InuYasha Fan Fiction ❯ A Demon's Heart and Ultimate Sacrifice (Kag/Sess) ❯ The Battle Begins ( Chapter 21 )

Kagome could see the hurt look on Sango's face. Once again Naraku was using her little brother like a puppet. InuYasha's eyes never left Kikyo. He appeared to be torn between an enormous amount of anger and love.

Kikyo began to slowly advance, stopping beside Kohaku. Neither made any attempt to come towards them. Together they all stood, prepared to do battle the moment it was necessary.

Sesshoumaru moved himself next to Kagome, intending to keep his word about protecting the priestess. He could tell she was nervous and he reached down and took her hand in his; not taking his eyes of his enemies. Kagome could sense the jewel coming at them much faster now, and it was close. Moments later Naraku appeared before them, with Kagura at his side. Today he did not disguise himself with his baboon skins. He merely wore a black kimono. Instantly, Kagome knew that he had the jewel on him, and that this was the real Naraku and not a puppet.

Naraku laughed at them threateningly, "I see you saved me the trouble of seeking out the rest of the jewel, by bringing it to me." They heard Kouga let out a growl. InuYasha pulled the Tetsusaiga, preparing for an attack. Naraku's gaze then settled on Kagome, "I see you also brought me something else that I desire to have." Kagome felt Sesshoumaru stiffen, but his demeanor did not change.

Naraku then turned to Kagura and Kohaku and ordered them to attack. Almost instantly there was chaos.

Kagura attacked Kouga, obviously trying to take him down and retrieve the jewel shards. Kohaku went for Miroku and Sango. Neither intended to bring harm to him, which Kagome suspected, is why Naraku sent him after them.

InuYasha ran full force towards Naraku, with Sesshoumaru quickly behind him. Kagome grabbed an arrow, intending to help her friends when she noticed Kikyo too had an arrow and was going to use it on her. Kikyo's only desire now, was to end Kagome's life and reclaim her soul. Kilala was at Kagome's side and got her to safety before Kikyo could shoot her.

InuYasha swung the Tetsusaiga with great force, but did no damage to Naraku. Instead InuYasha was hurled backwards. Sesshoumaru stopped and contemplated the situation. Naraku had a great barrier around him, and striking him would be useless. He watched as his brother again charged towards Naraku foolishly. He turned his attention to Kagura who was attacking the wolf with a strong fierceness. Though the wolf was fast he had already taken injury. Sesshoumaru headed in that direction, knowing that keeping the shards away from her was the first priority.

Kagome pulled her arrow, while riding Kilala. She could see the whole battle from in the air. InuYasha was making repeated attacks on Naraku with no damage being done.

Sango and Miroku were dodging Kohaku, while making no attempt to hurt him. Sesshoumaru was engaged in a battle with Kagura. Kouga was cleaning a deep slash he had taken to his leg. Obviously Kagura had attempted to get one of the shards.

Kagome released her sacred arrow and it hit Naraku's barrier. She could tell it was trying to pierce it, and it obviously weakened it slightly. She pulled another and again it struck the barrier, it flashed and again appeared to be weakening. Naraku looked towards the sky, and gave Kikyo an order.

Kagome saw Kikyo ready an arrow and she told Kilala to move. However, it was too late. Kikyo released the arrow; apparently it had not been aimed at her. Kilala let out a sharp growl, and then began to descend to the ground. Kagome sat with the large animal. The arrow was not deep and Kagome pulled it out. She then realized that Kikyo was headed her way. Both women stood twenty feet apart, arrows drawn. Naraku made a comment to InuYasha, who turned to see the situation. Not wanting either woman to be hurt he ran in their direction.

Kouga looked up and saw InuYasha running towards Kagome and Kikyo, both of which were pointing arrows at the other. Naraku readied what appeared to be a large ball of pure energy. Before he realized what he was doing, Kouga tackled InuYasha, just before the ball hit him.

"Watch yourself, Mutt face. You almost got yourself killed." InuYasha looked at Kouga with defiance in his face. "Yeah well don't expect a thank you" "I wouldn't expect a mutt like you to show gratitude." The two turned their attention back to the priestesses. Neither appeared willing to back down. Kouga was instantly up and had Kagome in his arms. He moved her to safety, and then went back to Kagura. She appeared to be weakened and had some injury from Sesshoumaru's attacks on her.

InuYasha stood there staring at Kikyo. She had a terrible hatred burning in her eyes. Before he could even process what happened, she released her arrow and it pierced his shoulder. She readied another arrow, when she herself felt an arrow enter her chest. She turned to see Kagome, who also had another arrow drawn. Kikyo dropped her bow to the ground. InuYasha could see the pain in her eyes. He went to her side as she slipped to the ground. Kagome watched in horror as Naraku sent another energy ball at InuYasha. This time hitting him. He fell to the ground next to Kikyo. He was still alive but in great pain.

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Sesshoumaru again hit Kagura with his acid whip, this time she retreated to Naraku's side. He followed and saw Naraku hit his brother with a ball of light. He watched as his brother fell to the ground next to Kikyo.

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Kagome looked on as InuYasha and Kikyo staring each other down. Kagome readied her arrow, but too late. Kikyo released and arrow into InuYasha. Kagome too released an arrow, hitting Kikyo by surprise. She watched InuYasha go to Kikyo, and then Naraku hit him with a large surge of energy. InuYasha fell to Kikyo's side. She began to slowly approach the two of them. Moments later she found herself in someone's embrace. She looked up to see Sesshoumaru holding her very close to him.

Sesshoumaru moved to protect Kagome and found himself under attack from Naraku. He got hit with an energy surge; it knocked him nearly ten feet. He got back to his feet but was hit a second time. His armor shattered and he could feel some of his own power being drained. The third time he was hit, it appeared to be a direct attack on his Tenseiga. The sword was hurled away from his body.

Instantly, the attack stopped. He looked up at Naraku and saw what his intentions had been. Sesshoumaru had been knocked far from Kagome. He watched as Naraku readied an attack on her. Sesshoumaru looked back for his Tenseiga. He knew that going for it would allow time for Naraku to kill her. She was trying to get to his half brother and knew not of Naraku's intention. Kagome was directly between Naraku and Sesshoumaru, with her back to Naraku. Sesshoumaru was immediately at Kagome's side pulling her tightly to himself, instantly he turned his back towards Naraku. He was hit with a full surge of power. He began to feel his demon form taking over but looked down at Kagome and forced it to stop.

Naraku laughed as he hurled power at the great demon lord. He had to render the demon useless so that he could pull off an attack on the young priestess. Onigumo's soul still desired Kikyo, and Kikyo he would have. He would kill the young priestess then put Kikyo's soul back into her own body. He was shocked however, when the great demon lord ran to the human rather than getting his sword. `The fool'…Naraku's attacks had drained too much of the demons power, to be protected from a direct hit. He did not have his sword to protect his life. Seeing that both InuYasha and Sesshoumaru were incapacitated he turned to Kagura and ordered her to bring him the shards from the wolf demon. He noticed that the monk had moved from the exterminator. He too had intended to protect the young priestess. He ordered Kohaku to kill his sister.

Kagome looked up at Sesshoumaru's face. She didn't know why he had grabbed her. She saw a wild look in his eyes, and then he appeared to be in intense pain. She began to feel him slipping towards the ground. She helped him to his knees, and then a look of absolute horror crossed her face as she realized he didn't have the Tenseiga. He had been hurt protecting her, and didn't have his sword to protect him. She helped him lie down, and then sat over him with tears in her eyes.

"Why did you do that? You could have brought me back with the Tenseiga." He just looked up at her with a soft look on his face. His body was tense and full of pain. She sat there by his side, talking to him softly. She then buried her face into his chest and cried. His arm went to her back, yet he said nothing.

When she looked at him again, she nearly went hysterical. His beautiful markings were fading right in front of her eyes.

"No! You can't die, please don't die! Please!" She began weeping uncontrollably, as she stroked his cheek and the markings that were fading quickly. His breathing was becoming erratic and his heartbeat was slowing. Frantically Kagome clung to him crying.

"Don't leave me" Kagome looked up at his face and again brought her fingers to his cheeks. "I love you" she sobbed and kissed him. Her tears were moistening his cheeks. He smiled at her and held a look of love in his eyes. She laid her head back down on his chest, closed her eyes and listened to his slowing heart beat. Moments had passed, and Sesshoumaru was no longer breathing. She had soaked his kimono with her tears. She began drying them away and noticed the red sash she had given him. He had it tucked inside of his kimono. Again this brought her tears.

Kohaku had stopped his attacks on Sango and Miroku. The monk noticed that InuYasha was wounded badly. He was sitting on the ground barely able to move, holding Kikyo's lifeless body. Naraku had turned his attack upon Sesshoumaru, then suddenly stopped and moved to attack Kagome.

"Kilala, protect Sango." Kilala was slightly injured but moved in to defend the demon exterminator. Miroku ran towards Kagome, who was left without any protection. He saw her moving towards InuYasha, with her back towards Naraku. Naraku's attack on Sesshoumaru had left him without armor or his Tenseiga. To Miroku's surprise Sesshoumaru lunged for Kagome, rather than retrieve his lost sword. The demon didn't even have enough time to get out of the way of the blast, Miroku watched as he embraced Kagome and turned his back on Naraku. Sesshoumaru took a direct hit, but saved Kagome.

Behind him, Kagura continued to rage an attack on Kouga. The wolf demon had taken a blow to the head and was nearly unconscious. Yet he still did his best to keep Kagura from taking the shards of the jewel. Miroku saw Sesshoumaru and Kagome sink to the ground and saw Kagome's frantic crying, and then he saw her kiss Sesshoumaru. The monk knew that the demon would not survive.

He turned back to Sango and realized that Kohaku was advancing on her slowly. He rushed back towards his wife. He knew that Sango would die before she would hurt Kohaku. As Miroku got closer he saw Kohaku sink to the ground crying. Naraku became enraged at the boy for disobeying his orders.

With a flick of his hand Naraku extracted the jewel shard from Kohaku's back and prepared to strike him with the same surge of energy he had used to kill Sesshoumaru and wound InuYasha. Miroku ran to the boy and grabbed him just as the blast hit. Though he was not hit directly, the monk fell to the ground still holding the boy in his arms. Sango rushed to their side and began crying.

Miroku was conscious but severely wounded. Her brother's body was jerking violently then stopped as he looked up at her. "I'm sorry Sango." She began crying as she pulled her brother into her arms. His breathing had already stopped. She moved to Miroku who appeared to be in great pain, still crying she kissed him. "Sango, I don't have much time left. Please let me see you smile. There is no thought I would rather carry to my grave." Sango did her best to smile at him, though the tears continued to fall. Miroku closed his eyes, but continued to breathe steadily.

Kagome looked up, Sesshoumaru was dead. He should not have died this way. Sesshoumaru should not have died to save a human. It was a dishonor to him and he did not deserve that. She looked to her friends and was shocked at what she saw.

InuYasha was badly injured, he was holding Kikyo's body to him and he was crying. Kouga was nearly passed out, doing everything in his power to keep Kagura from taking the jewel shards. Sango sat weeping over the bodies of Kohaku and Miroku. Kagome watched as Sango stood and picked up her weapon. She looked over at her, with a look that told her Sango had nothing left to live for and would die fighting Naraku. The sight of her loved ones lying on the ground dead or near death sent a fury through Kagome's body. Kagome suddenly realized that a piece of her that had been missing had returned. The sight of Kikyo's body told her that the rest of her soul had returned to her. She looked to Naraku who was planning an attack on Sango, and felt a surge of energy run through her body. Never before had Kagome felt such rage or power.