InuYasha Fan Fiction / Sailor Moon Fan Fiction ❯ Breathless ❯ Self-fulfilled Prophecy ( Chapter 51 )

Disclaimer: This is the fifty first chapter, you should already know by now that I don't own Inuyasha and Sailor Moon, because the true owners are Rumiko Takahashi, etc, and Noako Takeuchi, etc. Gee, when are you gonna learn?

 

 

Chapter Fifty.

 

 

`Fulfilled Prophecy'

 

 

“What's wrong, Usagi-san?” Rin asked when she noticed the way the blonde had started clutching at her chest with an erratic breathing.

 

 

“Something's wrong…” the older girl managed to whimper between her short breaths “I can feel it”

 

 

 

 

“Long time no see, indeed. Isn't that right…Kaede?” Naraku repeated malevolently as he approached her slowly.

 

 

“W-what are you doing here?!?” Kaede said desperately as she took one step back, knowing full well that, at the level of power Naraku was currently displaying, there wasn't much that she alone could do against him. However, she recovered instantly, and steeling herself, she straightened up and squared her shoulders to face him with the dignity of a full-fledged priestess. `This is the man that killed your sister…' she told herself.

 

 

`I am all alone right now and I may die, but I've already lived long enough…I'm not afraid of death. So if he kills me, then so be it… I will go down honoring the name of our family… … Onee-sama…'

 

 

“What brings you here?” she repeated, narrowing her eyes at him. Seeing that she no longer showed fear, Naraku ceased his advance.

 

 

“Always straight and to the point, the women of your family” the Dark Hanyou said smirking, as if he had read her thoughts, “All of them so… courageous. But then again, you didn't have a choice, did you Kaede? You had to make up for the fact that you were always… so plain; whereas Kikyo was always the prettier sister…”

 

 

“…I'm too old, Onigumo…” the priestess told him venomously, hoping to hit a nerve with that name, “Your childish tricks will not work on me”

 

 

“So I've noticed” he answered lazily, and she noticed he was rather unaffected by the barb of `that' particular name, which was rather surprising.

 

 

“What else could you possibly want with our village?” she interrogated then, “We have no shikon shards!!!” she practically spat at him, not aware of how much she reminded him of the girl Kagome at that very moment.

 

 

And quite ironically, `that' was precisely what quite apparently, did hit a nerve.

 

 

“I am well aware of that” he hissed, growing furious, “I also think you know the reason why I'm here” his red eyes flashed, “Where is she, Kaede? …Where… Is… Usagi…?” he once again began to approach her.

 

 

Kaede gasped. `He doesn't know?'

 

 

“I don't know” she replied “and even if I did, I wouldn't tell you either. Leave her alone! What do you want with her?!”

 

 

She didn't like the answer that she got next.

 

 

“She is `mine'”

 

 

“Yours?” Kaede's gaze narrowed again with hatred. “Do you take me for a fool?!?” she exclaimed rather disbelievingly, “I sensed her aura, she is not evil… she is not” she sounded almost in denial. Naraku took pity on her.

 

 

“She doesn't have to be… to belong to me”

 

 

“If she's not evil, she can't be your willing servant” the priestess snapped in anger. She suddenly thought of Sango; perhaps Usagi was the same “…Tell me! What are you threatening her with?!”

 

 

“Servant?” he interrupted with a laugh, in a tone that was a mixture of surprise, scorn and realization, raising his chin, “is that what you think she is?”

 

 

`…She might be so much more than just that…'

 

 

`She may be my home, my world and my new dream…' he thought to himself.

 

 

Giving Kaede an absolutely cruel, vicious taunting smirk, he added.

 

 

“She is mine…the way Kikyo'snever been…”

 

 

 

 

At the top of a cretain mountain…

 

 

“Mhm, this is indeed strange,” Totosai mumbled, turning the two pieces in his hands as he was examining the broken Fang “unlike Tetsusaiga, Tenseiga is a sword with self-healing abilities, there is no possible damage ever done to it that those healing properties shouldn't be able to fix by themselves. However, it almost looks like it doesn't `want' to heal itself… and you say the person who did this was the same that caused the cataclysm?” he glanced up at the Demon Lord. “Are you certain of this?”

 

 

“She…is nothing but a weak ningen” Sesshoumaru replied as if trying to dismiss the subject; looking away “if not in power, then in spirit and in mind…she's way too subservient” he finished with distinguished disdain.

 

 

“Um… Subservient, you say?” the sword smith blinked in genuine confusion, “…And she almost destroyed the world?”

 

 

“Due to her inability to control her own power, most surely”

 

 

“Ah, of course” the older demon said with belied irony “So you're keeping her in order to teach her, so that she doesn't become a threat to herself or others?” he reasoned, because it was what any person with half a sense would do. …He only hoped Sesshoumaru was one of those people with half a sense, at the very least.

 

 

“That is absurd” the Taiyoukai snarled. He `had' considered preventing her from ever causing another cataclysm, this was true; it was one of the reasons he had kept her… but teach her? He did not have the time to waste. Besides…“Her powers are spiritual”

 

 

“So are yours; you know that. Same as with powerful miko, youkai power comes from the spirit” explained Totosai “and only those with great power in their spirits can teach someone else. The difference between what's mystical and what's demonic consists merely of a thin line; the `true' difference between what's holy and what's sinful lies in the heart, not the blood, as I'm sure that you `are' aware despite the appearances. Thus, even though you are youkai, Sesshoumaru, if there is no other human-being with spiritual power as great as her… then you, as a Demon Lord, `could' teach her to develop self-restraint” `…Heck, you could even re-learn some yourself, while you're at it' the sword-craftsman thought to himself a bit snidely.

 

 

 

 

Meanwhile, back at the village, Kaede was staring at Naraku aghast.

 

 

“It's…It's not true!” she stuttered “you're lying!!!”

 

 

“Am I?” the Dark Hanyou questioned, mocking.

 

 

“That can't be…” she exclaimed breathlessly, completely in shock and stumbling “She's…she's too pure for you…” `Oh Kami, he can't possibly mean…!'

 

 

Naraku's red gaze squinted.

 

 

“She's not… Kikyo…” he spat the name as if it revolted him.

 

 

“I will not believe it” Kaede bit back, once again regaining control of herself, “She is too pure…too innocent… whereas you... your hands are stained with so much blood and your soul's so filled with dirty thoughts you shouldn't be able to `touch' her! …Stay away from her, Onigumo! She is not for you, as neither was Kikyo! I will NOT let you hurt Usagi like you hurt her!!!” She couldn't continue, though, for she was immediately struck on the shoulder by one of his tentacles, much like a rapid viper's bite, in the same way her older sister had been at Mount Hakurei.

 

 

“You…” she glared at him with all she had, falling to her knees clutching her injured shoulder.

 

 

“Do not fear priestess; you will not die…” `Not today…' “The sting of my poison this time will only make you passed out” he told her grimly, then gave her a small smile, “I hope you don't mind that my… servants spend a little time `playing' at the village while you're out” his gaze turned more hateful when he saw her gasp. “You see, they've been a bit restless lately, what with the cataclysm and everything. Perhaps… this way one of the villagers might even tell them where she is” his eyes flashed once again, belying his conversational tone “don't you agree?”

 

 

“You…foulest, vilest creature” the old woman staggered as her strength left her, her entire form dropping lifelessly to the ground; but she was still conscious.

 

 

“Sweet dreams, Kaede”

 

 

Turning around, he started walking away from her. He hadn't taken but two steps when he heard her stammering voice.

 

 

“…She doesn't know…does she?” she said in nothing but a whisper, but Naraku was still able to hear her perfectly, which made him slow his strides. “She doesn't know who…what you are…what you're really capable of”

 

 

`We'll see, you wretched hag; we'll see…if I can `touch' Usagi or not'

 

 

“When she does… when she sees, we'll see… …we'll see…what you do, Nara…ku” were her last words before the poison got the best of her, rendering her unconscious.

 

 

She never got to see the deep, profound effect those words had had on him.

 

 

…She never saw his eyes darken with rage.

 

____________________________________________________________

 

 

“Usagi-san? Usagi-san! What is it! What's wrong with you!?” Back at the valley, the little girl exclaimed when she saw the older girl clutch her head tightly as well as her chest, shutting her eyes tight with an anguished scream of pain.

 

 

“Is she ill?!!” Kohaku asked as he came to them running.

 

 

“I don't know! Out of the blue she just started acting like this!” Rin cried out to him, panicked.

 

 

“Great! …Just great! …Just what I needed at this moment” Jaken mumbled worried, “A sick human!”

 

 

Meanwhile, Usagi had grown very pale and begun sweating, rocking back and forth.

 

 

“It hurts… it hurts… Stop it! Please stop!” she cried over and over, as if unaware of her surroundings.

 

 

“She's hallucinating” Kohaku concluded, “Get away from her, Rin! It might be contagious” he said as he tried to take her place by the feverish young woman's side. “Let me see her”

 

 

However, Rin wasn't ready to leave her side just yet. “Usagi-san?” she called as she grabbed the blonde woman's arm…

 

 

…And just like that, she was assaulted by a vision.

 

 

It was the vision of a village… in flames. She was right in the middle of it, standing on the blood soaked ground; the only silent, passive spectator of the massacre perpetuated by hundreds and hundreds of lesser youkai monsters, while peasants ran away screaming in sheer terror left and right.

 

 

…She remembered those monsters; they were the same kinds of monsters that had surrounded the palace where she'd been held captive when Kagura kidnapped her, that time when Naraku had tried to lure Lord Sesshoumaru into a trap in order to devour him whole.

 

 

They were `his'… …Naraku's monsters…

 

 

“What is this?!” the little girl cried in fear at finding herself so unexpectedly in the middle of such scenario… Where were Usagi-san, Kohaku and Jaken-sama!? “How… how did I get here!?”

 

 

“NOOOOOO!!!!!!!!!!!!” she unexpectedly heard a female's voice yelling. She recognized the voice. Looking in the direction of the voice, she realized she wasn't alone, she wasn't the only one watching…because Usagi was near, also watching the bloodshed with overwhelmed incredulity only a few feet away from where she herself was. “Kaede-baba! Where are you?!? Kaede-baba!!!”

 

 

“Usagi-san??!” Rin called out, but the blonde just kept looking frantically around, as if she didn't see or hear her… `She can' see me? Is this some sort of illusion?!'

 

 

Then there was laughter…and two shadowy figures that approached them slowly. When they stepped into the light emitted by the fire, Rin was able to recognize one of them as Byakuya, Naraku's raven haired servant.

 

 

“We might have overdone it a little bit, don't you think?” …But when her gaze followed the new voice and moved towards the other, a lavender haired woman, she couldn't help but cry out in total surprise.

 

 

She looked identical to Usagi!

 

 

But she wasn't her…she couldn't be her…and she would be certain not only because the real Usagi didn't have lavender hair or bi-colored purple and red eyes… not only because the real Usagi, the blonde Usagi, was now standing right beside her watching what the male and her own “twin” were doing in absolute horror.

 

 

No.

 

 

Looking up at the cold eyes and cruel smile in a face totally identical to the one she'd usually only seen as gentle and warm, deep inside her Rin somehow knew at that moment that, were her real friend ever to change her hair and eye color to match those of this most contrasting woman… even if her real friend did that and then went to stand beside her look-alike, Rin felt she would still recognize the difference between them.

 

 

They were like the day and night.

 

 

“Tsumi…Byakuya… Stop!!!” the heartbroken murmur by her side brought Rin's attention back to the golden haired woman, “`What' are you doing??!!”

 

 

They didn't seem to hear her though, for they continued chatting as they watched the massacre happening all around them in detached interest.

 

 

To Be Continued.

 

 

A/N: If you're wondering about the chapter's title, you guys might want to remember previous chapter 31 “Memories” when Kaede tried this new “method” to encourage Usagi's power into awakening and as a result Usagi was assaulted by a couple of very strange visions… (Evil chuckle) …Will all the things she'd seen that time actually come to pass? On the other hand, while all this stuff was happening in Sesshoumaru's group you didn't REALLY think Naraku was gonna just stay there and sit for too long, did you? …Here you have him back in all his glory.

 

 

Anyway…Okay; we'll leave this chapter here and move the rest of the action onto the next, so as not to leave you guys hanging… with the previous chapter, “Barbecue”, I mean. If I kept writing it all in this chapter, between corrections and rewriting and stuff it would take me a lot longer to upload this chapter… Thus I leave it here, so I can post this chapter immediately.