InuYasha Fan Fiction / Yu Yu Hakusho Fan Fiction ❯ The Blue Anshan ❯ Everything Changes 6 - Destruction ( Chapter 43 )

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: The struggle is real

Chapter Rating: T

Author's Note: Hurricane troubles have subsided here. I made a bit of a breakthrough on the next chapter during the 3hr drive home last night, so new post again maybe later this weekend once I work in this fix, which also adds a bit of welcome trouble for a thing that happens in like 18 chapters...

Arc 5 - Everything Changes 6 - destruction

mine

Kagome hated being controlled by outside influences. The few times it had happened before, she had been able to fight it through willpower, love, or whatever else personal qualities she possessed. This time was different. This spirit had every advantage as well as the power of the Shikon no Tama to completely overwhelm her.

She was terrified she'd made a horrible mistake in revealing so much to the quiet fire youkai, but they needed to stop her somehow. There was no time to lose.

It had been just in time, too. Once the youkai spirit had released the reigns on the power curling throughout her to shift into her natural state of massive proportions, something in her mind disconnected.

The pain was immense, the fathomless hatred was overwhelming, and she couldn't comprehend the physical transformation of the magical creature that had gained control her body. A small part of her wondered if she would have just exploded into tiny Kagome-pieces if the Shikon hadn't been released.

She curled up in her mind, surrounded by the dark fires of the angry spirit's rage, feeling useless and helpless for what felt like far too long. They would have to try and kill her if she couldn't somehow overcome this possession. She didn't want to die, but she also didn't want to allow this reign of terror against innocent bystanders to continue.

She didn't have long to lament her inability to fight back. A pinpoint of light appeared and suddenly her magic flooded her spirit, and she had the smallest amount of time to rejoice in its return before she regained awareness of what was happening around her. She could see the destruction, taste the blood, and hear the screams and cries of the wounded. She was shocked, appalled and sick that so much had gone wrong so quickly.

"STOP!" she shrieked in horror.

The beast roared in defiance. She didn't want to stop. She wanted to rip out his hair, peel the skin from his face, chew off his arms, crush his legs, jab her claws between his ribs and pluck out his cruel heart.

Kagome screamed, trying to drown out the vile imaginations of the vengeful spirit. She knew there was no room for reasoning and there was no more time to hesitate. She unleashed the flames of her purity upon herself.

She would stop this madness, even if it killed her.

The angry kitsune shuddered and rolled across the forest floor, crushing a few trees as it tried to shake free from the pain encompassing her body head to toe.

Gods, purifying herself was the worst pain she could ever have imagined. Her nerves were on fire and it felt as though her skin was bubbling into blisters, flaking and peeling from her muscles. In her agony, she was sure she could feel her bones cracking, her brain melting, and her eyeballs on the verge of bursting from the pressure building in her head.

The possession shrieked once more and then finally released her hold. Kagome felt the rage subside. As she gained control over herself, the massive form shuddered and collapsed in on itself. Kagome found herself crying out again as the strange sensation of regaining her more human appearance flashed through her body and soul. This was nothing compared to the pain of self-purification, though.

The glowing sword that had been buried to the hilt in her massive chest fell to the ground in front of her, its light extinguished and only a shallow puncture remaining where she had been pierced. She shivered and wept in a huddled mass amongst the wreckage of the forest.

Warmth flooded her as injuries from the self-purification were healed, but nothing would be able to fix the mental anguish she felt, knowing what she had just done to any poor creatures or people that had been in the way of the possession's rage. She turned her face to press her forehead to the bloodied packed dirt and took a shuddering breath. This was no time to wallow in pain and regret for something she couldn't control.

She murmured quietly, "If you dare to do anything of that manner again, I will kill us both." The angry spirit within her welled up once more in rage and Kagome flared her purification magic in warning. She cringed against the sharp burn that tore throughout her flesh, her body curling into itself again.

A moment later, a twisting blue vine poked up over her shoulder to wipe away one of her tears. 'Of course, the blasted vine would be just fine with so much power from the shikon.' She laughed, but it was bitter with a smidgen of hopelessness. What the fuck was she going to do with this mess?

the onlookers

Hiei dropped to the ground in front of the towering kitsune as she roared, enveloped in the pink flames of purity. The scent of burning fur filled the air and the weird glittering ash sparkled around her as she burned.

Within moments, the nine-tail's legs collapsed and she crashed to a heap in the forest, rolling and thrashing to try and put out the flame that could not be extinguished. He could hear her mental demands for control, but he doubted the enraged spirit had any acuity to understand. He briefly wondered if she planned to kill herself to stop the beast.

Kurama stepped to his side and the two watched with some measure of relief as her form shuddered and began to collapse in on itself, shrinking as she writhed against the unnatural sensations.

~Glad to see you're still in one piece.~

Hiei watched as she tried to pull herself together. *This is the most unbelievable day I think we have ever had as a team.*

~I can think of a few that topped what we have seen today.~

Hiei said nothing. Kurama hadn't gotten the same story dump from her panicked mind. He held out his blistered sword hand without looking at his partner. *She burns.*

Kurama's eyebrows lifted high in surprise, perhaps not quite understanding the significance of Hiei's remark. 'Yes, she does. Do you want something for that?'

He shrugged, briefly glancing away from the female in the midst of the crushed foliage. *Where are the others?*

'We couldn't distract her. They ran ahead to try and warn others to flee while they had a chance.'

~I wonder if this thing she wants to kill is the same youkai that tried to burn down that tree?~

*It is. From what I've picked up, the spirit had been trapped for centuries in a statue, forced to watch as he destroyed things she would have held dear.*

Kurama shuddered. That was a long time to be tortured. The spirit's mind was likely broken beyond all hope of repair. ~And she found an opportunity to possess a weak, practically-human avatar.~

Hiei's mouth curved in a slight smirk, but he remained silent. His observation was only partially true, if he really twisted the meaning behind the entire statement. She had been weak due to missing the bulk of her magic. Practically-human because she had started as such but hadn't been truly human, ever. Humans were mundane. This girl was far from it.

Knowing what he knew now, he watched and felt for the telltale signs of the jewel's draw.

Nothing.

His friend stood quietly beside him and they stared down at the girl as she pressed her face into the dirt beneath her and shuddered.

dream

The red faded from her sight, and the awful burn subsided. Her heart lurched in her chest, foreign and steady. "What is this?" Hananoki pushed herself to her knees, staring down in confusion at her blood-spattered arms. The scent of gore and death hung heavily in the air, and she wrinkled her nose in distaste. "What has happened?"

Was this another dream? Another temporary reprieve from the endless eternity of torment where she'd been trapped? A length of pretty blue flora slid slowly into view, curling lethargically around one of her arms. She stared at it in fascination. It tickled the fine hairs along her skin, and she could sense the plant's nature as more coiled around her in happy loops, full of power and pleased with its circumstances. This was far too much detail for just a dream.

A sob unexpectedly broke from her throat, surprising her. She was not sad. But she was. She felt the sorrow rolling up through her chest, clenching in her throat, running in silent trails over her cheeks.

"What have you done?" This tortured whisper was not her voice, but it spilled from her lips as though it were. The words were strange, the accent unfamiliar, the pain and misery rippling through her body very different from her impossibly long heartbreak of betrayal.

Her body stood of its own accord. She jerked against the control, stumbling backwards. Some unnatural magic flared within her, ripping white-hot through her muscles. "Stop fighting me!" the stranger's voice came again from her throat.

"No! What are you doing to me?" Hananoki cried out, clutching her arms to herself to ward against the pain. The beautiful blue plant cried to her of its discomfort. What was happening? "Stop, you're hurting it!"

The stranger's voice was angry and miserable as she replied, "We share this body. Move aside and I will stop this pain. I have to help the people you hurt and killed in your anger."

Hurt? She had killed people? She stilled in surprise. "What have I done?" Was that… was her running dream of revenge not actually a dream? She looked at her shaking hands in surprise, studying the traces of flesh and blood still clinging to her fingertips, jammed under the tips of her claws. She could pick out scents from more than a few different people. Her mouth fell open in horror.

Unable to process the knowledge that she'd caused pain, that she'd harmed anyone, that she could ever be cruel like him…? A wail of misery fell from her lips and trailed off into nothing as her spirit retreated in anguish, hiding itself from sight. Kagome drooped in misery, dreading to know the truth.

bad news

Kuwabara was the next to find them once the chaos had ended. He watched quietly as she fought against herself. Watched as her magic flared and pushed back the eerie green glow that had only been visible in small traces prior to whatever had happened before she'd leapt off the cliff. He could now see a second spirit within her struggling against the burning vastness of this strange girl's soul.

And now there was a new brightness within her. What the heck was he witnessing? He stared, puzzled at the rainbow of colors that swept through her once the fire of her magic had retreated, flowing through her body in a slow pulse that retreated to linger in the center of her torso.

"Guys," he muttered at the two standing quietly nearby. Hiei looked in his direction, and Kuwabara was unnerved by how bored his teammate looked, almost as if none of this surprised him. Maybe his freaky mind-reading thing had finally found a way to get the answers they needed.

~Possession, hm? A two-for-one deal…~ Youko murmured, eyeing the girl with renewed interest.

"How many…" She turned to them with a stricken expression. "What did…" She couldn't finish her questions, but they understood what she wanted to know. She pressed a hand to her throat and swallowed back the misery, pulling herself together. She'd been able to assuage her guilt for those that had tried to kill her first. Running headlong through innocent bystanders would be a completely different story. She might never be able to forgive herself.

Yusuke arrived a moment later and shook his head with a frown. The kitsune beast's brief rampage through the woods as she mindlessly tracked her enemy's scent left a lot of damage in her wake. The woods had been demolished for miles. Countless creatures had been crushed underfoot.

The worst part of it all was that an entire village of people had been scattered and many were gravely wounded; some that couldn't escape their homes quickly enough had been killed. Kuwabara broke the news with a grimace. "One village was destroyed. Three dead. About a dozen wounded." She pressed her hand to her mouth, turning pale. "It could have been much worse," he tried to console her. It didn't help.

"Okay what the fuck is going on here? Lady, we're gonna need some answers before anything else crazy happens."

The newcomer Shippo dropped into view carrying a limp form in his arms. "Answers are going to have to wait. We probably don't have much time before he comes back."

"Damnit, how many more surprises are we gonna have to suffer through before someone tells us what we need to know?"

Shippo pressed his lips together and sighed in exasperation. "Okay, a few answers, but we have to be quick."

Kuwabara protested. "There are a lot of people around here that need our help right now."

"Call some healers from your Reikai, if you must." Shippo moved to stand between the four teammates, his back to Kagome so she couldn't see the bundle in his arms. He adjusted the body carefully to expose her face. Kurama hummed in understanding once he saw the matching green eyes and red hair, and Kuwabara could see the tiniest thread of connection drifting between the distressed girl standing some distance away and the motionless body he carried.

"Is that who…" Kuwabara started to ask.

Shippo held up a finger to silence his question and winked, then brushed his hand over the motionless body, his magic settling into place so that she appeared like a completely different girl.

Yusuke gasped. "That's…!"

Kuwabara glanced at Yusuke. "I don't understand, who is she?"

"I need to go confirm something with my friend back there before I say anything else. I have a theory, and if I'm right and we're quick, we might be able to save a life and stop that shit," he waved behind him in the general direction of the god tree, "from ever happening again." He tugged the cloak back over her features, hiding her from view. "Can you please keep her safe for a moment?" He looked to Kurama with a serious expression.

~This is…~ Kurama reached out gingerly to take the concealed body from Shippo. ~…or was, his mother…?~

*How can you be certain?*

~Scent, and the resemblance to my adoptive mother, her blood kin. They could be sisters.~

*Veritable family reunion, today.* Hiei rolled his eyes and sighed. *Is this another one I will eventually need to discourage from getting interested?*

Youko chuckled. ~Doubtful, even if she were awake.~

He stared at the others and motioned that they should give the girl and her friend some space to reunite briefly while they quietly discussed. "Kuwabara, what are you seeing?"

"There's a connection between the body and that girl. I think whatever's got her belongs in this body instead." He peered over at the two reuniting friends, blinking against the blinding light emanating from her again as they embraced. "It really hurts to look at her, sometimes. You guys can't see that?" The others glanced back to see the two stepping away from each other hastily, looking surprised and uncomfortable as they stared at each other. The others looked back at Kuwabara and collectively shrugged.

Kurama nodded at Yusuke, who added on, "His magic makes this sleeping lady look just like Kagome did when she was at Keiko's shop." Yusuke narrowed his eyes. "How does he know what she looked like?"

Kurama held up a hand to allow Hiei to speak.

Hiei gave one clue that mattered: "She picked up the spirit from the statue of a girl that was outside of the barrier."

Kuwabara stared at his teammate, wondering how much more he knew and wasn't sharing. Hiei glared at him, daring him to say something. 'There must be a reason he's keeping quiet about whatever he knows.' Hiei made the smallest movement in agreement with his speculation, and Kuwabara felt a moment of surprise. Hiei never agreed with anything he said or did. He glanced back at the weird girl. He might not be the only one worrying about Reikai.

Kurama nodded. "Those two back there… Long ago, and I mean long enough that this doesn't make any sense, he told me that she's his favorite person. If this is the truth, then he likely knows most everything about her, including what she looks like when she's pretending to be human. If magic had trapped that spirit in a statue, and the soul escaped into a new host, then the spell keeping her as stone might have broken."

"But why would he make the body look like someone else's? Why not just leave her as she was? Maybe the spirit will want to go home to her body once she sees she's no longer stuck as a rock." Yusuke had some good points, but only Hiei had an idea why this Shippo had made a ruse of the situation.

"Backpack," Hiei interrupted, holding his hand out for the girl's belongings. Kuwabara handed over the pack with a shrug, and Hiei tossed it to the kitsune that had just turned to ask for it.

"I'm not sure yet." Kurama frowned, glancing over at the girl with her friend, kneeling nearby as they spoke quietly. "Let's get some help out here for these people before anything else happens. He made it sound like more trouble should be expected." Yusuke nodded and pulled out his communicator.

Hiei glared at Yusuke. "Don't tell them much about the girl if they ask. There are things we need to understand and resolve before they mess it up any further."

Yusuke nodded and stepped away from them to reach out to Reikai.

*You were right. Nothing in that kitsune's head makes any sense.*

~Details?~

*Nothing concrete, yet.* What Hiei really meant was, nothing I will ever share with you, because the new kitsune knew all about her trinket and kept mentally circling about a 500-year old curse somehow affecting a girl that had recently admitted to being only nineteen years old and how glad he was to see her well after so many years apart. Here's where it became even less clear in the kitsune's overly ecstatic thoughts - his frame of reference jumped between a grown Kagome and a very young Kagome, but backwards? How broken was this kitsune's brain? Her memory dump hadn't included enough of the pertinent details to make any sense.

If they didn't have much time, what other madness might they still have left to encounter?