InuYasha Fan Fiction / Yu Yu Hakusho Fan Fiction ❯ The Blue Anshan ❯ Everything Changes 4 - Possession ( Chapter 41 )

The Blue Anshan

By Alesyira

Disclaimer: Inuyasha and Yu Yu Hakusho are not mine. I made a few OCs to fill in my gaps.

Summary: What's yours is mine

Chapter Rating: T

Author's Note: part of this was written about 11 years ago. the amount of time this story has been in limbo is kinda scary

Arc 5 - Everything Changes 4 - Possession

The power of the Shikon no Tama could not be contained forever, imprisoned within a little glass ball, unable to feel its Guardian. Kagome was its home; its gateway from the netherworld to the living realm; its protector. When the two mikos joined their powers to hide it away from the mortal realm, they had thought the tiny jewel to be complete, whole, and at peace with its purity.

They were wrong.

For centuries, the jewel had lain dormant, quiet and content, entwined with the soul of its former Guardian as it drifted toward reincarnation. Once they had rejoined the realm of the living, it continued to sleep, at peace for fifteen years within the body of its new Guardian until the day Mistress Centipede had jerked it from slumber to begin the fateful journey, shattering, and eventual recollection of its pieces into a whole.

Along this journey, with the thousands of lives it had touched, the emotions and desires of its many 'handlers' had given it a fresh perspective on freedom. In its own way, it had guided those that took control of its shards toward its true home, and when Kagome finally placed her fingers around the completed sphere, it had new appreciation for the world around it.

And then they had sealed it away.

For an entire year, it had sulked and brooded within its confinement, unhappy and lonely without the warmth of its Guardian. It knew she would never relinquish her guardianship, so it waited, patiently, for the day it might be free again. In the jewel's long existence, a year was hardly a blink, and when that pinprick of light appeared within the previously impenetrable wall, it took the opportunity to reacquaint itself with the outside world.

The warm tingle along her multiple injuries soothed the throbbing pain away and drew a contented sigh from the exhausted girl. She rolled over slightly to rest her head upon the crook of her elbow. She muttered her appreciation toward whatever healing trick one or the other had done and easily slipped back into deep sleep.

Wake up.

'Mm?'

Get up.

'Okay.'

Come back to the clearing. You've left something behind.

'Now? But I'm so exhausted.'

Just relax and let go. I will help you get there.

'Alright.'

Yusuke and Kuwabara were heatedly discussing their next moves when the girl stirred from her rest. Kuwabara glanced over first and did a double-take. The odd mix of colors that had previously made up her aura had begun to literally glow, and his jaw dropped in surprise.

Yusuke trailed off at his friend's expression and turned to look behind him just in time to see her form rising from the ground in a strange arch, defying gravity in an unnatural movement of limbs that eventually got her to her feet. She stood, slumped over and facing the clearing they'd left behind. "Uh, Kagome?" Yusuke called.

Hiei and Kurama broke off their conversation and looked down at the girl's strange behavior.

Kuwabara's eyes were riveted on her energies and the swirl of color, and he squinted against the burning brightness of something emanating from her center as it slowly overtook her entire body, eventually forcing him to shield his eyes.

Once he'd blocked her brightness, he spotted a weird trail of green mist that led back toward the clearing they'd left a bit ago.

She didn't acknowledge Yusuke calling her name and took a single step toward the edge of the cliff twenty feet away. They weren't very high up, but without knowing exactly what she was —and she could still be just another weird mortal, fragile enough to die from the 50 foot drop— when she took another slow step toward the ledge Yusuke's heart leapt into his throat. 'Is she sleepwalking?' "Wait, Kagome!"

"She's following the trail!" Kuwabara stood quickly.

"What trail?" someone asked, but he paid no attention and moved forward to stop her before—

Her whole body shuddered and she leapt forward off the cliff in a single spring. Yusuke cursed. All four of the team gave immediate chase, but she landed on her toes in the branches of a tree and was sprinting headlong through the forest faster than they could believe. Hiei caught up with her first and mentally cursed.

*Her eyes are glowing red - she's lost control of herself?*

~Can you take her down without killing her? We need to keep away from that clearing. Crowds have gathered there and the story keeping them at bay is flimsy at best.~

Hiei leapt at her sideways, but he was violently rebuffed by the vines that were suddenly in far better condition than they had been just minutes ago.

*Those fucking vines! Her mental barriers are down, but her mind is completely blank.*

She reached the outer edge of the clearing seconds later and slid to a stop right outside Shippo's fiery barrier. Hiei caught up with her just in time to see her lean over a previously unnoticed stone figure toppled on its side in the grass, her hands outstretched to gingerly touch its surface. The chilling shriek of an angry spirit emanated from the statue as a flickering green light leapt from the stone to her fingertips, then spread quickly up her arms, suffusing her skin and eyes with an acid glow. Hiei leapt forward to tackle her while she was stationary, but she caught his wrist and flung him past her.

He landed easily and turned to make another attempt, but she threw her head back and that same angry shriek now came from her throat as she screamed in rage. Youki swirled around her form as she shot through the woods in a new direction.

*That is not the same girl anymore!*

It had been so long. SO LONG. CENTURIES. Hananoki's rage abounded, and she reveled in her newfound freedom. She couldn't care less that her body was wrong. It had energy like her own and responded well enough for her needs. It was absolutely brimming with power, and she had a despicable horrible bastard of a man to tear apart with her bare hands.

~Can you take over her mind while her defenses are down? Make her stop so we can help her. How the hell is she so fast now?~

*I can't get into her inner mind to shut it down, I'm just skimming the thoughts off the edge. Whatever has control of her is very focused on exacting revenge. This rage is bordering on madness.* Hiei briefly listened to the intended acts of mutilation streaming from the enraged kitsune ahead of them. *...exceptionally detailed and violent madness.*

Another voice echoed through the savage thoughts, a disjointed plea for help. He focused his attention on that and caught the trailing end of begging and prayers, 'please no no no don't do this please this is all wrong stop please oh kami no no'

It took him a moment to remember what her name was to catch her attention. *Kagome?*

The kitsune raged ahead with her litany of destruction, apparently not noticing his mental prodding. 'Oh thank everything... you can hear me! You've got to stop her right now!'

*We are trying, but you have to slow down. I am not sure what to do that won't immediately kill you. Those vines…*

At a less chaotic time, he might have been amused by the sudden string of cursing in her thoughts as he sensed her frustration at having kept so many damned secrets. 'There is literally nothing you can do to kill me right now! To stop her you need to know what I know and I don't even have time to be sure I can trust you!' The threat implicit in her words made him scoff, like she could do anything to retaliate against—

A barrage of memories slammed through his thoughts as he chased her through the upper tiers of the forest, and in the next moment he entirely missed the branch he'd been aiming for. He landed hard on the ground and rolled with the impact, quickly processing the shit she had just dumped into his head.

He understood now why she hadn't wanted to say a damned thing to them, and why her tree had given her warnings to avoid their team. That trinket the Jagan had shown such interest in wasn't just some insignificant bauble. They were in serious trouble.

*Reikai must never know of this.*

'The seal we put in place must have been broken! If I had more time I could regenerate my missing miko-ki to balance out her youki, but we don't have the time! She is headed in a direct path through who knows what with murder on her mind ... oh kami what is she doing now-'

Her thoughts cut off in a panicked shriek. A new haze of power and echoes of screaming pain ripped up his spine like his muscles were trying to separate from his skeleton. The unexpected strength of his mental connection with this impossible female was more intense than any he'd experienced before. Was it related to the dangerous power now coursing freely through her?

The agonized cries shouting through his mind choked off into a whimper with her next thought, 'Can you... maybe fetch my ki...'

*Fetch?!* he growled in response, moving quickly to keep her slight form in view.

Her thoughts were getting a little weird and twisted, 'yeah, magic... from tree-sama...could probably...' her mental voice curled into a distinct sound of distress for a moment before she managed to continue, 'stab her with it... never know what hit her...'

The trace of youki ahead exploded outward as the Not-Kagome transformed into a monstrously large nine-tailed kitsune. The sensation was like nails on chalkboard as the two conflicting energies scraped against one another, before her natural magic was grossly overpowered by the possession's.

'...no good...' came the tiniest whisper in his mind, then silence from the crazy weird girl.

Hiei let loose a string of expletives. *Fox, I'm about to try something really stupid. You three try to keep her distracted and don't die.*

~What?! Hiei?!~

Hiei flipped midair and rebounded off a thick trunk to rocket back in the opposite direction, heading full-speed to the clearing where everything had gone wrong. Moments later, he burst unharmed through the fiery barrier and landed next to the kitsune that had just finished the last touches on his protections, startling an elder youkai that had been sitting nearby. "We have a problem with your lady friend. I need to get her magic back from the tree. Now."

"Kagome? Er - you need to what?" The ghostly dancing illusion had long since stopped twirling and now knelt before the tree, pretending to be deep in prayer. Shippo stood in a hurry, turning in concern toward where he could sense the raging anger. He looked at the tree in contemplation, wondering how much of her magic he'd be able to take to her without becoming completely useless. Probably not much. He glanced back at the short youkai risking his neck for his favorite person. Kami, he hoped this one didn't melt. He shuddered in revulsion at the thought of that mess.

Hiei stared hard at the glowing tree before him, his third eye blazing in concentration. Stab her with her own power? He stepped closer to the tree and felt his skin tingle in warning. The very air felt like it was searing his flesh as he approached.

He drew his blade, watching the swirls of pure energy twisting around the branches overhead. He knelt beside the illusory shrine maiden and offered his drawn blade to the tree, bowing his head. *Tree-sama, I don't know if you can hear me, but Kagome needs her magic back.*

'Touch the blade to my roots, imiko, and if you are honest in your request, her magic might not kill you.'

What the hell else would he do with her magic? Even coming so close to this tree was madness. He braced himself and pointed his blade downward to touch a curling root of the massive tree. He watched with his third eye as tendrils of the potent magic crawled up the sword toward his steady hand.

*Burn me.*

It was a dare for her and a deadly challenge for himself. Youko had piqued his interest when he'd mentioned how her blood had burned. Nothing had burned him before. The hottest fires of the Makai had failed to harm him. This was a different fire - a different burn. He'd had only the smallest sample earlier that evening, and he craved another brush of the impossible.

This magic was not his and far beyond his control. The Jagan understood the imminent threat to its evil existence and shuttered itself quickly, barring itself behind self-imposed barriers to hide from the light of her magic. It seared his palm as it spread from the handle to his flesh, seeking his purpose. He exhaled through the pain of this burn and held himself steady under the sudden onslaught of fire as it licked up his arm and seeped into his core.

He chuckled in self-derision. How ironic that the forbidden child's final moments would be bursting into flames on a fool's errand. The sword suddenly grew heavy in his palm, and he cracked open his eyes to stare down at the brightly glowing blade. The kitsune standing nearby whistled lowly, impressed.

He was mildly surprised to discover he wasn't actually on fire.

'Go, quickly!' The tree's voice broke through his brief moment of reverie.

Didn't need to tell him twice. Hiei shot back toward the flares of raging youki in the distance, the mysteriously heavy sword leaving a glowing trail behind him like a comet.

The towering nine-tail kitsune was running far ahead, though not as speedily as she had in her humanoid form. The beast screamed in rage as it bounded through the forest, crushing everything before it as she roared for her vengeance. He flashed ahead of it and turned around to face it head on. *Stab her with her own magic... I hope her brain wasn't already addled when she came up with that suggestion.* He sighed and leapt toward the stampeding creature's chest, glowing blade extended before him.

The incensed youkai paid no attention to the tiny speck of a male before her, not even when he brandished his glowing sword. The prick of pain from the blade embedding to its hilt in her breast was nothing, and she stomped flat the copse of trees before her.

Her target was close; she could scent his trail:

the ash on the breeze

the spark in the air

the burn in her heart.