Chapter 14: A Message from my Guardian Angel.

Disclaimer: I don't own Inuyasha!

Sango, Izayoi, Miroku, Toga and Sesshomaru arrived at an abandoned looking house right when a loud gunshot rent the air around them.

"Oh God!" Sango said as her heart sunk thanking that they were too late, she didn't want to lose her newfound best friend, she also didn't want Inuyasha to lose the love of his life.

Toga kicked the basement door opened, however, the only one that was left down in the basement was Kagome.

"You lied, you lied." They heard her whisper as she lost consciousness.

Sango and Izayoi both gasped as they looked at Kagome lying unconscious in a puddle of her own blood.

"Toga," Miroku said as he stepped up next to Kagome before bending down to pick her up, "go upstairs, see if anyone is here, but more importantly - see if you can find a little boy." He said and watched Toga nod as he gestured for Sesshomaru to follow him before turning on his heel to face Sango. "Sango, come out to the car with Kagome and keep an eye on her."

Sango nodded as she walked with Miroku out to the car before sliding in the backseat so Miroku could pass Kagome to her. She laid Kagome's head on her lap as her body lie on the seat. Izayoi followed after them and she too got in the car, she found a towel and placed it on Kagome's bullet wound and applied pressure as she tried to get the bleeding to stop.

"Thanks." Sango muttered as she started to run her fingers through Kagome's hair.

"You're welcome." Izayoi said as her heartbeat faster than normal, she might not know this woman, but her son chose her, so that could only mean that he cared deeply for her - she didn't want to see her son hurt if she didn't make it. She would also like the chance to get to official meet and get to know this woman that stole her son's heart.

Back in the house, Toga and Sesshomaru were upstairs going through each room, Miroku came up to help them search. "Have you found anything yet?" He asked.

"No, not yet." Toga answered not stopping his search.

Miroku nodded as he helped them with their search, they looked in every nook and cranny that they could find, but Hiro wasn't anywhere in that house. "Shit!" He cursed as he ran his hand through his hair, they were running out of time - if they even had anymore - they desperately needed Hiro to be here. "Come on," he said as he started for the stairs to go back downstairs as he took his cell phone out of his pocket, dialed a number and placed the phone to his ear, "he's not here - we need to hurry up and get Kagome to the hospital."

"Hello?"

"Shippo, I need you to go to the address 42 Wallaby Way, we think that's where Boss is being held." Miroku informed Shippo. "When you get there, you need to disguise yourself, sneak in and tell Boss that we have found Kagome, and we are taking her to the hospital. Tell him that she's been beat up pretty good, she's been shot through the stomach, and she was whispering 'you lied' before she lost consciousness. Tell him that Hiro is not here, they are holding him somewhere else, but we don't have time to look for him because if we do, Kagome will die." He said then ended the call as he jumped into the driver side of the car as Toga got into the front passenger seat while Sesshomaru slid into the backseat. Once everyone was in the car, he peeled off in the direction of the hospital.

Sango looked down at Kagome with a worried expression as she ran her fingers through her hair, she watched as she sweated, shook slightly, had labored breathing and was scary pale. "I don't think she has much longer, Miro, we need to hurry and get to the hospital." She said not taking her eyes off of Kagome as her heart cracked, Kagome didn't deserve this, and she made a vow that she would kill all that harmed her.

"Working on it." Miroku muttered as he concentrated on the road as he sped through the streets, his heart pounding in his ears as he not only worried about Kagome but also Hiro as well as Inuyasha.

Pulling up to the hospital doors, Miroku jumped out of the car before throwing the back car door open so he could gently grab Kagome before running into the hospital.

"Help!" Both Sango and Miroku yelled at the same time.

"Someone please, help!" Sango yelled with tears gathering in her eyes.

The receptionist that was behind the check-in counter gasped before he came running towards them. "What happened?" He asked.

"She got shot." Sesshomaru said with a cool voice with an eyebrow raised. "Isn't it obvious what happened?"

The receptionist sent Sesshomaru a look before asking, "I meant how did it happen?"

"She got abducted," Miroku answered, "that's all you need to know aside from this is Phantom's wife and it'll be your head that rolls if she dies because of all your useless questions." He said with a heavy dose of intimidation in his voice.

That got the receptionist's attention as his eyes widened with realization and fear as he nodded his head and told them to follow him as he turned on his heel and led them back to get them situated in a room as well as letting the doctors and nurses know exactly who Kagome was and the severity of the situation that they were in.

Kagome was quickly put on a bed as her vitals were taken while an IV was put in her so she could get fluids as well as any medication that she might need. Sango and the others watched as a nurse place a blood pressure cuff on Kagome's upper arm and pressed buttons on the machine to check her blood pressure as another nurse went about taking her temperature as another nurse set to work on the bullet wound, looking to see if she could see the bullet to pull it out.

"Her BP is extremely low; we need to give her something to get it back up." The nurse that took her blood pressure said and they watched as the doctor made notes in his clipboard before looking up and waited for more information.

"She has a high temperature." The nurse said when the thermometer beeped, the doctor nodded as he took some more notes before leaving to put the orders in.

"Ah-ha!" The nurse that was fishing for the bullet yelled in triumph as she held the bullet up in the air. "Got it! Now just to make sure that there's not any damages that needs to be fixed before stitching her up." She said to herself as she went about looking in the bullet wound, however, as the nurse was doing her examination - Kagome started hemorrhaging causing a sense of urgency to break out in the room and for Miroku and the others to be ushered into the waiting room.

*X*

Shippo arrived at the address and looked through a window to see if anyone was in the particular room he was looking in. There was no one in the room so he took out a device that allowed him to silently cut the glass big enough so he could get in without making any noise.

Climbing in the window as quickly and quietly as he could, he silently walked through the room as he looked around - he realized that he was in what looked like a bedroom. He slowly opened the door and peeked out, he looked out into a long hallway, but no one is in it. He opened the door wider as he used his foxlike agility to maneuver through the hallway without making even the floorboards creek. When he reached the end of the hallway, he pushed his body up against the wall as he slowly peeked around the corner - looking out into a living area, but once again not seeing anyone, Shippo continued on his way forward until he reached the kitchen and saw Inuyasha lying on the ground unconscious.

"Boss!" Shippo quietly called out as ran over to Inuyasha before checking to see if he still had a heartbeat, breathing a sigh of relief when he felt a strong and steady heartbeat. "Boss, wake up." He said as he shook Inuyasha's shoulder vigorously.

Inuyasha groaned as he squeezed his eyes shut and brought his hand up to rub his temple. "What happened?"

"I don't know what happened to you, but Miroku and Sango found Kagome." Shippo said getting Inuyasha's attention.

Inuyasha opened his eyes as he tried his best to sit up and with the help of Shippo, he accomplished his goal and was able to sit up. "Do you know how she is?"

"Not in the best of shape, unfortunately." Shippo said with a shake of his head. "Miroku said that she's been beat up pretty good, been shot in the stomach and she was whispering 'you lied' before she lost consciousness. They were in the process of driving her to the hospital when he called me to come here to find you."

Inuyasha's heart dropped in his stomach at the information that he was given. "I have to get there, she needs me." He said as he struggled to get to his feet.

"Wait." Shippo said as he helped Inuyasha to his feet.

"Wait for what?" Inuyasha growled as he got to his feet and worked on gaining his balance so he could walk. He was irritated at Shippo for making him wait on getting to his Kagome, he was very worried about what she meant when she said 'you lied' he was scared that she was talking about him. He had no idea of what torture Naraku put her through disguised as himself.

"They didn't find Hiro." Shippo informed. "He's still missing." As he said that he heard the front door being opened and closed and quickly turned himself into a small statue that was small enough that didn't draw any attention to it.

"Shit." Inuyasha muttered still dizzy as his heart dropped even further knowing that Hiro was still missing, he looked up just as Naraku, Kagome's mother and Kikyo walked into the kitchen.

"Oh, good, you're awake." Kikyo said with a smile as she entered the kitchen. "We need to hurry up Yashie, we got Kagome's signature, so we need to turn this into the courthouse to finish up the divorce."

Inuyasha's heart broke as he felt the air being stolen from his lungs. "She signed?" He whispered.

"Yup, once daddy showed up looking like you and being so lovey-dovey with me, I guess her spirit broke, and she just wanted to be let go with her son - so she signed it, however, she still got shot." Kikyo said with a snicker. "There's nothing else in the way of us being together and getting married."

Inuyasha was furious with this whole situation, all he wanted to do was kill the people in front of him and get to his Kagome, however, he knew he had to play this smart and not let them know that Kagome was still alive - barely, but still alive. "Good." He said nodding and wanted to throw up for even agreeing with the likes of her.

Kikyo's smile widened as she turned on her heels to head for the door once again. "Hurry up Yashie, we need to leave before the courthouse closes."

"Okay I'll be out there in a minute." Inuyasha said as he watched the other people leave the house to wait for him in the car. "Shippo, I need you to go back to Miroku and tell him to continue to look for Hiro, tell him I'll be doing the same here. We need to try and find him as fast as possible." He said before leaving the room.

Shippo popped out of his stone state and back into his normal form before running out of the house and towards the hospital, thank goodness he was fast so this wouldn't take very long at all. He arrived at the hospital about thirty minutes later and ran for the receptionist desk.

"I need Kagome Higurashi's room." Shippo said with urgency laced in his words.

"And how do you know the patient?" The man behind the desk asked with a raised eyebrow.

"Phantom is my uncle and is away on business, he told me to keep an eye on Kagome while he's gone." Shippo lied smoothly.

"Well, she already has more than enough people back there to keep an eye on her." The receptionist said with a scowl. "More than what we typically allow back there at once, so I'm sorry but I can't let you back there."

Shippo returned the receptionist scowl with one of his own as he took his phone out of his pocket and dialed a number before pressing the button to put the speaker on.

"What's new Shippo?" Miroku asked as he answered the phone.

"I'm out in the waiting room, the receptionist won't let me come back there but I have sensitive information that I need to discuss with you." Shippo said.

"I'll be out in a minute." Miroku said irritated before ending the call.

Shippo gave the receptionist a smirked knowing that Miroku was going to give the receptionist a mouthful when he got out here.

A few minutes passed before Miroku walked through the doors that led into the waiting into the waiting room, he walked towards the receptionist with a pissed off look on his face.

"Listen here, buddy, we are in the middle of a fucking crisis with Phantom's wife on her fucking death bed and his stepson's missing so if someone comes here on behalf of Phantom, I suggest you fucking let them back! If we have another situation such as this and someone can't get back without trouble, you won't see another sunrise - understood?" Miroku said with all the intimidation his body could muster.

"Y-yes, m-my apologies." The receptionist stuttered as sweat poured down his face.

Miroku didn't say anything else as he turned on his heel and walked towards Shippo. "What's the new information you have?"

*X*

Kagome opened her eyes and saw the wide expand of the clear blue sky, she then realized that she was lying in the middle of a meadow that was filled with tall grass and a variety of flowers. She sat up as she rubbed the side of her head as she looked around her surroundings, she then came eye to eye contact with a smiling man that looked remarkably similar to her.

"Dad?" Kagome whispered as her eyes filled up with tears, she was too afraid to move in fear that the vision of her father would disappear.

"I missed you, so much pumpkin." Kagome's father said in a whisper.

Kagome choked out a sob as she lunged herself at her father before wrapping her arms around his neck. "Oh, dad!" She sobbed. "I missed you too! I thought I'd never see you again."

"I'm always there, Kagome, even though you can't see me - I'm still there." Her father whispered.

Kagome pulled away from him as she wiped her eyes as she looked around her once again. "Am I dead?" She asked, scared of what the answer might be - she couldn't feel her pain or even her heart beating.

"No, not yet." Her father said as he shook his head.

"What do you mean, not yet?" Kagome asked.

"You are in, what we call, Limbo. You are neither dead nor are you alive, you are in between this world and the next." Her father informed.

"What is all that supposed to mean?" Kagome asked panicking. "What is Limbo and what do you mean that I'm neither dead or alive!? What am I!?"

"You went through something traumatic, something that not everyone can survive through, your body needs time to heal and it's too tired, to injured for it to heal - when that happens, the soul leaves your body and comes here to heal faster and better. You might not be able to feel it, but your heart is beating, and I figured that while your body heals, I'd spend some much overdue time with you." Her father reassured with a smile.

Kagome did feel a little better in the fact that she wasn't dead, however, she was still worried about Hiro. "What about Hiro?"

Kagome's father pointed over to the side and Kagome followed his hand with her finger, she saw Hiro a few yards away talking to a woman that looked a lot like her grandma from her father's side. She smiled as she stood up on her feet and started walking towards the duo.

"Regrettably, you won't be able to talk with either one of them." Her father said sadly.

"What, why?" Kagome asked with a little whine in her voice, she hadn't seen Hiro since he's been taken from the hospital, she missed him, she also hadn't seen her grandmother in about ten years - she wanted to tell her that she loved and missed her as well.

"Because, Hiro is going through his own healing, he has his own choices to make, as you do." Her father said as he still sat on the ground.

"Choices?" Kagome asked in confusion as she sat back on the ground.

"Well, he has a choice." Her father clarified. "You, on the other hand, will go back to your body."

"What choice does Hiro have?" Kagome asked terrified of what the answer will be, she suddenly felt a dull ache over her entire body and her arms felt heavy. The pain wasn't unbearable, just slight pain like when you overwork your muscles during a workout.

"Hiro has a choice to return to the land of the living or let go and go to Heaven." Her father answered.

Kagome felt tears gather in her eyes. "What will his choice be?"

Her father sighed. "I do know; however, I'm not allowed to give you that answer. Just know that your son is a fighter and is strong willed, but his body is more tired than yours is - giving his circumstances - so if he does choose to go back to the land of the living, it'll take a substantial longer time than what it's going to take you to wake up, he'll be here for a longer period of time."

Kagome nodded before looking down at the ground as a few tears escaped past her lashes and splashed on the ground, Hiro has been fighting for so long, he's been in pain for so long and always hides it behind his smile so as not to worry her - but she still sees it underneath the smile, she always ignores it though, not wanting to bring it up and dim his light. She knows that he's tired, and even though she wants him to choose the land of the living, she wouldn't hold it against him if he were to choose to let go - no matter how much it would hurt her to lose him.

"And what about me?" Kagome asked as the pain got more noticeable making her wince a little, but she was still able to push the pain to the back of her mind. "Do I have a choice to make?"

"You have no choice, what you have to do is realize." Her father explained.

"Realize?" Kagome asked as her eyebrows raised. "Realize what?"

"Inuyasha." Her father said simply, just his name alone was more than enough to rebreak her heart in two.

"Dad," Kagome said as more tears fell down her cheeks, "we are no longer together - he never wanted me, he was just waiting for Kikyo to come to her senses." She said as she looked down to the ground.

"You're wrong." Her father said with a shake of his head.

"How so?" Kagome asked as she looked back up with a scowl on her face, frustrated that her dad would accuse her of basically lying. "You weren't there! You didn't see what I saw! He laughed in my face as I cried out in pain, he forced me to sign the divorce papers! How can you say that I'm wrong!?" She said with a scoff. "I wouldn't be surprised if he was the one that was behind Hiro getting kidnapped!"

"Things are not as it seems." Her father said, not holding Kagome's anger against her.

"What are you talking about?" Kagome asked with a grunt as her pain grew stronger making her sweat a little. "It's pretty black and white, he doesn't want me - he never did - he wants Kikyo."

"I'm not so sure," her father said with a small smile, "just listen."

Kagome furrowed her brows as she listened hard like her father told her too.

"Kagome." Kagome heard her name being called and looked around for the source.

"He's not here," Her father said, "he's by your body's side at the hospital. Just listen."

Kagome sighed but continued to listen. "Kagome, I'm so sorry, I never intended for any of this to happen. Please, wake up. I love you baby girl."

Kagome swallowed back a choked sob as she looked off to the side. "He's just lying, once I wake up - he'll leave with Kikyo again."

"I am not allowed to say anymore." Her father said with a sigh. "Just give him, as well as Sango an Miroku, explain what happened."

Kagome scoffed as she looked off to the side once again with her arms folded across her chest. "Sango and Miroku are probably in on it too."

"Just please give them a chance kiddo." Her father said with a slight smile.

Kagome sighed as she let her arms fall back to her sides as she bowed her head towards the ground. "Fine."

"That-a-girl." Her father said as his smile widened, and he lightly punched her on the arm making her giggle some.

"Mom did this." Kagome said as her smile faded, and a scowl grew on her face. "She killed you and almost killed me."

"What she did to me is neither there nor here." Her father said as his smile faded as well. "However, what she did to you, you'll have to figure out for yourself if you want to seek vengeance."

"I'll take down everyone that dared to try to take me down." Kagome said with a nod.

Her father didn't say anything, only giving her a nod.

"Ah!" Kagome screamed as she doubled down as pain wrecked through her entire body. "What's happening!?"

"You're feeling all the pain that your body is in right now." Her father explained. "It means you're getting ready to go back to your body."

"But, what about you?" Kagome asked with tears falling freely down her face. "Will I still be able to see you?"

"Unfortunately, no, but just remember that I will always be there beside you." Her father asked as he faded away and darkness overcame her.

The next time she opened her eyes, she was blinded by the hospital lights.

Hope you enjoyed this chapter! Until next time, bye!