InuYasha Fan Fiction ❯ Haunted ❯ Tainted Love ( Chapter 20 )

[ X - Adult: No readers under 18. Contains Graphic Adult Themes/Extreme violence. ]

Chapter 20: Tainted Love

Time seemed to stop as Kagome stared at the remains of the man she'd grown up with, the one that had been a friend, who had been around all her life. He looked back at her, no expression on his face, but torment in his eyes.

Torment, and hatred. It was difficult seeing that, and knowing that this time, it was indeed aimed at her.

How much pain could one person be expected to deal with? She had heard it said that fate only gave you as much pain as you could handle; she hoped devoutly that it was true, because this was certainly going to challenge that saying.

Oh, Kichiro, if your parents could see... it would break their hearts.

Sometimes lately, truth be told, she'd had to fight a great anger at Kichiro's father. If he hadn't raised him constantly insisting on the betrothal thing, none of this would have happened.

"Kagome! Stay back and let me deal with this, do you hear me?" Inuyasha was yelling, trying to get her attention away from Kichiro. "You know he has to be destroyed, right? We can't allow him to remain under Naraku's control!"

'No, Inu. You can destroy the body that Naraku created, but that will still leave Kichiro's spirit to deal with. That's where I come in. Also, he has a shard - and it's very tainted. It's where his heart would have been. Be careful, Koi.'

Nodding his head, Inu looked at his brother and gestured. "You gonna get your sword out? Let's do this, and get it over with." Not waiting for an answer, he swung Tessaiga in a great arc, releasing a wind scar attack on the newest incarnation.

And so the dance began.

Kichiro laughed. What these fools did not know was that Naraku had no control of him. Even Naraku didn't know that yet. Because he now had a heart of his own. And it kept a beat, just like a real heart.

Kichiro would take the lives of Kagome and Inuyasha. Not for Naraku's sake, but for revenge. And then he would turn on Naraku. In the meantime, he had a battle to win.

"So, Inuyasha, still using that weak attack? Don't you have anything stronger? Maybe its true - you can't teach an old dog new tricks."

"Bastard! I'll show you tricks you've never seen before!" Inuyasha was getting rapidly angrier, and his youkai was starting to show itself.

I will protect my mate... nothing will ever take her from me!

Stepping back further from the battle raging around her, she glanced around the area, trying to find Kanna. She needed to be neutralized, and quickly. The girl was still standing where she had been when she released Kichiro.

Taking stock of some of the new tricks that she herself had, she decided to try an immobilization, because if she could stop Kanna from moving, she could take the mirror, and destroy it.

Closing her eyes, she focused all her energy, and opening her mind, she quickly located the ley lines in the area.

Yes, they will do. I can sneak my power through the lines, and she won't have any idea what I'm doing until it's too late.

Slowly, keeping herself centered and quiet, she seeped her gathering energy into the lines, letting her energy flow towards Kanna, hidden in the energy of the lines. As it reached the area nearest the girl, she blocked it, letting it build up like a logjam. Kanna still hadn't noticed, and as the power reached flash point, she snapped it out at Kanna, bending it into something resembling a net, drawing it tight against the girl.

'Done! she exulted - she hadn't been sure if it would work, but it went even better than she had hoped. Kanna's eyes had widened fractionally, but she was completely immobilized.

Quickly grabbing the lines of power winding around the tiny mistress of the void, she slide it aside from the girls hands enough to send a tendril of force in and snatch the mirror from the girl, before slamming the energy back around her hands and tying off the flow.

Now Kanna was helpless, and would not be able to interfere. Opening her eyes, she reached out for the mirror that was flying straight at her, hoping to have time to figure out how to destroy it before Naraku could do anything else with it.

'Inuyasha! Are you okay? Can you keep him busy for a little longer? I just need a few to figure out how to rid ourselves of this thing!'

Yeah, wench, between the bastard and I, we can keep him busy for a while... nice trick with Kanna, by the way. Where did you learn that one?

'I wouldn't say I learned it so much as "guessed" it', she thought back at him sheepishly, and chuckled mentally at his horrified look. 'Just keep him busy, we can talk about it all later.'

Kagome closed her eyes, knowing she couldn't look into the mirror. Instead, she probed with her miko senses, needing to know how it worked, so she would know how to break it. Sinking a small part of herself into the mirror, she opened up - and felt herself being pulled into a vacuum.

It was definitely a void, and then she understood. This mirror was similar to Miroku's wind tunnel. That made sense... Naraku had taken the curse and modified it, made it finite, and trapped it in a mirror. Miroku's wind tunnel was just a more powerful version of this girl's mirror.

Blanking out the sounds of the battle around her, she considered the void inside the mirror. Since it was finite, that meant it could only hold so much... unlike the wind tunnel which was endless.

So... I just have to find a way to permanently fill the space behind the mirror. And then break it into pieces.

Opening her eyes, she caught sight of the battle flaring around her. She could tell that Inuyasha and Sesshoumaru were not getting anywhere. And she understood why. This was not a fight that they could win. It was up to her.

Glancing at the edge of the mirror in her hands, she knew what she had to do. Quickly setting a barrier inside herself, she placed most of her soul behind it, including her bond with Inuyasha, and linking just a small portion of her mind to it, she set the link into an anchor using a portion of Inuyasha's youki.

She knew he would not be able to reach her inside the mirror, and that it would terrify him, but this was the only way. As soon as it set, she moved, jumping in front of Kichiro, she turned the mirror on him, watching as it pulled him irresistibly into it - and then turned it on herself, letting it take the portion of her soul not set behind the barrier.

Inuyasha felt the link go mute, he could barely feel her, and his mind screamed, sending him to his knees, his body in total shock at the feel of her weakening presence inside him. What had she done?!

Kagome!!

Staggering to his feet, he looked up to where his mate had been standing - and almost fell when he realized that she was still standing there, still holding the mirror, but as he really looked, he could see a line of power leading from her chest into the mirror. She had sent a portion of her soul into it!

Carefully opening his mind up fully to the link, using every bit of it to trace her, he found it... her mind was behind a barrier. She was protecting herself, making a line back to herself so she would not be trapped inside the mirror.

It was a way out.

The sense of relief that hit him had him falling back to his knees - and when he felt his brother's hand on his shoulder, for the first time ever, he looked up at him with no anger.

At Sesshoumaru's unspoken question, he nodded. "She's still there. She put herself behind a barrier inside... to keep from being completely sucked into the mirror. If I concentrate hard I can still feel her."

Sesshoumaru inclined his head. "I am... relieved to hear that. I suppose the only thing we can do now is wait. And watch that incarnation that your mate subdued," tilting his head towards Kanna. Taking a seat next to Inuyasha, he looked at the girl still standing with the net around her.

"What is this creature, and why do we not sense any youki coming from her?"

Inuyasha shook his head wearily. This weakening of the link was painful, and it drained him. "She's void, so there's no youki for you to feel. Naraku created her using the Shikon no Tama, at the same time he created Kagura. Kanna is the only incarnation left, though since he's destroyed all the others. Well, except Kichiro, now."

He winced - he felt like he was going to lose consciousness if this separation with Kagome didn't end soon.

Kagome became aware of a pain in her mind. It felt like a thin sharp blade being dug into her skull, but she brushed that awareness away. She couldn't afford the distraction. Opening her mind, it was like opening her eyes in this no mans land, formless and gray, nothing visible within it except herself - and Kichiro.

"So, you brought me here, back into the mirror. Did you think to trap me in here? Just like you trapped me in love for you, and then left me to suffer! Now it's your turn, koishii." He grinned at her, a twisted, sick grin that had her heart clenching in pain seeing him that way.

"You see, now that I have a shard, and have been tainted with demon blood, I can use this power to kill you, and that bastard who took you from me as well."

"This time, Kagome, you can't win. Your blood will be mine, since you wouldn't give me your heart!"

---sSs---

Inuyasha could feel a few things coming through the link with his mate, it was weakened, however, and this was causing him actual, physical pain. He closed his eyes, trying to probe into the link, wanting to join her, wherever she was, to lend her his strength, but couldn't get far enough in.

He began to panic, fear eating at his mind at the separation, but then he felt a faint pulse - from her, he could feel it, and it calmed him down somewhat. Not totally, of course, but somewhat.

Damn it... Kagome, you've gotta come back to me! I can't do this alone! I won't do this alone, koishii, I'll follow you if you die, you know that's the way this works. Please... come back to me!

Kagome heard Inuyasha faintly, she knew he was worried, and so she sent a second calming pulse through the link...

'It's okay, Itoshii, I'm here, I'm alright, and I have every intention of coming back to you... hush now and let me fight.'

She relaxed a bit when she felt his acknowledgment. It made things easier if he was calm, his panic made her react that way as well, making it hard to battle a foe like this one that stood before her.

Now that he had calmed down, she was able to focus on the problem at hand. It looked as though Kichiro had been absorbed into Naraku, like he'd tried to do to Sesshoumaru and Inuyasha. Seeing what he had become, she could only thank all the kami that this had not happened to Inuyasha - she could never have fought him if he had been taken; he'd have been able to kill her easily.

That told her all that she needed to know about the differences between Kichiro and Inuyasha - she never would have loved him as he had wanted, not in a million years. She was born as Inuyasha's other half, part of his soul, and no one else could ever have changed that. And so she looked on her old friend, and though she grieved for what had been done to him, she was able to fight him.

And she felt no guilt within her for that fact.

"Well, Kagome, now that you are here with me, we can make this our own version of hell, and be together, while the Lady Kikyou drags your bastard lover with her - after all, she has the same claim on him that I have on you - although, personally, I don't care. I just want him to suffer for taking what was mine." He smiled, then, and gestured behind him.

"Some things can't be changed, and this is one of them. Would you like to see what was supposed to have been?"

Kagome drew herself up. "Destiny is not yours to manipulate, Kichiro... or should I say Naraku?" She raised her brow, looking at him with pity. "No matter how powerful you become, no matter how many shards that you have, nor even the full jewel, there are still some things you will not be able to do. Destiny and fate are the province of the Kami, and you will never reach that height. Never. So now, will you fight, or will you try to lie to me again?"

Kichiro chuckled, sounding just like Naraku. "Lie? When did I lie to you, Kagome, my koishii? Never have I lied to you, not in life, and certainly not in my death."

"I am not now, nor have I ever been, your koishii, Kichiro. That's an endearment I allow from only one. And as for lying to me? What do you think you were doing a moment ago? Saying you could show me destiny? The only thing you would have shown me were lies. Either fight, or let me be, because I'm getting tired of the clever little wordplay. You sound exactly like Naraku."

"Very well, Kagome. I had no idea you were so eager to find your death with me. But I will do anything to oblige a lady." He bowed mockingly, then attacked, sending forth the same type of tentacles that Naraku always seemed so fond of.

Kagome held her hand out, palm up, and unleashed a blast of purity on them, destroying all of them, only to have more regenerate.

This is getting old... these are the same tactics Naraku uses all the time. Doesn't he ever get any new tricks? she thought, with a bit of irritation.

Maybe I should just sit back and narrate this stupidity, Kami know I've seen enough of it.

She could see the tainted jewel shard, sitting right where his heart should have been, beating obscenely, taunting her.

Should I? If I purify the shard, it will destroy the incarnation, but this seems too easy - I don't trust it. What now?

"What's wrong, Kagome? Afraid? Is your heart," he said, mockingly, "not in this fight? Why would that be, hmm? Because you can't really bring yourself to do it, can you? To purify me, knowing it would destroy me forever?"

Kagome pressed her palms together and then spread them above her head, creating a barrier around herself. She needed time to think this through... something was not right. She couldn't figure out what Naraku would gain from this, and Naraku never did anything that didn't directly benefit himself.

So what? What's his goal?

She looked deeper into this things so-called heart - considering it, wondering what the trap was. Because there had to be one. That's the only thing that made sense.

As for Kichiro, she could see that he would betray Naraku as soon as he had the chance. So what was his goal? And why does this have to be so complicated?

Kichiro sent another wave of tentacles at her, looking bored with her inactivity. "Well, Kagome? Are you going to stand here for eternity and let me attack you forever? How boring. And here I thought you would be a worthy opponent since your powers have increased." He moved, leaving his chest unguarded, another opening to attack there... where the shard was.

"Come along, Kagome, sometime this year would be pleasant."

And then Kagome understood. He wanted her to attack the shard, that was Naraku's wish, and as for Kichiro, he wanted her to do so as well, so that he could take the shards she had - and then attack Naraku himself. So what was up with the shard? What kind of trap was it? She considered what she knew of Naraku, and his tactics. This attack was aimed at her, so whatever he was trying to accomplish, it would be based on what he needed to destroy her.

All the times he's gone after me before, it was based on a spiritual attack, rather than on a physical one. So, she drew a deep breath, that's what he would be doing now. I bet that shard has some way to attack me with the taint inside it if I target it, kind of like Inuyasha's backlash wave, I bet. Okay, so I'm gonna have to find a backdoor. There has to be one... nothing is ever completely foolproof. Now I've just got to find it.

"Come, Miko, have you lost all your power, or are you too afraid to fight me, hmmm? And after all that talk about getting on with it - I'm disappointed. I had hoped for much more resistance from you." He sighed, shaking his head with irritation.

"I will simply have to finish this, then," he flinched when Kagome dropped her barrier, uncertainty rising up within as she smiled and stood tall, he could tell that she had come to some decision.

"No, Kichiro, what's left of you anyway, I'm not afraid, not of you, nor your master, unwilling though you might be to serve him. And I will finish this - not you!"

There's no other way to do this, I'm gonna have to leave the power out there, none of it can be allowed to touch me, or lead back to me. I'll have to disassociate it from me, like this.

Stepping forward, she cast a barrier around Kichiro, ignoring his laughter and questions as to what she was doing. Then closing her eyes, she brushed her mind through the barrier, drawing out thin ropes of power, sending them forward to sink into him, the final one touching his heart, then stepped back, cutting herself off from the flow of power, hoping that she'd given it enough.

She knew she had when Kichiro screamed, arching over backwards until he looked like he should be broken in half. She could see the shard purifying, and it took all of the taint with it, killing off Naraku's miasma as it did so.

Hastily, she threw up another barrier around herself, just in case, because the barrier around Kichiro was about ready to explode, and she didn't want to be left unprotected. As it pulsed, it became so bright that she couldn't look any longer, then finally exploded, releasing power outward in waves.

After what seemed like hours, but was probably only seconds, the light faded, and she was able to look... to see Kichiro standing in front of her. Just Kichiro. Not a Naraku incarnation anymore - the spirit of the man, himself, without any outside taint.

"Back to my own form, should I feel thankful... or angry," he mused, looking into the distance. "I guess it doesn't matter, because I still want what I've wanted since I came here - you. However, Naraku told me something disturbing." He looked at Kagome. "Inuyasha - has he breached you yet?"

Kagome's eyes widened to their fullest extent. "Wh-what? How dare you ask me something like that? Just who do you think I am, anyway? That's none of your business!"

"And that answers my question! How dare you, Kagome! How dare you give yourself to another man? You belonged to me! Faithless bitch!" Kichiro hissed. "You gave yourself to an abomination, instead of to me, and I'll make sure you and that bastard pay for your sins, even if it's just by killing you both!"

He glared at her, rage rising in waves around him. "I died for you! How could you turn your back on me like that? I had my whole life ahead of me, and instead, I protected you, and paid for it with my life." He looked bitter all of a sudden.

"If I knew then what I know now, I'd have left you to die! Then you'd never have met that fucker."

"You're wrong. I would not have died that night. Fate had other plans for me, and one part of that fate is Inuyasha. He's the reason that I was brought through the well. It was the Kami's way of addressing the imbalance in his life. He'd known nothing but horror, and yet, his destiny was to defeat a great evil. But he needed a reason to do that. That's what I am. His reason. I was born for him, Kichiro, not you."

She threw her hand out, gesturing outside the mirror. "Think. You know Naraku, now. What do you think the future, our world, would look like if he got his hands on the full jewel? Do you think a future would even exist? No! And the only one that could defeat Naraku? Inuyasha. And it is my place in the world to stand by his side. That is my fate, Kichiro. Accept it, because you cannot change it."

Kichiro just stared at her, his thoughts flickering in his eyes. "Why would I just accept this as my fate? What did I do to deserve this? To die, while still young, to be denied the love of the woman I wanted, to be even denied her love in death - why should I accept this? I cannot! Why am I to be so cursed?"

She could see the anguish in his eyes, now, and it pained her, knowing that somehow, she had to get him to understand. If she didn't, his soul would be condemned for all eternity, and she wanted him to be able to have another chance, to reincarnate, to have one more shot at the Wheel of Life.

Kagome opened her mouth to speak, but was interrupted as a great light came from a point in the center of the mirror. Turning in surprise, she was amazed to see the form of a woman begin to take shape within the light, getting more solid as the light faded.

She glanced at Kichiro, trying to see his reaction to this, but he seemed as stunned as she herself, so obviously this wasn't anything to do with him. She turned back as the woman spoke.

"Kichiro, why do you rail against that fate that the Kami have given to you?"

He looked at her, stricken by the power radiating from the golden woman... she glowed, it was like the sunlight, but yet bearable, it didn't hurt to look at her. He had never seen anything so beautiful, or so powerful. Her eyes were golden, and carried such compassion that he found himself answering her, helpless to deny her questions.

"Because I'm bitter that my life was taken, and she who I loved refused to love me as well - what point did my life have? Why did I deserve this fate?"

She looked at him for a time, this so-far nameless woman, as though she were looking into his soul, before finally speaking again.

"All of us, even the Kami themselves, have to answer to fate. It is my fate to be who I am, even as it is yours to be who you are. In that particular incarnation, it was your fate to save Kagome's life. It was what was needed, and you were chosen to take on this task. But she was never meant to be yours. What she said to you earlier was correct."

She smiled at him, then gestured to the grey areas around her. Suddenly, various people seemed to flicker in and out of sight, quickly, and he realized that these were his own incarnations.

"Everyone in life has various incarnations. You are fairly young on the Wheel of Life - Kagome, herself, however, has a soul that is over two thousand years old. And since the earliest incarnation of herself, she has suffered much. This time, her reward for such hardships, all of which came about because of her service to the Kami, has finally come around. She has been united with the other part of her soul - Inuyasha."

"But then... what about my own other half? If she is not it," with a sideways glance at Kagome, "then who is?" He looked at the golden woman, then frowned at the thought that he had just been speaking to her with no compunction, and yet he didn't even know who she was. "And who are you, anyway?"

The woman's smile brightened, if that was even possible, becoming truly radiant. "I am Amaterasu, Goddess of the Sun... and I chose to come to you because you are within a mirror - mirrors are my province, so it was natural for me to find you here."

She turned then, and looking at Kagome, she held out her hand. "Come, beautiful one... you must join with me, to purify his soul, so that he may be free to continue his journey. There are other lives waiting for him, and other tasks for him to fulfill."

Kichiro held up a hand, backing away from the two women. "Wait! What about my other half? I want to know!"

Amaterasu shook her head. "You will find out soon enough, young one, but only if you give up this path. You must leave Kagome to her fate in order to find your own. Make your choice, Kichiro, but remember this. Your other half is also dependant on your decision, because if you fail in this, she will be left alone for eternity, and will be damaged beyond all bearing."

He looked hopeful, suddenly, and speaking softly to himself, he said, "She is out there, then - waiting for me - I must find her." Looking at the two women before him, he reached out his hand and grasped Kagome's. "I am ready, I want to meet my fate. Please, send me on."

Kagome smiled and nodded, happy that he was really willing to let go. "I'm so very glad, Kichiro, please, live your fate well, and know that you are loved." And closing her eyes, feeling the warmth and love flowing from the goddess holding her other hand, she became a link in the chain, sending love, hope, happiness, and purity into the man standing next to her. She could feel his grasp getting lighter, and watched as he smiled at her one last time, a smile free of pain or anger, leaving only joy, before he faded away completely.

It's over, she thought, relieved.

She slumped a little, suddenly feeling tired, and then felt a spiral of energy come through from the hand that was still being held. Looking up at the woman now standing before her, she felt her entire being suffuse with love and light.

"Be at peace, my child, for if I ever had one that I could call 'my child' it would be you. You are more my creation than anything else, and I am pleased with you. You have done well, in all your incarnations, even though there have been things that went wrong," she looked away for a moment, "those things were necessary, and have led to where you are now. Never forget that."

Kagome knew, somehow, that she was speaking to the part of her soul that had belonged to Kikyou, her previous incarnation. Her words made it all okay, and Kagome smiled, looking with warmth at the beautiful Kami beginning to fade away. "Thank you, Amaterasu-sama..."

Now left alone inside the mirror, she sighed, knowing that it was time to go face the music. Inuyasha would not be happy with what had happened - her holding him out of the link and all.

Taking hold of the tether that she had left, she let herself go, coming awake suddenly, back in reality, still holding the mirror. She groaned, and feeling slightly weak, sank to her knees, not surprised when she was swept up into two arms and held very tightly.

Yes... he is my other half, my fate.

And even if things went wrong in all my other lives, keeping us apart... nothing ever will again.