InuYasha Fan Fiction ❯ Chancery ❯ A Different Approach ( Chapter 3 )

Author Note:

There's too many episodes for me to remember exact timelines of events. If any of the original events that I mention does not fit, please disregard and forgive me. (PS: I'm roughly up to episode 130+ ish of the anime, up to just after Naraku gained a new and better body and killed Kikyou. So North American viewers who had not seen up to there, and not sure about events I might mention, sorry about that! But I don't think you need extensive knowledge of the anime to understand my fanfictions. Not exactly sure what, if any, events I might mention.)

PS: I was made aware in some reviews that Sesshoumaru's thoughts were a bit confusing, I apologize for that! Though, there shouldn't be too much confusion as the story progresses, and all will be revealed! ^^ (And the "her" in his thoughts was not Kagome, as you see in the first word of this chapter~)

Chancery
- No evil can happen to a good man, either in life or after death. - Plato
- Every sweet has its sour; every evil its good. - Ralph Waldo Emerson

Chapter 3
A Different Approach

/Rin!!/

That thought resounded through Sesshoumaru's mind, as he materialized in the clearing where he had left her with Jaken and his two-headed dragon. However, there was no sunny girl to run up to hug his leg, nor was there anyone else to greet him.

The tattered bodies of Jaken and Ah-Un, as Rin so innocently named the dragon, lied on the bloodied ground lifelessly. Signs of desperate battle were obvious throughout the surrounding foliage, charred patches testified Jaken's attempt to use the Staff of Heads, while burnt gorges in the ground were left from Ah-Un's energy beams.

Pulling out Tenseiga, he narrowed his eyes at the imps crawling over their bodies. With a couple of confident swipes, they were turned into dust as the bodies healed and once again breathed. In moments, Jaken and Ah-Un were awake.

"Sesshoumaru-sama!! Forgive this lowly Jaken, for he has failed you!!" Jaken prostrated himself at Sesshoumaru's feet immediately, ready to face his master's wrath.

"Jaken, where is Rin." Sesshoumaru demanded calmly, but Jaken could detect the underlying rage and threat.

"That wind witch of Naraku's took her! I was not able to defeat her!! I -" Jaken's screechy pleas were cut short as Sesshoumaru sent him flying with a swift kick.

/Naraku ... how dare you touch what is mine, again! /

Sesshoumaru's eyes narrowed in fury as he followed Naraku's left over traces of jyaki, intent on regaining what is rightfully his.

---------------------------------------------------------------- ---------------------------------------------

As Sesshoumaru came closer and closer to the origins of the jyaki, he inevitably encountered the crazed Inuyasha, also intent on regaining what he considered as his. The hanyou turned youkai was no longer just frenzied and in rage, he was beyond infuriated at his incapability of locating the ones he hunt.

When he leaped headlong into Sesshoumaru's path, the two enraged youkai regarded each other with unconcealed animosity. Without any words, they charged at each other.

Inuyasha's incoherent mind only registered that this hostile youkai had again stood in his way, therefore his animalistic instincts commanded him to attack and remove this obstacle.

Sesshoumaru merely thought to put his half-brother out of his current state of near insanity; he felt it was an insult to their blood. Besides, they were still brothers by blood despite all that had been said and done. Furthurmore, he could not chance the possibility that he accidentally hurt his Rin while in this condition now that Naraku also had her.

Gracefully, Sesshoumaru called forth his venom whips from the fingers of his right hand, not bothering to use Toukijin against Inuyasha who was only using his claws. Even in his youkai form, with enhanced speed and reflexes, Inuyasha was still not up to the taiyoukai's superior speed and skills begotten from long and arduous training.

Sesshoumaru effectively avoided all of Inuyasha's rash and unplanned attacks. Seeing blatant openings, Sesshoumaru retaliated with attacks of his own which were meant mainly to subdue, not to kill. He had never been truly serious in trying to kill his half-brother, always holding back during their past encounters.

At first, it had been a brutal blow to his pride that Inuyasha was able to wield a sword that he could not. He had been careless to let his youkai rage take over after the momentary lapse in his control after getting the shock of his life when a mere human girl managed to pull out the sword which neither him nor Inuyasha could. The price was the lose of his left arm when he turned into his true youkai form, and was taken by surprise at the power of the unfamiliar sword.

After he had tried again and again to obtain the sword to sooth his indignant pride, his view of his hanyou brother had changed slightly. He actually managed to feel approval towards Inuyasha for appearing to master the fang sword their father meant for him to have. Then he had learnt that it helped subdue his youkai blood, acting like a seal to stop him from being taken over by the blood like he was now, causing him to discard the idea of taking the sword for himself. By then, he had understood their father's true purpose for giving Inuyasha the fang, which was not favourism of one son over the other. He had also seen the value of Tenseiga, somehow seeking comfort from the cheerful little girl whom the sword brought back.

Turning his attention back to the battle, Sesshoumaru twisted out of the way of another of Inuyasha's attack and moved behind him. Inuyasha had been weakened by the toxin in his whip, causing his movements and reactions to become slower. Before Inuyasha could turn around to block his strike, Sesshoumaru had effectively knocked him out with a sharp blow to the pressure point at the side of his neck.

He spared an indifferent glance to the companions of the hanyou who had just arrived who was calling out to him. Leaving them to take care of the now unconscious Inuyasha, Sesshoumaru once again set off at top speed to retrieve his young ward.

---------------------------------------------------------------- ---------------------------------------------

Black. Nothing. That was all she could see and sense.

/Where am I? What kind of place is this?/

Kagome tried to move, but felt as if she was floating without a substantial body. She could not feel or will any of her body parts to move, and could not seem to be able to see them or anything else.

/Am I dead? Is this the afterlife? Heh, its really not at all like what it's cracked up to be. There's no glowing heaven nor flaming hell, or was hell supposed to be freezing?/

In this strange plane, she seemed to feel detached from her emotions. She remembered everything that had happened, remembered the pain she felt, knew that the pain was still there, but did not seem to actually hurt or care anymore. She felt almost ... peaceful.

/This isn't too bad ... maybe I'll stay like this forever./

However, that notion was disrupted as she felt the swish of fabric by her side, and something cool gently stroke her face.

/What was that?/ She wondered, unsure of what she was experiencing. /Was that someone touching me? How could it be, does that mean I'm not dead yet?/

She felt the coolness leave her face, only to pick up her hand.

/Wait ... I can tell it's my face and hand, that means I'm really not dead? Or ... can souls be unconscious when they pass on? Do they have to wake up or something? Aww ... my head hurts. I'll stop trying to think now./

Feeling confused and disoriented, Kagome let her mind relax and once again fell into total unconsciousness.

---------------------------------------------------------------- ---------------------------------------------

"Kagome..." Naraku whispered as he held her hand up to his face, softly kissing each of her fragile fingers. Her hand was so hot it burnt against his lips and hand, but he could do no more to help her fever. He had done all he could to heal her, the rest was up to herself.

"Please live, Kagome." He told her, his voice coloured with unidentified emotions. When he had agreed to Kikyou's plan, he had not thought that the undead miko would injure her this severely. His eyes darkened in anger, she would pay next time they met.

Kagome most probably would not be alive now, had he reached her bloodied form any later. He even had to use one of her shards to maintain her life until her body healed enough to sustain itself. He did not want to use any of his tainted shards, in fear of worsening her condition.

Relaxing his now angry expression back to one of concerned calmness, he returned to watching the strange girl who had continued to plague his thoughts. Before, when he still had Onigumo's heart and feelings for the miko named Kikyou, he had attributed his strange obsession with her reincarnation to their resemblance in appearance. When he had rid himself of that human's heart and emotions, successfully disintegrating any feelings he might have had towards Kikyou. He proved his point by forcing her into his poisonous streams of miasma. [AN: Forgot what it was that she fall into.]

However, that did nothing to lessen his obsession with the young miko with mysterious origins who Kikyou claimed to be her reincarnation. He still always observed her thought the eyes of his puppets when he fought with her companions. Sometimes, he would ask Kanna to show her in her mirror, and he would spend unknown amounts of time simply watching her. What puzzled and alarmed him most was the almost calmness he felt when he was near her, or watching her. Even now, a sense of being at ease with himself that had eluded him ever since ... ever filled him, just by sitting beside her.

When he could not stand the agony of the countless different youkai he contained within himself caused when they fought him, he would always ask Kanna to show her. When he watched her going about her life, the pain would seem to lessen, become more bearable. Sometimes, in the heat of battle, he would still watch her at injuries to himself. Especially when he noticed the absence of hate in her furious gaze at himself.

/She has got to be the only person in this world who does not hate me./ He thought cynically.

More times than one, he was drawn to her gaze. Her glare often held anger, for hurting her friends and innocent people. Many times it held accusations, other times pain. Some rare occurrences, he even detected something akin to pity, maybe even sympathy in her eyes, directed at himself. It was those times that his breath seem to catch, and he find himself able to fathom that he actually owned a heart. However, those rare moments are becoming much rarer, with the animosity between him and her friends escalating. He almost regretted having to break what little good thoughts she had of him, almost.

Watching her now, his only wish was for her to survive this feverish state. He could not understand the unease and agitation he felt at seeing her unresponsive and weak like this, but he knew he wanted her to live. He knew she would just go back to her friends and continue hunting him, but at least he would be able to continue watching her warm light from the pits of his dark hell. Maybe, just maybe, he would be able to redeem himself, just a tiny little, by basking in her pure radiance.

He was not too sure why he wanted the power of the Shikon no Tama at first, he could only guess that it was the greed of all the youkai which he was made up from which drove him to his behaviour. Often he would lose himself to the conflicts of the stronger entities inside himself, those that managed to keep a tiny bit of their own conscience when they were absorbed. As he became stronger, the conscience of 'Naraku' become clearer, and he was able to exercise more control over the emotions that he felt, no longer so heavily influenced by the residue desire and hatred from the youkai he had absorbed.

Now, part of the reason for the jewel was to finish what he started. The other, more important part was to make himself whole, so that he no longer have to stand the torture of being hanyou. The youkai within him often fought his control, especially on the day when he had to become human. It was excruciating on those days, not that he would let anyone know. He could no longer stand his current pathetic existence, and the only way to really exist freely was to make himself a true youkai with the jewel, instead of the collage that he was now.

Most importantly, he recognized Kagome as the focal point which cleared his mind where the true thoughts of 'Naraku' was concerned. He knew his infatuation with her was solely and entirely the thoughts of 'Naraku', the new entity created from the mash of various youkai. When he thought of her, he had no worries of losing himself to the seething youkai within him. When he thought of her, he could almost block out the other raging thoughts not his own that were constantly in his mind.

/I don't know what will happen to my mind if you disappeared forever ... Kagome./

Erm, I don't know what to think of this chapter. Hopefully, you now have an understanding of my view of Sesshoumaru and Naraku for this fic, especially Naraku. Instead of just seeing him as the 'Villain' of the anime, I tried to create a different view of who he is and what made him. I don't remember anything truly "evil" that he did, he did kill a lot, or cause a lot of deaths, but it was not solely his doing. If there was not already doubt, greed, and hate in the people he manipulates, it wouldn't have been so easy for him to succeed. As for trying to get the jewel, there's only so few that does Not want it. If you were made of a bunch of blood-thirsty greedy demons, you'd probably end up like him too.

I hope you understood what I tried to convey about his personality! -> He's an entity that was created from a bunch of others, thus often he would be influenced by the other entities that made up him, and it's not pleasant either.

-Kura

PS: Remember, I have an update mailing list~ [http://kura-sama.notifylist.com]