InuYasha Fan Fiction ❯ Fateful Night ❯ Shattred Tears ( Chapter 11 )

Disclaimer: I don't own Jack Shit (or Inuyasha for that matter)

A/N: Beeeeep….Orion is not home right now.

::muffled in back ground:: I'm going to strangle you Jinx::

She regretfully announces the death of her muse.

:: But Orion I just went on vacation.::

Notification of the funerals date and time: to be determined.

:: VACATION!? You left me alone for a month. A MONTH Jinx::

Please leave a message at the tone, and she will retune your call,

::You are soooo a DEAD muse.::

As soon as she finds and kills her muse. BEEEEEEP

A/N: Is it just me or is my story really slow? I mean come on `Orion. I've got 11 chapters and it hasn't even been 48 HOURS! Sigh well I hope you like it despite that.

Dedication: To Mybyrdy author of A Demon by Any Other Name.

Thanks for your great accolade in your second chapter it made me want to write again.

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Last Chapter:

Inuyasha opened his eyes as he felt Kagome shift in his arms. Helping her into a more comfortable position he asked her, "Are you ok?"

Her painful moan made him wince and then he was staring into dark blue eyes. "What happened? Are you Ok?" Kagome asked as she reached a shaking hand up to cup his cheek. Inuyasha leaned into the touch.

"I'm ok Kagome. I'm…I'm sorry I let you get hurt, I..."

"Shhhh it's ok. It's not your fault." She soothed as she rested her head again on his shoulder.

Wrapping his arms around her he held her close one hand gently stroking her hair. Just as sleep began to curl itself around them once more, the wind began to whip around the clearing causing the fire to jump and leap about the burning logs. Sitting up straighter Inuyasha sniffed at the air and began to growl his arms tightening around the now quaking Kagome.

"Oh my my, you sure don't waste time do you Miko?" A silken, disembodied voice said.

"How quickly you've forgotten your love. A love that died in your arms, and now, now you cling to another. Typical bitch, hopping easily into the first warm bed offered."

Chapter 11

Shattered Tears

Inuyasha's growl rumbled in his chest as the wind died down and an eerie calm descended upon the clearing. The scent now lacing the air awoke a seething anger in his mind causing him to clutch the shivering woman in his arms tightly to his chest. He held Kagome to him turning her head into his chest trying to hide her form the presence now manifesting near the bone eaters well.

Darkness spun out of the air wrapping and coiling in upon itself. The snaking discolored air swirled and grew in pulsing flashes of purple and black poisoned light. The looming mass began to solidify as a deathly smooth and deep voice echoed out of it.

"Does love truly mean so little to you Miko? Your intended has been dead less than 48 hours and here you lie in the arms of a half breed cur who sees not you but a woman dead half a century. Are you so hot for a male that you would spread your legs for any passer-by now that you are free of your chosen mate? Truly I'm shocked that the prudish Kikyo has been reincarnated into such a brazen light-skirt such as this.

In his arms Kagome flinched at the demeaning words. His anger soared higher as the hated voice droned in his ears. "Ignore him Kagome, he knows nothing but lies." Inuyasha mumbled into her hair as Kagome clung to him shivering like a fall leaf.

"I came here intent on easing a troubled soul and I find you have found your comfort in the fleshly pleasures of a hanyou."

Growling Inuyasha surged to his feet dragging the now whimpering Kagome with him. "SHUT UP YOU BASTARD!" he screamed at the image of a man draped in a white baboon pelt that was slowly coming into focus among the writhing darkness.

"Come now Inuyasha." The figure tutted. "I came only to offer her an exchange but now…? Seeing as she has already taken a new lover, with the death of the old," the smirk on the man's face at Kagome's painful cry nearly sent Inuyasha leaping across the field, "maybe she won't be interested in his return."

"What you speak of is imposable Naraku!" Kaede yelled at the man. Now fully manifested, the demon floated above the well. Silken midnight black hair fluttered from beneath the hooded cloak curling and flickering on the unearthly wind that emanated from him. The white baboon pelt concealed all but his lower face, but no one in the clearing doubted the identity of the figure.

"Oh little Kaede how you've grown. You of all people should know that it is indeed possible to give the souls of the dead new life." With the flick of his wrist the white draped man coiled the surrounding darkness beneath his out stretched palm forming a sphere at his feet.

"Houshi what is he doing?" Sango asked as she huddled against Miroku's chest.

"I don't know koishii, but I do not like his interest in Kagome." He answered absently wondering at their group's odd non-response to the enemy's presence.

Kouga crouched near the gutted fire, his attention only half on the murderous demon as he watched Inuyasha and the tiny woman he held against his chest. Naraku's words were slicing into the frail woman draining the blood from her already pale face. Her dried blood still smeared across her cheeks stood out more starkly because of her grief which was again consuming her under the onslaught of the demon's taunts and jibes. Kouga was deafened by his own growl as silent tears began to slide down Kagome's cheeks.

"Leave this place Naraku, you are not welcome here." Kaede demanded her aged face fierce, her one eye scowling darkly at the demon responsible for her beloved sister's death.

"Oh but Kaede my business is not yet completed." Naraku mocked in his liquid smooth voice before turning back to Inuyasha and the woman hidden within his arms.

"Woman, lift your face form your lover'sembrace and gaze upon what I am willing to return to you." he snapped, voice now hard and sharp as blades.

Kagome jerked in Inuyasha's arms as if physically struck. Turning in his arms Kagome continued to clutch Inuyasha's red haori as her eyes were drawn to the man hovering across the clearing, his furred cloak whipping in the strengthening wind. She stared into the empty eyes of the baboon skull that formed the hood of the sinister cloak searching for the man beneath.

A long slender hand emerged form the dark recesses of the cloak capturing her attention. She watched transfixed as the hand moved to hover above an orb of swirling darkness at his feet. The elegant fingers spread wide and then in a lightening quick movement they crooked into claws and ripped the sphere apart revealing the figure within.

"Ho…Hojo!" Kagome sobbed collapsing within Inuyasha's arms.

Sango and Miroku stared mouths agape at the man who huddled around himself at Naraku's feet. It was the man they had cremated the night before last. Shuddering Sango remembered helping Kagome washing this mans blood form her hair. "Im...imposable!" she whispered.

"Miko I offer you his life. Your intended, your lover who died in your arms, I have saved his soul from the hell he was descending into due to your loss of control over the powers you hidfrom him. This man, who was killed because of youand what you possessed within your body, I will return him to you for but a small price." Inuyasha could hear the smirk in Naraku's voice as Kagome's sobs became louder. Kneeling next to her he gathered her back into his arms trying to control the growing rage burning within him.

"Kagome don't listen to him. Ignore him." He repeated over and over trying to turn her face away form the sight of Naraku and the huddled man. Inuyasha recognized the cowering figure as the man Kagome had identified as her murdered fiancé but the whipping wind brought him a different picture. The scent of blood, dirt and ash hung heavy in the air around the clearing. It was the smell of the grave and it came from the man Naraku was offering Kagome in exchange for an as of yet unmanned price.

"That is not the man you use to know Kagome." Inuyasha told her. Kagome's mewling whimpers tore at his hart as she pushed away form him desperately trying to look at the huddled man.

A giant fist of pain and guilt wrapped around her heart as each accusation flung at her twisted and warped the events of the past 3 days. The smooth words falling form the cloaked man's lips slid into her mind draping it in dark clouds of black despair and suffocating guilt. In his arms Kagome cringed away from the comfort and absolution Inuyasha offered. The once calming feel of his haori chafed her exposed skin as the clean wild scent of him choked and overwhelmed her scenes.

It was wrong it was all wrong she should be surrounded by the musky curling scent of Hojo's cologne, the warm wool clad arms wrapped around her, comforting her were too strong and protective they weren't the silky smooth cotton of Hojo's loose embrace. The rumbling husky voice whispering in her ear was too low too smooth she ignored its words able only to see the huddled form of the man she had lost. The man she had loved. The man she had forgotten? In a burst of desperate energy Kagome broke away from Inuyasha.

Some tiny part of her disoriented brain registered the shocked cry of pain behind her and cringed. The rest of her was concentrated fully on the man struggling to rise, sending her dashing across the clearing to him. The torn earth caught her halfway tumbling her to the ground. She lay splayed in the broken dirt and grass for a moment trying to regain her labored breath. Ignoring the pain of skinned elbows and knees she pushed herself up into a half crouch. Dashing the blinding tears from her eyes with the back of her bloody and grimy hand Kagome watched Hojo rise to his feet.

He staggered to his feet wrapping the tattered black cloth that had been his only covering as he lay huddled on the ground around his nude body. Various emotions flickered across his face, confusion, pain, fear… The look of fear was too much for her to bear and caused Kagome to scramble back to her feet. She crossed the remaining distance in seconds and flung herself into his arms helping to prop him up as he wavered on his feet. She buried her face in his chest sobbing his name over and over never seeing the look of anger that flashed across his face.

Inuyasha struggled to a half crouch after Kagome's blast of Miko energy had thrown him away from her and crashing into a tree. Digging his claws into the rough bark, his breath hissed between clenched teeth in shallow pants. Looking up though the curtain of his bangs he watched Kagome fling herself into the arms of the fake man that now stood at the wells edge. Inuyasha caught both the flash of anger from that figure and the smug look of triumph on Naraku's face as the sound of Kagome's sobs drifted to his ears. The sound made him growl loudly. `No one makes Kagome cry!' his mind screamed. Red pulsed around the edges of his vision before conscious thought slid away from his crouching form.

Hojo wrapped his arms around the woman clinging to his middle. "Kagome?" he questioned in a soft voice. When she raised her tear filled blue eyes to him the fury and pain nearly cleared from his mind. A shutter passed over him and he clung to her crushing her to him. The action caused her to lay her head against his bare chest depriving him of his view of her eyes.

With the loss of those soulful depths reaching out to him, the anger and torment crashed down on him again. Seething anger swam through his mind clouding the world around him with darkness. The dark hate that pressed around him left only the woman in his arms clear to his sight.

Eyes narrowing he held her tightly as he stared darkly down at her bowed head. The sound of her voice reached his ears. The musical tone of her warm alto tore at the darkness around him. Shaking his head he frowned again concentrating only on her words.

"Hojo…Oh Hojo I thought you were gone. Oh my love…my love. I...I'm so sorry. I thought you were dead. I don't understand how you are here?"

Laying his head on top of hers and growled out. "I was dead Kagome. I died when that demon tore out my throat."

She jerked in his arms at the snarled words but he only held her tighter. "Yes Kagome I was dead! Murdered becauseyou wouldn't give that bastard what he wanted."

The whimper of fear that escaped her throat rang in his ears. A grin slid across his thin lips. Eyes narrowed he held her even tighter to his chest. "You wouldn't give him the Shikon no Tama Kagome and hekilled me! Then youlost control of your powers trapping my soul in the swirling storm of your rogue mind before I could reach heaven. Your spiral of despair and guiltwhich brought you into this place threw me out of heaven and into HELL!"

"No!" Kagome sobbed against him.

"Yes Kagome." He spoke her name like a curse. "I was being dragged into that hellish darkness calling your name, and you came to me. Kagome you came to me and I called out to you. I begged you to help me. I even reached out to you, but did you help me? NO! You…you turned away from me! You ranfrom me! Me Kagome! Your fiancé, the man you swore you loved, youabandonedme in that darkness."

The clearing vanished from her sight, darkness surrounded her and she was alone in that smothering darkness. …as she grew colder Kagome noticed a sound behind her. Someone was calling her name. Suddenly she was able to see the thing calling to her; it was darkness so black that the blind absence of light she had floated though seemed bright in comparison. "Kagome…come…Kagome…" it called to her in a multi-toned voice that stungher ears…

"You left me Kagome. You left me alone in that darkness as I cried out to you, reached for you, begged you to join me."

…a small vine of darkness reached out and coiled around her ankle. The searing cold touch of it spread through her leg …

"Naraku came soon after you desertedme Kagome" Hojo's voice grated in her ears full of hate and anger. Kagome cringed away form the sound struggling to escape the crushing darkness surrounding her. "Hesaved me Kagome, saved me from the hell you left me to face alone. He has given me a new life, a new body and in return he wants only that which killed me to begin with." Kagome struggled in his arms again. Anger surged though him making him tighten his hold even more.

"I won't let you go this time Kagome." He growled. Hojo griped her arms in his hands digging his fingers into her soft skin. That silken skin beneath his hands angered him further as its warmth failed to ease the chill of his own. Growling he pulled her away from him and shook her hard.

"Kagome! Give him what he wants! I will not go back to that place you dammed me to." He shouted at her. Noticing the glazed blind look in her eyes he growled in rage.

…as the frozen vine of black slid up her leg wrapping around her knee Kagome heard a gruff voice …

`Help me!' Kagome mentally screamed desperate to escape the darkness. Darkness filled with painful accusations spoken by a voice that once held only love.

…the darkness wrapped around her leg tightened its grip sinking icy thorns deep into her flesh. … looking over her shoulder she saw the darkened orb was beginning to take a shape. The inky mass wrapped around its self forming legs and arms…

Kagome screamed pain erupting across her still bruised cheek. With the pain the inky half formed terror of her vision flickered and became Hojo. Blinking wide eyed he saw Hojo glaring down at her his hand drawn back ready to hit her a second time. Closing her eyes her mind shrank away from that image ignoring the pain of her face.

"Kagome!" the rich rumbling timber of a voice that meant safety rang though the clearing as she slid back into the terror filled darkness.

She was being dragged backwards… Screaming Kagome reached again towards the sound of the man's voice knowing it would lead away from this nightmare darkness… Kagome saw an iridescent glowing red wisp of smoke. … the sent of pine and wet loamy earth wafted around her…

The second blow rocked through Kagome sending splintering pain radiating across her face. Feeling herself fall the darkness cleared from her eyes. She watched as Hojo sneered at her his face a mask of fury. He advanced on her as she fell hands fisted, lips pulled back off of his teeth. She hit the ground hard causing her to cry out in pain, and jarring the forgotten Shikon no Tama form her clutched hand.

The glimmering jewel instantly diverted his attention from Kagome as she lay huddled on the ground. Bending he scooped up the sphere never noticing the blur of red streaking across the clearing until he was sent flying. Hojo crashed into the well his vision fading darkness encroaching upon him as his head cracked against the rim.

Pain throbbed in his jaw nearly blinding him with each pulse of his sluggish heart. Between flashes of white pain he saw a red eyed man stalking towards him. The man's silver hair billowed around him as he approached cracking his knuckles, extending his razor sharp claws. Just as the man stood towering over him he turned and dashed away at the sound of Kagome's voice.

"Inuyasha!" Kagome sobbed. She could see his back now blocking her view of the horror that wore Hojo face. Calling to him Kagome longed to fell the warmth of his haori wrapping her in the loamy pine laden scent that promised safety, and then he was there gathering her into his arms.

Inuyasha's mind cleared at the sound of her calling his name. Spinning away from the man slumped against the bone eaters well he leapt to Kagome's side. Crouching down next to her he pulled her into his lap. Sliding his hand into her hair he gently turned her head into him. He felt her start to shiver in shock as the reality of what the man she loved had done and become.

The others in the group looked on from the edge of the clearing unable to move past the barrier that had formed around it as soon as Kagome had reached the arms of her resurrected fiancé. Kouga sported angry blistering burns on his hands and forearms. He had tried to enter the clearing when Hojo had first started to crush Kagome's small form in his arms.

The Wolf prince had pounding on the sickly glowing walls of the barrier repeatedly until Sango and Miroku dug him away from it. As Kaede bandaged the singed youkai Sango and Miroku had called repeatedly to the dazed Inuyasha who was clinging glassy eyed to the tree he had crashed into when Kagome broke away form him.

The sound of Hojo striking Kagome seemed to snap Inuyasha out of his stupor. The four outside of the barrier watched as his youkai blood seemed to take over his mind. He had rushed the man as he again struck Kagome causing her to fall to the ground. Not even Kouga was able to follow his movements until they saw the resurrected man fly across the clearing and crash into the well's side. Miroku was certain the man was soon to meet a second death when Kagome's voice calling his name distracted the raging hanyou.

Smooth spine chilling laughter wafted across the clearing snapping everyone's attention to the white clad demon that was still hovering above the clearing.

"You don't seem to want my gift Miko. No matter I have what I wanted. Come Hojo your love has chosen and you are not the one she clings to now." At his words he began to raise higher into the air towards an inky void above him his barrier dissipating as his rose.

The four friends trapped outside that barrier rushed towards Kagome and Inuyasha. Kouga made it to the pair in moments and anxiously crouched next to them wanting badly to check Kagome for injury but not daring to for fear of frightening her and angering the hanyou that held her. Miroku helped Kaede hobble over as the old woman used her bow as a cane. Sango was only seconds behind Kouga and she didn't hesitate to check what she could reach of Kagome.

Hojo pulled himself up using the well and glared at Naraku as he disappeared into the void. Turning his eyes to the group in the center of the clearing his eyes hardened as hate and anger raged through him.

"Kagome!" he screamed causing her to jerk away from the silver haired man she was clinging to. "How dare you cling to him?! I am your fiancé! IDIED for you! You are MINE!" looking down at the Shikon no Tama resting in his palm he raised his eyes again to the shaking woman across form him. "You let me die for this?! You sent me to hell because of the powers you hid from me! You abandoned me then, and now…NOW you choose him over ME?!" he spit out the words relishing the pain and hurt shining in her eyes and the way she flinched away from him.

Seeing the man dressed in red start to stand, murder in his pink tinged eyes Hojo rose into the air surprised by this new ability. Nearing the void he looked one last time at Kagome's tear streaked face. Disgust swam through his mind as he saw the pleading look in her eyes. He sneered down at her. "Naraku will rule the world with this jewel and when he does you will be mine again Kagome! You will pay for your faithlessness when that day comes Kagome!" he caressed her name.

"That is not Hojo" Kagome whispered eyes wide she scrabbled to her feet.

"You areNOT Hojo!" Kagome screamed up at the man ascending towards the swirling darkness of Naraku's void. His only reply was a cruel laugh that rang in her ears like out of tune bells.

"You are not my Hojo." Kagome sobbed and spun to Kaede. Grabbing the bow from the old woman she winced at the startled yelp the old woman gave out. Slinging herself around Kagome drew the bow string to her ear and sighted on Hojo.

Cackling at her, Hojo taunted. "What will you do with that bitch? You can't make an arrow out of thin air!"

Tears nearly blinding her, she couldn't hear his words around the singing rush of her blood as is pounded in her head. The building pressure in her mind rushed to her hands in a fury of heated power. Chocking out a sobbed cry Kagome loosed the glowing arrow that flashed past her cheek causing her hair to flutter with the wind of its release.

"YOU ARE NOT MY HOJO!" she screamed at the wide eyed man who wore Hojo's image.

The sun bright arrow struck him in the heart jerking him back and away from the void. He looked down stupidly at the blazing arrow as it burned into him. As his body disintegrated around the glowing brand he raised his eyes to Kagome one last time.

"KA…GO…ME!" he screamed as he vanished, dropping the Shikon No Tama.

Kagome's knees gave out, his tormented scream ringing in her ears. Stunned by the destruction of the man the group watched as the jewel fell towards the earth not noticing Kagome's descent.

Black despair closed over her reaching into her heat and tearing it apart. As she fell she raised her hands to burry her face in them. The movement caused the setting sun to glint off of a small band of braided silver on her left hand. Eyes locked on her engagement ring Kagome hit her knees and her heart shattered into a million pieces. A bright flash of light raised her head and she watched dull eyed as tiny meteors of glittering light streaked across the sky in every direction.

"What have you done?" she turned to blink up at Inuyasha as he knelt down next to her his ears lowered in distress.

"I killed him again." She whispered brokenly falling against him and slid willingly into the waiting darkness.

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A/N Dam now I'm not sure if I want to kill Hojo off or bring him back again. DAM

DAM DAM I hate the interfering Kikyo but the interfering Hojo just seems so…evil. Really evil and agggggg. You'll just have to read to find out. Bops muse on head one more time for leaving for so long, and then making this chapter so HARD TO WRITE. Man I guess I like bold and italics today huh? Well it helped (at least in my mind) make he emphasis that much more powerful. I sure man Hojo evil didn't I? What did you think? Think about it he doesn't have a life time of being a priestess to help combat the hate and anger now in his heart like Kikyo did and she doesn't do that great a job of it to begin with. Well let me know what you thought, really I have a hard time writing when I don't get reviews. I start to think no one likes my story.