InuYasha Fan Fiction ❯ Dark Side of the Moon ❯ Spider Webs ( Chapter 9 )

Meg: Um…^^;;; I updated! ….*sees angry mob* …Yay?

Muse: It's your own fault. --__--+

Meg: Ah, please for give me! Gomen! Please don't use sharp pointy thingies!!

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Title: Dark Side of the Moon

Rating: R

Obsession: Inuyasha

Genre: Dark, angsty stuff. Lots of it. And a bit of romance.

Main characters: Kagome (duh!), Naraku, Miroku and Inuyasha (sort of). May be others later.

Summary: Check the first Chapter!

Feedback: Duh!!

Author's Note: I am a very bad Writer-Lady. I've neglected you all for…well, a long time! (MUCH Too Long) I'm sorry for taking forever. Hopefully some of you questions will finally be answered. In order to make room for new ones! ^^ Big thank you to: BloodRoseOTDemon, akuma-river, sweetthang-37, Y12blue12, hiei'slittegirl, GODs little fallen angel, Jianna, disturbed-demon-gurl, Sesshoumaru's Goddess, Dvana, shygurl, Shannon, Kalena, Sha Gojyo, Crazygurl70, Ryoko Blue, aznmirkwoodelf, foxxychica55, Phantom Angel 17, Kairinu, Fyyrrose, Goddesami, Sesshy's Mate, amyfushigiyugi, BelleDayNight & and of course to everyone that reviewed again. YOU GUYS ROCK!

(Whew! That's a long list! *Beams with Happiness *)

Song belongs to Blink182, not me. But I did make up the poem all by myself! Responses at bottom!

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Dark Side of the Moon

By: Meg

Chapter 9

"…and as I stared I counted
webs from all the spiders
catching things and eating their insides…"

Kagome woke from her sleep, finding herself somewhere she had never been and remembering something she had forgotten. The images were not clear, as her sight was still obscure, but there was a vast white and a bright light that rippled and drifted like water. For a long moment, she was wrapped in the soft sheets and the warm air. She could hear the sound of wind in the trees and the smell of summer. Kagome lazily rolled onto her side, so as to fall into more dreamy comfort. If only it hadn't been for the beam of bright sunlight that greeted her, she may have done so. Making a sound of discomfort, she pushed herself to sit up. Her eyes wandered to the surroundings and she realized that she had never seen this place before. Her muddled mind tried to clear itself and she rubbed at her dazed eyes. She stretched and stood up from the futon she had been on.

She looked down at the loose clothes she was wearing, finding that at sometime during her sleep, she had been changed into a white robe. Who had dressed her? Kagome felt a blush rise up on her cheeks at the thought. She at least hoped it was another woman who had done so.

Full of wonder and questions, Kagome stepped forward, taking notice of the large, empty room and the two sets of doors; one on the far wall ahead of her and another set to her left. The ones to her left were partly open, explaining where the bright light had originated. Drawn towards it, she took small, slow, but eager steps foreword. The light fell on her hands and warmed them, as it warmed whatever else it touched. Her fingers leapt to grasp the golden rope, instead reaching the edge of the door. Almost full on the golden warmth, she drunkenly pushed the door open, having found little strength in her limbs. The light grew brighter and she shielded her eyes from the aged sun. Once she was able to, Kagome looked to what was before her.

A green lawn stretched out, but then rested before a thick stone wall in the distance. The setting sun hid itself halfway behind it, casting a shadow on the vibrant green that crept slowly towards her. Trees also towered over her and even the wall. A pond was also there, just in front of her porch, blinding her with dizzying flashes from the sun. Kagome heard something fall into the water and stepped forward. A girl came into her view, crouching beside the water, her hand dipped in the pond and another holding a handful of stones. She was dressed in the clothes of a priestess, as Kagome had done once. The girl seemed only so many years different, but something felt older about her. To Kagome's alarm, the child's eyes were crimson red and her hair was a silvery white. She looked up at Kagome once she had noticed her presence. She seemed as what Kanna might look if she had ever grown older.

The younger girl looked up at Kagome, then dropped her stones into the water ungracefully and promptly turned to leave. Kagome watched her, but said nothing as she left. The girl didn't seem to want any company.

" An odd creature, isn't she?"

Kagome softly gasped and turned around to find Naraku standing there. She stared at him, watching for any outward sign as to why he had come to see her. A burst of nervousness flooded her. Her heart sped up and she took in a few shallow breaths, but she forced it down, or at least tried to and succeeded for the most part. But then he spoke again; " She is something that is between Dark and Light."

Another stronger sense of fear and worry ripped open as he took a calm step forward while he spoke. Her resolve to be calm as well only crumbled as he neared. He looked down at her, his face mostly empty, but there was the smallest touch of distaste in the corners of his mouth. He knew exactly what she was feeling and thinking. She broke the gaze they had shared and saw the marks on her neck in her mind's eye. Her fingers did not venture to touch them. He moved past her and looked out the doors as she had done. Kagome realized that she had been wringing her hands together and swallowed the lump in her throat.

" Who is she?" she asked.

" She is my newest servant," She heard him say, " She will introduce herself to you later."

" You are making them again," she said flatly, turning around so as to face him.

He closed the door she had opened and the light from the sunset was blocked away. Oil lamps were instantly lit and a dull glow that failed to fill any of the thick, dark corners was created. The room was suddenly changed.

" The world has not stopped simply because your Inuyasha is dead. Everything continues."

She saw him sit down against the wall and she did the same, kneeling a few respectful meters from him.

" Then…what will happen to me?" she asked.

He looked at her, searching into her, scrutinizing her nervous habits. " I will keep you here, in this castle. This is your room and you are allowed here and in the garden, but nowhere else unless I tell you so. You will be tutored to become one of those Princesses that human lords keep to amuse them."

" A doll?"

His wiry mouth twisted into a grin that worried her, but Naraku said nothing in response. For a reason she did not know, Kagome felt more despair sink into her. She was going to be an item on a shelf. She should have been satisfied. Perhaps he would spend even less time with her than he did now. Perhaps he would stop invading her thoughts and dreams. Perhaps…

She was brought out of her thoughts when she saw him move out of the corner of her vision. She followed him with her sight as he came to stand in front of her. His claws reached out and brushed her hair from her face, intentionally touching her cheek as well. His claws trailed from her face to her ear and then down her neck to her shoulder, dragging the hem of her robe along with it. She shuddered and turned her head away. She shut her eyes to try to block out the goose bumps he had given her. She heard him move away from her, past her, towards the doors he had come through. She took in a calming breath, leaning herself forward and shifting her weight onto her palms.

Something had stirred her body just then. Something that felt agonizing and wonderful at the same time. She hated what he had done to her, what he could still do to her. It was horrible and wrong and perverse. She remembered the dreams he forced on her when she would venture to sleep. She remembered the most recent of them.

There were only fragments of pictures and pieces that somehow gave the misshapen vision form. The room was always the same; black walls with red shadows covering them. And it was always so dark. She could never really see anything but blurs and gloom.

But she always seemed to know who was with her, with the exception of last night's delusion. She always knew, somehow, what to expect, but this time everything was different. She knew it wasn't a figment of Naraku. She also knew that she hadn't dreamed of Inuyasha, which she expected from her own mind. She wasn't exactly sure who it was. They didn't have the vibrant eyes that Naraku or Inuyasha had. They were dull and knowing, mixed with want and restraint. Their skin was rougher, their muscles more tense and he felt more controlled. Not that Naraku wasn't controlled; he was, by far, the master of their situations.

She realized her train of thought suddenly and she blushed, angry at herself at the thought of comparing some unknown body to another she hadn't even wanted to know.

But she couldn't deny that some parts of those dreams felt good.

Kagome dearly hoped that her hair was covering her face again.

She heard a soft laugh behind her. He was still here, probably reading her like an open book. She didn't dare turn to look. She somehow knew he was standing in the doorway behind her.

"I will send for someone to dress you. I expect you to have dinner with me this evening,"

She quickly turned in surprise to the order, but found that he was already gone. She turned to her previous position. Fear leapt out and attacked her from its not-quite-so-dormant recesses again. He wanted to eat with her? She gathered that there would be little eating involved; he never met with her unless it was something important for her to know. Something felt wrong. Or, at least, more wrong than usual.

Before she could mull over her thoughts any longer, she heard someone speak," Are you Kagome-sama?"

Kagome turned around at the voice, finding the silver haired girl that had been in the garden, was now standing in the doorway of what Naraku now called "her room". Kagome said nothing at first, feeling her voice fail her. The girl had a very strange air to her, not demonic, or human, or anything else Kagome had ever felt or seen before. Kagome watched as the younger looking girl bowed deeply and moved sit a few meters from her. She then began to speak,

"I am the Bell-Ringer,

I have lost and yet still gained.

I was born to serve a Master

My will has ever been stained.

I was made from the light of my Mother's hair

And the shadows of my Father's lies

Beware-my Mother's heart is pure and fair

Beware my Father's power of your eyes.

My making is not mortal

My undoing shall be its Brother

I know of your closed portal,

You whom I call Mother."

For a long moment, Kagome said nothing, lured away from her own voice. The child's voice had some how stopped Kagome from thinking of anything but what she spoke. The syllables and rhythm still floated in the room, soft and airy. It reminded Kagome of the comfortable feeling before she had fully woken up; the smell of summer and the warmth of the sunset. The mortal girl took in a deep, lazy breath, trying to expel the calm, relaxed feeling the other had created. And all of this was made simply by her voice.

Kagome cleared her throat, taking that moment to find her voice again. " What is your name?" she asked, still trying to regain what she had lost.

The younger looked mildly lost for a moment. " My name?" she echoed, her voice having lost its previous nature.

Kagome nodded, her movements still feeling slow. " Yes, what do you call yourself?" She fought back a yawn.

The girl still seemed somewhat speechless, as though her name were a complex thing that was never said before. When she did speak, she took great care in her words," I do not think my name can be spoken, but if you must have something to call me, it is Reijin."

" Reijin. I like that name," Kagome replied, and smiled as best she could since the remaining effects wore off.

This Reijin was a very strange girl. She seemed quiet and docile. She had even bowed when she had seen Kagome. Which, since she though of Kagome as "Mother", was not particularly odd, but Kagome held no position in Naraku's castle. She was a prisoner, and most definitely not this being's Mother.

" So, you believe I am your…mother?"

" Yes. You are my Mother. I was made from you and Father."

"Naraku," Kagome said distantly, realizing what exactly Naraku had meant earlier.

" She is something that is between Dark and Light."

Kagome pulled herself away from her thoughts before she completely fell into them. She would be angry later, during "dinner."

" Please call me Kagome," she told her. " I would prefer it."

Reijin nodded. " I wanted to introduce myself to you. You need not do the same; I know you, Kagome, and Father, also, but he confuses me. He is more than one."

Kagome guessed that confusion and wonderment did not usually grace Reijin's face as it did in those moments.

"More than one…?"

" Yes," Reijin simply replied. Whether she knew if Kagome had wanted to know what exactly Naraku was more than one of, or if Reijin, like her name, simply knew of Japanese as a different language than her own, Kagome did not know.

Silence passed and Kagome wondered if the Jewel had in fact changed Naraku into a complete demon. An empty pressing moment went by before Reijin spoke again, " I came here to dress you for the evening, Kagome. Should you wish to arrive in the time and manner Master Naraku ordered, we should start now."

" Oh, yes, but I'm afraid I-"

Reijin calmly interrupted. " They are outside the door," she said, and then stood to retrieve her Mistress's new clothes.

When she returned, Kagome stood and Reijin dressed her from her toes to her hair, placing each layer with an odd grace and patience. Kagome was dressed in a dark violet kimono, with the long sleeves of an unmarried woman while long silver lotuses reached up her back and curled around her arms in shining vines. And though it was unseen because of the blue obi, the flowers and their creeping stems also wrapped around her waist.

Once she was dressed and her hair put into a proper place, Reijin stood back and gave her "Mother" a mildly approving look.

" Do you know what he wants with me?" Kagome asked.

Reijin folded her hands in front of her. " He simply wants you. You hold a great something that he desires," she explained, " but as for the other one, the one who was cursed…"

A flood of thoughts and worry crashed into her head, as though her memory had been retained before Reijin spoke. "Miroku!" she cried out, her voice guilty and sad.

Where is he? She wondered. She felt so horrible for forgetting him, even if she hadn't been able to control it. It must have been another mind trick: to make her sleep and forget what he wanted her to forget.

" The Cursed One. I do not know what will become of him exactly, but the death he seeks will not come for him soon. He will have much to do before his end." A soft amount of worry fell into her eyes and voice, and they misted over with something else as well.

" But-"

" You will be late, Lady Kagome, if you do not go to him now."

" I do not know the way."

" I will show you."

Reijin opened the doors that she herself and Naraku had already used and Kagome followed her out into the hallway. The corridor was dark with the exceptions of a few lamps on the walls here and there. Reijin walked down the hall, taking different turns in what seemed random order.

They passed by other gardens, and what seemed to be the courtyard until at last the dim lights of dusk had left. The night soaked up the light, strangling it in dark corners and behind the doors of empty rooms. Reijin stopped in front of a pair of doors. She turned to Kagome. " Master Naraku's chambers are through these doors. He is waiting for you," her voice and face were as emotionless as the moment by the pond.

As she turned to leave past the older girl, Reijin added softly, " Do not be afraid. He will not hurt you."

Kagome looked at the shorter girl, wondering if Reijin had even seen Naraku before. The girl only smiled delicately, as though finding some hidden pun in the universe. Any lingering emotion, though, was soon wiped away and she had the empty face of a mask. She then left though the choking darkness of the hallway she had just come through, where the white of her clothes and hair left her unscathed.

She stood there wondering what Reijin had meant, but pushed the thought away; there were more important things to worry about, such as the Demon Lord she was about to take company with. Kagome slid one of the doors open and drove herself through the threshold before closing it behind her.

She looked over the room, finding it fairly dim, barely better than the hall. A few meters from where she stood, there was a table furnished with a meal for only one person. Her eyes drifted forward until it reached the back wall. Naraku was sitting there, against the wall in a way she had come to expect from him. His arm rested on one raised knee while the other lay in his lap. His head was lowered, and she saw little of his face from her distance.

Kagome took a nervous step forward, unsure of what to expect. It was then that he seemed to move. He raised his head and she saw his eyes gaze at her, looking over how she was dressed. After a long moment in which Kagome held her breath, Naraku looked upon her face again and then rose to his feet and moved towards her, or rather the table. " Sit," he simply said, his voice was empty of any emotion, only command.

She did has he told her to and he took the seat across from her. She watched him and waited, but he didn't move. Kagome took a breath to keep her self from losing her now stable control of her nerves. " Eat," he said in the same manner as before.

She did as she was told, though only able to nibble at her meal as he watched her so. She stared at her food, trying to think of something to take the shackled attention off of her. " I met her," she said, though it was low and her words were sickly.

He only gave her a satisfied chuckle and a sinewy smile, seemingly happy she thought of the subject.

" She cannot be…linked to me. You are the one who made her."

Another satisfied ruble came from him. " Yes, I made her; from my tongue," he replied, watching her with half lidded eyes to watch her repulsion. " But she is also made from a few strands of you hair."

She frowned, disgusted and angry. " That is not true."

He said nothing in response, which she could have expected. Naraku's eyes simply glittered. She decided to say nothing else unless he spoke first. And she wondered if that was what he wanted. She silently hoped it wasn't.

" What did she tell you?"

" She said her name was Reijin. She said some…things," she replied, then steered the subject as she wished, " Where is Miroku?"

Her eyes narrowed just slightly and he smirked back at her with an upper hand. She saw the signs of his enjoyment, which meant that her answer would not be one she particularly liked. Her fingernails dug into the table as the time wore on with a reply.

Finally, where he found it to his liking to answer, he spoke simply, " He is in my care."

" Your care is not care at all! Where?" she seethed. " And you have no right to keep my memories from me!"

The mild expression on his face turned sour. He stood up and strode to her side in two quick steps. She didn't move, didn't turn her head to look at him, but she felt a claw touch her cheek. "Do not think you are in any position to demand anything from me. I will tell you what is needed and no more unless it pleases me to do so."

Kagome felt the sharp talon dig into her skin just enough to keep from breaking it. She shut her eyes and breathed slowly out through her mouth.

" But I will tell you what you wish to know. This one time. The Monk is not here. He is still alive; I would not waste such power on a simple whim. I had devised reviving him regardless as to who you chose. As I am sure you know by now. As for your memories, I did nothing of the kind. It was your own human condition that made you forget."

Kagome felt angry tears well up in her eyes, and guilt also, but her posture did not waver. Her nails dug deeper into the soft pine of the table. Her mind filled itself with memories of that night. That long night. So many things had been lost and broken.

She swallowed down the despair and grief, but the previous tears were still welled in her eyes, ready to drip her memories. The claw that had found her cheek trailed its way up to the shell of her ear and down her neck. The sharp edge reached closer and closer to the scars there, and she felt her body brace itself for whatever he might inflict.

" The scars I have left on you will never fade," he told her, intentionally touching them, but manipulating nothing.

The tears welled up again and her already filled eyes wept. " Stop," she whimpered, placing her hand on his and gently pushing it away. " You ruined everything that mattered."

" I destroyed everything that didn't," he corrected.

She squirmed away from his tall presence and stood to face him at a safe distance. " Do you know why I have brought you here?" His voice was calm, something she hadn't expected.

Another small sound was emitted from her, as her breath grew shorter again. His body somehow seemed to glide forward, before she could realize his movements. His face twisted in a dark emotion she had never seen before; a hate that had fed and grown into something more than his jealousy of Inuyasha ever had. It was something darker than envy. It gleamed in his eyes and rang in his voice. " I would have killed you! I should have killed you, just like the others."

Her mind nearly froze, but then churned out so many thoughts and questions that all started with "Why?"

" What could I possible have that you want? You have the Jewel!"

" You are what now remains of the priestess, Kikyo, who gave her life to keep the cursed thing pure. And in doing so, tied her soul and body to it," he explained.

She fought for possession of her wrists, which had somehow come into his grasp. She reclaimed them rather easily, to her surprise. He let go of her, allowing her to move backwards. Only when she felt he plaster wall at her back did she realize why. He stepped only closer as she heard his voice continue, " The Sacred Jewel. The shards that I took from your hands-shards that completed my destiny-they had naught but driven me, Naraku, to value you. You whom are merely a human."

She pressed her back further against the chalky surface of that wall, as though it would put more of the ever-shrinking distance between them.

" And now, I cannot kill you," he concluded, " Just as you cannot kill me."

His fingers reached out for her and finally closed the space between touching. The claws of his hands did not lightly rake against her, but instead the pads of his fingers touched her shoulder, leaving burn marks on her skin.

" Just as the Jewel desires to rest in your body, your body also desires the Jewel."

She grew more aware of his nearness: the hand that lay against the wall by her head and fingers that were moving up her neck. The scars tingled and images passed by her eyes.

The dreams of black and red flashed by in pieces of fragmented images and feelings; the images and feelings Naraku himself had given her only hours ago.

Only the feeling didn't die away when his fingers continued up her neck and face and finally to her hair, where the pins and baubles here removed. His claws combed through her long hair, leaving delightful shivers in her that ricocheted off the inside of her skin and died only when he stopped. Except, he didn't stop.

Suddenly, she was forced back against the wall, not realizing she had left it to find more of him and was consumed in the loose silk of his clothes, trying to find a way out, but finding only skin instead. Skin that touched and kissed and devoured. Something new had ignited that had never been there before.

And suddenly the wall was gone and the silk sheets of the red and black room were on her back, against her skin that was burning away. Her clothes were restraining her, strangling her. Cold fingers found the seams of her clothes and her skin and slid somewhere in between to find her. They shocked her and she jumped, then swayed forward-or was it upward? She didn't know.

She opened her eyes, not remembering that she had closed them and saw the dark figure that was Naraku in front of her. The room lost all color for a moment and became only black. The red was gone and she returned to her own conscious mind again, free from his illusions.

Kagome felt so short of breath. She panted to find enough air, as though Naraku was taking all of it for himself. " Now you know why I have kept you. And you know why you are here," he told her, helping to bring her out of her daze.

She realized now what exactly he meant and why Reijin had bowed to her with such respect. She knew why she was here, in his chamber now. Why she was trapped in between a wall and her mortal enemy with no space in between.

It was because he had left one ghost to be haunted by another.

Kagome stared back at him in their intimate embrace, his eyes narrowed at her. She chuckled and rested her head back against the wall. " So, now Onigumo has renamed himself the Jewel of Four Souls," she said, her voice low and light from lack of breath.

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Responses:

Horrid Porrid: Evil plan is going to be…talked about…next chapter! ^^;

JadeBlueAfterGlow1: Cookie?? ^__^

Slate Grey: Ah, I LOVE YOU!! *hugs *

*Note: There were so many reviews! Thank you so much again! I'm glad I can convert you all! *evil laugh * =^__^=

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