InuYasha Fan Fiction / Yu Yu Hakusho Fan Fiction ❯ The Cruel Hands Of Fate ❯ Chapter One ( Chapter 1 )

All sounds of battle fell silent as the Shard Hunters watched the scene before them with barely restrained looks of shock and disbelief. They had been battling Naraku and his hordes of minions and detachments for the better part of the day. All present were exhausted and in varying stages of injury, save for Kagome who had remained outside the fray, firing her sacred arrows at any youkai who came too close to her friends and Shippou who had taken up residence on Kagome's shoulder.

 

Just as the sun was coming close to settling on the horizon, Naraku pulled a wild card. Instead of sending out more and more youkai at the worn out group, he began pulling them all back in. Once the various youkai had been drawn back, Naraku turned to his own detachments and began reabsorbing them one at a time in an attempt to increase his power.

 

Kanna had been the last to be absorbed, her mirror falling forgotten next to Kagura's fans. Now, the only ones left on the field were the Shard Hunters, Kouga, Naraku and Kikyou.

 

Kohaku had fallen when Naraku ordered his shard removed and now lay to the side; Kouga was lying not far from him, barely conscious and his body going into shock from blood loss at having his own shards torn from his legs. Kikyou would have been cause for concern were it not for the quick thinking houshi who had attached an ofuda to one of Kagome's arrows before she let it fly, striking the dark miko in the shoulder. Kagome's own miko powers caused the ofuda to completely bind Kikyou's powers, rendering her a normal human.

 

Sango was flickering through stages of shock and depression at the loss of her brother while Miroku was fighting to remain conscious against the pain of his Kazaana being ripped open further.

 

All this damage done left only Kagome and Shippou unharmed and Inuyasha sporting various gashes and bruises, which were already healing.

 

As Naraku's crimson gaze scanned the area and took in the carnage before him, a slow, malicious smirk spread across his face. Before anyone present had time to process what that look could mean, Naraku had Inuyasha impaled and pinned to a nearby tree with his tentacles and had wrapped several others around the now wounded Kikyou.

 

Making sure that the hanyou was watching, Naraku grinned evilly “See Inuyasha? Kikyou has always been mine. Now, she will give me her strength and help me to eliminate you.”

 

“You bastard! Let go of Kikyou!” The hanyou spat, blood trailing from the corners of his mouth.

 

This turn of events helped bring a little more presence of mind to Miroku and he spoke up, “Surely you aren't planning to absorb a miko, Naraku. I didn't think even you were desperate enough to try something that could end in your own purification.”

 

Naraku merely chuckled as his grin spread across his face, “Ah houshi. Of course I wouldn't. That is why I am not trying to absorb Kagome. Kagome has already saved me some trouble by sealing Kikyou's powers with her arrow.”

 

At this piece of information, looks of utter shock crossed the faces of Kagome and Miroku, while Inuyasha's face took on a hate filled scowl.

 

The dark hanyou merely laughed and pulled Kikyou towards him, enveloping her in his tentacles and absorbing her body into his, releasing the souls she had harvested in her travels along with the last piece of her shared soul with Kagome. Inuyasha watched on, struggling against his binds and snarling viciously. Naraku simply ignored him and turned his gaze to Kagome who stood across from him with her last arrow pulled and ready to fire.

 

“My precious Kagome, certainly you don't think you can end my life with just that one arrow, do you? Hand over your shards of the jewel now and I will be kind enough to kill you first, so you don't have to watch your friends die.” The vile hanyou stated matter-of-factly as he took two steps closer to the young miko.

 

As Kagome stood her ground aiming at Naraku, the last portion of her soul rejoined her body and caused her to flare with a soft blue glow. For the first time in years, Kagome felt whole. She smirked, “You will die today, Naraku. You have spilled enough blood and wreaked enough havoc. You don't belong here anymore than Kikyou did.”

 

Those last words falling from her lips echoed across the clearing, reflecting the young miko's strength and determination. Naraku began to laugh anew, finding amusement in the audacity of a child who was about to die. His mirth was cut short, however and soon turned to a pain filled howl.

 

He began viciously clawing at his chest where the pieces of the Shikon no Tama flared a bright pink. “What did you do to me, bitch? The shards…are…purifying me.”

 

The shards continued to pulse, their light flaring a brilliant pink in time with a heartbeat; Kagome's heartbeat. The young miko looked down at the bottle that contained her own shards and her eyes widened when she noticed that they too, were pulsing with the same strange glow. She lifted her wide, blue eyes to fall upon the form of Naraku as he began to turn to ash. His screeches of agony and disbelief rang out across the battlefield as his body was slowly purified, leaving nothing but a swirling of miasma that drifted sluggishly across the ground.

 

Instead of the shards falling to the ground, the stayed suspended in the air, still pulsing with pink energy. Kagome reached up and withdrew the shards in her possession from the small glass jar and watched on in awe as they joined Naraku's, forming the whole Shikon no Tama.

 

Kagome looked around at her friends, “Well, that was…unexpected. I guess that means…it's finally over.” Her voice came out in a soft sort of reverence as if speaking too loudly would cause the entire situation to shatter and find themselves still battling the vile hanyou.

 

Her gaze fell expectantly on Miroku, pointedly regarding his cursed hand. The houshi followed her eyes downward and gulped audibly as he fingered the glove that had adorned his hand for as long as he could remember. Slowly, he lifted the fabric that crossed his palm to peer underneath it.

 

The group remained waiting with baited breathe until Miroku lifted tear-filled, violet eyes back to Kagome and smiled, “It's gone.”

 

A collective sigh of relief made itself known as the entire group began getting up and moving around. Kagome looked at all of her friends in turn, giving them all a smile. She reached to her shoulder and pulled Shippou down to cuddle him against her chest before setting him on the floor of the forest to go look at Miroku's now curse-free hand.

 

Her eyes then fell on the form of the dog-eared hanyou who had yet to move from his slumped position against the tree that he had been pinned against. Her gaze softened and tears pricked her eyes when she remembered Naraku's words. She had been responsible for Kikyou's demise. She hung her head; her bangs hiding her eyes and let her tears escape to burn hot trails down her cheeks.

 

Kikyou was gone and it was her fault.

 

A low, pain-filled growl made Kagome snap her head back up and she focused on Inuyasha; his own eyes held trace amounts of tears even as the red began to seep in. Kagome could only sniffle knowing that if he hadn't truly hated her before, he did now. She opened her mouth in an attempt to say something, anything to the half-demon who had held her heart when a bright flash of light caught her attention.

 

Apparently, the flash of light got everyone else's attention as well, because soon they were all gathering around Kagome watching the jewel.

 

Kagome looked intently at the jewel as it pulsed in time with the beating of her heart. “What in Kami's name is going on?” She whispered to no one in particular. As soon as the question left her lips, the jewel quit flashing and held its brilliant color for a second before it flew straight at Kagome, embedding itself deeply in her chest.

 

She stood there for a moment in stunned silence before reality sunk in and she was forced to the ground. Miroku reached out and caught her in his arms before she hit and helped her down the rest of the way, taking up a seat next to her. Sango sat down on her other side and put a hand on her shoulder, “Kagome…are you alright?”

 

Kagome watched as Inuyasha sat in front of her and nodded blankly as she felt Shippou crawl into her lap. Inuyasha had looked heartbroken before and now his golden eyes flared with the fire of anger. `That bitch. She caused Kikyou to die and now she took the jewel! Damnit! That was my Kikyou and my wish!'

 

The monk reached out to Kagome once more and grasped her chin with his hand, turning her head gently towards him. Once her eyes locked on to his, he spoke “Kagome-sama what happened? Are you alright?”

 

Blinking her eyes rapidly, Kagome finally managed to clear her foggy brain and focus on Miroku “I-I don't know what happened, Miroku-sama. The jewel…” Her voice trailed off as her hand reflexively went to her chest. Not caring much about her modesty at present, she pulled the front of her uniform top down expecting to see something horrible. Her friends all leaned in towards her, intent on finding something out. Once her shirt was pulled down far enough, she ran her hand lightly across her pale skin; there was nothing there. There were no marks, no obtrusions or indentations…nothing that indicated that the jewel was in fact where it had seemed to disappear.

 

Looking up at Miroku with confusion in her eyes, Kagome spoke “I don't know where it went. It felt like it came into my chest but…there isn't anything here! How can a wish be made now?”

 

Her friends could only shake their heads at her question, for they were all as confused as she was. Did the jewel actually return to her body? What did that mean for them? Would Kagome now be able to pass through the well regularly or would she be forced to choose?

 

Before any questions could be brought to light, Kagome found herself surrounded by a brilliant pink glow that emanated from her chest. Panicking, she reached out and grabbed Miroku and Sango by the hand as Shippou clung to her waist “I don't want to go! Not this way, not yet! Please! Sango, Miroku, Shippou, Kirara, Kouga, Inuyasha…I love you all so much. Please…don't forget me.”

 

And as the last of her words fell almost soundlessly from her lips, she disappeared.

 

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Kurama and Hiei were standing patiently in the demi-god's office waiting for him to acknowledge their presence and explain to them their next mission. Yusuke and Kuwabara were currently on a mission of their own involving some low class youkai, leaving the demon partners to tend to this one.

 

Koenma was busily shuffling papers around on his desk in an attempt to find his wayward remote control. He was well aware of the demons in his office and knew they were waiting on him, however the mission they were to be sent on was going to be a little out of the ordinary and it would just be easiest to watch a video. `Besides, Yusuke isn't here screaming at me to hurry up.'

 

He had been informed by his father, King Enma, that a rather powerful artifact called the Shikon no Tama had just appeared on Reikai's radar. Normally, any and all such artifacts were kept locked away in the Spirit World's vaults for safe keeping. This particular artifact however had a totally different story. It was supposed to have been destroyed over 500 years ago when it was burned with the body of its then guardian.

 

Now, there had been a flare of power cross the sensors of Reikai that could only be the Shikon no Tama. King Enma had ordered Koenma to have his Spirit Detectives seek out the jewel and bring it and its current guardian, should it have one, in for questioning immediately.

 

“Ah ha! Finally found it.” The teenage ruler of Reikai exclaimed excitedly pulling his remote control out from under a pile of paperwork, upending it in the process. He stood, grabbing a video tape from a drawer in his desk and walking towards the nearby player, inserting it and resuming his seat.

 

The fox and the fire apparition looked on with an underlying sense of amusement at the antics of the Prince. He always seemed much more relaxed and possibly even charming when Yusuke wasn't around. There was something about Detective Urameshi that could push every button Koenma had all at once and turn him into a sputtering ball of unrepressed rage.

 

“Now, for your next mission” Koenma started but was cut off before his explanations were heard when the body of a young woman dropped, seemingly out of nowhere, onto the floor of his office with a thud.