InuYasha Fan Fiction ❯ Act Two ❯ Exeunt Hope ( Chapter 6 )

"Act Two"

~E. Marie

E-mail: Emw712@aol.com

March 11, 2004: Sorry for the lateness of the update. I could list all the excuses I have for not posting as frequently, from a bout with the flu to midterms, but what really matters is that this chapter is here, now. I've also cleaned up some of the other chapters, but my computer ate Chapter Two, so it shall remain laden with hidden typos until I can get my hands on the hard copy.

Please, read and review. Just ask Kandy Keely; I try to respond to any questions as best I can! Thanks!

Chapter Six: Exeunt Hope

With a sickening splatter, demon remains erupted in perfect arcs of bloody scales and flesh, covering the nearby trees. Kagome would have stopped to lose her lunch…if only she'd eaten lunch, if only she wasn't running for her life in a desperate attempt to reach the god tree in time. Not even mentioning the fact that Kaede was no "spring chicken", it was beginning to feel like hours since the two women had left the temporal safety of the temple to try a desperate, half-cracked plan.

Releasing another arrow into the chest of a rat demon without even breaking her stride, Kagome questioned what she was about to do. Granted, her logic was demanding that she release Inuyasha after Kaede had completed the subduing incantation; it was the best course of action! But her heart…her heart was too busy singing a song of sadness. As confused as she had been at emerging from the Bone Eater's well in the warring states era of three years past, as much as the differences between her memories and this new past haunted her, she felt she could somehow find the strength to deal with it all. Awakening an Inuyasha who did not know her name, who yearned for Kikyou's love as well as her life-blood on his claws, would probably be more than her heart could take. Even as she ran toward the god tree, Kaede gasping for breath by her side, Kagome was still weighing her options. One thing, however, quickly tipped the scales:

She ran out of arrows.

Concentrating her miko energy into a raw weapon had been an attack she had used earlier in the fray, when she destroyed the dragon demons at Kaede's hut, but before Kagome could gather enough spiritual energy in her hands to annihilate the youkai at their heels, Kaede stayed the young priestess with a touch on the arm.

"Do not be foolish, child! Each time thou uses thine pure miko power, it is like a beacon, heralding more youkai to attack us! Thine answer is at the god tree, Kagome!"

By the end of this short speech, there they were, at the foot of the tree where Inuyasha, in his strange blue haori, was pinned. Kagome's eyes widened in shock, for glaring menacingly at her from underneath silver locks of hair were the amber eyes of Inuyasha.

"He's awake! He's awa-!" A blast of demonic energy erupted through the forest, knocking Kaede to the ground and hurling Kagome, face first, into the dirt at Inuyasha's feet.

"You're a mess, Kikyou," snarled the bound Inuyasha, his eyes brightening with malicious intent. "Stop playing in the dirt, bitch!"

Kagome fought back the tide of mixed emotions that rose within her breast at hearing him speak at last…but hearing him call her Kikyou. Marshalling her strength, she turned to the elder priestess, who was still prostrate on the ground but conscious.

"Now, Kaede-sama, say the subduing spell!" called Kagome, as she scrambled up the growth about the god tree. The old woman looked puzzled for a moment before she pushed herself to her knees and began to chant in hushed tones. Droplets of light shot through the air, gathering as all too familiar beads and canine teeth about Inuyasha's neck.

"WHAT THE HELL IS THIS?!?!?" the half-demon bellowed, fighting against the spell that bound him to the tree in an attempt to remove the mystic necklace.

"No time!" cried Kagome, as she shot a blast of miko energy at a serpent youkai that was about to attack Kaede from behind. The forest was silent at last, but the young girl could see the lights of more malevolent demons gathering in the distance, heading toward the point of her attack. Putting her hands on Inuyasha's shoulders, she leaned in to glare at the stunned hanyou.

"Listen, Inuyasha! As you can smell, I'm NOT Kikyou, but as much as I would like to explain this all to you, hundreds of demons are about to descend on this place to destroy us all."

"Feh, not my problem, wench," he spat, his canines flashing in the pale light of dawn. "You may be sitting ducks, but I can defend MYSELF!"

"While pinned to a tree?" Kagome countered as she positioned her right hand just above the arrow. Inuyasha's ears flattened to the top of his head, a sign Kagome had known for years meant she had won the argument.

"The Shikon no Tama is buried within my body. Granted, you may hate my guts right now, Inuyasha, but I know you don't want one of those demons that'll be here in two seconds to take it, either!"

"Know that I'll kill you as soon as I get rid of those demons, wench," he growled. "I ain't into the `save the day' shit!"

"Don't worry, Inu-chan", she said, placing her hand firmly on the shaft of the arrow and leaning into whisper seductively in his ear. "I'm counting on it!"

Inuyasha's face turned blood red, and with a smile, Kagome pulled the arrow from his chest, with purple light erupting around them. With a feral laugh, the hanyou burst from the growth that had climbed up his body in his slumber of half a century, sending Kagome hurling head over heels, in a rather undignified fashion, to the ground. Popping his tendons, his trademark, he leapt at the onslaught of demons, destroying them with a bloody passion that made Kagome just stare in slack-jawed wonder. His blue haori, a strange sight to her eyes, glowed various hues of violet and indigo in the fading moonlight. Even as his fingers began to drip with the dark blood of the youkai he had slain, there was altogether an unearthly beauty about Inuyasha.

****

Pounding. Tiny little pulses inside her head, her chest, every part of her body, forced the wind demoness to thrash on the mat, the pain almost unbearable. Putting a hand to her abdomen, Kagura traced the pain along her rib cage up to the place that had remained vacant since the moment she had first drawn breath. Confusion clouded her brow, for this cavity in her chest seemed to be the source of her pain.

"Like a little bird has been trapped in my chest," she moaned, her head lolling to the side, "and he is fluttering, trying to break free."

"You have a heart at last, woman, and you dare to complain?" murmured a voice in the darkness, even and devoid of emotion.

"Sesshomaru." Kagura struggled to sit up, only to cry out in pain as the tiny surges, like little internal flames, burned her at her pulse points. Falling back against the futon, sweat beading on her forehead, she struggled to even her breath and fight the nausea.

Something cool and damp began to massage her temples, and it stilled the sweat on her brow. Opening one red eye, Kagura felt numb at the surprise of seeing Sesshomaru bent solicitously over her body. Though his amber eyes were empty of concern or any other emotion, the very act of his stooping to ease her suffering, in any way, was so uncharacteristic, so strange…her new heart began to swell with a new emotion, and the most pleasant feeling she had ever experienced overcame her. She opened her mouth to speak but could not master her tongue.

"Rin will want to see you soon, so our time is short," he said, refreshing the damp cloth in a nearby bowl of water. "I have questions, woman,that must be answered first."

"Why-" Kagura coughed, struggling to become the mistress of herself. Sesshomaru was, no matter how much she wished it, a demon lord, and one not to be trusted.

"Why are you…helping me? What happened to me? Why do I hurt so much?"

Sesshomaru only raised an eyebrow at her list of questions. Apparently, the full-blooded son of the great dog demon was not used to being the one on the receiving end of an interrogation.

"Woman, you no longer reek of the stench of Naraku, and my minions to the east have informed me that my halfling of a brother has finally destroyed our mutual enemy. This Sesshomaru tested the power of Tensaiga in reviving you after his demise. Though I know not the physiology of a hanyou such as yourself, you are clearly not used to the pulsing of the heart within your chest, which was returned to you through the power of my sword."

Kagura's eyes widened in disbelief. `He…saved me?' Sesshomaru had never betrayed anything more than his characteristic ambivalence through the telling of what he had done to bring her back to life, but Kagura could not help but wonder at his having kept her under his care if it was all "just a test".

"Hm. Well, don't expect me to thank you," she murmured, matching his cool gaze. The corner of the demon lord's mouth seemed to twitch in what could be taken as an attempt for a smile.

"Well, woman, clearly your poor taste in manners has remained with you. Now that I know you are on the broad path to wellness, you can stop being impertinent to your debtor and answer my questions. I know you entered this territory before today, yet you did little more than surveillance."

Kagura, with a pained expression, tried to turn her face from Sesshomaru, only to find herself arrested by his even amber gaze. She was not used to being able to tell the truth behind her actions without fear and chose to remain silent. The demon lord continued.

"Furthermore, I have been informed by my lesser demons that you were moving independently of Naraku before his last assault against my brother and his woman. Even this Sesshomaru saw you deliver your creator's portion of the Shikon no Tama to that priestess, clearly without his orders. Now the jewel is gone, the priestess has vanished, Naraku is vanquished, and my brother has fallen into madness."

Her red eyes shimmered with unshed tears as his face dipped in front of hers, his own pupils darkening menacingly, for the first time.

"A prophecy has been fulfilled, forced by your hand, woman, and this Sesshomaru wants to know why."

The darkness of the cavern seemed to engulf the beast, and the purple pupils of his red eyes, lined with the blood of his victims, were enlarged to benefit his sight in the deep shadow of the night. Clouds obscured any celestial light that might have peered through the small opening overhead. The walls of the cavern were decorated by sets of five parallel lines, all cut by his claws, and the bones that had littered the floor of the enclosure for centuries were shattered in his anger, with new, bloody bones from fresh kills added to their number.

How far had the mighty hero Inuyasha fallen.

After seeing Kagome struck through by the lethal miasma spike from Naraku's body, hearing her fall screaming into the void of the well, Inuyasha's demon blood overcame all that had remained of his human heart. The woman that had been his best friend, his wife, in truth, his mate, was gone, and there was no one left who could stop the inevitable blood bath that followed. With Naraku's blood covering him from head to foot, Inuyasha set about demolishing the demon army that had accompanied him. When nothing remained of the evil forces of Naraku, Inuyasha turned on the stunned Miroku, who was, ironically, unarmed now, without his cursed kazaana. Sango, reacting quickly, was able to distract the now full-blooded, enraged demon with one of her mist bombs. Their scents covered by the stench, she pushed the unconscious form of Miroku onto the back of Kirara, collected a sobbing Shippou, and ran to the village to seek Kaede-sama.

With his new prey missing, the demon Inuyasha freed the stench of the exterminator's weapon from his nostrils before seizing on the scent of a young doe, wandering in the nearby meadow. Slaughtering the poor animal with lusty glee, the monster gathered the carcass and bounded into its new liar, the ancient bone eating well. Throwing aside the shattered timbers that covered the opening, he leapt into the gloom of the well with his meal. After devouring his meal and littering the floor of the well with the bloody ligaments and bones of the young deer, he went about finding his mate. Something deep within told him that there was something horribly wrong, that leaping within this, cavern, or whatever the hell it was, should have done, well, something. He simply could not understand how to get to his mate, and howling with anger and loss, he clawed at the bottom and the sides of the well for hours, until the sun began to dip beneath the trees, and the scent of human sweat met his nostrils.

With a feral growl, he leaped up the earthen walls of the well, only to be thrown back to the bottom by the crackling energy of a holy barrier. The burning of his flesh filled his nostrils and did nothing but fuel his anger. The calls of humans reached his ears, but the demon Inuyasha had become could not understand the speech of mortals. He was now little more than a caged beast, throwing himself against the barrier that contained him, until he collapsed, exhausted at the bottom of the ancient well, his red eyes gleaming with a malicious mix of defeat, fury, and what remained of bitter loss. Apparently, this cavern made by the hands of men would be his lair for the night.

Sango peered over the edge of the ancient well, splintered from the earlier battle, only to turn away when all that greeted her was the darkness surrounding red eyes, matched with a growing growl. Turning to the purple figure of her beloved, the demon exterminator laid her head gently against his shoulder, to avoid upsetting his wounds. The priestess Kaede remained at the edge of the clearing, disappointment etched in the lines of her face. None of the company was able to speak, and the wind caressing the nearby trees, charred by the battle, was the only sound that graced the meadow for many moments. Miroku, his right arm held fast by a make-shift sling, was the first to find words.

"The ofudas Kaede-sama and I made should hold him for two weeks, until his human night. If any hope remains of his true spirit returning, it will be at that time. I will bring our friend here live game once a day, so he doesn't starve, because I doubt the full-blooded demon Inuyasha likes old fair any better than our Inuyasha."

"Houshi…Miroku, I will bring him the food. You shouldn't even be up and about," remarked a concerned Sango, as she brought one of her arms carefully across his broad shoulders.

"And what of Kagome?" asked Kaede, stepping forward from the shadows to join the sad young lovers.

Silence a thousand times more potent than that of before now seized the trio. Sango's eyes filled with unshed tears, and Miroku looked to the darkened sky. Some wounds were too raw to be dressed yet. Their taciturn communion was broken by the sound of heart-wrenching howls echoing against the walls of the well. All were in mourning for the lost priestess.

Tucking Sango's hand in the crook of his uninjured arm, Miroku turned to leave the meadow.

"Kaede-sama, let us line the clearing with ofudas, to keep all except the three of us from entering. Should Inuyasha escape before he is well, we would not want him to attack the village at will, nor would I feel true to the fallen Kagome-sama if I allowed her love to be slain by vengeful demons because I had him cooped up in the well."

The old priestess fell in step with the couple on the return to the village. "I think it best that we keep the kitsune Shippou in the village. He has suffered the death of his parents once before, and with Kagome missing at best and Inuyasha slipping into murderous insanity, I fear for the lad."

In the shattered remains of a once magical well, a broken soul lay in torment. The beast in the well continued to howl his sorrow into the night, sending chills along the flesh of his former companions and all that could hear. Lingering at the roots of the god tree, a tiny figure in the darkness, little larger than a crumb, appeared to shudder, before slipping from view.

****

Scales, fangs, and other less savory demon parts sprayed in perfect arcs through the night sky near another god tree, before scattering with sickening thuds on the ground. Leaning against the ancient tree, Kagome and Kaede took turns yawning and looking rather bored as the dawn began to gleam on the horizon. Inuyasha, on the other hand, could be heard swearing playfully as demon after demon fell at his claws. He had been in the fray for hours, and even the few village warriors who had arrived to aid the priestess Kaede had chosen to just sit along the edge of the forest and observe the newly freed hanyou in all his glory.

The numbers of the demon hoard had dwindled, and once the rather dense survivors realized that they were destined for defeat, a retreat was finally called.

"Escape! Fuck that!" cried Inuyasha, as he shook the fresh demon blood from his hands and leapt after his escaping foes.

"SIT, BOY!" cried Kagome from her spot against the god tree. The sound of a hanyou shaped hole being made in the forest floor resonated through the trees, and the villagers doubled over in laughter at the sound of Inuyasha's cursing being muffled by a mouthful of dirt. Rising to her feet, Kagome brushed the leaves from her skirt and smoothed her hair that had been ruffled from a night of escaping death by execution, fighting demons, escaping death by becoming demon food, releasing her lover from fifty years in limbo again, and leaning against an ancient tree until dawn.

"Kaede…Kaede-sama, I know this is going to seem odd, but I need to speak with Inuyasha alone. Please, take the village men with you, before the subduing spell wears off."

"Kagome, child!" cried the old woman. "Are ye sure this is the best course of action? Inuyasha, as you well know now, is very powerful."

"And I have this." Kagome cleared her throat, before bellowing, "SIT, BOY!" Another round of curses, far more emphatic, filled the air, and with a grin, the priestess Kaede nodded her acceptance and corralled the snickering villagers away from the clearing with the mentioning of the rebuilding that awaited them at home.

Closing her eyes and concentrating only on evening her breathing, Kagome thought only of slowing the pounding of her heart before the coming confrontation with Inuyasha.

`I will not cry. I will not break. I will find a way to get home to you, my love, wherever you are. Until then, my toughest challenge will be, well, dealing with you.'

"Now, bitch, you die!" cried Inuyasha, as he leapt from his hole in the ground, his talons sharp for the kill.

"Damn it, sit, Inuyasha!" cried Kagome. Mere centimeters from his goal, Inuyasha crashed for the third time that night to the ground, face first. The muffled swears began again. Furious at her own carelessness and her frustration at having to deal with `that' Inuyasha again, Kagome wedged her shoe between Inuyasha's shoulder and the ground, and, with a touch of miko energy, kicked the swearing hanyou over onto his back, so she could address him face to face. Looking in his amber eyes, so familiar yet so strange, Kagome couldn't help but feel her resolve not to cry weaken. Fastening the struggling hanyou to the ground with the mere whisper of "osuwari", Kagome knelt at Inuyasha's side. Her compassion, however, was replaced pretty quickly by her anger at the whole situation when a rather colorful phrase about her nature as a female dog slipped past the hanyou's lips. With a more forceful "osuwari", she cleared her throat and began what would be the most difficult conversation of her life.

"Inuyasha, this is going to be a rather painful experience for both of us, but it will go a lot faster and be far less painful for you physically if you shut up!" Looking slightly stunned, Inuyasha chose to close his mouth and listed, `just to humor the stupid wench.'

Seeing he had chosen to cooperate for the moment, she continued:

"I'm sure by now that you've figured out a few things. One, I am not the priestess Kikyou. Furthermore, I have a name, Kagome, pronounced Ka. Go. Me., not "wench" or that `other word' you so love to call me. Two, the beads around your neck that you were trying to remove earlier are part of a subduing spell. Only I can remove them, and I have no intention of doing so until you grow up, a process I have a feeling will take years. Whenever you try to kill me or any other innocent human being and/or act like a jerk, I will say that magic little word, and you'll be eating dirt. Got that?"

"Feh," was all the response Inuyasha could manage. He tried to lift his head, but still suffering from the effects of the "osuwari", he managed only to turn his face away from this strange girl who looked so much like the woman who had betrayed him. Despite his reluctance to look her in the eye, Inuyasha couldn't help but blush and look up again to see the strange girl untying the cover of his haori, as if it was, well, normal to undress him!

"Wench! What the hell are you doing?"

"Sit," murmured Kagome pensively, as she pulled the cover of the blue haori back to further expose a wound on his chest, brimming with poison from the claws of one of the demon's he had slain. "This looks bad, Inuyasha. You should let me treat this when we get back to the village."

"Don't touch me! I don't care who you say you are! You look just like Kikyou, so you have to be just as…as…."

"As what, Inuyasha?!?!" cried Kagome, her frustration running high. "As treacherous? Untrustworthy? I hate to tell you this, having just met you for the first time (again), but the love you and Kikyou shared wasn't false…it just wasn't strong enough to withstand Naraku's trickery."

For the first time, Inuyasha let his body run slack against the subduing spell, surprise registering in his amber eyes. His mouth was open, slack with disbelief.

"Inuyasha…." Kagome turned away to still the tears brimming in her eyes before continuing. "Though it was Kikyou who sealed you to the god tree, it was an evil demon, Naraku, who led you both to believe that you had betrayed each other. I'm…I'm sorry."

Inuyasha closed his eyes at these words, and Kagome, wearied by her task, held her head in her hands. The two sat in silence for several moments, both lost in their thoughts. Though the subduing spell had lost its potency long ago, she did not renew its magic. The hanyou remained silent, only the occasional furrowing of his brow denoting his internal struggle. At long last, he opened his eyes, and, neither avoiding nor seeking her attention, turned his amber orbs to the blue sky overhead. The morning sun continued its march into that azure sky, and Kagome could only fix her glance on his strange blue haori, stained with blood. Her curiosity winning over her caution, Kagome could not help but ask,

"Where did you get this blue haori? I mean, this is going to sound really weird, but why isn't it, well, red or something?"

Raising one eyebrow, Inuyasha did not turn to face the girl, choosing instead to speak his answer to the morning sky.

"Feh, nosey, aren't we? If you must know, wench, my haori is made of fire rat fur. The person who gave it to me…." His eyes reflected the passing clouds. "My mother…her favorite color was blue. She had it dyed blue, just for me. Don't know why you'd want it red, wench."

"Don't call me wench-and thank you," was all Kagome could say, though this simple answer had created far more questions than she could count.

`Last time…his mother gave him the haori, that's true…but the great lady made the gift red fire rat fur. So many little differences. Naraku, you bastard, what have you done to us?'