InuYasha Fan Fiction / Crossover Fan Fiction / Naruto Fan Fiction ❯ Mors Mortis Miko ❯ Looming Near ( Chapter 5 )

[ X - Adult: No readers under 18. Contains Graphic Adult Themes/Extreme violence. ]

Kagome hadn’t walked very far before she found him. Her beloved monk, her lecherous friend, her rival.


He stood in the shadow of the trees. Staring at her with his hauntingly black eyes and smiling his sadistic grin at her. She stopped a few feet short of him and returned his grin with one of her own. When he saw that she wasn’t going to come any further, Miroku began closing the gap by stepping out into the moonlight.

If she had had any sense, Kagome would have feared this Miroku. Unlike his formal self, Miroku’s presence was one of nightmares. His skin had become thin and pallid, clearly showing the black blood running through his veins now. His eyes, which were no longer brown but an inky black, were sunken and surrounded by dark rings. His hair, though still in it’s ponytail, was stringy and filthy looking. But his expression…his expression should have frightened her the most. His eyes were calm, his face tranquil, his expression was ready. Ready to kill without remorse.
“Lady Kagome,” He said in greeting after letting her scrutinize him for a minute. “So nice to see you again. How have you been?”


He took a step closer to her, but instincts told her that that would be a bad thing, so she repositioned herself so that he was still a good distance away and dead in front of her. She smiled.


“I believe I’ve lost my mind, I was accused of murder, and I’ve terrorized an entire village. How about you?” He made a sudden lunge for her, but she quickly dodged and laughed at him.


Miroku’s face was one of immense anger and annoyance as he missed her, but as he rounded on her, his face was pleasant once more. “Oh…not much.” he answered casually, smiling at a memory as he circled the clearing, trying to find a way to get at her.



“I’ve heard you’ve been busy.” Kagome ventured, always keeping him a safe distance away and doing her best to evade his clutches when he grabbed at her.



His face might have been calm and pleasant, but his grasps at her revealed the inner hatred and evil within him. Those hands were out to hurt her…cursed hands…just like before. She smiled at this similarity.



“You’ve heard that, have you?” Miroku asked with a smile. “In a way you can say I have. I’ve found something that I’m extremely good at and can enjoy.”



“What? Raping and murdering women?”



Miroku threw his head back and laughed. The laugh that escaped his throat; pure, manic masochism; sent a shiver down her spine that had her smiling widely.



“I have done no such thing.” He finally said as he calmed down.



“Oh really?”



“Really. I have murdered no one. They simply…expired from our excursions.”



“They’re bodies were mutilated.”



“So I like to play rough.” Miroku snapped, his voice losing it’s charm and his skin becoming shadowed as the darkness of the jewel almost consumed him. “It’s not my fault girls here are too fragile.”



She hadn’t been prepared for his next lunge. His movements gave no sign that he was about to attack, and so when she suddenly found his hand at her throat, and her back against a tree, she laughed aloud.



“You see, dear Lady Kagome, I’ve killed so many girls now that it’s hysterical.” Miroku began, his eyes completely black with the jewel’s evil as he ranted, spittle coming out of his mouth as he went. “I take them from their villages, right from their beds, as they wash, as they do their chores, right in front of their parents eyes, from a lover’s embrace. I get them from all over. Sometimes I’ll get them by the bunch…all the more entertainment. My favorite part is the beginning…when they fight back. Try to fend me off, try to hold back tears, fighting their own bodies. Fighting what I make them feel. Humiliation…shame…disgust…pleasure. That’s what I feed off from them. They all succumb to me in the end, despite their morals, despite the pain I inflict, despite their own judgment…I have them clutching at me for more…have them crying out in despair at themselves…have them respond to my instructions…doing anything…and lose themselves in me. Their death starts on the inside and slowly creeps outward. By the time I’m finished they die from their own disgrace than from my inflictions upon them.”


“You’re gross.” Kagome choked out before Miroku’s hand pierced her belly. She flinched as his fingers teased her intestines, and the hand around her throat crushed her wind pipe.


“It’s was amusing seeing you again, Lady Kagome, but seeing as you’re trying to spoil my fun…I have to hinder you greatly. Any last words before I strewn your innards across this forest like decoration?”



“Yeah…you’re still gross.”



Miroku chuckled darkly at her. “Until we meet again.”


Kagome said nothing as she watched Miroku retract his bloodied hand from her stomach. They made eye contact for the briefest of times, both their expressions intense, but as he moved to enter her abdomen again…a ear piercing scream tore through the forest. The scream of a young girl finding the boy she loved immobile on the ground next to his bloodied kunai.



“That’s sounds promising.” Miroku announced, his smile one of a sadistic lecher. “The younger the better.”



“Oh come on!” Kagome yelled, disappointment evident in her voice. “I’ve never had my innards strewn across a forest before…I was looking forward to it.”



“Of course you were. It seems that we weren’t the only ones to succumb to misfortune by your wish.”



The comment hurt Kagome worst than being impaled, and as she flinched, Miroku took his shot. Grabbing her head, Miroku delivered three ruthlessly hard slams against the tree she had been pinned against. One slam to crack her skull, the second to split it, and the third to crush it. On the third slam, Kagome lost her vision and all feeling in her body. She didn’t feel it when Miroku tossed her aside, but she heard it when she connected with the ground, and she knew when he left, but for the time being, she could do nothing about it. Nothing about anything.



~____~


She couldn’t believe it. She wouldn’t believe. Sasuke. Her Sasuke.



“No.” Sakura whispered, her voice wavering with emotion.



She was too late. She saw when he had jumped the wall after the woman, but as she had debated whether to get the rest of the team, she had lost him. And now…now that woman had killed him.


She couldn’t see where he was wounded, for he lay on his stomach, but his hand was covered in blood and his bloodied kunai lay accusingly by his side.


She fell to her knees at his side. She felt sick. Her legs felt like lead and she was becoming lightheaded. She felt the blood rushing in her ears as it pushed out her tears. She tried to call out his name, but her throat had closed up. She wanted to scream again but her chest hurt too much. All she could do was touch him, at least to make sure he wasn’t a nightmare.


As her fingers met a solid body, and not an illusion, she felt the scream she had been trying to conjure begin to rise painfully through her, but before it could make it to her throat, she saw that her fingers were rising…then descending.


He was breathing.


She wanted to pass out.



“He’s…he’s alive.” she laughed aloud jerkily, as her tears fell more freely now accompanied by occasional sobs.



“Well that’s good.” a throaty voice announced from behind her.



She whirled around in surprise to face the stranger, but as she found herself staring into eyes as black as a bug’s, she fell onto her backside in fright. The bug eyes belonged to a man…a man who was crouching not an inch from her. His eyes were wide as he gazed at her body from head to toe, before finally resting on her face. He smiled.


She began to shake, unable to do anything else but shake. This man frightened her, with his dirty hair, pale, vein ridden skin, and black eyes, but the way he leered at her terrified her very soul. He got onto all four, as if he was about to crawl over to her.



“That’s good he’s alive.” the man continued. “I would hate to think any crying you did wasn’t because of me.”



His words seemed to hit her like a hand to her face. She gasped and scooted away, trying to put as much distance between herself and the strange man without taking her eyes off of him.



“Oh…oh that’s good.” The man whispered as he began to stalk closer. “I can see your fear. It amuses me.”



“St-stay back!” she cried out as she ambled away from him, the quiver in her voice giving her no power to back up her threat.



“Or, what? You’re going to attack me?” he laughed condescendingly, before his face turned serious.



She shrieked as she saw his skin bulge and ripple as if his blood was a living entity. She reached for a kunai, to try to defend herself, but as she reached for a weapon, he produced them himself with a flick of his wrist.



“Looking for this?” he asked, swinging her weapon around on his finger teasingly.



“Or perhaps,” he continued, tossing the kunai far into the forest as he offered her stolen badge. “you were looking for this?”



Her heart skipped a beat. She couldn’t believe anyone could move that fast or quietly. Not only had he stolen her weapons without her detection, but had taken something, that was tied, directly from her head and have her feel not a single hair move.



Miroku sighed at her lack of reaction, he preferred it went they went ballistic. This one was still in shock.



“My dear Lady, you were supposed to run at this point.”



She couldn’t move. All she managed to do was stare frighten at him, as her breathing came out shaky and labored.



“The thrill of the hunt is the chase, you wouldn’t be so rude as to deny me that bit of fun, would you?”



He was stilled denied his desired reaction.



“RUN GIRL!” he yelled, and in his fury his face contorted and the evil of the jewel sprang forth to overshadow him.



Sakura screamed so loud that she knew her throat had suffered some immense damage. But as she screamed, she didn’t bother to hush and save it. She was too busy running to save anything but herself, and put the demon and his laughter as far away from her as possible.



~_____~



She couldn’t stop running. If she did, she knew she’d never have the energy to start up again.



And she couldn’t afford that risk. She just couldn’t.



The demon man…he was always just a heart beat away. He toyed with her. He herded her like cattle.



Just when she thought she might have lost him, she’d hear him laugh or he’d pop up before her out of the darkness.



Laughing. Always laughing at her.



She hadn’t been so afraid in all her life. She’d never cried as much as she did now. This man...this monster …he was the one they had been looking for. He was the criminal that had attacked all those villages. He was the one killing all those village girls. And now…he was after her. She had run aimlessly at first, just trying to get away from him. But when she thought of running back to the village, she had been too late. She was lost deep in the forest and couldn’t tell north from east.


She stumbled, but kept going. She wasn’t going to let herself fall. Not now…not ever if it kept her alive a bit longer.



“That was a close call, wasn’t it?”



She screamed in distress as he whispered in her ear. He was always only a heartbeat away.



“Leave me alone.” she cried, all training gone from her head as the little girl broke through.



“Sorry.” The demon man said in a sincere voice as he stepped out of the shadows and wrapped his arms around her. Holding her firmly to him, he nuzzled her neck and whispered into her ear. “Can’t do that. You see, I have other plans for you.”


She didn’t have to ask what.



“Pl-please.” She muttered through the fear and revulsion she felt at his touch…at his closeness…at his thoughts.



“There will be enough time for begging later. Now…how bout…”



“…You let her go.”



Both Miroku and Sakura froze at the sound of Kagome’s voice.


To Sakura, catching sight of the deranged captive of the leaf village was like glimpsing heaven, especially since it seemed she was going to help her, but to Miroku, her appearance was a mere hindrance.



“Well look who decided to blow off death and join the party.” Miroku greeted, making a show of fondling the girl in his embrace, who cried in a panic as he did so.



Kagome’s face darkened in anger as she stopped in front of the erroneous couple. She briefly made eye contact with Sakura before turning her angered eyes onto Miroku.



“I didn’t blow off Death! He won’t let me go!” She yelled in justification pointing a threatening finger at him.



Miroku laughed at her, as he continued to make his prey squirm. “Of course.”



Kagome seemed to ease up at this, although a smile didn’t cross her face. Seeing her blank face, Sakura began to cry harder, knowing now that the psycho wasn’t going to help her.


Where was everyone? Someone should have come looking for her by now. She would even be happy to see Naruto come bounding up to her rescue. She didn’t care who, she just wanted for this torment to be over. She wanted to wake up and have this all be some terrible nightmare. But what terrified her the most, was knowing that she was stronger than this. She should have been able to fight back, even when all her weapons were stolen, even when her demon snuck up on her. She should have fought back…that was what she was trained for. But she couldn’t. She was beyond terrified…her demon seemed to suck all hope and courage from her and turn her into a defenseless child. He made her feel weak and hopeless…made her look back on times when Sasuke and Naruto did all the real work. Made her feel like the weak link in the group. Made her feel helpless.


She cried even harder as her struggles became less and less effective.



“That’s ENOUGH!” Kagome yelled and she grabbed Sakura by the arm and wrenched her from Miroku’s grasp with all the strength she could muster. Her throw sent Sakura flying to the forest floor behind her.


It wasn’t her strength, but her fury and Miroku’s surprise at her sudden attack, that actually freed the terrified girl. Her actions were followed by a pregnant pause as Sakura and Miroku stared at her. Sakura remained where she had fallen and merely looked up at Kagome with wide eyes and a tear strained face. She dared not move in fear of bringing the demon’s attention back to her and of Jane Doe’s sporadic behavior.


Miroku twitched. “I wasn’t through with that!” All Sakura could do was flinch as the demon backhanded Jane Doe out of the way and lunged for her again.



With the moves of a demonic, snake, possessed squirrel, Kagome maneuvered around Miroku’s attacking body and braced herself in front of the petrified girl and held Miroku at bay.



“Why are you doing this?” Kagome managed to say as she repositioned herself to match Miroku’s every move. Miroku paid her no attention and mainly focused on trying to get around Kagome and at the cowering girl behind her.



“What are you fighting me for, huh? For some silly little girl?”



Miroku’s behavior showed that he either didn’t hear her or didn’t care what she had to say.



“The Old Miroku would have never acted like this? The Old Miroku would know that this is wrong? The Old Miroku…”



“The Old Miroku is dead, remember? You should know better than anyone.” Miroku growled, in hopes of getting her to lay off guard.



“Oh yeah?” Kagome asked, not letting him get to her. “Well I bet he’s still in there? I bet the Old Miroku is still alive.”



“What makes you think that?”



“Because the Old Miroku wouldn’t want a child…when he could have a woman instead.” Kagome’s voice turned sultry and deep towards the end of her sentence as her hands became softer on his chest and more caressing.


Miroku‘s thrashings, in turn, became less frantic and his attention slowly retreated from the girl to Kagome, though his face was still contorted in hate and malice.


“You see? I know the Old Miroku. He who loved women. He who was a pleasure seeker. And he who wanted an unattainable miko. Didn’t you? You wanted me, but couldn’t have me. Because ‘he’ was always around. Because ‘she’ wanted you. You loved the exterminator, but you lusted after the forbidden fruit. The girl from the future. You longed to taste my flesh. Well now’s your chance. I’m here and I’m alone. I’m not as fragile as the other girls you’ve played with here. I’ll last longer. I won’t break as easily. You could take your time and be as brutal as you please. And since there’s no dog demon for you to be afraid of…”



“I wasn’t afraid!” Miroku yelled in sudden anger as he grabbed her face tightly in his hand, lifting her off the ground in the process. “I was never afraid! I loved you! I was a man of the cloth, and you were a miko! We would have been perfect together! But you never once looked at me, did you? You only had eyes for that dog! I treated you like you were the world! I listened to you! I spoke to you like a lady should be spoken to! But you couldn’t appreciate what I could have given you! Instead I had to play petty games with the exterminator in hopes of striking jealousy into your heart! I even fooled myself into thinking I loved her! And you, you never batted an eye! You seem relieved! Was the thought of a human lover too demeaning to you?”



This was news to Kagome‘s ears. She had merely tried to distract Miroku with thoughts of the past and his lecherous fetish for her skirts. She hadn‘t been expecting this. “If…if I had know how you felt…I would have…”



“WHAT? Let me down gently? Broken my heart?”



“I…”



“NO! I don’t want to hear it! You’re mine now! I’m going to have you like I should’ve all those years ago! You missed out…and you’re not going to enjoy it this time!” he kissed her fiercely on the mouth. Kagome didn’t fight against him, she was too busy observing how her mouth was going numb and seeing her veins turning black from where he kissed her and spread up her face.


As quickly as he kissed her, Miroku broke it and swung her around so that she faced Sakura. “See your little friend there. It seemed you managed to save this one. Better late than never, eh Kagome?”


Kagome locked eyes with Sakura as she and Miroku began to fade into the darkness. The girl hadn’t moved since Kagome had thrown her, and now she was staring up at her, scared and confused. Kagome had saved her when the look of helplessness had blossomed onto the girl’s face. She knew that feeling in and out. Reminding her of her former self more than ever. She couldn’t stand that feeling. She hated that feeling. And she especially hated it, knowing that Miroku was the cause. Her sweet, kind, lecherous friend.



“Get the hell out of here!” Kagome yelled in anger at the frightened girl, and was satisfied to see the girl finally get to her feet, and with frequent looks back at their disappearing figure, run off into the woods.



~____~



“SAKURA!” Naruto yelled in panic as his missing teammate came stumbling through the foliage, look worse for wear and freaked out of her mind. He thought the worse when he and Kakashi stumbled across the then unconscious Sasuke covered in blood. But they soon realized he was fine but discovered Sakura’s badge and weapons abandoned and scattered around the clearing. They figured she was chased and not abducted and so followed in the general direction she had taken, with Naruto supporting the dazed Sasuke as they went.


“What the hell happened to you?” Naruto demanded, ready to fight whatever had done this to his Sakura.



“What did she do to you?” Sasuke growled, already guessing who Sakura had dealt with.




“Where is she?” Kakashi asked, planning to leave his students to return to the village while he got rid of the threat.



“No,” She cried clinging to Sasuke for support. “It wasn’t her, it was the demon.”



“She is the demon!” Sasuke yelled, shaking her off of her in his sudden fury at the woman.



“No she isn’t! She saved me!” Sakura yelled back, ready to defend anyone who could have rescued her from that experience.



“She was toying with you! She is the demon! I stabbed her straight through the throat, I almost severed her head, but she still lives! I felt her skull cave in when she head butted me! She should be dead! She is the demon!”



“They’re both demons! Now lets go kick their butts!” Naruto yelled angrily as he made to take off in the direction Sakura had come.



“You’re not going anywhere.” Kakashi said calmly as he grabbed Naruto by the back of his collar. “You three are going to return to the village and tell them what you know.”



“And what are you going to do?” Naruto fumed.



“I’ll take care of the demons.”



“No fair!” He yelled as he began to protest, followed by Sasuke and Sakura’s declaration of who was and wasn’t a demon.



Their banter went on for a few minutes, no one getting anywhere in their argument. But all came to a cease fire when the yell of someone in pain filled the forest and sent shivers down their spines. They couldn’t tell whether it was male of female, but they could tell where it came from, and one by one they took off in the general direction of where the scream came from.


They ran for different reasons.


Sakura ran for fear of Kagome being the one to scream. Now having her team to back her up and her weapons returned, Sakura was determined not to cower from that demon and help Kagome just as she helped her. She couldn’t stand to know that that could have been her.


Sasuke ran to prove once and for all that Kagome was the demon. That woman had been trouble since the first day she arrived to the village, and now, she had attacked Sakura and traumatized the girl. He vowed that he would expose her for what she really was.



Naruto wanted to fight. That’s all. He sensed that the end to the killings was looming near, and he wanted to be the one to end it all. He wanted to be the hero and prove that he was worth something.


Kakashi couldn’t let his students run off to face a dangerous fiend by themselves. He didn’t know what to expect. Two demons? One? None? He just knew that his students would find the danger, they always did, and he would have to protect them and the village. Then he could get back to his book.



Unexpectedly, a dark, screaming shadow swept through them. Halting them in their tracks and freezing them to the bone with it inner terror. The shadow seemed to be made of pure hatred and pain. It seemed confused by them and ran circles around them, screaming it’s terrible scream as it did so, before facing back the way it came. As suddenly as it arrived, it departed, barely sparing them a glance, but the effects of it lasted a while past its departure.


“What the hell was that?” Naruto yelled as he shivered, trying to shake the feeling of the shadow off of him.



“Shut up!” Sasuke hissed at him, straining to hear.



“Huh? Hey! Don’t tell me what to…”
“Naruto,” Kakashi started. “Be quiet.”



At the command of his teacher, Naruto grudgingly became quiet like his teammates, and by doing so was able to hear what they had been struggling to hear since the shadow left them.


Someone was laughing.


~_____~



They followed the laughter to the most peculiar of sights. They had reached the edge of the forest and the source of the laughter.


It was Jane Doe. Lying on the ground a broken, bloody, terrifying mess, and she was laughing.


They hadn’t come from under the cover of the trees, so Jane Doe hadn’t noticed them. Upon seeing her, Sakura had made a move to help her, but Kakashi’s restraining hand had stopped her.


They watched as she laughed and laughed. They watched silently and in awe as she sat up and held her head upright as the tear in her neck mended itself. They watched as bones receded back into her flesh and snapped back together. They watched as gashes and cuts on her skin knitted themselves whole. They watched as bruises began to fade and limbs righted themselves. And they watched as her laughter faded only to be replaced by a cold, hard, look of purpose.


Jane Doe stood up and stretched. “MIROKU!” she yelled in sudden fury.


They watched as she cocked her head to the side, as if listening for an answering call. After a second of silence she seemed to hear one, for she set her intent gaze to the south and off she went running.


The ninja’s followed her silently. They didn’t exchange looks, they didn’t speak, and they hardly made sounds as they followed her, still hidden in the forest. Jane Doe was faster than they thought, and they had to use all their energy in keeping up with her.


Her clothes were in tatters and they needn’t bother to panic whenever they would lost sight of her, for they could easily tell her direction from fallen material.


She seemed to run on never ending energy, for she never slowed down in her pace while her pursuers soon tired from the endless running. It wasn’t until they happened upon a river did her furious pace lessen.


As she waded out into the river, the ninja’s rested in the coverage of the trees as she trudged away.


Kagome had gotten to the middle of the waist deep water when she spied her reflection and she halted in her tracks at the sight of it. She stood transfixed, looking at her bloodied horrid face. She watched as her reflection looked at what she had become in revulsion and then hatred. She didn’t blame it, she hated what she had become too.


She swatted the water and watched in satisfaction as her reflection vanished. But her victory was short lived as her reflection was back and looking smug. She hit at it again, and again, and again until she was soaked through, but the reflection kept coming back.


“Stop looking at me!” she yelled as she hit and kicked at the mocking thing.


During her battle she slipped and fell under. She thrashed about wildly as she regained her sense of up and down. Sitting chest deep in the water, Kagome breathed heavily from her excursion as she stared angrily at the reflection, which had come back and was now even closer. The nerve.


She swatted it once more for old times sakes and watched in surprise as she swatted a fish a few good feet across the water.


She stared after it in wonderment. That was the coolest thing she had ever saw. She needed to do it again.


She scrambled around in the water, trying to catch as many fish as she could, and began skipping them down the river like rocks. All thoughts of taunting reflections and Miroku gone from her head as she enjoyed her new past time.


So enthralled in her new game, Kagome didn’t notice the ninja’s until Kakashi had grabbed her wrist, forcing her to release her skipping trout and pay attention to them.


“You have some explaining to do?” Kakashi demanded as he pulled her from the river and into the company of his little ninjas.



Kagome smiled and started to deny that she did, but after catching the gaze of Sakura, and taking in her bedraggle look, her smile waned. “I guess I do…don’t I?”


~___~



Kagome sat on the ground and gave the ninja something they wanted to hear.


“My name is Kagome, and I was the protector of an evil treasure in a world unlike yours. I was born of the earth and it is my destiny to protect the evil of the treasure from those foolish enough to seek it. But centuries at this task drew weary to my heart and I longed for the outside world. I longed for friends and companionship. One day I found it. Treasure hunters. Six of them. Inuyasha, a hanyou, Miroku, a monk, Sango, a demon exterminator, Shippo, a child demon, Kikyo, a priestess, and Kirara, a giant, monster, fire breathing cat. I put off my duties and allowed them access. What harm could come of it? I lied, I said that I was part of the treasure, and they believed me. They took the treasure and I went along with them. I was finally free, able to feel the sun on my face and taste the air of the outside world.”


“I thought you said the treasure was evil?” Sasuke asked with a skeptical look.



“It is.” Kagome answered, as sadness overtook her face. “We had many adventures together but the evil of the treasure began to taint them. I ignored it. I was in denial. I refused to believe that I had done them harm by allowing them at the treasure. And in my ignorance they fell prey to the evil. You saw one of them now. You saw what he has become. I’m the only one left and as it was before, it is my duty to guard the treasure. And protect people from their evil.”


“You’re not doing a very good job.” Naruto added with a disapproving look.



“Yes. But I had craved to be like those who hunted my treasure for so long. And now I’m paying the price for it. I have to kill my friends and return the treasure back to it’s resting place. And…” Kagome looked up at the moon. “I only have a day left, or else your world will be plagued by another month of killing.”



“I’m in.” Sakura announced, moved by the Guardian Spirit’s sad tale of loneliness.



“Yeah!” Naruto shouted as he, Kakashi, and Sasuke, although grudgingly, agreed to help. “Let’s kick their butt!”



Why shouldn’t they believe her. They had seen part of the treasure hanging around her neck. They had come across the evil that was her friend, and they had seen first hand that she truly was a spirit. What human could heal as fast and effectively as she could.


Kagome laughed, at what they thought was Naruto’s enthusiasm, but really at the thrill of her lies.