome-chan, wondering if she had seen it as well. I was too baffled to be overly concerned at the gun aimed at my face—it did still have the safety on, after all. While I hadn't been expecting nearly that much of an explanation from Hakudoshi-san, it was bewildering to hear him talk about Sango, Kumo, and Naraku like that. It was as if he genuinely thought he was doing honest work, and that there were rules and ethics one had to follow. Like Kumo really was a legitimate business and not a carnival full of assassins and conmen.

Hakudoshi-san went on, answering his own rhetorical question. "No, it doesn't matter. Sango's run away, like the spineless little bitch she is. I hope I get to be there when Naraku-sama kills her." He pulled his gun back again, once more examining the barrel with sadistic pleasure. "I hope he lets me do it."

"Try me, you asshole!"

Her voice had come out of nowhere, and was so sudden and unexpected that even in my severely weakened and slightly delirious state, I jumped, wincing as the movement tugged on my impaled hand painfully. I tried rolling my head around to determine exactly where she stood, as her voice had echoed off the tunnel walls deceptively. Still, my condition wasn't so deteriorated that relief and happiness were completely foreign to me. Sango had actually come back.

She addressed Hakudoshi-san again. "You can't do this, Haku. Things aren't going as well as you think they are. If you kill them, Inuyasha and Sesshomaru will kill you too." She seemed to think reasoning with him was a valid tactic, though I had long ago given him up for insane and completely unreasonable.

Then I latched onto another thing Sango had said. Things weren't going as well as Hakudoshi-san suspected? Did that mean that Sesshomaru-san had finally taken down Kumo? And if that were the case, what had happened to Naraku? Had he survived the fight or was he numbered among the dead?

Uncontrolled anger flashed in Hakudoshi-san's eyes. He swung his gun around haphazardly, aiming for Sango now. I listened as she stepped forward, as if urging him to keep his gun on her and ignore everybody else. She finally came into my line of sight, and my heart clenched to see her so close to me again. It almost felt like I hadn't seen her in a couple years, not merely a couple hours.

I wanted to watch to try and gage Hakudoshi-san's reaction before he made one—I was especially worried that instead of luring him, Sango's approach would only taunt him to pull the trigger faster—though I was distracted by a shy touch to my shoulder. Sluggishly, I turned my head around, eventually landing eyes on a boy, maybe eleven or twelve, struggling to support my weight while dutifully taking care not to jostle my injured hand too much. I studied him as closely as my failing cognizance would allow. He looked remarkably similar to Sango, though his long brown hair was much more unruly and there was a spotting of freckles across his nose. This had to be Kohaku, her infamous younger brother.

"Hey," he whispered, keeping a watchful eye on his older sister and Hakudoshi-san, "Neesan told me to move you someplace safe, but we've gotta get this stick outta your hand first." He gripped the rod hesitantly, but made no move to rip it out.

Again, I scrutinized him, slightly worried that my care would be left up to a person so young. Still, maybe he was like his sister, and had maturity and courage beyond his years. And really, I didn't have much of a choice other than him at this point. I decided to trust him.

Kohaku-kun focused on the rod, biting his lip and looking almost squeamish with dread. In that single moment, it became very clear that at least he had been spared the young introduction to the murdering life. I had a very strong suspicion that this was due to Sango's influence more than anything else and I took a small moment to appreciate her protectiveness.

Finally, he gulped, wiped his sweaty palm on his jeans before grabbing the rod once more. "I-I'm just going to do it quick." He cut a glance down at me, to see if I had any objections. Honestly, the pain from it being stuck through my hand for so long now was beyond unbearable and I didn't particularly care if it was fast or slow, just as long as it was out.

His grip tightened, and I grit my teeth together, closed my eyes and choked on a scream as he suddenly ripped the rod out of the soggy ground and my hand in one swift tug.

"Sorry!" Kohaku-kun apologized profusely, almost desperately, and I could tell that he had started crying for me. "I'm so sorry, but I-I thought it w-would be best…"

I shook my head limply, groaning in pain as I tried to fold my hand into a fist. I couldn't get all of my fingers to obey the urge to curl however, and it dawned on me that in impaling my hand, Hakudoshi-san probably severed more than a few nerves. My right hand was completely useless now, and I had a sinking suspicion that if I didn't get treated soon, it might remain so forever.

Kohaku-kun struggled to pull me off to the side of the tunnel, and I pushed passed the pain to help him out as much as I could. I refused to be pulled too far off however, as I was adamant about keeping Sango and Hakudoshi-san in my line of sight. Without my help, Kohaku-kun was forced to oblige. He helped me lean back against the slippery tunnel wall, then produced a bandana from his front pocket.

"Do you want me to wrap it?" he offered quietly, referring to my hand that had continued to bleed steadily. "It might hurt—"

"Wrap it," I demanded hastily, then feeling bad about my aggressive tone, added, "Please." I kept my eyes focused on Sango and Kagome-chan to ignore the irritating throbs of agony has Kohaku-kun obediently bandaged my hand.

"You just had to come back, didn't you?" Hakudoshi-san was seething, and hadn't lowered his gun. "Had to make sure I didn't kill your boyfriend?"

"Shut up, Haku." Sango's reply was surprisingly mild despite her reprimand. "I'm always cleaning up after your messes, you know that."

"Bitch!" Hakudoshi-san roared his free hand flying up to grip the gun as well, steadying his aim as he shook with rage. "I'll fucking kill you right now, how's that for a mess?"

I didn't know why I hadn't noticed before, though it now became apparent that Sango was walking in a circle, forcing an unwitting Hakudoshi-san to face his back to the open, unguarded end of the tunnel. My body tensed in objection instinctively; this was putting his gun so it was now aimed where it could hit the still-restrained Kagome-chan. What was she thinking?

It was obvious that Hakudoshi-san had caught on to at least this fact, as he grinned wickedly, his eyes flicked to Kagome-chan. He changed his aim, going passed Sango and pointing the gun back at Kagome-chan, though Sango quickly threw her hands up submissively, still attempting to stall him.

"Don't do it, Haku," she warned.

"And why the hell not, bitch?" Hakudoshi-san demanded, keeping the readied gun trained on Kagome-chan, who now sobbed uncontrollably and squeezed her eyes shut. "I'm doing your job, aren't I?"

"That's funny," Sango muttered sarcastically, "I thought I was doing yours."

Hakudoshi-san faltered before straightening back up. "What?"

"Miroku was your responsibility wasn't he? Naraku put you in charge of getting his company to protect Kumo, then when the policy fell through it was your job to get rid of him."

I wasn't quite sure what Sango's strategy was here. She seemed to be trying to distract him, but her method of choice only seemed to ridicule him into pulling the trigger sooner. It was like she was playing Russian roulette with Kagome-chan's life, only this time there was no doubt that the gun's round was loaded. Then, remarkably, considering the nearly mute level of them, I heard footsteps approaching, completely unnoticed by Hakudoshi-san, who, with his back to the open end of the tunnel, was blind to whoever was coming.

Because Sango had positioned him to be.

For a brief moment, Inuyasha, despite his slow progress due to his broken leg, made his way around the corner and halted, making eye contact with me briefly and silently ordering me to remain quiet. I didn't need him to tell me anyway, and a quick glance over to Kohaku-kun told me he was already aware and waiting of Inuyasha's presence. Looking over at Kagome-chan, who in her position had the best view of the officer, I tried to convey the same message to her that Inuyasha had given me, though it appeared to be unneeded. She looked overwhelmingly surprised and relieved for a moment before she flicked her eyes back to Hakudoshi-san's gun warily. I was fairly confident that I was the only one who noticed that her crying had taken on a different purpose.

Sango went on. "But then you had to go mess everything up with that bomb. Really, Haku, just what statement were you trying to make there? You above all people should know that Naraku prizes subtlety. But, no, you planted a bomb." She shook her head disapprovingly. "Honestly."

Now I was certain that she had crossed a line, though I wasn't so sure that Sango herself realized that. She seemed too wound up in the fact that if Hakudoshi-san hadn't blown his shot, she would've never been saddled with the task of cleaning up after him and, consequently, none of this would've happened. Really, I had never thought of it that way either. Everything that had happened: protective custody, being poisoned, sitting in a tunnel with a concussion and a hole in my hand; all of it could be traced back to the fact that Hakudoshi-san failed in his attempt to get a policy through my company. Still, it didn't make for a good move to rub it in his face. I supposed I'd slightly overestimated Sango's abilities for her age.

No matter how expected it might've been at this point, hearing Hakudoshi-san finally pull the trigger made ice drip down my spine, my stomach jolt painfully, and everyone present stiffened noticeably. The gag did nothing to stop the agonizing scream Kagome-chan let out almost simultaneously with the bullet, and several things happened at once.

Inuyasha had managed to retrieve his gun from the floor where Hakudoshi-san had kicked it out of my hand, and no sooner had the bullet left the casing in the latter's gun had Inuyasha fired his own round. Sango dove quickly, violently throwing herself in front of and colliding with Kagome-chan roughly. Inuyasha's well-trained bullet hit its mark, Hakudoshi-san's hand, causing his gun to clatter to the floor and eliciting a shriek of surprise and agony; the force of Sango's back being shoved into Kagome-chan's chest was enough to loosen the knot tying her bound hands to the broken metal rod above her head and both girls tumbled to the ground in a heap.

"Neesan!" Kohaku-kun made to go to over to Sango, though somehow I managed to hold him back.

"Just wait a second!" I said, grabbing the hem of his shirt with my left hand and holding him steady. I tried to take stock of exactly what happened just now, struggling to put events in their proper order after the rush.

I was terrified at what had happened to Kagome-chan; I feared messing with either girl now tangled together on the floor would make her gun wound worse, and regrettably, I continued to hold Kohaku-kun at bay. Kagome-chan had continued to shriek and cry hysterically, and Inuyasha hurried in his effort to handcuff the amazingly still fighting Hakudoshi-san to get to her as quickly as possible. There was a stampede of footsteps now thundering up the tunnel and as Inuyasha carefully pulled Kagome-chan to her feet, his brother, Sesshomaru-san, came into view.

While the chief of police went straight for Hakudoshi-san, finally restrained and lying fitfully on his side, Inuyasha surveyed Kagome-chan carefully, taking the gag out of her mouth.

"Where'd he get you?" he demanded urgently, spinning her in a circle and checking every inch of her. "Are you alright?"

"I dunno," Kagome-chan wept. "I think so, I'm just… Oh, Inuyasha I was so scared…"

He embraced her, combing his hand through her hair and shushing her quietly. I was sickly confused and filled with a suspicious dread; if Kagome-chan was fine, then where had Hakudoshi-san's bullet gone? I severely doubted that at that range, he'd missed his mark. Then I became aware of Kohaku-kun's continuing struggle against my hold on him and I followed his gaze slowly, my eyes eventually landing on Sango. She hadn't moved from where she'd fallen.

"Neesan!" Kohaku-kun cried again, and finally, my hand slipped from his shirt and his dash towards his sister was only hindered by Inuyasha, who swung an arm down to catch him across the chest. "Sango-neesan! Let me go to her, please!"

"Hold on a second, kid," Inuyasha warned lowly, trying to direct him away from the scene. "She's going to be fine, just give her some air."

Kohaku-kun finally went limp against Inuyasha's arm, tears pouring silently down his face. With no one to hold me back, I pushed myself to my feet heavily and stumbled towards Sango as Inuyasha led both Kagome-chan and Sango's younger brother over to Sesshomaru-san, muttering something about getting an ambulance here as soon as possible.

I smelled the blood before I saw any, and the metallic stench alone was enough to bring me to my knees. Her left shoulder was a gruesome mess, skin, tissue, and muscles torn to bits in the wake of Hakudoshi-san's bullet. I now realized why she'd dived unexpectedly, why she'd been so violently shoved into Kagome-chan; she'd intended to take the blow all along. Blood was splattered everywhere, with errant splotches on her face. For the first time I noticed her right eye; blackened and badly swollen, with a jagged, crescent-moon shaped cut along the outer rim of her socket bone. I remembered the "punishment" that Naraku had dealt her for disappearing for three days. Her skin was terribly pale and jaundiced, and I worried that she was worse off than she looked, an unsettling thought with how bad she looked in the first place.

With my bandaged right hand, I clumsily brushed her bangs back from her face; using the bandana Kohaku-kun had wrapped my hand with to wipe away some of the clammy sweat beading around her hairline. She took a shuddering breath at my touch and my heart clenched in cautionary relief.

"Sango?" I prompted, trying to get her to respond and stay conscious until the ambulance that Inuyasha and Sesshomaru-san called could arrive.

She groaned softly and made to grab her shoulder with her uninjured hand.

"No, no," I grabbed her hand quickly and kept it away from the bullet hole, worried that she'd cause further damage by touching it. "It's going to be okay, Sango. Just a few more minutes and the ambulance will be here and you can go to the hospital, okay?" I huffed inwardly. We all needed to go to the hospital.

Groaning again, Sango finally cracked her eyes open and looked at me fuzzily. "Dammit … this is what I get for trying to save you people. Serves me right, I guess…" I was amazed and slightly offended at her attempt to joke, though the punch line fell flat in her weak state. Her eyes fluttered closed again and her breathing became shallow.

"No, Sango, come on!" I patted her cheek, urging her to open her eyes and talk to me again, even if it was a horribly ill-conceived joke. "Stay with me, please!"

There was a light scoff and I looked up, surprised to see Hakudoshi-san, sitting against the same wall I had been moments ago, hands cuffed and waiting for Inuyasha and Sesshomaru-san to stop discussing their next move.

"I'd be surprised if Sango died from that," he chuckled bitterly. "Though I wouldn't mind it if she did. I'd hate to serve my time in a cell next to that bitch for twenty-five to life."

"Go to hell," I shot back weakly. Between my grief for Sango and my own injuries, I didn't have the strength to put up with much else. I wondered if I'd even be able to hear the ambulance's sirens this deep in the tunnels under Kumo headquarters.

Hakudoshi-san huffed and settled back, trying to get as comfortable as he could. "Very nice," he replied lazily, watching with a wary eye as Sesshomaru-san ended his discussion with Inuyasha and approached him again. "Looks like my ride is here. I'll see you in court, Tsujitani." He shot me his signature sadistic grin before he was yanked to his feet by the chief of police and hauled away.

I glanced down at Sango, feeling my mind teeter into unconsciousness again without any stimuli to keep me focused anymore. I wanted to try and wake her up again, but I was so tired. Hardly registering that Inuyasha and Kagome-chan approaching me, calling out to me, I slumped back into the far wall of the tunnel, finally letting my eyes slid shut and succumbing to the black.

AN: "Neesan" is a semi-familiar name given to older sisters.