InuYasha Fan Fiction ❯ Birth Marks ❯ the final battle ( Chapter 36 )

Chapter 36: The Final Battle

Last time: “Do you remember Kagura's scent?” Kagome nodded an affirmative. “There's a stench that has been hanging around since she left, which direction is it going?” Kagome closed her eyes and raised her nose.

“It's going that direction?” she said hesitantly, Inuyasha nodded and headed where she was pointing, to the west.

“That's Naraku's stench. Remember it.” Inuyasha picked up his pace gradually to a run and the others had no choice to follow. Yusuke and Kagome on the ground, Miroku and Sango on Kirara.

This time: “You have those wings, why don't you use them?” Inuyasha grouched at their noon stop. Not surprisingly, it was the newbie Yusuke that was complaining for the break. He wasn't used to the long-distance running that the travelers usually did, and he was a city-boy to boot. Yusuke had tripped over more roots than Kagome had ever noticed before.

“Because,” Yusuke kicked a tree after tripping over its roots, “our wings won't carry much more than our weight and a small weight beyond that. Kags carrying Kur-Shippou is pushing it if we were to fly comfortably.” Yusuke quickly covered his near-slip.

“Puu can carry the bags, don't you think?” Kagome suggested, looking up from Shippou's sleeping form. “I think I have some extra rope in my bag to secure them on.” Yusuke shrugged and looked over to the blue creature.

“You wanna try Puu?”

Inuyasha scoffed, “that little thing? What can he do, drag it along the ground?” Yusuke and Kagome gave him a dry look in response. Heading over to her bag, Kagome brought out a coil of unused rope and sealed her bag shut tight.

“Puu's a spirit beast…like Kirara I guess… and can transform into a larger form.” He turned to the blue puffball with a beak, “Ready?” Yusuke called over to the creature and it flapped over to Yusuke, landing on his head, trilling an affirmative. Rolling his eyes, Yusuke plucked the creature from his head and placed it on the ground. “You know what to do,” Yusuke mumbled as the creature was engulfed in a semi-transparent bubble. Flames licked the inside of the bubble as it grew to over their heads. The bubble popped, releasing the flames into the atmosphere and Puu stood there in his larger form. Puu stretched his long neck to rest on Yusuke's shoulder, where he scratched the creature between the bunny ears affectionately. “Good job Puu. Now lay down so we can get the bags attached to your back, okay?” the blue phoenix let out another trill, but this time a bit deeper in voice. The phoenix was at least twice the height of Yusuke at the shoulder and instead of having a black tuft of hair; he had a black mane down his long neck. Puu kept the lop-bunny ears though.

Shrugging off his bag, Yusuke jumped onto Puu's back so that Kagome could hand him her bag and the end of the rope. He strung the rope around a shoulder strap, under Puu's breast (thanks to Kagome's help), and through the other shoulder strap, securing it snugly at the base of Puu's neck. Under that, Yusuke strapped his lighter duffle bag to Kagome's yellow monstrosity. “All set. How's that feel Puu?” the phoenix turned its head to look at Yusuke and trilled lightly. Yusuke smiled and jumped off. “Try a couple laps first, and then we'll see about this working long-term.” With a nod, Puu took off straight up, buffering the group with his wing thrusts. Finding a thermal (column of warm air), Puu circled high above the trees before coming straight down in a dive. Landing as gracefully as he could, Puu landed in the clearing and nudged the bags lightly. They hadn't moved a bit.

“Well,” Yusuke grinned, scratching his cheek, “I guess it's `up, up and away' for us then, huh Kags?” Kagome shrugged. There was no point arguing now.

“But what about Inuyasha? Do you think Puu can carry him if it comes to that?” Yusuke turned to Puu, who nodded, or more like bobbed his head up and down. “I take it as a yes then.” Kagome sighed, pulling her Haori off. Yusuke took his off also and handed it to Kagome. Puu bent down for Kagome to reach her bag and she stuffed both articles of clothing into the top of her bag, securing it tightly.

Groaning, Kagome clasped her hands above her head and did a back stretch, also extending her wings to their full twenty-plus feet of extension. Sango's eyes widened, not expecting the wings to be quite so… large. No wonder Kagome kept them partially open before she had put her haori on that morning. “Umm… Kagome-chan?” Sango asked timidly, looking at the girl's black and red wings.

Kagome gave an amused smile and flicked her tail before extending her wing toward Sango. “You want to touch, right? Just don't go against the feathers, okay? They're sensitive.” Sango nodded mutely and walked toward the wingtip, touching it feather-lightly, sending shivers up her wing. Tapping Sango's hand with the wing, the slayer took a much firmer touch, stroking the glossy feathers.

“They're soft,” she murmured, walking towards Kagome's shoulder to feel the downy feathers that made up the base of the appendages and spread over most of her back. Kagome brought her wings back to their relaxed position and Sango inspected how the wing folded, with the powerful muscles attached to the top to work the wings.

Yusuke watched, stretching his slightly smaller wings briefly before letting them come to a rest with the tips dragging on the ground. Kagome managed to keep her wingtips out of the dirt with a slight extra effort. Miroku stepped up, noticing the two sets of wings having different shapes. Putting his finger to his chin, he pulled slightly to extend Yusuke's wing a small bit and Yusuke rolled his eyes. He was no lab rat! “Yeah, mine're smaller, so what?” he mumbled, crossing his arms.

Miroku shrugged, but didn't let go of the boy's wings. “Nothing much, but I am curious. Do the two types of wings serve different functions, like bird's wings?”

Looking off to Kagome, Yusuke shrugged off-handedly. “Kagome's more for gliding and I'm built for more power, quick dives and all that jazz.” Miroku nodded and let go of the wing finally.

“You'll have to show me when we're flying. I would like to learn what I can so I could possibly record it later. After all, I am a man of knowledge among other things.” Stepping back, Miroku turned to Inuyasha. “We should be off soon, should we not Inuyasha?” the irate hanyou snorted and walked off in the direction they were going, assuming the others would follow soon.

Picking up Shippou, Kagome looked around the clearing. Yusuke shrugged and whistled to Kagome. “Puu'll take us up, then we can launch off from there.” Kagome nodded and jogged over, her wings twitching anxiously. Settling themselves between Puu's massive wings and holding onto the bags for dear life, Yusuke signaled the Phoenix to take off. The bird spirit took off straight up, forcing the cousins to lie almost flat against his back, their inner wing squished together and their outer wing pressed against Puu's wings respectively. Bolting over the head of Kilala, it wasn't until the cat was an ant under them until Puu evened out, gliding on the upper-air currents. Grinning at each other, the cousins prepared for their launch by kneeling on each side of Puu's neck, on top of Kagome's bag. Puu, picking up on their actions, tucked his wings in for a dive. The cousins pushed off and dove along with Puu, snapping their wings open in tandem once they were far enough away from each other to not get tangled in each other's feathers. Puu opened first, gliding back to the upper atmosphere; then Kagome softly so she would not injure Shippou; and finally Yusuke, after zooming past a startled Kilala and skimming the tree-tops. Grabbing a top leaf, Yusuke angled for an assent back to right above and beside Kilala.

“How was that, monk?” Yusuke smirked, dropping the green leaf as proof.

“My name's Miroku, Yusuke-sama.” Yusuke twitched at the honorific.

“None of this `sama' stuff, got it. I get that enough without you calling me that too.” Yusuke said mulishly, crossing his arms.

Miroku nodded and grinned. “Yes, Yusuke-dono, I'll do well to remember it.” Yusuke cringed and growled, pulling into a back flip before flapping to catch up with Kagome higher in the air.

Yusuke dropped from above, matching his wing beats with Kagome's so he could fly directly above her. “You miss this too, don't you?” Kagome nodded, adjusting her long beats so that Yusuke wouldn't crash into her with his slightly faster stroke.

“Yes, I forgot how it was up here without riding on Kilala or Inuyasha's back.” She murmured, hugging Shippou close. Her arms were getting tired and if she was going to continue to do this, she would have to make a sling for Shippou to ride on her back while he was still asleep. But after so long, a little fatigue was worth it to hold her child again.

“What's that?” Yusuke asked, noticing for the first time the dagger that was attached to her back.

“What, that?” Kagome asked twisting her hips slightly so that Yusuke could see it better away from under her tail fur and wing feathers. “It's my engagement present from Inuyasha.” She said off-handedly, making Yusuke nearly collide with her as he missed a wing beat.

“What!” Yusuke sputtered. He knew that the two were promised to each other, but he didn't expect them to be engaged!

“Yes, it'd be… a couple of weeks ago for Inuyasha. It's been over a year for me though and I actually learned to use it, too.” Kagome talked wistfully about the curved dragon-blade. It actually looked like a miniature Tetsusaiga and could stab as well as it could channel her powers for ceremony. Like the ceremony that she planned on doing with Shippou as soon as the kit was awake enough to bear it. It would put more of a strain on her, but it wouldn't make Shippou pass out again when he needed to be conscious to hide himself from Naraku when the final battle came.

FLASHBACK

“Now, Miss Kagome, are you sure about this?” a man that stood taller than her asked. He had a green tint to his skin… err, fir.

“Positive,” Kagome said, standing in front of the white marble stone doors. The green man shrugged and opened the door for her to enter the dark building. Light torches flared to life along the walls as Kagome walked into the center of the room. She had learned very quickly to not be jumpy around magic, or it could come and bite her in the butt. The room wasn't exactly bare, for it had shelves upon shelves of books lining the walls, leaving the center floor clear, displaying an ornate tile mosaic. Kagome didn't pay attention as the green man shut the heavy doors behind her.

Taking a deep breath and releasing it, Kagome spun in a slow circle, her hands stretched out. “Show me what I seek.” She murmured in a mantra until one book in particular glowed in her mind's eye. Making a beeline straight for the book, Kagome pulled the heavy tome from its long-time resting place. Written in a long-dead Japanese tongue, Kagome furrowed her brows as she slowly read the cover. Nodding in approval, Kagome tucked the book under her arm and headed to one of the overstuffed chairs that had a swivel board attached to make it a reading desk for the oftentime heavy books. Kagome settled in for the long-haul because she knew that once a person started reading one of the books in the forbidden library, they couldn't leave until they read what they wanted. It could sometimes take days of fasting to accomplish this task. No food or drink was allowed into the library.

Almost a week later, Kagome emerged, squinting at the sunlight even though it was twilight and there was heavy cloud cover out. The green man looked at her with something akin to relief. “You spent an awfully long time in there; did you learn what you wanted?” Kagome nodded, pulling her shawl closer and walked straight for the dorm rooms. It was too late to nip something from the kitchens, which was what she really wanted to do. She would have a hard next couple of weeks, practicing and storing energy for the task she knew that she would eventually have to do to her son. At least it wouldn't be as harsh, with him already having han-inu blood mixing into his system.

END

Kagome looked down at Shippou and stroked his hair. She could see the differences already in his hair and ears with Inuyasha's blood in him. His hair gained lighter-colored streaks, not quite a white, but more like a lighter orange in his already orange hair. His ears had also migrated slightly, gaining a more prominent point at the top and a slight point between the lobe and tip, making it look slightly boxy and like Inuyasha or her ears mid-transformation. One more dose of hanyou blood and he'd have animalistic ears for sure. As if sensing her thoughts, Shippou groaned slightly and his hand clutched at Kagome's shirt. Kagome held her breath, wondering if Shippou would actually awaken, but she let out a disappointed sigh when the kit settled down again.

Yusuke looked at his cousin studying the kit and peeled off his current flight pattern, flying away so that he could beat his wings without worrying about colliding into Kagome's wings. “I see you're busy…” he mumbled, not seeing Kagome respond in the slightest.

A moment later, Kagome tilted her wings into a gentle decent, scanning the trees for her red fiancé. She spotted Inuyasha running along the ground and dropped down, folding her wings so that she could run alongside him. The change of movement thrilled Kagome, with the uncertainty that her landing would go smoothly. It took a few moments for Inuyasha to look over at his running partner questionably and quirk an eyebrow.

“Sh-Shippou.” Kagome started, stepping down in the middle of her word to launch to the next long leap. “I think he might wake up later. He stirred a little, so that's a good sign.” Inuyasha nodded in agreement, looking forward.

“Getting tired?” he asked, noting her slightly fast breathing.

“N-no!” she immediately denied, not wanting Inuyasha to win, “well… kind of. Flying that high makes breathing a little hard though. And I think Shippou's grown a bit too.” She hefted the kit to a different position for emphasis.

Inuyasha nodded. “Why wouldn't he? He's sleeping off a growth spurt and the adoption at the same time. No telling how much he'll grow by the time his spurt's over.” Looking down at Shippou, Kagome lamented softly. Soon she wouldn't be able to carry her dear child as much.

“Don't cry momma…” Shippou mumbled in his sleep, clenching his fist against her shirt again.

Kagome smiled softly and pressed a kiss to the crown of his head. “I'm sorry Shippou, you can go back to sleep now.” The kit seemed to nod, but it could have been his reaction to Kagome's movements.

“I'll hold him for a while if you're getting tired.” Inuyasha offered softly, careful to not wake the kit. Kagome hesitated before nodding slightly, torn between the need of her sore arms and bonding with her kit as long as possible. They stopped running for a moment and changed hands before starting off again.

Miroku and Sango dipped low on Kirara to question what was going on. It had been several hours of straight running so far, and they were wondering why the two hanyou had stopped. Inuyasha waved off their concern and Kagome hitched a brief ride side-saddle on Kirara to get back up into the air. Pushing off of Kirara, Kagome dived and pulled up sharply to ascend quickly to Yusuke's level. In the atmosphere, the two engaged in a mock-battle that consisted of too many near-misses and acrobatics that weren't necessary. It was a giant game of air-tag, Miroku realized, watching the two and their antics. Kagome swooped down and circled Kirara a few times before touching Miroku's head.

“See if you can catch up!” she yelled over her shoulder at Yusuke, who copied her moves (including whapping Miroku over the head with his open palm).

“Hey! I need to use that later!” he yelled jokingly, rubbing his head. Kagome laughed and turned upside down before doing a barrel roll and pulling up sharply at the tree tops to accelerate forward and slightly upwards. Yusuke followed the maneuver, skimming a slightly taller tree by accident. Accelerating forward, hand over the light scratch on his abs as they healed over almost instantly, he almost ran into Kagome's back as she backpedaled mid-air. After doing a few tight flips, Yusuke came to hover as close to Kagome as he could so that he could hear her.

“Yusuke, go down and tell Inuyasha that I sense a jewel shard in that direction,” Kagome pointed to the right of where they were heading. Yusuke nodded, sensing the urgency in her voice, and made a steep dive into the trees. Kagome went back to Kirara's flying position and looped over them before flying at eye level. “Jewel shard.” Was all she had to say before they started to float down to Inuyasha and Yusuke's position on the ground. Yusuke was holding Shippou as Inuyasha pulled out his blade, transforming it for the prospective fight.

“I'll take Shippou and stay in the air.” Yusuke nodded and handed the kit over. Kagome borrowed Kirara as a temporary springboard into the air as she saw that Puu was already descending from its height. Where the phoenix was so high up, even the best demon would have a difficulty seeing the bird with its blue coloring. Kagome landed on its back and used her wings as a cape to keep Shippou warm in the slightly cooler weather.

Back on the ground, Yusuke tucked his wings tight against his back so that he could fight on the ground. The wings molded themselves to stay hidden a bit better than Kagome's did. “It's coming.” He murmured, bringing up his fist in the gun position.

“You can sense the shards like lady Kagome?” Miroku asked, clearly curious.

“Not really, but I can tell where the energy's coming from. I won't be able to point it out as well though.” Yusuke closed his eyes halfway and tilted his head as if he was listening to something. “The energy's coming along the trees and it seems… human?” Yusuke wandered out loud. The energy of the jewel shard was exactly like Kagome's aura, but the aura surrounding it was completely human, with no other types of energy detectable. Heck, even the human's life energy was weak enough that it shouldn't be able to move. “Young… male.” Yusuke commented, pulling down his firing fist just in case.

“Kohaku!” Sango yelled, jumping off of the hovering Kirara to stand next to Yusuke.

“Ko-?” Yusuke mumbled, remembering something that Kagome had told him over one of her e-mails about the demon slayer's brother. Not a moment later, a young boy older than Souta jumped out of one of the trees, holding a chain-sickle loosely. Except for a small ponytail, the two boys could have been siblings. The boy wore a black cat suit with teal and amber armor and a mask over his lower face.

The boy, Kohaku, pointed his sickle at Inuyasha. “Master Naraku is waiting for you.” He said in a monotone, although his eyes gave away the faintest glimmer of life as they flickered over Sango. Sagging his shoulders for a moment, the boy turned and led them off the path to a relatively large clearing that seemed to have seen many battles already. Giving another look over his shoulder, Kohaku sprinted off to stand by a tree.

Looking around, Yusuke nearly laughed. It was Genkai-baba's training grounds… about 500 years from now. The surrounding trees were dead, stripped of all bark and leaves except for a few that clung to the branches desperately. The ground looked solid, but dead. Yusuke knew that the sporadic mud puddles were actually connected underground to make the ground a living marsh. Flattened yellow grass hid the majority of the dangerous areas. In all, it looked like this was a thriving part of the forest not too long ago, only to be killed instantly by… something.

Puu coasted down, landing in the spacious clearing with Kagome on its back. She jumped down, her wings covering herself and Shippou like a black cloak. “This isn't good. I didn't expect this to happen already. Wasn't Sesshoumaru-sama supposed to meet up with us before we battled?” Kagome asked, jogging up to the others. Hissing slightly, Kagome put her hand to her temple and looked around. “Would you all just shut up!” she yelled into what seemed like plain air. After a moment, she relaxed her shoulders and put her hand down.

Yusuke gave her a knowing look while the others looked at her like she was insane. “The others killed here are warning us, what were they saying?” Yusuke asked gently, looking around at shimmering areas that represented wandering spirits.

She looked down, her ears swiveling to hear the spectral sounds. “'The death-purveyor comes'” Kagome quoted, looking up in shock and running back to Puu, using her haori to wrap Shippou up and secure him on Puu's back gently. “Puu, you know what to do.” The Phoenix bobbed his head and took off, only to be blasted back by an invisible air wall that hit the rest of the gang moments later, sending them flying back. Screaming, Kagome hit one of the dead trees between her wings, the gust nearly ripping them out of her back. After a few moments, Kagome slid to the ground, her wings lying nearly-useless at her sides.

“Everyone okay?” Inuyasha asked, from where he had embedded his sword into the ground. He got groans from everyone and nodded. “Good, stand your ground!” he called, seeing the treetops being buffeted by the next blast.

“Puu! Up now!” Yusuke yelled over to the bird, who had just righted itself. Puu nodded, opening his wings to be more prepared with the next blast. With a screech, Puu was thrown violently into the air before synchronizing with the current and circling higher. The two humans were braced against Kirara and a few trees, while Yusuke grabbed onto the earth and tucked his wings in exceptionally tight. Kagome was against the tree and Inuyasha had his sword. By the third blast, Kagura had ridden in on her feather and was in hot pursuit of Puu. Looking up to Puu and over to Kagome, Yusuke growled. The wind was keeping them from taking off and attacking the sky demon, even though they had plenty of room to take off, the wind would toss him into the trees like a rag doll and likely break the fragile appendages.

Timing himself between wind blasts, Inuyasha pulled Tetsusaiga out of the ground and sent an attack toward Kagura, who laughed as it bounced off a barrier that was surrounding… them? “Ku, Ku, Ku… I see that you have discovered my barrier, little hanyou.” A smooth tenor voice praised, seeming to come from everywhere at once. Inuyasha looked around, trying to pinpoint where the despised voice originated.

“Come out her, you bastard!” he growled, crouching against the wind so that he could freely swing Tetsusaiga.

“Now come, Inuyasha, what sport would that be?” Naraku cooed walking out of the dense forest's fog. He held a bundle in his arms, wrapped in a familiar green haori with orange blossoms on the edges. Kagome growled and stood up straight, her aura deflecting the wind around her. Eyes red, Kagome walked forward towards the evil hanyou.

“Give me Shippou!” she growled out, holding out her hand. Naraku smirked and rubbed Shippou against his bare cheek, several of his tentacles pointing to vital spots on the little boy.

“Now, is he really that special to you?” Naraku held the kit up by the tail, letting the haori fall away, and swung him, barely missing the sharp spikes at the end of his tentacles with each swing. Kagome growled loudly and her tail bushed up in fear. Her eyes, although red, swam with tears. “I see that he is.” Naraku chuckled, “then I propose a trade. The shards for your precious fox, unhurt… well, mostly,” the evil man sneered, shaking the kit by the tail, inciting a whimper from the unconscious kit. Kagome whimpered as well, looking downward. She could tell without looking that the others were just as appalled by the trade.

“Fine.” Kagome spat out, pulling a chain from under her halter-top and breaking the chain. Yusuke held his hand out in a silent protest, wide-eyed. She pulled out what looked like a golden mass of a fine chain and rubbed her thumb over it, muttering. “We'll play it your way then!” Kagome yelled, throwing the knot towards Naraku, changing to a glass bottle of jewel shards as it landed at his feet. “Now give me back Shippou!”

Naraku couldn't help but laugh as he bent down to pick up the shards. “Foolish, naïve little hanyou, did you really expect me to give you back your kitsune? But since you held up your end of the bargain…” Naraku smashed the glass bottle and combined the shards with his mostly whole Shikon, forming a whole Shikon No Tama. “I will give you your kit back.” And with that, Naraku dropped Shippou into a mud puddle.

Kagome screamed and ran forward as Shippou disappeared beneath the surface completely. “Shippou!” she screamed as she reached the edge of the sinkhole and reached down to find nothing.

Before she could dive in, Naraku wrenched one of her wings, pulling her back and shaking his finger, “shame, shame, we mustn't leave an enemy to kill more of your pack, now should we?” he asked with a patronizing sneer.

Ripping her wing out of Naraku's grasp, Kagome became ragged as her tail and hair puffed and streaked with white, her eyes turning white with light blue pupils out of grief. Blindly, Kagome stretched her hand toward Naraku as he laughed, clenching her fist and turning the air.

“You will regret this.” Kagome said monotonously, standing up. “By the power of Gabriel and Artemis, I will kill you.” Releasing the hold on her powers, the golden knot expanded from where it was disguised as the jewel shards and enveloped the entire sphere in a writhing golden mass, slashing Naraku as he tried to wipe the metallic vines off the jewel.

Looking up at the sky, the sun set quickly as the moon came up, leading the stars. Kagome closed her eyes and held her arms open to welcome the celestial being. Looking back down at Naraku, Kagome's eyes glowed like reflections of the moon as a barrier was set between the others and herself so they would not be injured. Holding her hand out, the golden knot unraveled itself, turning into the transparent celestial robe of Kaguya. The last of the knot left Naraku's hand, revealing that the Shikon had disappeared as well. In a scream of fury, Naraku swept forward his tentacles and attacked. Kagome brushed away the deadly points with a wave of her hand and a small, shield-like barrier. The pink robe brushed against Kagome's wings, healing them as good as new as they gained white eye-shaped spots to match the white streaks in her tail and hair.

“You will pay Naraku, a life for lives.” Kagome hissed as the robe came to tie itself in front of her belly button after looping over her fully outstretched wings. The Shikon re-formed itself, molding over the knot as a kind of brooch. Raising her wings over her head, Kagome growled to attempt to cow the demon. Naraku, smug as ever, stood still.

“Little hanyou, do you intend to make me run away? Even without the Shikon, I am more powerful than you.” Naraku narrowed his crimson eyes when Kagome didn't back down either. “You cannot kill me. You, and all of your friends, have tried to kill me. What makes this time so different?”

“Because you made it personal; you killed my son!” Kagome howled, nearly crumpling. Naraku stepped forward, nearly nose-to-nose with the miko, and stroked her cheek free of tears.

“There, there little monstrosity, you'll soon meet your son again.” He cooed, scraping his claws against her cheek as he slapped her down.

Inuyasha and Yusuke stood outside the barrier, trying to see what was happening through the opaque energy wall. Kneeling, Yusuke placed his hand on the barrier and closed his eyes, attempting to `see' inside with the energy markings. He could only pick Kagome's energy faintly on the other side, with most of it being put into the barrier. Through his angelic connection with Kagome, Yusuke felt the harsh sting of nails being embedded in his cheek. Pulling away his hand, he saw fresh blood that came from the cheek. “Kagome got hurt.” Yusuke informed his companion.

“What?” Inuyasha growled harshly, looking at the young war-hanyou.

“Through our connection… Kagome was hit in the cheek,” Yusuke clarified, trying to wipe the blood away with his hand.

Inuyasha looked at Yusuke weirdly before asking quietly, “Is that two-ways, or is it just you get hurt whenever Kagome does?”

“Both ways, why-“

“Send her some energy then.” Inuyasha demanded. Yusuke's eyes lit up as he caught on. Closing his eyes, he pressed his bloody hand into the barrier and released some of his energy to Kagome. Her aura seemed to suck at his energy hungrily, nearly taking all of it. Inuyasha caught the boy as he nearly collapsed. With a grim look, Inuyasha pulled him back toward Sango, Miroku and Kirara.

Sitting down with the others, Inuyasha followed Sango's line of sight to her brother. The boy seemed as if he was sleeping, slumped against the tree like that, but they almost completely knew, without checking, that Kohaku's spirit had left when Naraku had shown up and taken the last jewel shards. Miroku had a sympathetic arm draped over her shoulders as Sango shook from keeping back her tears. There would be time to mourn when Kagome came back alive.

Inside, Kagome could feel the others trying to reach her. A tear slid down her injured cheek, mixing with her blood, as she said a silent prayer. Inuyasha, Miroku, Sango and now little Shippou-kun, all of them ruined, possibly killed, because of Naraku. This had gone on too long and it was time to end it, before any more lives were taken. Kagome stood up and wiped away the blood on her cheek, pressing it against her lips. “I vow, by my blood alone, that you will be the only one that will not leave this clearing today.” Absorbing the energy that Yusuke gave her, Kagome closed her eyes and screamed. Glowing white-hot, Kagome seemed to faint dead away to Naraku.

The barrier faded to being translucent and the others watched Kagome's fall and supposed defeat. In anger, Inuyasha pulled Tetsusaiga and it transformed to its large form, glowing an eerie red. He raised the sword to strike and break the barrier when a hand touched his arm. “No, don't. You break that barrier, you'll break all of Kagome's energy,” Yusuke panted, his eyes seemingly unfocused, “Kagome's still alive, but her spirit's left her body temporarily. If you break the barrier right now, Kagome's chance of returning to her body is slim to none.” Yusuke revealed grimly. It was one of the bad parts of being part angelic. Yusuke's unfocused eyes watched as a white and blue toned spirit-Kagome strode gracefully toward the demon the others were calling Naraku.

Kilala seemed to be the only other one able to see Kagome on the spiritual plane, but they all heard her as she spoke. “I see now Onigumo, the spider that has possessed you. Do you wish to be free now, and rest for a while?” her voice seemed to chime like bells on the very wind itself.

“No matter how many times you kill me, I will come back!” Naraku hissed, trying to see where the miko-hanyou's voice was coming from since the body had not moved since. Kagome shook her head and walked straight up to Naraku, walking through his protective net of tentacles and nearly freezing them and burning them at the same time.

“Onigumo, your heart, where is it?” Kagome asked. Naraku clenched his chest and looked down, a hand-shaped print formed on his shirt in frost and flame.

“Worthless miko, can't you sense that Onigumo's heart no longer is here?” Naraku sneered, covering up the slight panic that had invaded his voice.

“This `worthless miko' sees that you no longer had your heart when you sold your body to a spider, but your soul still resides within this flesh.” Naraku grimaced and bent over as the handprint on his chest started burning through his flesh. He put up a barrier, but it only ceased anything on the physical plane, such as the fly that was unfortunate enough to be caught in the larger barrier when this started.

“You will not kill me, hanyou!” he rebuked, closing his eyes and turning inward. Outside the barriers, Miroku yelled in pain, holding his right wrist. Even with the rosary beads surrounding and sealing off the Kazaana, Miroku felt the pull and enlargement of the cursed wind tunnel. Running across the field, Sango would have followed except for Inuyasha holding her back.

“What would Kagome think if she lost any more of us?” Inuyasha hissed, holding onto Sango tight as her body trembled and tears escaped her eyes.

Hearing Sango's wails, Kagome narrowed her spectral eyes and gave one last push, searing a bloodless hole through his chest and ripping his soul out of the flesh. “You have spent too much time on this plane Onigumo, be cleansed!” she yelled, punching Onigumo's spirit in the face, shattering him to the four corners of the spirit realm.

Surprisingly enough, Naraku's body continued to stay standing, but tilted dangerously to the side with an ugly sneer on his face. “You haven't yet defeated me, half-breed!” the winds of Miroku's Kazaana increased, starting to strip trees of what few leaves were left on them. Kagome looked back at the demon and glared. Naraku seemed to be melting… or more like separating into hundreds of demons. Becoming overwhelmed, Kagome dropped the barrier after sending a brief mental image-message to Yusuke. The war hanyou nodded and braced, ready to use one of his attacks. Taking one last look at the disintegrating demon in her spiritual form, Kagome slid back into her mortal body. Coughing violently, Kagome sat up and strung one of her arrows to point at one particular demon.

“You are the true Naraku, are you not?” Kagome asked, narrowing her eyes at the relatively small demon. It looked like an overgrown tarantula. Overhead, Yusuke sprayed a series of spirit bullets into the air, killing off the demons that tried to escape Naraku's larger barrier. Giving Sango a meaningful look, Inuyasha released the slayer and readied Tetsusaiga for the Kaze no Kizu. Striking the sword against the ground, invisible claws gouged at the ground as the attack dissolved the majority of the demons. Even in his haze of fast-approaching death, Miroku used his cursed hand to his advantage and swallowed a large number of the simple, low level demons despite the amount of Samiyoshou intertwined between the demons.

The large spider clicked its mandibles and tried to scurry off, but not before Kagome shot it close-range with her arrow. With the spider gone, the organization of the other demons disbanded also as the barrier fell. They no longer attacked the humanoids on the ground, but started to fight among themselves, killing each other. During this process, Miroku's wind tunnel dispersed also, leaving a whole hand in its wake.

Nearly sobbing with relief, Sango ran up to the monk and fell into his arms, knocking him to the ground in a flurry of kisses. Smiling, all Miroku could do was stroke Sango's hair and murmur soft assurances that this time Naraku was not coming back. Almost hesitantly, Sango touched Miroku's whole hand in wonder, the soft flesh real enough by her standards. Sobbing again, Sango cried into Miroku's purple and black robes. The day taking a toll on her emotions as she finally was able to let it all out.

Across the clearing, Kagome was sobbing for an entirely different reason. She knelt at the edge of the pool that Shippou had disappeared into, knowing that she would never see her baby again. Destroying the last minor demons, Inuyasha sheathed his sword and knelt behind Kagome, placing a gentle hand on her shoulder. Kagome turned and threw herself into the older hanyou's arms, sobbing all her grief, her eyes yet to turn back to their normal color. “Hey Kagome,” Yusuke asked soberly, walking up behind the hanyou couple, “I've fought in this clearing before and I know this pond. I can get Shippou back for you, okay?” he walked around Kagome's limp wings and kneeled by her side, brushing her cheek with a calloused finger.

A barely perceptible nod was all Yusuke needed to kick off his shoes and dive head-first into the murky water. Kagome watched the water settle out of the corner of her blurry eyesight. If she didn't know where the water was, she would have easily fallen in after Shippou. The pieces of dead flora and dirt floating on top made it look like many of the shallow mud puddles she would see after a rainstorm. The water ceased to move entirely, except for the random gust of wind that would ripple the surface. Such an innocent looking thing: the mud puddle. She remembered that she once heard that a person could drown in four inches of water or less.

After a few minutes, Kagome became worried because of the water's lack of movement. “Yusuke!” Kagome yelled, sitting up in Inuyasha's lap. It had been too long, what if he had drowned? Shippou and Kohaku dying were enough for the day, if even too much. “Yusuke don't scare me!” Kagome yelled, looking around at every mud puddle.

A muddy hand reached out of the ground, grabbing onto anything it could reach. Kagome screeched as the hand grabbed her feathers and pulled hard. Whipping around to pull her abused wing out of the thing's grasp, Kagome's eyes widened as Yusuke hauled himself up from a smaller puddle. The war hanyou climbed out of the puddle, gasping and sputtering for air and grasping a bundle as if his life depended on it. Flopping onto the ground, Yusuke set the bundle down safely away from the edge. He looked up at Kagome sadly, his wings dripping wet lie at his sides uselessly. “Have you ever tried to swim with wings before? It's harder than it looks!” he grinned barely before crumpling onto the ground, only half out of the puddle. The energy transfer from earlier and the rescue attempt taking the last of his energy.

Kagome attempted to smile back gratefully, but gave up as she crawled over to Shippou's prone form. His pale skin made him seem like he was still underwater, and his hair was plastered to his head, his bow gone. She reached out for the kit almost timidly, afraid that he would disappear if she touched him. Wailing in grief, Kagome gathered the kit into her arms and curled her body around him. Rocking gently, she put her cheek to his tiny torso, trying to hear his heart. Hiccupping between sobs, Kagome felt a light touch on her shoulder moments before being enveloped in the red fabric that encased Inuyasha's arms. The hanyou knelt between Kagome's lax wings, trying to give the younger one some sense of comfort without stepping on her feathers.

Yusuke sat up, spreading his wings flat along the ground so they could dry as he slumped forward. “If it helps,” Yusuke's eyes flashed the bluish white of spirit-sight before returning to their ruddy brown, “His soul hasn't left yet.” Looking around, Yusuke spotted a figure in white walk out of the forest and toward the group. Although powerful, Yusuke could sense no extreme ill-intent coming from the demon. The figure looked back at Yusuke, nodding slightly before turning to the two humans.

“Human, where is Naraku?” the white hair and clothed demon asked, holding his sword in his one hand.

Miroku shook his head from where he sat holding Sango, “the Naraku you speak of is gone. Kagome-sama destroyed him not fifteen minutes ago.” He held up his whole right hand as proof. Nodding, Sesshoumaru stabbed his sword into the ground and drew his smaller, less used katana from its saya. Walking over to the younger teen boy, he narrowed his eyes and slashed him several times with the katana. The screeches of several underworld imps were only heard by two as the boy stirred into living. Turning away, Sesshoumaru walked over to the three hanyou.

“Miko, you will release the kitsune.” He demanded, pointing the tip of his katana at an imp that was trying to get to Shippou. Kagome shook her head and held Shippou tighter. Sesshoumaru poked the underworld imp and it screeched, slashing its claws at the offensive weapon.

From his slumped position, Yusuke looked at the underworld imp also. “I don't know what this guy wants, but Shippou's soul is about to be taken if you don't do what he says,” he suggested, watching the imp crawl closer to Shippou's body.

“Miko, release the kitsune or feel Tensaiga.” Sesshoumaru reiterated, raising the katana to her neck. Inuyasha looked up at his half-brother before grabbing Kagome's wrists gently. Murmuring gentle assurances, he peeled her hands away to reveal the kit lying in her lap, limp. Holding both of her hands in one of his, Inuyasha gently moved Shippou to the cold ground away from Kagome. Sobbing, Kagome pounded her back against Inuyasha's chest in grief; her mutterings of her son's name over and over barely intelligible. Hushing her, Inuyasha's hand rubbed her back and traveled up to rub one of her ears also as they rocked side to side.

In the meantime, Sesshoumaru narrowed his eyes and slashed at the imps after the kitsune's soul, killing the death creatures instantly. Sheathing his sword, Sesshoumaru turned and walked away, grabbing his more useful sword on the way. Stopping and glancing over his shoulder, Sesshoumaru grunted and nodded, “this Sesshoumaru's services are no longer needed.” He walked back into the forest, blending in with the fog that seemed to cling to the trees.

Kohaku blinked his eyes open and Shippou stirred, rolling to his side and coughing up water. Kagome lunged forward and grabbed Shippou, squeezing him tight in a hug. Gasping for breath, Shippou grasped at Kagome's shirt. “Momma…Can't…Breathe!” lessening her grip ever-so-slightly, Kagome stood up and started to twirl around; happy tears flying off her face. He wings were pulled in loosely, the joints held high over her head so that she wouldn't trip over the feathers. Looking up as he was being twirled around, Shippou noticed Kagome's wings and his mouth gaped open. “Tenshi…” he whispered, reaching up to touch the appendages, “am I dead?”

Kagome stopped twirling and looked Shippou in the eye. Following his line of sight, she smiled as she flexed her wings. “Do you like them?” she asked as she brought her wings forward as a sort of cloak over her shoulders, “you can touch them if you want.” Kagome brought Shippou up and kissed the crown of his moist head, “no, you're not dead; you're very much alive!” Kagome hugged Shippou once again as he stroked Kagome's wing tentatively. Kagome giggled and nudged Shippou's head with her cheek gently, “do you want to fly?” Shippou's wide eyes were all she needed as an answer as she stretched her wings out fully.

“You sure you should do that?” Yusuke asked from where he was sitting, trying to wring out water from his feathers.

“I'll be fine Yus-kun! It'll just be a short one!” Kagome affirmed, skipping over to where Kirara was waiting in her large form. Puu had transformed into his smaller form when Yusuke had transferred his energy to Kagome earlier. Sitting astride on Kirara, they took off high enough for Kagome to launch. “Hold on tight!” was the only warning she gave before diving off the were-cat. Shippou shrieked in joy as he held on tight to Kagome's shoulder as she free-dived toward the ground before snapping over her wings. With a small grunt, Kagome beat her wings and leveled off her flight. She floated around for about five minutes before wheeling down to the ground, much to Shippou's protest.

Landing not as gracefully as she could, Kagome lied on her back with her wings spread out to catch the last of the day's light. Giving Shippou another hug, she let him sit on her belly as she tried to catch her breath. Turning her head, Kagome peered over the flattened grass at the other drama unfolding in the clearing and smiled. Currently, brother and sister were embracing and tears flowed from both their eyes.

(O)

“S-sister?” Kohaku asked, his head pounding to break out of the cloud that enveloped his mind. Placing his hand on his temple, he used his other hand to push himself upright from where he sat against the tree. Taking a few tentative steps, Kohaku stumbled and was caught by Sango. “I'm sorry sister.” Kohaku murmured, weakly trying to pull away.

Sango shook her head and held on to her brother tighter. “It's okay Kohaku; you were under Naraku's control. He's gone now, so you don't have to worry. I'm here now, Sango's here.” She murmured more to herself than Kohaku.

“No, I wasn't.” Kohaku said coldly, looking away, “I wasn't controlled by Naraku since I could remember.”

“You remember… everything?” Sango asked quietly. Kohaku's silence was her answer.

“I remember killing father… and the others… and all those villagers to get the baby…” he grew quieter at each admission. Sango dropped her arms, crying silently.

Shuffling back, Kohaku bent down and touched his forehead to the dirt in a bow. “Sister, please forgive me. I didn't have a choice.” In the silence, he looked up nervously, only to be brought up by a fierce hug by his sister.

“I forgive you,” Sango whispered, touching her cheek to his, “we have to forgive each other now. Please forgive me also.” Kohaku nodded and settled his head on Sango's shoulder, wetting the fabric from his tears.

Miroku touched each of their shoulders gently in a sort of embrace. “Now is the time for celebration, not mourning, is it not Inuyasha?” he asked, turning toward the hanyou who was watching Kagome circle overhead with Shippou on her back.

“Keh,” Inuyasha agreed, nodding his head absently. The sunset was fading and it was getting harder to pick her out in the sky despite her bright coloring and black wings. The colors seemed to blend perfectly in the sunset with its orange and pink clouds against the dark blue sky beyond.

“You want her to come down too, huh?” Yusuke asked from the ground, watching Kagome also. Inuyasha nodded again and Yusuke sighed. “Don't worry, she'll be back soon. Her wing-beats are slowing down.” Just as he said that, Kagome spiraled down and crashed, stumbling and falling to her hands and knees with a grunt. Flopping to her back, Kagome hugged the kit and spread her arms over her wings, both stretched out on the flattened grass. Smiling tiredly, Kagome turned her head toward the trio of humans.

Yusuke struggled to stand up, his wings dragging on the ground as he walked over to Kagome and sat down cross-legged, hard. Shippou saw the strange man and spread his arms wide in a protective gesture, “don't touch my Momma!” the boy growled, glaring at the demon with black wings. Kagome looked over at Yusuke and smiled, patting Shippou on the head.

“That's a good hanyou; he just doesn't like to show it.” Kagome grinned as Yusuke turned his playful glare from Shippou to Kagome. “Yusuke, Shippou. Shippou-kun, this is Yusuke, my cousin on my human side.”

“But he's a demon?” Shippou crossed his arms in a thoughtful gesture.

“Hanyou. My old man… ancestor… was a war demon. We're double cousins Kags, remember?” Kagome rolled her head back to the stars, nodding after a moment. Raizen and Reichou were foster brothers—that meant cousins on their dad's side—and Gin and Atsuko were sisters—cousins on mom's side. Yep, double cousins.

“Actually, that makes me your Great, Great, Great, Great, Great, Great, Great—“

“I get it already!”

“Great Aunt.” Kagome smirked as Yusuke rolled his eyes, punching her on the arm lightly. Yusuke shoved his hand in her face, palm up. Kagome looked from the hand to Yusuke and back questionably.

“Come on already,” Yusuke wiggled his fingers, “they're heavy, we're tired and it's going to get cold later. I want to put my shirt back on.”

Kagome rolled her eyes and sat up, using Yusuke's proffered arm as leverage. Closing her eyes, Kagome squeezed Yusuke's hand as they did a small energy transfer. The wings shrunk almost immediately, drawn into the skin where a pair of small angel wing tattoo affixed to each shoulder blade with a small bump underneath each where the wing would emerge. Wavering slightly, Kagome put her hand to her temple and grinned. “Good thing it won't take as much next time to transform.” She informed, rubbing her arms. “You were right; it is a little cold out now, ne?” during the reversal process, Kagome's tail and markings had disappeared also. Inuyasha stepped forward and wrapped his arms around Kagome, picking her up in the bridal style.

“You're lighter now.” Inuyasha commented, adjusting her so that she could hook an arm around his neck. Kagome shrugged and yawned widely, showing off her petite fangs. Shippou jumped up and settled himself on Kagome's belly before laying his head over her heart. Glancing down, Inuyasha decided not to comment…for now. The kit would catch hell later though; it was inevitable.

“You shouldn't be surprised,” Yusuke commented beside Inuyasha, rolling his shoulders, “those wings weigh a lot, especially when you're as tired as we are right now. It feels good to have some weight off your back sometimes.” Kagome nodded at Yusuke's attempt of a joke, her eyes closed with one hand on Shippou's head and the other clenching Inuyasha's red haori.

Walking past the silent humans, Yusuke grabbed Kagome's bag and nearly stumbled backwards with the weight of the thing. Miroku took Yusuke's bag and slung it over his shoulder as Puu and Kilala perched on either of Sango's shoulders. Kohaku followed silently, head hung, at the back of the group. Looking over her shoulder, Sango caught her brother's eyes and gestured for him to hurry up to walk next to her. Grinning, he jogged and walked next to Sango for the first time in too long.

“Hey, Shippou-kun?” Kagome asked, her eyes half-mast as she stroked the peach-fuzz on Shippou's ear. “How are you feeling?”

“Tired momma, and a little weird.” Shippou scrunched his face up slightly, furrowing his brows.

Kagome smiled and smoothed his brow with the pad of her thumb, “don't worry, you'll get used to it.” Kagome's world went black as she passed into the world of oblivion for the night. The others set up camp for the night in a clearing further down the road when Yusuke passed out for good on his feet, stumbling over a tree root with a snore. With a look from Inuyasha, the others settled down for the night after lighting a small fire. Inuyasha nodded and jumped into the tree that Yusuke had tripped over, adjusting Kagome and Shippou on his lap so all three could sleep warmly and comfortably for the night.

(O)

Well, I hope this is long enough for you. I thought that since I finally would destroy Naraku, that you deserved a longer chapter. Gabriel and Artemis… they're influence from Kagome's `Avalon' time. Gabriel is one of the Arch Angels that is the patron of justice or something like that (sorry, I can't remember exactly). Artemis is the Greek warrior goddess that protected the forests and mothers and their small children. One of her symbols is the moon, so I thought that was appropriate. If anyone wants to do artwork for me, I'd gladly accept it! Angel Yusuke and Kagome would be a cool one to have especially. Which reminds me, I don't own Inuyasha and the others, nor Yusuke and Puu.

Also, I would also like to recommend a story to you all. It's about an ancestor of Inuyasha and how he deals with the hardships of a demon court and marrying a human woman. Read First Alliances by MissLonelyNights (After meeting Izayoi, Inuyasha's father thinks back to another human and demon relationship in his family from long ago, born from an ancient legend, and how he came to form his compassionate feelings toward humans.)

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